A/N: It's back! The Enigma Project series continues. This story should be pretty silly, and we might get a glimpse of the larger storyline here, but I'm not sure. The overarching concept behind this series is pretty serious and dark, so it might not really have a place here.

I'm trying to make this story as lighthearted as possible (with some dark humor at the beginning here), so let me know if you think it's funny! Before we start, be sure to read 'The Culprit From Hell' if you haven't, I'm proud of how it turned out for a first fic, and it'll get you caught up with this one.

Anyways, enjoy!

...

Judy opened her eyes and looked over at the alarm clock, feeling a slight sense of satisfaction as she read off the time 4:57 AM. She had woken up before her alarm, just like she always did. She lay in bed, waiting for a few minutes, thinking about the day ahead. Wonder why people commit more crimes during the weekend… She pondered. Bogo had been assigning them patrol for a few weeks now, and every day they'd bring in at least a dozen mammals. She looked back at the clock just in time for the alarm to go off and turned it off.

She lifted the covers off of herself and sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. The sun hadn't risen yet, leaving the room quite dark, so she reached for her phone on the nightstand. Her paw found the wooden surface, but not the phone. She felt around a bit and started getting worried, her other paw joining the search and hopelessly patting along.

Shoot...

She had just moved into a new apartment and she still didn't have a lamp. On top of that, she had positioned her bed on the other side of the room from the light switch. Her plan was to use her phone's flashlight for the time being, but apparently that was not going to be an option today. She carefully stood up, reaching her arms in front of her and shuffling toward the switch. She reached out, waiting for her digits to touch something. Careful step after careful step she shuffled to where the switch should be, and soon enough her paws found the wall.

She moved along it and found the light switch, flipping it without thinking and immediately blinding herself. She rubbed her eyes and blinked, trying to adjust. It took a good minute or two before she was able to keep her eyes open, albeit in a squint. She made her way into the bathroom and took off her clothes, hopping in the shower. She washed up, dried off, and put on a bathrobe, walking into the kitchen to make herself breakfast.

After finishing her cereal she brushed her teeth and put on her uniform, pinning on her badge. She opened her door and set off down the hall to the stairs, heading over to Nick's apartment. She stopped in front of his door and reached up to knock when it opened.

"Good morning fluff!" Nick said.

"Well how about that, I don't have to yell at you to hurry up!"

"Nope, not today carrots," he said as he closed his door, "unsurprisingly, I fell asleep at seven yesterday. Woke up at four this morning."

"Yeah, yesterday was crazy. I still can't believe we made twenty arrests!" Judy said as they started walking down the hall.

"Neither can my body."

"Hah! You gotta exercise more slick."

"Thanks for the enlightenment, captain hindsight," he said as he hit the button for the elevator.

"Well you should!"

"Yeah but cardio sucks, and I'm afraid of weights,"

"We get enough cardio at work, don't worry about that, but you can't be afraid of weights! You just gotta be careful and smart,"

"I don't think I'll have your squat genes fluff, don't you hold a record at the ZPD?" Nick asked as they got on the elevator.

"Yeah, third heaviest back squat, only like 560 pounds is all," She said, beaming with pride

"That's scary."

"Not as scary as having a weak core and legs, as well as bad lifting technique that leaves you super prone to spine injuries," Judy replied as they got off of the elevator.

"Well, if you coach me I'll give it a try."

"Deals on slick," She said as they left their building and headed down the street. The two made their way down to the subway platform and waited for the train to come. A rush of air signaled the approach of a train and it came barreling down the tracks a moment later. It slowly screeched to a halt and the two stepped on, able to get a seat near the doors due to how vacant it was.

As if by instinct, they stopped talking to each other and got out their phones, despite them being the only two in their car. When it was busy, nobody spoke on the subway, everyone avoided all eye contact and kept to themselves. This meant 'get out your phone' for most mammals, and this included Nick and Judy too. They were on the subway during peak hours most of the time, and going into this silent mode was second nature.

After a few minutes of aimlessly wandering around their apps, various websites, and social media, trying to find something to do, the train arrived at their stop. They robotically put their phones away and stood up, walking through the doors onto the platform.

"That was a quiet ride, I haven't seen the subway like that in a while," Nick said.

"It is six A.M. on a Saturday slick."

"It's a quiet Saturday morning!"

"Have you ever seen a loud Saturday morning?"

"Well, that depends on what you mean by morning," He said with a smirk.

"You're not wrong there," She replied. They had seen quite a few loud Saturday mornings as officers, if you preferred not to just call them late Friday nights. They walked up the stairs to the surface and were reminded of how nice the weather had been recently. There wasn't a cloud in the early morning sky, and the temperature was near perfect. There was a slightly cool breeze that would help with the inevitable heat later in the day.

A quick walk from the station lead them to the grand Precinct One, its towering stone pillars dominating the park square. Nick opened the outside door for Judy, and she opened the second for him. Immediately they were greeted by a lazy wave from a tired Clawhauser. They waved back and walked up to the front desk, Nick leaning up against it while Judy jumped up on top of it.

"Tired Ben?" Judy asked, to which he sighed, yawning in the middle of his sentence.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm ever ready for these... 6 o' clock shifts…" He said mid-yawn. Judy chuckled, but Nick had slightly more sympathy. Although he had gotten used to it by now, he never was a morning person. He wasn't exactly like Judy, who woke up before her alarm clock every day.

"Hang in there Claws. So, you got any news for us?" He asked.

"Not much. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with all the money you guys have saved me on dinners," he said.

"Oh that's gonna be so hard," Nick teased.

"Oh shush Nick," Judy chided, Nick replying with his trademark smirk. There was an awkward pause where the three had run out of things to say.

"Great weather today," Judy said, quite genuinely. The other two glared at her as if to say 'really?'

"What! It's actually nice!" She said defensively. Nick waved her off with his paw.

"Yeah it's nice, but you don't talk about the weather for small talk," he said.

"I can't just say something about the weather?" Judy said, getting a little irritated.

"No, its plebeian," Nick replied. He was still used to a world of smooth talking con artists.

"Plebeian?" Judy said, offended.

"Yes, it makes me feel like we're living in the 19th century."

"Alright, you got your timeline way outta wack slick."

"Hey you two, no fighting!" Ben said.

"We are not fighting," They chorused back.

"And you glared, you can't tell us not to fight!" Judy said.

"Yeah!" Nick agreed.

"Oh stop it, you glared too," Judy said to Nick. Nick put a paw to his chest in offense but was interrupted by the chief screaming down at them.

"GET YOUR LAZY, STUPID, ANGRY TAILS ON PATROL WHOPS! I CAN'T CONCENTRATE WITH YOU TWO BICKERING!" He bellowed, using the new nickname that had been floating around.

"Sorry!" They said meekly, ears down.

"Well, I guess that's it for our morning talk. Cya later Ben," Judy said as she jumped off the counter.

"Cya guys, stay safe out there."

"Thanks, Claws," Nick said as the two started walking to the damp garage. They opened the heavy steel door and started making their way to their cruiser. After getting in and putting on their seatbelts they headed out for what was probably going to be another exciting patrol. They were sure to run into criminals who thought they could evade the law given the day and time.

But something loomed over them, a thought they couldn't get out of their heads. Although they enjoyed the excitement of cleaning up the streets, they were a little spoiled by having been chased by a giant spider alongside secret government agents. That was the kind of excitement they needed. For a while, it terrified them, but now they wanted more.

"Wonder what those agents are up to now…" Nick pondered, staring out the window through his shades.

"God only knows," Judy said. He bobbed his head in agreement.

Meanwhile, Tanya was just getting out of bed in her home in Tundratown. It's Saturday, why can't my damn brain just turn off and let me sleep… She thought as she swung her legs out over the edge of the bed. She picked her phone up to find a text from James.

'In the office. Stop by if you wanna go over some potential cases,' it read. They enjoyed what they did so the two went overtime often, even coming in on weekends. However, Tanya didn't understand how he got up so early, mornings weren't her thing. She hopped off the bed and walked into the bathroom, looking herself over in the mirror. The snow leopard had the equivalent of full body bed head, her thick fur pointing every which way. Her markings looked like a jigsaw puzzle that was assembled by sheer force.

There was only one way to fix this level of disorder, and she stepped into the shower. She shampooed and conditioned her coat and dried herself off. Then she went through the procedure of brushing every last bit of her fur. Once she was done she went downstairs to make herself breakfast, making eggs and toast. She was sitting there, enjoying her breakfast, when she got a bit of the over-easy yolk on her paw.

Damnit…

Must lick…

No, you are civilized.

LICK

NO!

LICK IT

"Ugh…" She complained, cocking her head slightly. Her instinctual desire to clean herself was quite irritating at times. She knew, though, that if she started, she would not be able to stop until it was… CLEAN.

I swear to God lizard brain, if you get me stuck licking my fur for half an hour I will have you removed.

UNCLEAN

I just took a shower!

SPOT

It's only one spot! I'll just wash it off in the sink...

She had resisted it successfully, and got up to walk over to the sink. She started to rinse the spot off, remembering all of the times she had been completely covered in much worse than egg yolk. She was very glad that for whatever reason she didn't have the urge to lick herself clean all the time. She couldn't imagine that ectoplasm would have tasted very good.

It wasn't very long before the soap did its work, and the spot was gone. She dried her fluffy paw, continuing the rest of her morning routine. Once she was ready she put her suit on, and in doing so had a slight ghost pain in her chest. She grabbed at it with her paw and recalled the day Rhinowitz had shot her. She remembered the two officers that they had gotten involved with. It had only been two weeks.

She stood for a moment, looking in the mirror. It wasn't often that she had flashbacks to traumatic events, and what was even stranger was that the suit had triggered it. She had been through so much in the uniform, it's odd that she would connect that with it. She moved on rather quickly but kept it in mind while she picked some stray hairs off of her tie. Maybe we'll run into the two soon… she thought.

She went to the garage and got in her car, ready to deal with the perpetually horrible roads in Tundratown once again. It was a spooky drive to Sahara square, but once she made it to the border the roads were much better, and it wasn't much farther to the headquarters. She parked in the underground parking lot and made her way up to the lobby, checking in at the front desk. She showed her badge for clearance into the office spaces and walked to her office, finding James hovering over a stack of papers.

"Anything interesting?" She asked casually. James jumped, spooked.

"Oh Jesus Tanya... You gotta remember you're a cat," he said. She did this regularly, startling people by silently approaching them.

"Sorry! I can't help it!" She said, smiling, amused by her innate ability to scare people unwittingly. She took a seat at her desk and started getting some files out to look over.

"Anyways, to answer your question; no, there's nothing interesting. Nothing recent at least," He said.

She was about to respond when the phone rang.

They looked at each other, confused, wondering who would be calling them on a Saturday morning. The caller ID on the phone simply said 'Cell Phone ZT.' Tanya motioned for James to pick it up, and he nodded, lifting the phone and putting it to his ear.

"Authorization?" He said, needing verification that whoever this was had permission to speak with him.

"Oh… sorry, I think I might have the wrong number…" The female voice said. James was confused. Our number is 31 digits long, how the hell do you accidentally call us?

"Wait. Is that…?" Tanya said, her sensitive hearing barely picking up who was speaking.

"Did I hear Tanya? This is James, right? James Miller?" The voice asked.

"Who is this and why are you calling?" James asked, irritated.

"James I think it's…. Oh, uh, its… oh God, what's her name… Judy! Judy Hopps, right?" Tanya said.

"Yes, sorry!" Judy said with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh! Well good morning Officer Hopps! No worries. What's goin on?" James asked.

An hour earlier, Nick and Judy were sitting in their cruiser, and they were quite bored. Their patrol was strangely quiet. They were at a stop light when Nick saw an African wild dog jaywalk across the street behind them. He picked up his mic and turned on the megaphone.

"Hey, hey you… the A.W.D, yeah you know what you did… Yeah, no, you can't do that! Don't you wave your arms at me! You're lucky I'm just giving you a warning!" Nick said, his voice bellowing out for all to hear.

"Nick, would you quit abusing the PA system?" Judy said quietly, her voice coming out through the speakers as well. Nick replied in a hushed tone but he could still be heard.

"I am not abusing it, you saw what he did!"

"You can't just shout at mammals on the street with it!" She whispered venomously, realizing their conversation was still being picked up.

"I can and I will!" he said equally quiet, but still audible outside.

"Shut it off!" She mouthed, and he did so. They sat for a few moments, Judy glaring through the windshield, Nick smirking his face off.

"You gotta admit that's a perfect use of that system," Nick said. A smile grew across Judy's face.

"You are the worst," she said, shaking her head slowly, the smile growing.

"Correction, Carrots; the best," he said, garnering a massive eye roll from a still smiling Judy. Suddenly the radio crackled on, startling the two of them.

"Whops, we got a report of a mammal not having left their home in a few days, could you do a well-check on the following," Clawhauser said, transmitting the individual's records and giving their address to the onboard GPS.

"Sure thing Ben. Nick could you read off some of the info on them," Judy asked. Nick tapped the dashboard screen a few times and had the files open.

"It is one 'Dennis Brodeur,' a raccoon, 36 years old, living alone. Says here he has no criminal record… nothing super interesting about him... He's a general manager at a local toy store… huh, this is a little worrying, his medical records indicate he's had a history of heart issues, nothing recent though. Let's hope this guy's ok."

"Yeah, that doesn't sound good. Nothing recent though?"

"No, says his last incident was over 9 years ago, so let's hope this isn't a recurrence," Nick said. The address was in a decent part of Sahara Square, right on the border with Savannah Central. It seemed like an apartment building, so this may be interesting, though given the neighborhood it wasn't going to be extremely nteresting. Judy started making her way there, and it wasn't long before they arrived. She parked and stepped out of the car, Nick hesitating before getting out.

"Should I bring the lock picking kit?"

"Can't hurt, you might as well," Judy replied. Nick noticed the name of the apartment complex, and couldn't quite comprehend the mediocrity.

"Wow, 'Village Park Place.' Wonder how long it took them to come up with that one," Nick said as they walked away from their cruiser.

"I think I've vomited up alphabettios into catchier apartment names," Judy said.

"Well, they'd certainly be a little more interesting," Nick added. They walked to the front entrance and went through the doors. From what they could tell it was a decent building, a well kept and well-decorated lobby being the first thing to greet them. They went up to the granite-topped reception desk, where a pig greeted them from behind the counter.

"Good morning officers! What can I do for you?" He asked politely.

"We were asked to do a well-check on a mammal in 432, could you show us where that is?" Judy asked.

"Sure! Right this way," he said as he stood up, walking around the counter and leading them to the elevators.

"So, do you know anything about Mr. Brodeur?" Nick asked as the pig hit the button for the elevator.

"Not really, sorry. Nothing worth anything to you guys anyways. I do know that nobody has seen him in a couple days, so people have been worried," he said.

"Well, you never know what might come in handy to us, if you know something but think it's just an anecdote or a rumor just let us know anyways," Judy said as the elevator dinged.

"Well, it might sound goofy, but there are rumors that he practices some weird black magic rituals. I don't know if that's true, but he is a little creepy, that's for sure," the pig said as he stepped in the elevator, the officers following. They gave each other a worried glance, and there was an awkward silence as the elevator went up to the fourth floor. The elevator doors opened and the pig led the way again.

"Right this way," he said as he led them to the door. He stopped just before it and made a bit of a face as he sniffed the air. "Well I don't like that smell so I'm just gonna get out of here and let you guys do your thing," he said as he hurriedly walked away. Nick sniffed the air and faintly detected something, but it wasn't clear, and Judy couldn't smell it at all.

"That doesn't sound good, can you smell what he's smelling?" Judy said, the pig having freaked her out.

"A little, not really... let's just knock," Nick said, rapping on the door. "Mr. Brodeur, this is the ZPD, we're just checking up to make sure you're ok," he said in a polite but raised tone. They waited to no response.

Nick knocked again and called out his name again.

No response. Nick sniffed the air, a stunned look on his face.

"Oh no… Judy, I think I smell what that pig was talking about," he said.

"What, what is it?" she asked as he started getting the lock picking kit out of his pocket.

"Not good, seems like blood to me," he said, to which Judy let out a quiet 'oh shit' as she drew her tranq gun. He calmly and precisely opened the lock, and gave a look to Judy, the two of them drawing their tranq guns. He mouthed 'one… two… three…' and pulled the door open, Judy leading, Nick following. They entered to the left of the kitchen, a living room straight ahead, a closet to the left of them and a doorway into the bedroom on the same wall. There was nobody there and no sign of breaking and entering or really any disorder, so they started checking some rooms.

Nick checked the closet quickly, and when he went into the living room he noticed a strange book on the coffee table. Judy went into the bedroom and found nothing, but she immediately called out to Nick when she opened the door to the bathroom, Nick running to her. When he got to her she had already closed the door, one paw on the door handle and one covering her muzzle. They just stood there for a moment, Judy in shock, Nick in shock that Judy was in shock.

"What's in there?" Nick asked, his mind racing.

"What's left of Mr. Brodeur… and it's really, really not pretty…" She said.

"Should I even look?"

"I don't think you need to… it's bad, just trust me."

"I'm kinda curious…" He said. She took her paw off the door handle, putting her paws in the air as if to say 'if you want, I won't stop you,' and he walked over to the door, opening it to immediately understand what had Judy so upset.

"Oh Jesus…"

"Yeah…"

"God, who… what… ugh!"

"Why are you still looking at it?"

"I don't know! I'm just trying to figure it out… like, how did his hindpaw get over there?... How did he get his arm all the way-"

"I don't wanna think about it, Nick! Let's just figure out what's going on here. I don't want to sound ridiculous but this doesn't look like something a mammal could do without disturbing the rest of the place. Before we call this in to the ZPD we should figure out whether or not this is something for the agents to take care of."

"I agree, but let's not eliminate the possibility of foul play. Let's search the place and see what we can find," Nick said. Judy nodded and they put on their nitrile gloves. They poked around the house, looking for small details, Judy even crawling around on the floor to look for possible incriminating evidence. Eventually, Judy stopped, figuring she had checked everything she could, and met Nick in the living room.

"This place is pretty much spotless," she said to him as he fiddled with the blinds.

"Yeah, there's nothing going on here to suspect foul play. You gotta wonder if this had something to do with it," he said as he picked the old book up off of the coffee table.

"Didn't that pig say something about black magic?"

"Yeah, he did… man, this is old, and it looks like it's got a leather binding…" Nick said, putting his other paw on the book, disturbed by the fact he had a dead mammal's skin in his paws. Then he tried to read the title, and a purple light illuminated the book. It flowed into his paws, traveling through his body and into the floor. It zipped across the floor like a lightning bolt and crept up through Judy's hindpaws, pouring out through her nose and back into the book.

"Oh God, what did you do…" Judy said, thoroughly freaked out.

"I think you might wanna give those two a call," Nick said, setting the book down gently on the table. Judy immediately pulled out her phone and dialed the strange number Tanya had given her. Someone on the other end picked up and a male voice spoke.

"Authorization," he said. It sounded like James but Judy wasn't sure.

"Oh… sorry, I think I might have the wrong number…" She said, trying not to sound frantic. Judy then heard another voice coming through faintly, a female voice.

"Wait. Is that…" they said.

"Did I hear Tanya? This is James, right? James Miller?" Judy asked a little more nervously.

"Who is this and why are you calling?" The male voice asked authoritatively, leaving Judy lost for words. Then the female voice came through, slightly louder.

"James I think it's…. Oh, uh, it's… oh God, what's her name… Judy! Judy Hopps, right?" Tanya said.

"Yes, sorry!" Judy said with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh! Well good morning Officer Hopps! No worries. So, what's goin on?" James said.

"Well we just found a mammal murdered with no way another did it, and something else that has us really spooked, this is right up your guy's alley. If you guys aren't busy we'd really appreciate it if you guys could come over here quick."

"Oh! Yeah for sure! This is great! We've been looking for something to do, we'll be on our way, ETA 5 minutes," James said, hanging up. Judy took the phone off of her ear and looked at Nick, confused.

"Wait, how will they know where we… oh, yeah, A3I, cellphones," Judy thought out loud, figuring out the answer to her own question mid-sentence.

"Those two are kinda scary sometimes," Nick said.

"Yeah… although, they're a little too goofy to actually be scary," Judy said.

"Ha! Yeah, especially Tanya," Nick said.

"I've heard all those brainy types are like that," Judy said, remembering that Tanya used to be a physicist. They stood around for a moment, a lapse in their conversation and a lack of things to do.

"Should I go get the police tape out of the cruizer?" Judy asked.

"I bet those two will close it off themselves. Either that or they'll have one of those 'cleanup crews' over too fast for it to matter," he replied. Judy let out a 'hmph' and they continued to stand in the living room.

"I really hope that purple light was nothing, I don't want to end up like Mr. Brodeur," Judy said, fidgeting with her paws.

"Well, nothing's happened so far, and I'm sure they'll be able to help us when they get here," Nick said, trying to calm his own nerves more than anything. He sat down on the couch and Judy followed shortly, the two taking out their phones. After a few minutes, they heard footsteps down the hall, and they got up off the couch to meet the agents at the door. The now completely terrified pig showed the two to the room and the agents stepped in.

"Hey guys! Good to see you two again," Tanya said.

"Yeah, we're glad you two called we didn't have much to do," James added.

"No problem. We're glad you guys are here because we are kinda freaked out. So, Nick picked up that book and tried to read the title, and this energy came out of it and like circled through us and back into the book… knowing what happened to the owner of the book, we're not happy," Judy said. James let out a hmph, Tanya walking over to the book.

"You said it circled through you, what do you mean?" Tanya said as she picked it up.

"Well, it went into my paws, through me, into the floor, up through Judy, and back into the book through the air," Nick said.

"Huh… well, that's a good thing. I've actually found out something interesting about spirits and souls and such, they behave like forces and energy. The law of conservation of energy holds, its fascinating. That is to say, only open systems can be nonconservative."

The three looked at her, confused. James was less confused, as he had stopped trying to understand her when she said this sort of thing. She noticed and decided to clarify.

"Um… Oh, ok. So, if we just look at your soul on its own, something interacting with you from outside can do whatever since something new is entering and disrupting the system. However, if we look at you and whatever the other thing is as a system, with no external influences, then overall you can't gain or lose anything, so either the book takes your soul, you absorb its energy, or nothing happens."

They were not quite there but they were close to getting it.

"Moral of the story, you won't die," she said.

"Oh! Ok good. Is anything going to happen to us?" Judy asked.

"Well, it's hard to say. By reading the title Nick did something, but whether it was getting the book familiar with you two so you can practice more rituals, or giving you cancer, we won't know until something, or nothing happens," Tanya said.

"Wait, I thought you said it couldn't kill us!"

"Well, not directly, so you aren't in immediate danger, but you could get sick. I think whatever illness you get could be undone through the same book though so don't worry."

"Oh, wait a minute, black magic can cure some illnesses?" Nick asked.

"Sort of, why?"

"Well that explains why this guy was doing it, he had a heart condition."

"Oh, yeah people always try that. Don't, it's dumb… as you can tell. Speaking of which, where is, you know, the mammal?"

"In the bathroom," Judy said, pointing to the bedroom. The agents walked into the bedroom and opened the door to the bathroom, the officers waiting in the kitchen.

"Icky..." they heard Tanya say.

"Oh hey, I have that same shirt at home!" James said.

"Shirt?" Nick wondered.

"Yeah what shirt?" Judy agreed.

"There was a shirt in there?" Nick shouted to them.

"Yeah, didn't you guys check the ceiling?" James shouted back, to which they both shuddered.

"No, we kinda just got out of there," Nick shouted.

"You're missing out!" James replied. Tanya walked out of the bedroom back to the two officers.

"Oh God, I'm done looking at that. He's having a great time in there though. Detectives and their creepy tolerance for gore," she said to them.

"Yeah we don't need any more of that either," Judy agreed.

"Any ideas about what happened?" Nick asked.

"Well, he did something to piss the book off, that's for sure. Could be a lot of things," Tanya said, just as James was walking out of the bedroom.

"Yeah, that's not possible for a mammal. Verdict Tanya?" He said.

"Black magic backfired."

"Sounds about right to me. What about these two, they cursed or somethin?"

"Could be, might not be, we'll just have to wait and see. I think they'll be ok, the name of the book wasn't terribly complicated, so it can't be that bad," Tanya said.

"Huh, well gee this was quick. Wish we could work on another case together," James said, remembering how quickly they had resolved the Paradit case together.

"Well, you never know, we might get a crippling disease and need Tanya to perform a black magic ritual on us," Nick said, almost sarcastically.

"Yeah I got you guys covered, don't worry," Tanya said.

"We better get this place cleaned up," James said, pulling out his phone.

"Yeah, we can take care of the rest. We'll have a report for your chief, I'll personally deliver it once it's ready. For now, just say that it was a murder and that the A3I is taking over," Tanya said. They didn't like lying, but they also recognized the reasoning behind all of it, and they obliged.

"Sounds like a plan. We better get back on our patrol, see you guys around," Judy said as they left. They walked down the hallway and Judy noticed a worried look on Nick's face.

"You worried about the book thing too?"

"Yeah, I hope Tanya knows what she's doing. Wanna stay over tonight just in case?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, I don't wanna risk being alone," Judy said. They returned to their cruiser and continued their patrol. The rest of the day went as usual, less busy than yesterday with only a few arrests and traffic stops. It ended with the two getting dinner at Bug-Burga and heading back to Nick's apartment. Throughout the day they had forgotten about the book, but as they got ready for bed the thought crept back into their heads. They went to sleep not knowing what would greet them in the morning.