Chapter 1: Introductions of Nelle Vox, Private Investigator
"What did you do, Carrots?" the red fox asked, his voice just over a whisper.
"Me?" the rabbit objected, looking up at her partner in mock disdain. "I'm completely innocent, it has to be something you did."
"Nine times out of ten, I'd agree with that, but I've done nothing wrong in at least three days… Two and a half…ish. And I already got told off for… Well, you know." It was probably better for the both of them that they didn't bring that up again. It had taken the poor marmot almost an hour to get clean.
Nick looked to Judy; Judy looked to Nick. Both seemed to be completely at a loss as to what this was about. The morning meeting had gone as usual, with Chief Bogo mentioning a few minor events and passing them off because, for the most part, they didn't really seem worth bringing up- other than Officer Fangmeyer's birthday. He'd handed out case files, going through all the larger predators, until only Nick and Judy were left in the room. He didn't have a file for them. Instead, just before leaving, he looked to them and said, "Hopps, Wilde, my office in ten minutes. Don't be late."
That had been thirteen minutes ago.
They'd left the meeting room right away, Judy had gone to her desk and Nick had quickly used the bathroom before meeting back up outside Chief Bogo's door. They'd been waiting there together for the past eight minutes, and the suspense was killing them. They could hear Chief Bogo inside, talking to someone. His voice really carried; the other didn't. Nick leaned over and whispered again, "Hear anything… Not coming from a buffalo?"
"Maybe… Very faint. Small mammal, feminine."
"None of the officers," Nick mused quietly. The only small, feminine mammal on the force was standing next to him. "Did our ten minutes get pushed back?"
Judy just shrugged.
For another five minutes, the pair stood there, not sure if they should knock, or wait at their desks to be called in. When they thought about it, neither seemed like that great an idea, so they waited.
Until the Chief's voice called out, "Hopps, Wilde, get in here."
Sharing one last nervous glance, Nick reached up to turn the handle- which was, of course, a few inches above his head- and pulled the door open. Judy went in, and followed.
"Close the door, Wilde," Chief Bogo instructed before Nick had even had a chance to look at their guest. "Officer Hopps, Officer Wilde, allow me to introduce Ms. Nelle Vox, a… 'Private investigator'." There was very clear disdain in his voice as he uttered the title.
Judy looked at their guest with some minor intrigue; Nick, however, once he'd got the door closed, turned, and froze. Seated in a small-mammal sized desk chair in the corner of the room sat probably the most stunning vixen he'd ever laid eyes on. Tall, slender, sparkling blue eyes, an arctic fox with pure, shimmering white hair. Even the dark gray pantsuit she wore did little to detract from the image. If anything, it added an extra air of class.
"I, uh, I… Hi," Nick stammered out. He'd been caught completely off guard, and this was a situation he honestly had never prepared for. "I'm Nick- ouch!"
He was cut off rather abruptly when Judy stepped on his foot- rather discreetly, leaving Chief Bogo slightly confused by the abrupt cry. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Vox, I'm Officer Hopps," the bunny greeted with a kind and cheerful smile, offering a hand. "And this is my partner, Officer Wilde." It wasn't the first time she'd had to remind him that while he was in uniform, he had to act the part.
An amused little smirk on her face, the vixen reached out and shook Judy's hand. "Aren't you cute?" she murmured, to which the rabbit bristled. Miss Vox turned to the buffalo, and requested, "Please fill your officers in on the situation, Chief," then took her leave.
Taking a deep, restrained breath, Chief Bogo rubbed his brow, then looked down on his smallest team and proceeded to fill them in. "Miss Vox here has come to us requesting police assistance in her investigation regarding the disappearance of one Mister Robert Jacks, a journalist for Zootopia Times. Last confirmed sighting of him was three weeks ago, by his boss. Miss Vox can fill you in on the minor details, and you can get the official case file from Clawhauser."
Judy looked to Nick, who shrugged and stepped out, and she heard his footsteps proceed to Clawhauser's desk. Then she up to the Chief and cleared her throat. "Ah, forgive me if I'm overstepping here, Chief, but… Don't you usually not work with P.I.s? I thought it went against your principles to let someone go around digging into crimes without a badge?"
"It does, Hopps. Don't get me wrong, I'd like nothing more than to take this case from her and send her packing. Unfortunately, that decision is… above my pay grade. I've been given specific instruction by Mayor Cuga to cooperate with any case Miss Vox brings to me. Now might I say it is very reluctantly that I've decided to give you this case, and only because of your past experience with missing mammals. Now, I want this cleared up quick and clean. I'm counting on you to keep Wilde in line on this one. We do not need a repeat of the marmot incident."
"Don't mention it, Chief… Please. For both our sake."
Nick did go to Clawhauser's desk, but only because he saw Miss Vox stepping away from it. Trying for at least some pretense of actual police work, he went to get the cheetah's attention.
"Nick!" Clawhauser greeted. "Good to see you!"
"I was here yesterday, Ben. Hey, could you get that Robert Jacks file ready for me? I'll be right back."
"Can do, Nick," Clawhauser answered, but the fox was already heading for the door.
"Miss Vox!" he called down the stairs leading up to the front of the station. The vixen, already at the bottom, turned and looked up at him.
"Can I help you, Officer Wilde? I was planning to call in when I found something I needed assistance with."
"Well, uh… I…" He paused, realizing he hadn't actually thought of a reason for coming down to catch up to her. He'd have to be quick on his feet with this one. "I was just thinking we could open up the case file and see if we could work out where to start looking… Nelle, is it? Is that short for something?"
"It is, actually! How observant of you!" the vixen exclaimed in a very patronizing tone. "But for now, you can call me Miss Vox."
"Ouch! Denial with a surname, so cold," Nick remarked, pressing a hand over his chest in mock-pain.
The arctic fox rolled her eyes and said, "You'll live. Stare at the sun for a few hours, it should thaw you out."
'This one's gonna be fun.' Among other species, this would be seen as pretty clear rejection. Foxes were peculiar, though. From what he could tell, this was a challenge. Try harder.
"How about 'Snowflake?'"
"Eat me."
"I'd love to, but at least let me buy you dinner first."
Gotcha. That one definitely hit home. White cheeks flushed with color, and it took her a few moments to stammer out a response. "I… Have a rule about dating cops," she remarked once she'd managed to collect herself.
"I have a rule about eating bananas after 10, but that never stops me."
His immediate, witty response pulled genuine laughter from her lips, before she could bring a paw up to stifle it. "Then it's not really a rule, is it?" She paused, then pulled out a note pad and wrote something down really quick before handing it to Nick. It was an address in Tundratown. "Wait, is this… Your place?"
"No, Red," she replied, rolling her eyes again. "It's Robert Jacks' apartment. I was gonna go check it out after lunch. Turns out I could use a couple extra eyes on it. 12:30, bring the bunny."
Nick fixed her with his most charming smile and said, "You can count on me, Miss Vox."
"I've changed my mind. You can call me Nelle." The vixen gave him a wink, then turned and hailed a cab.