Nick felt smug. It was impossible not to, really. Every step brought looks like he was somehow profaning holy ground. Which he was, in a way. He took another photo of the crime scene and felt his tail swish in delight. He felt like a kit in a candy store. He knew he shouldn't it was a crime scene after all. A breaking and enter with a shattered window but it was the location of it all that made him so jovial.
The crime scene consisted of a smashed window, a brick put through it earlier in the night when no one had been around. There were distinct areas where the glass had been shifted from foot steps, so it was clearly a break and enter. There was also a pungent smell in the area, strong enough that Nick's eyes watered for a moment.
Handing back the camera, he left CSI to their work, and let them finish casing the front as he cheerfully went to meet up with Judy.
There was some part of him that wanted to jump outside in the rain and start singing. Dance his worries away for the day, because nothing could get him down. This felt like some part of divine justice. The crime wasn't even that serious, so honestly he felt like he had the right to celebrate. It was petty but he couldn't help but feel like this was a score for the little guy.
"Can you stop that?" Judy asked as she walked alongside her ecstatic partner. They were leaving the crime scene behind, and going to the lifts that would take them to the top of the illustrious office building.
The bunny was trying to figure out this case. Her thought was to rule out what this event hadn't been so that they could narrow it down to what it was. But, aside from the shattered window and the late night break in, there was nothing wrong. Nothing had been taken or tampered with.
"Nope, no way! Way too happy," Nick said, still radiating smug as the elevator door opened and the two stepped inside. He felt Judy roll her eyes. Judy pressed the button for the doors to be held closed before grabbing his tie and pulling him down.
"Wilde, we are cops. Get your head out of the clouds and work with me, you dumb fox!" Judy's eyes reflected some anger, but only because she felt like he wasn't respecting the badge nearly enough. Which, in this case, he wasn't. He had no idea why Bogo would assign them to this case. It was an insult to everyone involved, and he kind of loved it,
"You know, you are cute when you're mad." Judy huffed and then let out a noise that was (at least Nick was sure it was) as close to a growl as a bunny could make. She felt her foot tapping hard against the floor for a moment, angry and wanting to kick him. But, she released his tie and simply pressed the button for the top floor.
"Could you at least not piss off the guy that we are supposed to be helping?" Judy looked up at him, hopeful that she could make at least some headway in the case. This was practically misery to her, and she knew that Nick knew that.
"I think that went out the window the moment I entered the building, Carrots," he said, but seeing how this was all fraying on her nerves he figured he would have to try and put on his good face. Though he knew that if there was anything that would take him down a peg it was the conversation that he was about to have. The doors opened and, taking a deep breath, he walked out into the main hall.
"It was hard enough to actually have this opportunity to talk to him in person. Mr Bengal owns this company, but I've never even heard of him being in public before. This guy is so paranoid it's amazing he is willing to even talk to the police."
Nick wasn't paying any attention to Judy because that all too familiar logo painted on the ground reminded him both of why he was here and why this place totally deserved whatever happened to it. He nodded to the secretary, a pig, who regarded the fox with a look of disgust, not unlike every employee in the place. He had to wonder if it was something the they had trained in. Was it in the employee manual? They were all very good at it.
"We were told that Mr. Bengal wanted to see us?" Judy asked as she walked up to the desk. The pig rolled her eyes before clicking the intercom. She spoke to her boss before nodding to the cops wanting to see him.
The door opened and Nick's eyes widened. There was a moment of silence, and then he started to cackle like he was just let into the world's greatest joke. Which it was, it was a con worthy of the world. Not even on Wilde's best days could he have come up with a scam like this. He hadn't known, and the look on Judy's stunned face told him that she hadn't known either.
Mr Bengal was a fox. The owner and operator of Fox Away, was a fox. Nick's mind broke and the paradox that was left in it's wake had him resting his arm against Judy as he lost it completely. He had to use the smaller bunny as a walking stick because he would have fallen over if he hadn't used her for support. So it came as no surprise that he did fall over when she hit him hard in the ribs. Clearing her throat and taking a few steps towards the desk, Judy tried to give the fox a smile.
He was almost as tall as her, and just as grey. His ears were short, and he looked small. His thick fur was puffed from the humidity in the office caused by the rain pounding against the windows. His own smirk told Judy that he was just as amused by the oxymoron of running this company as Nick was. The man had the exact same sly look on his face as Nick's, and something told her that she was really going to miss her fox repellent for a moment. Maybe it was just the way his yellow eyes scaled every part of her or the look of his well tailored suit. He smelled of riches and evil.
Bengal pulled himself from the desk and stood up. Stretching out his paw to hers. "Ms. Hopps? Thank you for arriving as you did, I must say I am a huge fan."
Judy hesitated for a moment to take his paw. The claws he had didn't retract, and they looked like they had been sharpened at some point. Not that she felt this fox was dangerous. No she wouldn't allow herself to think like that anymore. She blinked when he said that he was a fan of hers. She had only been on the force for a year or so and had mostly been out of the limelight since the Night Howler case.
"Sorry, um, Mr. Bengal, but how so?"
Retracting his hand, Bengal walked to the other side of the room. After pouring himself a drink from a decanter, he turned back to Judy.
"Please, Ms. Hopps, call me Simon. And get your fox off the floor. As much as I appreciate his sense of humour, there comes a time when all laughter is grating."
Judy complied and gave Nick a slight kick to rouse him from the floor. The fox was now panting to catch his breath. As he stood he stopped to admire the office. It was a large, open space. The building was built to resemble a large tree built into the natural canopy of the rain-forest district. It was a large circle with the elevators in the middle. The office easily took up half the tree. The large glass windows were currently being pounded by rain, but on a dry day it would overlook almost all of the canopy, giving a large sweeping view of one of the nicest sectors in all of Zootopia.
"If you're wondering how I'm a fan, I caught your press conference a little over a year ago. My stocks tripled overnight. You and Bellwether were the best things that ever happened to my city." The look that Judy regarded him with was one of revilement, losing the professionalism she had been telling Nick to maintain.
"We wanted to ask about the break in. Could we focus on that, Simon?" Nick said, snapping to his senses. This conversation had just gotten a lot less interesting. He glowered down at the smaller fox, who didn't shrink under the gaze of the two cops.
The look Simon regarded the other fox with was dangerous. However, after a moment or two, he simply gave a shrug and let the tension fall out of him for the moment.
"There isn't much to tell, really. I have top of the line security installed in this building. We get hit once or twice a year with something like this. Angry foxes thinking that the price of a window will somehow hurt my bottom line. I do hope you find the vandal, but I'm afraid I won't be much of a help in that regard."
"Could we have a look at the security footage then? And perhaps a check around to make sure nothing was stolen?" Judy asked, her nose twitching for a moment.
"Not without a warrant for it, I'm afraid. As much as I enjoy the work you and the ZPD perform, I'd rather work to put this incident behind me. This building is mostly for public appearances, nothing of value is actually kept here. So even if something was stolen, it was likely unimportant."
Nick and Judy exchanged quick glances as Judy worked to take some notes. There was a ping at the desk, and the two looked around for a moment.
"Sorry, but that's the all the time I can afford you two for the day. Please feel free to take a free sample of one of Fox Away's many repellents on your way out. After all, you can never be too safe."
"Sweet cheese and crackers, what was that!? And did you really have to take that!?" Judy shouted as they walked out of the office building and into the canopy of the rain-forest district. Nick was admiring a small bottle of Fox Repellent. He had a newfound respect for the small pink bottle of paranoia. He placed it in a plastic baggy and shrugged.
"Never disregard a free sample, Carrots. As much as I hate this little bottle, it's rude not to take it, also it's evidence." Nick shrugged as he walked side by side with Judy back to their car through the rain, waiting till they got inside before they spoke again.
"What evidence, it's broken glass inside one of the cities most hated buildings, which we don't have a warrant to do a full search."
"Well he said that it was angry foxes, but none would be caught dead near this place and there were only two in the building all day. I'm not the best sniffer, but their was this thick aroma around the entrance."
As they sat back in the car listening to the rain, the two shared a look. A simple knowing glance that there was more to this picture, but that they didn't seem to have an in. It was frustrating to admit, but there was no case to build up. As much as Judy wanted to hit the ground running and maybe take the guy down a peg, there was nothing to investigate here, aside from someone being angry with one of the world's worst companies.