It was an unspoken agreement between the two mammals that the first place to check out would be the Watering Hole tavern. Judy parked the police cruiser out along the curb in front of the building and she and her partner exchanged a look. This place had definitely seen better days.
It was a tavern for medium sized mammals, so it seemed it was probably most frequented by animals no larger than a hippo. Yet the way the wooden steps that lead to the paint-chipped doorway creaked under just the bunny and fox, however, left Judy wondering if the structure of this building was capable of holding an antelope, let alone a hippopotamus.
The place was empty of customers all but for a lone hyena hunched over the far end of the bar. The two officers hadn't expected it to be busy of course – it was a Monday morning after all.
Nick shook his head at the predator and shrugged, "It's five o'clock somewhere I suppose."
The bartender – a leopard – had looked up from polishing glasses when the fox and bunny entered, and watched them hesitantly as the approached the bar. "What can I do for you officers?" he asked.
"Good morning, sir. My name is Officer Hopps, and this is Officer Wilde. Do you know of an employee here by the name of Ellie Pundamilia?" Judy asked in a brisk, all-business tone. She was always very serious about work, while Nick on the other hand leaned against the counter casually and looked over his shades to peruse the booze selection, wondering how mad Judy would be if he ordered a quick drink while they were on the job.
Probably pretty damn mad, he decided, resisting a smile at the mental image of her standing there and disapprovingly tapping her foot fast as a hummingbird's wings.
The leopard set the glass and rag down he had been holding and leaned across the bar. "Yeah, Ellie's one of my servers. Is she okay?" The mammal looked genuinely concerned, and Nick felt a pang of sympathy, knowing it was going to be tough to hear what they were about to tell him.
Nick removed his shades and slipped them in his breast pocket, regarding the leopard somberly. "She was reported missing early this morning when she never came home." The fox paused a moment to give him a moment to let that sink in, and then continued, "What can you tell us about Miss Pundamilia the last time you saw her?" he asked gently.
The bartender looked visibly shaken, and it was clear he truly cared for his employee. "I – I don't know. Everything was normal. She was on closing shift last night, so she was the last one here after I left… but she couldn't have been here for more than an hour after that. She still clocked out at the correct time, and everything was locked up as it should be."
"What time was it when you last saw her, Mister…?" Judy asked, her trusty carrot pen in hand as she scribbled down notes.
"Jessie Leopald… And I guess it would have had to have been about 1am. We close at two, and I said goodbye to her on my way out an hour before closing," the leopard answered, and Judy made a note of his name and the time of last known sighting.
"Do you remember what she was wearing, Mr. Leopald?" the rabbit asked.
He grimaced and shook his head. "Honestly I don't, officer. I'm sorry."
They spent several more minutes interviewing Jessie Leopald and trying to glean any more useful information before finally, assuring the worried predator that they would do their best to find Ellie, and that they would contact him if there was anything else he could do for them.
After climbing back in the cruiser and closing the doors, Judy looked down at her notes with a sigh. "There's still not much to go off of. Everything seems in order here, so whatever happened had to have occurred after she left work."
Nick scratched his chin thoughtfully and stared out the window. "Well this isn't exactly a very well kept part of town. I'm sure there are a number of things that could have gone wrong after she left. Leopald said she usually takes a taxi home, right? Why don't we start there?"
Judy gave Nick a bleak look, her amethyst eyes skeptical. "Do you have any idea how many taxi drivers there are in Zootopia?"
Nick ruffled her ears playfully, and she glared back annoyed. "I probably have a better idea of it than you do, Carrots," he chuckled. "But I'm not saying we talk to every taxi driver in the city. That would take forever."
"Sooo…?" Judy asked, impatiently urging him to continue.
"Sooo, I say we should get a record of who was covering this area about that time last night from each of the taxi companies, and whittle our way through that list," he smirked. "It will be easy to rule out all the smaller cabs that couldn't fit a zebra, and then we can rule out all the cabs that didn't have record of a meter running at the time, meaning there was no client. At two in the morning, I can't imagine there would be that many cabs with clients on just these few blocks," he finished his plan proudly.
Judy smiled up at Nick, her eyes alight with excitement. "Clever fox," she complimented.
"I have my moments," he acknowledged playfully.
Judy rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed in place. "Let's head back to the ZPD to check the system for anything and see if we can't get ahold of those records from the taxi companies," she said as she started up the vehicle and pulled back out into the street.
"Sounds like a plan," Nick agreed, leaning back in the seat, and sneaking a sideways glance at the bunny. He loved the look on her face whenever they were on a case that had just produced a new lead. Once again, it was hard not to think of her lighthearted excitement as cute.
He was just happy that he was able to be a part of it.
