A longer chapter for you :) thanks to everyone who faved and followed the first chapters, it's really appreciated! Here's some action for you, at last!


Chapter 3 – The crime scene

Judy had sprinted back to her apartment to get her police uniform. Nick sat in the car, waiting for her. It seemed surrealist that a murder could have happened in Zootopia. A small part of him was nervous about it… could a predator have…? No, that's stupid, Nick.

He thought about what he had been about to say to Judy. What had he been about to say? He himself didn't really know. Sometimes, he felt like he didn't told her enough how he appreciated her. How he wished he didn't have to wait until morning to see her again. Of course, in his mind it didn't feel as simple and clear.

"Ok." Judy was back in her seat. "To the crime scene!"

She looked totally serious, but Nick couldn't help thinking that this sounded a lot like "To the batmobile!". The bat was the comic book hero of his childhood.

"It's not funny, Nick." Judy reprimanded him. "Someone has died."

"And you want me to go in my Hawaiian shirt?" he said pointing at his outfit.

"Oh, right. To your apartment, and then, to the crime scene."

He chuckled silently. To the batcave, and then to the batmobile. Still funny.

"Yes, mam." He teased, starting the engine.

He pulled in the backyard of his apartment. He quickly went inside to put on his suit. He took a few seconds to analyse the level of mess in there. Plates were piling up next to the sink, and laundry was spread out in the living room. He didn't even bother looking into the bathroom. He was definitely glad a certain rabbit had not decided to show up here.

He came back sprinting to the car. And they were off to the crime scene. Nick could see Judy's restless leg stepping on her imaginary gas pedal. She always did this, and that highly amused him. There wasn't any real emergency; the guy was already dead, wasn't he?

They finally arrived at the address they were given. It was a cheap looking motel, in in a shabby neighbourhood of Sahara square. The area was already closed off by 'crime scene' yellow ribbons, police cars and officers keeping guard. Red and blue police lights were flickering in the night air. They went looking the chief, since they didn't really know what to do in such circumstances. Nick looked at Judy. He was feeling pretty tired himself and he was worried she was pushing herself too hard. Her face was determined, but her falling ears betrayed her fatigue.

"Officers Hopps and Wilde reporting for duty, sir." Judy said when they finally found the buffalo.

"Good, you're here. You can go have a look at the crime scene, bag any evidence you can find, go around and ask your questions. I want you to take the case; you two are my best investigators. The body is in room #6. I warn you, you might want to prepare yourselves for some… twisted shit."

"Yes sir." Judy was always so professional.

Judy and Nick walked up to the room's door. It had been left open by the other officers already there.

"You're sure you're ready for this, Carrots?" Nick asked, with a worried look at his partner. He was pretty sure neither of them had ever seen a dead body before.

He saw her hesitate for a split second, but she answered with absolute seriousness.

"Yes."

She entered first, Nick following closely behind. Fuck. The body of a stunningly beautiful zebra lay inert on the dirty carpet covering the room. Her eyes, surrounded by thick long lashes, were still open. She looked like she was only an actress playing dead. A large slit opened her elegant throat. But that was definitely not the most shocking thing about the scene. Her two slender arms and both her muscular legs were missing their hoofs. The blood resulting from these mutilations was covering the scene: her beautiful mane, most of her body, the soaked carpet, the walls…

"This is sick." Nick quietly said. "Why would someone do such a thing?"

"Don't waste your time trying to understand psychos." Answered Officer Wolfford, who was observing the lock on the door with gloved paws.

Officer Delgato was taking pictures of the body and the room. A tapir wearing a lab vest and latex gloves was examining the corpse. She raised her head upon hearing them talking.

"Oh good you're here. I'm Jane, forensics." She extended a paw covered in blood, smiling.

"Officer Hopps." Judy answered, hesitating one moment before declining the pawshake. "And this is my partner, Officer Wilde."

Nick gave Jane a quick nod. The forensic doctor had probably seen worst things in her life, but he didn't feel like opening his mouth right now. He gladly let Judy do the talking.

"So, what can you tell us for now?" Judy asked.

"Well, the victim is a female zebra, of approximately 25 years old. We don't have an id yet. She died of exsanguination."

As Jane spoke, Nick sadly eyed the beautiful face of the unknown zebra. What could she have done to deserve such a terrible ending? This looked so savage. Unpleasant thoughts of wild predators and disembodied preys cast a gloom on his mind. It made him feel highly uncomfortable.

"I will conduct a full autopsy back at the lab to know if it is the slit of the carotid arteries or the slit of the radial and ulnar arteries that is responsible for her death." Upon their confused look, she added: "Was her throat or her wrists cut first? Murder by ankle slitting would be a first. There is quite a lot of blood everywhere but I doubt it could have come from multiple wounds. Usually the first one is fatal, and the other ones don't bleed so much after the heart has stopped. I'm curious to see which one it is."

She said all of this as if she was speaking of the latest movie she had seen, with a lot of interest. Were all forensics so blasé about their jobs? Still, Nick was grateful for her relaxed presence. It diffused the tension a bit.

"And can you tell us the approximate time of death?" Judy went on.

"Oh, I can tell it's pretty recent. That's good, it's easier to pinpoint the precise time of a recent death. By the look of her eyes, and muscle rigidity, I'd say 10 hours. So that would be (she looked at the clock in the room) 1:30 this afternoon."

"Ok. Let's hope someone was at the motel at that time, maybe they heard something." She turned to the fox. "Are you alright Nick? You seem nervous."

Her question surprised him. Still not wanting to open his mouth, he nodded 'Hmm-Hmm' and turned on his heels. The contemplation of the door with Officer Wolford seemed like a more inviting occupation.

"No sign of a forced entry." The wolf said. "Doesn't look like it was picked."

"So, the killer had a key?" Nick tried to seem useful.

"Maybe. Or, more possibly, the victim knew the killer and let him in."

"Or her."

"Yeah, or her." The wolf chuckled. He obviously didn't believe a female could have done such a thing.

"I'll ask the concierge about the how many keys they keep and if anyone else had one to this room."

"You'll have occasion for that, the concierge is the key witness for know. He's the one that found the body. He's a bit shaky for the moment, so they're calming him down, but he'll be ready for your questions soon."

"Good." Nick knew it was strange for him to look so confident on his first murder case, even more so when he had absolutely no idea what he was doing, but that was exactly how he coped when he felt that way.

Casting a look on the scene to hunt for clues, he started on seeing the body again. There was no getting used to it. His bunny partner was rummaging through the victim's personal belongings. Nick put gloves on and joined her, carefully stepping as far away from the corpse as possible in this small motel room.

"You're handling this like a champ, Carrots." He told her.

"I'm just doing my job." She answered matter-of-factly. "Some lunatic did this, and we are going to find who, before he hurts somebody else, or himself."

It was cute how dedicated she was.

"Making the world a better place." He mimicked her.

He extended a paw for a fist bump, to which she responded, smiling. Nick started his search in the small desk. Finding nothing unusual, he inspected the bed thoroughly: its mattress, pillows, quilt and frame. Two ugly floral paintings hang on the wall. On shifting one of them, Nick saw something falling to the floor. A small plastic bag, in which a dozen of green pills lay. Bingo. He picked up the bag and waved it for Judy to see, wearing a satisfied smile.

"Oh, Nick, yes!" She exclaimed. "You sly fox!"

He was starting to appreciate that praise a lot. She approached to get a better look at it.

"What is that?" Her big purple eyes squinted at the small pills.

"That's catnip, Carrots."

"Isn't catnip supposed to be like… herbs or something?"

"You know your drugs, partner. This is a concentrated extract. Way more powerful. This little bag must be worth at least a thousand dollars."

"Wo!" She exclaimed, her eyes widening. "That's good detective work, Nick!"

He couldn't help smiling broadly. After thorough examination of the room, they proceeded to interviewing the concierge. He was seated at the reception desk, with a blanket on his shoulder and hot tea in his hands. Judy gave Nick an interrogating look. He knew she was asking him if he wanted to take the lead. He shook his head and gently pushed her to the front. The concierge, another young zebra, lifted his head when he saw the bunny officer walking up to him. He looked very anxious and tired. Nick noticed by the state of his hoofs that he was a nervous chewer.

"Hello sir. Officer Hopps, ZPD."

She was good; just the right amount of compassion and authority.

"Could you give us your name please?"

The zebra's eyes sadly shifted back and forth from Judy to Nick.

"My name is Lester Stripeston. I'm the concierge here." He designated the reception desk to illustrate his point.

"Yes. Can you describe to us how you found…" Judy stopped her phrase there.

Nick realised they still didn't have an id for the victim.

"Yvette." Lester said. "I don't know her last name. She had been living here for a while now."

He stopped talking a moment. Obviously he found her death hard to process.

"I usually do a check of every room before I turn in for the night, to check if anybody needs anything. I knocked on her door and she didn't answer. I found it weird because she never slept anywhere else, and she was always back before my night round. I knocked again. I figured, since she wasn't there, I'd do a rapid cleaning of the room. I got out my keys to unlock the door but it was not locked. I opened the door and…"

His voice broke. Nick knew what he had witnessed, and could imagine how he had felt, especially if he had known Yvette.

"And when exactly was that, Mr. Stripeston?" Judy asked kindly.

"Hum, around 10, I think?"

"Mr. Stripeston," Nick intervened "Can you account for your whereabouts this afternoon, between noon and two o'clock?"

"I… do you– Am I a suspect?" Lester seemed shocked.

"We've got to ask, that's all." Judy reassured him.

"I was… cleaning the pool of the motel. Some residents were outside by the pool, they can confirm I was there."

"Did you notice anything strange at that time? Did you hear anything unusual? See anyone acting suspiciously?" Nick continued.

"No, everything was just like any other day." Lester answered sadly.

"You mentioned the door wasn't locked. How many people had the key to this room?"

"It was just Yvette. And me, of course."

"Do you know of anyone that might have wanted to hurt Yvette?" Judy asked.

"No." Lester answered. "I mean, I didn't know her that well."

He was looking at his teacup, as if he could find an explanation to all of this in the hot beverage. He pondered for a moment and added:

"I know she came to live here after a bad brake up. Her ex-boyfriend had kept the apartment, so she didn't have anywhere to go. She had shown up here with only a small baggage and never went back for the rest of her things."

"Ok. Thank you for your collaboration, Mr. Stripeston." Judy concluded.

Exhausted, they left the removal of the body to Jane's autopsy services, and walked towards Nick's old Coyota.

"Good work, Carrots." Nick winked at her.

"Yeah, good work." She said, sounding unwell. "Excuse me, just a sec."

She turned around swiftly and threw up.

"Wo, Judy, are you OK?" He placed his paws on her small back.

"Yeah." She answered shortly. "Been holding that in for a moment now."

"I know. Rough stuff tonight, eh?" He patted her softly.

They got in the car and drove off. Nick knew how Judy felt. Lack of sleep, general hunger (they often skipped meal in this crazy job) and physcho butchery didn't go well together. But in a few minutes, Judy was asleep in her seat. Nick fought off sleep until he pulled off in front of her apartment. He gently shook her.

"Carrots, you're home."

She didn't stir. That was inconvenient. He looked at her building, exhausted, wondering how many flights of stairs up her apartment was. He took her keys from her pocket. There were only two keys other than the police SUV's one. One was round and engraved with a generic bunny figure – probably the key to her childhood home in Bunny Burrow – and the other was square, engraved with a 7. That must be her apartment key. Fortunately, she weighted as much as a feather. He hoisted her up to the door with a 7 on it and opened it with the key. Even if in the dark, Nick could as clear as day. He was shocked to see how small it was in there. This was not an apartment, this was a room. But she had managed to keep it incredibly clean, despite the lack of place. The alarm clock on her desk indicated 2 in the morning. He disabled the alarm. They couldn't reasonably be expected to work in four hours. He put Judy down on her bed. He felt the stupid urge to kiss her good night. He hesitated there a bit, appreciating how her complete trust in him allowed her to sleep while he watched her. Finally, he opted to tell her a simple "see you tomorrow, partner", dropped the keys on her side table, and locked the door's latch from the inside before exiting.


It seems like you will still have to wait for something to happen between those two... hang in there! ;) don't forget to comment, fav, follow, etc!