Chapter 3
Judy pulled into the tax office where Mr. Ligma had worked. Nick reached for his notebook and opened it up again.
"You ask the questions again, Officer Hopps?"
Judy smiled. "Yeah, hopefully these guys know something useful." She turned the car off and opened the door. "Well, this crime isn't going to solve itself, let's go Nick."
Judy and Nick walked over to the front doors. Nick tried to open the doors, but they were locked down.
"Maybe there is a call button." Judy observed the door trying to find the button.
"Here it is!" Nick stood by the call button that was just a few feet from the doors. He hit the button and a phone ringing noise was heard.
A faint, female voice answered. "Hello?"
Judy leaned into the mic. "This is the police, we have a few questions about Mr. Ligma."
"...oh okay let me open the door for you." A few seconds later the doors opened, revealing an office setting. Desks and computers were everywhere, and people were either talking on the phone, typing something, or both. Judy looked at Nick with a confused expression.
"Do any of you know Mr. Ligma?" Judy announced.
The workers peeked their heads from their desks and stared at Judy. "This feels like we are interrogating a bar…" Nick mumbed.
"I agree, but we still need to ask them questions." Judy whispered.
"Don't worry, we are the police." Nick announced. "We just need to know if any of you have details about Mr. Ligma's murder."
Out of response, a sheep stepped out of her office and approached Nick. "I have some information…" She mumbled nervously.
Nick quickly opened his notebook. Judy stepped in front of him and looked at the sheep. "Come follow us, do you know a place where we can talk?"
The sheep looked around. "I do know a place, we have a garden out back." She pointed at a glass door. "Just through that door, nobody goes out there." She led Nick and Judy towards the door.
The garden looked very peaceful. Roses and tulips were greeting the officers as they walked on the brick path. A large fountain was in the center with cement benches surrounding it. Nick and Judy both took a seat next to each other on a bench followed by the sheep sitting on a bench across from them.
"What's your name?" Judy asked.
"My name is Tammy." The sheep explained. "I am Mr. Ligma's co-worker, we are good friends."
Nick jotted down what Tammy had just said. Judy continued with the questions.
"When was the last time you have seen Mr. Ligma?"
Tammy thought for a moment. "At work the other day."
Nick wrote down what she said. "Did you notice anything weird that day?" Judy asked.
"Well...yes." Tammy thought for a moment. "He seemed shaky when he came to work, he said something about someone wanting to hurt him."
Nick pressed hard into the notebook with his pen. Judy leaned in closer. "Do you know who this person is?"
"His friend, Jamal." Tammy explained. "Jamal is an ex-employee of ours. He was fired last month for threatening employees. Him and Mr. Ligma were good friends."
"Where is this Jamal? Do you know?"
Tammy shook her head. "I'm sorry, I haven't seen him in a month." Tammy dug into her black purse and found a slip of paper. She handed it to Judy. "This is his address, I have no idea if he still lives here, but it may help you find out where he is."
Judy accepted the slip of paper. "Thank you so much, Tammy."
"One more thing." Tammy added. "Mr. Ligma and his wife had been fighting recently. She has been coming into the office and yelling at him recently. I just thought I'd tell you."
Judy looked at Nick while Nick wrote what Tammy had just said down. "It's always the wife." Nick mumbled under his breath.
Judy shook hands with Tammy and they all went inside. Tammy showed the two officers to the door and they left for their car. Judy unlocked the car and Nick jumped into the passenger side, followed by Judy hopping into the driver's side.
"Jamal...why Jamal? That sounds so odd." Judy explained to Nick.
"I'm not sure, based on what Tammy had said I'm leaning towards the wife."
Judy tapped her fingers on the wheel. "Well, his wife stated that they had no problems with their marriage…except for financial problems."
Nick dropped his mouth open. "Wait, how much is Mr. Ligma worth?"
Judy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Well, when a person dies their insurance company pays the closest relative the amount of money they are worth." Nick explained. "In this case, Mrs. Ligma would have received all of his money. Some spouses kill for this reason."
Judy sighed. "Well Nick, that's a good guess, but we have no solid proof they even HAVE insurance."
"Could we find out?"
Judy thought for a moment. "Well, let's just not rule Mr. Jamal as a suspect yet. He may actually provide us with some useful evidence, especially since he was a close friend of Mr. Ligma."
"Should we head over there now?" Nick wondered.
Judy started the car. "No, we need to take this to the chief and see what he says. I don't want us getting fired, ya know?"
"I agree. Let's go check with the chief."