TRICKS AND TREATS: CHAPTER 3.
The next morning.
The entire Barbara's family, including Judy and Nick, were at the moment around of the the kitchen table eating the pancakes with strawberry jam or cornflakes with the milk and sugar for the breakfast while watching the portable TV.
All the bunnies around of the table, save for Barbara and Judy, and including a certain fox, had a bit sleepy expression on the faces as their ears had dropped down behind of their heads as they ate their breakfast.
And during of their breakfast, Judy told to Barbara's children about the best events in her life back in her childhood.
For example the one moment back in Judy's old childhood school, their class had once received the visit from two police officers, african lion officer named Leo and female goat officer named Djali, from Bunnyburrow's Police Department to explain to the young students in Judy's class some details about being police officer and the police officer's job both in the big cities like Zootopia and in the countrysides like Bunnyburrow, including showing to the students some police officers goods, such like the officer's walkie talkie, unloaded elephant tranquilizer pistol and the hand-cuffs, showing some videos of the police officers tasks, such like dealing with the speedster, drunks and improperly behaving mammals, action-filled chases by foot or car after the criminals and even into the protective raid armor dressed police officers raids to the the nest of dangerous criminals and yet even showing the police officers vehicles from closer.
It was back then Judy's best school day ever, she had even dressed into her officer outfit for the day during the officers visit.
However, Gideon had once again tried to ruin her day by asking from the officers, intentionally to Judy's chagrin, that has there ever been any bunny cops in the police force... ending up to the same answer Judy had heard from her parents earlier after her Carrot Days Talent Show.
There's never been a bunny cop.
However, Gideon's attempt to deliberately annoy Judy had backfired at him, as both the police officers, despite their answer that no rabbit has ever been a cop and unlike the officers in ZPD on Judy's first day at the force, actually took interest of Judy's outfit and were even more interested of her after Judy had revealed her deep dreams to be one day the police officer just like them. Leo and Djali had then, moved by Judy's dreams and the whole class's surprise, including much to Gideon's shock, encouraged her to keep going towards her dreams and one day she would make history... and make the world a better place.
And Judy had also told to the police officer about the incident with Gideon, after he had stolen from her friends some tickets which had prompted her to stand for her friends against Gideon like the police officer and with the very same police officer outfit she was wearing back on that day, for what, as well as for her bravery to stand against the bigger animal - whose species happened to be her own species natural enemy - the officers gave their congratulations for her...
...and, with the will to backfire Gideon with the really hard, Judy had also revealed to the officers the scars she had got from Gideon's claws on her left cheek, the officers, disgusted of what Gideon had done, turned their stern looks at the fox immediately and scolded him with the stern tone of voice...
"You should thank your luck that she wasn't adult yet nor yet police officer when you did that fox! Because if she was, we would have a full right to arrest you for the physical assault... against a police officer!"
Back in the present day, when Gideon has fully redeemed himself in the eyes of the rabbits, Judy still giggled heartily to the memory of Gideon's shocked faces after hearing the stern words out of the police officers mouths.
Also entire bunny family and Nick joined to her giggle as well.
"Hush! There's a news in TV!" Tagalong said as she turned the voice louder in TV.
In the news, the snow leopard Fabienne Growley and the moose Peter Moosebridge were right now about to tell to watchers about the latest news.
"Good morning from ZNN, Zootopia. First and foremost, there's been the break in in the Shopping Paradise the last night before ten o'clock. The buglar managed to hack into the buglar alarm's system to shut it down and break in through the class doors in the old way." Fabienne briefed the watchers.
This got Nick's and Judy's attentions.
"In the Shopping Paradise? But we two were at there at that time of the night. How could we managed to miss this robbery?" Nick asked in disbelief.
Then, Fabienne turned to Peter, who continued by his turn.
"The buglar managed to shut down the most of the security cameras from outside and inside before entering the building… but the security camera in the Shopping Paradise's candy shop managed to catch the culprit in the act."
"Candy shop, eh? Well, the present-day's buglars are beginning to go a bit too childishly by robbing the candies." Judy said and was about to and was about to giggle to her little joke, until…
"And what we're seeing. Isn't the burglar herself officer Judy Hopps from ZPD, stealing the chocolate bars for the elephants from the shop. This is the dark day for the law and order." Peter briefed as the screen changed showing all of them the bunny looking like Judy stealing one walnut chocolate bars from the shop and ran away.
Out of great surprise once hearing this, Skippy, Sis, Tagalong and all nine little rabbits instantly spit all their cornflakes and milk - and the coffee in Nick's case - out from their mouths to the table and Judy and Barbara both gasped in shock after seeing this. All of them could not believe their eyes what they just saw in TV through of the security camera's recorded video… especially Judy, as her eyes had widened out of shock and ears jumped upwards like the rockets.
Then, all of their eyes turned to Judy.
"Carrots, have you something to say about this?" Nick said in disbelief.
It took a bit when Judy recovered from her shock and looked Nick into the eyes.
"I… I don't…" Judy said, with the difficulty to find a words.
"Judy… aunt Judy. Why… why did you do that?" Skippy asked in disbelieving tone as well.
"I… I don't know." Was all what Judy could say.
Then Barbara stepped towards Judy.
"Judy Hopps! I know that I am your friend and not of course your mother, but I'm gonna say this still. How dare you to do such of thing? You're a cop and you're supposed to protect and serve this city and arrest the robbers, not rob the stuff yourself." Barbara said with a quite scolding tone.
Judy's eyes turned from Barbara to her children, Skippy, Sis and Tagalong and their siblings who were all looking at her. She sensed the disbelief but also a hint of deep disappointment from all of them.
"I-I don't know… I-I of-of course visited in the candy shop but-but I don't remember anything like that… I was-I was the outside from the Shopping Paradise, b-before that even happened." Judy said in shock and quickly ashamed although she did not remember anything of that from the last night.
Nick then went next to his bunny friend and landed his paw on Judy's shoulder.
"Don't you really remember anything like that, Carrots?"
Judy, still in shock and in slowly upcoming shame lowered her head and only shook her head as an answer.
"No, no I don't, Nick. All what I do remember is that someone from the dark alley called me from behind of my back cute after I exited from the Shopping Paradise, until everything just went black in my eyes and I found myself rubbing my head on the ground and you next to me... including my shopping bags and all the food I bought from Shopping Paradise lying in the ground. That's all what I remember."
Then the screen changed to the front of the Shopping Paradise, where the police had closed the area for the investigation. Before the camera was standing Panda News Anchor holding mike on his paw.
"Right now, in the Shopping Paradise, ZPD is investigatin the area around of the Shopping Paradise and the watchers of the news, who are gathered in here, are surprised and shocked about the security camera's footage. They're all in disbelief after seeing our famos and popular ZPD officer Judy Hopps, who solved nearly two years ago the Night Howler Incident, stealing candies from the candy shop. Some of the citizens refuse to believe that it was herself Judy Hopps and claims it to be some other mammal, with the same size with the certain rabbit officer, in the rabbit costume trying to frame our popular officer. But there's also some mammals who greatly believe the officer Judy Hopps to be the culprit of this robbery." Panda news anchor said in the mike.
The screen changed to fallow deer woman, who was holding her son from the arm as she was speaking to the mike.
"I cannot believe it. Our hero cop who saved the whole Zootopia from that evil Bellwether, condescended to do something like this." Fallow deer woman said in disbelieving tone and lifted her son to the air to speak to the mike.
"How could she?" The fallow deer boy said the voice full of disbelief and disappointment.
The screen changed to tiger. Unfortunately, the tiger was revealed to be the owner of the Shopping Paradise.
"We all were once fooled by the innocent- friendly and sweet-like appearance. Now we were fooled again… and this time by the cop, our city's law protector and even by our hero cop. If she is watching the news right now, I'll let her know that from now she has been sentenced to ban from the Shopping Paradise." The tiger said with the bitter tone, much to Judy's dismay.
The screen changed to the squirrel family.
"Stealing now the walnut chocolate bars meant for the elephants, which is also my children's favorite chocolate? How could our favorite cop do such of like that after the great servant she did to our beloved city." The mother squirrel said to the mike.
The screen changed to the grizzly bear.
"I could not believe my own eyes what I saw from the corner of the streets. The rabbit like her hacking into the burglar alarm's system and then smashing her way in the Paradise Shop." Grizzly said to the mike.
The screen changed to the sheep.
"Unbelieveable but true… I saw that it was her when I was passing the Shopping Paradise." The sheep said.
The screen then screen turned into the wolverine, who had the Shopping Paradise's guard's outfit.
"I was knocked from behind to my head, but I managed to saw the exact features of our certain bunny cup before everything went dark in my eyes and mind." Wolverine said to the mike.
All these comments from the mammals only encouraged Judy's feel of guilty and lowered her good mood.
"Well, at least, there's not yet reason for the mob against Judy Hopps for stealing one chocolate bar but also causing some damages to the class doors and the burglar alarm system security camera system. We do not yet know that is the famous and popular cop like Judy Hopps became the burglar or not and that's why were speaking with the chief of ZPD." Panda said as he turned to the mammal who was standing next to him.
Then finally the screen turned to the chief Bogo himself, which caused Judy to gasp and swallow in shock as she waited her fate on the screen.
"I'm doomed. I'm definitely doomed. Chief's gonna kill me for this."
"Chief Bogo, how do you react to this news?" Panda asked.
Bogo at first cleaned his throat and sighed before he started to speak.
"This is quite… quite unfortunate and unexpected new, that one of my finest cops has decreased to steal but we're not yet sure was it really her. Right now, Detective Oates is investigating this case. He has found the footsteps from the crime scene which has been already analyzed as rabbit's footsteps. He is right now going to visit with the search warrant in every home of the rabbits of the nearby neighborhoods of the area… just in case to make sure that there could be someone else rabbit who did this. if the culprit to the burglary is really the officer Hopps, I demant her to pay visit in ZPD and on my office immediately… after her possible arrest!" Bogo said.
"Thank you, Chief Bogo." Panda said and turned back to the screen.
Judy slowly lowered her head and ears down.
"Just as I said. I'm doomed. I'm definitely doomed." She murmured in the shame.
Skippy, after seeing how badly the news offended Judy's spirit who cannot take that anymore, shut the whole TV down
Knowing that she was already doomed, Judy, without saying a word nor looking at anyone on the table anymore, exited from the table to the living room and collapsed to the armchair dispirited and ears against the back of her head.
Later on that morning.
The clock approached at eleven o'clock and Judy did not even move from the chair for hours, neither even spoke to anyone, even to Nick, who watched her from behind the corner with his eyes full of feeling pity for Judy, his best rabbit who was now facing the ultimate downfall.
Later onthe day, after at two o'clock...
There was the heavy knock in the door, alerting the bunny family that somebody was behind of the door waiting for somebody to come open it.
Barbara went to open it to check that who it was, only to get suddenly startled and gasped out of surprise after finding a large horse standing behind of the door.
"My apologizes for disturbing you, Mrs. Barbara." The horse said and pulled out a badge from his pocket.
"Detective Oates from ZPD. Some witnesses of the robbery in the Shopping Paradise have seen Judy Hopps coming right here in the last night with her fox partner Nicholas Piberius Wilde. Happens the certain duo to be at home of yours right now?" Oates asked.
Barbara sighed deeply before she moved aside.
"Both of them are here. Come inside, Mr. Oates."
"Thank you, lady." Oates said and stepped in.
Because he was a horse, he had to walk a slightly bowed and hunched because the rabbit houses were not built for the animals in his size, which made him a bit clumsy as the horse tried to watch himself from breaking anything even by accident...
Barbara walked ahead, leading the horse to the living room, where Nick was sitting next of Judy, holding her from her paws in order to somehow to comfort her.
Suddenly, much to both's sudden surprise, their both attentions turned to Barbara, who stepped into the living Room Oates right behind of her tail.
"Judy, Nick, you got a visitor." Barbara said and stepped aside to witness the situation.
Because the living room was nearly big enough for Oates, because of the upstairs and towering floors and the air space in the middle of them, Oates was able to a bit stand upright.
After which, the horse turned his full attention to the rabbit and fox duo in front of him.
"Officers Hopps and Wilde." Oates said seriously.
Nick quickly stood up and saluted at the detective, but Judy, whose mood was still down from the sudden news, did her own salute to the detective horse a much slower that what Nick did and didn't even raised her eyes to look at him.
Oates saw that very clearly.
"Is officer Hopps sick?"
Nick took the look at Judy, before the fox officer went next to her and gently delivered Oates's question in the form of whisper into her left ear, to which Judy answered by shaking slowly her head.
Nick then turned back to Oates.
"Not really, Detective Oates. She's just... depressed... and she has been in that state since the morning news we watched this morning, spending her time only sitting in the very same chair, not bothering to stand up from it." Nick answered, but with his normal humble tone of voice while hidding at the same time his every minute growning concern for Judy, because while spending most of the day by sitting in the very same chair in shame and confusion without eating or saying anything or even talking to anyone, from Oates.
However, Oaten kept his own tone of voice as serious yet cold and uncompassionate.
"So, she knows about what happened the last night in the Shopping Paradise, does she?"
Nick was about to answer until Judy, finally, spoke first.
"All what I remember, Detective Oates, is that someone appeared out from the dark alley and called me cute, making me turn around to him until everything went black and I found myself on the ground." Judy said, without even looking at Oates nor Nick.
"And what is odd, nothing has been robbed from her." Nick added.
Oates rubbed his chin for while as he pondered what he had heard from the duo.
"Well, at least you saw from a television the security camera's footage, filming you hacking into the Shopping PÅaradise's security system and breaking through of the doors class and breaking into the Shopping Paradise and stealing from its candy shop the walnut chocolate bar and running away with the bar into the night, after the Shopping Paradise was closed for that day. How do you answer to that?"
Now Judy partially jumped out from the chair and locked her eyes to Oates' own eyes, with the desperate expression on her face.
"I saw that footage from a television too, but I'm trying to be honest in your eyes by telling to you this that I don't remember anything of that. I exited from the Shopping Paradise before it was closed for the day before I was ambushed in the nearby alley, I don't even like walnut chocolate and I eat the candies only rarely."
Oates pondered yet again these claims briefly, before he spoke again.
"So you claim that you had nothing to do about the robbery, despite you've been seemingly caught in front of the security camera?" Oates asked seriously.
Nick spotted Skippy, Sis and Tagalong witnessing the stituation from the door of their bedroom, excitement and worried about that how this stituation might end. With a gesturing of the paws, Nick ordered them to go back to their room and wait there until the adult things would be over.
Despite being a bit reluctant to do so, they eventually retreated back to their room.
Nick's attention turned then back to the stituation.
"We'ell, I don't know how to answer that after seeing myself in the footage video. Detective Oates, but…"
Oates, however, interrupted him before he could even finish what he was about to say.
"You know the law as the cop, Hopps, and the cop's duty is to protect and serve the city, its residents, law and order. Well, you just broke the law by stealing the bar from the Shopping Paradise, and maybe even lying right now to the bureaucracy. For example, if you claim that you have nothing to do about the crime in the Shopping Paradise, why then you have something brown in your fingers?"
Judy quickly checked her fingers, and to her horror, she saw something brown in the fingers' fur.
Nick quickly grabbed from Judy's left arm and lifted her soft paw in the same level with his nose and sniffed the brown thing from her fingers.
"Walnut chocolate." Nick said with the worried expression on his face, which also worried Judy.
"Now, if you excuse me, officer Wilde."
Oates then kneeled down front of Judy and grabbed from her ankle. Then he took out the wax mold and placed it in under of Judy's foot sole, before he pressed her foot against the surface of the paper.
Then he took the wax mold off and took out another paper, in which was the rabbit's footsprint
"Does this looks familiar? This very footsprint on the paper was taken from the crime scene."
Then he took out plastic bag which contained a hacking device... which Judy didn't recognize.
"We also analyzed this in the laboratory the last night, and we found fingerprints that belongs to you, officer Hopps." Oates said.
Judy was overwhelmingly ashamed, confused and desperated after seeing the evidence against her.
"Seemingly the thief of the Shopping Paradise has been successfully found." Oates said as he stood back up and took out bunny-sized handcuffs, seeing of which Judy lowered her head really down in shame and confusion.
"I'm sorry, Officer Judith Laverne Hopps, but you're under arrest for the burglary. But at first, we visit in chief's office in ZPD's headquarters before placing you into the custony." Oates said and stepped towards Judy in order to put her in the handcuffs.
Barbara, Nick, Skippy, Sis and Tagalog, all of them watched aside in shock, helplessly and in desperation as Oates put the handcuffs on Judy's wrists and was about to take her away from the house.
Suddenly…
"Uh, no."
The voice came from Nick's location. Both Judy and Oates and also Barbara's family turned to Nick.
"What did you said, officer Wilde?" Oates questioned with the annoyed voice, because he usually hated the interruptions, unless he didn't do them by himself.
Nick took the serious expression on his face and took one stand ahead towards Oates and handcuffed Judy.
"Sorry, Detective Oates… but what I said was "NO!" She will not come with you in the handcuffs."
Both Judy and Oates were quite confused about this, but this also lit a spark in Judy's depressed mind and heart.
This reminded Judy for the moment over one and half years ago after being attacked by savaged Mr. Manchas in the Rainforest District, when Nick had stood up for her with support and protection when chief Bogo had wrongfully demanded her to resign from ZPD Force by taking off her badge, which she nearly did if Nick had not come between of them, berating the ZPD officers and the chief himself with the extremely cold and scolding tone in front of their very nose for seemingly deliberately setting Judy up to fail with the extreme lack of resources, help and time in her first case which they had themselves failed to solve in over two weeks, demanding for her another chance for the case. A small smile visited on Judy's lips as she remembered how Nick managed to disarm chief Bogo and his officers from the words, with which they would have attempted to defend their actions, leaving them no chance to say anything back and probably even leaving them both speechless and probably even into the shame out of realization that Nick was more than just right, despite Nick being the fox, whose species is in the extreme lower spot in the social system.
But now, Judy was quite confused and she was wondering that how Nick was gonna defend and support her now after he had himself saw the security camera's footage video from TV on this morning.
"And why I can't officer Wilde? She is soon-to-be ex-cop than has turned into wrong side of the law, making her as a criminal. Didn't you saw the footage in the news?" Oates asked, quite annoyed for Nick's intervention despite being himself too the police officer of ZPD
"Yes, I did see it. But, it just oddly reminded me about the Night Howler Incident, when that nasty Yakkity Yak jailsheep Bellwether created that Night Howler serum to turn the every predator in entire Zootopia into feral mindless savages in order to remove them from the public and framed the fellow ex-mayor Lionheart, despite he actually committed to the illegal kidnapping and imprisoning of the savaged predators, in order to take his place as the mayor of Zootopia and continue her evil scheme to destroy the peace and harmony of Zootopia and the all predators… and with the help of Judy's foolish speech in the press conference back then… she almost succeeded if it hadn't been for me and Judy to expose and make the end to her evil goals." Nick reminded with the serious tone.
Now Oates was totally confused.
"I know that very well, but how it is related to this when it is already a few months after that case?" Oates asked.
"Well, because Judy does not remember her being part of that crime in the Shopping Paradise in any way, as all what she said to be able to remember is that after exiting from the Shopping Paradise, someone ambushed her in the nearby alley and called her with the C-word from behind of her back, from which Judy does not like if the one calling her with C-word is not a bunny, and she turned around to see who had called her with that word until the world in her eyes and mind went black. And after that, she found herself on the ground… mysteriously to her, between of eight o'clock and ten o'clock to which she doesn't have any reasonable explanation."
Oates rolled her eyes and let out the deep sigh of frudtation, but managed to keep himself calm.
"What's that supposed to mean, Wilde?"
Nick took a new stance.
"That means… that maybe someone - who ambushed Judy on her way back here and called her with C-word to have her attention - somehow forced Judy to make his or hers dirty work for her to frame Judy as criminal instead of him- or herself to avoid getting both tracked down and caught. Even though I don't know who did so nor how he or she did it." Nick explained shortly.
From Oates eyes and expression on his face, Nick knew that Oates didn't either believe him or he believed that Nick was already attempting to act as her lawyer… even though being a fox with the lower place in the animal kingdom's social system.
"You're telling me, Wilde. That is just a guess, right?"
"More likely… theory for the happenings… and yes, it's also guess. But maybe there's more in the crime scene than just footprints and the hacking device with Judy's fingersprints." Nick responded.
Oates looked now at Nick like he was about to ask from himself "What clues he then has left unnoticed from the crime scene, if Nick believes so?" but Nick did not give him a chance to ask when he already spoke over his words.
"If you would just give her a bit of a reprieve, I'm gonna find out what really happened the last night before and during the crime in the Shopping Paradise's candy shop, to which Judy does not believe or remember herself to been involved in any way. No matter how long this will take, I'll take responsibility for the whole case, as she took the full responsibility over her very first own… with the fox officer's word of honor." Nick said raising his paw like he did back in the Junior Scouts as the little cub before being prejudiced and traumatically bullied by the prey scouts.
Oates was still quite unsure to hand over this case to the paws of fox, who defended Judy's supposed yet at the moment doubted innocence despite having saw the footage of Judy Hopps robbing the candy shop, even though he was a cop and tasked to hunt/track down the criminals and catch them.
"Who's then gonna inform this to Bogo, if she does not come with me, Officer Wilde?" Oates demanded to know.
"I'll call him and tell him that I took part of this case in defense for Judy's innocence." Nick said, winking his eye at Judy.
Though a bit reluctant, but also seeing that Nick wanted to take this case into his paws with the stubborn yet obsession-like will to protect Judy's innocence and her job, Oates eventually but yet silently agreed to let go off Judy... but he remained to still is considering the whole matter seriously.
Of course Nick did with Judy the great servant for the whole city the last time when it was nearly driven into the chaos during of the Night Howler plague... meaning that there was not doubt that he probably won't do that again, but he still had his own doubts.
Oates then let the deep sigh escape from his mouth and kneeled down to remove the handcuff from Judy's wrists.
"Very well, Officer Wilde. Judy gets a reprieve you asked for her, but it is not yet enough to clean her name in public." Oaten informed.
"You are involved in investigation, but with my terms!" Oates declared, which caught Nick's full surprised attention.
"To clean soon-to-be ex-officer Judy Hopps's name in the public, you're gonna work on your own and with the resources that has been gaven to you."
"And if you do not find anything suspecting that is able to prove soon-to-be ex-officer Judy Hopps as innocent before over twelve o'clock at the Halloween night, the footprints and hacking device with soon-to-be ex-officer Judy Hopps fingerprints will be used against her in court and she will be sentenced in accordance with the law to imprisonment for burglary." Oates declared.
Nick was now quite shocked about this.
"Before over twelve o'clock at the Halloween night? Imprisonment for burglary? C'mon, Oates. Burglary, it is a serious crime of course but not that big and serious crime like the murder, kidnapping, widespread illegal mafia-activity nor the terrorist activity, that from it will be sentenced into imprisonment. Besides, it's just two days left to Halloween. It would took me a bit less than a week before I got this solved if I do it alone. With Judy it would take from me… I mean, from us… two days." Nick attempted to protest.
Oates then leaned, almost like threatingly, towards Nick with the extremely harsh expression on his face.
"You think that I like this myself, do you, fox?!" Oates asked with the loud and stern tone of voice.
"Crime is still a crime, and Judy has to bear the responsibility and the consequences for breaking the law by stealing from the Shopping Paradise, despite the fact that you claim it to be a frame up against her... and you know that the only words aren't good evidence enough to prove her innocence! There's only a objects found in the crime scene and the fingerprints in them. And my job is take the criminals, no matter how serious each crime is, into the custody. And it is your job as well, Officer Wilde." Oates said.
"And... remember that this whole big thing was your VERY OWN big idea and that you can't make it undone anymore, officer Wilde. You wanted to solve that case to prove officer Hopp's innocence and now you got the chance to it. Besides, you said that "no matter how long this case could take, I'll solve it" didn't you?"
And with this, Nick slapped his paw over his faces, having realized that he had accidentally gave to Oates a upper paw... or in the case of Oates, as he was a horse... upper hoof.
"Me and my big mouth." Nick complained, berating himself for being such of dumb fox.
"And as the prime suspect, offiucer Hopps has no right to take part in this. Some witnesses near of the crime scene in the last night told me seeing the fox like you with her after the crime in the Shopping Paradise happened... So do not give me any reason to bring charges against you for trying to defend the criminal like you were part of it." Oates said with the threatening tone.
"Am I clear, officer Wilde?"
Nick took a quick look at Judy, and Judy looked back at him.
Nick sensed clearly the trust in Judy's eyes, as well as a disappointment that she was forbidden to help Nick in this case, knowing all too well that all alone Nick would never get close to the real fiend of this case... just like she would have never solve her first cases without Nick's support and help.
And knowing that Oates had the upper hoof and the false evidences against Judy and knowing that Judy trusted him with all her heart, Nick wouldn't help but let out the sigh out of ultimate defeat... before he looked back at the stern-looking horse.
"Yes it is." Nick said with the nervous nod.
"Fourty-eight hours, Wilde. Only fourty-eight hours. Before over twelve o'clock at the Halloween night. And you better to find a real suspect within fourty-eight hours or else your partner will be your ex-partner, as well as soon-to-be ex-cop and the prison inmate instead. Deal?" Oates said and extended his hoof-fingered gand at Nick, waiting for Nick to shake it as an agreement.
Although Nick hesitated at first to shake it, he knew that he was doing this for Judy and her innocence, so he grabbed with his own paw from Oates hoofed hand.
"Deal."
"Good-luck then… officer Wilde. You better get to work, the clock is ticking and you are already twelve hours out of time." Oates said and turned around towards the door of the house in order to leave.
"I assume that you want me to keep you up to date by calling you if I find something suspecting which would help me to proceed clue after clue in this case, right?" Nick quickly asked after Oates before the horse detective reached to the door.
Oates snorted out of annoyance after hearing that, but turned around in the narrow space to look at Nick nonetheless.
"Only, and I mean it, ONLY, if you find something suspecting, what you can use to prove your partner's innocence in this case. Otherwise, don't you dare to waste my time by calling me to home time after time."
Nick nodded, with the annoyed and disgusted expression on his face due of Oates attitude, as he turned his back at the horse and crossed his arms.
"Seriously, he sounds definitely like the horse version of our beloved grupy chief-Buffalo-Butt. Great! An another chief Bogo was what we needed." Nick quietly and sarcastically murmured as Oates was about to leave the house.
Suddenly, Oates stopped right when he had grabbed from the door handle and was about to open the door to leave from the house, until he closed the door again and returned back to the living room... much to Nick's dismay.
"What is it now?" The fox officer asked, a bit annoyed that the grumpy horse wasn't gone as he was supposed to.
"I almost forgot one thing. I need someone to compensate for the damage caused by burglary in the Shopping Paradise." Oater said, as the horse detective took out from his jacket's pocket the bill paper and handed it over to Nick.
"And because Mrs. Barbara is out of all of this, this will not fall into her paws. But because this whole thing was your idea and that soon-to-be ex-officer Hopps is your soon-to-be ex-partner, officer Wilde, I believe that maybe you will be the one to compensate for the damage caused by her." Oates added.
Nick took the look at the bill and his eyes widened in shock.
"By my tail! You gotta be kidding me! Three-hundred-bucks compensation for the damages... and yet it was just a bunny-sized hole in the glass-doors?!" The fox officer shouted in disbelief.
"Including the extra-space for the chocolate bar meant for the elephants, and yet the glass of those doors was a quite an expensive material. Besides, If you break so you pay." Oates said with the sly grin on his face.
Meanwhile at elsewhere.
There was the little house, which was located in the Meadowlands, outside of the city of Zootopia. The house's area was circled with the barred fence and there was empty swimming pool next to the house.
It was the home, and hideaway, to the same person who had called Judy with the "C-word" the last night he had encountered Judy...
...and right now, he was quite happy and eager in his house.
"Wonderful, wonderful! This much goodies! Hihihii. Dr. Nermal is genius!" Nermal said eagerly as he watched his "collection" gathered onto his table.
There was a huge pile of differend candies. There was dozens, maybe even a hundreds of pick and mix candies like fruit candies, paper candies, different caramels, chocolate raisins, fruit candy straps, toffee caramels, liquorice, marshmallows, mint truffles, marmalade balls, various colored animal-shaped gummy candies, various different Lollipops, chocolate bars and plates and dozens of different candy bags and so on.
They were all Dr. Nermal's loot from the last night and now he was greedily eating it with the smile on his face and the area around of his mouth and the top of his fingers covered by the melted chocolate.
"Bah, about the toothache, toothpaste, toothbrushes and tooth trolls!" Nermal arrogantly and recklessly declared, clearly showing that he did not care about his own oral hygiene and maintenance of his own teeth.
He just tuck away the candies as much as he wanted… following proverb.
"Enough just isn't never enough."
Soon, after eating more than half of the pile of candies for many hours, Dr. Hermal stood up from his seat and walked out from the room with his jacket's pockets full of chocolade bars and holding on his paw a huge half-eaten lollipop with the nasty grin on his muzzle.
"And what's the best of all… because tomorrow is Halloween, meaning the entire Zootopia is full of the candy-begging brats."
Then Nermal walked near the edge of the swimming pool.
"And when the begging begins… Dr. Nermal's little sweethearts will bring to Dr. Nermal even more and more candies. Nermal said as he watched down into the swimming pool, which bottom was filled with the dozens and dozens five-, seven-, eight and nine-years old mammal children, so predator like prey mammals...
...for example shrews, antelopes, armadillos, badgers and honey badgers, bats, beavers, black, grizzly and polar bears, black-footed ferrets, boars, camels, buffaloes, cheetahs, cougars, elephants, gazelles, gerbils, giraffes, goats, groundhogs, hamsters, hippoes, hyenas, horses, jaguars, kangaroos, koalas, leopards and snow leopards, lions, mices, mooses, opossums, otters, oryxes, pandas, panthers, pigs, porchupines, raccoons, rats, red pandas, rhinos, sheeps, squirrels, three-toed sloths, tigers, warthogs, weasels, wildebeest, woodchucks, wolverines, wombats, yaks, zebras... even rabbits, foxes and other wolves.
All of them were standing on their places in the bottom, groaning like their minds were empty and all of them had lifelessly greyed eyes like they were all either blind or even brainless zombies.
"Hihihihii! WITH MY ARMY, ALL CANDIES ON THIS HALLOWEEN WILL BE MINE!" Dermal evilly laughing declared, which was reinforced by the zombie-like mammal children's zombie-like moaning from the bottom of the swimming pool.
TO BE CONTINUED...