"Antoine Aurusen, Age 26. Works as a cab driver during the evenings but doesn't seem to have any other jobs. He's been cited for illegal gambling a few times in the past but has never been convicted for anything major."

Judy listened as Nick read the case file on the suspect Bogo had given them. They were on the way to the cab company where Antoine was employed to see if he was scheduled to work that night. If he showed up then they had enough to take him in for questioning at least. With both Miss Doe and her own description combined with the police sketches, they had managed to identify the suspect rather quickly. While there was nothing to suggest he would strike again, they still needed to get him off the streets and find out the full story.

"Any history of violence or anything like that?" Judy asked as she glanced over to her partner. Nick flipped through the file again before shaking his head.

"Nothing. Everything the ZPD has on him are misdemeanors at best. Doesn't seem like the type of guy that would suddenly jump to assault or kidnapping for no reason." The fox answered , but then frowned as if he didn't quite agree with himself.

"Maybe he got in too deep with some debts and needed a way to pay them off?" Nick suggested as he looked over to Judy. The bunny furrowed her brows as she kept her eyes on the road, but she was thinking about it too. After a moment of deliberation she shook her head in doubt.

"Miss Doe doesn't appear to have any family members or connections to anyone with a lot of money. I doubt he was going to try and use her as random. Besides, from what she said, he specifically approached her and seemed set on getting her to go with him. This sounds personal." The bunny assessed after reviewing everything they knew in her head. But according to the victim she had never seen him before and couldn't identify him by name. It was all confusing. Hopefully they would get some answers once they questioned Antoine's boss.

After a few minutes of driving they finally pulled up outside a building. From all the taxi cabs in the parking lot it was clear that this was their destination. Nick looked up at the sign as he got out of the cruiser. "Cheetah Express Taxi Service". The fox couldn't help but smirk at the name as he thought of a certain pudgy cheetah back at the station. "Maybe we should have gotten Clawhauser to come with us." He joked as he and Judy walked into the building. The bunny smiled as she elbowed the fox's leg.

"Yeah, maybe we should invite him for a ride along next time. Sitting behind that desk everyday can't be good for him."

The two shared a laugh before going inside.

"Antoine? He's a good worker. Always on time for his shifts and always asking for over time. Documents his entire route correctly as well and never just lets the meter run."

Judy and Nick listened as they were led to a backroom by a cheetah in a suit. He was the owner of the taxi service and had agreed to speak to them after seeing they were police officers. They gave each other a look as the cheetah opened a file cabinet where information on the service's employees were kept. After locating Antoine's file, he handed it over to Nick as Judy began to ask him some questions.

"Did Antoine seem any different these last few days? Like he was afraid of something?" The bunny asked. The cheetah thought for a moment as he stroked his chin with his paw, speaking slowly. "Not that I saw. He did call out for his shift last night which was a little surprising. But I assumed he had just been working too hard and needed a break." The cheetah answered. His response made Judy's ears twitched. The attack had happened yesterday morning, so if Antoine called out of work that could have meant he didn't want to be out in public. It sounded like the evidence against him was piling up.

"What about tonight? Is he scheduled to come in?" Judy asked the cheetah. He turned around and indicated they should follow him as he led them back down the hall to the front desk to check the schedule. There were a list of names of the taxi drivers and their shifts which he looked over carefully before turning back to the officer and shaking his head.

"He's not scheduled for tonight. But I can call him in if you want." The cheetah suggested, willing to cooperate with the police anyway he could. Judy thought for a bit before shaking her head. If the suspect was already jumpy then he might be suspicious if he were called in for work out of nowhere. Best to back off for now and come up with something else. She looked over as Nick walked up to them.

"This information accurate?" The fox asked, referring to Antoine's employee file. The cheetah looked it over himself before nodding. "It should be." He answered, causing Nick to pull out a pen and paper and write some stuff down and nodding to the cheetah. "Thanks for your help. Come on, Carrots. Let's say we go pay our pal a home visit." He held up his notepad, showing that he had written Antoine's address on it. Bidding farewell to the cheetah and thanking him for his help again, the two left to head back to their cruiser.

"Mr. Aurusen? Are you in there?"

Nick called out as Judy thumped against the door to an apartment. This was Antoine's address, but they had been knocking on the door and calling out for a few minutes now with no response. Either he wasn't in or didn't want to open the door. Judy gave a huff as she looked up at the door. Had she been a bigger animal Nick would have actually been worried she would try and break the door down. "Easy, Carrots. If he's in there he's not coming out. And we're not getting in without a warrant." Nick sighed as he rubbed his neck. Getting a warrant wouldn't be too hard at this point, but they would need to see a judge first which was just another timesink. Zootopia was huge and the longer they waited the easier it would be for Antoine to vanish somewhere and never be seen again. Hopefully he hadn't fled the main city yet or else finding him would be almost impossible without anymore leads. Judy crossed her arms as she huffed again.

"Well, what now? Any other leads we can follow?" She asked her partner. Nick flipped through his notes again but from his expression the news didn't seem like it was going to be good. "Doesn't have any family listed and according to his boss he wasn't really friends with anyone either. We're stuck unless someone else comes forwards." Nick said regretfully. Judy's nose wrinkled and he couldn't help but raise a brows as he smiled.

"You know. That actually is kind of c-"

"Don't, Nick. Not right now."

He was cut off as she held up a paw, causing him to shrug his shoulders as they turned away from the door. "Guess we should see about that warrant." The fox said as he reached into his pocket to pull out his shades and put the back on. Judy was about to say something but cut off as her phone began to ring. Seeing the caller ID, she motioned for Nick to be quiet as she answered the call.

"Officer Hopps speaking. What's up?"

Nick strained his ears as he tried to hear the conversation, but the voice was still a bit muffled over the phone and he couldn't make it out clearly. From Judy's expression, however, he could tell it wasn't good news. Judy disconnected the call with a grim expression as she looked over to her partner. "I'm going to guess that wasn't the station calling to tell us to turn in early because they caught the guy already, right?" He asked with a sigh as he opened to door to the cruiser and got into the passenger seat, looking over as Judy buckled in herself.

"There's been another attack." She said grimly. "This one a lot worse."

"Female goat. Age 31. Multiple wounds on her chest and neck caused by the claws of her attacker. Her attacker followed the same pattern as the last attack. The assault took place on a crowded street about an hour ago and they used the confusion and panic to get away before anyone could identify them accurately."

Judy and Nick sat across from a tired looking Bogo as he gave them the details of the latest attack. They had just gotten back to the station but had been immediately called in by the Chief since they were the lead officers on the case. The two were silent. They had thought that Antoine would lay low, not strike again in broad daylight especially when the police were actively looking for him. But it looked like he was bolder than they had expected. Well, either that or incredibly stupid.

"He has more guts than I thought. If the police were after me I wouldn't show my face for at least a week. Errr, not that the police have ever been after me or anything." Nick trailed off with a chuckle as Judy gave her partner a sideways glance. Bogo merely grunted as he fixed the fox with a serious stare. "Can it, Wilde. This is not the time." The buffalo snorted before giving a sigh.

"That Hornsby guy really put us on the spot with his showboating, and now we have another case. We need to handle this before word gets out. Did you two find Antoine?" The Chief asked them but they both shook their head regretfully.

"He wasn't at home and he's not scheduled to work tonight either. Unless we get some more information we have no idea where to look." Judy said in a low voice, disappointed that she couldn't give a more satisfactory answer. Bogo sighed again as he rubbed his temples. This was getting more and more complicated by the minute. "Was the latest victim able to identify Antoine as the attacker?" Nick asked, trying to contribute as much as he could. But Bogo shook his head. "She's still in shock after the attack and not in any condition to answer any question. We'll have to wait for her to calm down." The Chief informed them. Bogo straightened up with a serious expression on his face. As tiring as this was he did still have a duty to the citizens to protect them. They had to find out what was going on.

"Hopps. Wilde. I want the two of you to-" The Chief started to say but cut off as the door to his office opened suddenly. His eyes narrowed at the overweight cheetah in the doorway. "Not now, Clawhauser. I'm busy." The buffalo said with a bit of annoyance, which would usually be enough to get the receptionist to leave. But Clawhauser stayed in the doorway, fiddling with his claws nervously as he spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Chief. But you might want to turn on the TV…"

Bogo exchanged a look with Judy and Nick before reaching for the remote to turn on a TV he kept in the corner of his room. Since he spent time watching the news normally, it was already on the proper channel and it didn't take them long to see what was going on. "Oh no…" Nick groaned in irritation as he placed a paw to his forehead. It wasn't hard to see why. On the TV screen was a familiar elk giving another interview.

"It seems that the citizens of Zootopia really can't place their trust in the ZPD. Mere hours ago another member of my activist group was savaaagely attacked by another predator in broad daylight and police have still yet to make an arrest. This is unacceptable. Will it take an actual death or another city wide paaanic before something is done? This is exactly why predators need to be monitored more carefully."

They listened to the Southern elk drone on for several more minutes about his activist group and their goals before Bogo had enough and turned the TV off. There was a heavy silence in the room as they realized they had been thrown under the bus again. "I swear that guy gets more annoying every time I hear him." Nick mumbled, but no one was in a laughing mood.

"Hopps. Wilde. Go check Antoine's work again. Questions his boss and co-workers. Someone has to know where he is!" The Chief sighed. The two saluted him before getting up from their chairs and leaving the office with Clawhauser. Outside the three stood silently for a moment before Judy looked down regretfully.

"This is my fault. I shouldn't have let him get away yesterday." The bunny said in a low voice. Clawhauser gave a sympathetic look as he moved to pat her back. "Oh no, Judy. You can't blame yourself for that. If it weren't for you we may have not even been able to identify him." The cheetah tried to cheer her up. Nick normally would have cut in by now to try and cheer her partner up as well, but the fox was thinking deeply about something. "Come on." Clawhauser said with a smile. "Once you guys get some lunch I'm sure you'll be ready to have this solved before the end of the day!" The cheetah was still trying to cheer his friend up when Nick spoke up suddenly.

"Hey, Clawhauser. About how long ago was the second attack first reported?" Nick asked as he looked at the receptionist. Clawhauser looked confused for a second but then thought about the question before answering.

"I'm not exactly sure. Calls like that don't really go through me first or anything. But if I had to say...maybe about an hour? Or an hour and a half. I was watching a recording of Gazelle's last concert when I noticed everyone was kind of in an uproar." The pudgy cheetah answered carefully, not seeming to notice that he had just admitted to slacking off on the job. His answer only caused Nick to frown again. Judy looked at her partner carefully. What was he getting at? Her ears perked up as she suddenly caught on to where Nick was going with this.

"Wait a minute. If the attack happened that shortly ago and we haven't released any details…how did Hornsby know and how was he able to set up an interview so quickly?" Judy said as she looked to her partner. Nick smiled as his friend got on the same page as him.

"Even if the victim was part of the same group, I doubt they stay in contact 24/7. And Bogo himself said she wasn't in any condition to speak with anyone. Which means Horns-a-Lot had to have found out about the attack the same time the police did. And to set up an interview that fast too...that's a bit convenient, don't you think?" Nick and Judy exchanged a sly smile before lifting their paws and high-fiving each other.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Carrots?"

"Let's go pay Hornsby a little visit!"

Clawhauser watched the two with a look of confusion, not sure what they were talking about. "Clawhauser! Do you know where Hornsby's office is?" He blinked as Judy turned to him. "I can look it up when I get back to the desk. Why?" He started to ask but the two were already running down the hall.

"Great! Text it to me the address soon as possible!"

Judy called back before the two disappeared around the corner, leaving the confused cheetah behind. "Right! Alright, Clawhauser. This is your chance to shine!" The receptionist said with a sudden look of determination. Taking a deep breath he began to jog down the hall to get back to his desk faster. He barely made it to the end of the hallway before bending over and grabbing his gut, wheezing heavily from the sudden exercise.

"This the place?"

Nick asked as he and Judy got out of the cruiser. They were parked outside of a corner office in the Downtown District. They were in the section where most of the law firms did business, and sure enough the building they were outside of had "Charles Hornsby at Law" on a sign over the entrance. Below it was a smaller sign but still clear to make out. "For prey services only". Yeah, this was definitely the place.

A young doe with glasses looked up as the door opened. She smiled and began to welcome Judy, but upon seeing Nick next to her the smile dropped. "Can I help you?" She asked in a clipped voice, making it clear she was talking to Judy and not the fox. "We're here to see Hornsby. Is he in?" The bunny asked as she stopped in front of the desk. The doe gave a disgusted look as Nick leaned against the desk, giving her a smug smile. She turned her eyes away from him before answering Judy slowly.

"Do you have an appointment? Mr. Hornsby is very busy, especially with the recent news." The secretary answered, expecting that would be enough to turn them away. "Don't need one." Nick said as he pointed to the badge on his chest. "Horns-a-Lot may have information relevant to said cases, meaning that puts us at the top of any appointment list." Nick continued to smile, causing the secretary to glare at him. "Is he in or not, ma'am?" Judy asked again as she hopped up onto the desk, giving the doe a pointed stare. Even though the bunny was small her gaze was fierce, and the secretary balked for a moment.

Before she could answer there was a sudden 'crash' from down the hall, followed by muffled shouting. Judy and Nick looked at each other seriously before Judy jumped off the desk and the two started to run in the direction of the commotion. "Wait! Mr. Hornsby is with a client right now!" The doe tried to yell after them but it was too late. They paused outside of a door at the end of the hall which must have led to Hornsby office. More yelling could be heard from inside and the two pulled out their stun guns before nodding at each other. Together they lifted their feet and kicked the door open before storming in, weapons at the ready.

Hornsby was standing by a window, looking carefully at someone in front of him. The top of the desk was in disarray with papers and pens scattered everywhere. The reason for the chaos being a male jackal who was standing on the desk, fur bristling with anger as he jabbed a claw in the elk's direction. He wore an old cabbie hat and a faded yellow blazer, a black tie hanging loosely from his neck. A chair was laying on the floor, which must have been the source of the noise from earlier.

"This wasn't supposed to happen! Now the cops are after me….You set me up!" The jackal growled as he took a step forward on the desk, looking like he was about to pounce on the elk at any moment. He was so worked up so he didn't notice Nick and Judy come in, but Hornsby caught their eye for a brief moment before looking back to the jackal and speaking with careful composure. "I have no idea whaaat you're talking about." The elk said calmly, though he continued to back up carefully. Hornsby had several feet on the jackal but the jackal was still a predator, and his claws and teeth were sharp enough to do lasting damage. The two officers pointed their weapons at him.

"Freeze! This is the ZPD. Step down from the desk and put your paws up!"

Judy demanded, but her words fell on deaf ears. The jackal was too worked up to listen, hackles raised and fangs bared angrily. This was bad. He looked ready to attack and if he jumped suddenly they might miss their shots. She had to do something else. Nick saw his partner move out of the corner of his eye but there wasn't time to stop her. Judy returned her stun gun to her holster before quickly running around the side of the desk. She jumped into the air at the same time the jackal lunged at Hornsby. She was small, but her powerful legs and momentum gave enough her force to catch the jackal in the ribs with a kick, sending him flying in the other direction before sliding across the ground heavily. Before he could get up Nick was standing over him with his stun gun pointed at his back.

"Antoine Aurusen. You're under arrest for the suspected assault of two female victims. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law."

As Nick read the jackal his rights and started to cuff him, Judy brushed herself off before looking up at Hornsby. Despite the tense situation the elk was calmly fixing his tie and didn't seem to be traumatized by the near attack. In fact, he hardly looked worry at all from the moment the two entered the room. Did he know they would save him or was it something else?

"I suppose I should thaank you." The elk said shortly as he looked down at the officer. Judy was about to tell him that she was just doing her job when the elk spoke again. "Though if you had done your job in the first place it never would have escalated this far." He added on with his usual, snobby drawl, causing Judy's ears to droop a bit. "Are you alright, Mr. Hornsby?" She asked while keeping the disdain out of her voice. Even if she didn't like dealing with the elk and couldn't stand his views, he was still a victim in this situation. The elk brushed off his shoulder like the whole ordeal had been no big deal before nodding at the officer. "As you can see, I'm perfectly fine. Though if you had been a bit slower I would just be another victim on this...savage's list." He shot the last part towards the jackal, causing him to growl and gnash his fangs. Nick had a good grip on him so he couldn't go anywhere even though the jackal was a bit larger than the fox.

"Alright, alright. Take it easy buddy. Let's go." Nick said as he started to lead the captured suspect out of the room, leaving Judy with Hornsby. The bunny looked up at the elk who was watching the other two leave. "Mr. Hornsby, if you don't mind, we'll need you to come down to the station to answer some questions." She informed him in a level tone. The elk raised a brow as he looked down to her. "Why? I'm sure you don't need my testimony to help you do your job at this point." He said, still sounding ungrateful even though he was just rescued. Judy put her hands on her hips as she frowned a bit.

"No, but we do have some questions for you regarding the suspect and the previous cases. We believe you may have relevant information regarding the suspect's motives. You can come in on your own or we can bring you in now." She wasn't threatening him specifically, but it was clear she was putting the pressure on the elk. He stared at her for a moment before giving an annoyed sigh.

"Fine. I'll be there after I clear my schedule. Is that fine, officer?" The elk finally relented, causing Judy to give him a satisfied nod. "Be sure you get there as soon as possible." You said before hurrying to catch up with Nick. The elk watched her leave with an unreadable look in his eyes, but the moment he was sure she was gone he couldn't help a small smirk from appearing on his face.

Antoine, despite his young age, was a tired looking animal. He had dark rings around his eyes as if he hadn't slept in days, and the fur on his head was messy now that his hat was off. His clothes weren't dirty, but they were wrinkled and unkempt, implying he had just thrown them on without much care. He was sitting along in the interrogation room. From the other side of the one-way mirror, Bogo, Nick, and Judy were watching him carefully. Bogo looked at the sketch in his hand and then back at the jackal. It was a clear match.

"So this is the guy, huh?" The Chief asked the two. Judy nodded in confirmation. "The wallet he was carrying had his ID in it and it matched up as well. This is Antoine Aurusen alright." She said with confidence, causing the Chief to give a snort of approval before looking back at the suspect. "He doesn't look like the type of guy to commit assaults in broad daylight." The Chief said with a raised brow. Nick smirked in response. "You didn't see him in the office, Chief. He would have ripped Horns-a-Lot a new one if not for Carrots here. Though I think she should have waited just a little longer. You know, just to scare the Hornsmeister a bit." Nick said, ready for the Chief to reprimand him for the unprofessional comment, but the buffalo just gave a noncommittal nod.

"About Hornsby...what did he have to say about the whole thing?" Bogo asked the two. They had informed them of their suspicions and why they had called the elk in for questioning as well. He had left about a half hour ago after answering their questions and they didn't have anything else to hold him on. Judy shook her head.

"Not much. He insists he's never met Antoine before even though we clearly heard Antoine accuse Hornsby of setting him up. His secretary confirms that he was in the office at the time of the second attack, though she could be lying. According to her, Mr. Aurusen arrived at the office a few minutes before we did and demanded to see Hornsby." Judy recounted everything she had gotten from the elk and his secretary who had also been called in for questioning. Bogo grunted as he raised a brow. "And he met with a predator, why? He made it very clear on the news he doesn't agree with them, so I can't imagine him meeting with one in private." It was a good question, but Judy didn't have a satisfactory answer.

"He wouldn't say. Says it was lawyer-client privilege or something like that." The bunny answered. Nick chuckled. "So he's covering his own hide. Of course." Bogo nodded in agreement but there was nothing more to pursue there. "If we don't have anything linking them together specifically we'll have to leave that be for now. See if the two of you can get Antoine to spill anything else." The Chief commanded them. They gave him a salute before exiting the room, only reappear on the other side of the mirror. Bogo listened in as they began to question the suspect.

"Need a drink? I can imagine dealing with a blow hard like that must have been pretty suffocating." Antoine looked over as the door the room opened and the fox and bunny that arrested him walked in. The fox placed a cup on the table in front of him which he eyed cautiously as the two sat across from him. They had barely sat down before he spoke up quickly.

"I didn't mean to hurt that girl. She fell and my claws scratched her on accident. I got scared and ran because….well, you know how predators get looked at after that Night Howler thing."

Judy and Nick looked at each other with surprise at the sudden confession. They hadn't even started interrogating him and already he had admitted to being at the scene of the first attack. Though he was saying it was an accident. Not wanting him to clam up now, Judy gently tried to get him to continue before he requested a lawyer.

"If it were indeed an accident we'll take that into consideration. But we need to know, why did you approach the victim in the first place? She said you were really insistent that you come with her. Have you had any contact with her prior to that morning?" Judy asked, not trying to sound like she was pressuring him too much. The jackal thought for a moment before giving a sigh.

"No. I haven't." He admitted. Judy and Nick remained quiet as they waited for him to continue. He looked at the two with tired eyes before sighing again. "Look, I'm in a bad way with some even badder guys, okay? I owe them some money and was desperate. But he told me if I picked her up, then…" The two officers listened carefully. It sounded like he was about to reveal something important but the jackal suddenly tensed up, flexing his claws as he growled. He was still in cuffs but Nick and Judy discreetly reached for their weapons anyway as the jackal snarled.

"He set me up! He told me all I had to do was pick her up and then-!" Before the jackal could say any names he seemed to remember where he was and gave a sigh, all the energy leaving him. Judy leaned forward, trying to urge him to keep talking. "He? He who? Hornsby? Who set you up, Antoine?" She asked, but the jackal merely slumped forward and covered his head with his paws. They could barely hear him as he mumbled to himself.

"It doesn't matter. Scrofa is going to kill me for not having his money anyway. Maybe jail is for the best."

"Scrofa?" Judy looked over as Nick repeated the name. The fox's ears were standing at attention and he seemed to recognize the name. She would have to ask him about it when they were done, but for now she looked back to Antoine.

"What about the second attack? Were you told to get her too?" She asked, referring to the other attack that had been reported earlier. They had assumed it had been Antoine as well, but upon hearing about it the jackal looked up sharply. "Second attack?" He echoed. Before Judy could elaborate he got defensive, backing up in his chair and shaking his head.

"No, no! I said the first one was an accident! I didn't mean to hurt anybody so I have no idea about any other attacks. You're not pinning that on me! I want a lawyer!" He said the dreaded words, meaning the two had to stop their questioning. With a nod to Nick the two stood up before exiting the room. Bogo was waiting for them outside.

"That didn't tell us much. But at least we can link him to the first attack." The Chief said, though he didn't look completely happy. They weren't getting anything else out of Antoine now that he had lawyer'd up, so they would have to investigate something else he had said. "Who is this Scrofa he mentioned? Did that name come up in your investigation?" He asked. Judy shook her head. It was her first time hearing the name too. But Nick...The two turned to look at the fox.

"Nick. Do you know who Scrofa is?" Judy asked her partner. The fox was silent for a moment before giving the two a wry smile.

"Unfortunately." He said as he scratched his ear. "Remember how I said I know everyone? Well...not all of them are what I'd call friends. Let's just say Mr. Big isn't the only one I may have upset in the past."

Judy and Bogo listened with interest as Nick began to tell them what he knew about this mysterious Scrofa and how he may relate to the suspect, the mystery growing deeper by the moment.

A/N: Wow, thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews. Apparently this story has been mentioned on TVTropes. I never expected it would be that well received in such a short amount of time. I take all comments and criticism to heart and try to improve the best I can, so thanks for everyone's comment and support so far!

I tried to change up the writing style a bit this chapter since I've gotten some complaints about having new dialogue on separate lines instead of in the same paragraph. I do that because it make it easier to pinpoint when someone is talking, in my opinion, but I can see how it would confuse people. Hopefully things flowed a bit better this time. I try to keep grammar and spelling errors to a minimum as well, but there are some things I miss out on even when I re-read. I use google docs to type up my initial chapters and it doesn't quite catch everything. Some people have asked me if I were accepting a proofreader or beta reader and the answer is sure! I'm not sure how it works on this website but if anyone is interested feel free to drop me a line to work things out.

I'm a bit worried that I'm portraying things as too serious with all the police jargon and procedure and am missing a bit of the spirit of the actual movie. I want to show more scenes with Nick and Judy off duty that are a bit more lighthearted and comical, but wanted to set up the main plot before that. So please bear with me there! I really love their dynamic and want to show more of them interacting while off the job. This first story is kind of to "test the waters" so to speak and get back into the groove of things. I'll tone it down as it goes on and I get comfortable again.

Again thanks for all the feedback. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave a review or PM me! Next chapter probably won't be until sometime next week since I plan to be at TAC this weekend but we'll see how things go.