Oh my goodness! I'm sorry this took so long, I just haven't had the time! Thank you all so much for being so patient! Here is chapter 4! =)
Judy raised an eyebrow as she looked at the orange van in front of her. On it was a heroic-looking picture of a male wolf holding a female wolf, with lightning clashing in the background.
She looked over at Nick who smirked at her and rapped his fist against the side of the van. One of the back doors of the van flung open and a deep voice called out, "What? What is it?!" Out jumped a small fennec fox wearing a black shirt with two red lines running down the front and green shorts. He looked at them and said, "Nick?" He narrowed his eyes. "What're you cops doin' 'round here?"
"Nice to see you too, Finnick. We need your help." Nick said plainly.
"With... ?" Finnick asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"We need you to get into this phone." He said, tossing him said phone.
The small fox looked it over, flipped it open and turned it on. The screen lit up and a password requirement popped up. "I can do this, easy." Finnick chuckled. "But what's in it for me?"
Nick tapped his chin then pulled a case that contained a cd out of his back pocket. He tapped it. "This," he smirked, showing it to Finnick, "Is what you get."
Finnick took the case, unsure of what to think until he read the front. His eyes widened and he exclaimed, "Wow, Nick, I didn't know that you knew of my love for French rap!" On the case in big letters was the word Lion.
Nick took it back. "Of course I know. I also know you'd do anything for it, so…" he grinned evilly.
Finnick frowned then said, "Deal. Follow me." He went back inside the van, and Nick and Judy followed.
Judy gaped at the inside of the van. The place was a pigsty. There were blankets and a pillow set up, obviously to substitute for a bed, but the rest of the van was mostly trash. Such as food wrappers, empty soda cans, and even just crumpled up pieces of paper. They started heading toward the front, but Finnick paused. "What kind of animal's phone is this?"
"A dingo's." Judy told him.
FInnick face-pawed. "You should have told me! Dingoes are ding-dongs. They always have the same password… we won't need to actually hack the phone after all."
He turned on the phone and put in the password. A little dinging sound played, and welcome was splayed across the screen. Judy gawked at him. "How did you know his password?"
"Well, dingoes are smart, but I've noticed they always use the same passwords…"
"You've 'noticed'?" Judy raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well hey, I know these things…" he muttered, looking back at the phone. "His password was Dingo123. I've also seen BingoDingo, Dingo321, Dingo00, DingoLing-"
"We get the point," Nick said, cutting him off.
Finnick handed him back the phone then grumbled, "There, I did your dirty work. Now give me my Lion album."
"All in good time, pal, all in good time. Just one more thing." Nick said, looking at the phone. "Someone called him around the time we went to check out the apartment. We need you to trace it."
"Okay," Finnick responded, taking back the phone. He went up to the front of the van and they could hear typing.
"He's got a computer up there?" Judy asked, glancing at Nick.
"Yup, just let him work his magic."
A few minutes later, Finnick rejoined them in the back and held out the phone and a piece of paper that said the address of where the call had come from. A printer, too? Judy thought to herself, bewildered.
She and Nick took the items, then Nick handed Finnick the Lion album and said, "Here ya go, bud, enjoy your crazy music." He ruffled the fur on the smaller fox's head, causing Finnick to glare at him, but Judy and Nick were already heading out of the van before anything else happened.
"Bye Finnick, thank you!" Judy called out to him gratefully, but all she got in return was the back of the van door slamming shut. Her ears lowered.
"Ah, don't worry, Whiskers, it means he likes you." Nick chuckled, making her beam at him.
They got into the police cruiser and pulled out the piece of paper with the address on it. Looking it over, Nick muttered, "Now, about that dingo…"
Crunching could be heard as they pulled into the gravel driveway of a shabby-looking house. It was rather small, made of wood, and the roof of it looked like it was about ready to fall off. As for the color, it was a rusty red, and the roof was a light brown color. (Except for the places where the paint was peeling, of course.)
They got out of the car, very cautious, for this was a bad part of town. Their elephant tranquilizers were at the ready for whomever they may need to use them on. (Who doesn't have an elephant tranquilizer ready when going into a shady building?)
They walked to the front and Judy knocked on the door. "ZPD, open up!" When no one answered the door, she knocked again, repeating the phrase. When, still, no one opened the door, Judy backed up and kicked down the door. (You may think that a bunny wouldn't be able to forcefully break down a door, but with the strength in their little legs? Easy!)
She and nick entered the room, holding out their tranquilizers. They carefully looked around the room. It was obviously the kitchen, for even though it was dark, Judy could see the outlines of a table, counters, a fridge, and other things you would find in a kitchen. (Nick, however, could see everything very clearly, for he had excellent night vision!)
They walked into the next room and paused. It smelled bad, reminding them of Claud B. Alas's apartment. Neither of them breathed, yet they heard breathing. Neither of them moved, yet they heard movement. Nick looked around the room. There was a couch, a small tv, a coffee table, and maybe 3 or 4 animals lying behind the couch, trying to hide. He looked around and found the light switch, flicking it on. Judy, finally being able to see the scene, pointed her tranquilizer at the animals.
There were three of them. A raccoon, an opossum, and a dingo. They immediately recognized the dingo to be Diego Dingo, the owner of Diego Dingo's Ding-Dong Digs. Seeing as they had no weapons, Judy and Nick holstered their tranquilizers. Nick walked further into the room. "Diego Dingo?" He asked, looking at the dingo.
The animals all sat up, staring at the cops. "Y-Yes?" Diego asked, looking at the fox who had said his name. Nick walked forward until he was right in front of them, then squatted down, face to face.
"Why so nervous?" He asked, looking into their faces. "It's not like you have anything to be nervous about, right? We're just here to ask some questions."
"Then why did you break down the door?" The opossum asked, meeting Nick's gaze.
"Because you didn't answer, of course. How else were we going to get in?" He smirked, then looked back at Diego. "So, Mister Dingo, this is about Rocco Blancan, the raccoon that lives in one of your apartments." The dingo's eyes flashed with recognition, then… fear? "He wasn't there, and we found some disturbing things. But when we came back down to ask you if you knew anything, you had gone!"
"So... lemme get this straight. You came down to ask me some things, and when I wasn't there, you somehow knew I was here?"
"Oh, we're not that good. We didn't know you were here," Nick took out the phone and showed it to its owner, "But this did." He chuckled. "But anyway, back to Blancan. You didn't happen to… hear anything did you?"
"No."
"You didn't happen to… see anything, did you?"
"No."
Nick narrowed his eyes and motioned for Judy to come next to him. He placed the dingo's phone on the ground, out of Diego's reach, but in his view. Judy smiled as she realized what she was to do. She held her foot out over the phone, threatening to stomp on it, which would smash it to pieces. Diego's eyes widened.
"Lemme ask you again. Did you see or hear anything?"
"No," Judy raised her foot, about to crush the phone. "Wait!" Diego exclaimed at the last minute. "Blancan got a visitor last night. A jaguar. Didn't catch his name."
Judy and Nick's eyes widened as they looked at each other in recognition of what the dingo had just told them. A jaguar. Why, the only jaguar who had anything to do with this, that they knew of, was Lucas Sonaro, the jaguar who had been Claud B. Alas's YMCA friend. If he had something to do with Blancan's disappearance, he might have something to do with Alas's! I guess we have four missing animal cases now… Judy thought to herself.
"Has anyone else been here today?" Judy asked, eyeing them suspiciously.
"No." the opossum said, returning her gaze.
"Not anyone? No lions, no tigers, no… jaguars?"
She caught a flash of confusion in the opossum's eyes before he said, "Nope."
"Okay. What are your names?" She asked the opossum and raccoon.
The opossum blinked then said, "Name's Levi Rufous."
"I'm Leonard Raton." The raccoon murmured, fiddling with his fingers.
Nick knit his brows then asked, "You don't happen to go by Lenny, do you?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Leonard asked, looking at Nick.
"Lucky guess. So, do you know Rocco Blancan, Mister Raton?" Nick asked, raising his eyebrow at the raccoon.
The dingo and the opossum were glaring at him, so Nick and Judy weren't surprised when Leonard finally responded, "Um… no."
"Okay, well, call us if you find anything else out." Judy said, and Nick handed each of them a slip of paper with their number on it. He winked when he handed it to the raccoon. With that, they walked out of the building and got into the car. It was already dark outside. Judy turned on her phone and looked at the time. 8:34 pm. They had been working on the case all day. She yawned. Her phone started vibrating in her paw, meaning someone was calling her. She answered the phone.
"Yes? This is Judy."
On the other end of the line, Clawhauser said, "Judy! They figured out what type of fur you found at the apartment."
She immediately put it on speaker-phone so she and Nick could both hear Clawhauser. "What type of fur was it?" She asked, excited to finally hear back about the evidence they had found while searching the missing animal's apartment.
They heard typing, meaning Clawhauser was probably typing something on his computer. When the typing ceased, Clawhauser gave them their answer. "It's opossum fur."