WAVES OF SCAMS PART 6

Investigations

After leaving Ralph's theater - without Ralph knowing it because he still believed them having left during of those skunks' prank on him and having disappeared into his apartment for the shower - the duo spent the several hours of questioning all the victims of the scams, except Mr. Sullivan, in hope for more information what they've not yet told to ZPD after falling a victim to the the scam and crime. The duo also went through the investigation of the crime scenes for a couple times to find clues that could help them to proceed in the case.

There was not any problem about questioning gentler and helpful Po'anda Chinakiro, professor Gnu and Gazelle about their cases - and Gazelle was the most gentler and helpful from all of three and something from her information sounded kind of familiar to Nick at least - though each one of them was still upset of letting their themselves to be deceived by the mammals they though they could trust and thus losing something valuable to them because of it.

However, Rhinocerotidae was a harder one and more unwilling to cooperate with the duo than the other victims so far. And the rhinoceros was also about to forcefully threw both of them out of his house even without caring that they were the police officers and that he could be charged with the assault on the police officers, due of the rhinoceros blind anger and frustration of his "ex-girlfriend's" betrayal and theft. However, before Rhinocerotidae had time to give both of them a fiery and painful butt kick, Nick had tried his best to speak Rhinocerotidae out of it and calm him down by telling him that they were at his home just to help him by asking for more information about his case and search through the entire crime scene to find some clue, which could be very helpful for them to lead to and capture whoever did such of treacherous scam to him and return what is rightfully his. Luckily for them, fully convinced and hoping that Nick and Judy are successful to catch the criminal, Rhinocerotidae spared their butts and agreed to cooperate with them during of their investigation in his house.

Next, the duo arrived to Rocky Alley Street 7 in the Northern Woodland District, where Lisa Cougar lived. However, once ringing the doorbell and being responded by Lisa's mother who opened the door and invented the two to come inside, it was soon revealed to Judy and Nick that just like with Rhinocerotidae, the cougar girl was also gonna be a harder one to be questioned about the case in which she lost her saxophone.

From her precious daughter's state of mind deeply concerned Mrs. Cougar had informed to Judy and Nick that ever since her daughter lost her precious saxophone through of backstabbing scam, Lisa had nothing else but remained sulking in the corner of her room without coming out from there for a few days. And in addition of that, she hasn't even eaten and that she had denied access to her room from everybody, including from her own family members, which had left her parents and siblings to worry stricken.

When Judy and Nick had entered to Lisa's room, surprised to find her room's door unlocked and ignoring various notes of "Access denied!", "Stay out!", "Go away!" and "None allowed in!" attached to the door and from inside of the room coming angry demands to be left alone, they found a miserable Lisa Cougar having curled into the small hair ball in the corner of the room behind of her bed, both bitterly crying and tearfully lamenting out of her own blindness and loss of her precious saxophone.

While looking at her in this state and misery, Judy couldn't help but feel sorry for the crying young cougar for her lost, and she proceed by attempting to comfort the deeply depressed cougar girl with the motherly attitude and with the promises that they will somehow catch the one who dared to remorselessly do this to her and return her precious saxophone back to her, before Judy began gently interrogate Lisa for any even slightly important information she left from mentioning in her report to ZPD, slyly saying "...and you can help us in fulfilling my promise - and have your personal payback for the crook who did this - best by telling if you remember any small details from the moment when your saxophone disappeared."

Moved by Judy's attempt to comfort her, willing to have her saxophone back and encouraged by Judy's promises to give to the saxophone-thief or thieves what they deserve, Lisa agreed to give to the duo anything she remembered and forgot to tell from the theft

And after Lisa had revealed Judy a few details that she had forgot to mention in her report to ZPD, Judy and Nick then departed back to their police cruiser to bring together all the old and new information about the scams.

Nick then began to use his talented mind of the con artist to find some information which would be very valuable knowledge for the con artists.

"Okay, all what we know so far is that there's about six mammals, five prey mammals and one predator. As much mammals as lately happened scams within two weeks. These mammals have most likely disguised themselves as employees such of secretaries, cooks, cleaners and gardeners and another two as teenager prey mammals, who unlike the four other mammals might in fact be teens. The main questions are… how and why they are doing this and when they are doing it again?" Nick said, eyeing the reports and newly received information.

Judy then turned to Nick to ask from him something. "When you were hustling the owners of the ice cream cafés, did you need to do anything else but disguise Finnick as your son and tell him to act like your son?"

Nick nodded, still proud of those successful hustles even though he was now police officer.

"You see, Carrots, only the pretense of an assistant is not enough in the such of moments such as one when I hustled both you and that sourpuss elephant… and especially in such one when we hustled with the risk of our lives Bellwether and her goons to confess their crimes against the predatory mammals. Both mammals have their own role in the hustle, not only one, or the hustle would be easily exposed and ruined. And just in case, we have to be another card hidden in the sleeve… like the missing wallet." Nick explained.

"But these guys are using disguises and they work alone, still they are successful in fooling their victims so easily." Judy said.

Nick had to admit that this was a quite hard nut to crack.

"Listen, sweetheart. Even though I was talented to hustle the people on my own back in the days when I used to live as a con artist, I mostly favored the partner in crime so that earnings would be much higher for me (and for my partner) to survive. And we mostly targeted our hustles to the cafes, never to the "Big Guys" of Zootopia unlike these guys. Even I have to admit that these guys are quite talented con artist for targeting the "Big Guys". Maybe even more talented than what I was." Nick said, sounding a bit jealous of that bitter truth.

Judy groaned in frustration as their investigation has been unsuccessful for now.

"What do you mean with the "Big Guys" of Zootopia?" Judy asked out of curiosity.

"Well, all those animals who are the public figures: such as rich businessmen, celebrities of media, popular culture or sports, the authorities and politics who have a great authority and influence to the city or this state." Nick explained. "I could actually count us as one of the public images for what we did for the city when Bellwether decided to play bad guy."

Judy chuckled as she shook slightly her head while starting the cruiser's engine and the duo headed back to the ZPD.

A bit later, the duo was in the midst of their driving journey back to ZPD until Judy opened her mouth to ask something.

"Did we get anything new from the victims?" Judy asked, without turning her eyes from the road.

Nick shook my head. "Not much. Mostly the same information what we already know. Except that some of the victims had felt something strange scent floating faintly in the atmosphere of their places a few days following the day when they were robbed. And that that some of the con artists words had been kinda… flattering." Nick explained.

Judy sighed again. She probably though that the scent of, dunno, rotten fish, and the flattering weren't much of a clues for them to solve this case.

Nick sighed in frustration as well, before he decided to let his brains rest a little bit leaned against his seat's back and fell in his own thoughts.

The silence continued almost the rest of the journey to the downtown.

But while driving in the city's streets, Nick recalled something from today and decided to voice it out to Judy.

"What do you think, Carrots? How do you think that interview has gone between Bogo and Zelda? Nick asked, breaking the silence at the same time.

"I don't know, Slick. But you know what? I've been thinking about this for a moment. Of course it is common to see news reporters paying visits in ZPD looking for news sources but Bogo doesn't usually take interviews every day, except when the press conference has been officially called to ZPD. Otherwise he's always quite busy, as all of us, to waste his time for one reporter." Judy answered.

Nick jumped up after I heard that "Quite busy".

"Quite busy, you say?" Nick questioned, before taking a sarcastic grin on his lips. "Yeah! that busy, that he hides in his office and watches himself dancing with Gazelle from his phone and Gazelle saying something like "Wow, you're very impressive, chief Bogo." Nick said, trying to imitate Gazelle as best as he could.

Both rabbit and fox burst into hearty laughter at this.

"The chief seems to be fond of flattery like everyone else, I can tell you that." Nick said after he finally got my laugh under control.

And then, something suddenly snapped in Judy's head that her own laughter stopped like to the wall, in addition of which her ears jumped upright incredibly fast and her eyes widened... and all of this after Nick mentioned the very single word "flattery."

"Excuse me, what did you said, Slick?" Judy asked in surprise and confusion.

"I said that even though our chief Buffalo Butt might have a stone-hard nature, he still have a some weak spot for flattery, which seems to have such of great effect on him. I guess that you remember from the first met with that Zelda Zebra, when she flattered Bogo with the nicknames: such as "the most reputed police chief Zootopia" and "the king of ZPD." That newszebra's flattery seems to working on him very impressively." Nick explained.

"So, that means that the chief Buffalo Butt isn't so stone-hard what I thought after a-AAAAAAAAAAAAALL!" Before Nick was able to finish what he was saying clearly, Judy pressed the gas to the bottom and their cruiser suddenly - and totally unexpectedly to Nick - plunged to great speed with the sirens and the police lights on the rooftop of the cruiser turned on.

Nick, who was tightly attached to the back of his seat, watched in surprise and in horror as Judy drove with a furious pace through the streets, which was fortunately clean from the cars, much to Nick's relief, as the drivers of the cars had moved their vehicles aside out of the duo's way once the sirens and lights were on.

However, Nick still feared for the worst to happen, for example the car crash or accidentally driving over somebody.

"WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! CARROTS! CARROTS! CARROTS! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! SLOW DOWN BEFORE WE CRASH TO SOMEBODY'S CAR OR RUN SOMEBODY OVER! BOGO WOULDN'T LOOK THAT WITH A PLEASED EYE AND WILL SIGN US TO THE PARKING DUTY!" Nick yelled at Judy, trying to get her to slow down because they were going dangerously too fast on the streets and through of the cars. However, despite her sharp hearing, Nick's words fell to the deaf ears.

"OH, SUCK IT UP, YOU BIG BABY! HAVE YOU EVER PLAYED THE GAME SERIES: GRAND RACCOON CITY*? IT'S ALWAYS LIKE THIS!" Judy shot back as she drove.

"IT'S JUST A GAME, JUDY! LET'S JUST FOCUS ON REALITY!" Nick shot back.

"IF YOU PLAY THE GAME'S DETECTIVE SIDE, IT'S ALWAYS LIKE THIS, SLICK... ESPECIALLY IN THE CASES OF CAR CHASES AND EMERGENCIES!" Judy countered.

Nick rolled his eyes, turning to the streets. Even though many of the cars managed to pull over to give Judy and Nick a clear path to go, there was still some crashes between of the cars as the Wildehopps team drove through the street. However, those crashes weren't fortunately serious nor perilous to the cars' drivers, though the drivers ended up to shake their into fists squeezed paws and shout angrily after Judy and Nick when they passed them and left them behind.

"WE SHOULD THANK OUR LUCK IF BOGO DOES NOT GRANT US WITH DRIVING BAN FOR THIS JOYRIDE OF YOURS... EXCEPT IF HE'S GONNA PUT US INTO THAT RIDICULOUS THREE-WHEELED JOKE-MOBILE!" Nick said, voicing his concern about the possible consequences.

"JUST CALL TO CLAWHAUSER AND ASK HIM THAT IS BOGO AND ZELDA'S INTERVIEW STILL ON AND THAT ARE THEY STILL IN ZPD HEADQUARTERS! I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS I WANT AN ANSWERS." Judy yelled at Nick, while she kept driving with the rapid pace.

Nick, knowing that Judy wouldn't answer to some questions of his about this, grabbed to the speaker nonetheless and took contact to Clawhauser and, as usually, through of speaker heard familiar munching. Probably Clawhauser was once again eating donuts on his desk.

"OFFICER CLAWHAUSER, THIS IS OFFICER NICK WI-IIIIIIIIIILDE FROM THE UNIT Z-240! BEFORE ANYTHING E-EEEEEEEEEELSE FROM BOTH YOU AND ME, WE NEED TO KNOW IS BOGO STILL IN HEADQUA-AAAAAAAAAARTERS WITH ZELDA ZEBRA?! O-OOOOOOOOOOVER! Nick yelled to the speaker as I tried to hold on from something when Judy made several sharp turns.

"Zelda and Bogo aren't right now in the headquarter, Nick. They left to..." Clawhauser said through of the speaker, but he couldn't finish what he was about to say before Judy spoke, or more likely yelled, into Nick's speaker.

"WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY LEFT?! WHEN DID THEY EVEN LEFT?!" Judy demanded.

"Calm down, Hopps! Geez! You really are in tense mood today, aren't you?" Clawhauser said. "Anyway, as I saying, both Bogo and Miss Zebra left to keep their interview at Bogo's home soon after you guys had left." He added.

"WHATEVER! CLAWHAUSERS! GIVE US BOGO'S HOME ADDRESS... AND WILL YOU CALL JUST IN CASE BACKUP THERE?" Judy requested.

"What? Hopps? Wilde? What are you guys talking about? What's happening?" Clawhauser questioned in confusion.

"WE, OR AT LEAST OFFICER HOPPS, BELIEVE-EEEEEEEEEE THAT WE MAY HAVE A BIG CLUE TO THESE LATEST SCA-AAAAAAAAAAAMS!" Nick said, holding tight with his free paw from his seat as Judy made two another hard turns.

However, the second hard right turn ended up to be too sharp as their cruiser slidded screeching from their lane to the lane of oncoming cars that led their cruiser into the collision course with the ambulance car… THE ELEPHANT-SIZED AMBULANCE CAR!

"AHHHHH!" Judy screamed at the sight of the ambulance that was incoming straight towards them.

"CARROTS! HARD RIGHT! HARD RIGHT!" Nick barked as the ambulance was about five meters away from them and the distance between of the vehicles was rapidly closing, with the bigger vehicle's shadow covering their own cruiser.

Judy told as Nick barked her to do and quickly made the hard right turn to avoid the collision with the ambulance. The duo's cruiser managed just in time to dodge the ambulance and narrowly avoid the car crash, but only with the half a meter.

The rabbit gasped in shock after realizing that they were on the collision course with the ambulance car and she quickly made the hard right turn to avoid the collision. The duo's cruiser managed just in time to dodge the ambulance and narrowly avoid the car crash, but only with the half a meter.

Once the duo narrowly avoided the certain death, Judy, though petrified from the shock and narrow avoidance of the larger vehicle, managed to slam on the brakes, causing their cruiser to slow down bit by bit. However, the speed of their cruiser caused it to slip a bit forward, rubbing the tires against the tarmac that caused the sharp ears-deafening and shivers-giving sound.

However, their cruiser eventually stopped, though not without the hard push forward that nearly caused the fox and rabbit to fall forward... but thanks to their seat belts, they didn't.

Both Nick and Judy held his breath through the whole narrowly avoided car crash situation, until they finally let it out and started to breath heavily out of relief, collapsing onto their seats' back while panting in relief.

However, their moment of relief was short-lived when Nick turned to Judy to check that was she alright.

"Judy! Are you alright?!" Nick asked, checking her condition just in case.

The rabbit was still in shock and breathed rapidly and heavily, but she nodded nonetheless. She didn't even take her eyes from the wheel nor turned to look at Nick. Only what she could do was to reply with the panting voice. "I'm fine...(panting)... I'm fine."

"I don't know what the hell was that, Fluff, but no more Grand Raccoon City-styled joyrides, okay? You almost got both of us killed with that." Nick scolded her, though not daring to rise his voice too loud than necessary, despite the fact that the adrenaline was at the level that he could have even barked at her as loud as he could.

"I know, I know...(panting)... I'm...(panting)... I'm sorry...(panting)... sorry about that, Slick! It was just...(panting)... It was just...(panting)... I didn't...(panting)... I didn't meant to go...(panting)... go in style of...(panting)... style of Grand Raccoon City. I...(panting)... It was just like...(panting)... just like you...(panting)... you said to Clawhauser that...(panting)... that I believe we...(panting)... we have a clue...(panting)... clue to solve these...(panting)... these scams. And that...(panting)... that clue is...(panting)... is that newszebra. I have some...(panting)... some questions I...(panting)... I want to ask...(panting)... ask from...(panting)... her." Judy said in self-defense and loosely explaining her motives to go with such of hurry and rapid pace.

Though knowing Judy's nature and understanding her hurry in the case, Nick could clearly see that Judy's own adrenaline was even in higher level than what his own was.

It was then when Clawhauser's frantic and almost panicking voice was heard from the speaker. "UNIT Z-240, RESPOND! I REPEAT, RESPOND! HOPPS?! WILDE?! ARE YOU GUYS OKAY! WHAT HAPPENED?"

Nick immediately grabbed to the speaker to respond.

"This is officer Nick Wilde from unit Z-240. Everything is fine and we're okay. But we really need you to give us Bogo's home address and the backup there, Claw. It's about the case we're solving. Over." I said to the speaker.

"Are you guys sure you're alright? I heard the panicking scream and the sharp sound of the tires rubbing against the tarmac. And why do you need to go to Bogo's? You know that he does not like the interruptions... especially when you arrive there with the backup in midst of interview." Clawhauser questioned in confusion.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Just do it, cheetah! We'll explain you later!" The fox officer shot back quite loudly and impatiently.

"Okay, okay, you do not need to shout." Clawhauser said and gave the duo Bogo's home address.

"Thanks, Claw. Unit Z-240 is on the move and will see the backup at Bogo's. Officer Wilde out." Nick said and hang up, and turned to Judy.

"Okay, Carrots. Our next stop is in Cape Street 4, at Bogo's home. And... what if I drive the rest of the day?" Nick offered gently, feeling that Judy needed a little to relax and let her adrenaline to lower to the maximum level enough for her to recover from the shock.

After Judy gave him a nod in agreement, Nick shut down the engine and gently lifted her off the driver's seat and placed her to sit onto the passenger's seat, putting the seat belt on as well, before he himself climbed out of the cruiser and settled himself to sit on the driver's seat.

And once putting the seat belt on, Nick started the engine again and drove off, this time with a normal driving speed but he kept the sirens and lights on.

TO BE CONTINUED...