Beatrice worked at Precinct Six for close to two years, and in that time, she entered a plethora of strange situations. One time she walked in and found herself in the middle of a tense negotiation with a suspect threatening to slit his own throat with a shard of glass. Another time the entire lobby was filled with scantily clad females and well-dressed males shouting for lawyers and phone calls. Prostitution ring broken up in the beginning of her rookie year. This morning was the most amusing start.
The grey wolf watched as Officer Pawstein stared down a much smaller mammal. The leopard's paws were planted firmly on top of the front desk as she stared daggers at the individual.
"There aren't any weasels in the Z.P.D." Beatrice heard the big cat state loudly.
The weasel was wearing a lime green fluffy jacket, with Z.P.D. blue poking out from the collar. Exposed around his waist was a similar, if not smaller, duty belt as every other officer wore. There was a flash of metal on the back loop of his pants as the mustela shifted from one hind paw to the other. He pinched his brow and appeared to let out a heavy sigh. Beatrice could hear him speak as she grew closer.
"I've been in rutting Precinct One for close to two years," the weasel groused, "Why don't you look it up in the damn database, then tell me where RollCall is?"
"I know all officers," Pawstein said defiantly.
"No you don't," the mustela shot back, growing even more irritable. His tail bobbed, fur beginning to stand on end, as he squared his shoulders and stared down the larger mammal. "And the fact that you ain't willing to do your job is what I'll tell the Chief when I go back to my Precinct. Where we have competent rutting officers, who don't try to look important but are!"
Before Pawstein could retort, the leopard are baring her fangs at the weasel, Beatrice decided it was time to interject. "Officer Weaselton!" the she-wolf exclaimed over the top enthusiastically, "What are you doing here?" The lupine focused her gaze on the mustela, but out of the corner of her eye she saw the feline straighten up.
Weaselton shrugged stiffly, "Got orders to report to Precinct Six till told otherwise."
The wolf pursed her lips, cocking her head in confusion. "Any reason why?"
The weasel smirked, "Apparently you guys are a little short staffed, so Precinct One sent over me and two others." He rolled a paw with a knowing look, "Something about someone cleaning the snow?"
Beatrice grinned, "It's still a bit yellow."
"Yeah," Weaselton replied, glancing over his shoulder at the still cross feline, "I can see that."
The wolf remained focused on the weasel, unwilling to accidentally meet Pawstein's gaze. What felt like ages ago, yet less than a year, the lupine and feline used to be on speaking terms. That was no longer the case.
Beatrice shook her head, then smiled, "Why don't I give you the grand tour?" She gestured in the direction of the elevator, then started that way
Weaselton huffed, "I hope I'm not sure here too long." The lupine glanced down at the weasel with a raised brow. The mustela caught her gaze and shrugged, "My winter coat's annoying."
"I wouldn't bet on it," the wolf replied, focusing on directly in front of them, "We really are short staffed."
"Well that's great," Weaselton grumbled, "Gonna look like a rutting q-tip."
Beatrice looked at the smaller mammal quizzically but didn't question him. She smiled brightly, "Well anyway, it's good to have you here!"
"You say that now," Weaselton snarked, "but if we're partnered up, you'll sing a different tune!"
The lupine chuckled, "A cop can dream…"
Cherry stood awkwardly outside of the open door to Jezebel's office as the sheep vacuumed. The vixen had stayed the night, and just like the caprid said, Gertrude wasn't a problem. A restless night of sleep under her desk caused the vulpine to regret not resolving the issue between her and Jezz, and Cherry wanted to take care of it quickly
Just like the fox's, the ewe's office had the same concrete walls and single light above. Unlike the vixen, Jezebel actually decorated her space. The walls were painted with spiral swirls of different shades of blue and pink on a white backdrop. Several health posters were taped to the wall, all dealing with either the importance of protection or communicable sexually transmitted diseases. The sheep even found a proper desk, a metal desk with all four of its original legs. It was cleared of any paperwork with only a lone green mixing bowl, filled to the brim with condoms, sitting on it.
"Don't know why you didn't just come in doll," Jezebel remarked loudly, turning off the vacuum and turning to face the vixen with a bland expression, "We've never had privacy before."
Chery's ears pinned back as her tail flicked nervously behind her. It's not like Jezz and the vixen had a fight free relationship, but this time was different. The vulpine cleared her throat and stepped into the office. "I just wanted to apologize for yesterday," the fox started, "it wasn't how problems should be solved."
"Cherr, what are you doing?" the ewe questioned sharply with a scowl, a hoof gripping the top of the vacuum as she leaned against it.
"I'm trying to apologize," the fox started deliberately, "in an appropriate manner."
"Why?" Jezebel countered.
"B-Because," Cherry stuttered out, "the donor's worried about whether we're professional enough to run Helping Paws!"
The ewe gave the fox a disbelieving look, but even the smaller mammal couldn't believe what just left her muzzle. That is not what Mr. Big said at all. After the fight from the day before, Cherry felt even less willing to admit they needed assistance. The idea of bringing outsiders into Helping Paws didn't feel right to the vulpine, but what if it didn't work anyway? Cherry shook her head abruptly and quickly quashed her negative thoughts.
"Anyway honey, our donor wants to start looking for new mammals to hire." the vixen continued, focusing on the floor, "Figured we should officially bring Saff on and see if Ginger wants to help out."
The sheep hummed. "It would be nice to see my sexy striped other half for more than a few hours...of course I won't be able to keep my hooves off of her!" She chuckled, "Maybe I do need a cot in here. What you think doll? Not professional enough for you!"
Cherry finally looked at Jezz and saw the sheep's familiar smug smile. The fox allowed herself to smile as the tension slowly melted from her body. The ewe was joking. They were ok.
"Only if we can tape it honey," the vixen snarked with her own confident smirk, "probably make a pretty penny off a tiger eating a sheep."
"Only if we see some wolf on fox action," Jezebel shot back, "that's gotta be hot!"
The fox's ears slowly lowered, as her smile slipped away. She shifted nervously on her paws and swallowed dryly. "About that…" Cherry tried to smile again, but it refused to be more than a grimace, "...maybe we'll talk about it...later..."
Jezebel smiled fondly and waved the vulpine to come closer. "Doll, you can always talk to me."
When Deputy Chief Janus Eland announced that Beatrice and Weaselton were going to be partnered up, the wolf was truly ecstatic. Though the young officer was disappointed that she wouldn't be partnered with Grizzoli, the poor polar bear transferred to the midnight shift, it was exciting partnership. From the stories she heard from the Cherry and the girls, as well as their brief partnership in the past, the lupine expected the pairing to be perfect! Instead she was shivering in the freezing cold as her mustela partner went over every nut, bolt, and crevice of their newly assigned police cruiser.
"Can you hurry up?" Beatrice grumbled loudly, arms folded and tail hanging limply between her legs, "It is freezing out here!"
"Almost done!" Weaselton shouted back, "Just doing the last wheel." The mustela held a thin tire pressure gauge with both paws, waiting for the results. There was a high-pitched chime, then the weasel looked at his end of the instrument. "Do you normally ride on tires filled to thirty-nine psi?"
The wolf cocked her head in confusion, "No. Regulations state they need to be between thirty-two and thirty-five."
"Well tires don't inflate on their own," the mustela commented, unscrewing the gauge from the wheel.
Beatrice scowled, "Do you think someone was trying to sabotage us?"
"Maybe," Weaselton replied nonchalantly, putting the gauge down on the ground, "did anyone know we were getting this cruiser?"
"Well...all partnerships have to be approved by the Deputy Chief-"
"Who doesn't like you," the weasel interjected, scratching a blunt claw over the tire's valve.
"...which means everyone else probably knew," the lupine officer continued, paws planted firmly on her hips, "and would have had time to pump up our tires."
"Just this one," Weaselton corrected, wiggling his claw into the valve, "probably only meant for us to spin out or something." The mustela jammed his claw into the valve, and a high-pitched hiss emanated from the tire. Building snow was blown off the smaller mammal as he bled the air out of the tire.
"This may take a while!" Weaselton shouted.
Beatrice shook her head, her paws back to rubbing her freezing arms. "I'm gonna freeze…"
Mint rubbed her thighs together uncomfortably, her hooves desperately holding her skirt down as Daddy stared hungrily at the ewe.
"P-Please not that!" the student begged, "I've got two more classes before yours!"
It was fifth period lunch, and the ram had called the ewe over before she got a chance to eat. Mint didn't want to leave Johann, or the safety he provided, but she couldn't risk Daddy's wrath either. If he grew upset with her, then he could reveal her and Pep's secret. The younger sister could never do that to the elder!
"This is the only time," Daddy replied calmly, leaning against a desk in the abandoned classroom he had procured. The ram leaned forward with that sickly-sweet smile of his and slowly cocked his head. "If you're embarrassed, I could talk to some of your fellow classmates about it." He tapped his chin with a contemplative look, "Maybe start with Mister Biralo? You've taken quite a fancy with him." He pouted and folded his arms, "If I was the jealous type, I'd be worried." The teacher's smile returned, "But I know that my girl is a good girl!"
Mint froze midway through Daddy's speech. It was like the teacher could read the student's thoughts and knew her greatest fears. He was in full control, and there was nothing she could do. Her trembling hooves slowly hitched up her skirt, gliding slowly to her hips. The student swallowed dryly, trying desperately to suppress her building tears. She grasped the sides of her underwear and slid them down. The ewe's breath hitched as she let her white cotton panties fall to the floor.
"Pick them up," Daddy ordered smoothly, "and put them in my hoof." He reached out his hoof expectantly, smile never diminishing as his hungry gaze remained focused on the student.
Mint stepped out of her fallen drawers, then bent at the knees to pick them up. She didn't want to expose her naked bottom to even the empty classroom. The ewe was shaking uncontrollably as she grasped the pair and stood up. Trepidly, Mint stepped closer to the ram, each step feeling like an eternity.
"That's my good girl," Daddy whispered, his head lolling back as his nostrils flared, "my beautiful, good girl."
The student held her underwear over the teacher's outstretched hoof and dumped it into his grasp. She cringed away and out of his reach.
"Perfect," Daddy muttered, bringing the formerly worn cloth to his cheek, "utterly perfect."
Mint watched in abject horror as the ram rubbed her panties on his face. She turned away in wide eyed shock as he moved it closer to his nose. The ewe closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her, keeping her knees locked together, as she heard the teacher give a heavy sniff to her loins. Daddy never did this. Why was he doing this now?
"Now then," Daddy started cheerfully, as if this was the best day of his life, "I'm so glad that my good girl is listening to me...but I'm going to need something else!"
Mint's gaze bounced to the ram, then to the floor, "W-what else could you want?"
The teacher let out a shuddering breath, "I need to see it." The desk scraped as the ram pushed off of it and stepped towards the student. "I want to see it during class." Daddy roughly grasped the ewe's chin and turned her head to face him. "You are going to show me," the older caprid stated gruffly, his cold stare piercing the female's trepid gaze, "every time I look at you." His terrible smile returned, as the grip on the ewe tightened, "Or everyone will know."
Mint trembled as she stared back at Daddy. She had to do what he said, mammals would suffer if she didn't. If the teacher spoke one word of the ewe's past, then everything they worked for would unravel. All the hard work Cherry, Jezebel, Saffron, all of it would be for naught. The student had no choice. She needed to submit. Tears welled in Mint's eyes as her hooves grasped the edge of her skirt. Slowly, she lifted it.
Daddy's hot breath raked against her face.
Cherry grimaced as she watched the retreating prostitutes quickly exit the room. Only four showed up. Three were definitely there just for coffee. This was the smallest outcome since Helping Paws started, and one of the more disheartening. It felt like a complete disaster to the founder of the organization, and a step backwards from their goals.
The fox shook her head and started to clean up the room. What didn't help was the vixen's decision to put out twelve chairs, making the room feel even more vacant. She tried not to let it affect her, but with each perceived failure Cherry's confidence shrank. Should she just step aside and let someone more experienced take over? Was there someone more experienced in helping working girls? A voice broke the vulpine out of her thoughts.
"E-excuse me, do you need help?"
Cherry glanced towards the doorway to see Gertrude. The she-wolf stood nervously at the entrance, in an eerily similar way the vixen had done hours ago to Jezz. The older mammal eyed the younger suspiciously, still unsure of the lupine. "Something wrong honey?"
Gertrude stepped forward, then stopped and stepped back. She smiled timidly, but it fell just as quickly as it arrived. "Do you...need some help?" The she-wolf hesitantly stepped forward again, washing her paws as she kept her shoulders hunched. "I-I can help...I-if you'd like..."
"Ain't much to do doll," Cherry replied truthfully. She gestured to the empty folding chairs in a circle around her. "All I gotta do is fold these up."
"I can do that!" the lupine persisted, stepping further into the room. While the she-wolf still wore doubt on her sleeve, her steps were much more determined. Gertrude grabbed the first chair by the back and seat, but it didn't budge as she tried to close it. She grimaced as her efforts seemed in vain.
"No, honey…" Cherry walked over to the struggling lupine. The fox grabbed another chair and positioned it in front of her with the seat facing away. "Like this." The vixen stepped on the back-bottom bar, grasped the side of the seat, and pulled up. The chair's seat slid up with ease, folding up perfectly. Cherry turned to the wolf with a smile, "See!" The vulpine's smile disappeared at the sight of the downtrodden young wolf.
Gertrude's head was hung in shame, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry," the lupine whispered, "I'm so useless…"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Cherry exclaimed in surprise, dropping her and moving towards the lupine, "no need to cry honey." The fox placed a paw gently on the wolf's forearm, and Gertrude instantly pulled away. The vixen raised both paws defensively. "Ok, ok...why don't we just practice then?"
"Practice?" the startled she-wolf parroted.
Cherry nodded her head slowly and smiled as reassuring as possible. "Yeah doll, practice." She gingerly walked over to another chair, ignoring the cautious gaze that followed her, and dragged it closer to the lupine. The fox positioned the chair the same way as the last. "Do it like this," Cherry performed the same easy action of folding the chair, "and you'll be a master in no time!" She turned to the wolf with an expectant smirk, "Well?"
Gertrude hesitated, then positioned her chair as the fox had done earlier. The lupine's paw trembled as it reached for the edge of the seat. The grimace on the wolf's muzzle turned to a small smile as the seat easily slid up and locked into place.
"There you go!" Cherry encouraged, her own spirits rising at the she-wolf's minor victory, "Nine more to go, then we'll see about getting you something to eat."
"O-oh," Gertrude stuttered, placing her folded chair gently on the floor before reaching for another, "I'm fine-"
"Nonsense doll," the vixen interjected, moving to her next chair as well, "You're as thin as these chairs!" The fox folded her new chair but held onto it as she moved to another. "We'll get some food, maybe some new clothes, and have you shower up at our place for now."
"You don't need to do anything for me," Gertrude tried to deflect, "I-I-I'll be ok."
Cherry folded her chair with one paw, then cocked her hip to the side with a raised brow. "Honey, you're a guest here. And even though I'll admit I was worried about the idea, you're starting to prove me otherwise." The vixen grinned and tilted her muzzle triumphantly to the ceiling. "So, let me make it to you in the little ways I can."
Gertrude paused, then smiled brightly. She nodded her head, and her tail gave a small wag of approval. "Ok, sounds good!"
"Great!" the fox exclaimed, putting her recently folded chair in the paw with the other, "Now hurry honey. I'm beating you so far!"
The two finished putting the chairs away as both of their moods improved. Gertrude talked more confidently, though still didn't speak about her personal life. Cherry didn't prod too much, not giving any personal details as well, and enjoyed the small talk. The meeting might not have been a complete disaster.
Beatrice wasn't sure what to make of Weaselton. She had expected the weasel to be gung-ho, like a loose cannon from a 70's cop show. Instead, he was all rules and regulations. He even stopped the cruiser twice to write tickets for illegal parking. There wasn't anything wrong with that, but the wolf went into this partnership thinking she was getting Baaft, not Officer Do-Right.
The only peculiar thing about the mustela was the precise order he placed at the Snarlbucks they stopped for at lunch. A large Chai with two shots of espresso, almond milk, and the steam wand needed to be held exactly at 45 degrees or the mustela would have the barista make it again. The lupine watched the exasperated mountain goat barista make the same drink three times before to Weaselton's liking. Even then the smaller officer complained that it "tasted burnt." Beatrice couldn't even comprehend someone could burn liquid!
"So... you haven't told me about any cases you're working on," Weaselton said out of the blue, "Any reason?"
The lupine sighed heavily, "The only case I have is a frozen prostitute who the coroners haven't been able to defrost yet."
"Natural causes?"
Beatrice shrugged, "I don't know…" She glanced at the weasel, who was looking out the window, biting her lip in indecision. "She...she was involved in an earlier...and I think she died because of it."
Weaselton nodded absentmindedly, "So murder." He looked to the wolf with a frown, "What was the case?"
The lupine shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "It was, uh...a police corruption case that was proven to be a false allegation."
"That's a diplomatic way of putting something dirty," the mustela grumbled, "who was the cop?"
Beatrice grimaced, glancing between the weasel and the road, "It was...Grizzoli…" The look of shock on the weasel's face worried the wolf enough that her words rushed out of her. "The prostitute had been paid! I mean we still don't know who, but she admitted that a well-dressed ram with a broken horn is the one who paid her!"
"Makes sense," Weaselton sighed in relief, "I can't imagine that old ursine doing anything illegal."
The lupine grinned, "That's right! He told me you two used to be partners!"
The weasel chuckled, "For a week. After that I was partnered with an old grizzly named Snarlov, then Hopps and Wilde."
Beatrice blinked, pulling to a stop at a red light and turning fully to the smaller mammal. "You were partnered with Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde?"
"It's not that impressive," Weaselton replied with a deep frown, "It was only three weeks with Hopps before she promoted." He cocked his to the side, while a paw running up and down his throat, "Now that I think about it, Wilde was with me before he was promoted...and Grizzoli got promoted as well…" The mustela focused on the lupine with a sly smile, "I'm responsible for mammals getting promotions, aren't I?"
Beatrice laughed with a shake of her head, "I think Hopps and Wilde were up for promotion way before we were in the academy!" She continued to shake her head as she focused back on the road, just in time to see the light turn from yellow to red. The lupine cleared her throat and gripped the steering wheel tightly. "I, uh, also know that you know Cherry."
"I do," the weasel answered solemnly.
"So…why don't you come around Helping Paws?" A heavy silence permeated the cruiser, with the weasel seemingly ignoring the question. Beatrice tapped her digits nervously on the wheel, unsure about her partner's non-response and what to do next.
"You said a ram with a broken horn?" Weaselton questioned, breaking the tension and moving past the wolf's question.
"Yes!" Beatrice exclaimed, nodding her head emphatically and extremely grateful to move past her apparent snafu, 'Do you know anyone like that?"
"No..."
"...Oh..."
"...but I can make a call and see if my contact knows anything." the mustela continued, "I won't lie, his information runs a little dry when it comes to Tundra Town."
"Well...that's better than what I have," the lupine officer admitted sullenly. Before the death of Spice, Beatrice wasn't getting anywhere with the description of a well-dressed ram with scars on his face and a broken horn. The horn alone should have coughed up something in the system, and even most mammals remember specific features like that! Instead, this mysterious sheep was nowhere...or maybe didn't exist…
"Any other facts on the case," Weaselton pressed, scowling forward as he scratched his chin deep in thought. Beatrice shook her head. The weasel sighed, and slowly nodded. "Alright...I guess we have to wait."
Beatrice sighed heavily, her grip on the steering wheel tightening to a painful degree. "...yeah..."
Hello readers,
I'll explain more about the set up of this chapter and the two to follow later. There is a reason (whether good or bad) for the way the chapter flows. Let me know what you think!
-CG
