Savannah News- December 11, 2017

GAZELLE DELIVERS A POP STAR SMACKDOWN

In the aftermath of the Greener Grass Mall Incident, pop star Gazelle has been cautioned for slapping convict Dawn Bellwether in the face.

The famous singer was allegedly provoked when Bellwether made a bigoted comment towards one of the other survivors of the incident, an off duty police officer named Benjamin Clawhauser. Both Gazelle and Clawhauser had been attending the Grand Reopening of the Greener Grass Mall yesterday morning and became stranded inside the building when it was suddenly attacked by animals poisoned by the Night Howler Serum. Bellwether, who on that same day had been on her way to an appeal, became stranded herself when she fled into the mall in an attempt to slip away in the chaos. All three individuals, along with an estimated dozen other survivors, were safely extracted shortly before Special Forces infiltrated the building, after which Gazelle committed her assault. Chief Bogo and Officers Judy Hopps and Nicholas Wilde were allegedly among those who commenced the rescue.

Gazelle has so far been unavailable for comment, but her manager reported that she does not regret her actions, and that she had acted out of anger at Bellwether's lack of gratitude for Clawhauser's efforts in aiding their survival.


Judy laughed when Nick showed her the picture beside the text, capturing Gazelle, Bellwether and Fangmeyer in the split second after the slap. He folded up the paper and sat up beside Judy on the ring shaped desk beside Benjamin's precious snow globe. He dangled his legs over the edge as he grinned at the cheetah on the other side. "I think she likes you."

"Oh please!" Benjamin waved away the suggestion with a sheepish giggle as he poked some painkillers into a donut and swallowed the thing whole. "I'm just glad she didn't get worse than a caution."

"I'm just shocked that you're back in the donut office already." Nick requested a donut from the pink box, and took one with white icing after that request was granted. "How many bruised ribs have you got? Three? Four?"

"Two." Benjamin held up the appropriate number of sprinkled fingers. "They said I could have gotten a spinal injury from a hit like that, so lucky me, huh?"

"Yeah. Lucky." Fangmeyer said dryly, grimacing when she saw the picture on the paper. "God, I look like I'm trying to kiss air."

"Still looks better than Smellwether, though." Nick chortled, pointing out the distorted look of shock on the sheep's face as she hung frozen in midair. "So, what did the hospital say?"

"She suffered a single laceration to the chest from a horned prey mammal that couldn't be identified. It needed a lot of stitches, but because she received medical attention immediately after the attack, blood loss was minor. She'll spend a couple of days under observation before they take her back to prison." Fangmeyer spoke quickly and without pause, like she was repeating what the doctor had told her.

"I take it the appeal has been put on hold." Judy replied, unsure how to feel about this news.

"Yeah, but it's a lost cause at this point. After what her serum did yesterday, there's no way they're going to let her walk now."

"Yeah, speaking of yesterday... what's the news down at the mall?" Judy and Nick hadn't stuck around after Special Forces moved in, so all they knew was that the cleanup had been a success. On the other hand, millions of dollars in damages had been inflicted on the mall.

"We still don't know how many casualties we have, if any." Fangmeyer leaned against the desk. "Hundreds of injuries, though. Clawhauser, you'll be pleased to know that they found Gazelle's other friend. He's hurt pretty bad, but no permanent damage."

"Oh thank goodness!" Benjamin gasped and clamped a paw over his chest. "What about all those poor people who were poisoned?"

"They're being treated as we speak, but it'll take time to cure all of them. More than a hundred different animals turned savage yesterday."

"While we're on that subject, how did they do it?" Nick asked. "How did whoever did this pull off such a crazy stunt?"

"That's what Chief Bogo's going to talk about once we're all in the Bullpen." Fangmeyer replied. "Speaking of which..." She excused herself and strolled off to the Bullpen.

"Yeah, we should get going." Judy nudged Nick's elbow. "Come on, Nick."

"Hang on a sec." Nick waved her away as he scrutinized Benjamin. "Why didn't you tell us you were BFFs with a Casel?"

The cheetah shrugged, and then winced from the movement. "Sorry, I guess I never got round to it. But yeah, Alec Casel is an old buddy of mine."

Nick scratched his chin. "Huh. So that's where the fancy Rolex came from."

Benjamin looked down at the shiny watch he was wearing. In a split second his eyes widened. "Hey, it's not something I usually brag about!" He held his paws up defensively. "We're friends, yeah, and sure he's really rich, but we don't hang out as much as I do with you guys. But he never forgets to get me something on my birthday. He's spent a lot of time preparing for his business, you know." He rubbed his wrist, looking uncomfortable. "I didn't specifically ask for a Rolex, you know."

Judy nudged him again, this time painfully as anger smoldered within her. "Nick. The Bullpen!"

"Ow. Okay!"

They dropped down from the desk, waved the still uneasy looking Benjamin goodbye and began the short walk to the Bullpen.

"Our spotted friend is just full of surprises, isn't he?" Nick spoke cheerfully.

Judy crossed her arms and glared at him. "Nick, what is wrong with you?"

"You'll have to be more specific."

"Nick, you implied that Ben was taking advantage of his super-rich friend!"

Instantly Nick's facade evaporated and his shoulders slumped. "I know, Carrots, I know. That totally came out wrong."

Judy moved in front of the fox, stopping him in his tracks, and jabbed him in the chest. "Once we get our assignments, you're going to go right back there and apologize!"

"I will, I will." Nick gently grabbed her pointing paw and pushed it down. "I promise."


What Nick was too afraid to admit to Judy was that his words hadn't come out wrong. They had been misinterpreted.

As the two partners took their seats in the Bullpen, he remembered what he knew about Alec Casel from the newspapers. Aside from being a prodigious chocolatier he was the youngest of four children, the son of the Chairman of the Casel Corporation, a certain Elgen Casel, and his wife, a socialite named Selke.

The dictator of a mega-corporation and a pretty gold digger whose name sounds like an evil Bond girl; their kids rarely turn out well. I wonder how many diamond earrings it takes to get that doe to sleep with him.

"Wilde. Wilde!" Bogo's sharp bark snapped Nick to attention. The cape buffalo, now back to normal in his blue uniform and black undershirt, strode up to the podium at the front of the room. "Now that I have everyone's attention, I'll get right to it. Unless you've spent the last two days in hibernation, you'll recall the incident that occurred yesterday afternoon." Most on the animals in the room nodded. "Special Forces have taken care of the situation, but there are still a lot of questions left unanswered. It's up to us to answer those questions." He tapped the red files on the podium that Higgins had left for him. "But before that, there are two items I need to get out the way. First, I wish to congratulate Officers Hopps, Wilde, Fangmeyer, Delgato and McHorn for the successful rescue of Officer Clawhauser, Gazelle, Bellwether and a dozen other civilians from the Greener Grass Mall. This may be the last time I ever say this, but you made me proud last night."

Nick felt his head lift a little higher. That felt a lot better than he'd thought it would. Beside him, Judy's entire body seemed to rise with her radiant little smile. "You make me blush, sir."

"Save it for your partner, Wilde." Bogo retorted. "Number two. I've just received news that Officer Pennington has just been treated for Night Howler poisoning and will be returning to duty after the holidays."

There was a happy murmur from the crowd of officers. Nick remained silent, but made a mental note to pay Pennington a visit and let the pachyderm know that there were no hard feelings. Oh, and also don't forget the brownies.

Bogo cleared his throat to quell the noise. "Save the celebrations, we still have an case to close. Assignments..." He put on his glasses, with one lens partially cracked from the Pennington incident, picked up the files and stepped out from behind the podium. "Officers Higgins, Rhinowitz, you will pay Bellwether a visit and find out whether or not the attack occurring on the day of her appeal was just a coincidence." The hippo and rhino accepted the file and left. "Snarlov, Trunkaby, McHorn, Delgato, Fangmeyer, Grizzoli, Anderson, you will escort Forensics to the Greener Grass Mall and assist them however you can."

The seven officers stood up and left.

"Hopps, Wilde..." Bogo paused to unfold a bent page corner. "You have two days to dig up as much information on Veltro as you can before coming back to me."

Judy leaned forward on the table, intrigued. "Sir, what makes you think Veltro is involved?"

"Do as you're told and you'll find out." Bogo replied sternly. "I suggest you start by reading the news. Dismissed."


Gazelle, pop singer and predator rights activist, has publicly condemned the organization as blatantly bigoted against Austroalan mammals and promised to continue lending her support to the thirteenth district...

Judy put down the paper and leaned back in the chair with a loud yawn. "Uuuuggghhh, sweet cheese and crackers that took forever!"

"Shhhhhh!" Came several quietly angered voices from all around the Savanna Central Library.

Feeling a little warm around the collar, Judy muttered an apology before returning to her notepad to write down another bullet point. To her chagrin, Nick's snickering didn't receive any chastisement. He put down the last of a pile of papers that Judy had assigned to him and clicked on his pen. "Carrots, can I borrow your notepad again?"

"Nick, haven't you thought about getting your own?"

"Yeah, but it's too much of a hassle."

"It's too much of a hassle to get a pile of lined paper held together with a tiny metal coil?

"I'll have you know that after mistaking me for a reporter a guy once fought me over a notepad."

"Seriously? That's insane."

"Tell me about it. He called off the fight three times to go to the bathroom."

"... wait, what..."

Nick seized his chance, dragging the notepad to his side and scribbling something down. "Okay, let's see what the papers had to tell us."

Judy scooted her chair over to his side so they could read their collected notes together.

· Veltro- means greyhound- could meaning be clue?

· Also anagram for revolt. Sounds so much cooler than greyhound.

· Made themselves known after plans for Tirari Town (thirteenth district for Austroalan animals) were announced, but may have been around for longer than that.

· Claimed reason for opposition and open support for Bellwether suggest they are a supremacist group. More haters? They're coming out the bleeding woodwork!

· They also strongly oppose the Casel Corporation, the organization in charge of Tirari Town's construction, but their reasons are unknown.

· They probably just didn't want to be slaves of capitalism. Some activists who turned to the dark side.

· No mention has been made of Veltro's leader or their goals. Will have to investigate further.

· I bet a million bucks Bellwether's the leader.

· So far they've done nothing more than picket events, but there have been incidents where riots nearly broke out. Could they have taken the next step?

· It could have been an accident when Bellwether got hurt. A breakout that went bad. If that's true, then we're probably dealing with the three stooges here.

· Gazelle's been getting a lot of flak from them for supporting Tirari Town. Could the leak about her being at the reopening have been part of the reason for the attack?

· Attempted assassination? Evil ex? Crazed fan with access to natural insect repellent? :s

Judy looked up from the table and glowered at the fox. "Nick, when you get home you are going to rewrite those notes professionally, do you understand me?"

"So Bogo won't go all 'The Black Death' on our butts? Yeah, I understand perfectly." Nick proceeded to tidy up the newspapers and take them back to their rightful place, all the while ignoring Judy's hushed ranting about how offensive that term was to cape buffalos.

"It's not actually." He cut in when Judy stopped to breathe. "There's a wrestler in Sahara Square whose stage name is 'The Black Death' and no-one's griping about it. It's not like being called cute or shifty, Carrots."

"Oh." Judy rubbed her skull, deeply thankful that their present location forced them to be quiet. "Sorry. Guess I jumped to conclusions."

Nick patted her shoulder, a move that somehow made her feel not so bad. "You're learning, Carrots. You're learning."

They left the library with their notes and made a short six-minute drive to a Snarlbucks in eastern Savanna Central. They ordered expensive coffee and sat down at a circular table beside the front window. "Now I know why Bogo wants us to investigate Veltro." Judy stated after her first sip. "They had a pretty good motive for ruining the reopening."

Nick lifted up three fingers systematically. "A grudge against the company that renovated the mall... a grudge against Gazelle for supporting Tirari Town and publicly dissing them... and a non-grudge for the crazy sheep whose appeal was happening right across the street. You're damn right they had motive."

"But a few notes from a few papers isn't enough. We need more than that before we confront them. Any ideas, Nick?"

Nick rubbed his neck. "We could check in on the mall and help our buddies out. We might find something tying Veltro to the attack." His head jerked up as another thought came to him. "After we dig up info on the Casel Corporation. Maybe they did something to tick Veltro off. Something they really shouldn't have done."

Judy pointed her carrot pen at him, getting the idea. "You mean something illegal." Nick nodded. "That's a great idea, but we won't get much on paper or online, and I doubt the company would appreciate us investigating them without a darn good reason."

"No..." Nick admitted, even as a smile began to form. "But I have a friend in the Rainforest District who might."

Ten minutes later, a satisfied Nick hung up and stuck his phone back in his pocket. "Honey's busy doing maintenance right now but she says we can come round at six, provided we don't bring any tracking devices, radios, weapons, handcuffs, chewing gum, cigarettes, perfume, food, drink or the Duke of Bootleg."

Judy almost asked Nick to repeat himself so she could write the list down. "Tell me, what does she do again?"

"She's technically an information broker. It's how she makes a living. In her spare time she's out to prove whatever whacky conspiracy's presently occupying her whacked-out mind. I've been working my magic on her for months, trying to convince her to become a police informant."

"Are you having any luck?"

Nick waved his paw in a seesaw motion. "I'm getting there, but she's gotten pretty stubborn since her theory that Bellwether's got spies in the ZPD was confirmed. She's been slowly coming round though, ever since I took the blue."

"Do you really think she'll help us?"

"If we do as she says and prove we're not out to arrest her, she'll help us. She doesn't like Veltro any more than we do."

"Good to know." Judy didn't feel entirely convinced, but maybe meeting the honey badger in person would change that. "While we have time, I want to go check on my family."

"Sure, whatever you say," Nick guzzled his now lukewarm coffee.

"We'll stop by the police station on the way. Remember, you still have an apology to make."

"Yeah, you're right, Carrots. Afterward, I've gotta start looking for a reservation."

"Reservation?" Judy tilted her head.

"For the Christmas Dinner, you dumb bunny! In case you have forgotten, I'm not Gordon Ramsay and you're not Chef Remy. I know this restaurant in Tundratown that does great Christmas Dinners. After that we can watch your movie at home."

Judy smirked, her coffee lying cold and half-full before her. "I like the cut of your jib, Mr. Wilde."

Nick leaned back and smugly rested the back of his head on his paws. "Of course you do."


When they stepped into the ZPD lobby some time later, Benjamin had his back to them behind his desk. By now the smugness had left Nick as his guilt returned. He walked up to the desk and cleared his throat to get the cheetah's attention. "I have to call you back. See you tonight, Alec." He lowered his phone and greeted the fox cheerfully. "Hi, Nick." He waved at Judy as she stood further back near the entrance. "Hi, Judy!"

"Benji, I just wanted to apologize for what I said about the watch. I didn't mean it like that, it just came out wrong."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I can't say I blame you for wondering." The sunlight flashed white on the face of the watch. "Like I said, he does give me expensive gifts, but only once a year on my birthday. He actually called me just now to see how I was doing."

Nick crossed his arms on the desk. "Did he say what he's going to do about his store?"

"He's going to set up shop in the mall again once Forensics are done and the building gets fixed up again. The Casels aren't going to let some extremist jerks push them around, I'll say this much. By the way, I don't know if anyone called you but your dad's here."

Judy facepalmed. "Oh Lord, I told them I would come see them later!"

"That's not it. You see, your dad thinks he knows who turned all those animals savage."