Chapter Ten: The Most Important Tool
The world is filled with evil; it is a fact, one we can not change. There is evil that is easily vanquished, but how do you destroy an evil that will kill the ones they love to get away?
Judy had the first hangover of her life, and because of that she didn't do much over the weekend, Nick went for three runs without her, normally they would do those together on the weekend, but nothing was the same, perfect was something they no longer had.
Nick had two more nightmares over the weekend; he hated what was happening to him, every time he slept, he was plagued with such unwanted thoughts. However the week had ended, it was Monday morning, and now he had something to occupy his mind. The search for an animal that somehow was involved with the killing of the chief and his wife, they needed to know what he did to convince Jason to kill them.
Nick laid in his bed for hours staring up at the ceiling; he had just gone through another nightmare, and he couldn't fall back asleep. He didn't want to sleep, but he knew what would happen if he didn't, and Nick promised Judy he would try his best to sleep.
Once the clock hit five thirty, AM Nick got out of bed. Usually, he would put on his uniform, but he wasn't going back to work as a patrol officer, he was going back as a detective. So, he needed something a detective would wear, and he had no idea what they wore.
He grabbed his phone and went into the search browser; he typed in the question, "what do detectives wear?"
He found out what they wore and decided to go with the most professional look, the suit. Nick always thought he looked good in a suit, so wearing one to work was something he would gladly do. Nick searched through his closet for the black suit he had tailored for him six months back for a particular occasion he had no choice, but to go to. Nick took the dry cleaning bag off it and slipped it on as best he could without making wrinkles in it. Nick Went into the kitchen and quickly got two pieces of toast before leaving the apartment. He walked out the front door to the apartment complex over to the side where the parking lot was, and he went straight for his car.
Nick started up the car and drove it out on the street. He turned on the head lights for it was only dusk and he drove to the ZPD. Nick pulled in and drove into the underground parking lot, pulling the car into the designated parking space, and turning the vehicle off before getting out and locking it. He went straight to the elevator and took it to the top floor so he wouldn't have to deal with Clawhauser. The doors opened, and immediately dozens of voices could be heard from towering animals. Nick walked around the large animals and made his way to the hallway that led to the stairs and the chief's office.
Nick knocked on the door, and immediately he heard Eric exclaim, "come!"
Nick obeyed and opened the door, upon opening it he saw the lion sitting behind the desk that still had Thelonious' stuff on it. He jumped on the chair and leaned forward.
"so Eric, how is this going to work?" Nick asked with a grin on his face.
"well, you're going to get a new badge; which I have right here," he replied calmly while pulling out a small golden badge out of his pocket.
Nick grabbed it and had a look at it, reading the inscription that said, "Detective Nichols P. Wilde."
"cool, but this doesn't make it official," Nick calmly said.
"W-What do you mean?" the lion asked confused.
"I need a desk, then it's official," he replied with a chuckle.
"that won't be here until tomorrow, no one ships products on the weekend," Eric said with a smile.
"sweet!" chippered Nick
"now, as I was saying, you will need a new badge, and now you do. Next, you're going to keep this case file safe, no one other than me and you can see it," Eric said with a calmer voice, passing Nick the case file with all the evidence they had on the other animal involved with the Bogo's deaths.
"what's in it?" he asked while grabbing it.
"right now, only what I was able to find, which wasn't much. fabricated prison records, a disk with the sound recorded by the camera in the negotiation room at the jail; there isn't much, but it has about four seconds of two animals talking one of them being Jason," he answered quickly and calmly.
"you haven't been able to use voice recognition to identify who it is?" Nick asked while reading the prison records.
"no, it was too distorted by the recovery process to try and get the footage from the camera, that all we could retrieve, everything else including the video was static," he said with disappointment.
"You're really making it hard aren't you," Nick said while tossing the case file that was useless on the desk. "How did the officers at the jail not even notice that the records were falsified it's clear they were, I mean come on there's a smiley face on every page," Nick questioned slightly bothered by the lacking intelligence in prison personal.
Eric sighed and replied, "look this guy is smart, he's clearly done things like this before. I had a few of the guards from the prison try and recall his face, but all they could tell me was that he was a black panther."
"so all we know about what he looks like is that he's a Panther," Nick said calmly. "great, so now we know what kind of species he is. In a city that has more than nine thousand square kilometers and a population of forty-five million, that only narrows it down to Tens of thousands!" Nick sarcastically added.
"Think, Wilde; you have connections all over the city, can't you use them to get something?" He asked, hoping Nick could come up with something.
"I don't think there is anything to be dug up, we have nothing, and even if there were all my connections went up in flames when I became a cop," Nick replied hopelessly. "Wait," Nick suddenly said with a hope in his voice. "At the funeral, you said the animal involved in this might be a cop. Why didn't I think of this? Eric check the ZPD database for all cops who are Panthers, that should narrow it down," Nick ordered confidently.
Eric pulled up the database on his computer and searched for police who were Panthers.
"Okay I got two hundred and sixty results, and if I narrow it down to gender I have one hundred and fourteen, but that still leaves us too many variables," Eric quickly said while turning the computer screen around for Nick to see.
"You know how I said I have no more connections, well I lied, there is one, but even he's a long shot," Nick said calmly while looking up at Eric with a grin.
"Are you sure, because this would be the only lead in the entire investigation," Eric asked wanting assurance that nick's connection would pan out.
"The only thing I can granite is he's going to be an ass hole about it," Nick replied with a serious look on his face, but at the same time a smirk of sarcasm.
"can he help or not?" Eric again asked with a stern tone and a roll of the eyes.
"yes; Hey now that I'm a detective do I get my own detective vehicle?" Nick replied as he jumped off of the chair.
"Maybe, just go," Eric replied while pointing to the door.
"Okay, okay, I'm going, jeez someone needs to take a chill pill," Nick added with a grin while opening the door to the office.
He closed it behind him and went back into the room wit all the detectives, Nick went to the elevator and took it down to the underground parking. He walked back to his car and got in turning it on and driving out.
Nick drove for twenty-five minutes until he came into Sahara square.
"Come on buddy, where are you?" Nick asked himself while looking for his old friend.
Another ten minutes went by, and Nick still had nothing, when he noticed the vehicle he had spent so much time in. He pulled his car into a parallel park, and got out; he walked over to the van with the Aztec art all over its body.
Nick walked to the back door of the van and knocked on it as hard as he could. Immediately after the door came flying open and standing there was Finnick with his baseball bat.
"Put that thing away would ya," Nick demanded with a smirk.
Finnick did what he said, and dropped the bat, and he asked with his deep gravely voice, "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"I came to catch up. What else would I be doing?" Nick replied throwing his arms out.
"Sure and I'm fucking tall!" Finnick replied sarcastically.
"Well for a fennec you are," Nick added with a smirk and a lively tone.
"Nick it's been more than two years since we spoke. So cut the crap and tell me why you're here," the small fox demanded with his angered tone which only made his voice sound deeper.
"Well if you let me come in I'll tell you," Nick offered with a calm voice.
Finnick agreed, and Nick hopped into the van pulling the door shut behind him.
"Now that's better," Nick said with a smile and a happy tone.
"Okay dumb ass, you're in the van, now tell me why you're here," Finnick ordered.
"Okay, I'm looking for a black panther, and he's a cop, but not the kind you want to know," Nick answered calmly.
"There is no police I want to know," the big-eared fox replied.
"You know what I mean Finnick," Nick added with an annoyed look on his face. "look, he's involved with the murder of Thelonius and his wife. So is there anything you know about a crooked cop?" Nick asked with a calm voice with kind eyes.
Finnick sighed, then replied, "Promise me you won't have me arrested over what I'm about to tell you?"
"Cross my heart," Nick answered with a smile.
"Okay, I was at what we will call a party. At this party, there was a drug deal going down, I overheard one of them say the drugs were for some dick head cop that freaked him out because of his dark fur, and his rich vocabulary," Finnick said with a calmness to his tone.
"Who was this dealer?" Nick asked.
"He's a jackass," Finnick replied.
"No really who is he?" Nick again asked.
"A donkey you moron!" Finnick replied laughing under his breath. "his name is Jorden Elliott," he added with laughing.
"Thanks, Big Guy," Nick said while opening the back door to the van.
"Hey wait, don't I get something for helping you with a police investigation?" Finnick exclaimed while jumping out of his van.
"Yeah I don't arrest you for being at a party with drugs, or for being on drugs yourself," he replied with a smirk while walking back to his car.
"You're an asshole, Nick!" Finnick yelled out in anger.
"love you too Bud!" he said while getting into his car.
Nick chuckled while turning on the small computer on the dashboard of the vehicle, he pulled out the small keyboard and typed the name, Jorden Elliott. A couple of dozen results showed up, and he clicked on the one that said species equine, donkey. The information loaded and what he saw shocked him.
"Deceased!" he exclaimed I surprise. "fuck!" he added in anger punching the roof of his car. he got back out and yelled at Finnick before he shut the door of his van, "Hey!" he marched over to Finnick and added with rage, "the Mother fucker is dead, Why the fuck didn't you tell me that?"
"W-What! I swear he was alive four days ago," he replied with widened eyes looking down then back up at Nick who was towering over him.
"How do you know for sure he was alive?" Nick asked picking him up off the ground looking him directly in the eyes.
"Because I didn't overhear him making a deal with someone because I was who he was making a deal with, okay!" Finnick answered with anger in his own voice. "A day after the deal I found out I was fucked over by the fucker, so I tracked him down and forced him to give me the drugs back. I know he was alive because I only broke his arm okay," he answered looking down away from Nick.
Nick let Finnick down, and he punched the door of the van while he said, "God dammit!"
"Hey, don't take it own on her, it's not my fault, the dumb ass probably overdosed or something," Finnick said looking up at Nick who was pissed.
"Well, what the fuck am I supposed to do now?" Nick asked while trying to calm himself.
"Think you, idiot, what do you think was going to happen when he didn't get the drugs for the cop, he probably killed him, by overdosing him on something, so find out what precinct got the case," he answered calmly.
"You're right, but I'm positive he would have covered his tracks by having someone else handle the investigation," Nick replied lacking hope.
"Yes, but think about it, what would be the best way to cover your tracks? make it look like the guy overdosed and give the case to a friend in your precinct. You tell them you did all the work you just don't have the time to file the paperwork," Finnick said with a calm, yet annoyed filled voice.
"Finnick you're a life saver, you should become a cop," Nick said suddenly filled with content.
Finnick looked at him and chuckled out, "yeah, I'd rather die."
Nick ran back to his car and found the precinct number and the detective that handled the case.
"River Johnson, Precinct Seven," Nick read to himself.
he started his car, pulled out of the parallel park and drove off.
Finnick watched with a smirk while he said to himself, "good luck, stupid."
Nick drove from the Sahara Square all the way to precinct seven. It was in the near the edge of the Meadow Lands and City Central, it was a third the size and only had fourth the personal of Precinct One.
Nick parked in front of the Station and looked out the front window of his car to read the sign that said, "ZPD Precinct Seven."
He got out of his vehicle and walked through the front door. Nick went to reception and hit the little bell on the desk.
"Oh, hello, how may I help you?" the Jaguar asked with a smile on her face.
Nick pulled out his new badge and said calmly, "yes I'm detective Nick Wilde, I need to speak to one of your detectives."
"Okay, and what the name of the detective?" she asked while turning on her computer and going to the search bar.
"Detective River Johnson," Nick replied calmly.
the Jaguar punched in the name and got the information she needed before she said with a kind voice, "okay she on the second floor, desk nine."
"Thank you," Nick added before walked over to the stairs and headed for the second floor.
When entered the room with all the detectives, to his surprise there were only ten desks for the ten detectives they had. Precinct One Had forty of their own if that was classified underpowered, then he didn't want to know how hard it was for this precinct to function with only ten in an area that had double the crime than more than half the city.
Nick walked up to the detective sitting at desk nine, and he said calmly with a smile, "Hello, uh, Detective Johnson?"
"Yes that would be me," the wolf replied with a smile of hr own.
Nick hopped onto the chair in front of the desk, and he said calmly, "I was hoping you could help me with my investigation."
"Uh, as you can see I'm a little overwhelmed with my own cases I don't think I'd be of much help to you, sorry," she replied with disappointment.
"Well I beg to differ, you remember a case you worked on recently about a dead drug dealer named Jorden Elliot, he was a donkey?" Nick asked with a calm voice.
"yes as a matter of fact I do, it was a case my friend worked. Told me he didn't have enough time to deal with the paperwork and asked me to finish it for him," she happily replied.
"who is this friend is he a detective here?" Nick asked hoping he would finally find out her the panther was.
"Uh, yes he's a Panther, his name is Darcy Davis," River replied, with content.
"did you just say Darcy Davis, as in the Darcy Davis that was married to an Angela Williams?" Nick asked in shock as to what he just told.
"Y-Yes, h-how did you know that?" she asked confused as to how Nick knew about his past marriage.
"You're not going to believe this, but his ex-wife treated me when I was in the hospital. I never thought that it would have been her ex-husband that was behind everything," Nick said with complete surprise.
"What, what do you mean behind what?" River asked still bewildered by the whole situation.
Nick looked at her, and immediately he knew that she had no involvement with Darcy, so he answered quickly, but calmly, "Look last week the chief of police Thelonius Bogo and his wife her murdered by an ex-cop. That cop was manipulated to believe that his life falling apart was all because of Chief Bogo, so he killed him and his wife. We found out that a black panther was the one manipulating him while he was in prison. It took some digging, but I discovered that there was a crooked cop asking for some sort of drug and the dealer that was supposed to get him the stuff was Jordon Elliot, and he was killed three days ago. Darcy must have handled the case until it was time to put his name on file, so he had you do the paperwork for him to cover his tracks."
"H-How do you know that is true?" She asked completely shocked by what Nick was saying about Darcy.
"Well, where is he? I need to interrogate him to find out the truth," Nick calmly asked.
"He called in sick this morning, said his doctor told him to stay home for a few days," River replied still not feeling suspicious.
"Where does he live?" Nick asked with jumping down from the chair.
"He lives three blocks from here, in an apartment complex," she answered standing up from her chair. "I'm coming with you," she added grabbing her gun.
She followed Nick to his car and, Nick got in the front, but River had to get into the back because the front seat wasn't big enough for her. They drove the three blocks and stopped in front of an apartment building.
"He's on the fourth floor, I've been there before," she said while getting out of the patrol vehicle.
"Wait why have you been there before?" Nick asked as he too exited the car.
"Uh, no reason just was," she replied hesitantly.
Nick stopped her in her tracks by grabbing her arm.
"You don't believe he did any of the things I've accused him of, do you?" He asked calmly.
She sighed and answered with slight annoyance, "no because he would never do such a thing like that!"
"You two are lovers?" He asked already knowing the answer.
"Y-Yes, and I'm telling you I know him, he would never do what you think he's done," she replied with a stern voice.
"Well then let's go ask him, there is no harm in that," Nick suggested.
River sighed then said calmly, "okay."
"Lead the way," he replied extending her arm out towards the door to the apartment building.
Nick followed River into the building, the two of them took the elevator to the fourth floor. They walked up the hall until they reached apartment four thirteen.
River knocked and happily said, "Hey Darcy it's me River can I come in?"
After thirty seconds no one answered, so Nick said with an order in his voice, "you must have a key open it."
She looked at him with annoyed eyes, but she complied by pulling out her keys and sticking one of them into the door knob.
"Darcy I'm coming in!" She exclaimed while twisting the key.
She took the key out of the door and when she opened it there was a ticking noise.
"What's that?" She asked confused by it.
Nick's eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen, he exclaimed while running back, "it's a bomb move!"
Then, BOOM! An explosion blew out from the door, the force throwing Nick ten feet and River into the wall behind her.
"Son of Bitch!" Nick yelled while trying to get back up.
He got back up leaning against the wall for his balance was thrown off by the explosion. All Nick could see in front of him was fire and smoke; then the fire alarm went off and the sprinklers starting splashing water everywhere to try and put out the fire.
Nick regained his balance, and he ran towards the fire and tried to get River. He found her lodged in the wall that was behind her, the fire started to go out, and Nick could see more clearly as to what happened.
"God dammit River," Nick said looking down at her torso to see a piece of the door in her stomach with blood gushing out from it.
He checked her pulse, to see that it was pointless for there was another fragment from the bomb in her next. Then he noticed that it wasn't they only thing in her, there were cuts and holes all over her body. A dirty bomb, rigged with projectiles, they covered her body, she was unlucky standing right in the doorway, where they were aiming.
"Mother fucker!" Nick yelled with rage.
Nick managed to pull her body out from the indent in the wall; he pulled her away from the burnt part of the hall.
Then, out of nowhere a black bear Said completely shocked, "Oh my god! Is she?"
"Sir I need you to get back!" Nick exclaimed as he pulled His radio off his belt. "This detective Wilde, I have an officer down, my location is one twenty-eight Angles Drive, I'm on the fourth floor of the apartment complex," he quickly said into is walky-talky while assessing the situation.
A few seconds went by when a voice came on the radio and asked, "detective, what is the state of the officer?"
He clicked the talk button and replied with a stale angered tone, "Dead."
"Detective what is the situation?" the voice asked, still calm.
"There has been an explosion," he stated. "A dirty bomb was set off, there were projectiles planted in it, they hit Detective River, killing her instantly," Nick added while looking down at the dead wolf, shrapnel and small pieces of glass covering her body.
While Nick explained the situation, more residents of the building began to show up.
"Everyone! I'm Detective Nick Wilde; I need all of you to stay back from the crime scene!" he yelled over the noise of the enlarging crowd.
Nick tried his best to keep the situation under control. He managed to stop anyone from doing something stupid until all the authorities he sent for showed up to secure the apartment building. The body of River Johnson was loaded into an ambulance for transfer so a ZPD coroner could examine the cause of death.
Meanwhile, Nick got his arm bandaged for the wound on resulting from the shrapnel he didn't notice hit him. Then Nick had to speak with another detective to explain what happened. That wasn't going to go well.
"Look I told you already, I can't say why I'm here it's above your pay grade," Nick said to the rhino with frustration.
"Okay, sure Fox," the huge animal replied with a subtle chuckle in his tone.
"Okay, listen Shit for brains! I'm not telling you why I'm here. I was instructed to inform no one unless necessary, and I don't find you knowing, uh, necessary," Nick replied being finished dealing with the detective.
"you little bitch!" the Rhino yelled thoroughly angered by Nicks remarks.
"detective!" a voice exclaimed from behind the two detectives.
both Nick and the rhino turned around ti see the new chief of police standing ten feet away from them on the other side of the street.
"Eric! Thank God, Tell this hard head to kick it," Nick demanded.
The lion crossed the road and walked right up to them and replied, "both of you stop! Wilde, I'll take it from here, go speak to the press."
Nick looked at him with surprise, and he tried to say, "W-Why do I-,"
"because I hate the press, and you're good at lying," Eric answered.
Nick gave him a confused look while he asked, "Why am I lying to the press, and furthermore what am I lying about?"
"Well, I don't know, Wilde, what were you not going to tell him?" Eric replied pointing to the rhino beside him.
Nick shrugged his shoulders and said with a calmer tone, "Fine, I will go and lie to the press."
Nick walked passed the two large animals, he went straight up to the caution tape and walked under it. Immediately, more than a dozen animals came running up to him.
All of them began to speak, and it jumbled the questions, "Detective! What's the situation? What has happened, who is responsible?"
"stop. Shut up!" Nick said with annoyance. Nick then said calmly, "Okay, good. To answer all of your questions, I'm detective Nick Wilde, there was an explosion on the fourth floor, there was no perpetrator, it was an accident caused by faulty wiring and plumbing. The electricity got touched by some water, and it caused a spark. Unfortunately, there was an antique gas lamp in the apartment that created and explanation, which in turn killed a friend of mine detective, River Johnson."
"detective! why were you and Detective Johnson going to this apartment?" one of the new anchors asked.
"River and I are good friends with the tenant who lives there, we were going to see him, but he wasn't home. then the explosion occurred," Nick replied calmly. "no more questions, thanks!" he added as the crowd began to get loud again.
Nick bent under the caution tape and walked back over to Eric who had just finished speaking with the rhino whom Nick thought was annoying.
"There I lied," Nick said to Eric walking passed him.
"Nick!" he yelled suddenly. "What did you find out?" he asked calmly.
He turned around and replied, "the panther is a cop named Darcy Davis. Eric, he just killed his lover, what kind of animal does such a thing?"
"Good work, Now we know who he is, and we can find him," Eric said lacking care for the life just lost in his voice.
"Don't you get it, this guy Knew I was coming, How did he know I would show up? Fuck! How did he know I would find a lead that I would have never found if I didn't go and talk to Finnick? Eric this guy is playing a fucking mind game with me I can tell! Not to mention I met his ex-wife last week!" Nick yelled out.
"Nick, calm down. Are you okay?" He asked.
"I don't know Eric," he replied calmly. "I mean I just saw someone gets killed by a bomb, I don't know," he added completely unsure if he was going to pull through.
"Look, uh, maybe I should've handled this case myself," Eric suggested.
"No, Eric, I'm alright I can do this, this guy isn't going to get to me," Nick replied with confidence.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Eric, I can do this, I'll find Darcy and bring him to justice," Nick replied.
Suddenly Nick's phone dinged. He pulled it out of his pocket, and it said the time was three thirty PM, and he had an appointment with Doctor White a half an hour from then.
"who is it?" Eric asked
"Uh, I have and appointment to get to, it's not far from here. you have this under control right?" Nick replied, putting his phone back into his pocket.
"Yeah, yeah. go, I got it," the curious lion answered.
"Thanks, I need you to send someone to the Bunny Burrow General Hospital, Darcy's Ex-wife works there, make sure she's safe," Nick ordered.
"Okay, got it," Eric replied while he began to walk back towards the apartment building.
Nick walked over to his car park on the opposite side of the street where the apartment was. He got in, started it, and drove off. Nick drove for about fifteen minutes before pulling up in front of the Oakwood Centre. Nick parked beside the building, but he didn't get out. Nick sat there and began to cry, becoming overwhelmed completely by all the images going through his head of the dead wolf, having to pull her away from the fire, seeing glass shard cover her body, cutting into her, killing her. He sat in the car for nearly five minutes pondering the thought of how Darcy Davis could kill someone he was supposed to love.
"How am I going to do this job without you, Judy?" Nick asked with a sniffle.
Nick got out of the car, and he wiped his shoulders of dust. Not that it mattered seeing as there was a rip in one of them and he had a bandage covering his right forearm.
Nick entered the building, and he wants up to the receptionist who looked at him with shock.
"Oh my God, are you okay," she asked with widened eyes.
Nick smiled and replied, "I'm okay, got into a little situation, at work, I'm a cop so."
"Oh my!" she said while looking at his arm and then his ear.
Nick noticed she was glancing at it, so he said calmly and with a smirk while pointing to his ear, "Oh that was a different situation at work." then he added happily, "anyway, I'm here to see Doctor White."
"Okay, let me see ...," she replied while typing on her computer. "ah, yes your appointment is at five so in ten minutes. you can go now," she added with a smile.
"Thank you," Nick replied smiling back at her.
Nick walked away, heading towards the lift. He clicked the button, and the doors opened letting him walk in and click another button to take him to the sixth floor of the building. The door closed, and the elevator jolted going upward quickly and smoothly; when it stopped, Nick got out and went right to the door with the numbers six zero four.
He knocked, and Mattew hollered, "Come in!"
Nick opened the door and said with a chipper in his voice, "Hello Doctor White."
"Hello Nick ...," Matthew said, but once he looked at his appearance, he noticed his arm and the rip in his suit. "Nick what happened to you?" he asked.
Nick scratched his head and replied looking at him with a smirk, "Now that is a story you are going to love.
"well before you do that sign this," Matthew asked passing Nick a legal document.
The paper explained that he couldn't reveal anything they spoke about unless he was given information that could have involvement with suicide or something worse. There was also an additional line of legal obligations that Matthew White had to follow because of Nick being a cop, and the paper said that he was not allowed to reveal information about cases Nick worked.
Nick signed the paper and passed it back to him, "here."
"Thank you, now what did that to you?" He asked placing that papers on his desk.
"Well, long story short, I was hit by an explosion," Nick said quickly said he sat down.
"Oh, well, uh, sounds horrible," he replied while he sat down.
"Yeah, i-it was," Nick said looking down at his foot which had a small cut that had gone unnoticed until now.
Matthew saw in Nick's eyes that he was troubled more by what had happened then what he was letting on.
"There is something more to this explosion, isn't there?" Matthew asked.
Nick looked up and said with a flat face, "yeah, there is ..."
"It's okay Nick; this is what we are supposed to do here, talk about what bothers you, discuss the things that make you scared for your wife's life," Matthew said trying to reassure Nick that he could tell him what was bothered him.
"You know I, ve seen lots of dead animals, I'm a cop, it's the inevitable, but today something was different. I don't know how to explain it, but I couldn't handle seeing someone dead," Nick replied calmly, with little agitation. "I don't know; maybe it was how she died, who killed her. I mean who would be capable of doing what this guy did?" He asked while picking at one of his nails.
"H-Hold on, slow down, Nick. Who did what to whom?" Matthew asked with a calming tone.
"There is this Panther; he's responsible for the death of chief Bogo and his wife," he replied fixing his posture.
"I thought the animal that killed them, took his own life?" the Doctor questioned.
"well yes, but he was only doing hat he believed was right. he was manipulated by a cop named Darcy Davis; he made him believe that him being in prison was his fault and I still don't know why Darcy did it," Nick quickly said not stopping in his speed, for he wanted to get everything out now that he was on a rant. "I-I don't know how, but he's playing a game with me, why I couldn't possibly begin to tell you, but he is. everything that has happened today he planned!" Nick added standing up from his seat.
Matthew looked at Nick with shock.
"No wonder he was having such horrible thoughts about losing his wife, he deals with things like that," He thought to himself.
"Yeah, that's what I figured, shock. you know maybe this wasn't a good idea, I should just go," Nick said as he started to walk to the door.
"Wait, Nick," Matthew said standing up from his seat. "I know I'm not supposed to tell a patient to stay because it's better that way. I just don't think someone should go through what you are going through and not have someone to speak to about it. I know what you're going to say, you have Judy, But you need someone who can help you, someone that can tell you how to deal with these emotions. I'm not going to give you a drug to help you, hell I don't even believe in giving someone a drug for a problem that can be solved without them. I know this is going to be hard, but can you at least try and do the right thing, for yourself?" he said quickly, but with truthfulness.
Nick looked down, and he sighed before he whispered to himself, "what would Judy do?" he closed the door in front of him then he turned around and replied, "Okay, I'll try, but I can't promise you anything, I'm not the best at this. Had a lot of problems with shrinks as a kid."
"well have a seat, and we will start there, back when you were a child," Matthew offered with a subtle smile. "And Nick, I'm not a shrink," he added while taking his seat once again.
"You're lucky Doctor White; only one animal has ever heard what I'm about to tell you," Nick said with a cold voice, still conflicted over what needed to be done to heal him.
"Well tell me, Nick, when did you first feel fear?" Matthew asked with a soft tone.
Nick subtly smiled before it faded and he said, "long ago, I was eight or nine, still, can't remember which one it is. I wanted to join the junior ranger scouts, so I did, but ... They were all pray, and at the time I was smaller than all of them weaker than them. So, t-they put a muzzle on me, and I ran from them. I was afraid, and I used to believe I learned two things that day that is the world is going to see nothing but a low life fox that I should just give them that, and two I should never let them see that they get to me. Now after meeting Judy, I realized that I could be more than just a low life, that I can be more."
"What about the second thing, do you still believe in that?" Matthew asked.
"just at work and when it's necessary, I no longer believe in pretending to be happy, forcing positivity onto yourself doesn't work. You need to find real happiness, and Judy showed me that, but I'm a cop Doc, so I can't break down or be positive at a crime scene. Don't get me wrong I've gotten pissed at other cops for being idiots or just plain annoying, but I never let them see the horror in my eyes that I see now," Nick replied with a soft tone.
"I can see it's only been getting harder for you to keep that persona while at work, and yes I agree you shouldn't fake happiness all the time, I believe doing so is wrong, and it can only do more harm than good," Doctor White replied. "But please Nick, continue," the otter said while straightening himself.
"Fast forward a few years; I'm around twelve, I got into, uh, cunning hustling per say, I stopped caring about anything other than making money and my parents. I stopped caring about school failed everything because I didn't go, I would go into the office at school and fake my attendance. Teachers never noticed I was gone because they were just as bad the kids I was nothing but shit to them," Nick said quickly and with a subtle smile for it was a lovely time in his life. "So now that I was making money, like a lot of it, more than a twelve-year-old could ever need, I started giving to my parents. They didn't know it was me, though, I would leave envelopes filled with hundred dollar bills on the front doorstep every two weeks for the next four years until ...," he added pausing briefly.
"Nick what happened next?" the sympathetic Otter asked.
Nick sighed, then he sat up leaning slightly forward and said, "Uh, my father and I were walking home from lunch, we went to cross the street when a car hit my dad head on, it broke sixty-three different bones in his body, killing him instantly. M-My mother was torn apart by it, she lost the will to live and took her own life six months after my dad died. I was on my own no one left, so I stopped caring, stopped doing anything other than making money."
"That must've been difficult for you to deal with being only sixteen." Doctor White said calmly listening to Nick not making any changes to his own mood to keep Nick from further unwanted emotions.
"I was just a kid with nothing left, not even hope. So now two animals know about my childhood. How does it feel?" Nick asked.
"I feel like you had many reasons for becoming who you were. However, there is more you are not telling me," Matthew stated with certainty in his eyes.
"I don't feel like talking about that right now," Nick replied leaning back into the chair.
"That's okay when you feel you can tell me what you've told your wife, please do so," he said as he too laid back into his chair.
"well, what do you want to talk about next?" Nick asked while he stared passed the otter nd out the window of the office.
"I'm not sure, what about when you met Judy," the otter suggested.
Then, before Nick could talk his phone rang, he again sat up and pulled it out to see it said unknown caller ID. He clicked answer and put the phone to his right ear.
"Hello," he said confused slightly by the ominous of the call.
"Uh, is this Detective Nick Wilde?" the voice asked.
Nick looked to the Doctor in front of him, and he answered, "Y-Yes, that would be me."
"I was paid by a panther named Darcy Davis, to tell you to check the news from Bunny Burrow," he said before hanging up ending the call.
Nick looked at Matthew with a confused increasingly worrying look on his face.
"what happened?" Matthew asked.
"I don't know," Nick replied.
Nick searched up Bunny Burrow new, and the first thing to pop up was a new story about a death in the Bunny Burrow General Hospital.
Nick clicked on it, and he read, "Three hours ago a White Bengal Tiger named Angela Williams, was found dead with both Paws surgically removed. They were placed in on a table with a note that said the most important tool a surgeon has is their paws, without them their life has no meaning, and it should be ended."
Nick scrolled down, and a graphic warning was labeled right above a photo. Nick clicked on the photo, and it was a picture of Doctor Williams' paws with a note in them.
Nick had dropped his phone before he said completely horrified, "What the fuck!"
"Wha happened?" Matthew asked.
Nick looked at him with dismay and replied, "Someone was just killed, just to mess with me." Nick picked up his phone and closed the web browser, putting his phone back into his pocket before he said, "I need to go. I-I need to deal with this."
"I understand Nick, go," Matthew said with widened eyes.
Nick stood up and left quickly, running to the elevator, getting in and taking down to the first floor. He ran passed reception and out the front door, Nick got into his car and started it speeding off not to the ZPD, but home. Nick again grabbed his phone and called Judy
the phone rang twice before Judy picked it up and said, "Hey Nick."
"Judy, are you okay?" Nick asked with far in his tone.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, why?" she questioned.
"look I'm on my way home, lock the door don't let anyone in util I get there, okay," Nick quickly ordered while speeding passed other cars on the road with his sirens blaring.
"Nick wat happened?" she asked becoming worried herself.
"I don't have time to explain right now I just need you to be safe, so please lock the door, and get your gun," Nick begged.
"O-Okay just gets here soon," Judy replied.
"I love you," Nick said quickly
"I love you too," Judy replied before ending the call.
Nick tossed his phone on the dash and drove as fast as he could without crashing. After twenty minutes he pulled up in front of his apartment building, he grabbed his phone and got out running up the stairs and going straight to his apartment. He went to put his key in the door, but it open. Nick's heart began to race; he opened the door to see there was a struggle the kitchen table tipped over and blood on the floor and lines as if Judy tried to grip the ground, but it didn't matter, she was taken.
Nick fell to his knees then down onto his paws; he started crying unable to stop himself. He fell onto his side and wept.
"why? ... why are you doing this? ...," he cried out.
he laid on his side, staring at blood lines from Judy's fingers for nearly twenty minutes before he got back up and wiped his eyes.
"I won't let him win, I'll kill if I have to, but I will save you, my love," Nick whispered.
Hello everyone, chapter ten, it took me a long time to get here, too long, the last half of 2016 was a horrible year for me. My girlfriend whom I loved cheated on me with someone I thought I could trust my best friend. I got sick very ill for months I was suffering from extreme exhaustion when I slept I wasn't getting any energy from it, and it burned me out. I just couldn't do anything from working to school to writing, I had to stop one of those things to be able to keep up, and it had to be this, but now I'm back, and I'm not going anywhere I'm going to give you a story to remember. A story filled with heartbreak, darkness, evil, a story that shows that every detail of our lives changes us and defines who we become or what we become capable of doing to someone whether it be good or bad, a story that makes you cry, but also makes you laugh or happy at times. A story that makes you really think.
until next time