As "community care" homes went, the small house Nick and Judy approached wasn't bad. It wasn't a palace, by any stretch, but the yard was well-kept, the house itself old but well-maintained, and the two residents they saw playing chess on the front porch seemed content.

They glanced up- a kangaroo and a bobcat- as the two cops approached. "Hey, it's the police," commented the bobcat.

"Well-spotted," replied the kangaroo without looking up from the board. "You realize the knight pieces in this game move two spaces straight and then one over, Earl? Because you just moved one straight ahead three spaces."

"Yeah. I figured that one is sober, so he can move in a full straight line."

The kangaroo shook his head. "You really need to stop anthropomorphizing the chess pieces, Earl. Remember the discussion we had about castling?"

"I was just saying that no king can pick up a castle and move it like that-"

"It's a game." The kangaroo finally looked up at Judy and Nick. "Can I help you?"

"We're investigating the disappearance of Randy Snarlden," said Judy. "Are you residents here?"

"I am," replied the kangaroo. He held out a paw which Judy shook politely. "I'm Tom. Gotta say, it's kind of strange to see the police actually taking an interest in a missing mammal who is, um, how would I put it-"

"Crazy," finished Earl. The others looked at him. "What? Randy's my brother. And he is kind of crazy."

"What sort of mental illness was he diagnosed with?" asked Judy.

"Learning disability, primarily, though some of the doctors said he likely suffered from some sort of bipolar disorder." Earl stood up from the table with the chess pieces on it. "But he's never really been completely irrational- so it doesn't make sense for him to just wander off like everyone seems to think he did."

"Was he compliant with medication?" asked Judy, her notebook out.

"Yeah, they're pretty good here about making sure we get our meds," said Tom. "And it's nice and quiet here. Not like some of the places I've been."

Nick and Judy nodded. Both had been to calls involving care homes which were run sloppily, even criminally. "Did he say anything that might make you think he was going to leave? Maybe talk about meeting a friend, or anything like that?"

Both mammals shook their heads. "Randy generally keeps to himself," said Earl. "When he's not hanging around with me, he usually just likes to sit in the house and watch cartoons."

"And eat," added Tom.

"Eat and watch cartoons," amended Earl. "Come to think of it, he's generally eating when he is with me, too."

"Does he go out at all?" asked Judy.

"Sometimes he goes to the Bug Burger down the street," said Tom. "He says the food here is boring."

"Could he have gone there when he went missing?"

"Maybe," said Tom doubtfully. "He disappeared at night though, and he's scared of the dark."

"A bobcat that's scared of the dark?" said Nick, surprised. "I thought bobcats were nocturnal."

Both mammals shrugged. "Did I mention my brother is a little off?" said Earl. "He would never go outside alone at night."

Judy and Nick shared a glance. "Do you happen to have a good photograph of him?" asked Judy. "We might as well go ask around."

"Sure- there's one in his room." They followed Earl inside. Once again, they noted that the place was clean and well-kept, though perhaps a bit cluttered. Earl led them down a hall, waving at a lion who was lying on his back in a bed. The bobcat went to a dresser next to the other bed in the room and began digging through the drawers.

Judy looked around, then stopped to look closer at a waste bin near the room's one small desk. "He disappeared Tuesday night?" she asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah, between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning."

Judy started digging through the trash. Nick watched her, bemused. "Carrots, what are you-"

She handed back a few papers she had collected. "Look at these."

The fox took them, read them, looked up at her. "Bug Burger receipts."

"Like I said," Earl put in. "He liked to go there occasionally."

Nick read them over. "That one's from last Thursday, this one from the Wednesday before- here's one for Saturday." Judy handed him another. "Okay, Friday."

"One per day," said Judy. She shook her head. "No more that I can see."

Earl frowned. "Weird. He didn't really have the money to go that often."

"Why would he have stopped on Saturday?" wondered Nick. "I mean, he goes once per day for a week, then just stops?"

Judy straightened, dusting off her knees. "How often do you clean out your pockets, Nick?"

He thought about it. "So you think he just hasn't thrown away the most recent receipts?" Nick nodded. "Makes sense. So he was going once a day."

Judy turned back to Earl. "You have that photograph?"

The bobcat started to hand it to her, then paused to look at it again. His face softened. The two cops looked at it too, seeing Earl with his arm around a fat, grinning bobcat in front of a birthday cake. Both brothers smiled cheerfully at the camera.

Judy looked at Earl, the bobcat's saddened expression a marked contrast with his photograph. Reluctantly, Earl handed her the photograph. "I hope this helps, officer. But if you can, I'd like to get it back." He hesitated. "If you don't find him- he was so happy when we sprung that surprise birthday party on him." He wiped away a tear. "I'll need something to remember him by."

Judy took the photo silently. She glanced at Nick, who was wearing the poker face he put on when he was having trouble controlling his emotions. "I'll do everything I can to find him, Earl," Judy said quietly.

For a moment, the bobcat looked away, his face working as he composed himself. "Thanks, officer." He met Judy's eyes. "It means a lot, just to know someone cares."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Shoplifting calls were generally pretty easy, Tavi had found. Most of the information was readily available, the store manager had been through the process many times before and was ready, and the actual elements of the crime were simple.

She wondered if Wolferd got some sort of weird kick out of making it difficult.

"So you think the suspect was stealing?" he asked the manager.

The manager looked at him oddly. "He stuffed two pre-packaged meals down the front of his pants and walked out of the store."

"Maybe he forgot they were there."

"They were frozen meals, officer."

Wolferd tapped his pen against his notebook thoughtfully. "Could he have been trying to warm them up?"

"Remind me never to accept a dinner invitation at your house," said the manager dryly.

"Can we just get the information for the report and go?" asked Tavi in exasperation. "You spend more time arguing with mammals than it would take to just do the report."

"Just being thorough, rookie. It's important. Now," he said, addressing the manager, "are you positive that he didn't come into the store with the frozen meals?"

The manager stared at him, then looked at Tavi who shrugged ruefully. "You know what? They weren't all that expensive. Don't worry about the report."

"Okay," replied Wolferd cheerfully. "Have a nice day!"

Wolferd and Tavi walked out of the store, leaving the manager muttering darkly to himself. "You know, that's not really good for community relations," said Tavi.

"Who are you, the mayor?" Wolferd looked at his watch. "Great, we have time to go to lunch. It's going to be a good day after all."

A human walked around the street corner and saw them. Tavi noted his shirt was half-untucked, one shoe was missing, and the tie he wore had come almost completely loose. The human stared at the two officers and then approached.

"You're cops?" asked the human.

Wolferd looked at him, unfazed by the man's sudden appearance and disheveled attire. "That's what it says on the badge."

The man squinted at his badge. "Actually, it says 1422."

"Figure of speech. What's going on?"

The man squinted at them. "Space aliens?"

Tavi blinked. "What?"

"There's space aliens landing in the park."

Wolferd's jaw dropped and he stared at the man. "Really? How many?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, come on, this is the one person reporting something to you that you believe today?" said Tavi sarcastically.

Wolferd looked down at her. "Well, space aliens do exist- I mean, the humans have fought wars with them-"

"But a shoplifter is just too crazy to swallow?"

"Look," shouted the human. "I just came from the park in Little Barking not ten minutes ago- ran the whole way here. They're landing now! They've got ray guns and said they want to cross-breed humans and mammals! They're led by a talking duck named Howard!"

Wolferd frowned at him, looked at Tavi. "Okay, yeah, he might be crazy."

"Well, yes."

"There's no way he could have made it from Little Barking to here in ten minutes on foot. Even in a car he would have to get through the traffic downtown-"

Tavi buried her face in her paws.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hello, welcome to Bug Burger, home of the Rhinoceros Beetle Burger! Guaranteed ninety-nine percent carapace free!" Despite the enthusiasm of her words, the weasel behind the counter kept the same bored expression on her face. "Can I take your order?"

Judy shuddered. "Absolutely not. Do you recognize this mammal?"

The weasel leaned forward to look at the picture. "No, never seen him before."

"He's not in any trouble," said Nick. "He's gone missing and we're trying to locate him. His brother Earl's worried."

The weasel hesitated. "Oh, wait. Yeah, I recognize him now- Randy."

Judy blinked at her sudden change in attitude. "When's the last time you saw him?"

"Well, he comes in here every week or so- wait, actually he's been in here a lot more recently. Hey, Stu."

Another worker turned around. "Yeah?"

"When was the last time Randy was in here."

Stu furrowed his brow, thinking. "Let's see...I worked the overnight on Tuesday and he came in around one or two o'clock."

"At night?" said Nick, surprised. "Earl told us he was afraid of the dark."

Stu chuckled. "Yeah, but as long as someone is with him he's fine."

Both cops' ears perked up. "Someone was with him?" asked Judy.

"Yeah, been in here a couple times with him," said Stu. "That's why we kind of thought he might have gotten himself in trouble."

"What do you mean?"

Stu looked nervously around and moved closer. He lowered his voice. "The mammal he was with is a real hard case in the neighborhood. Supposed to have been an enforcer for one of the gangs in the area. Now he's mostly freelance, from what I hear. He's even been flashing around one of those human things, a uh- what do you call them? The weapons that shoot a piece of metal?"

"A gun?"

The cook nodded. "Yeah, that's it. Bragging about having contacts with someone who got him one."

Nick leaned closer. "You got a name?"

Stu looked away. "Maybe I said too much already. Word gets around, I could get hurt."

The fox nodded. "I get that, but from what I hear, Randy seems like a pretty nice guy."

"Yeah," agreed Stu. "He's a sweetheart."

Judy held up the picture again, with an overjoyed Randy about to blow out the candles. "We'll keep your name out of it," she promised. "But this is about helping him."

Stu looked at the picture, let out a breath. "Okay. I don't know his real name, but he was with a tiger everyone calls Lucky. He likes to hang out at a predator bar on the corner of Mouston and Rose."

Nick frowned. "You're talking about Lucky that used to run with Two-tone Tommy's gang?"

Stu nodded. "You know him?"

"You could say that," said Nick, his tone worried. "I'd say thanks, Stu, but I don't remember ever meeting you."

"Yeah, I bet you've already forgotten my name."

"Whose name?" asked Judy. She looked at Nick. "Let's go."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

As it turned out, the man was fairly cooperative, though confused by the two officers' actions. "Aren't you going to warn the city? They should be calling up the militia."

The ambulance crew who were restraining the human onto a gurney gave a questioning glance to Wolferd and Tavi. Wolferd shrugged at them. "Yeah, I don't know what that is either."

The human blinked. "A city is like a big town, where lots of people live-"

"Not what I was referring to, but thanks for trying." He looked at the medic. "So?"

"Same as the others," said the armadillo as he checked the man's blood pressure. "Rapid pulse, constricted pupils, but everything else is pretty normal."

"It's a talking duck!" shouted the man. "He is the destroyer of worlds!"

The armadillo frowned. "Normal from a physical standpoint, I mean."

"Wait, the others?" said Tavi. "What others?"

"This is the fifth human to go bonkers like this in a week," said the paramedic. "Starting to think it's something in the water."

"For all we know all humans do this occasionally," said Wolferd. "It would actually explain a lot about their history."

Tavi shook her head. "I really doubt that." She leaned closer to the man, who was mumbling quietly to himself. "Hey, what's that?" She pointed to a purple-bluish stain on the man's collar, just below his neck.

Wolferd leaned closer. "Dunno. Some sort of goo." He reached out a paw towards it.

"Don't touch it!" shouted Tavi.

"What?"

"Have they done tox screens on the humans who have had these, uh, episodes?" she asked the armadillo.

"Of course. Haven't found anything, though."

"What about for Night Howler?"

Her partner and the two paramedics stared at her. "Night Howler?" said Wolferd. "Why would they-"

Tavi pointed at the goo- making sure not to make contact. "Exactly. Why would they? Except that looks exactly like the Night Howler concentrate that was used in the Bellwether case." She had gotten the full story from Nick and Judy not long after she met them. "Maybe that's why they're acting irrational- not fully savage, but definitely insane."

Then she froze. "Oh, no."

"What?" demanded Wolferd. Tavi jumped down from the ambulance. "Tavi, what is it?"

She stopped. "When Hunter attacked that man yesterday, he had something on his neck." She pointed back at the strapped down human in the ambulance. "Some sort of bluish goo."

Wolferd turned back to stare at the human, then his ears perked up and he snapped around to see their patrol car scream off.

He watched Tavi drive away, then looked back at the paramedics. "So, do you think you two can give me a ride?"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo