A/N: Apologies for the delay. A lot of things have been conspiring against me lately, it seems. Hopefully the next chapter should be out within the week. I'm really excited for it. We're past the halfway mark now, guys!
10
Nick couldn't sleep that night.
After waking from his third nightmare, he called it quits and got dressed, heading down to the station much earlier than was his norm.
He puttered around the empty break room, made himself some coffee and tried to read yesterday's paper that Officer Delgato had left on the table. There was a small article about the recent string of murders, but all of it was vague conspiracy theories. The reporters were just as much in the dark about what was going on as the cops. Which was a pity. Nick could have used the hint.
When he was done with his coffee, he gave up on the paper and poked his head into the office area. Judy wasn't at her desk, but there was a new stack of papers and a small brown bag he knew contained her daily snack of carrot sticks, so she had to be in the building.
After a moment's thought, he decided to try for the roof. Designed to look like the Savannah, the place was considered a retreat by many of the officers, especially those not native to Zootopia proper.
Three sets of steps led the way up, each one a different size to cater to a variety of animals. The roof itself had been reinforced, and reinforced again to safely hold those of a larger species. The air up here smelled faintly of smog and freshly cut grass. Neatly trimmed bushes lined the wide gravel path that weaved its way around the outer edges of the building, hiding the safety fence from view. There were a few benches here and there, and a small aboveground watering hole off to the side where the runoff could reach the gutters, but the majority of the space was open grassland. In bustling city like Zootopia, with a job that could often make an animal feel trapped both physically and emotionally, having a place where you could have some space to breathe was a welcome escape.
Nick ignored the benches and took a seat on the ground. The snow from the previous night had already melted away, leaving the grass cool and damp. He stretched out his legs, did some half-hearted stretches, then waited for the tiny jogging figure to finish her morning run around the trail. She glanced his way only once, never breaking stride or acknowledging him beyond that initial look. Nick didn't mind. It was enough that she was close. That he could see her and hear her and not have to worry about saying something stupid or giving himself away.
He watched her circle him, arms loose, legs steady, her long ears folded back to keep herself streamlined—and, she had admitted to him once, keep the bugs out. Nick admired her speed and stamina. On most cases in which running was unavoidable, Judy held herself back in order to keep pace with him and not get separated. So it was impressive to see how fast she could go when she didn't need to wait for him.
Nick laid back in the grass and closed his eyes, listening to the distant honking of the traffic below and the quiet pat-pat-pat of little rabbit feet doing laps around him. Cold nipped at his nose and he could feel the dew seeping into his fur, but even still, he felt more comfortable and relaxed than he had been in a long while.
He must have dozed, because the next time he opened his eyes Judy was sitting next to him. Her gaze was on the sunrise creeping over the skyline. A small mound of shredded grass was piled on Nick's stomach. As he watched, she ripped up another blade and added it to the pile.
"We need to talk," said Judy.
Nick sifted through the broken bits of green. "You're right."
Judy looked down. She plucked up another bit of grass, her entire focus seemingly on tearing it into pieces. "Today? After work?"
So soon? But then she had given him extra time already. More time than he deserved, really. Nick made sure his tone stayed perfectly neutral as he answered, "If you'd like."
Judy stopped shredding up the grass. She let the mangled strips flutter back to the ground.
"I don't like any of this," she said.
The apology was on the tip of his tongue, but Nick bit it back. His mother had always told him, never say you're sorry unless you're ready to change your behavior. But he couldn't guarantee that.
He couldn't guarantee anything.
He scooped up the grass piled on top of his stomach and sat up, holding up his paw so the pieces were caught by the wind and scattered across the rooftop. A single blade made a loop through the air and doubled back, sticking to Judy's cheek. Seeing her with such a serious expression while there was grass on her face made Nick smile.
"What?" said Judy. "What's so funny?"
Without thinking, Nick reached over and brushed the offending bit of green away. A zing of pleasure went through him at the contact, as if just by the simple act of touching her he was in danger of throwing his entire nervous system into a frenzy. Her fur was soft and just a little damp from sweat and dew. It felt like velvet under her ear, and he couldn't stop himself from running the pad of his thumb across that half inch of space a second time.
Judy's breath caught, and the sound froze Nick more solidly than the cold winter air. He yanked his paw away, trying to appear casual under the searching gaze of those big, violet eyes.
"You had some grass, uh, right there." He pointed to his own face.
Judy was staring at him as if she couldn't understand what was wrong with his tiny, fox brain.
Nick wished he knew himself.
He lurched to his feet. With a single, graceful hop, Judy was beside him.
"Nick…"
The stairwell door slammed open and a wheezing Clawhauser stumbled his way onto the rooftop, gasping their names as he fought to catch his breath.
Judy hurried over to him. The cat look ready to collapse. She took his elbow as if to help hold him up and Nick leapt to help her, lest she be crushed under the cheetah's much larger frame.
"What's going on, Clawhauser?"
"It's Gazelle…" he panted. "At the stadium. She… practicing for the concert…"
"Not this again," said Nick.
"You don't understand! She's been… attacked."
Ok, Nick hadn't expected that.
"She was?" Judy exclaimed at the same time Nick said, "Seriously?"
"Well," amended Clawhauser, "her backup dancer was. But she was near the stage at the time. It could easily have been her."
"What happened?"
The cheetah took a deep breath and straightened. "Ok. So, Gazelle was practicing at the stadium for the upcoming concert, right? But then all of a sudden, part of the catwalk collapsed right on one of the dancers!"
"Oh my gosh," gasped Judy. "Which one?"
"The really cute one!"
"Bengie?"
"No, he's the one with the dancing skills."
"Then Striper?"
"He's the aloof one with the voice. No, the cute one! Hunter."
"Oh, Hunter!"
"To think," said Clawhauser, "if he had been just a little bit slower getting out of the way…"
"Is he okay?"
"From what I heard, only the tip of his tail got caught. He's at the hospital right now. Gazelle even went with him." Clawhauser gave a wistful sigh. "Such loyalty."
"What an awful accident," said Judy.
"That's just it, though!" said Clawhauser. "It wasn't an accident. The catwalk was rigged."
"Come on, be serious," said Nick. "That kind of stuff only happens in the movies. Do you know how perfect the timing would have to be in order for it to actually work?"
"Gazelle said she was sure it was sabotage," said Clawhauser.
"Oh, well, if Gazelle says so…"
Judy nudged him with her elbow. To the cat, she said more sympathetically, "Well, at least everyone is okay, for the most part. You'll have to be sure to keep us updated on what they find. Who was the case assigned to?"
Clawhauser looked between the fox and bunny. "You don't understand. The case was given to you two. That's what I came to tell you. Chief Bogo wants you to go look over to the crime scene right away."
"You're joking," said Nick. "We have enough on our plates as it is. We don't have time to coddle some paranoid singer."
"Gazelle is not paranoid!" cried Clawhauser. "She is the bravest, smartest, more reasonable mammal that I know!"
"You don't even know her."
"I met her once!"
"At an autograph signing. You spoke all of three words to her before you hyperventilated and had to be carried away by Bogo."
"We had a moment!"
Nick threw up his paws.
"Let's just go talk to Chief Bogo," said Judy with a wary look at the cheetah, who looked more ferocious than she had ever seen him. "I'm sure once we explain things he'll understand."
"What are you two still doing lallygagging around here?" the water buffalo demanded when Nick and Judy entered his office ten minutes later. "Didn't Clawhauser tell you the news?"
"He did, sir," said Judy. "That's why we're here, actually." She glanced over at Nick. "As you know, we are currently handling several tough cases right now, and we feel it would be, um…"
"A giant waste of time," supplied Nick.
"Detrimental to our focus," said Judy, "if we took on yet another case. Surely one of the other officers could look into things? Francine or Howle maybe?"
"Gazelle asked for you two boneheads specifically," Chief Bogo told them. "And I'm not about to disappoint someone with that many followers. Who knows what they might do if we offend their singer?"
"Revoke your fan club membership?" guessed Nick.
While buffalo's might not be able to growl, technically, that didn't stop Chief Bogo from doing a pretty good imitation of it anyway. "Watch it, Wilde."
"Come on, Chief. You don't actually think someone tried to commit murder by falling catwalk, do you?"
"I don't care if they did or not," said Bogo. "I don't care if Gazelle wants to press charges against a splinter. You will go there and assist her in whatever way she requires."
"But, sir—"
"I don't want to hear it, Hopps." Bogo pointed to the hall. "Now, if I don't see those fluffy tails of yours leaving through that doorway in the next five seconds, you are going to regret it faster than you can say parking ticket. Now, get going."
After some debating, Nick and Judy decided to go to the Zootenial Stadium first and check out the crime scene while they waited for Hunter and Gazelle to return from the hospital.
With the concert still several days away, Judy had expected the place to be mostly empty besides a few rescue crew and some officers. Instead, they found the entire front of the parking lot packed with vehicles. There were animals running around everywhere. Delivery mammals carried boxes in by the stack. Security guarded every doorway in a stand off with the crowd of excited fans that had come early to try and sneak a peek at the action. And weaving their way through the crowd were the reporters, looking for a chatty witness they could interview or an opening for them to slip inside the building.
"So much for wrapping this up quickly and quietly," said Nick. He sighed and reached for the doorknob. "Into the fray we go then."
"Try and avoid the ones with cameras and microphones."
"I always do."
For once, their smaller size worked in their favor. Nick and Judy managed to go unnoticed until they got to the security guard at the front door, and by that point it was a simple matter of flashing their badges and slipping inside, leaving the crowd and their flurry of questions behind them.
Inside, things were quieter but no less lively. Production crew stood in tense groups, arguing over logistics and barking orders to their underlings, who scurried about looking harried. Vendors for both food and souvenirs were giving serious inspection to their booths' counter space and equipment. One booth in particular caught Judy's eye as they passed. It stood out from the rest, being significantly wider, taller, and all around shinier than the ones next to it. Judy recognized Benjamin Cottontail's face on some of the boxes stacked around it.
"You have to be kidding me," said Nick, also catching sight of the bunny's grinning mug on a bag of organic carrot chips.
"He's in the food business. It makes sense," said Judy.
"There is such a thing as overextending yourself."
"Said the fox who never misses a lunch break."
Nick grumbled something about needing to replenish his energy and yanked open the stadium doors a little harder than necessary.
Furensics were already there, poking and dusting at the mess of metal and wood and glass that covered the stage. The lights had been turned up, and nosy animals watched from the front row seats, business mammals involved with advertising and some of the backstage crew who had been nearby when the accident occurred. The suits were more than happy to talk to Nick and Judy about what had happened, but it was clear after only a few questions that they hadn't actually seen anything, only heard the crash and arrived after the fact.
The backstage crew on the other paw, were polite, and a couple even admitted to having seen the catwalk come falling down, but no one had any real theories and seemed hesitant to point claws at any one cause or mammal. After insisting for the third time that they really did need to get back to work, Nick and Judy let them go and joined the furensic team on stage.
Nick looked out at the hundreds of empty seats and shivered.
"Not a fan of the stage?" asked Judy.
Nick shook his head. "Too many eyes watching."
They made their way over to the other officers. Officer Margay had come again, this time along with the rest of the furensics team, which included a wombat and ferret. Margay was bagging a small clump of tiger fur from beneath the wreck of the catwalk when they reached her.
"Is that from the victim?" asked Judy.
"Looks like," said the cat. "He got lucky. If he had been a little slower he would have been crushed."
"Any evidence as to what caused it?" asked Nick.
"As a matter of fact…" Margay, gestured to the ferret. "Trish, you still have those screws?"
The ferret pulled out another evidence bag and handed it over. Margay showed it to Nick and Judy. There were nearly a dozen screws inside, all stripped nearly to smoothness. "These were what was holding the catwalk up. And then there's the rope." Margay pointed across the tangle of broken equipment where the wombat was cataloguing evidence. "Over there. Brian's already taken pictures of it. The thing's completely frayed."
"What are the odds that this is all just regular wear and tear?"
"We're still looking into that," said Margay. "But Andy is insisting it wasn't like this previously."
"Andy?"
"The one who was on the catwalk when it fell."
"You mean someone was actually on this?" exclaimed Judy, looking again at the twisted metal and splintered pieces of wood around them. She looked up at the jungle of metal and lights far above them. She had no problem with heights, but the thought of falling from that made even her stomach swoop.
"Is he okay?" asked Judy, though she didn't see how he could be.
The cat nodded. It made her glasses slip a few inches down her nose. She pushed them back up impatiently. "Luckily. He managed to jump to one of the supports before it all came down. He's a little shaken, but seems fine for the most part."
"That must of have been terrifying."
"Did he say what he was doing up there?" asked Nick.
"He's part of the lighting crew," explained Margay. "He was up there checking on one of the bulbs, so he says."
"Is he still around?"
"Dressing room." She gestured towards the back of the stage. "I told him to relax there until someone could talk to him. Didn't realize it would be you two again. You always this lucky with cases?"
"Seems like it, doesn't it?" said Nick.
"Well have fun. the dressing room's the third door on the left."
Judy thanked her and they headed behind the stage, careful not to trip on any of the mess scattered around them.
After the openness of the stadium, the backstage felt claustrophobic in comparison. Judy and Nick had to squish against the wall to let others pass, and twice had to duck under the feet of the bigger animals. It was with relief that they finally made it to the dressing room doors, of which there were several, all of them closed.
"Did she say it was the third door on the right, or left?" asked Judy, looking between the two options. " I can't remember. Nick?"
She glance over at him. His gaze was focused on something at the end of the hall.
Judy peered around him. Two animals stood in the open doorway to a small office.
One of them was a smushed faced Pallas cat in a striped suit.
The other was Robin Swift.
The fox looked over and saw them. He grinned and shot them a wink. The pallas cat saw them too. He scowled and slammed the door shut.
"What's Swift doing here?" said Nick.
"I don't know," said Judy.
"And who's that cat he's with? The one that looks like he drank sour milk for breakfast."
"I don't know that either." Judy cocked her head at the office door, where the two animals' shadows were just visible through the frosted glass. "He does looks familiar though. I know I've seen him somewhere before…"
"Well then, let's go find out."
Nick started down the hall, but Judy grabbed him by the sleeve, halting him. "We're not here to investigate Robin. We're on a case, remember? You can chat with him later if you want to."
"Swift and I do not chat," said Nick.
Judy rolled her eyes. "Well whatever it is that you two do, do it later."
She let go of his sleeve and gestured between the two doors again. "Now, right or left?"
Sending one last look back at the office, Nick rapped on the door to their left. There was the sound of someone clearing their throat, and then a rough voice said, "C-come in."
The dressing room was almost as narrow as the hallway, with one side taken up with a long mirror and table and the other side with a beat up looking couch. A mountain cat sat half-curled on the far end, a paper cup of coffee cradled in his paws.
"Are you Andy?" Judy asked.
"Y-yes, that's me," the cat said, arm shooting up like a kitten being called upon in class. Halfway up he winced and tucked it back down again.
"Are you injured?" Judy asked, coming forward. "Do we need to call for medical help?"
"No!"
The exclamation sounded extra loud in the tiny room. Andy sat back, chagrined. More quietly, he said. "I-I'm fine, really. Just clipped my elbow on a metal beam when I jumped. Please don't call anyone. Things look bad enough as it is."
"In what way?" asked Nick.
Andy stared morosely into his coffee cup. "They showed you the rope and screws they found, right? Who do you think they're going to blame for that? But I swear, we do monthly safety checks! I can show you our maintenance book where we signed off on the records. The equipment didn't look like that before. Far from it. Do you think I would have gone up there if I had known the state of it? It all should have been secure."
"What were you doing up there?" asked Nick.
"Special effects radioed me that we had a burnout of one of the main spotlights. I went up there to replace it and as I'm walking out, I notice that the whole catwalk is creaking and shaking…" Andy shuddered. "I was already halfway across by then. I barely managed to jump onto one of the steel supports before the whole thing went crashing down. It all happened so fast."
"So the rope and screws just happen to both be worn out at the same time," said Judy. "The light just happens to burn out, and Andy just happens to be called to go up there at the exact time there was a performer on stage, and his added weight makes the catwalk break." She looked at Nick. "That's a lot of coincidences."
"It's still a dumb way to try and kill someone," said Nick.
"You—you believe I didn't do it?" asked Andy, sounding cautiously hopeful.
Before Judy could respond, a low voice from the doorway grumbled, "Evidence says otherwise."
The stripe-suited Pallas cat entered the room, that deep, penetrating scowl of his aimed at the three of them.
"And you are?" said Nick.
The cat scoffed. "I was told she requested the best. And yet you don't even know who I am? Consider me unimpressed."
"Mr. Unimpressed it is then," snarked Nick.
Andy made a choking noise behind them. "T-that's Gazelle's manager, Oskar Manul."
"Oh!" Judy remembered him now. Whenever an article came out about Gazelle, her manager was almost always lurking somewhere in the background behind her like a scowling photo-bomb. Fru Fru even liked to make a game of it: Who could spot the angry cat first. Loser bought the first round of drinks.
"Recalled me, have you?" sneered the cat. "I'm only the creator of the greatest singer Zootopia has ever seen."
"I've never been into pop music," said Nick. "Too cheery for my tastes. You're clearly a perfect fit for it, though. In an extreme, opposites attract kind of way."
Judy swore she could hear the cat's teeth grind. "As you say. In any case, I've come to insist you wrap things up so you can be on your way. We have everything under control here and frankly you're holding up important practice time. Not to mention that the longer you're here the more the news is going to talk, and we don't need any bad publicity before the concert."
"What do you mean, you have everything under control?" said Judy.
"It's an open and shut case, isn't it? We don't need to waste time on a full-scale investigation. I've got it all handled."
"How's that?" demanded Nick.
Gazelle's manager raised his heavy eyebrows. "I'm going to sue this stadium for faulty equipment, of course. They told you how the catwalk broke, didn't they? So if you will just run along and write up your report or whatever you cops have to do to make it official, I'll have all the backing I need for court."
Andy sniffled, the paper cup in his paws crinkling as his grip on it tightened, until Judy feared he would crush it and spill coffee all over himself.
"It wasn't us," he said. "It really wasn't."
"Tell it to my injured back up dancer," snapped Oskar. "I hope you have a good lawyer, because you're going to need one." He scowled around at the tiny dressing room. "I told Gazelle we should've had the concert at Savannah Central again this year, but she's as pig-headed as the swine. Who says it's our job to keep places like this in business? When you're out of style, you're out of style. And now the building is literally crumbling down on top of us."
Judy couldn't stand to listen to this anymore. She stepped forward, drawing the manager's attention away from the sniffling mountain cat and back to her. "You're getting ahead of yourself," she told him. "Gazelle suspects foul play here."
"So what else is new?"
"We haven't ruled out the possibility either."
"And in case you didn't realize, you don't get to manage us," said Nick. "We'll leave when we have everything we need, and not a minute before. So if you want us out of your fur, your best bet is to back off so we can do our job."
Gazelle's manager glared at the pair of them. Judy did her best to glare back. Nick, for his part, could have been made of stone. Very unfriendly looking stone.
Finally, the cat caved with a disgusted shake of his head. "What a waste of time and money," he growled. "Fine. Investigate however you want. Just keep it out of the papers until after the concert."
"We'll do our best," said Nick dryly.
The cat turned and stomped out. Or tried to. He was blocked at the doorway by the arrival of Gazelle and her backup dancer, Hunter, who had his arm draped across her shoulders and was leaning heavily against her. The end of his tail had been splinted and wrapped, and he had the boneless posture and bleary eyes of an animal completely zonked on painkillers.
"Back, are you?" said the manager. "Were you at least able to avoid the reporters?"
"No one saw us besides the doctor and a few nurses," said Gazelle.
"I hope you checked their phones for pictures before you left."
"It slipped my mind, unfortunately," said Gazelle, too breezily for Judy to believe she actually cared.
With a fed up huff, Oskar left.
To Judy and Nick, Gazelle said, "Officers, thank you so much for coming. I am sorry if we kept you waiting."
"It's fine," said Judy. She looked up at the giant cat drooped over the singer's shoulders. "I hope Hunter is okay?"
Gazelle patted his huge paw. "Some broken tail bones, and there might be some nerve damage, but considering what could have been, I am only thankful."
She looked over at the cat on the couch with concern. "Are you all right, Andy? I was just told about what happened. I didn't even realize someone had been up there or I would have insisted you come to the hospital with us. Can I do anything for you?"
The mountain cat lurched from his seat. "No, no. I'm completely fine. Don't worry about me. I'll uh, leave you all to talk." He made an awkward move out the doorway, trying to pass the pair in the narrow space while maintaining as much distance as he could, his head lowered respectfully.
"Are you sure I can't get you anything?" asked Gazelle.
"I'm sure. Please don't worry about me. I need to get back to work anyway."
He hurried off down the hall. Gazelle watched him go with a regretful expression.
The tiger, Hunter, let out a low groan, slipping lower over Gazelle's slight shoulders, and she staggered under the additional weight. Judy and Nick both held up their paws, more in defense in case the giant cat came falling down on them than to try and help hold him up.
"I'm sorry. He must be at his limit," said Gazelle, half-carrying, half-dragging the great feline over to the couch and collapsing onto it with him. Hunter blinked unfocused eyes over at them once before letting his head fall back. He curled up around Gazelle, his head on one knee, his tail over the other. Even in plain workout clothes and weary from the stress of the morning, they both looked like they were posing for a photo shoot for the cover of some fashion magazine.
Gazelle brushed a strand of hair from her eyes and gave them both a tired but sincere smile. "Thank you again for coming. I truly appreciate it."
"I'm surprised you didn't just let you great and powerful manager handle everything," said Nick, only half-sarcastically.
"Yes, well, I try and leave as little to his discretion as possible," admitted Gazelle.
"But he's your manager," said Judy.
"By the rules of my contract, at least, yes," said Gazelle.
"If you dislike him so much," said Nick, "then why did you sign on with him in the first place?"
"A naive mistake my younger self made when I was starting out," said Gazelle. "Still, I can't say he didn't take me to where I wanted to go. And my contract officially ends in two days, so it's all worked out for the best, I suppose."
She stroked Hunter's head and the tiger curled closer around her, letting out a deep rumbling purr. Gazelle smiled down at him fondly. "He really is going to be embarrassed about this later. But it's too fun not to enjoy."
There was something in the singer's voice... something soft and intimate that made Judy feel like an intruder, and also hyper-aware of how close Nick was standing next to her.
Judy cleared her throat, glad that her fur hid the heat she could feel burning her cheeks. "Can I ask? Why us? We were told you wanted to see us specifically."
"I've heard a lot about the two of you," said Gazelle. "The things you've done aren't just admirable, they're inspiring. I know I can trust you."
"You mean with the accident?"
"It wasn't an accident." Careful not to jostle Hunter, Gazelle reached into her back pocket and withdrew a folded piece of paper. She handed it to Nick. Judy didn't need more than a glance to recognize what he was holding. Another threat note: You will pay for your choice.
"That's the third one I've found," said Gazelle. "It was in my dressing room this morning."
"Why didn't you go to the police with this?" asked Nick.
Gazelle rubbed the scruff of the tiger's neck. Hunter purred even louder and rolled so she could reach under his chin. "I am blessed with many fans, but I have anti-fans too. I've received my fair share of hate mail over the years. But it's always been only words that I could throw away. No one has ever tried to do anything more to me. Until now."
"Does your manager know about this?" asked Judy.
"My contract is up after the concert. We have all but washed our paws of each other at this point. Even if I told him, he would only say I brought it on myself with my bad behavior."
"Bad behavior?" said Judy.
"So he calls it. He is not a fan of my activism. It has led to more than one disagreement over the years."
"Any concern that he might be the one behind all of this?" asked Nick.
"Oskar?" Gazelle sounded genuinely taken aback at the suggestion. She even stopped petting Hunter, who gave a disappointed growl in response. "He's not one to risk his reputation. Not for anything."
"Do you have any idea who might be sending you these notes then?" asked Judy.
"I cannot say that I do," said Gazelle. "But I might know why they are sending them. I think they found out about the concert announcement, and they want to stop it."
"What announcement?" asked Judy.
At that, Gazelle smiled, and the joy it held transformed her from merely beautiful into dazzling. She wrapped a slender arm around the dozing tiger and cuddled him close. "Hunter and I are getting married."