Danielle went outside, she needed the fresh air.

"Hey, Francine!", she exclaimed to the elephant, "Are there any coffee shops in this dump?'

The elephant sighed and seated in the small staircase, "Nah, everything is closed this late. So, how were the interviews?"

"Productive". Danielle paid attention to the quietness of the town: 8pm and everyone was already in their houses, not even a mouse making any kind of sound. "The Sheriff should have some coffee, don't you think?"

"If only someone could go inside and ask him… it would make me so happy…", Francine smiled playfully at her.

"All right, all right. Black, no sugar?"

"Dark as midnight."

Danielle went back inside. The other officers had settled in by now: the young ram was in a small jail cell or, let's be honest, a cage; the older ram was filling some kind of paperwork on his desk, the young buck was shivering in his seat, waiting for being taken to be interviewed; the other ZPD officers were spread around the small room, the wolves packed in a corner close to a window. She hated wolves.

"Hey, Sheriff Bellwether!", she walked up to his desk, "Do you have any coffee?"

"Oh, yeah. Would you like some? We have a coffee machine right there.", he pointed to a low cupboard close to his desk. "Make yourself at home Detective."

Danielle filled the coffee machine with water and poured the powder in the filter. Soon enough the machine gurgled and she served five cups of the black liquid.

She knocked first at the interrogation room. Clawson opened the door and looked at her a bit confused.

"Coffee?", she extended a small cup to him.

"Oh, thanks."

She went back to the reception, grabbed another cup and laid it close to the sheriff. He looked up at her with his weary eyes and a half smile, she smiled back.

She put the three remaining cups in a small plastic tray and walked to Detective Hopps. "Hey Hopps, want to grab a coffee with me and Francine?"

"Oh!", exclaimed Judy, surprised, "Sure!", she turned back to the big tiger, "Bungalow, finish sending these files back to central, ok?". The tiger noded.

They both walked outside and the cool sea breeze blew through the streets. The three seated on the staircase, each in a taller step than the other, trying to stay at the same eye level. They siped their coffees slowly, tasting it carefully.

"Mine is a bit too sweet", said Francine.

"And mine is a bit too bitter", said Danielle.

"Mine is just right", said Judy.

They laughed.

"I gotta ask Danielle, why don't you hang out with the other wolves? Aren't you super close to each other?", asked the Francine.

"None of you smoke, right?", Danielle looked at both of them, "I could really go for a smoke right now…". She laid her empty cup on the ground and stretched her legs. "Family stuff. I'm just not a big fan of my kind."

"Does it bother you?', asked Judy.

"No. It's not like there are only wolves in the world. Do you miss stumbling in bunnies all the time?"

"Some times. But me and my parents, and my brothers, and sisters, and cousins, and…", Judy noticed the other two smirking, "You got the idea, we are very close."

"You could've just said 'my family'.", teased Francine.

"Nick is my family", answered Judy, defiantly.

"You got balls, Mrs Wilde", said Danielle, smiling. "How did your parents react to it?"

"My mom knew way before I told her. Moms know this sort of stuff, you know?", Judy looked up to the moon, recalling, "Dad didn't take it that well at first, but Nick is a very sweet guy when he wants to. They were there at the ceremony, so everything is ok now."

Judy snapped back from her memories. "How long have you been in the force, Danielle?"

"Thirteen years, something like that"

"And how long have you been a Detective?" Asked Francine.

"Five years or so." She fumbled with her tail. The other two mammals knew that this was as far as she was comfortable on speaking on the matter

"Say, Danielle", asked Judy, "Why has Clawson such a bone to pick with me?"

"Oh." Danielle let go of her tail and looked at Judy. "He grew on Happytown and sort of believe that 'trying to fix the way things are will simply break it more for the ones that most suffer from it'." She sighed, "Look Judy, he's a good mammal, you know? Happytown has been hit pretty hard by this whole protest thing back home."

"I've attended… 10 occurrences there, just last week." Interrupted Francine. "A few business got tagged, stones were thrown into windows… things are bad there and, as it's the poorer part of Zootopia, no one cares if there are only two patrols around at night." Francine got up and stretched her back. "You two should get back to work and I will sit inside my car, these stairs are going to break my back," she waved her trunk, "Thanks for the coffee Danielle, we should get a beer back in town."

Danielle smiled and got up. "Want to frighten a young buck?", asked her to Judy.

"Me? I'm such a lovely person, I couldn't scare even a mouse!", spoke Judy, playfully.

"Yeah, right." Danielle opened the door, "You knocked out Sergeant Longhorn in the academy, ain't that right?'

"Just a bit." She entered the police station. "Have fun with the buck Howell."

"Oh, I'm planning to." Danielle walked straight to the buck and gave a light tap on his shoulder. "How about we have a talk in private, Mr Warren?"

The buck nodded. They walked side by side into the corridor, but before entering the room he hold held her shirt.

"You guys have a witness protection program, right?"

Danielle blinked her eyes, "This is sudden." She thought. "We have first to record our interview Mr Warren, please get in."