I'm back guys! School has started again, and I have a lot on my plate, so I won't be posting as frequently. Anyways, enjoy!
Chapter 9
Precinct Nine Reception Room, Sahara Square; 11:55 AM.
The camel appeared annoyed at Judy's request. It was, after all, almost lunch break. She spat into a trash can sitting in a corner across the room, an impressive feat to the bunny, but the camel's bored facial expression showed that it wasn't that much of an achievement.
"Make it snappy."
"What's your name?"
"Officer Cammy Mills, precinct reception officer, as you can tell."
"What do you know about the recent disappearances of case files from records?"
"Meh, nothing much. Don't really pay much attention to department rumors."
Well, she's no Clawhauser, that's for sure, Judy thought as she recalled the portly cheetah's obsession with gossip.
"Okayyy then. So, what do you know?"
"Several highly classified files were discovered missing a few days ago. That was almost half a day after the body of one of the records managers was found."
"I never knew they were classified. What were they about?"
"Dunno. I only heard that they were very top secret. That's the only thing most mammals know."
"Why were they classified?"
"No clue. That's above my pay grade."
Ugh, again. Judy's ears dropped in annoyance
"So, tell me more about the murder that happened."
"I'm not allowed to leak details."
Rats.
"Why are ya even asking me this, anyway?"
"Bogo assigned me to records, and I'm just confirming rumors. Speaking of which, can I see the entry data for the records department?"
"Fine, just gimme a sec- Oh wait, it's lunch time! Smell ya later!"
Before Judy could respond, Cammy jumped out of her seat and made a dash for the door. The bunny felt the ground quake and turned around to see a stampede of camels, felines, and other desert mammals in suits and police uniforms rush out the door after the reception officer.
Judy took a really deep breath. I'll get lunch later. She hopped over the reception desk and got behind the computer to finish what Officer Mills started. She moved the cursor over to the Zoogle Eyewitness icon on the desktop and opened the app. The cursor went up to the upper left corner and selected the 'entry records' tab, then moving to the clipboard icon labeled 'records.'
A pop-up window appeared as soon as Judy clicked on the icon.
This file has been marked as evidence and is therefore classified. If you are seeing this message, then that means you are not part of the related investigation and are therefore not authorized to open this file. If you think this is a mistake, please contact your administrator.
"Ugh!"
She then looked around and angled her ears to search for background noise. She found almost none. Huh, I guess that was the whole department. A thoughtful smile crossed Judy's face. Maybe I can sneak a glance of the crime scene. She headed down the hall and looked around when she reached the T junction. On the wall were two arrows, one pointed towards each path leading to a staircase down. Judy read the engraved words under the left arrow:
Captain's Office
Workspaces
Armory
Lockers
She then turned her attention to the right arrow:
Holding Cells
Records
The bunny promptly made her way down the right staircase toward her destination. As she descended, the light in the stairwell began to dim. Must be a thing for ZPD basements, I guess. By the time Judy made it to the bottom of the stairs, the hall in front of her was barely well lit enough for a mammal without night vision to see. The temperature was also much cooler here than in the lobby. She made her way down the hall until she saw a flight of stairs in a doorway on the side of the hall leading down to another dark basement level. It was sealed off with police tape. I guess that's it, then.
The tape was placed high enough for Judy to stroll right under by simply dropping her ears, as it was meant to block larger mammals. She headed downstairs into the near-pitch blackness and just reached the bottom when a shiny gold object was shoved into her face, causing her to nearly fall backward.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" a voice bellowed right in front of her.
"Gah!"
Judy frantically felt the wall behind her for a light switch and immediately flipped it on when she found it. The room was flooded with light within seconds, and right in front of her was a bobcat in a police uniform, flashing his badge at her.
"Who are you and what are you doing here? This is a crime scene!"
Judy rebalanced herself and gestured toward the badge on her chest.
"I'm Officer Judy Hopps, from Precinct One."
"Oh, sorry about that. I was worried that someone came to tamper with the scene."
"No hard feelings. And your name is?"
"My name? I'm Officer Bobby Fulbright," he replied, throwing a punch in the air in front of him and retracting it with a fist pump, "the heroic bobcat police officer who defends good citizens from evil! The champion of justice who comes running whenever you're in need! And my motto? It's 'In justice we trust!'"
Hoo boy… a large ham.
"And what's your job in the precinct?"
"My job is to serve out JUSTICE...as Captain Kovu's personal secretary!" the bobcat responded with a two-fingered salute and a toothy smile, "Now it's my turn to ask you a question. What are you doing here?"
"Chief Bogo assigned me to do inventory on ZPD records. I wouldn't suppose you would let me in to do my job, would you?"
"AbsoLUTELY NOT! This is a crime scene, and I have specific orders NOT to let anyone in under any circumstances, in the name of JUSTICE!"
"But I need to do inventory to catch a thief who has been stealing evidence to past cases. What if the thief is trying to avoid justice by doing that? I need to investigate this room to stop him."
"Wait, What? B-but, guarding the crime scene is a part of justice too!"
"I guess, but if you stopped someone from dealing justice, that would make you unjust, right?"
"Augh! You're right! Whose justice is more just here?"
Judy smirked and raised an eyebrow at the now panicking feline.
"And besides, if another cop came in to do their job in dealing justice, shouldn't you let them do their job?"
"Gaaaah! Why does it have to be so hard?"
Well that went well...
"WhadoIdo? WhadoIdo? Aaagh!"
Um... too well?
Judy walked past the bobcat as he struggled to think his way out of the logic paradox; she was careful not to disturb anything in the room. She saw that the scene was surprisingly devoid of any blood. White tape indicating the location of the body was laid carefully on the tile floor in the rough shape of an armadillo.
Judy carefully stepped out of the crime scene zone and began pacing between shelves, looking for anything out of place. For the most part, the binders remained untouched. That is, until Judy reached the last few aisles, which were a huge mess. The last shelf at the end was knocked off center and was leaning on the wall. Binders and file folders were strewn all over the floor around it. Judy carefully treaded around the mess and noticed a piece of paper on the floor several feet away from the mess around the leaning shelf.
Strange, that's too far away to have fallen out of the shelf. Judy went up and bent down to have a closer look. Hmm, why is this all the way over here? The paper was lying face-down, and Judy didn't have gloves to flip the page around to see what was on it. She took a mental note of it and stood back up. The bobcat standing near the entrance gave her a wave.
"Officer Hopps! I've decided that in the name of justice, I will let you look around, but you may not touch anything!"
"That works for me. Thanks!"
"Don't mention it. In justice we trust!"
Perhaps I can coax some info out of him…
"So...you are Captain Kovu's aide?"
"You bet! I do whatever the Cap needs to get done in the name of JUSTICE!"
"How did he respond when the body was found?"
"I'm sorry, but the Cap gave me specific orders to not leak any details regarding the murder that occurred here."
"So he immediately covered it up, and everything related to it."
"Precisely… Ah!"
"Did he? Why?"
The bobcat's eyes grew wide with fear.
"I never said anything! I never said anything! You heard nothing!"
"Please, do this for justice. I need to know."
"Not agaaain! Why does this have to be so hard!"
"That's enough!" hollered a deep voice at the basement entrance.
Edgewolf stepped into the room, followed by Alethea, Prowlsmith, and Detectives Higgins and Yawnus.
"You, Foolbright, is it? Stand down. We're investigating this crime scene."
"But the Cap-"
"New orders, Officer Foolbright. You're dismissed."
The bobcat nodded and left to guard the entrance outside. Edgewolf adjusted his glasses and opened a red binder that he was holding.
"Speaking of Kovu, we were briefed on the murder case and the records thefts. Here's what we know so far."
Precinct Nine Records Room, Sahara Square; 12:20 PM.
"I see," said Judy, having just been briefed on the details of the murder and thefts.
"Yes, Captain Kovu needed some convincing to let you in on the case," Edgewolf replied.
"Oh he convinced him alright!" Prowlsmith piped up.
Higgins chuckled.
"You should've seen how he grilled the old fart. Don't worry. He'll be out of his catatonic state well before lunch break is over. Trust me. Now Yawnus and I are gonna go grab lunch. See ya!"
The two hippos swaggered up the stairs and made off towards the reception room. It couldn't have been that bad compared to an icing. Judy shuddered at the thought of a certain mob boss' preferred torture/execution method.
"We ought to be careful with the scene. Kovu hasn't even let forensics in to comb the room yet. They're on their way now," said Edgewolf, noticeably pleased with himself, "So Officer Hopps, I noticed that you went on an investigation of your own. Find anything?"
"Well, I checked out that mess over there," Judy replied, pointing at the leaning bookcase, "It looks like a struggle occurred."
The wolf pulled an autopsy report out of the red binder and took time to skim through it.
"Well, you're not wrong. Lab rats found bruises all over the victim. Our killer was careful not to give away even his species. No claw or hoof marks."
"Must have been wearing gloves then."
"Or literally pulling punches and using elbows and knees instead."
Judy glanced back at the sheet of paper she found on the floor away from the mess.
"I'm gonna need a pair of gloves. That scrap of paper looks out of place."
"How so?"
"If it fell out of the shelf during the struggle, then it wouldn't drift this far. It's resting almost directly on the trajectory between the mess and the exit that the thief might have taken to flee the scene."
"So, if that came from a stolen binder, it may give us an idea of what was stolen."
"You don't know what was stolen either?"
"Nobody here should. Those files were classified at the highest level."
The wolf handed Judy a pair of nylon gloves. She put them on and immediately bent down to pick up the scrap. She turned it around and placed it in an evidence bag she kept in her belt pouch. She then took a closer look. The page was wrinkled and torn in some places, but still intact. The binder holes were torn, indicating that it was ripped out of a binder. The left corner had the case number printed, LR-1, but what was on the right corner was what caught Judy's eye. It was a strange, rectangular logo. A red target reticle sat in the eye of a black, white and purple vortex that filled the rectangular space.
"So what is it?" asked the wolf, curious.
"I don't know. You take a look."
Edgewolf took the bagged paper scrap and was about to read it until the odd logo caught his attention. His skin immediately went pale under his fur, his eyes turned cold with raw fear.
"Oh sausages... It can't be."
"What? Is something wrong? What does that symbol mean?"
"That... I cannot share. But Officer Hopps, I need you to listen to me closely."
He leaned in close to whisper into Judy's ear. She could barely see cold sweat forming under his fur.
"Be very selective about whom you show this evidence to, no matter who they are, including other cops. I cannot stress this more. If the wrong mammals were to know you are in possession of this, you'll be dead meat. Are we clear?"
"Huh?"
"Are. We. Clear?"
Judy gulped. So this is what Higgins meant. She glanced up at the wolf. His look was dead serious, but Judy could see nothing but dread in his brown eyes.
"Yes."
"Good."
He stood up straight again and eyed the two records officers, Prowlsmith and Alethea, who were chatting by the doorway. He then glanced up the stairs, where Officer Fulbright stood guard.
"I have a feeling that each person in our little dream team has their own secrets related to this case" he said, remembering the meeting earlier that day.
"Whoa whoa, be careful with that!" a male Scottish voice rang out in the hall.
"What's the point of building mobile lab out of barrel if Snarloff can't roll?" a deep Russian voice replied.
"Don't you dare get any ideas. Do you know how much the ZPD spent to shrink a laboratory's worth of equipment?" a female English voice shot back.
Edgewolf smiled. "Sounds like forensics has arrived."
Everyone in the room turned towards the staircase to see two rats, a male black-hooded rat and a female white rat, carefully climb down the oversized staircase. They were followed by a polar bear hauling a large metal barrel that had windows and a door.
"Just set it in an open spot that's out of the way," said the hooded rat. He turned his attention to the others in the room, "Did someone order..." he put on a pair of shades, "...Labrats?"
"Pun not good. You are trying, no?" Snarloff asked sarcastically as he set the barrel down next to the stairs. The white rat unlocked the door and went inside. The bear then plugged a power cable into a nearby wall outlet, and the lights in the barrel came on. The white rat came back out with a pair of lab coats and a box of disposable gloves. Edgewolf approached the hooded rat and knelt down.
"Glad you could come. This scene is a few days old, but nothing's changed besides the body being removed."
"Nothing we can't handle. Fitz-Simmons at your service!" the rat replied.
"Fitz-Simmons?" Judy asked.
"Fitz," the female white rat said, gesturing towards the male hooded rat.
"Simmons," said the male rat, gesturing back towards his partner.
"They've been partners since grad school, and are based in Tundratown. They're the best CSI team in Zootopia, and are inseparable," Edgewolf elaborated.
Meanwhile, Snarloff was finished setting up the rat-sized crime lab.
"Okay, everyone. CSI must work, so all must leave until job finished."
Everyone complied and quickly piled their way up the stairs and out of the room.
Precinct Nine West Wing Hallway, Sahara Square; 12:34 PM.
"Wait, CSI wasn't let in the room until TODAY?" Judy exclaimed.
"Yup! And I'll say, I had a pretty strong hand in that!" answered Fulbright
Edgewolf facepalmed in disappointment at the disdainful lion in charge of the precinct.
"Yes, and I'll bet that there was a very good reason to," he replied sarcastically.
"Aren't all of ZPD's forensics personnel are in Tundratown? If you wanted your own mammals on this, you wouldn't want to call them," Judy answered
"Spot on, Officer Hopps."
Edgewolf marched over to the bobcat. He was taller than the officer by a head.
"Always blindly following a superior is not the way to deal justice, Officer Foolbright."
"Ulp! Eheh…"
"Look forward to your next salary negotiation. I believe we can discuss this further then."
"Augh! Yes sir!"
Fulbright stood back at attention again, though his fearful quaking made it obvious that he was unnerved. The wolf looked back at the records room entrance, then over to the two records officers standing next to him and Judy.
"So, while Fitz-Simmons do their job, anyone have any other leads?"
"There's that security tape," said Judy.
Prowlsmith shook his head.
"Them Techies won't be back 'till after one. Maybe the keycard records will give us some suspects. And since there have been thefts all over the ZPD, maybe we should do the same for all of them."
"Sounds like a plan," the wolf replied, "Let's go find a computer."
The group started to head over to the cubicles in the east wing of the precinct. Judy's thoughts drifted back to the symbol on the paper scrap. What was it that even scared Edgewolf? I'll look into this later, I guess…
The investigation continues! Let me know what you think!