~Location: Cooper Hideout - Paris, France~
~Date/Time: Present Day, Early Morning~

Bentley was stumped.

The turtle was utterly flabbergasted as he couldn't find a thing. Sly did have some mementos left in the safe house, but they wouldn't haven given any sort of clue as to 'when' he was lost. Murray was willing to help search and would've lifted up Sly's bed to make it easier, but Bentley made a quick excuse to avoid the idea entirely.

Those little keepsakes wouldn't have helped at all and Bentley knew it. He rationalized it with the idea that an artifact from Sly's location in time would've never made it into the collection of old photos and items the Sly hid under his bed in the present day. Bentley also knew that looking at them would bring forth memories of a happier time.

"You could've let him fall... Sly... You'd be here right now... After all he did to us, you saved him."

Murray wasn't going to believe the artifact excuse regardless if he understood it or not. He knew what was really going on and he understood his turtle brother exactly.

"Sly did it because he's a good guy, Bentley. You know that."

"If it was me, I'd-"

"Probably put a bomb on his striped behind. If it was me, I'd have broken most of his bones first." Murray kneeled and hugged his friend, the chair between them not much of a bother anymore.

"Most of them? Why not all of them?" Bentley laughed, knowing his friend was cheering him up. Murray had succeeded.

"And that's when I'd be nice enough to leave a few unbroken." Murray said with a chuckle, yawning.

"We should turn in eventually... It's... What time is it? Almost four? Ugh..."

The door of the single-story home turned safe-house received a few knocks and a female voice called out. The turtle approached the door slowly, not yet hitting a panel that would open the door.

"Password?"

"Are you kidding? It's me, Inspector Fox."

"What's the password, Inspector Fox?"

"Seriously? Dios... Carmelita Montoya Cooper."

Bentley opened the door for her with a nervous smile. "I- uh... never made that the password."

"Well... It worked, didn't it?" Carmelita had a light blush on her cheeks, secretly liking how that name rolled off her tongue with her Latina accent.

"Nice to see you again, Inspector." Murray followed and gave her a warm hug, the smaller fox returning the hug.

"Likewise. Any luck on Sly's things?"

"We never got the chance to look, Bentley said-" Murray stopped when his friend exhaled a long sigh. "Bentley said it wouldn't have worked."

Carmelita knew better, but what Bentley explained wasn't far from the truth. "Did you find Dimirti? What'd he have to say?"

"Nothing... Well, nothing useful to us, anyway. He doesn't know anything after the blimp disappeared. He sold a piece of the communicator you made so it doesn't work anymore."

"And I have the other one."

"Exactly."

"There's got to be something that we're missing."

"What could it be, guys?" Murray said, offering Inspector Fox some pizza from the box but nodded and set it down when she declined.

"Well... I honestly don't know." Bentley said with a sigh, sitting back in his chair.

"Wait... What about Penelope? You were tracking her down, right?"

"She's good at hiding from me. She did send me a few postcards and I did locate where they were taken." He typed at a few prompts, opening and activating the projector in the living room. Three dots were lit onscreen, their position shown on a map of France. Among the dots was Penelope's prison, tagged and photographed like two other random places. They were connected in the shape of a triangle, Bentley sighed in utter defeat.

"Anything you can tell me about those places?"

"They were blocked off by local police, but there's nothing special about them. She wouldn't have led us like that."

"Hmm..."

"Yeah... Sorry for the lack of anything helpful." The turtle huffed and cleaned his glasses, idly tapping on his holographic prompt to turn off the projector.

"Me too... I have to get back to headquarters, but I'll stop by or something if anything comes up."

"Please do." Bentley stated, putting his glasses back on. "If we find anything, we'll contact you. Oh, One more thing, Inspector..." Bentley said as Carmelita turned to leave, nodding at Murray who walked off to go get something for her.

When she left, Murray brought up the topic of taking a nap. Bentley slowly shook his head, distraught over not making progress to sleep. The turtle ended up passing out within an hour and Murray played care-taker for the day, putting the turtle to bed.

###

Carmelita did return to her desk in her office, the single cup of coffee on the drink carrier seemed empty and alone. She thought it best to help it feel needed in a way, plucking the cup from the cardboard tray and sipping it.

She smiled softly as she noticed something on her coffee cup this morning. The sleeve on her cup had Sly's logo on it. She knew it was there. She just had a little secret in her hands. Bentley had provided the cup sleeve and said that there was a code hidden on the inside that she could decode with her phone and receive a link to some uploaded info. Bentley gave her a way to access digital scans of the postcards and map that he showed her and a way to keep the information a secret.

Her ears perked as agents and officers dashed back and forth, buzzing with activity.

She poked her head out of her office and looked around, addressing one of the gorillas in charge of the swat team. "What's going on?"

"Missing person's call just came in. Caller's already inside talking to Barkley."

"Already? When did the call come in?" Carmelita tilted her head, sipping her coffee softly.

"Late last night. Poor girl's been here most of the morning."

"Maybe I can try to talk to her? Who's missing?"

"Her date for the evening disappeared after a little dispute. Everyone's all ruffled because she brought a note that she got from the kidnapper. That's all I know about."

"Thanks George..."

"Well there she is! Inspector Fox, where were you?!" A loud booming voice made her squeak. Inspector Barkley was her superior for years and still is, his voice proving his authority after all this time. "Been looking all day for you, Fox,"

"Inspector! I went home after my steak-out and I just came back with coffee." She half-lied... Well, her boss did know about her alliance with the Cooper Gang this time and knew what she wanted from the cooperation. He never confronted her about it and just left it alone as her personal business. Carmelita was smart enough to know that he found out, but there was still no reason to reveal some personal business.

"I trust George filled you in? Call came in and the girl was in shock. The caller had her get a night's sleep and come back to tell the whole story the next morning. She says she brought a note with her that she found in her hotel room.

"What do you need me to do?"

"See what all you can get her to open up to you. She was pretty shaken up to talk to anyone. I mean, she's got a stuffed animal in her arms right now actually."

"Yikes. I'll see what I can do."

Inspector Barkley nodded and wished her luck before she went inside where the victim was waiting, When Carmelita saw who it was; she was quite confused. The victim had an opposite reaction, the golden retriever perking her ears and smiling.

"Four fifty-five." Diana said casually, not halting the smile. Carmelita glanced at the clock; the time was shortly after a quarter to nine in the morning. Tucked away in the retriever's arms, Carmelita saw a small plush wolf poking its head out.

"P-Pardon?" The fox sat down in front of her, setting her coffee down and clearing her throat.

"Four dollars and fifty-five cents was how much your coffee was, right?"

"How did you know that?"

"You dropped your receipt when you came in this morning. I was about to stop you so that we can talk, but you looked occupied."

"I've had a lot on my mind this morning... Now, tell me what happened." Carmelita said, pulling out a pad and pen. Diana took a few breaths and narrated her date with Grimm. There had been a dispute but Diana swore that Grimm didn't hurt her. The way that she said it was that Grimm had warned her to stay away from him before he ran out of the club. That had been the last time she saw him. Diana had called it in when Grimm never returned to their hotel room. The next morning, Diana found a breakfast tray along with a ransom note.

This struck them both as odd as Diana and Grimm never booked a hotel that delivered breakfast. It was served as a buffet downstairs.

"Any idea what that's all about?" Diana asked softly, relaxing now that someone familiar is with her but still clutching her wolf plushie tightly.

"Well, it was with the note, right? What if... it was an apology?"

"An apology?! For taking my Grimm away? I hardly slept last night... But the breakfast was nice and it had some coffee..."

"Hey... We'll find him, alright?"

"I hope so... He's not well..."

"You mentioned a note? Can I see it?"

Diana nodded slowly and slid over the folded page, Carmelita reading it over. The note was made by gluing letters in words as a way to eliminate handwriting as a tracking method. The note mentioned a ransom in a multiple of millions of dollars that is to be left on the corner of a named street before noon that day. There was a small corner torn off and one letter removed to be analyzed for a source.

"I can't get that kind of money... What am I gonna do?" Diana looked up and noticed Carmelita still intently studying the note. She tilted her head in curiosity as the fox had opened up her cup sleeve and was taking a picture of it with her phone. Inspector Fox was poking at her touch screen for a moment before Diana asked what she was doing.

"Hmm? Oh... I just noticed the signature on the note."

"The stamp? Does it look familiar?"

"Very. I might have a lead already on this case." Carmelita smirked and took a picture of the note next, stamp included, and sent it to Bentley for him to see.

"That's great, Inspector! Do you know where he is?"

"Not yet. I know someone who can help." Inspector Fox pushed in her chair, folding up the note and tucking it into the inner pocket of her jacket. The fox smiled as she knew that something was familiar about it. The 'signature' at the bottom of the note was a pink stamp in the shape of a mouse with ears and gasmask.

"Well, I'm coming too."

"I- Alright." As they turned to leave, Carmelita bumped into her boss, who seemed excited to see that look in her eye.

"You look like you have a case, Inspector. Where are you and Ms. Strauss going?"

"I'm going to meet a colleague that has some insight on the signature." Carmelita handed the folded note to her boss, who opened it to look at the stamp. "Search around for some photographs taken of that symbol. There should be three of them with one of them being a cell that a prisoner escaped from."

"And the escaped convict must be responsible for that symbol and these others. You solved the case, Inspector! And within an hour of it being opened!"

"Not yet. I don't have Grimm's location, but we have a while until noon even gets close. I'm taking Diana to the club where she last saw Grimm. We might find some pedestrians or patrons at the place who saw what happened to-"

It was now that Carmelita's phone chirped, her eyes widening as she looked at the screen.

"Change of plans! Diana's coming with me. Inspector," Carmelita was now addressing Barkley directly again, "Get that info for me. I'll be going to make the arrest now. Yes, the case is now solved."

Carmelita then turned to Diana and smiled softly. "Correction... Yes, I do have his location and you're coming with me."

Diana nodded eagerly and followed, Carmelita pulling up the address that Bentley sent over. He pieced her location together easily. The ransom and location ended up being an address hidden in plain sight. Bentley recognized the symbol on the note, decoded the hint, and sent over the address with a message stating that he and Murray would meet her there.

There was a slight hiccup when Carmelita and Diana arrived at the building. Penelope had Grimm somewhere in an apartment complex and neither of them knew what room they were in.

Carmelita sent a FYI to Bentley who took a second look at the note but found nothing. Carmelita was about to call for back up when she saw Diana at the front counter. The clerk was about to refuse to give information about guests, but quickly changed his tune as soon as Carmelita showed off her badge.

She sent some new info to Bentley and went with Diana to find Grimm. To the retriever's dismay, they were too late in arriving even as a digital clock displayed a time of a few minutes after 10:30.

###