A/N: Guys, girls, ladies and gents. I'm back and I hope you haven't thought about me being dead yet! It's been a long while and I've been caught up in my new story Welcome to the Wonderland Academy! And it's been a dozy so far.But now I'm back and here's the 12th chapter! Grab a snack, a comfy seat, and whatever it is you're reading this with and enjoy!
Oh! And before I forget. I'll have to give you my thanks Alucard15423! If you hadn't had spotted my plot hole I'd never would've been able to correct it! Chapter 9 was re-written and I hope you readers who've seen it will read it again to confirm that the hole is sealed! Now, onto the story!
Chapter 12: An illusion
Judy's nose twitched as her foot repeatedly thumped on the seat cushion she was standing on. Her eyes looked carefully through the file with frustration. It had been a week prior to the day she and Nick had witnessed that brutal scene and had requested to work on the case since they hadn't any other case to handle. Surprisingly, the buffalo had agreed easily and had shooed them away from his office. They had found possible clues to the murderer and kidnapper but no matter where the clues lead they were always met with a dead end. She sighed and fell onto the chair with exhaustion. She hadn't slept for three days and the caffeine was the only thing keeping her awake. Her ears fell down her back but perked up with lighting speed when she heard the door open. Nick had come in with a bag in hand, possibly donuts, and some more coffee. Unlike the doe, the tod had a wide grin on his muzzle.
"Heya Fluff. How's the case?" Judy sighed and tired lying accepted Nick's warm paw which stroked down her ears. She sighed.
"Nothing. After all this time, all those clues, still nothing. We chased the otter you thought you saw in the warehouse and it turned out to be just an innocent citizen! We searched the whole warehouse from top to bottom but nothing! We didn't find any clues after we interviewed all those fishermen either."
Judy slumped against the chair. Her eyes were tired and urged her to sleep but how could she when there was a murderer on the loose! She felt Nick's paw cup her cheek, turning her to face him and kissed her. She enjoyed the taste of his tongue in her mouth as she wrestled with his tongue who had started to search every inch of her mouth. They remained like that for a while longer before parting. Judy stared at Nick. Admiring her handsome boyfriend when her eyes snapped open and her gaze darted fearfully at the camera in the office.
"No, wait! Nick! What have we-" Nick silenced her, putting a finger to her lips.
"Hush now. Don't worry about it." a grin crossed his snout a me he backed away. Scaling up the shelf next to the camera and removing something from it. Black duct tape. Suddenly something clicked. A trick. It was a trick! Things started to make sense as each clue they had found its role in her head.
"That's it! I got it! Nick, we have to go. Now!"
She dragged the bewildered tod to their cruiser, her usual energy revived. The cruiser sped quickly to the port and Nick had to dig his claws into his seat to keep himself rooted to it and not to fly from his seat. Sirens wailed and they soon reached the port. Judy hurriedly got off when she made a dash for the heavy door of the warehouse.
"Carrots! Wait for me!" Nick rushed to catch up with the speeding bunny, huffing and panting when he got to the doors which his partner was opening with renewed vigor. He chuckled silently and pushed as well, opening the creaking doors. Judy looked about, spotting the seemingly new crates huddled at the back of the warehouse. She started lifting the boxes but they were surprisingly heavy. Nick had attempted to lift them as well but they were too heavy for him as well.
"Why do you want these crates moved anyways? Why not the other ones? They're exactly the same!" Nick fell on his behind as he tried to lift one up but his hands were covered in sweat so his grip had slipped. He groaned and rubbed his aching behind.
"Because, whatever's under here is our lead to finding the murderer!"
She was confident of it. Why else would these crates be here? The crates were fairly new as well, strengthening her suspicion. Judy's foot thumped on the floor, it's speed increasing by the minute. Nick brushed himself off and had started to observe the pile of crates half-heartedly when he saw a discarded hammer. He smirked, if they wanted to deal with these crates, they'll have to know what's in it first. He grabbed the hammer and started to pry of the nails off the crates. Judy hopped over and watched with a bemused expression as he finally got the lid off one the crates. They peered inside and were shocked to find blocks of gold!
"What in Zootopia..." they're eyes widened with shock as the gold reflected the beams of sunlight off it, making them squint a bit.
"Nick-"
"Already on it." the doe turned her head to see the tod already brisk walking to the cruiser. She smiled slightly at the memory of after she had found out that Nick had tricked her and had walked more than twenty paces when her head was turned. It brought a chuckle as she watched the handsome fox now. Clad in a navy-blue police uniform both had never would have thought wouldn't have believed would happen if their meeting didn't become more than it was. Fate, prodding them to cross paths.
The fox had finished reporting their finds to Benjamin and had turned to see his bunny staring back at him with dreamy eyes. He took a moment to study her, before smirking.
"Like what you see, Carrots?" he called and chuckled when he saw her visibly blush and timidly turn her head.
The other officers arrived at the scene and had inspected the gold. It was indeed real and they had to bring all of it back to the station to verify if it was genuine. The crates were carefully loaded onto the waiting van when a shout came from the heap of crates yet to be removed from its pile. Nick and Judy loaded the van and went over, spotting Francine trying to lift a crate, only to let go in vain.
"What's the matter Francine?" Francine looked at the pair with exhaustion.
"No matter how hard I try I can't seem to lift these crates up!"
Judy studied the crates. They did look odd. Eight crates were separated into two columns and towered over her. They were relatively clean but there were specks of brown hidden at the corners. She pointed them out to Nick and he squinted.
"Yup. Definitely blood. Although it's faint it's probably been a few days since it was first splattered here."
The officers there helped look and study the crates for clues but nothing could be found but the dried-up blood. It was already close to sundown when they finally gave up looking at the crates.
"So? What do we do now?" Nick leaned back on one of the crates and heard a click. A second passed and suddenly the ground began to shake, and one side of the eight crates opened. revealing a room behind it. A smile crept over Judy's muzzle and she inwardly squealed. She had been right. The place where the kits and mammals had gone was disguised. Nick and the other officers looked at it in shock and disbelief. Behind the crates didn't seem like there was anything but the rusting and dirty wall.
"How on earth..." Judy smirked.
"The murderers made use of the space behind the warehouse. See how these crates are the only one leaning against this wall? And that the front, right and left walls are not as high as this one? That means this is the only door here and possibly the only place they could be."
Judy smugly explained her hypothesis and saw realization form on the faces of their fellow officers. Nick's chest swelled with pride. His bunny had figured out the mystery and had proved that they weren't hallucinating! His bunny, found the murderer's or murderers possible hideout! Judy looked at the metal doors and jumped up to the left of the door to press the bright red button.
A/N: I am finally finished! I'm back in school, June holidays are over so updates will be irregular and sometimes late. BE WARNED! I'll mostly update from my phone more frequently so if you notice anything wrong or a plot hole somewhere just tell me in the reviews or PM me! Once again I'm very grateful to Alucard15423 for giving me that review and telling me of my plot hole and I hope you'll leave another review again! Also! To my dear friend Zootopian Fluf! Thank you for all the reviews up till now and I'll be looking forward to seeing more of them!
That's all for now and I'll leave you with this little cliffhanger for you. I'd like to write more but that's all I'll give today! Until next time! Chao~
