"We're getting pretty good at this."

Nick shrugged. "Well, I don't think we could make a living at it, but we're improving."

They were making their way in between the islands again, but narrower gaps, the actual canals of the canal district. They wanted to get some idea what had happened to a local who had drowned. He was a gondolier in fact, so he'd known his way around boats and the canals. He was a goat named Billy Capri.

They weren't confident enough to take a gondola out themselves, but their rowboat followed one of Capri's coworkers, Panina Zed, along the route that the gondola guild preferred. Zed had told them that Capri's death had surprised everyone, since it was at daybreak, before gondola service started, and he'd been doing the job for twenty years. He had seemed to follow this route though, judging by where he ended up, off the coast of Steam Street. The drowning having occurred in the South End of the CD, on the border of the Rainforest District, was another difference from the other incidents, and it was possible that it was unrelated, but they wanted to follow every lead, just in case.

"It happened just about here," said Panina. She was a middle-aged chimpanzee who had a faint Simian accent and wore a Sonny Bonobo button pinned to the black-and-white-striped shirt of her gondolier blouse.

"Thank you," Judy said.

The customers that Zed had brought there were going to disembark and explore for an hour, which would give Judy and Nick a chance to look around as well, on water and land.

They sat in the rowboat in silence for a minute and then Nick said, "Well, Fluff, I think—"

And then her phone rang.

"Is it the Chief?" They hadn't heard from Bogo since they left and they hadn't contacted him since they were still waiting till they had something definite to report.

"No, it's my Muzzletime ring-tone."

"I really wish they wouldn't call it that."

She gave him a sympathetic look. "Muzzle as in snout." She fished her phone out of her pocket.

"Yeah, I know, Carrots. I just think—"

"Oh, cheese and crackers! It's my parents."

"Are you going to take it?"

"I'd better." She tapped her phone and put a big grin on. "Hi, Mom and Dad!"

Nick could hear a male voice say, "Judy, why didn't you answer last night?"

"Last night? Oh, the signal's not very strong where I am."

"Where are you?" asked a female voice.

"Oh, the Rainforest District." Well, it wasn't quite a lie, and she probably didn't want to tell her parents about the CD, although it was possible that its reputation wasn't known as far away as the Burrows.

"Are you on a case?" Mrs. Hopps asked.

"No, I'm just enjoying the weekend off. That's why I'm not in uniform."

"Oh, good," said her father, sounding relieved.

"Is that a rowboat?" her mother asked.

"Uh, yes, I'm learning to row."

"Oh, be careful out there!" said her father.

"I will."

"Are you rowing by yourself?" her mother asked.

"Uh, no. I'm with my friend, Nicky."

Mrs. Hopps said, "Oh, tell her we say hi."

"So, Jude the Dude, when are we going to meet this partner of yours?"

"Oh, soon."

Nick crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"Um, Dad, Mom, I've got to get back to rowing. Talk to you soon."

"Have fun!" they both cried before she tapped out.

"Nicky?"

"Duke Weaselton calls you Nicky."

"Yeah, but you don't."

"Well, no, not usually."

He shook his head. "You told them I'm a girl?"

"No. I just, well, I let them think that you are."

"I'm guessing they don't know I'm a fox either."

"No, but I'm going to tell them."

"I thought they were prejudiced against foxes."

"They used to be, but now they work with Gideon Gray."

"Oh, yes, Gideon. When are you going to invite me to your warren so I can have some more of his delicious pies?"

"Nick, look, I will tell them about you. I just didn't want them to make assumptions. You know, bringing a male friend home."

"Uh huh."

"I mean, it's just—"

"We can talk about this later. We are investigating a possible crime scene here."

"Right." She took out her notepad and pen. "OK, first of all, why did Mr. Capri take a gondola out so early in the morning? Or late at night."

"Maybe he had a customer who paid him extra for it. And then the customer threw him out of the gondola. And then the customer swam to shore."

"But Zed said there's no record of him having an appointment then."

"Maybe he wasn't going to report it to the company. He might've just pocketed the amount."

"So why would a customer drown him?"

"I don't know. I'm guessing it was premeditated instead of a spur of the moment act. Maybe a hit-mammal?"

She nodded. "Could be. Or it is possible that for some reason he was out here on his own?"

"And then his boat overturned?"

"Maybe. Just because he was experienced that doesn't mean he couldn't have had an accident."

"True. I wonder if he was wearing his gondolier outfit."

"Maybe not if he was moonlighting, or on his own. Does it make a difference?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe the ribbon fell off his hat and he dived in after it."

She laughed. "I don't think so."

"We can't rule out anything, Hopps."

To his surprise, she blushed and he wondered if she was applying those words to the two of them. Well, they had to rule out some things, but it wasn't the time or place to define terms.

"Come on, Carrots. Let's take a look around Steam Street."

This area, as the name suggested, was very steamy, the condensation of the CD and the Rainforest meeting and creating a mist.

"I wonder if the visibility is bad around dawn."

"Good thinking, Fluff. Maybe it rolled out over the water and he couldn't see too well."

"But he must've known what it would be like."

"Not if he'd never been here that early before."

"So what was he doing here so early?"

He shook his head. They were going round and round in circles on this. What if they gathered a bunch of clues which didn't add up to anything useful?

"Tujunga," she murmured, pronouncing it correctly this time.

"Huh?"

"I was just thinking of Tujunga and Vine. They intersect but, going South from Steam Street, there's a train stop between Tujunga and Vine. I remember from the map you showed me."

"Yeah, Canopy Lane. On the Green Line, but the Pink Line doesn't stop there."

"So how does Tujunga do that?"

"It's a very twisty road. Sometimes, on foot or by car, you have to go West to go South on it, and if you don't know your way around the Rainforest, you can get lost."

She nodded and he knew she was thinking that this case was a lot like that. And maybe she was also thinking that their relationship was like that, too.