Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the movie Zootopia are all owned by Disney the great and powerful. All registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.
I had intended this chapter to cover Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with the final chapter covering Saturday and Sunday, and an epilogue set back in Zootopia. As you will see I only make it through Wednesday. Still hoping to cram Thursday and Friday in the next chapter. I'd hate to drag this out to each chapter only covering one day.
The most famous song from the 1932 musical Face the Music (music by Irving Berlin) is this chapter's semi-appropriate title. The musical reflects the Depression gripping the US and much of the world at the time. Original lyrics for Another Cup of Coffee contain the lines, "Even John D. Rockefeller Is looking for a silver lining. Mister Herbert Hoover says that now's the time to buy..." The musical may have inspired Mel Brooks The Producers. In Face the Music crooked politicians need to lose money to insure financial investigation of their wealth doesn't uncover it. Investing in a Broadway flop sounds like the perfect means to an end, until it is rewritten in questionable taste and becomes a hit. But remember:
Just around the corner,
There's a rainbow in the sky.
So let's have another cup of coffee
And let's have another piece of pie!
Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee
Clean sheets allowed Nick to try and sleep at the bungalow, but the worn out mattress worked against his best efforts. At seven-thirty a phone call from Judy awakened him, "What," he snapped. "Sorry, you woke me up."
"I've been up for hours, Sleepy-head. Coming over for a hearty farm breakfast?"
"I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep."
"Sorry. Maybe you can take a nap after breakfast before I show you around Bunnyburrow – the parts we didn't see when walking yesterday."
"It's a plan. See you soon." He checked for messages. Dr. Wheeler had texted him phone numbers for Carson and Parr, the detectives at the Third who were working the car-jackings, and the computer forensic lab that would have the computers from the salvage yard. He checked the time, too early to call. As he remembered Carson and Parr the pair had been surly towards him and Judy on Monday, apparently feeling resentment for another pair of detectives finding the criminals they'd been looking for. Nick hoped that the pair would have mellowed into something like gratitude when he called asking for help. But that would be in an hour or two. He dressed and drove to Judy's for breakfast.
Biscuits with honey, hash browns, and eggs improved his mood. "I need to go out and make a private phone call," he told Bonnie. "Need to make sure the station can function without Judy and me there."
Carson had not mellowed in his attitude towards Nick. "Look, I don't go taking cases from the First, you and your showboating friend don't take my cases. Help you? I'll help you with some advice – Fuck off."
"And I'll give you some advice," Nick suggested. "Go look up the members of the Mayor's commission for police accountability. See if you find the name 'Nick Wilde'. Call me back within an hour if you do. If not, in seventy minutes I call the police commissioner, I call the head of the mayor's commission, and I may even call the mayor. And they'll call your captain, and your captain will ask you what part of cooperation and accountability you have trouble understanding. Have a nice day."
"That sucked," Nick thought. "Not what I wanted after breakfast." He went back to the house and told Judy the call hadn't gone well, but Carson would probably be calling back in an hour to offer help.
"Poor baby," Judy told him sympathetically. "Know what you need?"
"Drugs?"
"No, you need to sit down on a comfy porch chair with hot coffee to keep you awake until you hear back, and a pretty female on your lap to take your mind off your problems."
"Sounds good," he grinned. "Know where I can find a pretty female?"
"I was going to put the hot coffee in a cup. But I bet it'll really wake you up if I just pour it on your lap."
"I'll be good," he promised.
"Good. Just sit on one of the chairs. I'll be out in a minute with your coffee."
The chair felt good as Nick sat down. He yawned; the cup of coffee was a good idea. He had almost managed to doze off when Judy appeared with the coffee.
"Hold the cup while I sit on your lap," she directed. They managed the feat without spilling a drop. "Now, isn't this comfy."
"Honestly?"
"Yes."
"Honestly, it feels great," he said as she snuggled up to him.
"It'll be even better when we're kissing," she promised in a whisper
Bonnie's call cut through the moment, "Please remember there are impressionable young rabbits around."
"I'm just sitting on his lap, Mom!"
The faint sound of Susan's voice could be heard from somewhere in the house, "Oh! I want to see that."
"Her hearing is that good she can hear the word kiss?" Nick whispered.
"No, just seeing me on your lap set her off."
"I fear I am a scandal in the Hopps house," sighed Nick.
"I don't care. They'll get used to you. Now, while we're all cozy like this I have a question for you. When did you decide I was the female of your dreams?"
"You're kidding me, right? You really want me to put a day on it?"
"Yes."
"I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."
"That's poetic. Poetic and lame. I can name the day I decided you were special. I can name the hour. I can name the minute."
"Okay, I'll bite... Not literally, of course, that wouldn't be nice. When was did you decide I was Mister Pretty Hot Stuff." He put the coffee cup down to listen.
"Okay, the day I realized you were special was the most dangerous day of my life."
"You decide I'm the male of your dreams, and you call it the most dangerous day of your life? You're still working through that fear of foxes, aren't you."
"No, Silly. You weren't the danger, but the danger made me see the real you."
"That crazy train ride when you were trying to get the night howler evidence in to the police?"
"No... But that makes the top five easily for scary days."
"I thought we'd hit that oncoming train."
"I knew we were going to make it... Okay, a few times I wasn't sure, but I mostly knew we were going to make it. No, that time Mister Manchas was chasing us after he went wild. I really thought we were going to die."
"Did you have to bring that up? I've been trying very hard to repress that memory."
"Well, don't. You could have escaped, but you risked your own life to save me. It showed your physical courage–"
"Too scared to think straight, more likely."
"Hush! Then you stood up to Bogo. That was moral courage."
"That was too angry for how you were being treated to think straight."
"Look, if you can't say anything nice about yourself, don't say anything at all. You saved my life. You encouraged me. Then, on the cable car you opened up and let me see some of your heart. I wanted you as my partner, from that moment I wanted you in my life. When you walked out after that press conference I felt like a part of me died."
"I shouldn't have left that way."
"No, what I said was stupid."
"I could have listened."
"I really hurt you... So, that night, the cable car ride, that was when I decided I wanted to be with you forever. Your turn. When did you realize you wanted to me to stay in your life?"
"Wait, you decided you loved me on the cable car ride?"
"I never said that. I said I wanted you in my life. That doesn't mean I knew I loved you."
"Sounds awfully close to me."
"It's not the same. You know, if you weren't so easy to love you'd be impossible to love."
"And now you're saying you love me."
"No I'm not! You know the rules. First you kiss me, then I tell you that I love you. Of course, if you want to tell me that you love me, that would be okay."
"I'm pretty sure I can't. I'm supposed to tell you I love you either immediately before, or after, I kiss you for the first time. Those are the rules. At least those were the rules at PS forty-three in intro to romance."
Judy snorted, "Like Nicholas Wilde ever cared about the rules."
"I can't believe I'm hearing by-the-book Judith Hopps suggesting I break the rules? I am shocked – shocked to hear such a thing."
"You're not shocked, you're avoiding the question. When did you know I was Miss Wonderful?"
"Hmmm... Tough one. I think it's a toss up. It was either your eggplant Parmesan or watching you bend over in those tight jeans at the pool hall."
"Males!" Judy complained. "Food and sex. I am going to go help Mom in the kitchen."
She started to get up but Nick quickly threw his arms around her and held her tight. "But I want a bunny. And I will hug you and squeeze you and pat you and pet you and rub you and caress you and call you George."
Judy giggled as she pretended to struggle, "Let me go, you big creep."
"Ah, I thought you liked me."
"Not if the only nice things you can say about me are that I cook and have a nice butt. Say something else."
He loosened his grip on the rabbit, "Do you know how many people I've told the story about my trying to join the scouts, and how I was treated?"
"No."
"Hardly anyone. I couldn't believe it when I started spilling my guts to you on that cable car. I've got walls around me so high and thick... But you climbed them–"
"Or burrowed under them."
Nick laughed, "Yeah, burrowed under them for sure. And I found myself opening up to you like Pringle's Department Store at nine in the morning. I've never, never in my life felt so open to anyone I just met. There was something about you, something special. Is that better? That day when we escaped Mister Manchas and you gave me the application for the academy and said you wanted me as your partner? You may recall that I started filling it out."
Judy rubbed her nose against his. "Much better, Mister Wilde. I might believe you really like me."
Which is when Susan took the picture. "Clawhauser will love this!"
"Suze, give me that phone!"
"No!"
The teen took off at a run, and Judy reluctantly left her partner's lap in pursuit of her sister. Nick sighed and picked his coffee back up.
Fifty-nine minutes after his initial phone call to Detective Carson ended Nick's phone rang. "Hello?"
"Wilde? Carson here. Look sorry, about that first call. I'm not an animal until I've had a cup of coffee."
"Same here. And I had a lousy night's sleep so I'm cranky as a bear." (Fortunately Carson was not a bear.)
"I looked at that Burke and Hare thing like you asked, and holy shit! There is a boatload of stuff there."
"I was afraid of that. Actually my partner was afraid of that, Judy... I mean Detective Hopps has this intuition thing going for her. It's scary."
"There were so many orders, especially around the time the jackings started, that there's probably a connection. There was a name that came up on all the recent invoices from the place, signed by a Thomas Hare Junior. He should probably be checked out. And–"
"He wasn't in yesterday. We talked to his co-workers. There's not a lot of love for Tom Junior."
"Wait, you're in Bunnyburrow?"
"Yeah. That's why I slept lousy. Accommodations stink – literally."
"How do you and Hopps do it?"
"Some luck, a lead, and some detectives over in the Third had done a ton of the work for us–"
"So you knew you was poaching?"
"Our Captain said he thought someone might have been copying the MO, so we looked at your files to see what you had. Kept us from a lot of dead ends."
"Your Captain really thought it was someone copying the MO?"
"That's what he told us. Bad luck in the First to disagree with your Captain."
"Yeah, same here. Look, I think the computer geeks in forensics can do more with the files for you than I can. I–"
"No, problem. Thanks. Hey, have you figured out how they kept off the surveillance cams?"
"That's what I'd really like to know. Got any brilliant ides?"
"Sorry."
"Anyway, I'll be doing interrogations again today. I'll ask about this Burke and Hare outfit specifically, okay?"
"That'd be great. Oh, and is there some particular computer whiz I should ask for? Always easier to ask information from an individual."
"Ask for Allen," Carson told him, and passed on the phone number. "Sorry again about this morning."
"Me too."
"Hey, next time you're down in the Third, let me buy you a cuppa."
Nick smiled as he hung up. He hated threats, they left enemies. Recognize and compliment someone for their work, sympathize with them, and you got better results than threats could bring.
He was getting comfortable on the chair when Judy returned. "Catch Suze?"
"No, she had too much of a head start."
"You're slipping."
"Or maybe she comes from a fast family too."
"Possible. Oh, much nicer return call. Nothing specific to report yet, but the Burke and Hare connection moved up the priority list on the investigation. Hopefully we'll have something later in the day."
"Good. Ready to see more of Bunnyburrow?"
"How about I get an hour nap first?"
Judy was ready to agree when their phones signaled the arrival of a text message. The text read, "Rick is gone!" and attached was the photo of Judy on Nick's lap, with the two rubbing noses.
"What the–"
"Ben Clawhauser! He must have–"
A text from Detective Nyte arrived on Nick's phone, "You call that working?" with the attached picture forwarded.
Before Judy could comment she got a text, from Alces. "Will you please keep your private lives private?" While she texted a reply more messages came in from other officers and detectives.
"What did you tell Alces?" Nick asked when the flow of messages stopped.
"I threw Ben under the bus. I said we didn't send him the picture and he had no business forwarding it."
"Hope that's enough... Any chance we could throw Suze under a bus for sending it to him?"
"No way. This is Bunnyburrow! Here we throw someone under the tractor. Take your nap."
"I'll try. Oh, I'd better call Allen – the guy working on the computer records – and... And I didn't bring a laptop."
"I did. Have anything sent to me."
Neither Judy nor Nick had much appetite for lunch after their big breakfasts. Nick had seen the small town square the day before when new sheets were purchased, but today they strolled around the businesses which surrounded the square and noticed remarkably little business activity.
"This place is dead," Nick commented.
"It's not dead, it's sleeping. We'll go out to the fairgrounds a little later. That'll be busy with people getting ready for Pumpkin Fest. Oh, and we'll stop at the school. We can't go in, it's summer and it's closed. Maybe someone will be working on getting it ready for the fall! And then I can take you in and–"
Nick held up his hand, and Judy paused. "You and Suze are really sisters, aren't you?"
"Of course, what... Am I talking too much because I'm excited?"
"Oh yeah. Excited about school. I'm going to bet you were one of those wonderfully popular kids that everyone else wanted to sit by, because it increased their social status to be in your presence."
"You make it sound like a crime."
"Sorry, flashback. Eric, Truckie, and I were the kids no one else would sit with. So we sat at a table at the edge of the lunchroom and made sarcastic comments about people like you. We thought it proved we were better. I don't get excited about visiting my old high school. We were the kids the popular kids ignored and wouldn't talk to... Maybe that's too harsh, maybe they just didn't talk to us because we were too shy and socially awkward to even say 'hi' to them."
"No," Judy sighed, "Maybe I wouldn't have talked to you. You're making me feel guilty about Gideon again. He and his friends... Some other kids too... My crowd ignored them. And I made fun of Gideon. The bakery is just off the square. Let's see if he's in... He's probably out at the fairgrounds, but you can have a piece of pie if the shop is open."
"And you'll pay as a sign of contrition for how you treated us who were beneath you in school?"
"Don't press it, Detective. I didn't go to school with you – and you still owe me for the Jumbo Pop."
A small bell tinkled as they pushed open the door and a young rabbit looked up from a book, "Judy! Detective Wilde! How can I help you?"
Nick vaguely recognized the rabbit as one of Judy's younger siblings he'd played cards with the day before, but he didn't remember the name.
"Any chance Gideon in here?" Judy asked.
"Sure. I'll get him."
A minute later Gideon, wearing an apron and liberally sprinkled with flour emerged from the back. "Judy! You're in town?"
She fought the urge to say, "Yes, obviously." "I'm in town for a few days. I have a lot to do, but I had to stop in and see you."
"To see me? Really?"
"I wanted to tell you a couple things. One was thanks, seeing you and talking with you when you stopped by the farm stand that day helped give me some perspective I needed. I couldn't have solved the night howler case without you."
The fox looked puzzled, "I didn't do nothing."
"You did more than you know. And I wanted to say thank you for that. And I also need to tell you I'm sorry."
"Sorry?"
"For how I treated you back in school. I called you a big dummy... I said a lot of mean things and–"
"And I deserved them. I was always bottom of the class."
"That does not make you a dummy, and it was wrong of me to think that, and it was wrong of me to say that. Please, forgive me."
"Ah, Judy, that's... that's..." tears started to fill Gideon Gray's eyes.
"Don't cry! Don't cry!" Nick thought. "Foxes don't cry."
Gideon started crying. "That's the nicest thing you..."
Judy's own tears started, and she hugged her former classmate. "I'm sorry."
Nick stood to the side, feeling slightly embarrassed and not sure what to say or do. Part of him hated the other fox for what he had done to Judy years ago, but the other animal sounded mentally slow, and so contrite, it was hard not to feel sympathy for him. Finally the other two got themselves under control. Gideon pulled a couple paper napkins from a holder on the table and handed one to Judy, then wiped his eyes and blew his nose with the other. "I'll wash my hands before I get back to work. I... Thanks."
"No, thank you. And I really am sorry about–"
Nick coughed, "I hate to sound like a heartless slob, but I remember something about pie. And someone is sadly remiss in her duties on making introductions."
"Oh, you're right. Nick, this is Gideon Gray. We went to school together and–"
"And I hurt Judy."
"Neither of us behaved well. That's past. Gideon, this is my partner on the police force, Nick Wilde." Judy linked arms with Nick. "And we're kind of... we're..."
Nick sensed Judy wasn't sure how to finish the sentence, afraid to say too much or too little about the relationship and risk offending him.
"Judy and I are not just partners on the force," Nick told Gideon. "We're kicking it up a notch or two and–"
"Maybe kicking it up three or four," Judy giggled.
"Let me tell the story," Nick scolded in a teasing voice. He continued the explanation to Gideon. "We're starting a more serious relationship and here to break the bad news to her parents."
"Good news," Judy corrected him.
Gideon looked back and forth between the pair, obviously puzzled. "But, uh, you're a fox."
"I converted," Nick told him in a solemn voice. "I used to be a raccoon."
"But... how..."
"You should only believe half of what Nick says," warned Judy.
"Which half?"
"Well, not that one, obviously."
"Uh, right. Obviously."
"Judy claims the best pies in the world are made in Bunnyburrow, and that the best pies in Bunnyburrow are baked by you," Nick told the other fox. "Now, while I trust Judy implicitly I can't rule out the possibility she has a hometown bias, so I wanted empirical evidence for the assertion."
Gideon looked puzzled, "What did he say?" he whispered to Judy.
"He said I told him your pies are great and he wants to try a slice."
"Oh. Sure thing. What kind of pie would you like?"
"Well, since we're here for Pumpkin Fest, I'd like a slice of pumpkin pie," Nick said.
Gideon and Judy looked at each other. The fox looked puzzled. "He's not from around here," Judy reminded him.
"What's the matter?" demanded Nick. "It's a bakery! I ordered pie!"
"No pie for you," explained Gideon.
"What, you don't serve foxes? You're a fox, and you don't serve foxes?"
Judy sighed, "I'll explain," she told Gideon. Turning to Nick, "No jumping the gun on Pumpkin Fest. Pumpkin pie is off the menu for a week before. They'll be available Friday at..." She looked to Gideon.
"Noon."
"Fine," muttered Nick, "Got my taste buds drooling for pumpkin pie and then you deny them. What do you have?"
Gideon pointed to the a blackboard with the list. "Some of it's kinda outa season. But I got it at the peak of fresh and prepped it all."
"Ummm... I'll try a slice of the strawberry-rhubarb. And a cup of coffee."
"Peach, please," Judy requested. "And green tea."
The two sat at a small table in the shop. Judy watched closely as Nick cut a cautious bite of pie and lifted it to his mouth with the fork. The fox's eyes opened wide in surprise as he chewed. He swallowed and exclaimed, "That is incredible!"
"Told you," Judy smirked. She called, "Gideon? City guy says your pie is incredible."
"Beyond incredible. Two or three steps beyond incredible..." He turned to Judy, "What are the next steps past incredible?"
"I'm a rabbit, not a thesaurus."
"Never a thesaurus around when you need one. They're as bad as cops."
"I believe thesauruses are extinct, wiped out by a comet or something."
Gideon had headed over to the table and called, "You really liked it?"
"It... Judy said the best pies came from... But I figured it was hometown pride, so I... And this is, Wow!"
Gideon looked at Judy, "Is this the half the time I can believe him?"
"Believe him. I've never seen him look so happy with food in his mouth."
"Thanks, Mister Wilde. I like to hear that folks like my pies."
"Call me Nick, please. Any chance you'd close the bakery here and move to Zootopia? You'd have lines a block long outside your shop! You could get Clawhauser off doughnuts."
"Clawhauser?"
"Desk sergeant," explained Judy. "He's addicted to doughnuts."
"But this is so much better!" Nick enthused.
"Well shucks, but my pies just wouldn't be the same if I didn't have all the best stuff on the farms right here."
After pie Judy showed Nick where she had gone to school, and then they headed to the fairgrounds. "We need to do something about Benjamin sending that photo out to everyone at the First," Nick commented during the ride.
"His heart is in the right place."
"He got us in trouble with Alces."
"I don't want to do anything that will get him in trouble."
Nick thought a minute, "Have you asked Hye what she did to make Suze think she was talking with a guy?"
"No. Like I said, I suspect Tom was there and she handed the phone to him and he claimed to be Rick. That's my guess."
"Probably. Even if Hye did something else Tom's sense of humor nominates him for what I have in mind."
"And what evil lurks in the heart of Nick?"
"Have him call the station as Rick, he'll say you called him and were upset that he sent out that 'shopped photo."
"But it wasn't photo-shopped."
"Oh, yeah. Judy 'I cannot tell a lie' Hopps. That's our cover story."
"And I wasn't upset."
"You weren't upset that Suze took the picture, that she sent the picture, that Ben forwarded it to everyone we know on the force, and Alces chewed our butts for it?"
"Okay, I'm upset. I'll call Hye later. What do we do with Suze?"
"I like your tractor idea... Have Tom tell Ben that whoever faked the picture is in trouble if he finds out who did it. I doubt Clawhauser will name Suze, but he'll probably call to tell her what happened. And if you want to tell Suze you talked with Rick today, and he was annoyed with her, that's okay too."
"'Rick' was annoyed? You're certain?"
"I know the guy as well as I know myself."
The fairgrounds were far busier than downtown Bunnyburrow. "We're pretty close to Burke and Hare, aren't we?" Nick asked as they got out of the car.
Judy pointed to a line of poplars. "The dirt track is just past those trees. It's the far end of Burke and Hare property. It'll be extra parking on Friday and Saturday. There'll be races on Sunday – from kids on bikes to demolition derby."
"Not at the same time, I hope."
"No, Silly. Kids in the morning. Demolition is last thing in the afternoon."
"I've heard of those... And tractor pulls. They're both real?"
"Both real. The dull world of Zootopia has nothing to compare to the exotic untamed splendor of Bunnyburrow."
Animals were busy erecting concession stands of various sorts as Nick and Judy strolled around the fairgrounds. There were a few small carnival rides and booths with games going up also. As the walked around, observing the preparations various individuals who recognized her would call greetings to Judy. A few even stopped and chatted for a minute.
Judy gave Nick some a little more background on the site, including the information that, "Carrot Days are held here in the spring."
"Another ancient fertility ritual?"
"Agricultural, not fertility."
"We could debate that with a cultural ethnographer."
"School children put on skits... Do you remember that 'Blood! blood! blood!' line when you were pretending to attack me?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I did that in the barn right over there. That was when I broke the news to my parents I wanted to be a police officer."
"How did they take it?"
"Um, about as well as when I told them you were the male I'd been looking for all my life. But now they're proud of me."
"They're still scared for you and want you to settle down with some safe rabbit. That's why your mom kept setting you up with blind dates."
Judy grew excited and pointed to two bulls nailing the facade on a concession stand. The tall letters across the top read, 'Dairy Belles'. "This is the ice cream stand I told you about! Fresh churned and you can buy it direct from the cows themselves. I hope Gideon has his stand close to this. Warm pie and ice cream... What's that word for two things that go together so well they're better than the sum of their parts?"
"Gestalt."
"Gesundheit."
Nick groaned, "You set me up on purpose, didn't you?"
"Yes, and... Oh, look! The hay maze will be over here this year."
"Hay maze?"
"For the smaller children, let's watch for a minute."
A huge rabbit doe, a hay hook in each hand, directed the others piling up the bales and frequently lifted heavy bales to the top row of the walls.
As they watched the construction a passing animal called, "Hey, Judy!" and Judy responded with a wave and, "Hey, Carl!"
The large female rabbit with the hay hooks looked over, "Judy? Judy Hopps?"
"Yes, I... Sorry, I don't remember you."
The large rabbit laughed, "We've never met. I moved to Bunnyburrow when I married Chuck Flem." She left her work to join them. "He said you were in town... Nothing personal, but he really dated a shrimp like you?"
"We went out once. Just friends."
"I wasn't jealous, just surprised. And this must be the fox he told me about. You're really telling people the two of you are dating?"
"Yes, we are," Judy tried to explain as the doe chuckled.
"I don't think anyone is going to believe that story. Why are you in town, really? That mess at Burke and Hare or something else?"
"We're here for more than one reason," insisted Nick, and put an arm around Judy. "She wanted to see Pumpkin Fest and introduce me to her family."
"Undercover, I understand. Hey, hope you catch the bad guys," she told them. Glancing over she shouted, "Not there!" to a normal sized rabbit putting a hay bale where it didn't belong and she returned to her labors to place the bale in its proper position.
"Why is it," Nick wanted to know, "that when we weren't a couple everyone at the First thought we were sleeping together. And now that we're starting to become a couple no one in Bunnyburrow will believe it?"
"First, we've been a couple longer than you realize. Everyone could see I was mad about you, and we act like a married couple. It was a natural assumption on everyone's part."
"No it wasn't."
"Yes it was. You were the only one who didn't realize you were in love with me."
"I still think my vote counts for something."
"You need to learn that a husband's vote counts for nothing."
"We're not married."
"Yet. And you need practice in learning your vote counts for nothing. Meanwhile, here in Bunnyburrow, everyone remembers what a narrow-minded little bigot I was. They don't realize that a tall, handsome fox opened my eyes to the importance of seeing every animal as an individual."
"A tall, handsome fox, huh?"
"That's you, obviously."
"And flattering your mark is one of the oldest tricks in the con bag. You know I can see through that, don't you?"
"Of course you can see it." She batted large, violet eyes at him, "You're smart. You see everything. But it still works, doesn't it?"
"Why, yes. Yes it does."
After watching progress, greeting friends, and helping with the construction of a particularly recalcitrant concession stand Nick mentioned, "I will have an appetite for dinner. There's supposed to be a place near Bunnyburrow with an otter menu?"
"There's an otter village. Mom and Dad sometimes go there for their anniversaries."
"How about we blow off your family this evening and you and I eat there? Maybe it will be romantic enough to forget we're on a case for a little while, wink, wink."
"Why, Mister Wilde, you turn an innocent bunny's head with your wicked and wonderful suggestions. Dinner with you? I think that can be arranged."
"Where is this otter village?"
"Mud Flats is about–"
"Mud Flaps?"
"Mud Flats, with a 't'. That's its name."
"Well, we can rule out any chance of our first real kiss after dinner then."
"Why?"
"I don't care how romantic the place might be, no way I'm ever going to admit to anyone we had our first real kiss at a place called Mud Flats."
"But... Yeah, you're right. No way to I want to tell my friends on the football team that we confessed our love for each other at Mud Flats. But we can still have dinner there, right?"
"Umm... Give me a minute to think about that... Dinner at an otter restaurant with a sexy rabbit – listening to the sweet sound of her voice, or sitting down with a dozen members of her family, most of whom hate me. Which one should I choose?"
"That depends, Nick. Do you ever want to see me in those tight jeans again?"
"Otter restaurant it is."
"Smart choice."
"Oh, call your mom and warn her. I doubt she's planning anything special, like strychnine in the soup, but you should warn her just in case. Have to eat at home if she's counting on us."
Judy hugged him, "You are so amazingly considerate."
"I don't want to get into any deeper trouble than I already am for dating her daughter."
There were no plans at the Hopps household. With her phone already out Judy called Allen, the officer working on the computer files. The talk continued longer than either Judy or Nick had anticipated.
When Judy finally hung up Nick commented, "Just from hearing your half of the conversation it sounds like someone at Burke and Hare is in this pretty deep."
Judy did not sound happy, "What it looks like. There was an odd email, nothing definite but almost like some kind of feeler, asking about their ability to get more things in a hurry, and offering a bonus. The yard might have been stealing cars before, but it sounds to Allen like this was what encouraged the the car jackings. He's going to send me the file with everything he's got before he goes home this evening... We can't be out too late tonight, I'm going to have a ton of work to do."
"Bonus for parts? We didn't see anything like that at Burke and Hare."
"No, we didn't. He said orders came in from at least three different computers... I forget the name for it, but there is some kind of signal, unique to each computer – kind of like its own fingerprint?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean, but I don't know the technical name either."
"Anyway, Allen would like us to get on different computers and send him emails so he can figure out what message which came from which one."
"Assuming, of course that no one was sending orders in from lap tops that have disappeared since the arrest. And Burke and Hare struck me as a place where computer security is probably pretty lax. If they even use passwords I'm going to guess half the computers will have a sticky note up on the edge of the screen with the password written on it."
"You're probably right. I'd like to see what forensics found before we go out again. Should we call Bruce and say we'll be out tomorrow or just show up?"
Nick shrugged, "I've got no idea. Probably better just to show up though. I mean, everyone there has to be on the possible suspect list at the moment. But he strikes me as being too computer savvy to use one we could trace to him at work."
"Nick... I don't like having a friend on the possible suspect list."
He took the rabbit in his arms and hugged her. "Tell you what. I'll bet you a pizza he's innocent. And I always win my bets. When we find out he's innocent you owe me a pizza."
"You always win?"
"Always. I've got you in my arms now, don't I?"
"You big idiot... Will you find a good time to kiss me soon, so I can tell you how much I love you?"
He laughed and kissed the top of her head, "I'm under orders to find a wonderfully romantic place, remember?"
"Whose stupid idea was that," Judy grumbled. "Okay, but remember, within one week after we get back to Zootopia or I take matters into my own lips. Oh, and should the perfect moment arise while we're here in Bunnyburrow that would be okay too, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm probably too stressed for a perfect moment here."
"That bad?"
"Well, not bad. Just feel like I'm under a microscope."
"I'm nervous about the idea of meeting your mother too."
"Speaking of mothers... Should I ask your mom the level of attire I need for Mud Flats?"
"You're fine. We're just simple country–"
Judy's phone rang.
"ZPD or your parents?" Nick asked. "We know it's not Suze calling to apologize."
"ZPD is my guess." Judy took out her phone. "Hello?"
"Jude? Bruce. Your mom gave me your number."
"What's up?"
"Judy Hopps is in town. Maybe you heard. Anyway, she's with some stiff. But If she can ditch the fox I'm thinking we could get some of the old gang together tonight."
"Ditch the fox?"
"Well, they won't admit it, but I think she's in town for an investigation. She's giving some crazy cover story about dating the fox. But Judy and a fox? No way! I don't know how their investigation is going, but I was hoping she might be able to get away for a couple hours. I have Ian's number. I can call him."
"Nick and I have dinner plans. Maybe tomorrow we could get together?"
"We don't have to worry about parents telling us to be home by midnight. If you can't ditch him for dinner maybe you can just eat in a hurry and we'll sit around and talk until two in the morning? How late were you out with Ian that time you both got grounded?"
"Look, Nick and I really are a couple–"
"I'm a suspect too?"
"What do you mean?"
"C'mon, you can tell me the truth. You and a fox? No way."
"Hard as this may be for you to believe, yes. I'm crazy about the fox."
"Okay, it's your cover story and you're sticking with it. Can you slip away from the ball and chain for a couple hours tomorrow night, or, worst case scenario, invite him along? If your fox is going to show up I'll make sure not to call Ian. Oh, but you might be interested in knowing, if the fox is a cover story, that Ian isn't married."
"Not interested. Hey, I'll talk with my significant other and get back to you on whether I can get together with you guys tomorrow."
"Where is the strong, independent Judy Hopps who never asked anyone's permission for anything – especially permission from a fox?"
"Not sure where she is. This is the strong, independent Judy Hopps who dragged her just-starting-to-stick-his-toes-in-a-relationship male to Bunnyburrow to meet her mom and dad. And, having dragged him to the ends of the earth and put him up a fleabag bungalow would feel far too guilty to desert him."
"Okay, okay, I get the picture. I'm still not sure I believe you're interested in a fox. But you either really are or are staying in character. Bring him along if you must, but most of the old gang is in town for Pumpkin Fest and everyone would love to see you. Should I call Ian?"
"Are you sure you aren't my mom?"
"Let me check my pants." There was a brief pause. "No, I can assure you I'm not your mom. Why?"
"'Cause she was always trying to set me up with–"
"Aha!"
"Aha?"
"The fox is a beard, to keep your mother off your back! You're in love with Cynthia! I should have known–"
"I'm hanging up now, Bruce. I'll call back after I talk with Nick."
"Well, this half of the conversation sounded interesting," Nick commented as she put away her phone.
"This was the sane end of the conversation. Bruce wanted to get some of our old friends together and asked me to ditch you. And I worked too darn hard to hook you to wander off and leave you now... It wouldn't be fair to you."
"I think I heard you suggest tomorrow evening?"
"And you also heard I needed to talk with you first."
Nick thought for a moment. "You were popular in high school. You have a lot of friends. You should see them. If you don't, they'll think I'm the bad guy for telling you not to see them. I don't need that on me."
"What'll you do? Stay at that stinking bungalow? Spend the evening with my Mom and Dad? She'll either ignore you or dig out the photo albums and show you embarrassing pictures of me when I was little–"
"I'll bet you were adorable."
"You want your mom showing me pictures of you when you were a cub? Or, I can take you with me, and you listen to people you've never met before reminisce about things that make no sense to you and you're bored to tears. Do you know how long I was chasing you to–"
Nick coughed, "Actually, I think I do."
"True," giggled Judy. "The point is that, having run after you, I don't want to desert you now. I care about your feelings."
"That image, a rabbit chasing a fox, is pretty funny. But, as it happens, he cares about your feelings too. Telling you not to see your friends would be wrong. My opinion is you should see your friends while you're here. Drag your guy along, introduce him to everyone, and then you owe the fox – big time."
"Hmmm... Might work," mused Judy. "I am pretty sure the innocent rabbit has promised to do anything for the wicked fox in the past, and he was always too much of coward to take advantage of her the way she secretly hoped he would. She'll probably just end up back in his kitchen, chained to the stove."
"Making artichoke dip and baked brie for the next time the guys are over for poker?"
"You really have no wicked imagination, do you?"
"I'm not interested in handcuffs, on either one of us, if that's what you mean."
"There are a lot of options between me in handcuffs or asking me to cook."
"Time for that later," he promised and took her in his arms. "And I want you doing things because you want to, not because I've pressured you. Oh, one more condition. For every former male friend or steady drooling over you tomorrow, it's one more poker night you cook for, deal?"
"There weren't that many–"
"Deal?"
"Deal," Judy sighed.
"Sealed with a kiss?"
"Not in the parking lot of the Bunnyburrow fairgrounds. I know we can do better than this."
"Okay. Hey, call your buddy Bruce back. I'm going to call Carson at the Third and mend fences."
"Exactly what did you tell him this morning?"
"Never mind. The point is that he started the case, he will be doing the paperwork for it, and messing up relations with the Third would have Alces on my back. That and Carson might have learned something we need, and I want to make sure he likes us enough to pass on information."
Nick and Judy moved away from each other, to avoid interfering with the other conversation. Nick placed his call. "Wanted to update you on the situation in Bunnyburrow, since you're in charge of the case," he told the other detective. "We've talked with Allen and he'll send files to Hopps to look over this evening. We'll check out the computers at Burke and Hare for him tomorrow. Other than that we didn't do much today."
The other detective laughed, "I wouldn't say that."
"What are you talking about?"
"The picture going around."
"What picture?" Nick demanded, with the sinking feeling in his stomach telling him what picture was being referred to.
"The one your desk sergeant forwarded to our desk sergeant."
"Great," Nick muttered.
"A fox and a rabbit, kissing? Was that photo-shopped?"
"We weren't kissing! We were rubbing noses... It's, uh, some kind of rabbit thing."
"My wife catches me rubbing noses with another female and she'll cut off my rabbit thing and Parr will be looking for a new Partner."
"Look, when Judy and I came out here we decided our cover story was going to be–"
"You seemed to be enjoying your cover story."
"Some are better than others," Nick admitted. "Hey, just called to update you. Will give you a report if we learn anything tomorrow. Any prisoner say anything about Bunnyburrow? Figured out how they got around surveillance cams?"
"Most of the prisoners claim no knowledge of either. A couple knew they shipped a lot of orders there. We may not have the head of this outfit. I'm really interested in the security camera angle, and hope you turn that genius up."
Judy came over after finishing her phone call. "Eight tomorrow. What news from the Third?"
"You want the bad news first, or the worse news?"
"That bad, huh? I guess bad news first."
"Bad news, nothing to help us with the case. Worse news? Clawhauser apparently forwarded the photo to every other desk sergeant in Zootopia, and some of them sent it out to officers – at least Carson has seen it."
"Great," Judy muttered. "Well, I'll call Hye now and ask if she can have Tom play the role of an irate Rick."
"I bet your groundhog friend would love the part, he seems very theatrical."
"True, but then we have to explain the whole Rick-Trudy thing to him. I already owe Hye the story; I'd prefer leaving it at that."
Mud Flats, a half hour drive from Bunnyburrow, was located, as Nick expected, on the bank of a river. "This doesn't look like any restaurant I've ever seen," Nick told Judy as she parked the car.
"What does it look like?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe an old road house or honky-tonk. This is considered a fancy place by the inmates at Bunnyburrow State Pen?"
"I don't know if fancy... It's different. It's exotic. We sure don't have anything like this in Bunnyburrow."
Nick decided Public House was probably more appropriate when they entered the long, ramshackle building. At a bar to one side elderly otters were engaged in some sort of heated debate while a football game played on a television over the bar. In a far corner some teens were practicing music. Nick suspected they were attempting rock, but couldn't be certain.
A early mid-aged female in dress with small white and pink checks and a name tag reading Irma came over, "Dinner?"
"Yes, please."
She lead them to a side room the pair hadn't noticed when they entered.
"In Bunnyburrow for Pumpkin Fest?"
"Yes, and Nick... He's Nick," Judy explained, pointing to the fox, "has heard so much about otter cooking he wanted to eat here."
"Where ya from?"
"Zootopia."
"No otter places there?"
"Not the same," Nick answered. "I've been in Zootopia's version of an otter place, but Judy described this as the real deal."
"Don't know about that. But we're sure enough otters here."
She was back after giving them a minute to look over the menus. Judy was sticking to a rabbit diet after her last experience, but Nick pointed to the board that read 'Catch of the Day'. "Turtle?"
"Yep."
"Fresh?"
"That's what 'catch of the day' means, Hon. Mel's been cooking turtles for years, and no complaint yet... Leastwise no complaint from the turtles."
Nick ordered the turtle and Irma disappeared in the direction of the kitchen.
"Not a romantic spot," Judy whispered. "And I hope you're not disappointed it's so... so..."
"Unpretentious?" Nick suggested. "Not necessarily a bad thing. I want to try the food, and don't need to pay extra for starched linen napkins, a sommelier who regards us with contempt, and a waiter with a pepper mill the size of a horse's leg who stops by every ten minutes to ask if I want more pepper on my meal."
"So it's okay?"
"Any place with you is great."
"Will you please stop being so wonderful? You're making it very hard for me to not tell you that I love you."
"Trying your patience?"
"Yes."
"You try my patience, I'll try yours," he leered.
Judy giggled.
Judy yawned as Nick drove back from the restaurant. "I like what you said: not better, not worse, just different. You are amazing. And I got up too early. I'm going to... Darn, I need to look over the files, don't I?"
"Only if you're a dedicated police officer who wants to do her duty. Don't stay up too late."
A contrite Susan waited for Judy on the porch. "I, uh, Ben called and... You talked to Rick today?"
"I did. He was not happy about that trick you pulled."
"But you and Nick–"
"Are best friends. And we are here working. We told you that."
"But you love Nick! It's obvious!"
"My feelings are my own. Little sisters don't tell me who to love. Mom can't tell me who not to love. You said Clawhauser called?"
"Rick must have called your station after he went off duty, but the desk sergeant on duty called to let him know. I think he'd already been raked over the coals for sending out the– I didn't tell him to send out the picture! That was his idea!"
Judy felt sympathy for Clawhauser, who had always encouraged her and supported her in her pursuit of Nick. At the same time desk sergeants, like little sisters and mothers, had to let her and Nick work things through for themselves. "If you hadn't sent the picture in the first place it wouldn't have happened," Judy reminded Susan. "And now I have some files to look at for the case here." "Hope they take my mind off poor Benjamin and put me to sleep. I hope he's not in real trouble... I wonder what 'Rick' said when Tom called the station?"
Nick had just started his efforts to get comfortable in the bungalow when the phone rang. He assumed Judy even before looking at the caller ID. "Yes?"
"Do you remember the invoices yesterday at Burke and Hare?"
"Basically. I didn't memorize them or anything, why?"
"Something screwy going on here. Something seems odd in the salvage yard's records. I think we would have noticed yesterday."
"I'm not sure what you're saying... A difference in what the records at Burke and Hare show and what the salvage yard shows?"
"Exactly."
"Price skimming? Someone charging Burke and Hare more than the real cost and taking the difference for himself?"
"Um, more like the opposite – paying the yard more than Burke and Hare records show. Maybe I'm forgetting what we saw on the invoices."
"Must be, that would make no sense."
"I know, but that's what it looks like."