"Ow ow OW. Why the hell did I think that was a good idea?" Judy asked, clutching her ribs as she sat in the back of the ZPD cruiser sent to pick them up. Despite her intentions, her impromptu tackling of Nick and subsequent attempt at sex hadn't taken an hour. That was because after five minutes of repetitive motion her ribs were screaming in agony.

"I could make a joke about that, you being a rabbit and all, but I hurt too much to endure one of your arm punches for making racist jokes right now…" Nick wheezed. He had fared little better; his own bruises ached, and he had his arm smacked against the floor when Judy landed on him. He had also said he'd felt one of his stitches rip, but as they had dissolved some time ago, they couldn't find any evidence. Most likely he had pulled a muscle that wasn't quite healed.

"Could you guys not have this conversation right now?" asked Officer Jackson from the driver's seat, trying not to sound too embarrassed.

"Yeah, I could do without thinking about either of you in that position," his partner, Officer Delgato, added.

"Sorry Del," Nick said, smirking and obviously not sorry. "Just what kind of positions do you see us in, out of curiosity?"

"WILDE! There's a lady present!" Delgato shot back.

"And this lady would like to know!" Judy responded. She could feel the embarrassment radiating off the two felines in the front seat. While she didn't always join in with Nick's ribbing, she admitted it was sometimes fun.

"Oh God, Wilde's rubbed off on her…" Delgato muttered, and then turned to face the two mammals with horrified realisation in his eyes.

"Well, a few times, yes…"

"OK Nick, let's give them a break," Judy said, eliciting a couple of relieved sighs from their chauffeurs. She was risking hurting herself more if she laughed too hard.

"Humph, they're just jealous," Nick said, smiling as he sat back in the rear seat trying to get comfortable. "I mean, the way your hips move when you…"

"TWENTY BUCKS TO STOP TALKING FOR THE REST OF THE CAR RIDE!" Delgato shouted.

Judy, who was smiling wide, looked to Delgato and simply replied, "Fifty."

"DEAL!" Jackson said, handing his wallet to his partner as Judy burst out laughing.

"This is your fault," Judy said as she caught her breath, leaning against a wall just outside the public entrance to the prison. The car ride had her howling with laughter until she stopped from the pain. When Delgato and Jackson had dropped them off, they'd driven out of the prison parking lot so fast the tire smoke was still visible.

"Sorry Fluff," Nick said with genuine concern. "You need me to carry you?"

"Nick, I'm in pain, not an invalid," she replied. "Besides, you've only got one fully working arm." With that, she righted herself off, dusting off her red leather coat. She looked over and saw Nick deposit the money he had gotten from Delgato and Jackson into his wallet. "I can't believe you did that."

"What can I say, the hustling skill never leaves," Nick said as he pocketed the cash. "They made the offer, and I made good on my promise. Besides, now we have cash for a decent meal after this."

"I guess," Judy conceded. She could never stay mad at Nick for too long. "C'mon, someone must be waiting for us inside."

The two partners headed into the prison. Immediately they saw Bogo, Bagheera, and Captain Vines waiting by the security desk.

"Hopps, Wilde," Bogo greeted, smiling as he saw the pair. "Thank you for coming in."

"No problem, sir," Judy replied, looking over her boss. His arm was still in the cast as she had seen in their phone call, causing him to stand awkwardly. "Are you OK? Should you even be here?"

"I'm the Chief of Police, Hopps. I don't get the luxury of being able to relax, since there's nobody to order me to take time off."

Judy smiled at Bogo and turned to the two mammals next to him. "It's good to see you both as well Lieutenant, Captain."

"You too," Vines replied as he reached into his pocket. "It gives me great pleasure to return these to you both." In his paws were their badges. Judy's chest tightened at the sight, and only felt relief when she took hers, gripping it hard as if afraid it would leap out of her paws. Nick seemed to do the same as he took his before returning it to his pocket. "No firearms, sir?" he asked.

"It's a prison, Wilde, they don't let people aside from certain guards carry them as a rule. After you've finished here we'll return to the precinct for them. There's something we all need to discuss with you and the other detectives once we get there anyway."

Nick huffed at the answer, causing eyebrows to be raised, including Judy's. Nick noticed and raised his paws disarmingly. "It's fine, sirs, just feeling a bit anxious about being in the same room as him without protection. That's all."

"Wilde, he's still in the prison's hospital ward, and will be secured to his bed for the duration of the interview," Bogo assured, his features softening. "Plus, two armed guards will be there, including the head of security here, Vachir. He's the biggest rhino you've ever met, and if Higgins so much as twitches funny he'll come down on him like a tonne of bricks. He takes his duty very seriously. We won't let you be harmed. Either of you," the Chief added, obviously knowing where Nick's concerns were coming from.

Nick's mood didn't change, so Judy felt the need to comfort him, placing her paw on his arm. He turned and locked eyes with her. "I'll be fine, Slick. I've taken out guys his size before, I'll be ready this time if he tries anything."

With that said, Nick visibly relaxed. He knew she could take care of herself. He turned back to his superiors. "In all honesty, it's probably for the best anyway."

"Wilde, I expect you to be professional during the interview, no matter your personal feelings," Bogo warned. "That means I better not hear any new injuries on Higgins and that he 'fell down the stairs' or other such excuses."

"Well, I wouldn't do that, sir."

"Good."

"Mostly because there's no stairs in the cells. Maybe he'll fall and crack his skull on the toilet," Nick said jokingly. The stony silence from Bogo indicated this attempt at humour was not appreciated.

"Wilde, I will choose to ignore that statement because of the extraordinary circumstances of this case, and understand that you may harbour less than favourable feelings towards Higgins." Bogo took a deep breath. "However, that had better be the last time I ever hear you speak of abusing suspects in custody, even as joke. Understood?" Even with the ridiculous arm brace, Bogo's stance and low tenor brokered no argument.

"Yes sir," Nick said after swallowing. He stood rigid and saluted. "Won't happen again."

"Glad to hear it, Detective," Bogo replied, though his features remained hard.

"I guess that's my cue to take over. This is still an Internal Affairs matter, after all," Bagheera said, stepping forward. "Please follow me, Detectives." With that, he turned and led them through a security checkpoint. After being checked with metal detectors, they were escorted by Bagheera through the prison to the hospital ward. As they walked, Judy couldn't help but think of one particular prisoner.

"You wondering about Bellwether?" Nick asked.

"How'd you know?" Judy replied.

"Cos I'm thinking the same," he answered. "You know she's up at Yakgate Female Penitentiary, so we won't run into her here."

"Yeah, I know, just can't help thinking about it."

"I always wanted to ask you two about how you cracked that. I know the official story of course, but it seems there would be more to it. Especially about how the hell Lionheart got reinstated as mayor afterwards," Bagheera said as they approached the hospital ward of the prison. "And yet again, it seems I won't get the chance. Always work to be done," he finished as a guard let them through the barred gate.

They walked past a set of rooms that would not have been out of place in any hospital. Judy expected them to essentially be cells with hospital equipment inside, but she assumed that if doctors needed to attend to a patient, that wouldn't have been feasible. Eventually they came to a stop outside a room which stood the largest rhino she had ever seen, next to him an elephant that was only slightly bigger. Judy tried to glance into the room, but the windows were too high off the ground for her to see inside easily.

"Detectives, this is the head of prison security, Detention Officer Duncan Vachir, and his second-in-command, Hathi Cummings," Bagheera said.

"Nice to meet you," Judy greeted, extending a paw. The massive rhino grinned and offered his hoof, while Hathi offered his trunk. They then did the same with Nick.

"Nice to meet you, Detectives. Always good to see a celebrity."

"Officer Vachir…actually, is that right?" Nick asked, unsure of how to address the rhino since prison guards were not part of the ZPD.

"Just call me Vachir, Detective."

"Thank you. How secure is the prisoner?"

"You doubt my prison's security?" Vachir asked, his voice carrying an undercurrent of threat.

"Not at all," Judy cut in. "My fiancé is just overprotective. Higgins nearly killed me a few weeks ago, so…"

"Ah, fair enough then," Vachir replied, placated. He turned back to Nick before continuing. "Detective, I can assure you that your mate will be perfectly safe. For the duration of the interview the detainee's bed will be locked in place and secured to the wall. The detainee has also been secured to the bed via our toughest handcuffs. I will also be present in the room for the duration while Hathi here will be guarding the door."

Nick let out a breath that Judy hadn't realised he'd been holding. "Thank you Vachir, that is very much appreciated."

"No problem."

"Good. Now that that's all settled, shall we get a move on?" Bagheera interrupted. "The sooner we get this done with, the sooner you two can get back to your recovery."

"Gotta ask, Detectives," Vachir said, annoying Bagheera, "what happened to this guy? I haven't seen a mammal of this guy's size in such a bad state for years."

Judy allowed herself a brief smile, which quickly faded as she wondered just how badly Higgins was hurt. "Nick happened to him."

"Come on, Carrots, it was a team effort," Nick added.

"Well shit! Maybe I'm protecting him from you two!" Vachir exclaimed before letting out a deep, booming laugh. He then opened the door to the room.

When Judy walked in and finally saw Higgins, she was stunned by what she saw. His left side was practically covered in bandages. His left leg was raised in the air, the bulk of the linen covering the knee. What she could see of it seemed to suggest a good chunk of it was missing. Her gaze travelled upwards. While the hippo was covered by a large gown, she could make out bumps and dips in the fabric that suggested his stomach and chest were also covered in bandages. She could see wounds on his left and right arms where her and Nick's shots had landed. Continuing upwards, she saw a large bandage covering his throat, indicating major damage. Finally, she looked at his face and struggled to hold in a gasp. One of his eyes was completely covered, and most of his left ear was missing.

Well, he did get hit with five rounds of buckshot at close range, what did you expect? She looked to Nick to see how he was handling it, and saw him with his lazy hustler smile. It was the face he always used when he was trying to hide his emotions from others. She put her paw in his and gave it a gentle squeeze, and saw his smile become genuine for a second.

"Higgins, Hopps and Wilde are here as you requested," Bagheera said, making Judy turn back to the task at hand. "Are you ready to talk?" When the hippo nodded silently, Bagheera placed a recording device on a small desk, then moved two chairs near it for Nick and Judy. "Everything is set up, you just need to hit record," he said and made for the door.

"You're not staying?" Judy asked.

"The agreement was for you and Nick to interview him, with Vachir present. It was a sticking point. Apparently, he wants you two to be the ones to hear what he has to say first. I'll be right outside with Hathi though. Just let me know when you're finished." Without waiting for a response, the lieutenant exited the room. Judy turned to Nick with a questioning look, to which Nick responded with a shrug. They made their way to the table and chairs that Bagheera had set up, while Vachir stationed himself a few feet away from the foot of the bed.

After scrambling into their respective seats, Nick nodded to Judy, who breathed out and pressed record on the device left for them. She turned back to Nick. He looked to be struggling to think of something to say, so she decided to take the lead.

"So, Higgins…" Judy began, but then wasn't sure how to proceed. They'd done dozens of interviews in their careers, but this one was so far from normal she wasn't sure how to approach it. They hadn't had time to discuss how to go about this unlike their previous interview. Even if they had, she wasn't sure they'd have come up with an approach they were comfortable with.

Well, he wanted to talk, so maybe just let him?

"What did you want to say, Higgins?" she finally asked, unsure how else to put it. She saw Nick grin out of the corner of her eye, seemingly agreeing with the approach.

Silence filled the room for some time after Judy asked the question. Higgins staring unblinkingly with his uncovered eye. Finally, a rumble in his throat began and he spoke, his voice sounding very different than usual.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Judy asked.

"What do you think?" Higgins asked, pain filling his voice.

"Well, there's a whole range of answers," Nick said, cutting in and started counting off with his fingers on one paw. "Sorry for betraying the trust of your fellow officers. Sorry for almost killing one of said officers. Sorry for nearly killing us. Oh, and let's not forget, sorry for killing three innocent mammals."

"Innocent? Yeah, right. Also, you're seriously trying Good Cop Bad Cop on me? I feel insulted," Higgins groaned in response.

"No, actually," Judy corrected. "Nick's just not your biggest fan right now, to put it lightly. But, at the end of the day, we just want to know why."

"Why what?"

"Well, everything, but for a start…why did you kill those three wolves?"

Higgins took a breath before beginning. "I wanted to talk to you two because you might have the best chance of understanding. Hopps, I'm almost twice your age. You may have thought that the tension between species was bad during the night howlers fiasco, and it was. Now imagine that, but every day for years? That's the world I grew up in. And when I first fell in love…it was with a wolf."

Higgins must have seen some doubt in the eyes of the detectives, as he next said, "You don't believe me."

"It's…surprising. I mean, you're married with a kid."

"Fluff, how many domestics have we had to attend?" Nick pointed out.

"No, wait," Higgins said. "Look, I love Gloria, but…well, I'll admit, I first got with her after breaking things off with Charlie all those years ago."

"And Charlie is?" Judy asked.

"My first wife."

"Oh…well, that's…I know I said it before, but still. Surprising."

"I still remember the day we met, in college. I was in the library struggling through a criminal psychology paper, and then this wolf comes up to me and asks for help getting a book she needed for her physics paper. I tried to get it for her, but was still a bit too short, so she asked me to lift her up. When she grabbed the book, I fell over. She landed on top of me, gave me a quick peck on the cheek as a thank you, and off she went. And well, I saw her around a few times after that, and then we started going out. On the quiet, you understand? Back then, interspecies relationships were even more frowned upon than they are now. However, we were young, and stupid; we thought we could weather that. We got married almost immediately after college, just a few select friends, neither of our families would have understood. But well, after I joined the police...people found out. This was before Bogo was Chief, you understand, and Chief Cunningham was a mean old bear. While officially he couldn't fire me for being interspecies, he could make my life a living hell." Higgins finally took a breath. "I'm sorry to say that I decided my job was worth more to me than Charlie was. I ended it not long after, met Gloria, had James, and began working my way up the ladder. So now you know. I tried to keep in touch, but she moved to Gnu York a few years ago."

"Okay…" Judy said before turning to Nick, who was wearing the same expression she was. "Nope, sorry. Not getting it," she replied.

"What?"

"Okay, so yeah. You're attracted to wolves, we get that. But why the drugs? Why the deaths? Why any of it?"

"I told you…"

"You told us nothing!" Nick shouted, cutting off Higgins. "You say you fell in love with a wolf, but ultimately decided you'd rather progress your career than stay with her. Yes, fine, you're an asshole. We get that. But quite frankly, we could care less about that. We want to know why three mammals had to die!"

"I thought you two would understand."

"We understand that you're not telling us what we need to know," Nick replied, crossing his arms. "We don't care about your past. We want to know why three wolves are dead because of your actions. Not your life story. That's for the shitty TV movie or Petflix documentary that will probably get made about this."

"I'm getting to that. I just wanted you to know this didn't start out as some sort of sick wolf fetish like you probably think."

"So, how did it start?" Judy said before Nick could retort, not wanting to get off track. "We're trying to understand, but that's not answering our questions."

"Yeah Higs," Nick added, his demeanour changing, "you say you want us to understand, but well, I don't see how we can." Judy was starting to see what Nick was doing, doing both good and bad cop. Or rather, angry and understanding cop in one, keeping Higgins off balance. If this was any other cop, that probably wouldn't work, but with Higgins in the physical and mental state he was in, it might work.

Higgins looked away from the pair, and during the brief pause Judy had a thought. She tapped Nick on the wrist and mouthed "Akela" silently. Nick gave a quick nod just before Higgins turned back.

"We talked to Akela. She told us about the flirting and you asking her out. Is that how this all started?" Nick asked.

Higgins froze, fear in his eyes. "No, God no! Look, whatever happens, this isn't Bhrast's fault."

"So, when did it start?" Nick asked again. "Was it with the drug bust?"

"I guess…" Higgins sighed.

"So, tell us from there."

"Well, you know when I said I loved Gloria? That's still true…but well…I missed the feel of fur against my skin that I had with Charlie. So, I started seeking companionship with other mammals. First, I sneaked in dates with other wolves, under a fake name of course. But well…I just couldn't be bothered with the whole dating thing. So, I started using prostitutes…but my wife became suspicious when she saw the dips in our savings and noticed I wasn't home as much. I had to get some cash another way."

"And that's where the drug bust comes in," Judy said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah. I figured that since the guy was dead, and the drugs would be taken off the street for the most part, where was the harm? I sold off small bits at a time, just enough to cover my expenses and replace what was lost from the savings. I did this for months. Then Bhrast came along and started flirting, trying to get back on the streets. Again, where was the harm in asking her out? She turned me down. I stopped for a while after that…but then that's when I heard her arguing with her sister over the phone. She'd been picked up for soliciting over at Precinct 17, and Bhrast just unloaded on me. The drug addiction, prostitution, everything…"

"And you thought you could take advantage of the information you had?" Nick said calmly, though Judy could tell he was struggling to hold back.

"Yeah, there's no way to make that sound good, is there?" Higgins said, smiling. Judy was struggling to not punch him in his good eye, but they still needed more information.

"I started seeing Bighana on the quiet regularly, upped the sale of the pounce I had left to treat her nice. Then one day, I handed over a kilo of pounce because, well, she deserved something nice."

"Some mammals would have taken a bracelet…" Judy found herself saying. She mentally slapped herself, but Nick placed an encouraging paw on her shoulder that calmed her.

"Bighana wasn't really a jewellery mammal, but yeah…when she died, I panicked. I kept abreast of the situation after you told Bhrast about her death and learned about the poisoning."

"Did you do it on purpose?"

"No, you have to believe me! I never wanted that! I was hoping to see her again, and when I heard she died I assumed it would have just been an overdose."

Judy nodded at that, it wasn't widely known at the time that the deaths were due to arsenic poisoning. "But you knew your drugs had arsenic in them for the case, so you knew it was a danger."

"Actually, Andersen kept on top of most of the paperwork in that case, so I only knew after I looked it up in the records later on."

"So…what happened with the other girls?" Nick asked.

"Well, the second girl? I took her in as a way of dealing with the grief of Bighana's loss. I took another kilo of the pounce with me to sell, but the buyer never showed. So, I decided to take it with me to the motel in Sahara Square where I had arranged to meet her. But I got sloppy, left the pounce out in the open in the motel room. When I woke up the next morning almost half a kilo was taken. Then, a few days later, she was found dead."

Judy processed this. Both Bighana Akela and Shelley Lupowitz's deaths were accidental? It seemed too much of a coincidence. But then again, Shelley was found on the streets, near a warehouse in the area that was infamous for being a place where heavy pounce users went when they had nowhere else to go. The city had been trying to get it pulled down for years, but no one seemed to be able to track down the owners. When they investigated inside they found lots of mattresses and drug paraphernalia, but very little in the way of personal belongings. It was a place where people went to waste away, caring more about the next hit than their next meal. So, it might not be too outlandish.

"What about Lorena Vuk?"

Silence filled the room as Higgins sat there, not answering. He stopped looking at the detectives and stared at the wall behind Vachir, who was as still as a statue. The way Higgins was reacting was odd to Judy. She turned to Nick, who had a calculating look on his face. She got his attention and gestured to Higgins. She was sure he was on the same page as her.

"You killed her, didn't you?" Nick asked flatly.

Higgins didn't answer. He just nodded.

"Higgins, we need the answer for the recording."

After what felt like an age, Higgins finally answered. "Yes, I killed her."

Judy knew it was coming, but the admission still hit her like a freight train. More questions came to her mind, but only one was paramount to the rest.

"Why?"

"After that second girl ended up dead, I started to worry. I decided to start selling the pounce off again, but in bigger volumes to get rid of it."

"You could have just destroyed it," Judy pointed out.

"Yeah, but where's the profit in that? I figured I might as well get some cash out of it. I made a deal with some Tundratown street toughs, a gang of smaller arctic mammals. Hares and foxes, mainly."

"Yeah, cos you're not dumb enough to be a dirty cop around a bunch of polar bears. Especially on Mr. Big's home turf," Nick said, emitting a chuckle.

"Pretty much, yeah," Higgins replied, a wan smile appearing. "So, I meet with this group, show them half a kilo of what I have left, and they agree to buy the whole batch! I mean, I was down to about twenty kilos at this point and I'm trying to offload it quick, but it's still a good amount. So, I thought I would celebrate, one last hurrah you know? And then, I see this hot young thing, and well, one thing led to another and we ended up at a motel. After our session, I go to take a leak. Poor girl's really worn out and unconscious at this point. As I walk back I see her handbag and figure, you know? Give her a big tip…and then I saw the camera. The fucking bitch had been filming the entire thing! I root around, find her ID and quickly Zoogle her. Lo and behold, she's a fucking journalism student. You've got to understand, I can't have this stuff get out! I'm drunk and panicking, so I figure, 'hey, what's one more OD'd hooker!' So, I get some pounce and well…forced it upon her."

"So, you're telling me that you force-fed poisoned drugs to an unconscious teenager so she would die, just so you could spare jail time?" Judy questioned.

"Honestly, I...I never intended to do it! But, being drunk and all, it seemed like such a good idea at the time! She woke up and got really sick, as if she was trying to vomit, but I held her down and forced more down her throat and then just…held her as she died. It took hours. Afterwards I just tossed her into the transit rivers they have in Tundratown and hoped she would float away."

After his confession, Judy just sat there, barely able to process what she heard. All of this was because he was unhappy with his sex life?

"That's…horrific," she finally said. "Why the hell did you think we'd understand this?"

"Well, you're in an interspecies relationship. I figured, you know. You like the taboo? Doing something you know you shouldn't?"

Silence filled the room again as Nick and Judy looked at each other. Yes, she admitted that part of Nick's allure was that he wasn't a rabbit, and she knew he liked the fact she was a rabbit. But a taboo? Something to be ashamed of? Something she shouldn't be doing? Ridiculous.

"Nope, don't get it," Nick said, pulling Judy from her thoughts. "I don't love Carrots because of what she is. I love her for who she is. She could have been a giraffe for all I care…though I'm sure our sleeping arrangements would be much more difficult to accommodate if that was the case," he finished, but not before waggling his eyebrows suggestively at Judy, who smiled back.

"Yeah, gotta agree with Slick Nick here," Judy said. "Now that we've got the why, we're gonna need more."

For the next hour, Nick and Judy asked questions. It was sometimes a slog, with Higgins trying to explain his reasoning for his crimes. While they had to listen, Judy found herself becoming less interested as time dragged on. Whatever the reasons he put forward, they didn't excuse his crimes. She started to ponder if she was becoming jaded. Throughout the whole thing, Vachir remained silent, but his balled fists seemed to suggest he was fighting the urge to punch Higgins. She had noticed this first happen during Higgins's description of dumping Lorena Vuk's body so casually.

"Well, I think that covers everything," Judy said as Higgins finished listing the names of the mammals he had sold drugs too. They'd need that info to try and stop more deaths…or link others to this case. "You got anything else to ask, Nick?"

"Nope, I'm good. Let's get this to Bagheera and go home."

Judy nodded. She stopped the recording and pocketed the device. She and Nick stood up from their chairs, ready to leave the room.

"Wait, you can't just leave this like this! I need you to understand!" Higgins said, trying to chase after the retreating mammals, only to be stopped by his restraints. He tried to struggle free, but Vachir moved forward and pushed him back down onto the bed.

"Prisoner! You will simmer down or I will put you down, you get me!?" Vachir shouted, cowing the fragile Higgins into submission. With that, he moved to unlock and open the door. But before he could motion them though, Nick turned back to Higgins.

"Actually, just one second, Vachir. I think I do understand," Nick said as he looked Higgins in his good eye. "I understand that despite what you think, you were never in love with your first wife. You were in lust with her. That's why your marriage broke apart. It's obvious from the way you've acted since then. The way you treated all these mammals, the way you hid this from your wife and son. Hell, I don't think you even love your wife, despite your protestations. You hid your pred-kink from her for God knows what reason. If you really loved her, you would have opened your heart fully to her, not hide this. You're far more concerned with getting what you want from other mammals than thinking about how your actions hurt them. I can read your body language like a really fat book, and despite some of your words, it's obvious you have nothing but disdain for those poor mammals you killed. You're not sorry for what you've done. You're sorry you got caught." He took a deep breath, and started again. "What did you think? If me and Judy understood we'd be on your side? Uphold you as some sort of victim of society's apparent hostility towards interspecies relationships? That may have been the case back when you were a rookie. But now…well, there is still some hostility, but generally, people are either more supportive or simply don't care! It's not a big deal to them! They've got other more important shit to worry about. Just like I do now. I was worried about you hurting Judy. But you know what? Seeing you here, full of holes and going to prison for a very long time? I'm done worrying about that. I've got better things to do with my time than worry that some pathetic shell of a mammal could even consider hurting Judy. Like, I dunno? Trimming my toe claws, or taking an extra-long dump. Goodbye, Higgins. See you in hell." With that, Nick walked out of the room. It took a few seconds for Vachir's and Judy's brains to get into gear to follow him. As she did, Judy looked back to Higgins and felt a sense of satisfaction at the look on his face. She exited into the corridor, surprised and a little relieved to see that Bagheera was not around.

"Bloody hell, Wilde," Vachir muttered as he locked the door. "I might have to arrest you for brutality after that spiel."

"I doubt he's going to take that to heart," Nick replied.

"I dunno Nick, by the look on his face I swear that hurt more than when you filled him full of buckshot," Judy said warmly.

"Ah, Detectives," Bagheera said as he turned a corner. "Sorry about that. Had to make a trip to the little cub's room. Everything go OK?"

"Everything was fine," Vachir said before Nick or Judy could respond. "Two of the most professional detectives I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with," he continued before winking at Nick.

"Glad to hear it," Bagheera said, wondering what the wink was about. He looked into the room, and after noting the look on Higgins's face, decided not to question it. "He seemed like such a normal mammal and an exemplary officer. Nothing in his records gave any clue to this sort of thing."

"No such thing as normal," Nick remarked. "And everyone seems like a decent mammal until they're not."

"Well then, that was either deeply profound or ridiculously cynical," Bagheera replied, allowing a brief laugh.

"Here's the recording, Lieutenant," Judy said as she handed it over.

"Thank you, Detectives. We better get back to Precinct One, Bogo and Vines are waiting for you. Vachir, Hathi," Bagheera said as he waved goodbye to the security mammals. Judy and Nick did the same as they followed, with Judy mouthing a "thank you" to Vachir, who winked back at her. As they walked, Bagheera felt the need to fill the silence. "I'll be honest, I was impressed that you two kept your cool in there. Before I excused myself, I heard he had some weird assumptions about your relationship."

"Honestly Bagheera, if I wasn't in so much pain and Vachir wasn't there, I think I may have gone for his throat," Nick deadpanned.

"I would have lifted his head up for you, Nick," Judy said, completely serious.

"Remind me never to get on your bad sides," Bagheera responded. After a few more minutes they made their way back to the reception area of the prison.

"Finally," Bogo said as he rose from his seat, helped by Vines. "I take it these two acted professionally?" he asked Bagheera.

"Of course, you have two fine detectives here, Bogo," came the response. "I need to get this back to the office as soon as possible. Will you be taking them back in your car?"

"That we are," Vines said, twirling a set of keys. "We still have some work to do ourselves."

"Sir, while we don't mind, I thought you only needed us to interview Higgins. Why are we going back to Precinct One?" Judy asked.

"I might mind a little," Nick said jokingly.

"It would be unfair to tell you before the other Precinct One detectives, Hopps," Bogo answered as they made their way out the doors and to Vines' car. It seemed he was acting as Bogo's driver for the day.

"I take it this is something that will affect the whole department?" Nick asked as everyone buckled up.

"Indeed, Wilde," Bogo said while Vines focused on driving. "And we should really get there soon."

"Why the rush?"

"Well, let's just say it's rude to keep Mayor Lionheart waiting, shall we?"