"I will hurt you for this. I don't know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid."

George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings


Evelin was glad that Sven had called and offered to pick her up in Zootopia on his way back home. Celebrating Judy's, Ralph's and Clara's birthday together was really fun, but it was really exhausting with her pregnancy and the train ride consequentially tedious. Also, she had started to miss Sven as he had spent a lot of time working at the office in over the last few months for their newest project. But finally, it seemed to pan out now, just some formal paperwork was still pending.

When her siblings and Nick hit the road after a quick lunch to get to the station, Evelin reclined on the couch and flipped through some magazine. She dozed off eventually and awoke with a start when the doorbell rang. On her way to the door she yawned; she would have to make some coffee for herself and Sven before they leave, they'll be driving for at least nearly two hours. While unlocking the door, she scented some fresh flowers – forget-me-not if she was right. What a nice gesture from Sven!

"Hey, darling! Great to see y…" she opened the door beaming with joy, but paused when it wasn't her husband that stood in front of her, but a muscular ram. "Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else. Can I help you?"

The voice of the ram was little more than a whisper and made Evelin instinctively shiver: "Are you Misses Hopps?"

"Well, yes, but…" the rabbit couldn't complete the sentence, because in the same moment the ram prized the door open with its shoulder and took something out of their pocket that looked similar to a gun. With a shocked squeal Evelin jumped back into the hallway, turned around and leaped to the living room – trying to reach her phone or at least something she could use as a defense. She sidestepped between the chairs at the dining table, but the ram was closing in on her and just kicked the chairs out of his way. Maybe she could barricade herself in Nick and Judy's bedroom? It had a quite massive wooden door with a lock. The bunny jumped frantically onto the couch table, another bold leap and she could turn the corner to the corridor leading to the bed- and bathroom. But the moment she tensed her legs for the saving jump, something sharp hit her on the back and she immediately got weak knees. Just moments later everything became blurred and she realized that she was falling down. When her head hit something hard, the world around her finally turned numb and black.


When Judy finished reading the letter aloud, her paws were shaking.

"What are you talking about? What does that mean? Where is Evelin?!" Sven was nearly losing it, his voice trembling and high-pitched.

Finnick stood dumbfounded next to the door, the alcohol clouding his mind and all those loud and excited rabbits were way too much to handle right now. Hadn't Nick said something about a guest bed earlier? He looked to his friend, but Nick was currently using his phone. Irritated, the little fox let himself fall onto a pillow that was lying on the floor.

Nick entered the emergency number into his smartphone and started to shove Sven in the direction of the hallway: "We must leave the apartment immediately, Sven, this is a crime scene now!"

"What is with Evelin? What's the point of all this, was…" Sven gesticulated and sounded desperate, panicking, but Nick had put his paw onto his shoulder and softly pushed him towards the door.

"That's a ransom note, it seems that…" he suddenly paused, then continued to speak with a calm and distinct voice into the phone: "This is Officer Nicholas Wilde, 10-10A, badge number 3-0-3-7-8. We have a 2-0-7, Code 2!"

In the meantime, a pale Judy walked towards Finnick, her voice was thin and trembling when she spoke: "Sorry, you have to leave the apartment, too. It's a crime scene and our colleague…" Judy didn't complete the sentence, though; her eyes were rolling and then she suddenly fainted, quickly caught by a surprised and quietly cursing Finnick.

"Nick! Come over here! There's something wrong with your bunny!" he screeched angrily under the sudden weight.

The fox had just radioed their address, still trying to persuade Sven to leave the flat, and turned around with a worried look on his face. When he saw Finnick struggling to hold the unconscious rabbit with his arms, he nearly dropped the phone.

"Bloody hell! Also 10-43, unconscious mammal, Code 2!" he yelled into his phone and ran back to the living room. "What happened, Fin?" he asked with mild panic in his voice, taking her pulse first, then softly stroked over her cheek.

"I have no idea", the little fox babbled roughly. "One moment she was bundling me off and the next thing I know is, she is lying on top of me".

Nick put his arms under Judy's legs and head, lifted her up and looked around at a loss. He couldn't bring her into their bedroom or to the couch, as both was part of the possible crime scene. Sven had followed him back into the living room, looking worried at his sister-in-law.

"Sweet cheese and carrots, what happened?" he asked, now even more desperate.

"I don't know… can you help Finnick, please? We should wait outside for our colleagues and a doctor". Nick tried his best to keep calm and concentrated, carrying Judy to the front door. Outside of their apartment he slowly sat down on the floor, took off his coat and leaned himself against the wall. After gently bedding his little bunny on his lap, he tucked her into his coat and stroked over her head with trembling paws.

Sven had collected Nick's phone and guided the fennec fox to the hallway. While Sven squatted worried beside Nick and Judy, Finnick snarled: "I'm in the back of my van if ye need me. Don't wanna talk with yer other fuzz friends, redhead". Nick wanted to object, but was distracted when Judy moved somewhat and muttered quietly. When he looked up again with a pleading look on his face, his drunk friend was already entering the elevator and the red fox sighed.

"Who was that fox? A friend of yours?" Sven asked with a weary voice and Nick nodded slowly. "And he is really bailing on you now? Wow…" he crawled over Judy's cheek.

"He is okay, he… just don't like cops and also drank too much" Nick talked quietly and smiled softly when Judy slowly opened her eyes again. "Hey, carrots".

"Nick… what happened?" she tried to sit up but was still too dizzy.

"You scared the heck out of us, Ju" Sven stroked over her head and ears, but still seemed absent-minded.

"Evelin!" Judy gasped suddenly and nearly passed out again.

"Shh… keep calm and take a deep breath. I already called our colleagues, they should arrive any minute and I also called for a doctor".

"Did you call Doctor Alisson?" she asked quietly.

"No, I ordered one via the emergency call. It's Sunday evening, I don't think that Doctor Alisson is available now", the fox talked soothingly.

"She has a phone number for emergencies, it's saved in our address book". When Nick wanted to object, she closed her eyes and contorted with pain. "Nick, please… I don't want some foreign and over-worked doctor on call to examine me".

Nick sighed and nodded slowly, Judy always felt uneasy with medics but came to trust Doctor Alisson by now. He was looking in his pants pockets for his phone but Sven still had it in his paw and asked: "Let me give you a hand, what should I dial?"

"It's Doctor Kathrin Alisson, you should use the mobile number", Judy answered and turned her face to Sven. "I'm so sorry because of Evelin. Our colleagues will find her, I'm sure. They are really good at their job".

"Can you lend me your phone in the meantime?" Nick asked his brother-in-law. "I have to call our dispatcher to cancel the doctor on call".

The male rabbit just nodded gloomily, gave Nick his own phone and stood up, strolling up and down the hall. "Hello? Good evening, Doctor Alisson. My name is Sven Brooks, I'm the brother-in-law of one of your patients, Misses Judy Hopps-Wilde…"

Meanwhile Nick quickly dialed the number of the ZPD reception desk to cancel the called doctor; Judy's thoughts drifted away to Evelin, the mess in their living room and the ransom note. She still couldn't conceive the whole situation and what happened; why was Evelin of all people kidnapped? And why while she was staying at their home? Her head and chest were aching viciously and she closed her eyes again, groaning quietly.

"… yes, she is conscious again, but she is still in pain. Yes, her husband is currently caring for her. Okay… yes, the address is correct. Thank you, till later then". Sven hung up the call, then squatted again beside Nick and Judy. "You should take one of your pills for the pain, drink some water and stay in bed. Doctor Alisson will arrive in about twenty minutes", he tried to smile comfortingly and put his paw on Judy's arm.

She just nodded; Nick swapped phones with Sven and said quietly: "Thank you". He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the small pillbox.

"I'll ask your neighbors for a glass of water" Sven stood up again, trying to stay busy to not go insane.

Nick nodded and eventually put one of the small pills into Judy's mouth; she swallowed it whole and grimaced.

"Where's Finnick?" she turned her head somewhat to look for the small fox.

"He said that he would lay down in his van. You know he doesn't like cops, also he's drunk and would not be much help, anyway", Nick answered but Judy was suddenly all teary-eyed and started to sob quietly. He cradled her a bit tighter, stroking her head.

"Do you have a tissue?" she sniveled quietly. "I don't want to look tear-stained when our colleagues arrive".

The fox searched in his pockets, then pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to Judy who blew her nose and wiped off some tears. Sven walked back to them, a small water bottle in his paws.

"Here, Ju… have a sip and best wishes from your neighbors, those lions", he said with a trembling voice when his ears suddenly bobbed up and he turned his head towards the elevator. When the doors opened, he quickly walked towards the four mammals in uniform – a jaguar, two wolfs and a lion – and started to talk insistently to them.

"Who is it?" Judy was still too weak to sit up and asked Nick who held one paw up to greet their colleagues.

"Marki, Bradley, Wolford and Delgato" Nick said quietly and took the bottle she was handing him back.

"The department head of the BAU and our chief forensic technician? Are things in such a bad way?" Judy sounded worried but had problems keeping her eyes open and didn't hear Nick's answer.

"Nick, sorry to see you again under such circumstances". It was Detective Marki who approached them first, shaking Nick's paw. "Are you okay, Judy?" the wolf looked worried to the pale rabbit who just slowly shook her head in silence.

"She didn't feel well the whole day already and passed out earlier, now being in pain. I already called our doctor, but she really should go to bed. We didn't want to compromise the crime scene, though, maybe you can perpetuate evidence and give clearance for the bedroom first", Nick explained as calm as possible, but the quiet pleading in his voice and his uneasy facial expression of course didn't slip the profilers attention.

Marki nodded and after Wolford and Delgato also greeted their colleagues quietly, the three officers entered the apartment. Bradley came last and had an aluminum suitcase with forensic equipment in each paw.

"Your friend said you found a ransom note with a poem?" the jaguar asked after a short greeting.

Nick nodded slowly, "The letter was in an envelope with my name written on it, laying on our kitchen counter. Sven can show you where exactly. I think Judy dropped it near the couch table when she passed out", he turned his head to Evelin's husband who nodded eagerly and followed Bradley into the apartment, too. The fox cradled his little bunny who was out of things again and sighed. This turned out to really be a month of hell.


The first thing Evelin perceived was a moldy smell, then her headache, a hard underground she was laying on, a pain in her muscles and finally some rope she was constrained with. Her mouth was bound with a gag and when she tried to blink she noticed a rough blindfold. When she noticed the slow movement of her kits in her belly, she breathed more calmly. What had happened? Evelin remembered the birthday weekend with Judy and her older siblings. They wanted to take the train back to Bunnyburrow, didn't they? No – she was feeling exhausted and Sven called. She fell asleep on the couch while reading something.

A cold breeze blew over her legs and the rabbit shivered, she only wore a large and convenient dress. The wind came through little cracks, she could hear it sough through some broken windows. Some metal rustled against metal. Maybe an old storage building? Or a basement? Her muscles were still aching and even without the rope she would be unable to move. Where for carrots sake was she? And why was she here? It was getting harder to concentrate and finally the world vanished behind a black and blurry curtain again.


Wolford and Delgato examined Nick and Judy's living room, the turned over chairs, the broken decoration on the couch table and the blood on the table itself. All of it was signed with a small number and was photographed, then Wolford started to examine the blood stain on the table closer with some chemicals. Delgato used a forensic light and colored glasses to search for other evidence that's not visible in normal light. Bradley had digitally scanned the ransom note and sent it to his office for further examinations and now were connecting the landline to his computer and paired Sven's, Judy's and Nick's cellphones via Bluetooth with a spy-tool to record and track incoming calls.

Marki examined the main bedroom and the bathroom, now talking quietly on his radio when another elderly rabbit he didn't know suddenly entered the apartment. "Excuse me, Ma'am, but this is a crime scene and no visitors are currently allowed in this flat".

"So you are the Officer in charge?" the rabbit asked and Marki nodded.

"Yes, Ma'am, and you are?"

"I'm Doctor Kathrin Alisson and the family doctor of Misses and Mister Hopps-Wilde. As you could possible already notice, Misses Hopps-Wilde is not only pregnant but also not in good condition. I just want to ask how much longer it will take until we can bring her into her bedroom? Because I'm not able or willing to examine her publicly in the hallway and as stubborn as this young couple is, they also don't want to go into my medical office or the hospital". Doctor Alisson had rattled off quite a monologue, but wasn't disrespectful to the Detective – just really determined to get the best result for her patient.

Marki smiled softly, and nodded to Delgato to examine the short hallway between the living room and the bedroom and bathroom with the forensic light next. "Please, give us just five more minutes for some last examinations and you can relocate Officer Hopps to her bedroom. I promise, it's for her own good".

Doctor Alisson nodded and walked with quick steps out of the apartment again. Nick was still sitting on the floor, holding Judy carefully in his arms and watching how she regained consciousness and lost it just a few moments later again.

"You can bring her into your bedroom in a few minutes". The older rabbit squatted beside them and felt Judy's forehead, took her pulse and then carefully palpated her stomach with her paw under the coach. "Your kids seem quite active, that's a positive sign. But her forehead seems to be rather cold and her pulse is way too fast. Maybe it's really just the shock, but you said she wasn't feeling too well for the whole day?"

Nick nodded and quickly explained their shopping-tour and the party last night, and that Judy felt exhausted already for the whole day and seemed to have more pain than usual.

"I have some assumptions, but I want to examine her first. It's good that you hold her the whole time in your coat it's keeping her warm – and I bet listening to your heartbeat is also comforting to her. I would guess you don't have to worry too much about her". She smiled encouragingly, but Nick identified her assurance as just a commonplace phrase as she wasn't sure yet. He said similar things to crime victims in the past to assure them that everything is under control and will get better, just to calm them down.

"Okay, Delgato and I have secured a path to the bedroom and gave clearance to that room. You can bring her there, Nick. But I want to talk to you later and for you, Doctor Alisson, I have to ask you to temporarily stay in that room with your patient, too. Just to make sure, nobody alters something in the other rooms". Marki stood in the doorframe.

Nick nodded, and very slowly and carefully to not bump Judy's head against the wall or doorframe, stood up and followed the Timber Wolf back into their apartment, Doctor Alisson with her doctor's bag right behind them. While crossing the living room, Nick noticed Sven sitting with a nervous facial expression on one of the bar chairs at the kitchen counter, right beside Bradley and talking with the jaguar. Wolford was examining some fiber or fur under a small microscope. When they finally entered Nick's and Judy's own bedroom, Marki stood tactful at the doorframe, his face looking away from the room. The fox laid his little bunny carefully onto the big bed, shoved two pillows under her head and removed his coat, throwing it carelessly onto a nearby chair.

"Okay, thank you. Maybe it's better if you two leave us now so I can examine her…" Doctor Alisson suggested with a friendly smile.

Marki nodded and already left the room, but when Nick wanted to go reluctantly, Judy suddenly put her paw on his arm. He turned his head and the rabbit had opened her eyes again for a moment, looking at him with a pleading facial expression. Nick put his own paw on hers and turned to their doctor.

"Would you mind if…" he began but didn't need to speak any further.

"Of course, Mr. Hopps-Wilde. I want her to be comfortable, and when she wants you at her side that's okay with me". She smiled, put her stethoscope on and pulled a medical thermometer from her bag. She held the thermometer for only a moment into her ears until it beeped. "You have a slightly elevated temperature. Don't worry, I have to lift your pullover up to listen to your heartbeat and that of your kits".

Judy nodded slowly, her nearly closed eyes fixated on Nick the whole time, who was stroking his thumb over her paw that was still resting on his arm.

"Your brother said on the phone that you have some pain?" – Doctor Alisson asked and Judy nodded a bit. "In your chest?" – the little rabbit nodded again. "Also somewhere else?", the doctor asked while palpating her stomach and belly. But it didn't slip her attention, that Judy wasn't answering immediately now. "Misses Hopps-Wilde?"

The rabbit grabbed Nick's arm even tighter now, her eyes getting teary. "Judy? You have to tell us everything now, please". Nick said soothingly, sensing that his little rabbit was getting more and more afraid.

A lot of her patients were somewhat embarrassed to talk about their female body parts, and this rabbit was even under shock and most probably afraid of something serious. It was essential to comfort her or the examination could even get painful, something Doctor Alisson didn't want by no means. "You don't need to be afraid, Judy. Your husband is at your side and I'm being as careful as possible. But I need to know what's going on with your body to help you and your kits. Do you also have some pain in your womb area?" Doctor Alisson asked quietly and empathetically. After a few seconds Judy finally nodded and started to snivel. "Okay, I have to take a look if you are bleeding. I promise that I will be really careful and will not hurt you". When Judy nodded again, she slowly started to unbutton Judy's Jeans and turned to Nick. "Could you please close the door? We need some privacy here".

"Shall I wait outside?" Nick asked quietly after getting up and already having the door knob in his paw.

"No… please…" Judy whispered quietly; Nick nodded and after closing the door he sat beside his little rabbit on the edge of the bed again. She was obviously afraid because of the reason for her pain, and that was also the reason she didn't mention it before. Doctor Alisson had slowly undressed her Jeans and panties and had put on some gloves; while she started to examine the scared bunny, Nick looked into Judy's eyes with a soft smile, crawling over her cheek and singing very quietly:

"Soft bunny, Warm bunny, Little ball of fur, happy bunny, sleepy bunny, purr purr purr".

Judy smiled and finally calmed down somewhat.

"Okay, everything with your pregnancy seems to be fine so far. There is no sign for a pre-eclampsia, don't worry". The older rabbit took the blanket and covered her patient with it. "But I have to take a quick blood test to finish my diagnosis, it's just a short pin-prick in your paw…" she took Judy's paw in the meantime already and while speaking with her she had quickly pricked her and collected the few drops of blood with a control strip before Judy could even realize what was going on.

"You don't have to worry because you fainted this evening. Your body is already massively enfeebled by your pregnancy and your injured chest, along with too little sleep. But the additional emotional stress of your sister being kidnapped right now was just too much and caused your whole body to shut down".

"Why is this pregnancy such a massive stress for her? Her sister is a few weeks ahead and does feel much better, though" Nick still sounded worried.

"Crossbreeds often develop somewhat faster during pregnancy, that is not uncommon. Compared to a common rabbit pregnancy I would say your wife is already in her fourth or even fifth week, not her third. That's causing quite some stress to her body, but as she's only getting two kits that's not really a problem right now".

"Right now?" Judy whispered weary and terrified.

Doctor Alisson smiled and put her paw soothingly on Judy's shoulder. "Don't worry, Misses Hopps-Wilde. This is your first litter and with your fetuses being crossbreeds it will be somewhat more intense and exhausting, as your body has more to do than under normal circumstances. That's also the reason your fetuses are consuming specific minerals and vitamins much faster than normal, making you feel tired. I will write a new prescription for you to compensate for this and even if it's too early to be sure, but you should contemplate that a C-section will be the better option for birth. But that's really nothing to worry about right now and we will have enough time to talk about the details together in the upcoming weeks".

The older rabbit stopped shaking the control strip with the blood and looked at it, then nodded. "Well, that's quite what I expected". She put it down and pulled a small syringe and two small bottles with a clear fluid from her bag.

"Wait, what are you up to?" Nick asked worried.

"This is something to lower her IgG levels, it's really harmless", Doctor Alisson explained.

Judy started to look mildly panicked at Nick and the fox asked again. "What are those IgG levels, and why do you have to lower them? Is it something dangerous?"

Doctor Alisson smiled softly, put the syringe down and turned her head to them both while folding her paws. "Okay, to put it simply… part of our cells and an important part for our cell-cell interactions are so called glycoproteins. It's not only an important part of the immune system but also for tasks such as cell trafficking or host-pathogen interactions. The most famous example for this latter effect is our blood system and the different blood groups. Well, rabbits naturally have different glycoproteins on the surface of their red blood cells as foxes, and they are not compatible. During reproduction between same species it's only rarely a problem, a few of them have something that is called a rhesus factor that can be problematic under specific circumstances, but even if that's not the problem here, it has the same effect. The proteins on the blood cells of your fetuses are a mold of fox and rabbit ones. Nothing harmful, in general, but your body, Judy, is already producing antibodies against those fox proteins. When I took a first blood test last week I already noticed this and it was also to be expected: You both are together for quite a while, sharing bodily fluids with every kiss, and…" she paused diplomatically and smiled. "Well, anyway, the concentration of antibodies wasn't really high, yet, but as your pregnancy is proceeding rather fast, this can become more and more of a problem and that's why I want to give you this, it reduces the fox-antibodies in your blood and keeps your fetuses safe".

"Are you saying I'm allergic to Nick?!" Judy asked weepily.

"Your body just recognized foreign proteins and created antibodies against them. You could call it some sort of allergy, yes, but it is nothing harmful. There is only some small risk for the fetuses when being pregnant, but we can simply suppress your body's natural reaction and everything will be fine, I promise".

"And my additional pain is…?" Judy asked quietly.

"Your body is exhausted from healing your chest wound and as I said the pregnancy is way more demanding than it would normally be. Additionally, your immune system thinks it has to fight a non-existent infection. Your whole body is working at its limit right now, even a small tension can feel like a stab wound right now. But don't worry, your two kits are even now really active and they both have a strong heartbeat. You just have to spare yourself even more, staying in bed or on the couch most of the time would be ideal".

Judy nodded slowly and Nick smiled softly. "I will be even more watchful from now on, carrots".

Doctor Alisson sterilized a small spot on Judy's arm, gave her the injection and asked Nick to hold a dab of rouge on it for a few minutes. Judy babbled more and more quietly with Nick; he couldn't understand a word but still stroked her cheek soothingly and gave her a kiss on the forehead. After a minute or two Judy's eyes stayed closed and her arms went limp, breathing slowly and deeply.

"Doctor…?" Nick asked somewhat worried.

"It's okay, Mister Hopps-Wilde. I also gave her a very light sedative. The whole evening was too much stress and she desperately has to sleep deeply without any pain for a few hours so her body can recover". She pulled off a prescription from her pad and put it on the nightstand. "These are some new combined drugs to compensate her body's increased needs during the pregnancy and you should try to keep her stress levels as low as possible, if you have any questions or there is only the slightest change in her wellbeing, just call me day or night!" she smiled. "I really hope you find her sister soon enough. She is also pregnant?"

"Yes, and as far as I know she is due in about a week or even less. We are really concerned, the rabbit in the next room is her husband".

"Maybe you should also call me as soon as you find her sister and I will have a look at her, too. The doctor on call the ZPD calls in emergency cases isn't really trained for pregnant mammals in such a late phase".

Nick shook Doctor Alisson's paw and smiled slightly. "Thank you, Doctor". Then he turned his head to the closed door. "Well, I should go and talk with our colleagues. Can you stay with her for a while? I don't want Judy to be alone right now".

"Of course, I will just sit down on that chair over there. After you can enter the kitchen again it would be nice to get some tea, and also some water for Judy when she wakes up again".

"I'm doing the best I can. See you later!" – Then he hesitated and leaned forward to Judy, giving her a soft kiss. "I love you".


Evelin was sobbing quietly, everything was still dark around her and she was getting really cold. She had no idea how much time had passed since she opened the apartment door. Maybe two hours? Six hours? Even more? With every try to move the bonds on her arms and legs were cutting into her skin. She winced when she could hear some metal bar and the moving sound of a heavy door. Freezing in place she tried to listen to every sound or voice – there were hooves coming down a short wooden stairs, then walking on concrete floor in her direction. A big and heavy animal judging by his heavy breathing.

"You don't need to simulate, Misses Hopps. I know that you are awake. I must confess that you are not one of my usual kind of victims, but my customer was very accurate with his wishes and is really paying good. But don't worry, it's not me who is going to kill you, I promise". The voice was speaking very quiet, nearly whispering, but also deathly cold. With some quiet laughing he slowly walked away again and locked the door with some loud metal noise.

Evelin started only to sob at first, but soon she was weeping bitterly and started to pray, thinking of all her friends and family. She wasn't ready to die and the panic was growing even bigger now.


"Okay, what's the word guys?" Nick entered the living room with a weary look on his face, searching for Marki.

"Are you sure you're okay, Nick?" Bradley asked worried, "I mean, of course you are not, but…"

"Just give me a short status update, Brad" the fox sighed and had a look around where Wolford and Delgato were writing notes for some evidence. Marki was sitting with Sven on some bar chairs at the kitchen counter, talking quietly, but Sven's feet were shaking nervously.

Bradley nodded and started to explain: "We found some splinters of wood near the entrance door, but the lock itself is undamaged. It's likely that the victim op…"

"Her name is Evelin" Nick said involuntarily, his voice maybe being one shade too harsh, but the jaguar just nodded.

"Of course. Well, it's likely that Evelin opened the door after someone rang the doorbell. We found some partial prints, but they are useless. She was waiting for her husband and couldn't use the peephole as it was above her reach. The intruder pushed the door open, presumably with his shoulders, so we can assume he is a rather large and strong mammal. Beside those wooden splinters we also found a single flick of fur of a male Ovis gmelini, a Mufflon. The DNA is in our database, it was found four years ago at another kidnapping crime-scene. But we have no name or face to it, sorry. We think that he didn't get hold of her immediately, but the ra… I mean Evelin tried to flee through your living room. We are also not quite sure whereto she wanted to run, but most probably she tried to reach one of the rear rooms to barricade it up. Either the attacker finally outran her when she reached the table and they fought, therefore the blood. Or the attacker used something like a stun gun or a pole syringe to subdue her and she injured herself on the table while falling to the ground. Anyway the blood is of a female rabbit".

Nick had walked a few meters to the couch table, squatted beside it and took a careful smell of her blood. The odor made him shiver slightly, but he could especially smell both Evelin's scent and her pregnancy hormones. But there was something different. Something more chemical. He took another sniff and closed his eyes. The scent of rabbit blood was overwhelming, but by now he was used to it and could block it out – there was something else… not from the blood stain, but in the close proximity.

"Everything okay, Nick?" Bradley asked worried, but the fox just lifted his paw and concentrated on the smell. He then lowered his head to the carpet and moved a bit to the side. After he took a last long sniff, he hold his paw up again and asked for some chalk. Without knowing what Nick had found, Bradley gave him a piece of chalk they used to mark small evidence on clothes and similar materials. The fox made a small circle on the carpet, then got up again.

"You should take a sample from this spot. Something chemical dropped onto it, maybe a narcotic substance".

"Are you sure?" Wolford stepped beside Bradley with a skeptical look on his face. "I examined the whole couch table and the carpet, but couldn't scent anything but the rabbit blood – and I'm trained to differentiate a lot of scents".

"It's not your fault, Wolford", Nick said quietly. "I have just spent enough time with rabbits to recognize other smells that are overlapped by their hormones and even if it's really subtle, it's definitely not from a rabbit or something natural altogether".

Wolford just shrugged his shoulders, he didn't want to argue with someone who was clearly under stress and one more sample couldn't do any harm. He took a cotton swab and even cut a few fibers of the carpet – bagging both as evidence and labeling it for their forensic lab.

Marki had finished his talk with Sven and was currently talking with Delgato, so Nick walked up to his brother-in-law and carefully put his paws on his shoulders. As expected, Sven winced terrified, but sighed relieved when he saw the fox.

"Oh Nick!" he sobbed and flung his arms around his neck. Nick softly patted his back and waited for the rabbit to become calm again. "How could this happen? I mean, why does someone even kidnap a pregnant mammal, that's just cruel! Evelin has never done any harm to anyone, she is the purest and most kind-heartedness Rabbit!" Sven sounded desperate and Nick sighed again.

"Even if it's only a weak solace for you, but I don't think that they wanted to kidnap Evelin".

"What are you talking about, Nick? They sure didn't kidnap her unintentionally!"

"I think that this is exactly what happened" Nick said quietly.

"I see you are thinking the same as me", Marki said, suddenly standing behind them.

"What are you two talking about? Officer? Nick?" Sven's voice was trembling.

Marki looked questioningly to Nick who breathed deeply: "Two rabbits, both sisters of nearly the same age, looking almost the same, both pregnant, kidnapped from our apartment, the ransom note that is addressed with my name… all evidence suggests that they wanted to kidnap Judy, not Evelin, but they mixed them both up".

The timber wolf nodded impressed. "Even under stress you still have the ball under your feet and prove to have a sharp mind. Yes, we leaped to the same conclusion – when her sister opened the door to your apartment, they saw an almost similar looking and pregnant rabbit and thought they caught Judy. This is also the reason why the ransom note is addressed to you, Nick, and not you, Mister Brooks". The chief of the behavior analysis unit viewed Nick carefully, then asked slowly: "Any other deductions?"

"I have no interest to give you a great show, there is no time to play games! We don't have a quarter-million Zollars and until now he was always clever enough to only blackmail those families who could theoretically pay the ransom money. Kidnapping Evelin or Judy is abnormal" Nick said on edge.

"What?! A quarter-million Zollars ransom money? But… but wherefrom… I mean, there said nothing in that letter, wherefrom do you know this amount? Did you find another note? NICK!?" Sven's desperate pinched-up voice was nearly screaming.

Marki whispered something to Wolford and then turned to Sven: "Please calm down, Mister Brooks. Right now it's only a working hypothesis and we cannot be sure that…"

"Where is Evelin?! What have you done to my wife, you scumbag of a bloodthirsty predator!" the rabbit was getting out of control, jumped against the dumbstruck fox and started to beat him fiercely. Nick just held his arms up in front of his face but refrained from fighting back. Sven didn't know what he was doing, his very pregnant wife was kidnapped and he was a nervous wreck. It hurt – not the punches, but the accusations – but he knew that the rabbit didn't mean it and was just desperate.

Marki grabbed Sven and easily secured him to the floor, holding him tight. In the meantime, Wolford came back with a worried looking Doctor Alisson in tow. But even before she could say anything, Marki already held a small device against Sven's arm and only seconds later the rabbit's body went limp.

Nick pulled himself together and wanted to protest, but Wolford already lifted the rabbit up and carried him to the guestroom, a ranting and raving Doctor Alisson hurrying behind: "Using those tranquilizer guns without an emergency is just wrong, I could have given him something to just relax somewhat instead of brutally knocking him off like a savage predator! That was absolutely unnecessary!"

Marki got up on his feet again. "Your friend was panicking the whole evening and his nervous breakdown just now forced me into action. I understand that he is worried about his wife, but attacking another ZPD officer was stretching the point and I didn't want to arrest him, either. This was the best option in my opinion".

Nick disagreed with Marki, this was indeed absolutely unnecessary. After all, the timber wolf was the department head of the behavioral analysis unit, he knows exactly how stressful this situation must be and how helpless and abused Sven must have felt. Holding him down, talking to him – that would have been appropriate. But stunning a small and unarmed rabbit with a tranquilizer gun that could knock out even elephants? That was definitely an over-reaction Nick would have never expected from this mammal.

But for now he tried to block out those thoughts, Evelin was in need of his full concentration right now. He guessed there would be some interesting talks with Doctor Carter about it in the next few days about 'trusting your colleagues' again…

"Delgato, Wolford. You two bring our evidence to the lab, we only have a short time frame and need the results as fast as possible!" The two officers nodded, took two boxes with bags and other materials and left the apartment while Marki took the fox by his arm and they walked a few meters, finally sitting down on the couch.

"Okay, Wilde. How much do you know exactly?" Marki asked with a calm but attentive voice.

Nick breathed deeply and closed his eyes, going through his memory palace, searching for the information…

"He calls himself the Forget-me-not Kidnapper", the red fox slowly started after a short while. "He always leaves the same ransom note together with a vase and a single forget-me-not flower, also called Scorpion Grass, at the scene of the kidnapping. The letter itself is always the same first two verses of the poem 'Where have all the flowers gone', originally written as a song by a badger named Pete Seeger. But he replaces the word 'children' from the original with the species of the kidnapped animal, always being a female prey of a wealthy family. A few hours after the kidnapping he contacts the dependents, with a ransom demand in the amount of 250, 000 Zollars, to be transferred to a foreign-numbered account within 12 hours. There is only this one-time contact, he never calls a second time and there are no further negotiations. When the money is transferred, the kidnapped victim is released within a few hours, often confused and disoriented. But if nobody paid the full amount after those 12 hours, the victim is never found or heard of again – supposedly being dead. No corpse was ever found after that, it's currently unknown what he does with them. The perpetrator was called by the press the Forget-me-not kidnapper because of the flower that's left behind. There are eight known cases, five times the family had payed and got the kidnapped mammal back. The last time it is known that he was active is six years ago – not counting tonight".

Nick finished his recital and Marki stayed quite for a while. "That is exactly what we wrote in our internal profile. Maybe not word-for-word, but… I'm still bowled over".

"I read most of the profiles of former and current serial offenders during Judy's profiler training and I'm good at… remembering things, Sir". Nick smiled wearily; he recognized the specific signature of the kidnapper the moment he read the poem. But he also knew, that relatives are always the main suspects during a kidnapping, and his special knowledge and the fact that it was 'accidentally' Evelin who was waiting in their apartment made him probably even more suspicious.

The timber wolf was still viewing him quietly, presumably thinking about the possibility of Nick being involved in the crime somehow.

"You already proved that you have an exceptional memory on Bale's case and your keen perception would make you quite a talented profiler".

Nick didn't react to Marki's comment. "But the profile gives no explanation wherefrom the kidnapper knows if the family is basically able to pay the ransom money or not. He never kidnapped someone when there was nothing to get. It's assumed that there is some sort of insider, but in this case now? I swear on my unborn kits life, that our savings are nowhere near enough. We are doing fine, but 250.000 Zollars? That's just impossible".

Marki nodded slowly, "That's a strange discrepancy to his usual behavior. But we already have a plan", he waved his paw to Bradley, who was currently typing on his mobile computer. The jaguar walked up to them, putting his computer down on the table. "Explain our plan to Nick, Brad. I'm going to check on the wellbeing of the victim's husband" Marki said and walked over to the guestroom.

Nick clenched his fists – their names were 'Sven' and 'Evelin'! Would it be too much to ask to treat them as mammals and not just some anonymous person of interest? He just wasn't able to keep a sufficient emotional distance – the offenders were degrading their victims already, shouldn't the ZPD be somewhat better?

"Okay, as soon as we get the account number from the kidnapper, I'm using one of our newest tools to hack into the bank account", Bradley started to explain and Nick turned his attention to the jaguar. "Then I can manipulate the incoming and outgoing transfers and also put a tracer on the account. We are creating virtual transfers as if someone is really transferring money to that account. At the same time, we get informed by the tracer whenever someone accesses the account to check it's balance", Bradley explained with some pride in his voice.

"Isn't hacking into the banking account illegal and could cause trouble during a lawsuit? Maybe we should just ask the bank for their cooperation", Nick asked, having no interest to let some criminals get away because of a formal error.

"We are cooperating with most domestic banking institutes, but with foreign banks it's often a week-long wrangling. That's what's 'Samaritan' is for, that's the name of the tooling. It leaves no traces on its own and we only use it with a judicial writ, so theoretically there are no problems during a lawsuit. The only problem is, that we only have a short time frame to react: When someone tries to access the virtual transfers, the tracer informs us about their location. But as these transfers are not real, the verification during a remittance or a withdrawal fails after a short while and the whole illusion will be corrected by the original banking servers".

"So we can only hope that they are just having a short look at their balance and they release Evelin before they try to cover their traces by transferring everything to a few other accounts?" Nick sounded contrite about that plan.

"Yes, that's a risk. But without using real money transfers I can do nothing to prevent this".

"I'm still not sure if they are really after that money. They already proved to have changed their selection of kidnapping victims. What if they want something different? Or they want the money in cash this time? We are setting up the whole plan on just an early assumption!" Nick protested.

"You have to learn to trust on the profile, Wilde!" Marki said with a nearly commanding voice. "You heard Bradley, it takes some time to fake those transfers and even after that we have to act really quickly before they notice it's only an illusion. The Forget-me-not Kidnapper has been following the same scheme now for more than six years. It's working because most kidnappers are caught due to long negotiations or during an in-person money-transfer. He perfected his method, but that also makes it predictable".

"And it's also proof that this kidnapper is not dumb. He wouldn't kidnap someone when the family isn't at least theoretically able to pay! But he is not only doing this one mistake, but trying to kidnap a cop? And then even mixing-up the victims? Those are three serious mistakes done by someone who didn't make a single one in six years!"

"OK, that's enough, Wilde. I appreciate your help as you are a colleague, but you're also only a victim. We know exactly what we are doing, so better have a look for your wife and keep calm until we get this phone ca…"

The landline was ringing in this very moment, the tracking software showed an unknown caller somewhere in Zootopia. Bradley pushed a few buttons to start the recording and location tracking, then gave a sign with his paw to Nick to answer the phone.


"What do you mean, I didn't kidnap the right rabbit? She looks exactly like on your photo and she was even at home when…" the ram snarled angrily through the phone.

"You dare to contradict me?" the voice wasn't more than a scary whisper.

"No, never! I'm sorry! It won't happen again!" the ram answered quickly and ruefully. "I will kill her immediately and will disperse all evidence".

"No, not yet. Maybe this is a fortunate coincidence and we'll get them both to suffer even more now. Continue with phase two, I will take care of the rest".

"Phase two, understood!"

The phone call between the two conspirators ended and the ram contritely walked up and down the small room. He had never made an error in all these years! The ram tried to calm down again, he would need all of his energy this evening. With a dark grin he took Evelin's phone, dialed a written down number and when someone answered it he started to playback the pre-recorded message.


When Nick answered the phone call, the song 'Where have all the flowers gone' was running in the background like it was being played by a wooden music box. A distorted, mechanical voice said slowly: "250.000 Zollars, account number 1-1-6-0-6-7-0-3-6-0-3-5-0-7-0-0-4. Or your little bunny is gone forever in twelve hours".

The call already ended even before Nick could say a single word. He turned around to Bradley who was already typing a lot of commands into his computer. Marki was already on the radio, ordering the special weapons and tactical task force as assistance to go into standby, waiting for a location.

Nick slowly walked to the bedroom. Marki made it clear, that he was no longer part of this investigation and his opinion no longer asked for. Maybe the wolf was right, he was definitely emotionally involved and not objective. When he entered his and Judy's bedroom, he saw his wife sleeping peacefully and with an eased facial expression. Nick sat down on the floor, leaning against Judy's nightstand, and laid his head on the mattress, his nose touching the rabbits arm gently. While stroking his thumb over her paw, he took a deep breath, letting her scent taint his senses. But his only thoughts were of Evelin, trying to imagine how she must feel right now, and how he was unable to do anything to help or support Judy's little sister.