DISCLAIMER: I had my bid to own Zootopia written up. I gave it to a small mammal to deliver to Disney, but he went to a bar and got himself intoxicated. What's more, he called Professor Rattigan a rat to his face. I haven't heard what happened to him.

Special thanks to TheoreticallyEva for editing this chapter and keeping my work readable!

Nick and Judy had barely gotten back to the precinct before they were accosted by their fellow officers—specifically, Benjamin Clawhauser, who raced across the lobby to meet them the moment he saw the two tiny officers.

"You two have two interviewees waiting for you."

That stopped both mammals short, and Judy couldn't help the questioning look she gave the cheetah, who was rarely seen away from his desk with its stash of donuts and Gazelle paraphernalia.

Nick's expression was no less curious. "You OK, Spots? You look a little out of breath."

The cheetah took a deep breath and let it out. "You didn't hear, did you? About Rhinowitz and Fangmeyer?"

The two small officers shook their heads, Judy looking regretful. "We didn't hear anything. We were on the Meadowlands channel." Throughout the city, different channels were used in different regions and situations to prevent possible crosstalk. Savannah Central actually had two different groups of channels, as more police were on duty there at any given time than anywhere else.

There was also a citywide channel, and twelve different dispatch offices. Most local requests were handled by the responding precinct's dispatcher, while citywide dispatches were routed through the Precinct One dispatcher. The segregation served to help streamline the use of the limited radio channels, but also added increased frustration for officers at times.

At the expectant stare from the two small cops, Clawhauser shook his head. "Rhinowitz and Fangmeyer were shot at."

Judy's ears dropped. "Are they OK?"

The portly cheetah nodded. "They're both fine. They disarmed and arrested their attacker. Actually, he's your second interviewee."

The fox officer in their little group scoffed. "Yeah, shouldn't that be Rhinowitz and Stripes? We weren't there, obviously. Unless you skipped out on searching the courtyards and didn't tell me, Carrots?"

Judy snorted and rolled her eyes. "It's more likely that you took our cruiser for a joy ride instead of searching the showers, Slick. What's the interview about, Benny?"

"Liz wouldn't say, only said that you should come talk to her beforehand. She's in her cubicle." Clawhauser pointed behind him to the entrance to the cubicle farm.

Judy brightened up, silently hoping that whatever Fangmeyer had, it would be good for their case. "OK, thanks, Benny. We'll see what's up. See ya!"

Nick gave his customary two fingered salute and a wink as he turned to follow the rabbit. "Thanks, Spots! You're the best!"

Clawhauser sighed as he watched the two go, doing his best to suppress the squeal that threatened to well up inside him.

Nick and Judy navigated their way through the cluster of cubicles in the farm to the one they knew Fangmeyer used. One benefit of being the smallest meant that, unlike the rest of the officers who had to share cubicles with similar-sized officers, they had one to call their own, though they suspected that, when other similar-sized mammals joined, they'd end up sharing the space, too.

Arriving at the tigress' assigned cubicle, the bunny doe knocked on the corner of the partition before she walked in. "You wanted to see us, Liz?"

The tigress in question looked up from her report. "Yeah, Judy. The mammal we brought in had this in his truck." She handed Judy an evidence bag with a slip of paper in it. On the paper, there were two addresses—one for Pelter's family, and another one. "I ran the second address on that paper, and it came back red-flagged to your case. I assume it's important?"

Judy nodded. "It is. It's Taylor Blackford's home address. The other one that Nick called a welfare check on."

The tigress officer made a sound of understanding. "In that case, it's all yours."

"Really? A whole slip of paper, just for us? You shouldn't have, Fangmeyer!" Two groans emanated from two females, much to the delight of the smirking fox who said that.

"How in the world do you put up with that all day, Judy?" Fangmeyer stared hard at Nick as though he were somewhere between an annoying bee buzzing around her head and a puzzle to figure out.

Judy chuckled as she signed off on the evidence transfer form and gave the slip of paper to the snarky fox. "It takes practice. Thanks, Liz." She took a breath. "How are you doing? It's good that Bogo has you back on the beat, but how are you, really?"

The tigress sighed and was silent for a long moment. "I'm trying, Judy. I miss Eric, a lot. He was like a brother to me. You know, I was really looking forward to being partnered with him again once you had Nick here. It's tearing me up inside that we still don't know who killed him, not for sure, anyway. I know you're working as hard as you can, though. And I gotta keep doing the work that we both enjoyed. Make the world a better place, right?"

Judy nodded, and reached up to squeeze the much larger mammal's paw in a show of support. "That's right. And if you ever need a friend, we're here for you."

The tigress smirked. "We, huh? So, is it true? Are you two sharing an apartment?"

Nick began choking on the coffee he'd grabbed on the way past the break room, to which Judy rolled her eyes and began thumping Nick's back while she spoke. "Why is everyone so interested in our personal lives today?"

Fangmeyer grinned. "Oh, come on, Judy. You can't tell me you don't know why. You are the first high profile predator and prey couple I've ever heard of, and you are natural enemies to boot! Why do you think mammals are interested?"

Nick snorted. "Maybe because they see us as a blight on society? Or they think we're doing it to earn bunny scout points for an unfeeling government that wants to use us as a paragon of inter-order cooperation?"

Fangmeyer couldn't help but laugh at that. "Well, I don't know how 'unfeeling' Clawheed's government is, but at least you're not being the poster mammal for Bellwether!"

Both Nick and Judy gave an uneasy chuckle at that, having been reminded, perhaps unintentionally, of the ewe's plans to have Judy represent the face of the ZPD. They'd found out later that there had been plans to move that forward despite her resignation, and contrary to Bogo's wishes. The plans had been cancelled when the corrupt mayor had been arrested, though, much to Judy's relief.

For Nick, he was also reminded of the painful three months he'd spent apart from Judy. There had been times where he'd thought about seeing if he could find her and patch things up, but his pride and stubbornness had prevented him.

Now though, he wouldn't want to go back and change that. When you start meddling in the past, it changes the future, and he honestly wouldn't change anything about his life right now.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, the fox looked to see that Judy had hopped up into the tigress' lap and was giving her a big bunny hug. After a second, Judy let go and hopped down, then turned back to the tiger and held up her fist, which the much larger female gladly bumped.

"Let us know if you need anything, okay, Liz? Nick and I will be here for ya."

Nick shook his head. "Absolutely. Just ask. You know, after we're done with this mindscrew of a case. Fifty-two dead bodies connected to it, plus the ones from the Grand Palm attack. Frankly, I think we're all gonna need a shrink after this."

Of course, Judy couldn't help but deliver a slight nudge to Nick's arm before admonishing him with a "Be nice!"

The tigress smiled anyways, and gave the fox a wink. "Thanks for being honest, Nick."

Nick winked and gave the larger predator a finger pistol salute. Judy just shook her head before taking Nick by the arm and leading him away. "Come on, Nick. We have two mammals to interview now."

The two made their way down from the cubicles to the cooler, passing through the beefed-up security that included two badge and ID checks and one signed form for both of them. Once they finally made it to the holding cells, Judy turned to her fox companion. "Any preferences on who we chat with first?"

The fox scratched his chin, then grinned. "I think the beaver from Prairie Den. Be nice to see him again!" Nick gave Judy a wink.

Judy rolled her eyes. "If he mouths off again, we can just let McHorn interview him. He's about as subtle as a cinderblock to the face."

The fox couldn't help the chuckle. McHorn was well known in the precinct for being a bit intimidating and very blunt. Detainees tended to try the "Officer abused me" card more often with him, despite being recorded. It never worked and usually just ended up with them having a nosebleed, a few stitches, and a massive headache on top of whatever they were being charged with.

The two entered the interview room, not surprisingly, to see the beaver and his city-appointed lawyer, a buck snowshoe hare, sitting on the other side of the steel table. The two officers sat themselves down on the other side, with Judy ensuring that the session video recorder was on and running, before turning back to the table and opening one of the file folders and pulling out a few files.

Nick was the one who decided to start the dialogue, though. "Verne Tremblay. So nice to see you again. How has your stay been?"

The beaver glared at the fox as though the predator were a bit of dirt stuck in his fur.

The fox cocked his head. "Nothing? No suggestions on how we can improve hospitality? No quips about how good the food is? No requests for a warmer blanket? We must be doing pretty good!"

The beaver just sat and glared. It was at this moment that the hare spoke up. "Henry Baxter. I am Mr. Tremblay's legal counsel. Can we get on with this, please?"

Judy nodded. "Verne Tremblay, we just want to ask some questions about the mammals you sold the two hundred midnicampum holicithias plants to on February 25th."

The beaver turned his attention to the rabbit doe.

Judy laid out the file photos they had of Woolter and Jesse Bighorn, as well as a screenshot from the florist's security footage. "Can you confirm that these were the two mammals you sold the plants to, Mr. Tremblay?"

The beaver looked at the photos, then at his lawyer, who nodded. "Yes, that's them."

The doe nodded. "Fair enough. Now, we need to know a couple of things about these mammals. First, when did they first contact you about this particular order?"

Tremblay scowled and stared at the steel table for a moment before he responded. "About a month before."

Judy nodded. "Can you tell me exactly what they said?"

At that, the beaver scoffed. "Oh, yeah, like you'd remember a phone conversation from six months ago. Last I checked, that's not a requirement to live in the area."

Nick smirked. "No, but it might come in handy when faced with a felony distribution charge. Funny how that works."

The hare interrupted. "I fail to see how this is relevant to the discussion."

Nick shrugged and changed tactics. "So, you don't remember the whole conversation, but I'm sure you remember some details. I mean… Two hundred Night Howler plants. That's enough that you'd have to track down other suppliers, right?"

The beaver scoffed and, for once, actually gave Nick a straight answer. "You'd be surprised how many flower farms were looking to get rid of their supply of the things. A few were offering a pretty steep discount."

"So, there was extra money to be made." Nick scratched his chin.

"Of course. I'm a businessman. And businessmen make money. Unlike you plebs that just live off us hard-working taxpayers."

Nick heard a slight intake of breath to his left and knew that Judy was centering herself so she wouldn't lose her temper. He didn't blame her.

Judy spoke out next, her voice even and measured. "Was there anything about the conversations that seemed abnormal?"

The beaver looked a bit more relaxed at having been spoken to by the rabbit officer rather than the fox. "Besides the big order and massive payout? No. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Judy scribbled something in her notebook, then thought for a second before speaking. "Anything else you can recall about the conversation? Did they mention any names, places, dates?"

The beaver thought a moment. "Yeah, one. Ramsy or Ramses or something. Something with Ram in it. I assumed he or she was their friend or something."

Judy's ears shot up at that, and she quickly wrote that down on her notepad, then stood up. "Thank you, Mr. Tremblay, you were much more helpful this time around."

The two mammals and the hare attorney stood, with the attorney following Judy and Nick out of the room. "I hope you two see that my client is more than willing to cooperate with you. We'd like you to drop the charges in exchange for his continued assistance."

Nick barked out a laugh. "'fraid that's not possible, my friend. He knowingly sold a controlled substance without obtaining a valid ID and buyer's license. That's the same as selling any other illegal street drug."

"Surely with the grace period—"

"The one that expired a month before the sale?" Nick interrupted.

"—you could see that this is a simple case of getting used to the new law."

Nick let out a bark of laughter, while Judy had to fight to control her grin. "Getting used to the new law? No, I'm sorry, but that law allowed for a thirty-day grace period before it came into effect."

The lawyer hare grinned. "But the onus is on you to prove that it wasn't a simple mistake. And that you rookies didn't make one yourself."

Judy's foot tapped on the ground. "Sir, if you are just going to continue to threaten us, then I believe the conversation is over." She attempted to step past the buck, only to be stopped in her tracks by a paw on her shoulder.

Her ears snapped straight back as she turned to glare at the buck.

"A moment, Officer Hopps. I wonder if you'd like to catch lunch sometime?" The lawyer gave the doe a suggestive look and a self-confident smirk, completely ignoring the daggers sent his way by both officers, and the growl emanating from one.

The question was so blatant and out of left field that Judy couldn't help but stare at the buck for a moment, before bursting out laughing.

The buck's grin faltered at the doe's laughter.

"Listen, bucko, not only is that extremely unprofessional for you to even ASK that, but it's also a conflict of interest. Even if it wasn't, I'm already spoken for, and you aren't even close to being my type, so I'd suggest you walk away, and I won't charge YOU with harassing an officer!" As she was saying this, she reached up and gripped the hare's wrist, forcibly removing the offending paw from her shoulder. The wince of pain on the other lagomorph's face told both of the officers that the doe's grip may have been a little tighter than normal.

The buck pulled his arm away from Judy's grip and let it drop to his side.

Judy smirked. "I mean it, Mr. Baxter. Walk away."

The lawyer shot a disgusted look at Judy but did as he was told.

The fox and rabbit watched the hare walk off. Nick turned and gave Judy a sidelong smirk. "Sure you don't want to arrest him?"

The doe shook her head. "Nah. He'll be in hot enough water when we submit our report on that little incident." She smirked.

Nick immediately caught her drift, and the smirk was mirrored on his own face. "Sly bunny."

The doe winked and nudged the fox playfully with her elbow. "Dumb fox."

Felicity Stang had finally returned to the city after visiting her family in Deerbrooke County. And in a way she wished she had stayed out there. As it was, she was back, and she couldn't change that.

Over the last week, she'd thought long and hard about what she'd been doing, and had pored over numerous behavioral studies of various predator species, comparing them to what she knew about prey species. Her research had been humbling, to say the least, and she'd been sent into a spiral of remorse and regret, wondering how she'd been so blind and stupid.

She'd even found a few more videos that had shown up online of the fox and rabbit cop pair, including leaked security footage of the arrest of the former mayor, with the bunny leaning on the fox for support as though it were the most natural thing in the world, and another done by a bystander at a frozen pond somewhere in Tundratown, of the two apparently skating, and the fox having a hard time of it.

And she had been trying to think of a way out that wouldn't land her on death row. But now, it might be too late. She'd returned to the cell's lab that morning to gather what data she could under the guise of trying to work out a way to shut down monogamy instincts inherent to certain predators.

She'd thought about her moves. She'd gather what she could onto a USB drive and try to sneak out with it. Take it to the police. What she should have done from the beginning. She knew there was no way she could avoid prison, but maybe she'd get off easier.

That was, until Damian had told her that the next public test had been moved up by the higher-ups. Even though she didn't know what they'd had planned, she had a hard time masking her worry as she stared at the Texas longhorn bull in front of her.

"If you have any friends or family in the Rainforest District or the canals, you'll want to get them out. Within a week."

She took a second to gather her thoughts, and asked, in as level and even a tone as possible, "Why is that?"

"The bosses decided we were ready for the next test. Can't say much more. We've already had the production cells synthesizing the product."

The mustang mare frowned. "I haven't been around for the last week. Are you sure you have the formula right? Only predators are affected? Monogamy instincts suppressed?"

"We tested it several times on several canid species after you left. Only the first pair resisted. We changed the mixture up, and the pairs after that were much more… amenable to our desires."

Felicity plastered a curious expression on her face, one that she hoped looked real. "You said they were canids? What species?"

"We had to be careful. Without the delivery van, and with so much heat in Zootopia, we had to look elsewhere. Our… target demographic… isn't as numerous outside the city, but we were able to pick up some smaller species of canids in Bunnyburrow, Stony Mountain House, and Harvest Moon Hollow. Kit foxes, mostly. They don't like to live in the city. A few other larger species too. I'd personally like to have tested this on a few red foxes, but that upstart filth in the department seems to have made them think that they can be seen as something useful."

The mare didn't say anything, but instead put on an air of thoughtfulness. "Guess you don't need me for a few more days. Mind if I head home… and tell my friends to get out of town?"

The bull longhorn nodded. "We'll call you when we're ready to analyze the results of the test."

It took everything in Felicity to not run out of that room like her mane was on fire. Instead, she walked out and back to her car. It would take a while to get from the makeshift lab on the outskirts of the Meadowlands to her home in Sahara Square. The lab was in a pharmacy that had been up for sale for years, without any buyers. Not surprising, either. Ever since the gang war years ago, no one had wanted anything to do with the area if they could help it. She always felt like she needed to keep extra cans of pepper spray and move as quickly as she could.

Fortunately, her car was parked right outside, and it seemed that most mammals were either away or in their houses. No one was around, and she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as she got into her car.

Back in the lab, a ram walked up next to the Texas longhorn. Doug's voice was its usual monotone when he spoke. "She seemed a bit off."

The larger mammal nodded. "Follow her. And if she goes anywhere or does anything besides what she says she's going to do… you know what to do."

Doug nodded, leaving out the back door and taking his nondescript car out of the rear loading dock, turning to follow the slightly flashier car of the mustang mare.

"So how do you want to do this one? Good fox, bad bunny? Funny cop, boring cop?" Nick's smirk, then wince at Judy's none-too-subtle punch to the arm was so typical of their behavior that none of the other officers that witnessed the interaction batted an eyelash.

"That stuff only works in movies, Nick, but if you want, I'll be good cop, and you be bad cop." Judy gave her fox a half-lidded smirk.

Nick put on an expression of being affronted. "Hey, why do you get to be good cop? Are you saying I'm not a good cop?"

The doe rolled her eyes as she gestured to the duty guard to unlock the appropriate cell. "Of the two of us, which one spent two-thirds of her life training for this job?"

"Touché."

Before heading to their second interview, the two had stopped to make a quick photocopy of the slip of paper Liz had given them earlier, before securing the original with the rest of their case evidence. The new reindeer, one Heath Jones, didn't appear to have a criminal record, either, or at least, he'd never been identified in any cases, his only official identifications being his DMV record and a membership to a gun club in a town about a half hour east of the city.

They didn't have a lot of time to dig any deeper, though, as the reindeer in question was waiting for them. Somewhat bizarrely, he'd waived the right to an attorney, leaving them free to question him.

The door was opened for them, and the two mammals walked inside. The reindeer was chained to the table in the middle of the room, and it was onto this table that Judy jumped, tossing the photocopy of the slip of paper in front of the buck deer.

Jones looked at the paper with a disinterested expression, then at the rabbit doe standing on the table in front of him. Just out of headbutting and antler reach, he noted.

"What's this?"

The rabbit in front of him gave him an insipid smirk. "It's a piece of paper found in your wallet. Two addresses on it. Addresses that are very interesting to us. Care to explain them?"

"Never seen them before in my life."

The wretched red furred beast that had entered the room with the rabbit doe rolled his eyes. "That's what they all say. Look, pal. You're going away for assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer. Why not make it easier on yourself and tell us what you were doing there and why you had that piece of paper in your wallet?"

The reindeer let out a snorting laugh. "Yeah, like you can prove that you didn't just plant that in there. Or that you didn't just fabricate it and throw it in front of me thinking I'd cop to whatever harebrained trumped-up charge you want to stick on me. Get real. You guys aren't even real cops."

Nick made a mock gasp and turned to stare at the doe beside him, his muzzle an expression of fake hurt. "Carrots, you're not a real cop? When? Why? How could you not tell me?"

The rabbit smirked. "I thought I was a real cop. This nice brass badge says I'm a real cop. I had no idea that changed!"

Nick looked down at his own shirt and touched a claw to the brass badge on his own chest. "Hey, I have one too! Do you suppose these are fake?"

While the two were bantering, the reindeer's attention bounced between them, then came to rest on the piece of paper in front of him. In a split second, before either cop could react, he lunged forward, catching the paper between his teeth, and scarfed it down, smirking at the shocked stares of the two smaller mammals. "And now you have no evidence," The reindeer remarked with a smirk of his own.

After a few more seconds of silence, both cops broke out in near identical smirks of their own, before the rabbit spoke up. "Well, cellulose is good for you, but I'm not sure that printer toner is."

The fox spoke up next. "If you were hungry, we could have brought you some food, not that worthless photocopy you just ate."

The ungulate blanched. He'd underestimated them. The rabbit spoke again. "Now that you've tried to destroy our evidence, perhaps you can tell us how you might have come across those addresses. Pretty specific addresses, too. Both of them on our watch list. Tell us what's going on, and maybe we can help you out."

The reindeer stared at them for a second. "I ain't saying nothin'!"

The rabbit and her wretched beast looked at each other. "OK, well, how about Jackson Redfohn? How do you know him?"

How the hell did they figure that out?! Jackson said that they wouldn't be able to connect him with the two in jail!

Heath Jones realized though that the two popos across from him had been standing there staring at him with insipid smirks growing on their faces.

"I have no idea who this Jackson Redfoon is," he spat at them, deliberately mispronouncing his name.

The fox shrugged, turning to his companion. "Oh. Well, then, I guess we're done here, aren't we, Officer Hopps?"

The doe's smirk only grew. "I think you are right, Officer Wilde. No sense wasting time here if he doesn't know anything at all. Let's go."

A self-satisfied smirk crossed the reindeer's face as the two members of the fuzz left the room.

Outside, Nick and Judy turned to each other.

"He's lying." The statement left both of their mouths at the same time. They both stared at each other before breaking out in grins.

Judy gestured to Nick. "You go first."

The fox nodded. "Well, if he really didn't know about those addresses, I don't think there would be any real reason for him to destroy the evidence by eating it. Especially since copier paper doesn't taste all that good."

Judy made a noise of agreement. "Did you see how he jerked and looked surprised when we mentioned Redfohn's name? Not very good at hiding body language."

"So, the question is, HOW did he know Redfohn and how are these two connected with everyone else?"

Judy thought for a moment as she started walking back to their cubicle, her fox trailing behind her. "Well, what do we know about Heath Jones?"

"Well, we know that he's a reindeer named Heath Jones," Nick smirked.

Judy rolled her eyes and couldn't help the groan of exasperation that escaped her lips. "I meant what ELSE do we know?"

With a shrug, Nick thought back to their findings less than an hour ago. "Just his home address and that he belongs to a gun club."

Judy let out a sigh. "For someone who was clearly ready to kill another mammal, there sure isn't much on him. No parking violations or speeding tickets. It's like he never existed until this morning."

The fox thought for a moment. "Think someone is helping him?"

"Either that, or he was laying low."

They reached their cubicle and Judy sat herself heavily into her chair. "There has to be something we're missing."

Across from her, Nick leaned against his desk and crossed his arms, deep in thought.

Judy mentally retraced the entire conversation, and the one before that, all the way back to the ID lookup on Heath Jones. "Wait… The gun club. We've… Someone else was a member of a gun club! Doug! Remember what Bellwether said?"

Nick's head snapped up, along with his ears. "That's right! She said that Doug was a member of a gun club!"

They'd checked the local gun clubs after Bellwether had dropped the hint, and none of them had any rams as members, much less ones named Doug. They hadn't had time to expand their search into the surrounding boroughs and counties, though.

Judy grinned. "If Doug's a member of this gun club…"

Nick couldn't help but mirror the grin on the doe's face. "… It could explain how they could be connected to all this!"

Judy pulled the gun club membership card up from the evidence catalog on her computer

"Mountain View Gun Club. Let's give them a call," Judy commented, picking up her desk phone.

Nick watched with an easy smile on his face as Judy conversed with the mammal on the other end.

"Hello? Yes… This is Officer Judy Hopps with the ZPD. We have a… a mammal of interest that may have identified a member of your club in connection to an active case. We're looking for a ram named Doug. Last name? Possibly Ramsey or Ramses. Yes, thank you."

After a few moments, Judy's eyes opened wide. "Doug Ramses is an active member? Yes… Yes, thank you. Have a great day!" She hung up and turned to her computer, pulling up the DMV database and typing in the name and species. Three hits came back, not surprising, but three was better than the several hundred they'd gotten when they had searched for him after the Night Howler incident. The first was an elderly black ram whose license hadn't been renewed in 10 years. The second was a teenager who had just gotten his license 6 months prior.

The third was the jackpot.

"That's him! Look, no horns, same colour fur—well, wool, everything!"

Judy's muzzle-splitting grin was mirrored by her fox partner.

A/N

YEEEEESSSSSSSSS! They finally have Doug's full identification! Things are really moving forward! And they put that hare lawyer in his place too XD.

So, I'm going to be out of the country for a couple days next week. Kind of a whirlwind trip south of the US Canada border...Wish me luck!

A couple people found the two references in the last chapter. Can you find any in this one?

Coming up on May 17: The Evils Among Us!

Questions? Critiques? Did you get sick from too much Easter chocolate? Leave a comment!