Chapter 53: Le Rouge Strikes

Zootopia's musical superstar Gazelle's newly completed mansion is robbed by a master burglar.

Drip! Drip! The sound of water drops falling from between an unsealed crack in the now completed mansion's overhang drew the raccoon in the dark brown business suit's attention while he stood in front of the open doorway. The raccoon named Jake Runnel reached up and adjusted his canary yellow tie as he awaited the tall muscular tiger inside to invite him past the yellow plastic police tape and into the room. Below them, red and blue lights flashed from police boats on the wide river. The river was still the only direct route up to the building nestled on the side of the oversized tree, a driveway from the nearby roadway above had never been built. The property was now surrounded by a tall chain fence painted black so that it was not quite as visible and suitable for keeping out the casual snooper, but easily scaled by anyone with some basic skills. The landscaping near the entryway was still incomplete, causing small steams of black mud to wash over onto the tile walkway near the entrance.

The tiger in the cheap blue suit was Detective Sargent Fangmyer, he and the raccoon had a long history with each other. It was the tiger and his partner, a timber wolf named Alan Wolford, who had arrested Jake years earlier for burglary. Now the detective had brought the former thief into this particular case as an advisor. This was not only a high profile case, already being enthusiastically covered by the press, but was also one which the detective's police chief, Adrian Bogo, was desperately wanting to be solved. There were hopes that the perpetrator might be quickly brought to swift and sure justice, for the sake of the department's reputation.

"Acme is the security provider," Jake scoffed as his best friend Nick Wilde joined him by the doorway. "So why were they not brought in on this case? You two do know that she's not my client?" He was glaring at the singer's business manager inside the building, the bespectacled hare in the tan suit refused to even look his way.

The uniformed red fox shook his head as he motioned the raccoon to follow him into the mansion. "You and I know they are amateurs compared to your team," Nick answered as he gave Jake a smile. "Besides, Benny asked Bogo to call you. You know how Clawhauser all but worships Gazelle, not to mention Bogo is a huge fan too."

"Yeah, Ben called me right after it was reported," Jake chuckled. "He actually begged me to look into this."

"So do you have any ideas who might have robbed this place?" " Fangmeyer asked as he joined them at the entry. "Whoever did this just cleaned out the safe and then took six pairs of shoes."

"Shoes? Why would someone steal shoes?" Nick scoffed. "Do we know any thieves with hoof fetishes?"

"Considering how much of the alarm system, cameras, and sensors are almost off the shelf quality, it could be anyone," Jake answered as he looked at the keypad by the door. "This was a simple job, well over a dozen guys could have done this. Even Duke Weaselton could have gotten in here and he's just a two-bit petty thief. As for the shoes, I'm sure Gazelle has some creepy mega-fans who would pay big for anything she owns, especially her shoes since they are kind of her signature style. You should ask Ben about that, he's the unofficial Gazelle expert and might know something about the black market in celebrity stuff."

"That's not what I wanted to hear," the tiger grunted as he shook his head.

"So it's a good thing that I expected this to happen," the raccoon quickly added.

"Wait, you what?" Nick asked as he looked back at his friend in surprise.

"I figured that Gazelle's business manager would take the low ball price," Jake said with a grin. "Just look around at this place, it is cut-rate construction at its best, with cheap materials and shoddy work. I knew that he wouldn't give us the contract because of our price, even though it was a fair quote, and that would lead to someone else skimping on the security measures. So when I was here earlier, I cracked open her safe and left a small gift inside. A very small mouse-sized GPS tracking device with a sticky back, did you find anything like that still in the safe?"

"No," Fangmeyer replied. "The safe was completely cleaned out."

"Good, then it stuck to something which was stored inside!" the raccoon added with a grin. "If you follow the signal, it will lead you to the thief or at least to who is fencing the stolen goods."

"Great, where's the transponder?" The tiger asked. "We'll jump on it now, maybe we can wrap this up quickly."

"First a few rules," Jake said with a smile. "I only give the transponder to Nick and I am left out of any police reports and the news, I have an image of being a bit of a rogue to maintain."

"No, you don't!" Nick scoffed. "You've been watching too many of my movies. I knew we shouldn't have watched those old Thin Mammal movies, you're starting to act like that detective Nick Charles!"

"I don't drink anywhere near that much!" the raccoon objected. "Just how did he ever get anything done in those movies anyway, he always had a drink in his paw?"

"Still he did so with a sophisticated style, something you lack coon," the fox teased back.

"Hey, I have style!" Jake protested as he held his paws to his chest in a mocking manner. "I have a lot more style then you do!"

"Nice clothes can't hide a Happy Town boy," Nick chuckled. "Despite all your efforts, you are still rough along the edges."

"Focus you two!" Fangmeyer interjected. "We have a case to crack. Besides, what Runnel did was borderline illegal and in the gray zone for cops."

"Well, then it's a good thing I'm not a cop!" the raccoon laughed.

Hours later the tracking signal led the police to a familiar business hotel in downtown Zootopia and to a luxury penthouse on the very top floor. Piled upon a patio table, just outside of the fifty-second story luxury suite, were some of the stolen goods and in the center of the pile was a single purple flower with the tracker attached.

"This has to be Le Rouge!" Jake cursed as he stood on his suite's deck and watched the police team as they logged in the evidence.

"The only things missing are the shoes," Fangmeyer snapped out in frustration. "Why did he do all of this just for the shoes?"

"Benny said that the Preyda shoes could easily go for several thousand bucks each," Nick answered. "The styles she wears are at least half a grand new and the pair she wore during her "Coming Together" charity concert, after the Nighthowler Case, sold for five thousand bucks at a charity auction earlier this year. The right fan with money might pay even more for her shoes on the black market, especially the pair that was from her Can You Feel the Fur Tonight world tour a few years ago."

"As for why he left the rest of the stolen goods at my place?" Jake added. "He wants to both challenge and humiliate me by doing so. This is now personal between me and that thieving red panda!"

Disclaimer: The Thin Man and the character of Nick Charles are the creation of the talented writer Dashiell Hammett. William Powell and Myrna Loy played the crime-busting couple in the 1934 film. This film is one of Nick's and this old goat's favorite.