Reessess walked hand in hand with her husband, Professor Wiggle. They were on their way to see Wiggle's new granddaughter. His daughter just so happened to be married to one Deputy Skids, who Reessess intended to speak with anyways so it was a win-win. As the two mature cats approached the estate, they made small talk. Some stuff about the case, about children, and anything else that came across their minds. Wiggle knocked on the door and listened to the peaceful silence. "No crying? Wow, all three of them must be asleep then."
"Yeah, no kidding. I can't imagine taking care of a newborn. It sounds exhausting." a short time later, a shorter pink cat opened the door and gleamed a smile.
"Dad! Reessess! Glad you guys could stop by! Oh my gosh I'm so excited!" holding open the door, letting in the brisk air of late September, the three cats walked into the living room. "Sorry, Deputy and Rosie fell asleep earlier." she pointed to the green duo who were passed on. Deputy laid out on the couch, a bundle of blankets safely held to his chest. "Aren't they adorable?"
Deputy Skids and Reessess had worked together for just over a year, yet the black cat could never imagine Deputy in this sort of way. The weary, exhausted, peaceful, and relaxed new father was much different than the somewhat intense, hard-working and slightly stoic dog she was used to. Walking over, she knelt by and peeled open the blanket and looked at the sleeping green cat. Letting out a small blurble sound, Reessess nearly cried as she slowly pet the young Toon. "She's absolutely perfect."
"Is it okay if I hold her?" Wiggle purred softly to his daughter, who nodded happily. Scooping up the baby gently as not to wake either Toon, the older pink cat smiled and rocked Rosie slowly. "You know, she looks a lot like you when you were a baby, Susie." leaning over he kissed the tiny nose. "I can't believe I'm a grandpa. Gosh I'm only fifty-four but I suddenly feel a lot older. What a beautiful thing. Poor Skids, you guys must have been up all night."
"Well, actually Deputy has been up all night. He had to do some casework and let me sleep in today. When I woke up they were both passed out on the couch. I didn't want to wake them." Susie sat down near Deputy's legs and stirred him away. "Hey babe, we have company."
Groggily awakening from his brief respite from the world of the awakened, Deputy rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly. Quickly sitting up when his blurry vision gave sentience to Reessess and Wiggle who were playing with Rosie. "Ugh, what time is it?" he managed out between a second yawn.
"It's about eleven thirty. I didn't want to wake you up. You were so exhausted, plus you were pretty cute!" Susie teased.
"Oh sorry about that." stretching out his arms and legs, Deputy felt like he had been hit by a truck carrying sleeping powder. "Morning everybody. How are you guys?"
Wiggle and Reessess were too preoccupied with the baby to pay much attention. "Oh, hey Deputy." Reessess meowed out quietly. "Why didn't you tell me you had the cutest baby ever? I would have been over here sooner. Actually, I'd probably want her all to myself so I don't blame you for not letting us now!"
"She is perfect, just like me." Deputy joked, catching laughter from the rest of the adults in the room. "I forgot you guys were stopping by." scooching over to make room for his guests, the two cats sat down. "Guess I was up a bit too late working on this Edwards case." rubbing his eyes he grabbed Rosie from Reessess and booped her nose.
"That's great that you bring that up. Although maybe you should give yourself a little bit of a break? I mean, we can probably handle things from here. We already have as much as we're probably going to get from our investigation. We have the signed attendance sheet, Walter Sr.'s statement, and a motive. There are still some holes. We would have to show that he actually did it which might be hard, but between McCarthy, Lorelei, and the circumstantial evidence I think we can do it. We also got a lead on a group that Walter was associated with called FEDORA. They seem to be an activist group that is against wealthy and elite Toons. Not something you'd expect from the son of the wealthiest Toon in Toontown. We're doing some more digging into this but we're not really counting on anything."
Susie came and scooped up Rosie from Deputy and kissed him on the cheek. "How about I give you guys some time to work. Dad and I are going to take Rosie out for a walk! You guys have fun!" Wiggle and Susie chatted among themselves and headed out the front door.
"She's a sweetheart." Reessess commented. "Anyways, why don't you take some time off? Be with the family?"
"Don't worry about me captain! I can handle things. This is still my case and I want to be there when that smug rabbit gets roasted in court. Now you mentioned FEDORA. I believe they were running a rally outside of the courthouse? Can you tell me a more about them?"
Reessess reached into her pocket and pulled out a folder. "Well if you say so. I brought this with me. I guess a few weeks ago one of their members got picked up after burning down a house with a family inside. Some investor who was kind of big behind the scenes. There hasn't been any other cases like this, so we're holding off on considering them an Anti-Toon group, but we do have our eyes on them."
"Hmm. Well we still have a week left right? I want to look a bit more into this group. I don't know if they are related to Walter's death, but they probably know something."
McCarthy sat around the large Retroville council's table which had been dismissed for the day. In the place of the Counciltoons were a myriad of staff for McCarthy's election campaign, including his attorneys, and manager Eli. "Sir, I was able to convince Flippy to settle into the debate. Unfortunately though I was not able to get it before your testimony next week. I guess even Flippy wasn't foolish enough for that. However any damage done will hopefully help skew away however Toons view your appearance in court." Eli adjusted his glasses and gently coughed into his hands. "Although if things go well, we might even be able to swing things around BEFORE the election. We've hired the best attorney in Toontown to represent you. He will coach you on every possible question you may be asked. What's important isn't proving that you aren't involved, but that you condemn the actions of Milroy Edwards. The prosecution is unlikely to go after you too hard, they will just be digging around for any information that you may have picked up. Keeping a harsh appearance on crime while seeming sympathetic as taking in and doing your best to reform Milroy could go a long way."
"Listen, Eli. I appreciate your insight but this is not a positive for me. That snot-nose dog is going to plaster Milroy's face on every ad and commercial this side of Slapstick Villa. That idiot couldn't have picked a worse time to be picked up for a crime. Part of me thinks it was intentional. Probably to set me up. I know his father has been angling to take my council position the last few years and this would fit together perfectly with that." McCarthy lit a cigar and checked on the end anxiously. The cracks were beginning to show in the normally confident and overzealous red dog. "I think we're going to have to deploy our secret weapon here."
The room went silent with Josephson's suggestion. "Mr. Josephson, that is a gigantic political risk." Eli stood stunned.
"I'm no fool, Eli. I know that these idiot Toons are pouring out to vote for Flippy. They prefer to live in a fantasy world where everything is plum and dandy. They don't want to face the truth that with that dog in charge, our economy is surely to tank, Anti Toons will run amok, and it may be the end of Toontown as we know it. They need to be reminded that their mayor is a liar. It may break some of the illusion surrounding him. If we can just pry open that door a little bit, we can stick a crowbar in there and rip it open." McCarthy began to relax a bit more, allowing his arrogance to overwhelm his short-lived worries.
"Mr. Josephson you're talking about something that could lead to a huge backlash as well. While this could absolutely work, it also has the capacity to blow back so hard that it not only seals your fate in your run for mayor, but may lead to a political risk for your campaign spot. As your adviser, I suggest maybe we hold off a bit longer, see what our other options are."
McCarthy stood up angrily. "Listen to me! You all work for me! I've listened to you all and it has led to terrible polling numbers and millions of wasted jellybeans! I'm beginning to think that I would be better off running things on my own. I am going to bring this up during the debate and whatever happens, happens. If I am going down I might as well bring that stupid blue dog own with me."
The day had finally come. A day Anna just a few weeks ago could never have imagined ever happening again. Stepping out into the lush green grass of Toontown Central, the yellow monkey stared up at the mostly blue sky. There was such a simple beauty to it that she had been taking for granted all of these years. After staring at gray brick walls and rusted metal poles nearly all day every day for the last several weeks, anything would be a welcome site. Although she was officially acquitted a few days prior, due to a delay in processing she had not been officially released until now. The last few days had been a whirlwind, trying to figure out what she would do next? Her and Walter had been living at a house that was owned by his father, which had since been taken from her. Even after she was declared innocent, Walter Sr had decided to continue cutting her off from any support. According to her attorney, Walter's assets were legally hers, but would be tied up in a lengthy battle with his family to determine what really "belonged" to Walter. He had left behind enough money for Anna to get a new start for a little while, but the young Toon was not concerned with money, but rather her future. While she had hated to admit it, many would always be skeptical of her. Finding a job would be nearly impossible until her name was officially cleared. All of her so called "friends" had abandoned her. She had no real family to speak of. She was completely alone.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" Anna turned around and faced a purple duck wearing an extravagant white polo shirt and red shorts. "Are you Mrs. Anna Edwards?"
"Um... Maybe? Who are you?" Anna looked at the character suspiciously. Two minutes out of jail and somebody was already bugging her? This had to be the work of Walter Sr?
The duck bowed and made a sweeping motion with his arm. "Please excuse me, Mrs. Edwards. My name is Billy. I am here as your escort! I believe this was previously arranged?"
"Arranged? Escort? You mean like a date? I most certainly didn't hear anything about this!" Anna's suspicions were still unclear as the duck chucked and pulled out his whisper device. "Did Walter send you?"
"Walter? You would be referring to Walter Senior, correct? That would be incorrect. I am from FEDORA. We learned that you would be out today and we sent a message to the jailhouse to let you know we would be here to escort you to your new temporary living situation!"
Anna scratched her head. That name popped up again; FEDORA. This couldn't be a coincidence could it? "Um, I wasn't told anything about that. Living situation? I was thinking of just going and getting a hotel room"
"Ah surely you jest, Mrs. Edwards. You are a distinguished guest and will be treated as such. FEDORA has arranged for an estate for you to temporarily stay at while we find you more permanent living. After all, nobody of your importance should be stuck in a tiny little room. Please, just come meet with the members and they will explain more. I assure you, FEDORA is the most genuine and caring group of Toons I've ever had the pleasure to meet." the purple duck smiled so wide that it looked like the seams of his mouth would tear apart.
"I guess... I'm not really doing anything else. I keep hearing about this FEDORA. But I'm not really sure I understand. Walter was involved somehow and I'm still kind of in the haze here. I'd really like if someone could fill me in?" the yellow monkey ducked down and ran her hand through the grass.
Billy continued his almost impossible smile and nodded. "Absolutely, Mrs. Edwards. All with good time. Joseph will explain everything. Come, come! We have much to do!" grabbing his escortee's hand, the pair went jogging off.