Chapter 23: Healing Wounds

Storm finds he is finally safe and Honey finds a family.

The small fennic fox opened his eyes and frowned because he had no idea where he was. Everything around him seemed white and it took a few moments for him to realize that he was in a very large bed with white sheets. The fox named Storm winced when he tried to sit up, he knew from the dull pain and dizziness that he was sedated with some kind of drugs. "Sit still!" a familiar feminine voice ordered and he groaned as he moved slightly so he could try to see the tannish brown-furred face staring at him with concern. His eyes just wouldn't focus and she was blurry.

"Where am I?" he slurred through swollen lips. "Am I dead?"

"No, you silly fox," the vixen softly giggled. Her paw reached out and gently caressed his long ear.

"Are you an angel?" he asked as he tried to concentrate, trying to banish the fog within his brain.

"No, it's me. It's your Jasmine," she replied as she moved closer and their noses almost touched.

"Then I was right," Storm muttered as he closed his eyes again. "You are an angel."

"Oh, Stormy?" she affectionately whispered.

"I'm sorry I got you into this," he slurred out. "Have you called your girlfriend yet, I'm sure that she is worried?"

"You are such a dumb fox, I lied," Jasmine sighed and he felt her paw gently rub his ear again. "There was never anyone but you, I love you, Stormy."

"That's nice, I love you too," he groggily muttered as he laid there and let her soft rubbing lull him back into a peaceful sleep.

Outside of the room, Stone frantically paced back and forth as he waited for someone to tell him how his brother was doing. "He's a little worse for the wear," one of the clinic nurses told him. "A bit of a concussion along with a few scrapes and bruises, but he will be fine.

"Did he say what happened?" Stone asked.

"He got into a bar fight," the nurse lied. "It seems that he has a bit of a temper."

"That I know! When can I see him?"

"He's resting and I don't want you to disturb him. His girlfriend is in there with him right now, so I think he will be okay."

"Wait, he has a girlfriend?" Stone asked as he cocked his head in the confused canid manner.

Chief Bogo stared at the papers before him. "What the hell do you mean that she sat on these reports all night?" he snapped at Clawhauser. The fat cheetah handed the incident report concerning Anton getting into a fight and his injury to his boss.

"Child Services does things on their own schedule," the portly cheetah shrugged. "No police were required or charges filed and so arrangements were made to take him to a private clinic in Tundratown. Stone Kole has been with him all night."

"So he had nothing to do with that bloody baseball bat found at his mother's house?"

"He either was at the orphanage or the clinic the whole time."

"What about his brother Storm?" Chief Bogo grumbled to Detective Hamm. The fidgety boar was sitting in a nearby chair sipping from his mug of coffee. "You've got twelve witnesses that place him in a bar fight in Tundratown. He's now in the same clinic in Tundratown and that seems rather too convenient, wouldn't you say?"

"Very, but we have no police report about the fight. The owner says that things like that happen all the time and his bouncers handled the incident, no one wanted to file charges," the detective answered. "I personally believe it's a cover-up, but I can't find any proof either way."

"No charges, so no need to investigate." The bull snapped. "Does the DNA on the bat show anything?"

"Just we are dealing with a jackal having been hit several times, there was a lot of blood," the detective sighed as he tossed another report on the desk. "He was probably on the ground when he was beaten. There are no signs there was a forced entry into the apartment and it looks like someone packed rather hastily. Of course, no one saw or heard anything, you know how clannish they are along The Strand when it comes to the locals."

"You wanted to know where Wilde went, why?"

"He's friends with the Kole family, especially after he and Hopps investigated the shooting this past summer."

"What does Hopps say?"

"She told me that since he just got off his four-day shift, he went hiking and camping in the mountains north of Tundratown for a few days. You can't get good cell service up there. We did check his credit card and found a charge was made to it at a small store up that ways, I asked the local sheriff to check it out."

"There are rumors that the sheriff is dirty," Chief Bogo sighed as he stared at his mug of cold coffee. "No one can pin anything on him and we have no jurisdiction up there, so we're stuck with his word on the matter."

"Should I turn this over to IA to investigate?"

"No, they've been harassing Wilde enough and HR has already been involved with that last investigation, it seems that they think that IA is only after Wilde because he is a fox."

"Probably," the detective shrugged. "They still haven't gotten over Hopps and Wilde becoming an item, after all that crap before the city council last summer they can't really touch them anyways."

"If I had been one of those two, I would have taken the city for a pile of cash," Bogo sighed as he sat back in his chair. "Hopps is too idealistic, but I don't understand why Wilde didn't exploit this to his advantage?"

"Maybe he likes being a police officer?" Benny interjected. "He's really proud that he's the first fox in uniform."

"Clawhauser, don't you have work to do?" the bull snapped as he gave the rotund cheetah a shooing motion with his hoof.

"How far do we push this?" the boar asked as he sat back in the chair.

"What do you mean?"

"That cat who drowned was a known member of organized crime and has a rap sheet as long as my arm. We've never been able to charge him with anything major, but I believe that this isn't his first attempted rape. There is a rumor on the street that he even assaulted his own sister and then forced her into street prostitution."

"Still we have the blood on a baseball bat found at Storm Kole's mother's place."

"No police reports or any records of any blunt head injuries at any of the hospitals or clinics. Whoever was hurt must have been treated by a back ally sawbone, so we've got a probable crime without a victim."

Chief Bogo sighed as he rubbed his eyes with frustration. "I still want Storm Kole in here for questioning…" he began, but there was a knocking on the door.

"What now!" he snapped when he saw the cheetah at his door again.

"You know that camel Salazar who we've been after as the suspected head of the Sahara Square mob?" Ben began as he placed a report on the bull's desk. "He died of a heart attack earlier today."

"Huh, I'm not sure that is good or bad news?" Detective Hamm snorted out. "I'm positive that he was the leader of the mob, but we never could pin anything on him."

"They're sure it was his heart?" Bogo mused as he looked at the report and then tossed it to the detective.

The boar looked at the toxicology report and then gave a shrug, "Seems like it was."

"Good," Chief Bogo said with a smile as he rummaged in his desk drawer. He pulled out a bottle of whiskey and grabbed up an unused coffee cup, pouring a double shot into the mug he offered it to the boar before he filled his own. "Here's to one less problem to worry about!"

"What of Storm Kole?" Detective Hamm asked as he tossed down his drink. "You still want to chase him down?"

"We've got enough to investigate," Bogo shrugged. "The tomcat tried to rape the wrong cat and drowned in the sea. Since no one has reported anything about the baseball bat either, just concentrate on the murder of the bar owner and his waitress."

"Are you now saying to leave Stone Kole alone?"

"Let him go his merry way, he'll screw up again and we'll get him then."

"Probably."

"Nick Wilde camping!" the bull laughed. "That fox truly amazes me sometimes."

Nick wasn't even anywhere near the woods, he was down in a tunnel helping Finn try to keep a wild looking badger from pressing the button to blow up a mansion in Sahara Square. "I don't care that Storm is safe!" Honey growled as she tried to push the two foxes aside. "They still hurt my brother."

"Honey, Storm isn't your real brother!" Nick protested before he was shoved aside.

The badger reached for the button, but she hesitated when she heard a very strict sounding feminine voice call to her in a motherly tone. "Young lady, you are not to touch that button!" Susan commanded. "You are not going to become a killer. You know that would make you as bad as they are!"

Honey paused and dropped her paw to her side and her head bowed in submission to her much smaller surrogate mother. "Now come over here," Susan continued before she jumped up on a crate and opened her arms. The strange badger stepped up to her and let the vixen embrace her as tears began to stream down her face. "Don't you think it's time for you to give this up and came home?"

"I don't have a home."

"Sure you do sweetheart, you've got me and Finn, along with Nick, Storm, and Stoney. We are your family."

"But…but," Honey sniffled. "I can't leave, what about the purge?"

"If it ever comes, we will face it together," Susan confidently answered. "Together as a family."