Chapter 38

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"Let's just get the last lot in there and get back."

Kris nodded as he picked up the laundry and began throwing it in the waiting metal drum.

Having talked to Armando and presenting his demands to Timofey, the bear had thought for a second before laying out new terms. They'd do basic fully clothed poses, just to help get the figures right, and that would be all. A perfectly happy sacrifice to help create a better outcome. After all, he'd said, for a while his parents' family had done that with a nasty elephant seal, before he was removed from the equation in time.

Not wanting to give that much thought, Kris had returned to the capybara who'd agreed, just in time to be called off for their chores, which was what had landed him here in the laundry. It wasn't that bad in all honesty. After picking up the bags of old clothing set for the wash in the shower room with a few other mammals (including at least one ram who certainly looked like a hardcore herd member, though he had stayed both silent and distant) they'd marched in a line, getting let through various parts of the facility until they got to the laundry room. After that, it had been a case of sorting through them, making sure that no ID tags had been left in display pockets (he'd found one for a brown sicko hare, Luke Ruta) and then throwing the pieces in the massive washing machines.

There was a light conversation going on between them, started when an antlerless deer stag (they'd been removed, and were just nubs in what would have been their peak) had asked whether the guards were present to stop them chucking in someone they didn't like. Eyes had turned to one officer who was there. Another deer stag, Fulton. One of his eyebrows raised up in return, though he'd remained silent, not dignifying the conversation with a response. Something that Kris had joined in with. Not only did he find the whole discussion distasteful, he had his own issues. As he threw uniform and uniform, vest after vest, underwear after underwear in, he couldn't help but let his eyes linger on his paws. He had a worried unease in his stomach, one he'd been feeling ever since an incident in a cell at lunchtime.

He didn't like the feeling, but it was somehow more preferable than the current conversation, particularly as it spread to a rumour that a mammal in a different block (generally held to be a sheep or other woolly mammal, though the ram had angrily said that it was definitely a wolf) was in here for throwing their own sibling or teen pregnancy baby into one.

Not joining in didn't mean he wasn't listening on. The general argument was that it had to be a woolly mammal, as the offender in question was mad at the baby lamb for getting its wool so filthy again that they'd snapped and chucked it in and turned on the spin cycle in a fit of rage. They then went on to discuss whether it was actually a female that did it, who was in one of the female prisoner blocks. The ram had then argued that no, it definitely wasn't a sheep, it had to be a hyena. After all, female prisons were literally full of them.

At that point Kris finally felt like it was time to interject, and he'd pointed out that while they were the most common mammals in female prisons and by far had the highest rate of female incarceration on a per species basis, they were still only one or two percent of the population at most, while male hyenas were imprisoned vastly less than those in other species. The ram had said that 'of course he'd say that', Kris had asked why that was the case, and the ram had then told him not to play him for a fool.

At which point Fulton had walked in, ears raised in awareness, and told him not to worry. After all, the fox didn't need to play. The rest of the prisoners then laughed at his dissing, leading him to snort and tell them to 'get the last lot in there and get back'.

And so they did that, before walking over to the pick-up area. The boys weren't allowed to go in the drying and ironing area, instead ferrying the pre-pressed clothes back to the various cells, where they'd join the small piles. There was a list of mammals in their block, with their sizes attached (along with a note against a few of them, stating that they were running low for whatever reason and needed extra changes). Kris picked up some smaller to medium ones, (Cells 9-16) including that of his hare. He needed to send his card back, so he might as well. There were also five cells down for a change of bedding, two of them were ones he was covering, so he picked it all up and began making his way back.

"Hey…"

He paused, turning over to see a camel walking by him.

"What did that baby pup do to get in here?"

"I don't know," he said, glancing away, down and hard.

"-C'mon. You're close to him! Hasn't he told you?"

"No," Kris repeated.

"Well whatever it was, it must have been mental," he carried on. "I heard they gave him the max, and this new tapir from a different block said he was a murderer."

Kris remained silent, closing his eyes and breathing in and out.

"You were on that bus too. And you're shutting up to protect him. He is a killer!"

Kris remained silent, closing his eyes and breathing in and out.

"Must be a real psycho. A killer freak or something. Evil little biter…"

"-Yeah," the ram said. "Good thing that chomper came to the right place."

Kris closed his eyes hard, feeling the fingers on his paws flex under their loads. He didn't move them though, burying down the urge to act. He HAD to remain calm.

After all, he'd almost lost it earlier.

Scratch that, he had lost it.

Armando hadn't been threatening him, or been a threat to him, or even been hurting someone he cared about. No, he'd made a rude comment about Agnes, and he'd flipped. He'd attacked him and, yes, he'd always intended to hold back. Just to spook him. Even as his instincts had taken over in that instant, they'd been programmed not to hurt him but to scare.

But that didn't change the fact that he'd lost control, did it? Lost control like Armando had done, taking it out on a mouse who'd been in the wrong place and the wrong time and said exactly the wrong things. And whatever way the capybara put it, he was a convict because of that. He was staying in prison, he'd always be an ex-criminal, he'd caused harm. He wasn't a bad mammal, but Kris was sure he could say that about a fair number of those here. It wasn't that they usually did bad things, it was that at their hardest point they weren't able to hold back like others had, and now they were paying for it.

And he'd slipped too. Just like them.

He looked down and the baggy black and white stripes that hung down from him, and the hard walls around him. That wasn't who he was, and he had to prove that. He couldn't let himself slip up like that again. After all, with all the friends fighting to get him out when he didn't belong here, what kind of mammal would he be by proving that he did…

What kind of mammal would he be to Agnes?

He'd promised her that he wouldn't change… He promised he'd still be himself for her, he…

He missed her.

He missed all of them, but her… She was lonely and scared out there, and he missed her touch. He closed his eyes, and imagined what it'd feel like to have her holding him, her muzzle nuzzling against his own, their lips and teeth embraced in a kiss.

It was broken off by a shout in his ear. "WASDAMMATTA CRYBABY?"

He flinched back, almost losing his piles of laundry, turning back to the source of the call. His eyes narrowed as he glared at the ram, a cud eating grin on his muzzle. It took him a second or two to remind himself that he mustn't let them get to him, and how it was probably a good thing that his paws were already busy. It took him a second longer to realise just how misted up his eyes were.

"I SAID…"

"Leave the new kit alone," the antlerless deer said, cutting in. "We all have those moments. Don't lie and say we don't."

He snorted. "I don't."

"I said…"

"-Say we don't, not that I don't," he said, a smug grin plastered on his face.

Thankfully, any discussion left was cut short as they were let back into the cell block, splitting up to go to their delivery areas. Kris closed his eyes and let out a breath of air, he was glad that was over.

"-Hey, new kit. You okay?"

He looked up to see the deer walking next to him.

"Yeah, just thinkin'..."

"Know what it's like," he said, sighing. "Just thinking about how you cussed up and how you landed yourself here and now, and…" There was a pause and a shrug. "Well, what an idiot you are. Doesn't matter if you meant it or not, it happened and…"

Kris nodded along as the cervid began making his way up the steps to the top row of cells, his load set for the larger mammals up there.

"-But mammals will forgive though, if you make the effort." There was a slight pause, as he seemed to try and glance up at where his antlers would have been. "I shall never again wear the weapons that took away a mammal's sight, nor drink nor rut like a heathen, as penance for what I have done. And for that I know that Jesus Christ, Holy Lamb, son of God forgives me, and if you're truly sorry he'll forgive you too."

"Right, thanks," Kris said, nodding as they parted. He knocked on the various cell doors, handing the laundry over when the occupant was in there or placing it on the ground when they weren't. Last of all, he came to the cell of the hare, Luke Ruta. Taking a glance at the lost card, his head tilted slightly; it was the same mammal that stood next to him in the ball game lineup. Seventeen years old, insect bite allergy, and one year into however long his sentence was.

Knocking the door, he was met with the bunny in question, his age and tall build giving him a minor height advantage (ears not included). "You dropped this."

"Huh," he said, taking the clothes and spotting the card. "Thanks."

Kris nodded, handing it over and turning to leave, only to flinch as he felt a hard paw grab his tail, the freaky feeling of a tight grip around the thin hidden limb inside sending a jolt through his body. He gasped for air, his limbs beginning a mad angry turn around out of reflex only to be stayed by his brain, urging him to keep control. The end result was a half yip and him jolting around to halfway face the hare, his body tense up and ready to fight, his fur on end and his teeth exposed.

"Dude, cussing chill," the hare said, his grip still hard. "Just want to talk. I heard you were stitched up. So was I, by a lying slut doe no less."

"Let go of my tail," Kris ordered.

"Just calm down and come in, I just want a talk," he said, paws up as if surrendering, but also trying to pull him back. Kris put a paw on his own tail and tried to yank it back out, only serving to hurt it as the hare kept his grip firm, the hairs pulling back hard.

"I said…"

"Jesus christ, what is your problem," the hare spat. "I'm trying to have a conversation here, but no. You're being a stupid kit who just acts out, just like my doe."

"Let, go, of, my, tail!" Kris said, letting his fangs bare. Yes, he didn't like the fact that he was having to act aggressive, but this wasn't a dark reflex from some slight. The very act of that paw on his own tail felt horribly wrong, and the hare was not taking no for an answer.

"Sit on my bed, it's that easy, stop making it hard for yourself," he said, lecturing him.

Kris trembled a little, before deciding to play nice for a little bit. He stepped in, the hare leading him back until they were both level with the bed. "You that side," Luke said, Kris glaring at them as they swapped positions. Finally he sat down, the hare smiling a sickly grin as he stood there for a few seconds, then slowly sat down and, finally, let go of the limb. Kris curled it around to his other side as he carried on talking. "See, that was so easy. I don't even know what the fuss was all about. Sometimes you mammals just kick up such a fuss over nothing, you know?" His smile was increasing, and though he wasn't going to punch it, Kris decidedly wanted to wipe it off his face.

"I'm sure that's what you think of a certain mammal you hurt in the past," the silver fox said, making it flick off for a second. "You probably thought you could get away with it as she cried or you covered her mouth. Standing up in court to face you down, you probably denied it all, but they all knew. You ended up here in the end, why did you kick such a fuss up over nothing and…"

The smile was gone, though Kris' ears were pulling back as they were replaced by a face of rage. "I was trying to help you, but I guess you're just as ungrateful as her, pelt. Get out."

Kris nodded. "I think I will."

"-Not like you could understand love. You freaky ace mammal or whatever..."

Kris ignored him, only to be cut off as he felt his tail get yanked again. He froze, teeth baring as he felt the tension on the base of his spine grown. "Let go, or I will make you."

"Ha, as if," he mocked. "I heard about…"

Whatever he was about to say was replaced with a scream as Kris jumped on the spot, spinning around and stomping the flat of his foot paw into the centre of the hare's lower arm, slamming it hard against the edge of the wooden bed base. He yelled in pain, his paw letting go, and Kris paid him no care as he began marching out. No reason to feel guilty about this one, the hare was a sick bully who'd forced it out of him. At the very least, he wouldn't try anything stupid like that again anytime…

"-ARGGHHHHH!"

Kris turned, just glancing the sight of the leaping hare as he came down on him, hard. His dull claws dug in deep, and Kris winced in pain as one arm wrapped around his neck and the other began drum-beating on his head, hard. In return, he threw himself back, feeling the pressure jolt up as the crack of the hare's head hitting the wall rang out. Raising a foot, he slammed the heel into his groin while his elbow punched into the centre of his chest. The fight taken out of him, Kris tore off his now weak arm and turned to face him, keeping eye contact as he walked back out. The hare looked at him and put his paw up in surrender, mouth quivering as he retreated back into his cell.

It was only then that Kris began to retreat from his tunnel vision, noticing two things. The first was the crowd of prisoners around him, beginning to whoop and cheer. The other was the crowd of guards marching up to them, ordering everyone to get on the floor. Feeling a jolt as the adrenaline pedal was released, Kris did just that, getting down and beginning to fear how this might play out for him. A fear that magnified as a serval stood in front of him, her eyes glaring. "Get up," she ordered, truncheon in one paw, the other resting on her taser.

Kris nodded. "He…"

"Shut up!" she yelled into his face. She looked over to see the hare, being led out by a different guard. "You, what happened here?"

"I…" he began, looking at both Kris, the guards, and the assembled prisoners. "He gave my ID card back with the laundry and I asked him to come in for a chat. He got angry and said mean things about why I'm in here and… -and pushed him and he went savage and…" He cut himself off there.

She nodded and turned to Kris, pointing a finger at him. "And why did you think it was a good idea to insult him about something so sensitive?" she asked. "I'm pretty certainly you wouldn't want your reason for being here to be rubbed in, would you?" she asked.

Kris' eyes met hers, his ears folding back and tail falling between his legs. "He grabbed my tail to pull me in, refusing to let go. I just wanted to get out."

There was a pause. "Well maybe you could have done that without getting into a fight over nothing," she scoffed. "Both of you, follow me. I think some time thinking about what you did will do you some good."

.

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"So, did you find anything?" Principle Van Der Horn asked, looking up at them.

"As far as I'm aware, nothing conclusive, no," Wolford answered, pausing as he looked over at Catano.

The cheetah nodded. "Only small clues and hints, but other than that, no. However, there is something… concerning, I'd like to ask you about."

The springbok raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"What anti-speciesism policies do you have in place," she asked, listing off of her fingers. "Reporting mechanisms and anti-bullying procedures." She paused, looking up. "Are you aware of some of the speciesist activity that is happening right now in your school."

"I hope you understand," she began, breathing in and out. "That there are vastly fewer staff than there are pupils, who are often alone. We are not omniscient. And, in the cases where we do have reports of bullying of any kind, it's our policy to try and give both sides a say. You're a police mammal, are you not? Surely you understand the concept of working with a burden of proof?"

"Yes I do," she said. "I also understand that we can haul potentially violent or disruptive mammals off the street in the name of keeping the peace."

"And if you get two mammals coming on, one saying the other bullied him, the other saying he didn't, should I choose one side 'to keep the peace?." Her eyes narrowed. "You do understand how easily that can be abused to make one mammal the victim, especially if the bully is a popular mammal with a bunch of friends who can pile in on it? I know full well that all schools get flak for 'doing nothing against bullies', but we do want to. It's just that the truth is something incredibly difficult to figure out, though camera phones have thankfully made things much easier. If you saw a mammal getting bullied, feel free to write it down, and if we can find who it is we can look into it. Given that you witnessed it, it will actually have a fair chance of being acted on."

"Understood," Catano said, pausing to think. "What I saw is related to this investigation, which makes things tricky. Moreover, it wasn't so much speciesist bullying, but the kind of speciesist activity that results in bullying."

"Which is?"

"A group of your students watching a video from a dangerous mammal, hate preaching about a certain species and the dangers thereof of them. I overheard them noting that she had 'good points' and that what she said was 'interesting.' What exactly have you got in place to stop that kind of activity?"

Wolford coughed. "Catano, if this was their own business, it's their own business."

Her eyes narrowed. "And if they become radicalised? If they then watch more of these, and decide that violence is necessary." She turned back to the principle. "What are you doing to educate mammals on the dangers of watching these videos? Listening to these mammals?"

"I… nothing," she said. "Though arguably, we could run an assembly on fact checking and fake news."

"It would be a start," she said. "And what about ways of stopping these mammals from watching and listening to these mammals in the first place?"

"What," Wolford asked. "Censoring them? You do understand that these students can just watch them in their own home, right?"

Before Catano could reply, the principal spoke up instead. "Did this bullying incident you mention," she began, "involve a bunch of students watching one of those videos in a place where the… -for lack of a better word, 'targeted', species could see them?"

"It involved one showing it to another member of their species, one who was in a very vulnerable position and could easily be pulled in," she said. "They then confronted a member of the targeted species, grilling them aggressively as they tried to work out their guilt."

"Right then," she mumbled, thinking it through. "I mean, if it was showing, and there were witnesses, you could get them for doing something inappropriate. But if it was in private, you couldn't really hit them for sharing a video. Not unless it contained age inappropriate material… of the kind that older teenagers…"

She left it unsaid, Catano's ears folding down hard. "Urghhh… As much as I can't stand that stuff, why can't you knock them for watching these things? I mean that filth is banned, rightfully, and it doesn't lead to mammals hating and bullying one another, does it?"

"Hmmm," Angela said, nodding. "I mean, it entirely depends on who this is. By all means, I agree that there's horrible things out there on the internet, but there's so many you'd have to catch someone watching one first, judge it, then act. And as your partner said, if you have a long word with them and it doesn't convince them, they can just go home and watch and read them anyhow. We can act on actions, not thoughts, but… given what you said we could certainly have a word with the mammals in question. After all, I presume this is Kris' cousin we're talking about, some mammals picking on him. I could certainly talk to them."

Catano paused. "What mammals do you think they are, exactly?"

She blinked. "Pardon?"

Wolford huffed. "Catano," he began, only to be held off with a raised paw.

"What species do you think did this?"

There was a long pause. "It could be any one in the school."

"But if you had to pick one, which…"

"-If you're insistent," she cut off, her hackles raising. "-A groundhog."

Catano blinked, relaxing for a second before an eye raised in thought. She shook it off. "Fair enough. And, actually, it was the fox who was watching the video."

"Ash?" she asked.

Catano nodded. "Watching a very ovinophobic video," she said. "Before having an aggressive conversation with a student of yours, Maisy Calrama."

"-Who," Wolford cut in, "has somewhat of a loose connection with the case." Catano threw him a stink eye. "It's not out of the blue that he'd try and question her, he probably thinks that he has to try and help his cousin."

"Right," Angela said, nodding. "I'll have a gentle word with him. Is that all?"

Catano nodded, as did Wolford, the pair leaving in silence.

A silence that was broken by the feline member of the duo as they entered their squad car.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" the canine half asked with a shrug. "The long talk about policing what the kids watched in their spare time?"

"-No, you cutting in at the end to defend the kit."

He paused, before crossing his arms. "You know what? Maybe he did need defending, given that it sounded like you were going to screw him over then."

"Screw him… -I actually saw what he did," she said.

"And weren't going to mention the fact that he probably knows who Maisy is."

"So…"

"You were going to paint him as a straight up ovinophobe whereas in fact he actually has a perfectly understandable reason for wanting to question her. Doesn't he?"

"I…" she began. "Yes, he does, but he does not have a good reason to be watching those videos, yet alone radicalising Kris' heartbroken girlfriend with them."

"Radica…" he began, before shaking his head. "You know what, forget it. Let's move on."

"Sure. Do that. Ignore the fact that the words of a hate merchant are spreading amongst the young… Just carry on…" She looked away, her eyes narrow and nostrils flared.

"And what are you going to do about it, huh," he asked. "It's as the Principal said, you can't stop them from watching them. Yeah, showing them off in a mammals face, you can knock them for. But if you start trying to tell them what they can and can't watch, next thing you know you'll be being called the thought police."

She gave a bitter sigh. "Do not start on that Nineteen Eighty-Four stuff with me. I had to calm Maisy down, not helped by the fact that mammals like those have convinced her that she needs to pull a daily hate against herself, given her the ability to doublethink that equality can only be made if sheep are second class citizens and made her constantly afraid of the wrongthink that she's not a bad mammal due to her species. Maybe the school can't do stuff… But there are those higher up who should."

"Right," he muttered, rolling his eyes when he knew she wasn't looking. "Anyhow, in terms of the actual case, I didn't get much. Most agree that that weasel used to pop by here, but hasn't in a long while. And you?"

"Well, despite everything, I did confirm that Maisy was in the park on that day," she said, before pausing. "However, when asking about meeting that weasel, she said she didn't."

"Just putting it out there, she could have lied."

She frowned. "I asked her about when she ran away, given that the woodchuck saw her, and I mentioned her going through the cuttings given what Nick and Judy said. She looked a bit confused by that, saying she went across the open green."

"So, the woodchuck was lying. Not the first time."

Her eyes narrowed. "He said he saw her go along the path towards him. She might have been out of there when the weasel was in, or never went in in the first place."

"So, the sheep might be lying."

"I don't think so," she said defiantly.

"Huh?"

"I think she's innocent in this."

"Oh…" he said, trailing off. "Maybe the woodchuck talked to the weasel then and tried to set her up."

She blinked. "Oh come on, you only think that as you have a thing against him."

"Of course I do, he's a speciesist little dip-cuss. I thought those were the types you had a thing against, aren't they?"

She looked back. "Maybe it's like the principal said, you can't just jump to conclusions…"

"-You weren't there when I got him!"

"-And you weren't there when I saw them with Maisy either, were you?" she countered.

There was a pause, the tension in the cruiser frayed.

"In any case," Wolford carried on. "Remember when you pressed the principal into naming the fox hating species, and I think we all know what one you were trying to make her say, which one did she say in the end?"

"Groundhog."

"Aka chipmunk. Chipmunk is to groundhog as African hunting dog is to African wild dog. Why do you think, huh?"

"Point conceded," she grumbled, crossing her arms and thinking it through. Truth be told, he did seem to have a thing against Ash, so it kind of made sense… But she couldn't shake the feeling that something, somewhere, in all of this was twisted in a certain way. Something wasn't adding up somewhere. Someone was lying. And, until that was found out, things would go on.

She thought back to Ash, sitting there with his cousin's girlfriend, who…

She shook her head.

She'd interviewed him herself, laid traps that he'd missed, and from what she knew of him and what she'd seen there was no way he'd throw his cousin like that simply to get his girlfriend back. Of course there wasn't…

Of course…

Of course...

She shook her head. "Why can't this case be simple?"

"Why can't they all," Wolford said, as he started the car and drove them out. As they did so, Catano's phone rang and she brought it up to her ears.

"Hello…? -What! What do you mean?"

Wolford's ears rose as she nodded along, eventually hanging up. "Good news?"

She looked at him, a strange mix of unplaceable emotions on her face. "It seems that I've got my wish, we have something rock solid to go on. We need to get back to the station, quick."

"Then why don't you look happy?"

"It…" she began, trying to find her words. She thought back to a familiar face, one she'd wanted to help… "It doesn't feel like a happy ending."