I have to fight the fear, I have to stay calm here. They already don't trust me, I don't need to give them anymore to distrust me.
I'm on the phone, is that right? I think I'm on the phone oh my god I'm scared Jason and Chief Otterton are missing and it's the middle of the damn night and all of my spare clothes were in the station and the station's burning, blue and black smoke curling and mixing with the flames as they rise into the sky.
"D- C- Deputy Commissioner Swinton," I hear myself stammer, barely feeling like I'm living in my head, barely feeling connected with my body right now, "There's- there's been an e- emergency, Wilde and Ch- Chief are go- gone," I stammer out, and for a second I think that he's hung up on me because the line's gone dead…
And then I hear the breathing on the other end of the line and I wish it had gone dead, that he'd be offering to help me, but no, that's not how my life works.
When I jumped into this job, I was told to serve and protect, that's something that I still stand by, something that I'll always stand by. Apparently the gosh darn swine- the literal swine, he won't have any of that. My family's reputation precedes me I'm going to guess…
"Mary, it's the middle of the night, they've probably just gone out for a walk…."
"But the station-?" I hear myself stammering, and then I hear a sigh on the other end of the line. "Look, Officer Smellwether, get out of my fur. You want to find them, call back in the morning. Or maybe you could try to find them. I have better things to do than help out glorified felons."
I hear the click of the receiver on the other end, and what I've known, what I've subconsciously realized since I got myself into this, sinks into my mind. I'm just being set up to fail here, over and over and over again… this has to be illegal, there has to be some way that I can make them face the music, someway I can get help for my friends…
I hate to have to do this, but it's the only thing that I can think of. I only have the one lifeline here, and it's one that I've resisted using for as long as I can.
I dig my cellphone out of my pocket, feeling chills run up and down my spine even though my back is being warmed by the fire behind me, a fire that's burning my dreams away.
I know the number by heart, even though I've never dialed it, and my hooves tap it in, and I hear it ring through, once, twice, three times before Officer Perkins, the lynx receptionist, picks up the line.
"Savannah Central Penitentiary, you've reached the reception desk." Nothing more than that, but it's enough to help me calm down, okay, I'm talking to an actual mammal here, an actual live mammal who usually answers the phone like that even though it's totally weird and he works in a prison but okay that's normal for him, yes, that's normal calm down Mary..
"Officer Perkins, is Doug Ramses available?"
"And with whom am I speaking?" he asks, calmly, something that makes me even more agitated, even though I know it's just procedure but my friend and my boss are gone and this isn't going well, and I'm scared…
"Officer Mary Bellwether," I say, hoping my voice isn't shaking. It is, though, I know it is.
"One second, Officer Bellwether," the lynx says, tone much too jovial.
After what feels like forever and an era, I hear my father's voice on the other end of the line.
"Who is this?" he demands, tone rough, and then I tell him it's me, and his tone softens. "Mary, how are you? It's been a while, I miss you."
"It really has been a while, dad, look, do you know anything about where Jesse is?"
"Are you trying to get me to rat?" he asks, tone hardening, just ever so slightly.
"Dad, the precinct just got firebombed and both Jason Wilde and Octavia Otterton are missing, anything you can share with me might help, alright? You're talking to me as your daughter, not as a cop…"
He sighs, and I hear the stress in his voice. "Last I knew, Mary, he'd rebuilt in the same place he did before. You're not going to arrest him, are you?"
"Dad, I can't make any promises, but I'll do my best, alright?"
He sighs again, and I can hear the stress there. Kinda feels like we've traded stress... "I love you, Mary… I'd do anything for you, you know that, right?"
"I do, Dad, I do," I say, feeling a smile come to my face.
"You know," I hear him say, "I gotta ask, why'd you come to me first? Cops not helping you? I'm not surprised."
Criminal that he is, my father's not a dull mammal.
"The family name carries, Dad," I say. "Service and protection isn't given to criminals, even when they wear the blue."
"But you're not-" he starts, but I cut him off.
"Look, Dad, I know you mean well, but to the Assistant Commissioner, I'm just another Bellwether, if you get what I mean…"
He sighs again, and I can almost hear him nodding. "Yes I do, Mary. Assistant Commissioner Swinton, right?"
"Right."
"Okay, this is something I'm going to tell Officer Bellwether, is that clear?"
"Yes sir."
"Okay, I happen to know that Swinton was caught taking bribes for Ketazine, you know who they are, right?"
"The- oh my." Ketazine's Zootopia's army's largest defense contractor, this isn't gonna be good.
"Exactly. I don't know much more than that, but-"
"Probable cause, right?"
"Hey, it's useful. It's what got me caught, so find Jesse, find Ketazine. You got this, kid," he says, and I can hear the satisfaction in his voice, the pride, something I've never gotten from him before.
"Thanks, Dad," I say, smiling despite all this, a plan coming to mind, "I really appreciate it."
"You got it, Mary. I'm rooting for you."
With that, he hangs up the phone, and I have a plan. I don't want to get Commissioner Bogo involved, but I have to tell Jason's parents what's going on…. I can't keep them out of the loop, how would that make me look to them? I already know that they don't really approve of us being together, I don't need to make their opinion of me- both professional and personal- worse.
After what feels like another eternity, I finally manage to get a call through to Precinct One. "Staff Sergeant Maria Clawhauser speaking."
"Hi Sergeant, there's been an emergency."
