Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from Zootopia are all owned by Disney the great and powerful. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.
I'll call Minnie the Moocher, from Cab Calloway in 1931, the start of Smokey Joe.
She messed around with a bloke named Smokey
She loved him though was cokey
He took her down to Chinatown
And he showed her how to kick the gong around
Minnie the Moocher
Judy stopped the tape and rewound it slightly. The image was grainy, as video tape usually is, but showed the Post Office interior clearly. It was late, and no animals were visible. Suddenly the image became wildly distorted and a figure entered and may have opened the box. The weird distortion made it impossible to tell anything for certain. "Don't know who the killer is," commented Nick. "But he's got Bellwether level smarts."
"And why do I have the feeling the video from the bus terminal will have the same problem?"
"That's why I haven't been in a hurry to view it, in case you were wondering."
"It seemed unusually lazy of you."
"It may be hard for a pedal-to-the-metal rabbit to grasp, but there is a huge difference between the virtue of laid back patience and the vice of laziness."
"Sorry."
"If we'd found some hard evidence before we saw the detectives from the Fourth they'd have caved in immediately and... If they weren't idiots they'd have realized they were wrong and helped us find the killer. If we don't have hard evidence they will argue that Duke is the killer and we're mis-reading the evidence."
"But if the bus station tape shows Duke at the locker, and then it gets all distorted, doesn't that show Duke didn't do it? Why would he let himself be taped, then distort the tape?"
"He wouldn't. But Jonathan and David will argue he did it on purpose to create... I'm still trying to process how the killer got into the locker. I guess if he was distorting the image he had a little time – he didn't need to dodge the camera rotation – but those locks are supposed to be hard to pick."
"And maybe this would be the time to look at the bus station video and see what they have."
"Do you really believe the tape will show the killer?"
"No, I believe it will have the ghost effect."
"I want to see it. Did the killer get in easily, or was it a struggle? I want to time it."
"If he got in fast it will argue for Duke being guilty."
"Yeah, and that's why I want to try another thing first. It may not point to the killer, but I'd kind of like to know how the ghost video image is produced."
"You have any clue on that?"
"No, but I might have a useful contact." It took Nick a few minutes of rummaging around in his desk to find the business card and made a call.
"Amazing Talent, to whom may I direct your call?"
"Hi, my name's Nick Wilde and I'm hoping to speak with–"
"Nick Wilde? The Nick Wilde? Do you need representation for speaking offers?"
"I guess I'm the Nick Wilde, but I need to talk with Carnac. He said call this number and his agent will–"
"Is he in some kind of trouble?"
"No trouble. I've got a question I'm hoping he can answer."
There was a moment of hesitation, "A question for Mister Sullivan, his agent, or Carnac?"
"Carnac."
"I... I'm supposed to route calls through an agent, but Mister Sullivan is out of town. Give me your number. I'll call Carnac and ask him to call you."
"Should have gotten his cell phone number when he was here," Nick thought. He glanced at the clock and wondered how long until, and if, there would be a return call.
Three minutes later Nick's phone rang.
"Is this really Nick Wilde?"
"Yep. You the magnificent one?"
"But I'm having trouble mystically ascertaining the answer to your question."
"Judy and I are working something and thought you could help."
"Nothing personal, but what were you wearing when we met?"
"I wasn't wearing anything, remember? I was in the car and Judy was the one in costume when–"
"You were naked while driving?"
"I didn't meet you until later! Judy was the one who gave you a warning."
The red panda laughed, "Yeah, you're you. You want my help? Seriously? That catching bullets thing is just a trick."
"Got a killer who's using some kind of gimmick and–"
"The Ghost of Smokey Joe? I thought there was an arrest."
"An arrest, but we think they got the wrong animal."
"I don't know anything that could help."
"We'd like to ask. You know everyone in the business so perhaps you can point us to someone with answers."
"Okay, but it'll cost you."
"Cost?"
"Yeah, you and Judy have to come over for a home-cooked meal."
"That's the cost?"
"It's really a cost for Judy, having to answer questions from the self-described biggest Judy Hopps fan in Zootpia."
Nick chuckled, "When?"
"Wife would skin me alive if I invited important guests this late in the day. Can it wait until tomorrow?"
"I guess so. Oh, fast question. Why did you name your daughter Cinnamon?"
"Wife's choice. Wanted to give a name that sounded Zootopian. I think she opened the spice drawer at random, but I'd have put my foot down if she suggested garlic. Oh, and call me Ping. You eat at my place, you call me Ping."
"Sounds good. Place and time?"
Judy looked up from her computer as Nick completed the call and hung up, "That was Carnac?"
"Yep."
"You said something about cost?"
"Yeah, and unfortunately you're paying it, I threw you under the bus."
"May I ask what you're talking about?"
"We're eating at his house tomorrow night. And apparently his daughter is still a fan of Judy Hopps. It must be tiring to have so much hero worship directed your way. Perfectly understandable of course. You are wonderful."
"I am flattered you think so. I fear you may be just a teensy bit biased, however."
"Not hardly. Hey, who is in a better position to offer an opinion on the Judy Hopps, the savior of Zootopia?"
Judy chuckled, then reminded him. "We can't find out where the killer bought the old ammunition. We found out where the challenge coins were purchased – and learned nothing. Do you really think figuring out the video technique will help us?"
"Won't know until we find out how it was done. Meanwhile, we might start thinking about which of the three animals who were killed was the target. I'm voting for number two."
"What are you talking about. Three animals were killed."
"And what they have in common was part of the cover story to frame Duke. The old Smokey Joe gang has nothing to do with the deaths."
"Care to explain?"
"You want to kill me–"
"Almost never."
"Let me finish. You want to kill me, but you're my," Nick dropped his voice to a whisper, since it was not supposed to be said loudly "wife." Nick's voice returned to normal. "So you'd be the obvious first suspect. So you kill a random animal with some elaborate or bizarre way that is very distinctive. Detectives try and figure out why that animal was killed. Then you kill me with the same distinctive MO. And then you kill a third. The poor detectives go nuts trying to figure out the links between the random victims and no one pays attention to the fact you wanted me bumped off for my life insurance."
"How much are you insured for?"
"Bundles. Bundles and bundles. You aren't going to kill me unless there is big money involved. At least in the story. Real life? Not so much. Never be worth more to your spouse dead than you are alive."
"But the problem with your story, Mister Wilde, is that the three animals weren't totally random. There was sort of a link between them."
"Exactly, but only to confuse the detectives with, my dear. You find out something on your intended victim, and find a couple other animals that fit the profile. You all like peanut butter mint ice cream, and eat it every Thursday at dinner. You all three drive white cars that are five years old and have a bald tire on the left rear. The detectives are so caught up in what the three victims have in common they can't consider anything else. We found that it wasn't too hard for bright animals, such as ourselves, to find information on descendants of former members of the gang."
"And that, in turn, makes the detectives look for someone who had an old grudge against the gang. Someone like Duke."
"Bingo."
"You said your money was on the second victim?"
"That's my opinion. You don't kill your real victim in the number one spot. There's a chance the detectives might discover your motive before you can start the confusion. First a random victim, then the intended victim, then and finish off with another random victim to further establish the pattern and leave on a confusing note."
Judy thought a moment. "Maybe. I'm going with number three. Get the detectives good and confused with the first two, so the fox will ignore the real victim and waste his time on number two."
"What does the winner get?"
"Anything she, or he, wants from the loser."
"Why do I have the feeling that if the real victim is number three I'll be re-arranging furniture, again?"
"Because you're brilliant. And you agreed it needs to be done."
"Ah, that was my mistake."
"And if you're right, what will you have me do?"
Nick grinned broadly and gave her a wink.
"Oh no!" thought Judy. "You mean..."
"Exactly, no complaints if Eric hands out cigars next poker night at our place.
The next day Nick began gathering information on the second victim. Judy on the third.
Cinnamon took four selfies with Judy and asked, by Nick's estimate, about ten-thousand questions. He thought she might be in competition with Judy's sister Susan for the longest period of time of talking without breathing while excited.
Judy found the adulation slightly embarrassing, and would have estimated the number of questions Ping's daughter asked at thirty-nine.
Ping's wife cleared the table after the meal and Cinnamon was told to go and do homework so her father could talk with the detectives.
"I think I lured you here under false pretenses," the red panda told them as they moved to the living room. "There's no way I can help you with how the killer distorted the video images."
"I told you, I have faith you'll help."
"It's an electronics special effect. I don't work with that kind of stuff. You want to saw an elephant in half on stage, or make a giraffe disappear in front of a live studio audience and I'm your animal. I can't tell you how that effect was done."
"I know why Nick called. You can't explain how it was done," Judy agreed. "But I'll bet you know the animals who work with special effects for television. We have no idea who a good reference source would be. If you make an introduction you've helped us."
Carnac thought a moment. "Okay... I don't work a lot with those kind of techies myself, but my buddy Jerry does. I'll give him a call." Six minutes later the red panda had three names and phone numbers.
There was no answer when they tried to call the first number.
The second reference sounded slightly annoyed at being disturbed, until he discovered the call came from Carnac, Nick Wilde, and Judy Hopps. "Seriously? You're not shitting me?"
"Seriously," Ping assured him. "They had some questions for a crime they're investigating and thought I might be able to help. I had no clue, but I called Jerry Porker and he said you knew everything about special effects and–"
"Wondered how you got my number. Jerry, huh?"
"Yep. Think you could answer a question?"
"I could try."
"I'm handing the phone to Judy."
"Er, hello, Mister," Judy frantically looked at the name on the sheet of paper, "...Stalker. You've seen the reports on the killer they're calling the Ghost of Smokey Joe?"
"Yes... You're wondering about the image distortion?"
"Exactly! Do you have any idea how to create that?"
"Hmmm... I'm pretty sure I can create something similar with my equipment. It's actually not too hard. But the cameras taking the pictures would have to be tampered with to do it, and I assume the police have checked out the cameras."
"Tampered with how? How would you create a similar effect?"
"Its a little hard to explain over the phone. Any chance you could come to my studio? I can show you."
"When?"
"Now, if you have the time."
Judy looked at Ping and Nick, "Want a demonstration? Now?" Both nodded yes. "Absolutely," she agreed. "Give us the address? How long?"
Twelve minutes later the trio stood outside the address they'd received. A large car pulled up and a tiger got out. "It's really you," he said with a note of disbelief.
"Who were you expecting?"
"Got an assistant who thinks practical jokes are funny," the tiger said as he unlocked the door and gestured them into the building. "Would have been an ex-assistant if you hadn't been here."
It only took a couple minutes to set up the equipment. "So fast?" Judy asked in disbelief.
"He knows his stuff, that's why Jer gave us the recommendation," Carnac reminded her.
The tiger told the magician, "Okay, walk across the studio to that ladder over there while we watch the monitor. I think this will do it."
Nick let us breath out slowly as he watched the monitor. "That's it! How?"
"Digital recording," the tiger explained. "Magnetically you can distort the image. A conventional movie camera wouldn't show anything different, just a red walking across a studio."
Carnac came over and watched the recording. "Nailed it," he assured the tiger. "But you said something about tampering? How difficult would it be?"
"Easy, and hard. Magnetic field will do it, easy. But most magnetic fields just aren't big enough to be effective. You'd have to get the magnet right up close; that would be the tricky part."
"Still more than we had a half hour ago," Nick told him. "Any chance we could get a copy of this tape? Could we call on you again if we have another question?"
"Sure," the tiger assured them. "Glad to help. But no copy of the tape." He hit the eject button. "You can have the original."
"Thanks," Judy told him.
"But we'll give you a warning," added Nick. "If we need to call an expert witness for how this was done, you're it."
The tiger reminded them, "I reproduced the effect. But mine takes a magnet right by the camera. I'm not certain how your ghost did his."
They thanked the tiger and turned to Ping's car. As the red panda drove them back to his home he told them, "Got a big performance coming up. Huge. I had an idea for something... Any chance I might be able to use Fox Male and Rabbit in my show?"
"No way," represented Nick's opinion.
"Would pay five grand."
"Five thousand for a night's work?"
"You don't want to know what I'm making."
Judy nudged Nick, "We could give the five thousand to charity... Childhood cancer research."
"Now who's using guilt?" answered Nick.
"That was five grand each," Ping told them.
"We'll think about it," Judy promised.
On the ride back to their apartment the offer of the performance wasn't mentioned. Judy thought Nick's mind was probably on the case. She'd let the suggestion of giving to cancer research percolate in his head for a couple days, and suspected he'd bring it up again by himself. She wanted his opinion on what the tiger had shown them, "Well, what did you think about the video imaging distortion?"
"I think we need to talk with Jonathan and David. This had to be the way the image was distorted. I want to know if they examined the cameras... It would have been hard to get to that one in the bus station."
"True."
"But there are no ghosts. It was tampered with. Maybe a squirrel with good vision climbed up."
"We will not remove squirrels from the species of possible interest in the murders."
