Chapter 3, Innocent Little Lamb?: Aiden parked the car in the campus parking lot.
"Again, what did you mean when you said I was going to ask out Deborah when we find her?"
"You're going to ask her out. You're going to walk up to her and ask her on a date. How many times do I have to spell it out?" I said.
"You don't think she will reject me because I'm a hyena?"
"From what you said about her during the ride she sounds like a nice mammal. So I doubt it."
"Really?"
"How will we know if we don't start looking for her?"
"Okay!" He said. He opens the door and gets out. I got out afterward. Aiden pressed a button on the keys to lock the doors when I closed the door on my side. I noticed some ZU police cars parked a little further down the parking lot.
"Aiden. Imagine having to go through training only to realize that you're going to be assigned campus police duty." I said.
Aiden looked at the cars for a few minutes appearing to be in deep thought. "At least it's not parking duty." He answered. I laughed a little at that and so did he. I saw a ewe wearing a light blue dress sitting on one of the benches. It looked like she was sending a message on her phone.
"That is her. I'm sure of it." Aiden said. We walked towards her.
"Are you Nessa Bellwether?" I asked. She looked up at me with her green eyes and rose-rimmed glasses. It was scary how she looked a lot like Dawn.
"Yes, officer. Is there a problem?" She asked in a sweet tone, smiling at me while fluffing the wool on the side of her head completely ignoring Aiden's presence. Was she trying to flirt with me?
"There is, do you know Deborah Blackstripe?" I asked.
"I know Debbie! We're such good friends. We've been friends since we were pup and lamb. She's so nice."
"You two are so close that you used a jackal taser on her," Aiden said.
"What? I don't know what you are talking about." The ewe said.
"This isn't the time to play coy. We're looking for Deborah." I said.
"Am I a suspect, officer? What could a little sheep do? I also said she's my best friend."
"We just want to know if you have any idea where Deborah might be," I said.
"I saw her packing last Friday. She usually leaves on weekends and comes back Monday. I don't know where she goes. I doubt it's family. She doesn't have a good relationship with her dad." The ewe said.
"What about her mom?" I asked.
"She's dead. Her brother is dead too. She does have more relatives in Sahara Square but they had stolen jewelry from her one time so she doesn't visit them anymore. Some of that jewelry belonged to her mom."
I was feeling bad for this girl. "What's her dad's name?" I asked,
"Carl Blackstripe," Nessa answered, Aiden wrote it down in a compact composition book.
"Does he happen to live in Sahara Square?" I asked.
"No, he lives in Zootopia," Nessa said. I should have known that, since she did say they were friends since they were little. How else would they have met if she lived all the way in Sahara Square?
"You don't happen to know the address do you?" I asked.
"I don't. Her dad has a bad gambling addiction and couldn't make payments on the house. He went to live with his girlfriend when Deborah moved here. At least that's what she told me."
I took note of that, while Aiden wrote it down. Her dad sounded like an absolute scumbag. But then again I think all gambling addicts are scumbags because of my dad.
"Even though you both have known each other since you were young, you have no idea where she went?" Aiden asked.
Nessa looked annoyed. "Deborah keeps to herself most of the time."
That gave me an idea. "Do you know her dorm number?" I asked.
"Of course! It's 175. I'll lead you to the RA for a master key." She smiled flirtatiously at me before heading to the dorms.
Aiden typed something on his phone before showing it to me.
"Would you ask her out?" It read.
"Very funny," I said to him quietly. He smiled like he was trying to hold back laughing. I began to think about Nessa's attitude. She had no problem talking to me but got a little agitated when Aiden talked to her. More than likely she was annoyed that a predator was asking her a question. If she didn't like predators, why would she be friends with Deborah? Although "friend" didn't sound like the appropriate term. For one she didn't seem concerned at all when I said that we were looking for her. Then there's the fact she saw her packing about a week ago and knows that she comes back every Monday, and yet she didn't seem to worry that she didn't come back. Nessa probably has nothing to do with Deborah being missing, but there is something about her that I find suspicious. If only I knew what it was.
"Here we are!" Nessa said entering the residential lobby. A black sheep was at the front desk playing on her phone. She had on a pink bow and a matching pink dress. She looked adorable.
"This handsome officer needs a master key," Nessa said. It was quite obvious whom she was referring to.
The black ewe looked up. "Handsome officer? I see two." She said.
Aiden and I smiled a little at that. Nessa just rolled her eyes. "Where's the key?" She asked.
The black sheep grabbed the master key. "I have it." She told her. She looked at us.
"Which room number?" She asked.
"175." Answered Aiden.
"Deborah's room? Did something happen to her?" She looked worried.
"We're looking for her," I answered. She nods. "I'm Bella Flock by the way." She leads us to the residence hall.
"Bella? That's a pretty name." I said. Nessa did not take kindly to that compliment. Bella smiled. "So mammals tell me," She said unlocking the door.
Deborah's room was rather cute. There was a light blue couch, on the couch were purple throw pillows with a pink flower on them. She had a circular white and blue rug There was a rainbow throw blanket made out of thick yarn. I figured the couch probably functioned as a pull-out bed because I didn't see a bed in sight. Next to the couch was a small brown desk, a black desktop computer sitting on top of it. On her window were light blue curtains and a venus flytrap on the windowsill. The room was a bit messy. Everywhere there were either books or sheets of paper. But oddly, the mess looked organized. Even though there were books and papers everywhere they were in stacks in different areas of the room.
Aiden opened the minifridge in her dorm and poured water into the plant's dish.
"We can't just touch other mammal's stuff," I said.
"I'm just watering her plant," He said, he put a cricket in one of the openings.
"Now you're feeding it," I said.
"Imagine if we found her and her plant died," Aiden said.
"I'd be happy knowing my plant is alive. If I had one that is," Bella said.
"See? She gets it," Aiden said. I nickered a bit as I looked for something that could point to where she might have gone.
Aiden picked up a phone charger cord. "Her phone is not here," He said.
"I don't think anyone ever leaves without their phone," I said.
"Exactly. That means that she wasn't kidnapped. At least not here." He said. There was also the fact the room didn't look broken into. Unless they were quick and used some sort of jackal tranquilizer. But even then her room would show some sign that there had been a struggle. Even if the room was a mess, nothing appeared to be damaged or broken.
I noticed some medicine bottles beside one of the stacks of books. I moved over to them and knelt down.
Deborah B. Blackstripe
Take one tablet by mouth every day for depression.
Dr. Gallopps
I looked over at the other bottle. It appeared to be over-the-counter supplements for weight loss. In fact, most of her bottles had something to do with weight loss. There were appetite suppressants, carb blockers, metabolism boosters, and overnight fat burners. I thought about Deborah's headshot in the case file, her face didn't show signs that she was overweight. She didn't have fat cheeks or a double chin.
"Cackle, did Deborah ever look overweight to you whenever you went to the plant store?" I asked. Normally I would call him Aiden, but we were on a case now. It was time to act formally.
"Of course not. I guess to some she might be a little pudgy, but it was nowhere near to be called fat. She wasn't Clawhauser if that is what you're asking. Why ask?" Aiden said.
I tossed him some of the supplements. If Aiden was surprised or upset, he didn't show it.
"One time her dad told her that she gained some weight. She was so upset about it. She cried for a bit." Nessa said.
"When was this?" I asked.
"It was a long time ago. I would say about six months back." She answered. If Deborah does not have a good relationship with her dad and if what Nessa said is true, then that would mean her dad hasn't seen her in months. Would it be worth talking to him? Would he even know anything about her?
I picked up a pink book with green turtles all over it. The turtles looked like they were swimming. The book had no title and no author's name. Curious, I opened up the cover and saw "Deborah's Diary" written on the inside. This was most likely her handwriting.
"Cackle, do you want to look at this, or me?" I asked as I showed the diary to Aiden; he looked embarrassed.
"Do we have to?" He asked.
"It could point to where she might have gone," I said.
"You read it." He said. Out of respect, I turned to the last page. A girl deserves her privacy after all.
"I think he likes me, he comes by the shop a lot and asks me a lot of personal questions. I like it more when he comes in uniform. Something about seeing a canine in a police uniform makes me smile. I know hyenas aren't canines, but they look like canines. So it counts in my book. But he hasn't asked me on a date yet. Perhaps he just wants to be friends? Maybe he's just shy? I would ask him myself but I have been rejected so many times in the past. I wonder why guys don't like me. Is it because I'm weird? Is it because jackals are seen as deceiving, lying, sneaky, two-faced mammals?"
I really wanted to hit Aiden in the head with this diary after I was done reading it.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Aiden asked.
"Nothing. Nothing at all." I placed the diary beside her bookshelf. Maybe that's why her book stacks are scattered everywhere. Her bookshelf was full.
"Was there a clue in there?" Aiden asked.
"If there was I would have told you," I said.
"Um…I don't know if this helps but I just remembered, I did see Deborah talking to a jackrabbit in the lobby. The jackrabbit told her to go to Bunnyburrow with her. I know Deborah is studying plant biology, I guess she might have gone there to learn more about plants. This happened a week ago." Bella said. I wanted to scoop up Bella and squeeze her. We didn't hit a dead end after all.
"That helps a lot! Thank you so much!" I said. She smiled shyly. "Welcome."
I looked at Nessa. "Also, just to make you aware. Tasing someone is a form of assault. I suggest not doing that." I said.
"I was just messing with her officer…" She looked up at my badge. "Broncco, the voltage wasn't high enough to hurt her or anything."
"It's still an assault," Aiden said. As we left Bella just waved goodbye while Nessa did not look happy. As we left I saw a brown bear, deer, gray wolf, and a jackrabbit in police uniforms standing by the ZU police cars. Might as well get a bit more information before we head out all the way to the country. Plus I did wonder how they became campus police.
"Cackle, should we talk to them?"
"Sure, I guess so." He said. Something was clearly bothering him.
"Is something wrong?"
"I'll talk about it after we're done talking to them." He said.