Chapter 9: Files

"Hm, Nick? How can I help you?"

"Tell me, when do you finish work today?"

"Today? I finish my duty at 10.00 p.m., why do you ask ?"

"You will be alone?"

"...yes...?" Replied Clawhauser in surprise. He wanted to ask Nick the reason for his call, but he didn't have time as Nick immediately interrupted him to say.

"Great! I'll come and see you when you finish work."

"But why?"

"Never mind, you'll find out when I arrive, see you later" Nick replied, then hung up. Fox was pleased, this was his first part of the plan he was to carry out today. However, he had to wait for a late enough time to leave. No one from the police force, especially Chief Bogo, could see him pulling up to the police station. After all, he was on a week's leave and hanging around the police station was not advisable for him. Nevertheless, he expected Clawhauser to be able to help him. He had given him help on more than one occasion, so he immediately decided that he would make use of his friend's voluntary spirit.

By the time it was getting quite late and dark, the sun was already setting behind the horizon leaving behind blood red patches and growing shadows, Nick decided it was a good time to visit his friend who was currently finishing up work. He grabbed the keys to his car and hit the road, heading towards the police station. His mood wasn't particularly bad or depressed, he wasn't thinking about himself at the moment, he just wondered if there would be something useful and interesting for him in the file he would receive from Clawhauser.

"There must be something important there. After all, that's what they rely on..." Nick thought. On the one hand he was sure that the file would, or at least should, have evidence, so on the other hand he remembered Judy telling him about a situation when she was looking for an otter and the only evidence she had was the one and only photo at the intersection. Such a thought didn't fill the fox with much optimism, but he replaced that pessimism with the thought that everything would be fine.

When Nick arrived at the police station, the clock in the car showed 9.50 a.m. When he pulled up opposite the police station, he saw only two cars in the car park. He was glad about that, it meant that Clawhauser and another employee were there (although he didn't pay too much attention to that), for more security Nick parked opposite the police station. He crossed the street and, entering through the car park, headed for the entrance. Through the glass panes of the door he spotted his friend starting to pack up his belongings. He opened the door and headed inside the building. The sound of the door opening immediately drew the attention of Clawhauser, who stopped packing his items and looked towards the door. He was surprised to see the familiar face of the fox with that familiar smirk painted on it.

"Howdy my friend, is anyone else here besides us?" Nick asked as he approached Clawhauser.

"It's just me...anyway Nick, what are you doing here? You shouldn't be here..." Clawhauser replied.

"Well you see...I'm plagued by the Judy case and I'd like you to give me one thing..." Started Nick walking into the middle of the island where his friend usually sat.

"What do you need?" Asked Clawhauser curiously.

"I need... I need a file on the guys who did the bank robbery...you know the ones," replied Nick.

"Nick, I can't give it to you! You're on leave, I can't give you files! Besides, why do you need the records?" Clawhauser asked. Nick wasn't particularly surprised by his friend's reaction, he guessed that his response would be quite explosive. He played along keeping a calm and confident face.

"See, I can help you locate this bunch. I used to be one myself and I know how they operate. Anyway, come on, I'm going to do all this alone at home, I'm not going out on my own for action after all, it's not sensible!" replied Nick.

"I don't know, I shouldn't give you that..."

"You're not using it anyway! I beg Claws, for the sake of this case..." The fox asked. Clawhauser wasn't quite sure if it was a good idea to donate the file to the house. There was a clear rule in the police that everything that was in the police station stayed there until the end. On the other hand, he trusted Nick to do his best to find the perpetrators of the robbery. He was Judy's partner, he had to learn something from her in the end. And in the end, he knew what kind of relationship they had with each other, everyone at the station knew that.

"Ekh...well okay," sighed Clawhauser, reaching into the file drawer. Nick laughed triumphantly, but quickly stopped when he realised he was doing it too loudly. Luckily Clawhauser didn't hear it, he was too busy searching through the name directories.

"Here you go, here is a directory of three people who were involved" Clawhauser communicated when he found a directory with three names. He took it out of the drawer, then handed it to the fox's paws, which were already scrambling to review the contents.

"Beautiful...thanks! I'll do my best to find them and that justice is meted out to them."

"After all, you said..."

"I meant you guys will do whatever it takes. Well this one, thanks for your help, see you later" said Nick retreating slowly to the front door with a smile on his face.

"Oh and one more thing" called out Nick as Clawhauser was about to continue packing up.

"What's up?" Clawhauser asked.

"Don't tell for the Commandant that I was here and took the file from you. You know how he is, it's better he doesn't know," Nick said.

"If you say so..." Replied Clawhauser uncertainly. Before he could add anything, the fox was already on his way to the car.

By the time Nick arrived outside the house it was already getting dark, admittedly the stars were lighting up the dark blue sky, but it was still too dark to call it evening. For the fox this was good news, he was assured that no one would be looking in or that no one would come to him while he was busy investigating on his own. When Nick entered the house his hands were already wanting to sit down at his desk open a catalogue and start looking through the files he had been given to deduce as much as possible from them. It gave him excitement and hope that he could do something.

Before he did so, however, he remembered that he needed to drink plenty of water so as not to get faint. He put the data catalogue on the desk in his room and went to the kitchen to drink spring water. Although the water was plain water, thanks to the depletion of some electrolytes, it tasted better than usual. It had a more distinct taste and something made the fox could drink it more and more.

When he finished drinking, he prepared himself, to investigate. He locked the front door to be sure that no one would enter, he closed the windows of his house so that the flat was in darkness. On his way to his room he even stumbled a few times over some furniture until he finally reached his little corner. He sat down at his desk about to light the lamp that stood on the desk.

"Case file dated 25/07" Nick muttered, then opened the folder. He was surprised to see three different folders with different names in it. He had expected one folder with one person's details, not three people. This surprised him, but it also intrigued him and encouraged him to search the data further.

"James Catt, Dominic Andrew AND Jack Bond...these are probably the ones involved in the robbery then" thought Nick as he saw their names. He decided to research the first person which was James Catt. When he opened his directory he saw some photos, and some entries about him, which caught his attention.

"James Catt,

last seen in: Las Padas, prison stays: 3

Species: Wolf

Hm...wait...if it says species..."

Nick recalled the moment he had chased the thief who had shot Judy during the robbery. He wasn't quite sure who it was, he couldn't see the face, but he was short, ran very fast and his outline figure was in the shape of...Judy. Without wasting a moment Nick tucked James' briefcase away and opened the other two.

"Dominic Andrew

Last seen: Old Sachara

Prison stays: 2

Species: otter

'Nah...that's not him...that means he's left...Jack Bond' thought Nick excitedly. He tucked Dominic's folder away, then looked at Jack's file. He didn't focus on the data where he was until he saw the species.

"Species...rabbit..." Nick read. If it wasn't for the fact that he had to sit in silence so as not to wake up the neighbours around him he would have screamed for joy. It was him, it had to be him. There was no one else around but him, he was the one who shot Judy during the robbery.

"Last seen. Unknown

Ah, and that would be it...

Stays in prison: 0"

Nick's enthusiasm died down when he saw, Jack's unfamiliar location. So what if he knows his name if he doesn't know where he is? It would be hard to track him down after that.

"Ah...what now? I don't know where he is, where he's been or where he might be! What would Judy do..." Nick thought. Reflexively, he took the pencil that was in the file and tapped his head with it. He tried to think like Judy. She would have found her way to the solution to the case without any problems Nick is worse. Where is she supposed to find her way to?

"Well, let's start at the beginning...maybe the pictures will suggest something" thought Nick trying to act calm. He knew that anger wouldn't do anything and in such matters, composure was what mattered. He opened the three folders and looked closely at the photographs that were pinned to the folders. The photos showed the faces of the villains from different perspectives and their surveillance photos. One photo caught the fox's attention, which showed a white van standing next to a bank.

"That must be the car they were driving..." Nick thought. He looked more closely at the photograph and noticed a fluffy white tail on the right.

"That must have been them" decided Nick. Finally, he turned his attention to what tempted him the most. On the number plate. He took the sheet of paper he was supposed to be drawing on previously, a pencil and scribbled the numbers from the plate.

"22ARK88...bingo! I've got the plate, I'll go to Flash tomorrow and know where the car is! Hm, I figured that out quite cleverly..."