After a quick lunch Nick and Judy returned to the case room, where a bespectacled, softly-spoken tigress in a modest green skirt and blouse was waiting for them. It took a few seconds for the truth to dawn.

"Lina?" Nick chuckled. "Pretty good."

"Thank you." The tigress curtsied lightly. "Ali Stripell, accountant who works from home, has just secured a top floor apartment with a lovely view of the Silverson Clinic, which, by the way, currently has a window undergoing maintenance. How about you two?"

"A lot to unpack," Judy responded, then filled the tiger in.

After the latter finished, Nick displayed the pictures he'd taken of the hollow and the locket on the big screen. "Working hypothesis: original body deposition site disturbed, or threatened to be disturbed, and the killer moved the remains. Chose the back road as it had already been searched twice, and they believed the police wouldn't waste time and resources on a third search of it."

"Usually true, but not in this case," Lina revealed. "One of Lionheart's self-aggrandising little Initiatives was a short-lived attempt to clean up outstanding cases. Brindle's disappearance was one of them, meaning another search happened a year after he vanished, finding nothing."

"So, moved the remains within the last year," Nick amended, "only to move them again, and in the last day or two, or the scent wouldn't be there in such arid conditions. Presumably spooked by Cody's escape."

"Solid hypothesis," Lina commented, "except, any remains would just be dry bones by now, so there should have been no scent at all."

Nick nodded. "And that's not the only anomaly. It took me a while to recognise it as cadaverine because it didn't smell quite right. Thinking over it, the best description I can come up with is a cheap knock-off of the synthetic training scent used at the academy. A better nose should be able to confirm or deny."

"Might as well see if Wolford's willing," Lina suggested. "Speaking of, he's reported on what he found at Painter's Pass." She brought the file up on her terminal. "Two trace scents, one in the tunnel that's possibly canine, and one in the tunnel and the bush hideout that's proba..." Her eyes snapped wide. "Probably hare."

Judy stiffened. "We might just have a suspect. We couldn't risk taking the locket, so can't tie them in through prints, so how...wait, if we have CCTV footage from the night Brindle vanished..."

"We do," Lina confirmed. "From every camera in a block radius. We'll start with the one outside the Mystic Spring." She checked some notes appended to the footage, selected a timestamp, then brought the still image up on the big screen. "Half a minute after Brindle exits, shadow of lapine head visible for four frames. Marked as a person of interest, but no other data obtained, so remains unidentified."

She showed the frames, the silhouette of a long-eared skull ghosting across one side of them.

"Moving quickly in the direction Brindle went," Nick commented, "so likely the culprit, but no way to know if it's our hare."

Lina returned to the notes, scanning them. "Two rabbits seen walking up the main street, a black hare on a neighbouring street, and nothing else...except..." She frowned faintly, studying an entry, then displayed a camera that covered the front of Brindle's apartment building, a length of pavement, a lamppost, and a sliver of road.

She played the footage, and they watched as a pair of small mammals hurried along the sidewalk. One wore a floor-length brown coat with a tall collar that mostly obscured their head, and moved stiffly, their arm tightly around the other figure. The latter was shorter, entirely buried in a too-big coat, and stumbled and swayed quite badly.

"This was ten minutes after Brindle was pictured on the Mystic Spring camera," Lina explained, "and recorded as 'unknown small mammals, a drunk being escorted by a friend'."

"Which is exactly what it looks like." Judy's confusion abruptly melted into ear-lifting realisation. "Unless..."

"Oh, you clever, clever tiger!" Nick smirked. "I think you've got it."

"It's just a hypothesis," Lina demurred, ears tinted.

"A great one." Judy moved to the screen. "Brindle wasn't killed in the back road, but hit with a mild tranq, leaving him dozy, easy to control, and led out, in the guise of 'a drunk being escorted by a friend', most likely to a car." She turned to Lina. "Isn't there a parking lot close by?"

"Yes," the tigress confirmed, "but no 'drunk and friend' seen."

"A shame." Nick frowned. "Also a shame that what we can see of the 'friend' doesn't look like our hare. No ears, for a start."

It was Judy's turn to smirk. "Little lapine trick for protecting or hiding your ears." She tucked hers beneath the back of her crop top. "It needs something fuller than my top to really work, mind, like, say..."

Nick groaned and smacked a paw to his face. "A big, loose coat. I am a dumb fox."

"Exactly!" Judy smiled sweetly, then traced a few of the creases in the taller figure's coat on the big screen, creating what looked rather like a pair of folded back ears. "Hard to hide them fully, though."

"Clever..." Nick's phone buzzed. "...bunny." He read the message. "Our favourite antelope wants to show us something. We'd better catch the bossalo up, then Judy and I will go find out what."

"Give me a description before you go," Lina requested, "and I'll see if I can find a match in the database."

"Will do." Judy flashed a small grin. "This feels good. Promising."

Nick led the way out. "Let's hope Bogo agrees."