Chapter 3, Looking for Deborah: Aiden parked the car outside the store.
"Again, what did you mean when you said I was going to ask Deborah out after 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 opened the door to the store. It looked amazing. There were plants in various colors, and sizes. It felt like you were walking through some carnivorous plant exhibit.
"Can I help you?" An impala wearing a dark green apron with the words "Vickie's Venuses" embroidered on her uniform.
"Yes, are you Vickie?" I asked.
"Oh, you're looking for my boss?" The impala called for her.
"Be right there." A middle-aged vicuña wearing a burgundy apron with a gold tag "Vickie" engraved on it.
"I'm Vickie Vicuña. Can I help you, officers?" She noticed Aiden.
"Your favorite jackal isn't here sadly. I hope she's okay."
"That's exactly why we're here. We're looking for Deborah." I said.
"Oh, well the last time I saw her was two weeks ago. Even though it might have been too early. I reported her missing at the end of her shift. I know Deborah. If she was running late or wasn't able to come to work she would call me. If she didn't, and I called her, she always answered. So I found it quite bizarre when I didn't hear from her all day." Vickie explained.
"So her quitting without notice would be entirely out of the question," Aiden said.
"Absolutely. She loved to work here. She was even willing to stay late if my other workers couldn't make it."
"To be clear, nothing like this has ever happened?" I asked.
"There were rare occasions where she didn't call or answer. But she'll arrive maybe two or three hours late. There was also a time she was hospitalized for two weeks, but even then she told me she was going to be in the hospital before the staff took her phone."
"She sounds quite punctual," I said.
"She is, I mainly had her tend the plants. She was very shy around customers. Well, except for one." Vickie replied, eyeing Aiden playfully. Aiden made a nervous smile.
"Was there anyone she might have a problem with?" He managed to ask.
"I know she doesn't have a good relationship with her dad, but she told me that she hasn't heard from him in a long time," Vickie answered. Aiden writes that down in his mini composition notebook. The notebook had a spotted hyena pattern on it. His pen matched the pattern of the notebook.
"What's her dad's name?" I asked.
"His name is Carl Blackstripe. Deborah said he lives with a girlfriend in Sahara Square. I don't know the address." She answered. Aiden kept writing.
"And her mom?" I asked.
"She's dead." The vicuña answered. Aiden writes that down as well.
"You said you see my partner visit her a lot. Do you know if she was dating anyone?" I asked
"She did date a red fox a few months back. All she said was that it didn't work out. So I left it at that." Replied Vickie. I'm positive that I saw Aiden's ears perk after she said that.
"Do you know if she has any friends or enemies?" I asked.
"I don't know. She never told me anything about having friends, and I don't see why anyone would not like her. She's very sweet. Unless they don't like her because she's a predator." Vickie sighed. Deborah sounded like a timid mammal.
"Is there anything else that you think could be helpful?" I asked.
"Actually there is, you know how I said I haven't heard from her? I did receive this after I reported her missing." Vickie showed us a text on her phone.
"I'm leaving w/ my bf. dw abt me I'm 5n. I jus wna gt away 4 a bit." That message was awfully painful to read.
"Deborah doesn't text like this at all. Plus like I said, it isn't like for her to just leave. I tried calling her after I received this message but her phone was turned off." Vickie explained. I felt my blood run cold. This was a kidnapping. I could only imagine how Aiden must be feeling.
"Thank you for your time ma'am. We'll make sure we find Deborah." I said.
"Please do. I'm worried about her, and she's one of my best workers."
Aiden and I nodded at her before leaving. I rubbed Aiden's back when he went to a trashcan to get sick. I guess I didn't have to imagine what he was feeling.
"Are you alright?" I asked. He nodded.
"Remember what I told you at training? It happens sometimes." He said.
I wanted to ask him if he thought Deborah was dead but I didn't want him to get sick again.
"We'll find her," I said.
"I know. I just got really anxious for a moment."
When we got in the car Aiden looked at the notes he jotted down.
"So we can either talk to her dad or the sheep you mentioned earlier," I said.
"It might be faster to talk to the sheep first. We don't know her dad's address so we'll have to go through the database in order to find it." Aiden said. He had a point there.
"Okay then," I said. Aiden starts the car heading to the school. We got out when he parked in the school's parking lot. I noticed some ZU police cars parked a little further down.
"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. Sitting on one of the school benches is a sheep wearing a red cardigan, a white blouse with black polka dots underneath the cardigan, and a red miniskirt. 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? On her wrist appeared to be a friendship bracelet. It was red and white.
"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. I made her a friendship bracelet." She said, showing me her wrist. "Hers is purple and white." She added.
"Well, you said you're friends but yet you tased her; which is a form of assault and you could face a year or two in jail so I suggest that you don't do that," I said.
"It was just a harmless prank officer…" She looked up at my badge. "Broncco, the taser didn't have enough voltage to hurt her or anything."
"Look, horses aren't as dumb as they seem. On average a taser emits about fifty-thousand volts, which is more than enough to immobilize a mammal. So if you don't want us to arrest you for that minor incident. You're going to tell us about Deborah." I said.
"You don't have evidence that I did it."
I pulled out my apple pen. The pen is red and has an apple clicker on top of it. I pressed on the apple.
"It was just a harmless prank officer…Broncco, the taser didn't have enough voltage to hurt her or anything."
"You really don't want to play this game with us, missy," I said. Aiden looked at my pen with amazement for a brief moment.
Nessa made a pout face. "I saw her packing about two weeks ago. I don't know where she might have headed. She hardly ever leaves campus, heck she stays during the holidays. She used to visit relatives in Sahara Square; but they stole jewelry from her one time, so she doesn't visit them anymore. Some of that jewelry belonged to her mom."
I was starting to feel bad for this jackal. "Do you know anything about her immediate family?" I asked.
"I know she doesn't have a good relationship with her dad. Her mom and brother are both dead." She answered. That solidified her boss's statements.
"Even though you both have known each other since you were young, you have no idea where she went?" Aiden asked.
Nessa rolled her eyes. "I do not."
I showed her the pen again. "Are you sure about that? You know what will happen if you don't cooperate." I warned the sheep.
"I know she's studying carnivorous plants. I can only speculate that she went to the rainforest district. Strange subject if you ask me. That's Debbie for you though. She's strange. But that's what I like about her. She's not afraid to be her."
"Not afraid to be her…" I thought to myself. That gave me an idea. "Do you know her dorm number?" I asked. We could probably find her if we learned more about her. Her room might also have a hint as to where she went to.
"Of course! It's one-seventy-five. I'll lead you to the RA for a master key." She smiled 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.
"No. She scares me." I said to him quietly. He smiled like he was trying to hold back laughing.
"Here we are!" Nessa said entering the residential lobby. A sheep with dark chocolate brown wool was sitting at the front desk reading a book. She wore a yellow bow, a matching yellow blouse, thick-rimmed glasses that had a bright green frame, and bright green capri pants. She looked adorable, like a little sunflower.
"This handsome officer needs a master key," Nessa said. It didn't take a genius to know whom she was referring to.
The brown sheep looked up. "Handsome officer? I see two." She said,
Aiden and I smiled a little at that. Nessa looked at her flatly. "Where's the key?" She asked.
The brown sheep grabbed the master key. "I have it." She told her. She looked at us. "Which room number?" She asked.
"one-seventy-five." Answered Aiden.
"Deborah's room? Did something happen to her?" She looked worried.
"She's missing," 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. Bella smiled. "So mammals tell me."
Nessa did not take kindly to that compliment. "My name is pretty too, right?" She asked me; this was one jealous ewe.
"It is," I said. Her name may be pretty but she still made me uncomfortable.
Bella unlocks the door. Deborah's room is cute. There's a light blue couch. Spread across the couch is a rainbow throw blanket made out of thick yarn. On the floor laid a white rectangular rug patterned with blue flowers. I guessed the couch might have functioned as a pull-out bed because I didn't see a bed in sight.
Next to the couch is a brown desk, a lavender-purple office chair, and a black desktop computer sitting on top of the desk. At the end of her desk was an eyeshadow palette containing different shades of purple. A tube of mascara, and a set of makeup brushes. The handles on the brushes were shaped like a unicorn horn.
On her window are light blue curtains and a rack of venus flytraps against the window. The room is a bit messy. Everywhere there was either a stack of books or paper. In the center of the room is a pile of purple purses.
"You said she had a pet venus flytrap. Not a bunch of pet venus flytraps." I said to Aiden.
"I guess she bought more." He said. I looked over at the plants. If what Nessa said is true, and she was packing, she must've not been planning to be away for too long because there isn't any water in the dishes. Aiden opened the minifridge in her dorm and poured water into their dishes.
"We can't just touch her stuff!" I said in a hushed tone.
"I'm just watering her plants." He said, giving each plant one freeze-dried insect.
"Now you're feeding them!" I said in the same tone.
"Imagine if we found her and she learned that her plants died," Aiden said.
"By how the plants look, it looks like she really put her work into them. I'd be heartbroken if my work went to waste." Bella said.
"See? She gets it." Aiden said.
I nickered and looked for something that could point to where she might have gone.
Aiden picked up a phone charger cord. "Her phone is not here, but her charger is." He said.
"Maybe she took a spare charger with her," I said. Aiden only nodded then kept looking.
I noticed some medicine bottles beside one of the stacks of books. I moved the books over and knelt down.
Deborah B. Blackstripe
Take one tablet by mouth every day for depression.
Dr. Gallopps
I looked at the other bottle.
Deborah B. Blackstripe
Take one tablet by mouth at 8 pm for mood.
Dr. Gallopps
I read the other bottle.
Deborah B. Blackstripe
Take one tablet by mouth at 8 pm for sleep.
Dr. Gallopps
I picked up another bottle. It appeared to be over-the-counter supplements for weight loss. In fact, the rest of the bottles had something to do with weight loss. There were appetite suppressants, carb blockers, metabolism boosters, and overnight fat burners. What concerns me the most though were the laxatives. Deborah's headshot in the case file didn't show signs that she was overweight. She didn't have fat cheeks, a double chin, or neck rolls.
"Cackle, did Deborah ever look overweight to you whenever you went to the plant store?" I asked.
"Of course not. Some could say that she's a little pudgy, but she was nowhere near being called fat. She wasn't Clawhauser if that is what you're asking. Why ask?" Aiden said.
I tossed him one of the bottles. If Aiden was surprised or upset, he didn't show it.
"One time her dad told her that she gained 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.
I thought about the times my mom would joke about me being fat even though I wasn't. No wonder Deborah doesn't talk to her dad.
I picked up a pink book with green turtles all over it. The turtles looked like they were swimming. The book did not have a title or author's name. Curious, I opened up the cover and saw "Deborah's Diary" written on the inside. This had to be 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 two pages. A girl deserves her privacy after all.
"I think he likes me, he comes by the shop a lot and asks me a bunch of personal questions. I like it more when he comes in uniform. I'm usually attracted to prey species, but 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.
I don't know why hasn't asked me to go 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, mischievous, sneaky, two-faced mammals?
It's probably true when you have a family like mine. They fit every jackal stereotype under the sun. But I'm different. Why did I have to be born a jackal? I hate my species. Though I hate being a predator in general. I don't even act like a predator. I'm way too meek. Nessa even calls me "preyator" sometimes.
Do you know what's weird? When I think about a jackal and a hyena I think about the book Dr. Jackal and Mr. Hyena. In the end, Dr. Jackal is really Mr. Hyena whenever he drinks this potion. Kinda weird that he turns into a hyena. What if there was a potion that could turn me into a sheep?
One time Nessa told me that I would make a cute Suffolk sheep. Those sheep with black coats but white wool. She said it would suit me because the back of my fur and my hair are black and white. I wish there was a way to change species like in that book. The only difference is that the potion wouldn't change my personality. If I became a sheep, maybe Nessa and I could be friends like we used to be. Before her mom died."
Before her mom died? That scratched out Dawn being Nessa's mother. While I felt bad for Nessa she still made my coat crawl. No. After reading this; she made my coat squirm, wriggle, and writhe. She made my stomach turn a little if I'm being honest with myself. Last, I really wanted to hit Aiden in the head with this diary after I was done reading the first page. I looked at the second page.
"They came by again. These lions in these business suits and dark shades. For some reason, they always come to me and ask me questions about the plants. I don't know why they talk to me and not my coworkers. Either it's that they see me tending the plants the most or they think my coworkers would be too intimidated to talk to them because they're prey.
My boss said to always be nice to them because they work for Mr. Stagg. She said Mr. Stagg is one of her high-end clients. I had asked her who he was one time, and all she said was that he is a high-end client. I want to ask those lions in the suits but I feel like they might murder me or something if I do. Who is this mysterious and elusive Mr. Stagg?"
I took a mental note of the name Mr. Stagg. From what I read on the page he probably has nothing to do with Deborah's disappearance but I think the information may come in handy down the road.
I turned to the back of the second page.
"I can't do this. I know what Nessa is plotting.
"Oh my Goodness!" Nessa shouted before I could finish the page. Aiden and I jumped and quickly turned to her.
"She has Justin Timberwolf CDs!" She said, we looked at her flatly. Although I did spot something on the back of the CDs.
"Did I scare you Bucky? I'm sorry. I forgot that horses spook easily." She smiled teasingly at me. How did she know my name? Then I realized, my badge.
"Officer Broncco." I said curtly, taking a CD from her. There was still plastic wrapping on them. On the back of the case, there is a sticker tag that read, "To: Debbie From: Thomas". Who was Thomas?
"Wow. She sure was mad at somebody." Bella said finding a picture on the floor. It was a picture of a red fox holding Deborah romantically. The fox had his face cut out though. If only the picture wasn't cut out. It could have led us to another suspect.
"I know who that is. That's Thomas Ferral. Deborah had broken up with him a few months back. I'm glad she did, he was an absolute creep." Nessa said. Again, this solidifies Vickie's statement. Nessa may be a terrible friend but she has credibility. I'll give her that.
"How was he a creep?" I asked.
"When they were on a date he told her that she smelled different as if she lost her virginity or something. Even though it was only because she slept over at my dorm and my perfume stayed in her fur for a long while. Then he asked her if she was cheating and told her how no girl wants to date him. This was all on the first date. He also has this crazy conspiracy that campus police want to hurt students who are predators just because he was beaten up by a ZU police officer and then days later tased by another one. Deborah said that he seemed to drink a lot." Nessa said. I looked over at Aiden who was writing the information down.
"What does he look like?" I asked.
"Like a typical red fox. But he has heterochromia. One of his eyes is blue the other is green, he should be easy to spot. According to Debbie, that's what she found attractive about him. If he wasn't such a weirdo I guess they would have been cute together. Because Deborah's hair is naturally two-toned. One side is black the other is white. Like Cruella De Vamp." Nessa explained. Perfect! We just needed to find a red fox with that trait which shouldn't be too hard. Heterochromia is pretty uncommon. Unless of course, he uses contacts. If Nessa didn't send shivers down my spine. I'd scoop her up and hug her. Then I realized. I haven't read the back of the last page.
"Um…I don't know if this helps, but I just remembered, We have a Plant Biology department here. Deborah told me she was studying carnivorous plants. She might have a class there. I would take you to the building but I can't leave the front desk." Bella said.
"That helps a lot actually! Thank you so much!" I said. Bella smiled bashfully.
"I can lead you there! I'm majoring in law and psychology but I'm taking a bit of chemistry and plant biology classes." She smiles at me before leading us to the plant biology department building. There were four doors in the hallway. Each door had a tag. One read "Prof. Herd", "Prof. Ovis", "Prof. Lambing", and "Prof. Yearling".
"This is her class." Nessa opened the door to Professor Yearling's class. There was a doe wearing a spring green-colored dress sitting at her desk. She seemed to be grading papers.
"Ma'am?" I asked. The doe looked up at us. She appeared to be middle-aged. She had violet eyes and grayish-red hair that was styled up in a bun. She wore thick lavender-rimmed glasses.
"Yes officers, can I help you?" She asked.
"We're looking for Deborah Blackstripe." Aiden said.
"Deborah? She's missing? That's odd." She answered.
"How so?" I asked.
The professor pulled up her student database on her computer. "Because she submitted an assignment last week."
Aiden and I looked at the computer screen.
"Although I do find it to be a bit strange. There are a lot of spelling mistakes in her answers. There is also the fact she always comes to class on time. But I thought she might have had some family emergency so it made her unable to go to class and rush through her assignment. I didn't think she'd be missing."
I thought about the text message Vickie received. Whoever kidnapped Deborah knows her well enough to know where she works and goes to school. I wondered if they might have sent a message to her dad.
"Thank you for your help," I said.
"Welcome. I hope you find Deborah." Said the professor. As we left Nessa waved goodbye flirtatiously at me. Aiden ran over to one of the campus trash cans once we were outside. He had to be thinking that Deborah had died.
"If this case is too stressful for you I can solve it myself. It's okay really." I rubbed his back.
"No, I'm fine. I have to do this. It's the only way I can prove to the chief that a hyena can be a good cop."
I was silent after he said that.
"That's why you picked me to help you, isn't it? Because you knew the ZPD wouldn't take a hyena seriously."
"I did…but there was also a bigger reason."
"What was it?" He asked.
"Don't you remember? At graduation, we promised we'll stick together." I said.
He smiled a little and raised his paw in a fist. "Like Duct tape."
"Like Duct tape," I said as we did a paw-hoof pound.
"Still, it's unbelievable how she will let Nessa treat her. Then there's also hearing about her family and the weight loss pills."
"If you thought that was bad you should have read her diary." I thought. "If they were friends since they were little like Nessa said; maybe she felt like she was stuck in the friendship. Plus she's living on a big campus and the only mammal she knows is her. My sister was the same way with her ex-fiance. She was alone in a big city and it made her afraid to leave him because she hardly knew anyone else." I said.
"I know. It's just...if I had known she was going through this. I would have asked her out sooner." Aiden replied.
"And it's not too late. Or at least we have to believe it's not." I said. Aiden nodded. At the parking lot, there was a brown bear, red deer, gray wolf, and a jackrabbit in police uniforms standing by the ZU police cars. I wonder if they knew anything about Deborah, and part of me was curious about how they became campus police.
"Should we talk to them?" I asked.
"They may know something."
