Chapter 6, A Doe in Distress: Aiden and I sat in the chief's office. The chief looked at Aiden with a bit of surprise and then looked at me dumbfounded. He probably couldn't believe that a hyena had helped solve the case. Or that I chose a hyena as my partner to begin with. Maybe it's both.
"So you both found the missing jackal?" Asked Chief Bogo.
"We did, chief," I answered.
"You two." He said.
"Yes chief, that is correct," I replied.
"You asked officer Cackle to help with the case?" He asked.
"I did ask him, chief," I replied.
"And you both solved the case?"
"Whichever way you ask me chief, I will still say yes," I answered. Chief Bogo looked at us both. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. After a bit of silence. He said, "I shouldn't be too surprised. A bunny did solve one of the biggest cases after all."
"Maybe you should always expect the unexpected, chief," I said.
"Maybe. But sometimes it's safer to expect the expected." He said.
"So it's okay if I keep working with officer Cackle chief?"
"We'll see." He said.
"Chief, we solved this in under twenty-four hours," I replied.
"I know. It was a simple missing mammal case after all." He said. Aiden decided to speak. "Chief, I think officer Broncco and I should look more into this case. It looks like there might be more to it." He said.
"And why is that? You both found the jackal didn't you?" He asked.
"Yes. But. This is a kidnapping." I said.
"Do you have evidence proving that?" He asked.
Aiden pulled out a picture of a male red fox and text messages that were recovered from cyber forensics.
Even though he tried not to show it. You could tell he could not believe that he underestimated a hyena.
"Fine. Three days to find the fox." He said.
"What happens after three days?" I asked.
"You're forced to resign." He said. Aiden and I were quiet. He smiled a little.
"Kidding. You look into another case."
"Even if they still might be out there somewhere?" I asked.
"If you were able to find the jackal in under twenty-four hours, three days should be plenty of time to find and arrest the fox."
"But why the limit chief?" Aiden asked.
"As far as everything goes the jackal is found so the case is closed. If we spent time on closed cases nothing would get done. You're both dismissed."
We went down to the lobby, there was Nick and Judy talking to a doe who appeared to be in great distress. She was a trembling and quivering mess. Occasionally she would run her hooves through her short dark auburn hair. Aiden pointed at a water cooler that was beside them. I nodded and we pretended to get water listening to the conversation.
"I know it sounds crazy but I'm being stalked! This is the only good picture I was able to take of them! They are always in these hoods and they're so fast!"
"Okay, just calm down. We can-"
"They shot my cousin!" The doe interrupted Judy. Judy and Nick looked like they were at loss for words. She showed them a picture. Her hooves were still shaking a little.
"His name is Darby Stagg. I don't know if you have met him. He's a ZU police officer. It was my first day of orientation and I saw him get shot." She started to cry. Not only these hooded mammals have been pests to the ZU police and students. But the deer we met is the campus police officer who got shot. Explains why he was surprised when he saw a hooded mammal kidnapping Deborah in the video. He knew how dangerous they were. Most importantly if Aiden and I got to the bottom of this gang, we could find Deborah's kidnapper.
"Ms. Stagg. I'm assuming that's your last name since you said you both are related?" Nick said.
"My name is Fern Stagg."
"So I was correct. Ms. Stagg, we will find out who has been following you around. Just breathe." Nick said.
"Really?"
"Well as of now we can't do much…" Judy began, she stopped when Fern started crying again.
"We can help," I interjected. Fern looked up at me. She had beautiful brown eyes. They looked rounded and expressive. Her lovely long and thick eyelashes highlighted the beauty of her eyes as well. I felt like I could stare at them all day if things weren't so heavy at the moment.
"For real?" She asked.
"Yes. For real. we met your cousin, and I don't think you're the only one who had this problem. We had talked to a student who knows about these…hooded mammals." I didn't say it was a gang. The poor doe was already one big emotional train wreck already. I didn't want to worry her more.
She threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. Something about being hugged by a doe felt nice. She faintly smelled like scented pine cones.
"Thank you so much!" She lets go, wiping her eyes.
"No need to thank me. Helping mammals feel safe is what we do at the ZPD." I replied.
The deer smiled. She had a really cute smile. Whoever gave this doe so much distress deserved to be behind bars. Whether it was starting training, graduating, going to college, getting engaged, or married everyone deserves to be happy experiencing a big event in their lives, and some godforsaken gang ruined it by causing her to see a family member get shot, and later have the nerve to make her feel unsafe.
"Is it possible for you to leave the picture with me?"
"Of course!" Fern handed the picture of the hooded mammal to me before she left the station. She was right about the picture, you couldn't tell what mammal it was, or if they were male or female. But I wasn't looking to see who they were. At least not yet. I was looking to see if this is one of the gang members. For some reason think the doe's and Deborah's case are connected somehow.
"So you know something about the picture?" Asked Judy.
"Not exactly, but I know someone who might," I answered. I was trying hard to keep my tail from swishing out of nervousness. It felt strange talking to them. These two solved the biggest case in Zootopia. What would they want to do with rookies?
"What were you doing talking to campus police?" Asked Nick.
"We were looking for a missing mammal who went to ZU." Answered Aiden. I explained the case to them.
"Jackrabbit? I know that the family sells fruit preserves. Their jelly is really good. If you like, we can talk to Jacqueline to find out about the mammal in the photo." Judy offered.
Part of me wanted to say Aiden and I could handle this. But I had a nagging feeling that there were too many mysteries to solve, and we only have three days to put Deborah's kidnapper to justice. There was also the fact that I did interject. Aiden nudged me and looked at me mouthing "do it."
I nodded and handed her the picture.
