They entered the room together. It contained two terminals for small mammals, one for a large mammal, and a huge screen on the far wall.

Lina turned hers on. "I'll load a map so we can start planning."

Judy sat at hers. "We'll distil the witness reports."

After a couple of minutes the big screen came alive, filling with a map of the city. Lina moved to it.

"Right." With strokes of her paws across its surface she zoomed in on the Silverson Clinic, circling and labelling it. "Clinic here." She marked a spot a block and a half away. "Cody picked up here."

Judy pointed to a spot between them. "First seen there."

Lina highlighted it. "A dot connected. That's just a couple of hundred feet from the cul-de-sac the clinic's on."

"And he got almost a block further before anybody thought to try and help him," Nick noted, quietly. He indicated six more spots. "That's all the confirmed sightings, meaning..."

"We know most of his route." Lina finished marking them. "It doesn't confirm he came from the clinic, but it increases the odds. A busy and sterile street on a gusty day indicates scent and fur will be little use, so we're left with blood and glass traces for physical corroboration."

"Scent and fur, blank," Judy confirmed. "No blood or glass found." She stared at the map image of the clinic for a few seconds. "But there still might be some traces. When you start your watch, maybe look for any boarded up windows at the clinic, or tradesmammals visiting."

Lina nodded. "Anything else in the notes?"

"One thing, but..." Nick frowned a little. "It doesn't make sense. A fox with silvery-black fur was spotted standing at the top of the cul-de-sac, watching Cody go, but only by one person, and only for a second."

Judy blinked. "Any details other than silver fox?"

"Looked to have a cut of their own, on their arm."

Lina's head lilted. "Obvious candidate is Silverson himself, but there's no way he'd just be 'watching Cody go'. No way."

Nick shrugged. "Like I said. Doesn't make sense."

"Any other silver foxes at the clinic?" Judy wondered.

"No," Lina answered. "I think we should disregard it, for now."

"Agreed," Nick concurred. "Anywhere look good for a stakeout?"

"Actually, yes." Lina circled a fairly large building across the road from the clinic's cul-de-sac. "Large mammal apartments." She crossed to her terminal. "And a top-floor one's up for rent. Perfect." She returned to the screen, sliding the map across to the Rainforest District. "Painter's Pass. Where exactly is it?"

Judy showed her, and the tigress marked it, then zoomed out so both it and the clinic were in view.

"Gnu York to Vine Country," Nick noted. "A good distance. If Silverson Clinic's really the heart of the operation, then the other exchanges will likely be at similar range. Gotta balance remove with manageability."

"Using that for a rough radius," Judy computed, "would put areas like Hyenahurst, Deersborough, Downtown and Big Dune in the frame, and that would mean an exchange in most of the main districts."

Lina tapped her chin. "They'd want to avoid the Grey Markets, right?"

"Definitely," Nick confirmed. "Isolate the links, easier to control, much harder for others to join together."

"Then maybe," the tigress mused, "we can use that. For example, the exchange in Vine Country would mean no Grey Market there. Process of elimination to narrow things down."

Nick nodded, ears perking. "Sharp thinking, and that leads neatly into Duke's haunts." He listed two in Downtown, three in Savannal Central, and one in Sahara Square.

"That's in Hyenahurst," Judy observed of the latter. "If we knew what to look for, that's a prime candidate for a visit."

"I'll check in with Elle," Nick decided, "See if Cassandra's remembered anything else." He pulled out his phone and moved away.

"And we'll map out the disappearance." Judy loaded another group of documents. "Aiden Brindle. Meerkat. Lived in...Hyenahurst. Vanished two years ago. Last seen on CCTV leaving...the Mystic Spring Oasis."

Lina focused on the relevant district, and circled the spots. "That can't be a coincidence."

"We are definitely visiting," Judy resolved.

"And we'll know what to look for," Nick put in, returning. "Mentioning 'dark star' jogged Cassandra's memory a little. Apparently, they 'point the way', most likely meaning physical markers."

"All right." Judy turned off her terminal. "Let's change into something less conspicuous, and see what we can find."

Lina followed suit. "And I'll update the Chief, and see if I can't acquire myself a nice new apartment. Reconvene after lunch?"

Nick and Judy nodded. "It's a date."