Summary:
Ranger Nick shows up and briefs Bogo on what he found, all while Judy struggles not to rip his smirking head off. Concerned that he might witness yet another murder, Bogo tries separate the two mammals. But the Warden has other ideas, and sends Nick off into the forest as Judy's escort as she documents the evidence. After the old goat explains why to Bogo, he decides that perhaps a more paws-off approach might solve the current crisis.
Notes:
I am such a liar. I was only going to post once a month, or maybe twice, but here I am posting yet another chapter. I'm seriously procrastinating on my other chapter, but it's got 9 separate scenes, with various mammals trading confessions back and forth - a whole lot of talking heads, with lots to keep track of. It's giving me a headache.
Where as this work is much less... aggravating. Each chapter is a scene, right around 1500 words, which something I can bang out in a couple of hours. And the words are flowing so easily. Anyway, I digress. You don't want to hear me moan about, you want bunny/fox action. Here ya go...
Hopps drew a deep breath to deliver a less than well thought out retort to the feisty fox, but Bogo beat her to the punch with a low pitch growl, "Hoppssss…."
Judy flicked her angry eyes up to her chief's face, but he just glowered down with his best "parking duty all week" look playing across his face. She barely kept her jaw clenched shut.
Nick smirked and turned back to his boss, "Ma'am. I followed the tracks all the back to an old logging trail, about three quarters of a mile due east of here. They disappear at that point, replaced by a set of tracks from a box truck, which continued up the hills to the southwest. I was getting ready to track them further along when I saw the ZPD vehicle arrive in the distance, and I decided to come back."
"Tracks?" Bogo echoed him in query.
Ranger Wilde nodded, "Yes sir." He turned and pushed past the still fuming bunny to point at the muddy ground near the tarp, "You can see where the tire treads ripped up the grass." He stood in the middle of the muddled tracks and pointed down, "Looks like some kind of narrow wheelbase skid-steer. You can see the indentations from what looks like the forks of a forklift just under the body in the tarp, and over there you can see where they stopped to start digging a hole." He pointed down at a shallow hole with a few clumps of sod dumped next to it.
"Did they get out to dig?" Bogo asked him.
Nick shook his head, "No sir. You can see where they put down the leveling struts," pointing to two square indentations in the grass on either side of the hole. "And you can see the marks from the three teeth on the bucket at the rear of the hole. It's some kind of bucket excavator, but not one I'm familiar with." He stood back up and brushed off his paws.
"Why did they stop digging? Did they see you you coming?" Bogo demanded to know.
Nick just snorted as he shook his head, "No. They were gone long before I arrive. I would have heard the damn thing running, and besides, there is only one path out of this little valley through the trees, and that's the path I took to get here." He pointed at the gap in the trees for them. "No, judging by the tracks in the mud, and the condition of the corpse, I'd say they came in and left two nights ago, just after that big rain storm we had. Probably picked that time because the soil would have been easier to dig up. As for why they left in a hurry," he pointed at several wide paw prints with five parallel claw marks each, "I suspect they woke up the local dragons with their noise, and the damn lizards drove them off. Probably why they haven't returned to finish the burial."
"Dragons?" Judy squeaked, looking alarmed.
The warden nodded sagely, "Yes, dear. Komodo dragons, actually."
"Huh?" Bogo interjected, "They're not native to Zootopia!"
Nick grinned wryly, "No sir, they're definitely not. Nor are the ball pythons, anacondas, or the piranhas we have here."
Warden Ziege nodded in agreement, "We have a real problem with invasive species here in the park, most of them dumped out by breeders or other unsavory characters who just can't care for them anymore."
Gulping down on her fear, Judy asked, "Where are they now?"
Nick turned and pointed up the hill, "At this time in the morning, probably up on top of the hill sunning themselves. Probably all camped out around your cruisers." He added with an evil grin as he looked down at the little bunny.
Judy tried to damp down her fear, setting her muzzle to a frown as she scowled at the fox, the twitching of her nose the only indication of the agitation buzzing at the base of her brain.
Bogo watched the interplay between the two smaller mammals and sighed internally. He knew about the trouble his dour detective had experienced teaching the year before, and he now understood that this fox was definitely the same same fox she had complained so bitterly about. He didn't quite understand how this particular relationship had come to pass, since he could see that separately they were both very professional law enforcement mammals, exceedingly competent in their chosen fields of expertise.
But somehow, for some reason, the fox had decided that yanking on Judy's very short tail was a lot of fun, and for some equally mysterious reason she was allowing him to do so. It was like watching 4 th graders flirt, where the male bucks would pull the female doe's ears just to get their attention, and the female would screech and chase the male around the playground. And if the male wasn't paying attention to the female, she'd go interrupt what ever game he was playing just so he would return to paying attention to her.
It was all so juvenile. He rubbed his face with his paw, Great! Now I have to separate the two of them… Gonna have to send them to opposite sides of the playground for the duration of recess … I' m too old for this crap, I swear to Mungu…
He shook his head and bit out in a tone that brokered no arguments, "Hopps."
She tore her eyes off the fox and back up to her boss, and just as shortly answered, "Sir."
He pointed at the graves, "CSU is going to be a while digging all of this up. Why don't you go get footage of the tracks for forensics while we wait?" It wasn't a request.
She jerked her head at the opening to the forest, and he nodded. She whipped out her phone and started taking pictures, slowly making her way toward the forest.
Warden Ziege spoke up, "You're going off alone? It's dangerous out there. I'm really not sure that's such a good idea."
Judy stood and swept back her coat, showing off her 22 short revolver in her hip holster, "I'm armed, ma'am. I can handle myself." She wasn't about to admit she was afraid to the old goat, especially in front of her boss or even the thrice damned fox.
"Still..." The nanny looked over at Nick, "Ranger Wilde?"
"I'll get my rifle, Ma'am." He assured her with a grin and trotted off towards a camouflaged ATV in the shadows by the forest's edge.
Looking back down at the angry little rabbit, the Warden added, "In the city, I am sure that you can indeed handle yourself, Detective Hopps. But out here, predation is a fact of life and we have lost mammals to the local wildlife. In light of the current circumstances, I'm going to insist that no ZPD personnel go wandering about without a Ranger in attendance." She added firmly.
Clenching her jaw, Judy just barely nodded before turning and stalking off toward the forest toward the waiting fox, who stood waiting patiently at the treeline.
Bogo sighed, "Did you have to do that?" He waved at Judy's retreating back, "I was trying to keep the two of them separated!"
Warden Ziege looked at him confusion, "Whatever for? I mean, he warned me that she was a bit acidic, but he also said that she was the best in the business, particularly with something this nasty." She waved her hoof out over the shadowed valley, now crawling with busy mammals taking pictures and excavating dirt.
"He did?" Bogo pointed off at Nick's distant red and khaki form in disbelief.
She nodded vigorously, "Oh, yes. He's the one that suggested that I contact her this morning. He implied that he knew her quite well."
"Really?" Bogo mused, his finger-hooves tapping on his lower lip. Maybe there was something more with those two than Detective Hopps had previously let on, something that she certainly didn't want to admit to. He smirked for a moment before turning his attention back to his CSU team and the situation at hoof, resolving to let nature take it's course with the two smaller mammals.
Detective Hopps was a big bunny, and if she had a problem with the fox's behavior toward her, she was going to have to figure out how to solve it herself.