Chapter Sixty-Eight
Confabulation by Candlelight

There was no difference in the layout or design of Joe's Place since the last time Judy had entered there. It was a little less busy, but it was the same furniture of solid wood, the same sweet, round tables with the same candle lighting, and the same soft, unobtrusive music that was being piped in through the speaker.

Why then was the atmosphere so very different?

The whole room felt darker to the gray doe and the air filled her with stilted dread, as her foot fell upon the welcome mat, which felt anything but 'welcomed'. She glanced about herself and noticed the black-striped jackrabbit smiling at her smugly from a table in the corner. She had doubts, but those doubts were made downtrodden, with the assurances that she had the upper paw. Nervousness had to cease; thus, with her paw in her pocket, she checked if the 'borrowed' tranq dart was still there. The tension from her fur chipped off, and she sighed in freshness.

It was.

Stepping towards Jack, puffing out her chest and trying to hide her fear, Hopps reminded herself of the situation: Jack was here, under the impression that Nick was a manipulative and aggressive boyfriend to her, while she wanted to know everything Jack was planning. Only because she was terrified of the fox and wanted to help Jack put him away for good. By the time Judy had reminded herself of the situation and had reached his table, all inward signs of fear were vanquished... and the only uneasiness she showed was to aid in the deception, the farce that she was just a helpless, dumb bunny.

Smirking up at Judy with demeanor that was supposed to be calculated and alluring — but really just making her cringe on the inside — Jack rested back in his chair and waved his arm in a wide arch towards the seating across from him. Judy slowly took it and then stared at Jack. He inched back low in his chair, one foot resting on the tabletop with his legs wide apart. With where she was sitting, Judy had a... 'great' view of everything she could ever hope to see of Jack — and rather a lot more besides. Judging by his delight and just how wide he was holding his legs apart, it was clearly intentional.

Jack leered at her, not appearing to want to chat right now, with his eyes defiling all the parts of her body with lascivious avarice. In any other circumstance, Judy would've taken the opportunity, of his wide-legged posture, to insert her foot at great speeds into his groin for how he was ogling at her — and then gone home to scrub herself in the shower — but, right now, she needed information.

In time — in his own, sweet time — Jack's eyes returned to where they should've been and his mouth opened, "I went down to your apartment. Quite a mess that armadillo made." Unsure of what to say — aware she couldn't appear too 'with it', and had to maintain this air of 'helpless country hick' — the doe just nodded, sadly. "I guess it's a good thing Wilde forced you over his place to take his dick."

Judy's mouth moved, Nick would never 'force' her into something like that! But she stopped herself before the words came out, and just nodded with a suitably 'oppressed-looking' expression, muttering the words, "It was horrible," under her breath.

His foot slipping off the tabletop, Jack shrugged. "Wilde is a horrible person. He always had a very overactive sex drive. Just about every night he took a whore to bed with him. He had a girl once, but when she couldn't keep up with the amount of fucking he demanded, he shot up and killed her."

"Oh god, really? How do you know this?"

"I have my ways. Wilde used to be a pretty significant figure... for a little gang called The Firm." Sitting back, Judy slipped a reaction of dread and flummox across her features. "Yep," he added, in answer to her reaction, "he was one of the head guys working there at the time. I worked as an undercover sleeper agent there for a while. And while I was doing a little work inside, I got my orders from none other than Wilde himself."

"Gosh... I never knew that. So you knew him from before?"

"Yeah. I didn't know him well at all, but I knew how he worked. He didn't usually make a habit of killing personally, but his orders and his actions were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people... of officers. And that resulted in the theft or damage of thousands upon thousands of zeli to Zootopia. He single-pawedly," Jack added, his voice growing in strength with righteous fury, "conceived, organized and catalyzed the armed raid on the Bank of Zootopia, the sabotaging of the ZPD radio watchtower and who knows how many other major blows to the ZPD and MI-Z. They were blows which slowed them in their God-given quest to obliterate the scourge of The Firm from this earth; blows which lent strength to a criminal sect bent on the destruction and misfortune of others.

"Again, he never killed personally," Jack continued, his voice softening after the surge of emotion, "but the death and misery of thousands is on his paws." Hopps stared at the rabbit, his gaze fixed on the tabletop, his expression distant and sorrowful. "You'll never know," he muttered, placing his own paw on his heart absentmindedly... "just how many lives he ruined." She looked away and into the memory of Nick telling her about his past experiences with Jack. Jack had done everything in the name of personal success; his own actions had given contradiction to his words. He had killed in the name of the law; he had gotten people killed in the name of promotions and revenge. And yet, he was propagating that he was the spear of righteousness… But all she saw was a spear or prejudice, cupidity and avarice.

Bringing herself back to the moment, Judy opened her mouth to ask, earnestly, about what had happened that night up on the roof. She moved closer as she made to speak, but then remembered the deception she was trying to pull off, and switched her tongue to another question, "And you know all this just from your short time undercover in The Firm?"

"After my short time working as an undercover operative, I spent a lot of time researching Wilde and made sure there was always someone close by watching him."

"I bet he was never quick enough to outsmart you," Hopps groveled in shyness.

Jack's amusement bloomed into a fiery smirk. "'Course not. He's a smart fox, I give him that. All these years and I thought he was dead. But he could never outsmart me." His expression hardening, Jack's voice dropped slightly and he leaned in to Judy for privacy. "He got away and cheated death once before, but it will not happen again. I'm onto him, my teeth are in and I am not letting go."

Trying not to laugh in the stripped rabbit's face, Hopps managed to swoon at his words — not too much, just enough to get his attention. "Oh, Jack, you're so handsome when you're serious."

His chest puffing out, Jack suddenly appeared an inch taller as he readjusted. He restrained himself from grinning insanely, but a smug grin still spread across him. "If you look back over the past few weeks, there's a definite trend: the volume of drugs in this city is rising. It's rising a steady, continuous amount and includes even some particularly rare kinds which you don't tend to see in these areas. This indicated to Bogo and to the MI-Z that this was the work of a criminal gang, flying, or most likely sailing over from another country to sell their wares here. The information you found reinforced this idea, and what happened down in the harbor with Black pretty much proves it."

"Wanting to stop the drug spree before it started, the MI-Z and Chief Bogo, on behalf of the ZPD, pulled some resources and intel together, and assigned 'me' especially to oversee the investigation. I found this gang was a real professional sort. It helps that they're based in another country, but also, I thought, because they have someone on the inside. It was then I started checking the police records on the police themselves. I saw Wilde's name and knew without a shadow of a doubt it was him who was keeping this new 'gang' informed."

"I don't know if he was the head or not, but I wouldn't be surprised. He does work full time with the PD, I know, but Wilde's job in The Firm revolved around organizing and arranging people. Delegation was always one of his strong points. If he's successfully delegated enough jobs to enough people, he could successfully run a whole gang and hardly have to lift a finger. I had no evidence to further investigate him, of course, until after the murder at Ladders was found to be by Wilde's gun. I asked Bogo's permission, and he put me onto the fox specifically."

"I've been tracking the both of you for a few days now, but haven't come up with anything. I don't know how, but Wilde must've caught my scent when I was following the two of you at Reg' House. Turns out though, he was doing me a favor by cuffing me up to the wall 'cause, girl, you never would've known I was there otherwise. Now, though, we can work together. Now, we can finally put this fox where he belongs. I assume you want to see him jail too?"

"I want to see that bastard locked up," Hopps chimed in, quickly. "You can count on me."

Jack's ears trembled in delight ever so lightly. "There's my good little bunny."

"So, how are we going about this?"

"Well, like I said, I can't get the evidence I need on my own, so you and I are going to need to get a little 'creative' in how we go about this. Now, before you start worrying, don't worry: Chief Bogo himself asked me to investigate Wilde. He knows just as well as I that he's guilty. But needed me, an 'independent' agent, to 'find' the evidence for him. Just as you and Wilde 'found' the evidence on Erkin with no legal permission to enter, and reached the conviction that they were guilty."

"Okay, I trust you," Judy lied. "What's the first step"?

"You see... well, you remember that body you found at Ladders? The one who'd been shot through the head, leaving a bullet that belonged to a rare type of gun?"

"Yes."

"You may also remember the documents on who actually owned the gun were inconclusive?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well... I have that paperwork. One gun belonged to Wilde and the other to the girl he once murdered. Now, if we went to arrest him there and then, he'd just claim the fennec at Ladders was killed by the other gun and that it had been stolen by whatever 'imaginary' person killed his girl. There'd be no evidence for or against, and so under the law of 'innocent until proven otherwise' we'd have no choice but to let him go. That's where you come in."

Straightening in her chair, Judy spoke without a trace of unease, "What do you need?"

"Such a brave girl," Jack noted, glancing about him, as he slipped something hard out of his pocket that widened Judy's eyes.

"Is that—"

"No. It's a replica."

"It's a...? Oh, I get it. Clever. That's very clever."

Making sure no one was looking in their direction, Savage pulled the replica Ruger SR ME from his pocket and pawed under the table to the rabbit. "Hide this," he ushered in tints of ghastliness. "I found the original construction specs for the gun Wilde custom ordered. It took a heck of a lot of digging, but I found it. This is an exact replica. I even had my associate, who made it, inscribe it with the same serial number as the gun that once belonged to Wilde's girlfriend."

Taking the gun, Hopps examined it carefully. It was little more than a toy built from metal, but looked and felt exactly like the real thing. "But surely," she opined, while slipping it under her shirt... "Surely someone's gonna notice that it's just a fake. That it's not a real gun at all."

"Not initially. Yes, under close examination or if anyone tries to fire it, it'll be obvious it's just a copy. But all we need for now is for it to look like the real thing. Listen, Hopps... the only thing we need to do is have enough proof for me to convince Bogo that Wilde needs a full and thorough investigation of his past. And I'll be able to direct the investigation exactly where it needs to go and expose his time with The Firm."

"But still, how long do you expect using a fake gun as a piece of integral evidence to work?"

"Only for as long as it takes to convince Bogo of Wilde's guilt. That's it. He pretty much just has to see it in Wilde's possession and that'll be enough."

"So what happens to it then? What do you do when, say, the court case comes about?"

"It won't be the first time evidence has 'disappeared'. The contact who made this for me is very good at keeping quiet about things. Once I have Bogo and his team investigating Wilde properly, I can snatch the gun away without anyone seeing, and make sure it's never seen again. After all, once they figure out who that fox used to work for, his having possession of the murder weapon will be superfluous to requirements."

Judy thought for a moment. Her head cocked, and she leaned in a little closer to the table. "So you're saying that you really believe that Nick is the mammle in charge of this whole drugs operation?"

"That is correct, yes."

"But why?"

"Money, power, influence. He made a hell of a lot of cash working in The Firm. Had fine clothes, expensive suits, ate out every night, had a lush apartment... And without doubt, he had gotten used to being in charge of a large force of people. Chances are he's hoping to regain some of his former power."

"Then why did he murder the fennec?"

"'Cause he knew who he was! He must've recognized him from the news reports or something, been thick-headed enough to mention it to Wilde's face and caused him to have to kill 'im to keep his identity secret."

"But that's just speculation. You can't prove it, surely."

"True, but that's not the thing that matters. He murdered him. We know he did and that is what matters, not why. Not with all the other evidence I can pin on him, anyway."

"Wow..." Judy gawked at Jack, her gaze filled with wonder. She'd learnt a lot of things from Nick in their last year together, and hiding her real emotions under the guise of another was one of them. "You really are so smart. You say Bogo put you onto this?"

"He did, yes."

"But does he feel like Nick is guilty?"

"He's..." Jack faltered, his gaze flicking away for a moment. "He's undecided. I don't think he knows what to think. He wants to believe Wilde's innocence, naturally, because of the implications of his hiring of a murderer on the police force. But he also wants to do what's right. We have to help him. I have to help him to see that fox for what he really is: a crook, a fabricator and a murderer."

Judy watched the fire which lit up in the jackrabbit's eyes. He meant it, he really meant to 'help' Bogo by revealing Nick's crooked side. Nick was right: through his ego and his strange, twisted sense of 'justice', Jack had started believing his own delusions. He no longer saw what his real goal was, Judy realized.

He'd stopped seeing it as 'get Wilde arrested to discredit his name before he tries to do the same to me' and now saw only one thing: an ex-Firm operative working in the police force, who murdered the fennec at Ladders and was the source of all the trouble with the gang of drug runners... and he had to be brought to justice.

Whether it was true or not didn't matter. Jack had forgotten to see that. It was a con, a con no different than the ones Nick used to pull just before he joined the force. The only difference was Nick was conning other people, Jack was just conning himself. The light glazed in the doe's eyes as she wondered. If Nick had been right — if Jack really had set out to do good, but had been torn apart and turned crooked by the same speciesism, which had nearly ruined her — despite all that he'd done...

Judy felt sorry for him. The moment of empathy was fleeting; however, as Judy's mind returned to the moment. "So, you know what you have to do?"

"Ughm..."

"Hide this somewhere in Wilde's apartment, where a police search can 'find' it later."

"Sure."

"It would be better if we could get his pawprints on it first. If you can't do it safely, don't risk it. But do it if you can."

"Okay. So... that armadillo in my apartment: what do you think of that?"

Not exactly expecting the question, Jack sat back as he took it in. "Well, it definitely wasn't the armadillo who kicked that door in like that. If you're asking if it was a hitmammle Wilde sent after you, because he knew you were talking to me, I doubt it. It is theoretically possible, but if he wanted you killed in your apartment that night, why then would he invite you to stay round his for the night… Unless..." Jack's eyes widening, his expression slackened. "I just got it," he said, his voice slow and distant. "The reason for Scarlett's death."

"Scarlett?" Judy blurted quickly, aware Jack hadn't yet mentioned her by name and that she 'didn't know' about her yet.

"Yeah," said Jack, "Wilde's last girlfriend, the one he had murdered. It was late in the afternoon and Nick was 'out' when the murderer attacked. There were clear signs of violence: blood everywhere, overturned furniture, scratches on the walls and floor..." The rabbit's expression fixed on Judy, meaningfully. "If you hadn't accepted that invitation to sleep with him that night, Hopps... you'd be dead now. That was to be your punishment for refusing his advances, just like it was Scarlett's punishment for refusing him."

Judy gazed at the ghosted expression of Savage. She knew it was a lie, of course, but it was still a surprising lie on itself, creative even. Slowly getting closer, Jack's voice became softer and more lenient. "It's not safe for you to be alone tonight, so... how about we go to that safehouse of yours, and we let this get real under the sheets?"

Stifling a choke, Judy flinched at his words, "Wh— what?"

Jack fell in the amusement of her reaction. "Come on, Hopps, I know you're interested." His head tilted to one side, his delight turning to a simple smile. "You're a virgin, aren't you? Well, I promise you, Judy, I can show you a warmer, more compassionate night than that fox ever could."

"B—"

"And if that fox dares to make an attempt on your life while I'm around," he added... "I'll make him pay with more than his life's worth." Hopps stumbled with her response. She had anticipated a move like this, but it still knocked her off guard. Her eyes eventually locking back with Jack's, she managed to part her startled expression into a small shyness of anticipation.

"I— I'd like that... Jack." With the words of success, Jack stood and pulled the chair back for Hopps, as she got up a moment later; consequently, he leaned swiftly at her and planted a small kiss on her shoulder. Hopps bristled, but Jack assumed it was with surprised pleasure. Looping an arm across her shoulders, Jack gently led her away from their table and towards the door out, the waitress smiling at the 'cute couple' as they passed.

For some reason as they walked, a thought she had not expected entered her mind. A memory flashed to her: a memory of her time at the police academy... the close quarter's combat lessons... and all the many, many ways Hopps felt like busting-up this sly rabbit-creep while he led her outside.

"It's gonna be a cold night," he cooed in sultriness as they walked towards his car. "Good thing we'll have each other to warm ourselves against."

Judy muttered a long string of many curse words under her breath. She would endure his self-importance and his ego for now... but all the while as she stepped, she kept one paw firmly on the dart in her pocket... the one with the tranquilizing agent strong enough to knock out the biggest of buffalo.

Author's notes:

Hesitance jumps around your mind,

Grooms decision thus chosen blind.

Your thoughts most succulent of snack,

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