"In the absence of information, we jump to the worst conclusions." - Myra Kassim
The glossy oaken door swung open smoothly, revealing the interior of Jack's office to the eyes of Judy Hopps, who stood in the doorway momentarily before letting herself in.
Closing the door behind her, she scanned the office in search of it's owner. She was scheduled to meet with Jack Savage at around 10:00 that morning, and she had arrived right on time. Shifting her field of vision around the room, she didn't see Jack anywhere, so she took to seating herself on one of the sofas in the middle of the room while she waited for his arrival. As she sat down in the plush seat, Judy took out her phone from her purse, briefly fiddling with it in an attempt to get a read on the current time.
10:09
Jack was late, unsurprisingly.
He may have, seemingly, been an able businessman and charming rabbit at first glance, it was clear to Judy that he had a lot of personal problems: He was prone to alcohol induced mood swings, where he'd go from being super relaxed one moment to raving around his desk as he scribbled his signatures on countless paperwork the next.
Those moments were few, as they were, but it only took one to make Judy apprehensive of her boss's true personality.
She wasn't afraid of him or anything like that, but she did worry herself in the fact that he might one day hurt himself in his office, as he spent his free time drinking in solitude and suffering from the aftereffects.
He'd drink when he was stressed, and he'd drink when he was excited.
A vicious cycle, as it was.
Judy just hoped that he wasn't passed out in some ditch somewhere.
Despite all of the male bunny's flaws, Judy actually did enjoy herself with him from time to time. Being away from Nick for so long would often cause her to become lonely or depressed, a common and unfortunate trait that accompanied mated bunnies, and having some shred of company helped her, even if said company was subject to drunken shenanigans.
That was one of the things that made Judy love her job and her marriage so much: Being able to work side-by-side with Nick was truly an amazing experience. Judy never wanted to be the stay-home type of wife that most female bunnies are nowadays, and her job as a police officer working alongside Nick was about as good as it got.
So with Nick out of the picture, even if it was only for a few hours every day, Judy began to feel like a piece of something was missing from her.
It wasn't a feeling she enjoyed.
But with Jack, she felt a similar spark of comradeship and acceptance: Jack reminded her of Nick in many different ways, from his sly smile to his charming attitude.
Granted, nobody could ever replace Nick.
The bunny glanced down at her phone once more.
10:13
Sighing, she slipped the mobile-device back into her purse and rose from her sofa, leaving the bag behind as she paced over to the large windows at the back of the office, behind Jack's desk. The wall of windows was paneled and extensive; rising from floor-to-ceiling with clear and clean glass. Gazing out, Judy could see a large portion of the Zootopian skyline, with colorful buildings and diverse neighborhoods. Staring out at the city below her feet, she felt powerful and in control: As if she reigned over this city undisputed and unquestioned. There was also a longing sense of freedom, as the landscape that stretched out for miles before her was clearly visible.
Behind the rigid mountains in the distant west, she could see the fluffy sea of clouds that blanketed the canopy of the Rainforest-District; tropical birds flying in and around the dense vegetation. To the left, the Sahara-Square lay spread out across the ground; the dusty dunes and rocky cliff-sides brimming with animal activity for as far as the eye could see. Judy unfortunately couldn't see Tundra-Town, as it wasn't positioned in the field of view from the window.
Focusing her attention back to the arid landscape of Sahara-Square. Judy found her eyes tracing the towering length of the Palm Hotel, shining with a gorgeous golden luster. She'd been within the lobby a few times, but had never had the pleasure of staying over-night: That didn't stop her from putting that idea on her bucket list, though.
As she stared down the shifting sands of the desert-district before her, she couldn't help but wonder if somewhere out there, Shahaz the Stinger was committing some sort of foul crime against the good folk of Zootopia. The bunny also wondered if perhaps, sometime in the past, the Pangolin crime-lord had done business with Jack Savage himself.
"Beautiful sight, isn't it?" A honeyed voice murmured from behind her.
Judy turned her head and locked eyes with Jack Savage, who had, somehow, walked up behind her, without notice, while she gazed out through the window. His piercing blue eyes stared quizzically into her own, and it took her a moment to realize that he had asked her a question.
"Oh..." She blinked and turned her head away from him, gazing back out at the Zootopian city-scape before responding. "Yes, certainly."
Her sensitive ears detected Jack's soft footsteps against the red-carpet floor, growing louder as he edged closer. Soon enough, Jack was standing right next to Judy, staring out the window along with her.
"Indeed... It never fails to captivate me no matter how many times I just sit here and stare..." Jack claimed before trailing off and looking in Judy's direction.
Judy tried not to notice that it wasn't the skyline that he was staring at.
Clearing her throat audibly, the female bunny tried to hide her blushing as she took a few tiny steps back from the window. In her retreat, she noticed a single slew of imperfections upon the clear-glass frames of the windows. One of the windows on the left about a quarter way to the center of the main panel was adorned with hinges and small levers: It was clear to Judy that it must be a window that could open upon interaction... perhaps to allow a breeze to flow through the office...
There was a small rectangular-shaped glass panel that rose from the floor-level to about a foot high, positioned directly beneath the hinged window.
But it wasn't the fact that the window could open that caught the bunny's attention...
Lining the single small-glass panel that was placed beneath the hinged window, Judy saw a myriad of little scratch marks and imperfections... Each one barely visible from the streaming sunlight and bustling city below.
They almost looked like they were administered with claws...
As she turned back around and faced Jack, the first thing that she did was eye his paws, which were currently stuffed into his pockets. Judy didn't recall Jack ever having any claws: It was unnatural and impossible for a rabbit to make claw marks that large.
Ruling out that scenario, Judy concluded that someone else must have left those abrasions... But why on that one window?
The scratch marks were found only on the window that could open... the rest were all flawless in condition; completely untouched and undisturbed.
Jack's smooth voice recaptured Judy's attention once more.
"I sincerely apologize that I left you waiting, for not only was I running late, but I had a few things that I needed to pick up first!"
Judy watched the male bunny as he reached behind him and picked up a small stack of documents that had been lying on the desk. He moved them into view before plucking the paper from the top of the stack, eyeing it with a look of approval.
"I don't have that much for you this morning... These registrations need to be filled in, sorted, and mailed to their respective properties, which range from Bugga-Burger Incorporated, to city-hall. Every single one is an important piece of licensing and financial agreement, especially the ones involving Bugga-Burger! They, after all, feed the entirety of the predator population, yes?"
Judy nodded her head in agreement: If Jack was making business deals with Bugga-Burger, they had to be big.
"As for myself, I'll be downstairs in Sector-A... I wish to personally check in with Mr. Leyfur, so as to see that all is running well in his assigned work-space."
At that statement, Judy made a mental note to call Nick and warn him as soon as Jack left. The last thing Judy would want is for Jack to walk in on her husband playing a game of cards with the other employees, or something...
"But alongside this," Jack added. "I'll be having quite a busy afternoon... meetings, filings, round-abouts, and a whole mess of paper-work, of course. Though, my 5:00 to 8:00 time frame is devoid of any responsibilities, at the moment."
The male bunny drummed his fingers against the surface of the desk, momentarily glancing away from Judy as if to ponder about his next few words.
"In reward for all of your generous assistance these past few weeks... I was wondering if perhaps you would like to join me for dinner, this evening?"
Jack's piercing blue eyes settled upon Judy, and she couldn't help but feel a sense of demand with that last request: She had a feeling that there was no denying this...
Well, I guess there's nothing wrong in going on a date with Jack... She thought to herself... Besides: The more that you warm up to this phony, the better!
Unbeknownst to the bunny, she had mentally referred to Jack's offer as a date.
"Uhm..." She briefly stammered. "Sure! I'd love to!"
The male bunny smiled wide with a triumphant smirk before replying.
"Excellent!" He then turned around and began walking towards the office's exit. "I'll let you know the details later, but for now... There's work to be done!"
Jack disappeared behind the door, momentarily poking his head back inside a few short seconds later. "I'll check back with you in an hour or two! Cheerio!"
He gave Judy a single wink before slipping back off into the hall-way: He didn't appear again.
Meanwhile, Judy was rather flustered at Jack's sudden and belligerent approach. She figured that getting the opportunity to make small-talk with Jack might lead to more clues being unearthed.
Aside from that, a free meal certainly wouldn't hurt...
The bunny lightly shook her head from side to side, clicking her tongue against her teeth.
It's clear that this charlatan has been eyeing you for some time now, and that he thinks he can walk all over you... But you're not going to let him: There's work to be done!
She stared at the pile of documents on the surface of Jack's desk.
"But not that work..." She donned a placid smirk of her own. "Sorry Jack," Judy muttered mockingly. "But I have some undercover work to get done!"
"No no no, not like that!" Nick stated, jabbing a finger at Dyvim's face.
"What?" The rabbit asked tenaciously.
"You're not supposed to smile! Or frown, actually... or anything, really..." The fox shook his head. "It's called a poker-face, fluff-butt! No emotions whatsoever!"
After setting foot outside the elevator earlier that morning, Nick immediately made his way to his tiny office at Sector-A, passing by all the other cubicles as he went. He counted a total of eight administered finger guns, three waves, two high-fives, and even a solid fist-bump before finally settling down at his personal desk.
As the weeks went by, Nick had done everything he could to appear friendly and courteous to the other rabbits in the office, and much to his surprise, he'd come out quite successful in his efforts. After befriending Dyvim all those weeks ago, he and Nick had set an example in the work-place as a representation of a predator and prey working effectively side by side. Soon enough (and with a little edging from Dyvim), the other rabbits had slowly begun to accept him as their new office-coordinator.
Now, many of them adored Nick and his ways: Even those two grumpy security-guards that had denied him entry on his first day of work had jumped in on the band-wagon!
Nick was more than pleased with himself at being able to earn the respect of the other bunnies at the office. It made him feel welcome and authoritative, alongside the fact that none of them were giving him fear-filled glances whenever he approached them. Indeed; The fox had become quite popular among the many other workers, as of late.
And all it took was a few magic tricks and a couple of corny jokes to win them over... I'm too good! Nick mentally told himself.
He knew that there wasn't much work to be done at this hour, especially since Jack Savage had just finished wrapping up that business and licensing deal with Bugga-Burger: The amount of paper-work that flowed through Sector-A gradually became less and less over time, until some employees literally had nothing to do. Nick, seizing the chance as always, had decided to bring in a pack of cards to work that day, so as to entertain the temporarily off-duty bunnies, and to provide himself some amount of amusement.
He'd just finished pitching up a poker game with Dyvim and a number of other workers when he received a call. Turning the screen away from the prying eyes of the other bunnies, Nick glanced down and saw that it was Judy calling him.
"Hey guys, I gotta take this..." He said as he set down his cards and pointed at them. "Do not even think about looking at these!"
The fox rose from his chair and walked away from the table before answering his phone.
"Hey, Carrots! What's up?" He asked coolly.
Judy's voice piped up from the other end of the line.
"I just got done talking with Jack... He's coming down to Sector-A right now to check on you!"
"Aw, don't think I can handle him, is that it?" He teased. "We're doing great down here, mind you, Whiskers!"
"You're not playing cards, are you Nick?"
The fox's smirk melted and his ears lowered as he turned around and eyed the table piled high with chips, cards, and money.
"Nope."
Nick heard Judy heave a sigh of relief. "Okay, good... Just stay cool and please don't do anything stupid!"
"Don't worry... I got this!" He smirked victoriously. "Never doubt a fox in a sticky situation, Carrots!"
"Alright... I got work to do up here, so I'll talk to you later, Nick. I love you, remember that."
"I love you too, Fluff." He made a quick kissing sound into the phone before canceling the call and hurriedly shuffling back to the table.
One of the rabbits, a portly guy that went by Mitch, gave Nick a sly wink before speaking.
"You got yourself a girlfriend, Felix?" He asked curiously.
Nick nodded, momentarily thinking about his wedding ring, which was still sitting peacefully atop his nightstand back in their apartment.
"Yup. Nice lil' vixen from out of town." He lied. "She's a keeper for sure!"
Mitch chuckled a dry laugh and patted Nick's lower back, which was about as high as he could reach while sitting down.
"Good for you, boss!" He then frowned suddenly, furrowing his brow quizzically. "Why'd you call her Carrots?"
Nick's stomach settled a little lower at that last question. He mentally cursed himself for talking so loud in such close proximity to these guys.
He quickly weaved another fitting lie in response to the still looming question.
"Oh, just because her fur is orange, and it reminds me of carrots, ya know?"
"Orange fur? But you're a gray fox, though..." Mitch smiled and leaned forward. "You into that inter-species stuff, Mr. Leyfur?"
Nick rubbed the back of his Neck and let out a small chortle.
"Nah, not at all, really. She may be an orange fox, but we're close enough to, ahh... You know." He trailed off, hoping that the bunnies would buy it.
Mitch, Dyvim, and the rest of the rabbits all nodded in understanding and laughed before refocusing their attention back towards their poker game.
Poker game... Oh crap... Nick thought.
"Okay, uh, bad-news everybody!" He announced quickly. "We gotta stop the game cuz Jack Savage is comin' here right now!"
All of the rabbits around the table looked at him in confusion and spared apprehensive glances at one another.
Then suddenly, like a well-oiled machine, all the rabbits threw themselves across the table and started scooping up armfuls of poker chips and cards, before running off and stuffing them into various cabinets and other hiding spots. They all hurried back to their designated cubicles while Nick made his way back to his own office, where he waited in hushed patience for a few short minutes before Jack Savage finally arrived. He didn't stay for very long, simply pacing around the sector and eyeing the work being done before giving Nick a thumbs-up and a pat on the shoulder before he turned tail and left the way he came. The fox was glad that the inspection had went down so smoothly.
Nick allowed himself a sigh of relief and a few minutes to recover from the check-in before he paced over to the restroom, where he washed his face and relieved himself before resuming his duties in the work-place, going from cubicle to cubicle and desk to desk.
In his head, he wondered what Judy was up to at the moment... He wouldn't have been surprised if it was nothing more than piles of paperwork and documents.
That idea put a smile on the fox's face, and caused him to laugh out loud.
Nice knowing that I'm not the only one doing the hard work here! He thought as he leaned back in his chair and stared out the window in his office.
"Life is good. I just hope Carrots knows what she's doing up there." He softly said to no one in particular.
The fox continued to gaze out at the skyline of the city of Zootopia, taking in all the sights that his brown eyes could see.
After looking over a few of the documents that Jack had assigned to her earlier out of curiosity, Judy concluded that she would deal with those later, and instead focus on the whole reason she was here in the first place: To uncover information about Jack's fraudulence crimes.
She trudged around his office, eyeing the dusty bookshelves and searching all the unlocked cabinets that she could find. There wasn't much at the moment, especially since most of the drawers and cabinets that Jack had in his office were locked tight.
So instead, she made her way towards the security and surveillance room that she had spotted out earlier that morning. Entering the hallway, she saw the metal-lined door at the end of the corridor, slightly gleaming in the sunlight as it beamed through the nearby window panels.
Judy walked up to the door and tried the handle, but it didn't budge. She then glanced to her left, noticing that the door was electronically tied to a key-card lock system.
"Of course." She grumbled to herself as she made her way back to the office.
Suddenly, an idea sparked to life in her mind: She remembered seeing a key-card in one of Jack's drawers. The bunny strode back over to Jack's desk and opened the corresponding drawer, which slid open to reveal a mess of papers, a few office supplies, and one shining plastic key-card.
"Yes!" She said aloud, grabbing the key-card in her paws and sprinting back to the security door as fast as she could.
This time, when she slid the card into the electronic slit, her ears were greeted with a ding sound and her eyes stared down at a pulsing green light.
She was in!
Grasping the handle and pushing against the door, Judy set foot inside the security room, which appeared to be tailored with various computer monitors and other equipment. Much like most of the other things in the building, the entire system was sized just perfect for most small mammals, and it proved compatible with Judy, who pushed the rolling office-chair out of the way and stood facing the monitors.
Every single screen was glowing with live footage of various cameras around the building. There were hundreds of individual points, but after some time, Judy managed to map out and select the floor that she was currently on.
Surprisingly, there weren't any cameras inside Jack's office, but she quickly singled out the camera in the corner of the approaching hall-way, which conveniently faced the doors of that mysterious elevator.
Now, it was only a matter of selecting the same date and time frame that she had seen the elevator open: Which happened to be on her very fist night working under Jack and his company.
After finding the date, she rolled the timer to around 9:45, and from there, she waited.
Some time passed, but eventually she saw her past self on the screen: The digitally recorded Judy paced over to the elevator out of sight from the camera and entered.
Any second now... Judy repeated again and again in her head.
At last, the elevator doors on the opposite side of the one her recorded self had just entered, opened wide and slid open smoothly. Judy saw a heaping shadow inch forward from the elevator, and right when it seemed that the shadow's source was going to reveal itself, the camera footage turned to a whirring fuzz of black and white.
The recording was disconnected.
"No! No no no!" She placed her paws on the side of the monitor and slightly shook it in a vain attempt to restart the footage.
Several agonizing seconds later, the footage returned to life, the blurring fuzz completely gone from the recording. The instant the scene reappeared, Judy saw the elevator doors closing: Whatever had taken that elevator up was gone.
The bunny cursed and clenched her fists before sighing and lowering her head in seeming defeat. Out of the blue, an idea suddenly came to her, and her ears shot up in excitement as she grabbed the computer mouse and fast-forwarded the footage.
She may have missed the entrance, but she still might be able to see the suspect on their way back to the elevator!
She continued to speed up the clip until it restarted the next morning: Ever since the footage blanked out, the elevator stayed closed, the film stayed smooth and undisturbed.
Considering the idea that maybe the suspect took the stairs back down, Judy selected the camera that viewed the stair-well on her current floor, and did the same with that clip that she did with the other: Speeding it up and searching for any signs of movement or interruption in the recording.
Again, she was met with nothing but emptiness.
"How did they leave?" Judy murmured softly to herself.
The bunny was stumped: Whoever had taken the elevator up to the floor where Jack had passed out that night, hadn't returned the way they came. They also didn't use the staircase to get back down, either...
Judy was perplexed and at a loss for ideas.
What she did realize was that the interruption in the footage of the hall-way was purposeful, and not the result of some incredibly well-timed inconvenience: Whoever had taken that elevator up didn't want to be seen.
Reasoning that she had seen enough, she shut down the various computers and exited the room, making sure that everything was exactly the way it was as she had first seen it. She even took the time to delete the footage of herself entering the security room.
Judy walked back into Jack's office and took a seat in his big office-chair. She wondered what Nick was up to right about then, and also thought silently to herself, hoping that he hadn't messed up and been too easy with her acceptance of Jack's date. She rotated the chair around and faced the pile of paper-work that lay on the desk in front of her.
"Well... Best get started." She said to herself before letting out a sigh of discontent.
She may have had lots of work to do, but one thing was certain to the bunny: Jack Savage had been expecting someone that night.
Someone who didn't want to be seen...
The bunny shook her head and refocused her mind back into the stack of papers, intent on finishing them all within the next 30 minutes.
Hey everyone!
I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! It was a fun one to write up and I'd love to know your own thoughts on the likes of my work: So feel free to leave a review, favorite, or even follow!
'Till next time...
Peace!