The morning of the sixth day marked the last day of the honeymoon trip for the couple. Judy awoke to the familiar homey smell of pancakes and syrup that drifted into the master bedroom from the kitchen. She rolled over and found the other half of the plush bed empty. Still in her pink sweatpants and navy Zootopia Space Station t-shirt, Judy slid from the bed and shuffled sleepily into the kitchen-living space.
"Good morning, Fluff!" Nick greeted her with a beaming smile.
He was standing over the stovetop, a plate full of pancakes in one paw, a spatula in the other. A circle of batter was sizzling in a pan on the stove.
"Morning," Judy replied groggily as she slumped into a chair at the nearby dining table.
Nick chuckled softly at her.
"I heard you get up at least a dozen times last night," he commented. "Couldn't sleep?"
"Yeah, just some bad dreams," Judy replied nonchalantly, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
Nick glanced at her from the corner of his eyes for just a moment, choosing instead to focus on the coffee he had started to pour. "Just some bad dreams" was Judy's polite way of saying "nightmares about Valerie," something Nick had come to learn over the last few months. He never pushed on the subject, but he knew they affected her more than she let on. The bunny carried burdens that, at times, she truly couldn't handle, but would never admit defeat to.
"There was also this really annoying ticking noise," Judy said a few moments later. "Did you hear it last night?"
"Ticking noise? No, I didn't."
Judy shook her head, assuming it must have been a noise caused by the air conditioning unit or something outside during the night.
"Here," Nick said as he placed a small grey mug full of coffee in front of Judy.
"I thought you said I couldn't have caffeine?" Judy smirked.
"Just this once, Carrots," Nick replied as he returned to the stovetop. "You need it."
Judy gratefully took a sip, watching Nick as he put one last pancake on one of two plates, then turned off the burners and placed the utensils he had used in the sink. He picked up the two plates and walked back to the table.
"Carrot pancakes for the wife and blueberry pancakes for the husband," Nick declared as he placed the two plates accordingly.
Judy perked up at the sight of the pancakes in front of her.
"Thank you," she said with a small smile.
"What's on the agenda for today?" Nick asked as he passed Judy the syrup.
"I was thinking just a relaxing day in. Pack at our own place. Maybe go out for lunch?"
"Sounds like a plan in action," Nick agreed with a nod.
"Our flight leaves first thing in the morning."
"I sure do love morning flights," Nick grumbled, making Judy laugh and nearly snort her coffee she was trying to drink.
The two chatted lightly over their breakfast, and once they had finished, cleaned the kitchen before beginning their morning routine to get ready for the day. The couple then lounged around for the rest of the morning, flipping through channels on the TV in the master bedroom as they slowly packed their bags. At one point, they paused their packing to watch a brief report on the news channel that was broadcasting that the police had found a body in one of the rivers in the Canal District. There wasn't much information, as the corpse had just been discovered that morning, and since it wasn't their jurisdiction, Nick and Judy continued with their packing.
"Hey, Carrots?"
"Hmm?" Judy answered absentmindedly as she sat on the bed folding her shirts.
"Have you seen my phone?"
Judy stopped and looked up with a quizzical look.
"You don't know where it is?"
"No," Nick huffed as he dropped to the floor to look for the device underneath the bed.
"Well, when did you have it last?"
Nick pulled himself from underneath the bed and stood, running a paw over his ears as he thought. "Uhh… I don't know," he answered quietly after a few moments.
"Since when do you not have your phone on you at all times?" Judy gaped at the fox. "You're practically obsessed with that thing!"
"I know, I know," Nick said with a shake of his head. "I think I had it last when we were making lunch yesterday. It was plugged into the stereo on the counter."
"Did you take it with you when we ran down to the beach?"
"No, we were in a hurry and I didn't even think about it."
Judy froze, dropping the shirt she had been folding and thinking quickly.
"The music wasn't playing when we got back," she muttered to herself.
"What?" Nick asked as he looked at her.
"The music wasn't playing when we got back," Judy repeated, this time louder.
"I don't understand."
"When we got back from the beach, the music wasn't playing, which means your phone had been disconnected," Judy said frantically, her paws gesturing wildly. "Someone took it!"
"Carrots, I don't think anyone–"
"Someone waited until we left the house, and then they took your phone."
"Carrots–"
"I bet my phone is gone too," Judy exclaimed as she jumped from the bed and began digging through her possessions.
After a few moments, she looked up at Nick.
"It isn't here."
"Carrots, I think you might have had too much coffee–"
"It's Valerie."
Judy's words cut through the lighthearted atmosphere like a knife. The room fell deadly silent as the fox and the rabbit stared at one another; Judy's eyes filled with determination, but Nick's eyes filled with worry.
"Carrots," Nick said with a gentle sigh. "Valerie is–"
"In prison, I know!" Judy cut him off. "But I know this is her, Nick! I know! Breaking into the house the other night, and the figure on the street, and now the phones! It's her!"
"What figure on the street?"
"She was following us when we were walking back after dinner at the Salty Iguana; I saw her!"
"You saw her?" Nick asked incredulously.
"Well," Judy faltered. "No, not exactly, but there was someone following us and I'm sure it was her!"
"We would know if she had escaped; the Chief would have called."
"We don't know he hasn't called! Our phones have been missing since yesterday afternoon!"
"Carrots–"
"No, don't!" Judy yelled pleadingly. "Don't say 'Carrots' like that – like I'm losing my mind! Everybody acts like I'm completely broken after what happened with Valerie, and they look at me as if they're expecting me to snap any minute! I am not going crazy and seeing things, Nick, I know this is her, so could you please just listen to me?"
Judy inhaled deeply, trying to keep herself from becoming too hysterical. After all, she wasn't angry, and she certainly wasn't angry at Nick; she just needed someone to back her up. She felt her paws shaking at her sides as she watched Nick's expression shift.
"Okay, I'm listening," he said with a nod as he raised his paws up in an act of surrender. "I don't think you're crazy and I don't think you're seeing things."
Though Judy could tell he was being sincere, she still wasn't fully convinced that Nick believed her on the idea of Valerie being involved. For a sliver of a moment, Judy doubted herself. She had to admit that it was a farfetched idea – Valerie escaping a maximum-security prison and tracking them all the way to the Canal District where she ransacked their beach house, followed them around, and stole their phones. Were there other things she had done? What did she want? What was the end game? Where was Culpeo?
"I'm going to the police station," Judy said firmly, making up her mind that her claims were justified. "I'm going to report our stolen phones and I'm calling Chief Bogo to tell him everything."
"Okay, I'll go with you," Nick said, picking up his tranquilizer gun from the nightstand and holstering it in the band of his khaki shorts.
Judy followed Nick to the front door, talking all the way.
"I don't understand why she hasn't done more."
"You want her to do more?" Nick scoffed.
"It's just that everything she's done on this trip has been harmless."
"Yeah, let's get ahold of the Chief and keep it that way," Nick muttered as he reached for the doorknob of the front door.
"I mean, really," Judy continued. "Since when do we get out of something like this completely unscathed?"
As the front door creaked open, Judy caught a glimpse of the sunlight streaming in, brightening Nick's red fur as he stood there nodding his agreement to the bunny's rhetorical question. Neither one was braced for the explosion that swallowed the whole front of the beach house, sending the world into darkness.