Chapter 55: Evening

In the evening the commandant called all the officers together which caused a ripple of excitement in the command. The last time a situation like this happened was when the Zootopia wilderness case started and then Judy joined the squad. Since then, Bogo has not even been tempted to take someone into his office to give someone a warning for something they did wrong. Everyone realised that this was most likely about the upcoming awards conference, which was to be the site of a decisive clash between them and their captor. Of course, no one officially called it that, it was only done by whimsical officers who always liked to shine with their wit.

The room where they usually met in the morning became quite crowded looking at the fact that everyone was inside taking their seats and waiting for Commander Bogo and Judy Hopps to present what they had to say. The two of them waited under the board until everyone had gathered and quietened down enough to be able to rearrange their plan.

"Where's Caroline?" Judy asked. She searched for her with her eyes but couldn't find her.

"She went somewhere, I couldn't find out where...she was terribly embarrassed, it was impossible to get along with her" replied Bogo calmly. The doe made a quiet sound confirming that she had heard what Bogo was saying to her and added nothing. Maybe it was better that she wasn't there, there wasn't really anyone to ask stupid questions. When it became quite quiet, the commandant began his argument by stepping out in front of the first row of benches leaning on one of them to make better eye contact with the police officers.

"As you are well aware, we are in a rather poor position when it comes to our reputation. The media mocks us, citizens don't want to trust us and the mayor lacks patience. We can't give a miss this time, so Judy has devised a plan that we will use to capture our kidnapper," said the commandant giving a communicative look at Judy to start telling her plan.

"Yes, that's right. Therefore, we have a plan that we believe is the most effective. When the meeting begins and the guests are inside, you will all spread out in your seats. A few will watch what is happening on the 1st floor of the museum, some will walk around the ground floor checking what is happening among the guests. The kidnapper will most likely want to kidnap someone again, he will probably use sleeping gas like last time, but we will be prepared. Each of you will be equipped with a bag in which you will have masks. Under no circumstances will you be allowed to show the contents of the bag to anyone or put on the mask before my order. We will be in contact at all times via walkie-talkies " she recounted until she saw someone at the back put his hand up, most likely he had a question.

"Yes?" Judy asked.

"Why can't we have a mask over our face or clipped to our belt? The bags will be quite cumbersome " asked the policeman.

"Good question!" His colleague backed him up. A few moments later, there was again a buzz in the room that prevented the doe from continuing his story. Bogo stepped in to intervene and with one loud shout calmed all the policemen down. Judy was able to continue again.

"Yes, that's right, but it's clear that we're not dealing with the first bad guy. He's not stupid. We can't either. With the masks in plain sight he'll quickly see that we're prepared for the sleeping gas, he can't know that, that's why the bags are needed. This will provoke our criminal to poison the halls and we will allow it."

"For what?"

"Good question. When he puts on the gas, I, from the cameras, will be the first to know about it. I'll let you know then, you should put your masks on and get all the guests out. Our kidnapper will be located quickly and we can catch him." Judy replied. There was a quiet buzz around the room again, this time the officers were discussing amongst themselves the operation that was about to take place. It all sounded rather provocative and risky, but at the same time also promising and really as if it all made sense.

"Any questions?" Bogo asked. The silence in the room made it clear that rather everyone understood the course of the plan and no questions were required.

"Great. Tomorrow we will send our professionals to install more cameras into the building and outside of it. The day after tomorrow everyone is to be at their posts an hour before the event starts and are to stay there until Judy makes an announcement. All clear?" The commander asked. All in unison replied 'yes'.

"Good. You can go now, 2 shifters on patrol and the rest of you go home, you too Judy. It's your first day here, get some rest tomorrow" replied Bogo.

"I don't need rest Commander. I got plenty of rest at home " replied Judy.

"Nevertheless, I insist. Everyone is to be ready for action the day after tomorrow" recommended the commandant. Everyone left the rooms a moment later. Only Judy remained, who approached the commandant for a moment more.

"Commandant," remarked Judy to Bogo, who sat down in his chair putting on his glasses.

"This may sound a bit arrogant...but the police were surely doing everything they could in my absence to investigate this case more thoroughly? It worries me a little that when I came back here everything is at a standstill," Judy said quietly. The question was quite controversial even for her. The commandant sighed quietly. He wasn't going to raise his voice at her, it showed. He seemed troubled by it himself, distressed by the situation.

"Hopps, you don't even know how I wish I could get this over with. My job is in jeopardy, do you know how much stress this is for me? Believe me, if there was something we could do for the good of the city we would definitely do it," replied the commandant in all seriousness. The doe sighed quietly and nodded with a movement of her head. She thanked him for his answer and left, leaving the commandant alone in the room.

When she got home, Judy immediately set herself up for a hot bath in her bathroom - she missed it so much. Yes, she had already had similar relaxing baths at her family home, but there was no comparison to what she could feel in the flat where she and Nick lived. It was a whole different level of relaxation and drifting off into her thoughts, it may have seemed strange to some, but the doe was drifting off into her thoughts enough that she wasn't paying attention to the fact that she was lying in the bath. Guided by these thoughts, Judy turned on a gentle stream of water, which slowly filled the tub, while she went to the bedroom to get some towels, where she placed them on the corner of the tub. In the meantime, she read some messages from Suzanne that she had sent at noon. There's no time to read messages during the day, moreover it's forbidden, few people obeyed this rule to be honest, but it was better not to be caught doing it, especially not at Bogo's. Judy, upon turning on her sister's message, quickly realised it was about her relationship with Nick, the introduction to the longer speech made it all clear:

"Hi Judy!

I know I wrote to you yesterday about this, but hearing my parents' conversation today I decided I needed to get in touch again. Namely, again after breakfast when everyone was going upstairs I managed to overhear a snippet of their conversation. I didn't hear everything completely, but I heard them mention something about talking to you about your partner and about your relationship. They talked quite calmly about it, so it's possible that something will come of it and who knows, they won't even hold it against you!

I hope you can solve the disappearances and find Nick!"

Judy smiled slightly as she saw the text from her sister. She quickly texted her back thanking her for the message and answering her queries then put her phone back on the shelf and took off her clothes feeling a huge lightness being naked. After checking that the water was warm enough Judy soaked her silver and white body and drifted off into her thoughts.

After 30 minutes of bathing, Judy felt ready to leave the bathroom and head to the bedroom to sleep. She felt a little strange - she was used to the knocking on the door of the fox asking: "Are you OK Carrots?", This made Judy laugh a little at the fox's concern, but at the same time it was so sweet. Once she didn't answer her questions it was Nick who nearly brought the door down! Fortunately, the doe stopped him at the last moment, but even so, it wasn't past the consequences she faced afterwards in the form of Nick's bad humour.

Now that she was dressed in her pyjamas Judy was leaving the bathroom feeling lonely - the whole flat was empty, it was quiet. Fox always made things happen, now it wasn't like that. There was nothing to make the doe do anything but sleep. And then there were the thoughts of the fox's disappearance and her parents' reaction to her relationship - it all made her feel weak and thoughtful. There was no certainty that Nick was still alive and that scared her! On the other hand, her instincts told her that everything was ok with him, that it was only a matter of time when they would see each other again. She saw no other option, it would be impossible! The excess of thoughts made it hard for her to enjoy anything. This was another good reason to sleep it all off and be ready for the 'final duel' with her captor. The doe went to her bed, where she lay down and fell asleep almost immediately.