15. Results

==Judy==

I stared at the ceiling above my bed. I hadn't slept long before I had woken up again and from there on, I hadn't been able to stop pondering about last night. I had actually done it. It was hard to imagine at first, yet I could remember very well that it had been very real. I had given in to the impulse of the moment, to a fantasy of mine that had somehow crawled to freedom. Although the sensation of kissing him had been my heart's desire, by now I wasn't sure whether it had been the best of choices. What if I had ripped up our partnership by doing this? After this, our relationship would never be the same again, no matter if he felt the same or not. Hopefully he did of course... what if he didn't? A part of me whispered that he hadn't pulled back. Another said that it went so fast, there hadn't really been time for him to do so. And, having ran inside like a scared bunny, I wasn't able to see his reaction. I remembered him leaning toward me during our dance too. It had seemed to me like he was going to kiss me. Had that truly been the case? Perhaps he had just been regaining his balance or been trying to whisper something. What if he only wanted to be friends. Then I had nonplussed him by throwing myself onto him. Would I have scared him off? Would he still show up today after what had happened?

All these questions roiled in my gut and kept me wide awake. When the clock beeped 5 am, I rose to my feet and looked out the window. It was quiet and dark outside. I opened the bottle of water that stood on my desk. I resumed staring as I sipped from it. Quite recently, I had hung a white board in my apartment, slightly to the dismay of my landlady. The front lights of a passing car, caused it to reflect brightly. It made me realize that now would be an ideal moment to start jotting down yesterday's details. I couldn't sleep anyway, I'd best do something useful.

I grabbed a marker and begun writing down a list of mammals whom I had met, their work and what traits I recollected about them. Fortunately, my memory supported me on this one. I could replay the entire gala in my head with ease, even the soft touch of Nick's lips. I shook my head and proceeded with my list. It soon became clear that my writing was too big to fit everything on it and thus I wiped away everything and started over.

After a while, I plumped down on my chair to judge my work as I drank some more water. Not the most orderly fashion - there were various arrows and even more small sized additions - however it was decent enough for me and that was what mattered. I clicked the cap on the marker and pressed it against my lower lip. When it came to estimating the likelihood of each of these animals, there were two features that were important: motive and means. There were several possible suspects who had both. I had written these on the left.

Vlad Lupinski, leader of the Night Howler wolves, had had a major quarry with Mr. Big last year when the latter had recruited his men to a shipment of rare art. The convoy had been attacked and one of the mercenaries was killed. This caused Vlad to demand a larger payment, one that Big refused as the firefight had led to irreparable to one of the art pieces and he had reasoned that mortal danger was the work Vlad and his men had signed up for. Means and motive were plentiful.

Another quarrel in recent history had been with the Beaumonts; a married couple that, according to Nick, ran large scale money laundering operations in The Meadowlands. At first I had been slightly surprised by who was who. Mr. Beaumont was a brawny Highland Bull named Harry, whereas Mrs. Beaumont was a tiny ferret, approximately my size, by the name of Hellen. Nick said it was evident that she had engaged in the marriage solely to get a share in Harry's business. Harry, on the other hand, was completely infatuated and was therefore not kind to those who spoke ill of his wife. Allegedly, one of these laundering operations had gone haywire and about half a million was lost, an investment made by Mr. Big. After exerting much pressure on their business, Big ultimately got most of his money returned to him and despite not knowing the details of the Beaumont finances, it must have gone into the books as a black day. And what was a better motive than money? Especially when it was that much.

After these extremes came the second group, written in the middle section of the white board: the candidates with weaker motives or lesser means. They were involved in minor incidents, like trespasses and small scale bullying; the kind of which I presumed to occur often among criminals. I had situated Ganesh in this list. His attitude towards Big had been quite hostile and he had disapproved of the latter choosing Vlad's services over his own.

The third group were those who were probably unwilling or incapable to organize multiple assaults on Mr. Big. The names of these animals were placed on the right. They included Mr. Chang and Koslov among others. Ridiculous as these names might seem, if I had learned anything from studying old cases at the academy, it was that everybody craved power. And as they both possessed the proper skills and reputation to take over, it was premature to exclude either from my research already.

The fourth and last category were those of which I wasn't sure. They hoovered on the bottom of the board. One of them was Alfred Weaselton. I had mused over possible reasons for him to overthrow Big's imperium. There wasn't really anything to gain for him. Top shelf would be revenge for Big almost icing his brother. But almost was not fully. Besides, he didn't even seem to like Duke. On the other hand, if he was anything like his brother, he was spiteful enough to commit it. And considering his work as a lawyer, he might be able to call in enough favours to get what he wanted. Naturally, that did require willingness among his debtors to risk getting on Big's bad side.

*Thump*

A noise on the other side of the wall startled me from my contemplation. Soon after I heard my neighbours arguing. The daily ritual had begun. It wouldn't be long before the rest of the building would wake up too. I grabbed a bottle of shampoo, a towel and some clothes and quickly headed towards the bathroom on the end of the hall. The services of the Pangolin arms were scruffy and since the hot water supply was far from infinite, you'd had to get up early if you didn't fancy a cold shower.

Afterwards, I ran into the old fawn that lived upstairs. She threatened to pay me a unfriendly visit if I had used up all the hot water. She said that every morning and I merely shrugged. Never had I seen her there, so either it were hollow promises or the hot water had never been out.

Back in my apartment, I hung my pair of pyjamas on the rack next to my gown. It was the closest thing I had to a closet. I had wrapped the dress back into its original plastic cover to repel dust and keep it from staining. I realized that, with the whiteboard, the coatrack, the desk and the bed, my room was nearly stuffed to brim. I should start considering another place if not for more space, then for a private bathroom.

I set my gaze on my scheme. It still had some filling in to do and whilst cracking my cranium, I resumed writing down names, jobs and personalities. Regrettably some things had already slipped from my memory.

*Knock, knock*

That was odd. Who could that be? I glanced at my pedestal cupboard. Nick wasn't due for another hour and even then he usually waited outside. I guess the old lady must be living up to her promise after all, albeit I was surprised the water had ran out. I hadn't used that much. I hopped to the door and peeked through the spyglass.

A cold hand clasped my heart and I stumbled back. It was Nick! What was he doing here so early and why was he here? He told me he'd be here at eight! Normally I'd be overjoyed to see him, yet after last night I had a hunch he might be here to talk about something else than the case. I leaned forward and tried to gauge from his attitude whether I was right. He spooked me a second time as he was looking straight at the spyglass from the other side.

"I can see you moving in there Carrots. Open up."

In my anxiety I bit my tongue and I swore under my breath. I took a fast look at myself in the mirror to make sure I was properly dressed. Not really, although there wasn't really any time to change. I licked my paw and preened a protruding pluck of fur with it. I took a deep breath and twisted the knob of the door.

"H-hey!" I tried to sound relaxed.

"Phew." He replied, "I was a little worried you were gonna let me stand here."

==Nick==

Her apartment was every bit as snug as I remembered. The small bed, chair, desk, cloth rack. The whiteboard was new though. I vaguely recollected her mentioning having it installed for notes and reminders. The rim of the door missed it by an inch as I shut it behind me. The board was half the size of her room and the door would have jammed if it hadn't been so flat.

"Make yourself at home."

She sat down on her bed and I on the chair.

She sounded different. Not her usual ecstatic morning self. I spotted that the boards of her blue police shirt were curved in opposite directions. I had really barged in too early. I had promised to be here at eight and it was only ten minutes passed seven. I caught her staring at me expectantly as the silence prolonged. She must be wondering why I was here so early. Truthfully, I wasn't sure that telling her the true reason would be a tactical move. That I had been awake nearly all night, thinking about her. That in my few dormant hours, I had dreamt of our kiss. That I had decided to come over already just to see her a little sooner. Then again, after our kiss, it was maybe the right time to discuss these kinds of things. If only I could muster the valour to bring it up.

"Sorry I'm a little early. I was already awake." I commented vaguely, rubbing my neck.

"It's okay. I couldn't really sleep either."

Another quiet moment passed as we both let our eyes roll over the walls of her apartment. I wanted to speak, but I gulped instead as my throat was too dry to produce a single syllable.

"Look, about last night..." She began.

I felt the painful knot in my stomach worsen. Her tone was remorseful. As if she regretted it. As if it was a mistake. To my nuisance, her phone suddenly rang. She checked the screen, subsequently gesturing to me that she had to answer it. This left me with a great tension. She wanted to talk about it. Whenever that call ended, we were going to talk about it. Come on Nick, don't be a coward. She kissed you because she liked you back. My self-encouragement didn't work very well.

From the loud voices emitted by the phone, I derived that it were her parents. They were furious with her and I distanced myself to stay clear of the camera. My presence was the last thing they wanted.

"Why haven't you told us that you were involved in an explosion?! Why do we have to read in the newspaper that our daughter got blown up?" Her father blazed.

"Because I wasn't blown up dad!"

"Don't strike that tone at us, young lady!" Her mother scolded her.

As the family discussion raged on, I examined the scheme Judy had scribbled on her white board. She had efficiently listed names in what I believed was order of motive. Each name also had complementary info about job and character. I smiled as I recognized some of the details as provided by me myself. It was nice to see someone take in my words as a reliable source of information for a change. In my opinion, all of these mammals deserved jail time; none were practising legitimate activities.

The scheme had a number of gaps too. I picked a marker from the ledge and filled in what I knew. I glanced at Judy. She was to occupied with her parents to see. With a grin on my face I added myself to the list, just below Koslov.

Nick Wilde (Fox)

Funny, handsome, makes nice coffee, good with bunnies

What would be a comical profession? I scratched my chin, my gaze shifting once again to my lagomorph partner. Ah yes, this should be entertaining.

Boyfriend

A snigger escaped me. Then one of the names struck out to me as I was unfamiliar with it.

"And who might you be?" I muttered, reading the piece of info.

Yao Chang (Red Panda)

Kind, chinese, elderly, orphan.

Purveyor, owner of Frost Transport

Unacquainted to Mr. Big

It was strange for me to find one I had never seen. Naturally, in saying that I knew everybody I had exaggerated a little, but I was aware of the identities of more than the greater share of animals in Zootopia. Especially when it concerned the criminal department, I was well lectured on who was who.

"Yao Chang." I read aloud, as if to taste the name.

According to Judy, he was the owner of Frost Transport. I looked at her as if she would confirm it. She was still squabbling. Odd. I was pretty sure that Frost Transport was ran by a Moose, not a Red Panda. Also, what would someone from the rainforest be wanting with an arctic business? Overall, it was uncommon for animals in Zootopia to be adopting work outside their natural environment. This kind of behaviour was logical. A warmth and humidity loving panda wouldn't likely feel at home in a place like Tundra Town. It was possible, sure, however the fact that I did not know who this animal was made me wary. Additionally, if he owned an affiliation as large as Frost Transport, shouldn't I have heard his name somewhere? Yeah. I needed to dig into this guy's file at the office today.

With a smack, she tossed her phone on the desk, concluding the action with an enormous sigh. My gut tightened again. Never in my life had I been so nervous.

"Sorry about that."

"Nah, no worries, Carrots. Parents will be parents."

She smiled briefly.

"Yeah, I guess."

She tapped the floor with her feet in an incoherent rhythm. I shuffled mine a bit. Seconds passed. Nothing happened. One of us needed to break this silence.

"Do you-"

"I hope-"

We chuckled insecurely as we chose the exact same moment to start talking. I gestured her to speak first.

"Look, Nick. I hope that you don't think different about me now that we... well now that I... you know…" Her face flushed and she pinned her eyes to the parquet. "I just… I thought that we could…"

"Carrots, I…"

My throat sucked together because of its dryness, forcing me to gulp mid-sentence. She picked this up as hesitation from my side.

"If you don't …" she turned away from me to look out the window. "then that's fine."

"Carrots."

Her ears perked up and she faced me again. I could see the anxiety in her eyes. The same kind I had felt myself for so long.

"I… I'm not, I mean, I don't…"

I wanted to tell her that it didn't matter to me what she had done. That if had been up to me, I had done it myself a long time ago. That I had tried it myself at the gala. But when she gazed at me with those purple jewels of hers, I drowned in my own words. Sadly, this gave the wrong impression once again.

"I understand. It's okay. If you feel like you can no longer work with me then…" Her ears and and head drooped down, "then that's fine."

I heard her voice break. I stepped towards her. She sniffed as I lifted her up by the chin. The amethysts scintillated by her tears. I leaned forward and kissed her on the muzzle. It wasn't a dreamy one, like yesterday. It was simply, because I failed to bring my feelings to words through speech alone.

She glanced at me surprised.

"I'm your partner, Judy. Always have been. Always will be."

She beamed of happiness through her tears and the moment seeped into a firm hug. When her clock beeped seven thirty, I let her go.

"Okay…" I said, still a little nervous, "I'll leave you to get dressed 'n all."

She realized that she was indeed only wearing half her uniform and she quickly aligned the collars of her shirt.

"I'll be waiting in the car."

With the knob in my hand, I peeked back at her one last time. Our eyes met, yet no words were spoken. We both just smiled, and that was enough. She knew how I felt and I knew how she felt. Nothing further had to be said right now. And with that in mind, I closed the door and returned to my car.