One month earlier:

Bogo came over to Judy as she stood at the one-way mirror, watching Nick with the big ram in the interrogation room. "What is it, Hopps?"

She rapped on the mirror and Nick came out into the hallway. "We may have a tip."

Bogo glared. "You called me down here for a tip?"

"It's a pretty big tip, sir," said Judy. "That's Doug Ramses, the chemist who created the Night Howler toxin." Bogo raised his eyebrows and the bunny went on. "He said there's still one member of Bellwether's gang on the loose."

"So?" The cape buffalo was clearly trying to be patient. "Go pick them up."

"It's not that easy." Nick opened the door. "I think you should hear this for yourself."

Sighing, Bogo followed the fox and the bunny into the interrogation room, where the ram glared sullenly at all of them. "I want a deal before I say anything else."

"A deal?" Bogo sat down across from the ram. "What makes you think you have anything worth a deal?"

"Oh, I have something." Doug tapped his hooves together. "Something so big if you don't act on it, it may be a fatal mistake."

The chief's eyes flashed but his voice was calm. "Tell me what you know. If it's good enough, I give you my word I'll do what I can for you."

The ram chewed his lip. "You know how Lionheart took all the animals that went savage and locked them up in that asylum?" Bogo nodded. "Ever wonder how he knew about where to find those animals so quick?"

Bogo and Judy and Nick traded glances, remembering how the jam cams showed Lionheart's wolves showing up to collect Mr Manchas right after he was shot. "Go on," said Bogo slowly.

"Bellwether had a middleman that phoned in anonymous tips to Lionheart. I don't know who. All I can tell you is it was someone working at the prison. I overheard her one time on the phone talking to them, and I heard her mention Stormford." Doug looked anxiously at Bogo. "That's worth something, right? After what that crazy sheep did, you don't want one of her animals working at the prison, do you?"

Bogo's jaw tightened. "If it checks out, it's worth something."

Lionheart watched in fascination as the prison doctor worked on Nick's face. "So all this time Wilde was working undercover?" Bogo nodded and the ex-mayor gave a hearty laugh. "I knew it! I knew it was an act. You didn't fool me for a minute, Wilde."

"Just couldn't pull the wool over your eyes, could I?" The fox flinched as the doctor put in one last stitch and reached for the tape.

Bogo remembered finding Nick muzzled with tape at a chop shop and took a step forward. "All right there, Wilde?"

The fox swallowed hard. "Okay, Chief."

Bogo said quietly to the doctor, "Don't put too much tape on his face." The doctor nodded and the chief turned to Lionheart. "Francine's mother is a judge, so we had her sentence Wilde to prison. I left Clawhauser in charge in my absence and Francine and I took rooms in a hostel across the street from Stormford to be ready when we got the call." He glared at Nick. "I wasn't expecting a message from one of Mr Big's polar bears."

Nick was breathing fast as the doctor applied tape to his face and he seemed grateful for the distraction. "The warden told me something he shouldn't have known about and I didn't know how long it would be before he realized he slipped up, so I wanted to get a message to you as quick as I could and I knew the bear could call right away."

"At any rate, those were the only animals in on the plan," said Bogo. "We knew so little we didn't dare let anyone at the prison know what we were up to, not even the warden."

"Good thing you didn't," said Lionheart. "You wouldn't have lasted a day, Wilde."

The doctor finished with the taping and Nick felt his face, sighing with relief. "I still don't understand why you followed me."

"Like I said, I didn't like the way the guards took you away. I told you I was working with Wolford on improving the prison. That included relations between the guards and the prisoners. When I got here, there was a lot of good interaction, exactly the way I wanted it, until those two guards came for you." The lion grinned sheepishly. "I didn't think they were going to hurt you. I just wanted to remind Wolford that…" He looked straight into Nick's eyes. "I thought it was high time I told Wolford that even foxes deserve to be treated with respect."

Nick smiled as widely as he could with the tape on his face. "I appreciate that, sir."

Lionheart's eyes widened. "If this was all a trick…"

"Officer Hopps is alive and well," said Bogo, smiling himself. "She's staying with friends and Ramses is in protective custody."