Chapter 7: Crisis

Nick quickly jolts open the door following a short knock, and instinctively looks out as he does so. A fox, several inches shorter than him, wears a black t-shirt which hangs over his broad shoulders. A shaggy brown coat sits over this, obviously used from years of exposure to the elements, and a pair of loosely fit jeans sit on his waist. "Hello," the stranger speaks firmly, fiddling with his fingers. "I need somewhere to stay for the night," he says, and after a moment, he quickly glances into the house.

Nick looks at the stranger, then at Judy, who is now standing next to him. What's this guy gonna do? If I let him in and take my eyes off him, he'll rob me blind! Nick bites his lip hesitantly, then grasps the side of the door and pushes it away from himself. "No thanks..." he mutters nervously, preparing to rebut any reason the suspicious figure must stay.

Surprisingly, the figure remains silent. Judy eagerly stands erect beside Nick, smiling at the stranger. "Good evening, sir. May I help you?"

The fox slowly nods and again plays with his fingers. "Uh, yes, ma'am. I was wondering... um ... if you could allow me to stay for the night? I'm a little cold."

Judy looks at the figure and slowly rubs her lips together. Her emotionless face erupts into a large ear-to-ear grin, and she politely gestures him inside. "I don't see why not!"

Nick again glances at the figure as he waltzes over to the dining table, prepared for only Judy and Nick. Judy quickly fills the empty spot on the dining table with an extra dish. Why'd Judy let him in? Nick wonders, slowly pulling himself into the nearest chair originally designated for him. Can't she remember the phrase "don't talk to strangers?" Judy does not seem to notice the stranger's emotionless gaze at his empty bowl.

"Vegetable soup," Judy introduces, ladling a portion of the soup into each of their bowls. She quickly joins the two mammals with her own soup and quietly looks at both before digging into her food.

The stranger politely offers a closed-lip smile, quietly staring at the dish. "Looks delicious. Thank you."

"No problem," Judy says, sitting down next to Nick, who holds his phone in one paw.

After a moment of silence, the stranger begins to take a bite of his soup and suddenly drops it into the bowl. "How rude of me," he holds his hand out to Judy. "I forgot to introduce myself. The name's Alfred."

Judy shakes it. "Judy Hopps, ZPD."

Alfred holds his hand out to Nick. "And your name?"

Nick looks up from his phone, refusing to remove both paws from it. "Nick."

Alfred, quickly realizing that Nick is not in a good mood, retreats his hand to his side and takes a bite of his soup. "This is great, Judy."

She smiles. "Thank you. It's probably just because you haven't eaten for a day..."

Nick deviates his phone over in Judy's direction. "Look. A guy in the news, named Alfred Devney."

Judy returns to her food, spotting Alfred bent over the table, his hands hovering a foot above Nick's food, his palms face down into the soup as if he is casting a spell on it. "What are you doing?" Judy objects.

Alfred quickly sits back in his seat. "Just trying to listen in," he smiles. "Sorry to be rude."

"What's with your hands over Nick's bowl?"

"Oh, sorry. I have a little bit of an autistic problem when I think things are there when they really aren't–"

"So, you hallucinate?" Judy asks suddenly, taking another bite of her soup.

"Yes," Alfred replies suddenly, returning to his food. "As I was saying, I 'hallucinate', and I sometimes do things others find rude. I grew up in a different country."

"Well, Alfred, your lack of accent had me fooled," Judy replies, giggling. "On a different note, we might as well start eating while our food is warm, right?"

Alfred nods. "Why not?" he says, digging into his food.

Nick sets down his phone face down on the table, ignoring Alfred's halfhearted stare at him. "What were you talking about?"

Judy waves her hand downward. "Oh, nothing. Alfred was just leaning over to try to listen to what you were saying."

Nick shrugs as he takes a bite of his food. His eyes widen, and the muscles inside his mouth clench, allowing him to harshly spit an object from his mouth. The object, now laying on the table, is white and upwards of half a centimeter long. "Now, that's gross. What is that?"

Judy shrugs. "You probably got an overripe carrot or something," she examines the white object he spat on the table. "Looks like one of our carrots lost its color and went way overripe," she smiles at him. "Well, I'll try not to replay that."

He shrugs. "Okay then," he takes another bite, smiling. "There's not one in there."

Judy nods. "Told ya."

A couple casual conversations later, Nick leans back in his chair, laying his right paw palm-down on his stomach. He drops his spoon from his right paw into his half-full bowl. "Carrots, I don't feel too good. I'll be upstairs if you need me."

Without taking serious note, Judy nods and returns to the conversation with Alfred. Alfred, watching Nick take slightly disoriented steps up the stairs, turns to Judy. "What's with him?"

"Oh, he felt a little sick. I'm sure he'll be fine. Do you mind if I go and check on him?"

"What? Oh, no, I don't mind. Go right ahead."

"Stay here and eat your soup," she says, taking her bowl upstairs with her as she ascends the steps. She strolls atop the carpeted floor. Frankly, she feels intensely nervous over Nick. She fears what he might have eaten was something much more than a rotten carrot. Not wanting to second guess herself, she enters his room, door already ajar.

Her eyes lock on him. He prostrates on the bed, groaning. As he breathes, his breaths are sparse. He holds his paws to his head, groaning as if the pain is encompassing his head. Judy's eyes widen at his condition. "Nick!"

"J-Jud-Judy," he struggles to speak, groaning. "H-hel-help!"

Judy nods and rapidly dials a number on her phone. "Yes, 911?"

"This is emergency services. State your issue," the operator states apathetically.

"Yes," Judy says calmly, but with a pinch of worry. "My friend is lying in bed and looks like he's in a lot of pain. He has shortness of breath."

The operator's voice becomes slightly quicker than before. "Alright–"

Judy cuts the operator off by calling out to her suffering friend. "Nick!" she looks at him, who lies still, rocking lightly. Suddenly, his body movements cease entirely, and he lies lifelessly. "Nick! Operator, he just passed out," Judy moves over to him and puts a finger on his Nick. "He barely has a pulse, and his breathing is almost gone."

"Okay. Medical services are on the way. Stay on the line with me. What is your name?"

"Judy Hopps. I am an officer of the ZPD."

"Okay, Officer Hopps," the operator warmly states. "Your friend's name is Nick, right?"

"Yes," Judy says, eyeing Nick again. "That's his name. He's an officer too. We're at home."

"Okay, Officer Hopps. I would like to ask you to stay on the line with me. Okay?"

"Yes, I will."

"Okay, Judy. Please check his pulse, and tell me if he's breathing or not."

She puts her fingers to his neck. "Uh, barely any pulse. He's not breathing."

"Okay. Start CPR, but do one every two seconds. What species is Nick?"

"He's a fox," Judy says, starting CPR on him just as the operator had said. "He's male, about four feet tall–" she stops to see his body go stiff and start to shake rapidly. Fear fills her – horror. "He's shaking really rapidly now."

"He's seizing. He's losing oxygen, so you need to keep the CPR going, but more rapidly now."

"Okay," Judy says, speeding the CPR. "How long 'till the paramedics get here?"

"Two minutes. Hang in there."

Two minutes later, the paramedics burst through Nick's door and begin to assess him. "Okay, Judy, right?" One fox paramedic says. Judy nods and the fox paramedic points to Nick. "That's Nick?"

"Yes," Judy says, and the fox paramedic, named Shan, takes over CPR for her.

"Excellent job, Officer Hopps," Shan says, assessing the patient. "When did this happen?"

"He went upstairs about ten minutes ago and said he didn't feel good. I went to check on him, and he looked uncomfortable. He had sparse breathing, and he looked in a lot of pain, especially in his head. When I called 911, he passed out about a minute later."

"Okay," Shan says, and with the help of the other officers, carries Nick away in the stretcher. "Okay, Judy. Follow us in your car, but don't run the lights if we do."

"I have a cruiser. I'm a ZPD officer."

"Okay. Follow us, but keep your emergency lights on."

Judy nods, very weakly fumbling after them, stopping after seeing Alfred standing there by the table. Alfred frowns as he looks at her depressed face. "Cheer up. He's going to be fine."

She picks up her keys and runs to the door. "You're not the paramedic. Stay, you can watch TV or something," she says, shutting the door behind her.

Judy jumps into her cruiser, flicking on her lights, and quickly drives out of the driveway. As she holds the wheel with her left paw, she holds her communicator in her right. "Base, this is Hopps. I've got a 10-39 with Wilde, who is currently being transported to a hospital via emergency services. I am using my lights and siren."

"Thanks for notifying, Judy," Clawhauser says. "Do we need to send backup?"

"No need to. However, I believe his condition may have been a result of attempted homicide. I will provide more information as soon as possible, but could you send a unit or two down to our residence just in case?"

"We'll see if that's possible. Do you have any suspects?"

"There's some guy inside our house named Alfred."

"Species?"

"He's a fox."

"Okay, Hopps. We'll get a unit down there to investigate as soon as possible."

Judy performs a speedy parallel parking maneuver after arriving at the local hospital, then rushes into the emergency room. Just as she enters the cool atmosphere, the hospital bed, containing Nick, disappears. The burden of dissatisfaction and horror remains with her as she ambles to the waiting room. The burden pushes her down into her seat.

She stares at the floor with tears flooding her eyes. Her paws weigh heavy with her burden of mixed feelings. Why would anyone want to do this?

He's so innocent.

The doctor looks at his patient, a fox. He lies unconscious on the hospital bed, lifeless. Wires sprawl out from his body, connecting to machines that monitor him. The doctor looks him over, his stats, and other information. "Well, he's partially asphyxiated. Was there any information regarding how he got like this?"

The paramedic stops at the doorway. "Well, no. I can bring the patient's friend in here if you want."

"No, I'll go talk to her. Nurse, watch him for me," the doctor says, walking out to the waiting room. "Ms. Hopps?"

Barely registering the sound of the doctor's voice, Judy stands from her spot and looks up at him. "How is he?"

"I need to ask you a couple of questions if that's okay."

"That's fine."

"Okay. He's deprived of oxygen, but we don't know if he suffocated in some way prior to this. His oxygen level is barely sufficient. Did anything happen that could have caused this?"

"Well, I invited someone in for dinner, and as soon as Nick took his first bite, he spat out a white object, saying it was bitter. Before I knew it, he was upstairs, lifeless," she takes in a shaky breath, coughing, then her eyes tear up.

"Thank you, Ms. Hopps. I think I may have a guess as to what happened. We'll make him better," he assures her, smiling. "Trust me, he'll be okay."

Without a reply from Judy, he retreats into the emergency unit. He examines for the nurse and speaks upon locating her next to the critical patient. "Okay, nurse, it looks like he ingested something dangerous. Can you get a carboxyhemoglobin level on him, and a blood culture?"

"Yes, but it might take a few minutes to get back," she takes a needle and performs the test. The doctor takes the opportunity to rush back out to Judy.

"Ms. Hopps?"

The delay between both his visits seems forever. It had been barely two minutes. "Is he okay?"

"We think he's been poisoned. We're taking a blood culture and another test to see if he has any illegal or dangerous substances in his blood. But, Ms. Hopps, your friend is lucky. Had you not gone and checked up on him, I'd be signing a blue death form instead of a release form."

Judy nods as she returns to her chair. The doctor rushes back into the patient's bay, where the patient still lay lifeless. No sign of the nurse is apparent. Looking at the patient's monitor, he sighs to see his oxygen level decrease slowly, now at eighty-five percent. Another hour and the patient certainly is dead.

Five minutes pass and the oxygen level of his patient reads eighty-three percent. Just as the doctor expects the oxygen level to lower further, the nurse rushes in, waving a piece of paper in her hand. She stops in front of the doctor, wheezing. "Doctor. We're lucky that the lab had no other cases. We managed a four-minute detection," she hands the doctor the paper. "But, I think we found what we're looking for."

Looking over the blood culture, he lowers his eyebrows. "There's nothing wrong here."

The nurse looks over the paper and points toward the bottom. "Look at his carboxyhemoglobin level."

"Twenty-five percent! Wow. Get him on hydroxocobalamin, 5 g, intravenously, as a single infusion over 15 minutes."

"Yes, doctor." she says, quickly connecting him to the medication.

Judy enters Nick's hospital room, which the nurses had transferred him to quickly after the diagnosis. Nick lies still on the white sheets, reading a book. Judy quietly walks over to his bed, and Nick sets down his book, looking at her blankly. Judy looks at his book. "What you readin'?"

Nick picks it up. "To Kill a Zockingbird," he closes it with one hand and sets it on the table. "A really good book."

She nods. "I gotta ask you - what happened at the house earlier?"

He shrugs. "Heck if I know," he looks at the door. "The doctor should be here soon."

A second after he says this, the doctor, named Dr. Thompson, walks in. "Good morning. I see that you've responded to treatment."

He frowns. "What treatment?"

"Well, Judy told me you ingested something poisonous. You had a low oxygen level, and we took a test called a carboxyhemoglobin level. Turns out that the percentage of carbon monoxide that bound to your hemoglobin – the chemical in your blood that delivers oxygen – was twenty-five percent. Any higher and you would have died. We gave you an anti-cyanide medication called hydroxocobalamin."

"I was poisoned?" his eyes fill will fear.

Dr. Thompson nods, then turns to Judy. "Judy, did you make dinner then?"

"Yes, I did. But both Nick and I can prove that it wasn't me," she turns to Nick. "You remember Alfred?"

"Yeah," Nick says, annoyed. "The three-foot jerk?"

Judy rolls her eyes. "Yeah, him. Do you remember him hovering his paws over your food?"

"Yes, I do. He said he had autism."

"I don't think that was it."

The doctor eyes her. "So, Alfred poisoned Nick?"

"It looked like it. I asked him what he was doing, and he told me he was trying to listen to news –" she pauses. "–wait a minute."

"What?" Nick says, looking at her. "I was reading the news, so what?"

"About Alfred Devney. Nick. Pull that up again."

Nick rolls his eyes and pulls up the news. "There. They said he escaped jail yesterday."

"Is there a picture?"

"Yes, his mug shot," he scrolls down and hands his phone to her. "That's him right there."

She studies the picture. "That's him. Alfred," Judy looks at the doctor. "Do you have a multi-frequency radio?"

"Yes," the doctor picks it up and hands it to her. Judy adjusts the frequency and holds it to her mouth.

"Clawhauser!"

"Yes, Hopps?" Clawhauser says, yawning. Judy does a mini fist pump.

"Clawhauser, I need you to get units at my residence now. Do you know Alfred Devney?"

"Yes, I do, the mass murderer who was put in jail. Hopps, I can't get any units. Nobody's responding; they're all on duty right now."

"Well, make this a priority and call someone out."

"Everyone's at least three hours out. There was an issue in Deerbrooke County."

Judy slams her fist on Nick's bed, almost hitting him in the foot. "Can't you get Chief out?"

"Tried. He's in Deerbrooke too."

"Well, I can't leave! Nick's here."

"I can't leave either. I've got a police station to take care of. Do you want me to call someone in?"

"No, they're too far away. I guess I'll have to investigate myself," Judy nods at both the doctor and Nick. She hands the doctor the communicator, then she walks out.

An hour and thirty minutes later, the cyanide in Nick's blood finally leaves his system. After a closer look at Nick's charts, the doctor gave consent for his release. At 11 o'clock on that weeknight, the administrator releases him and he returns home. "Where's Alfred?" he asks, looking around.

"I think he locked himself in a room somewhere."

"Well, if he comes out, yell for me. I'll be in the shower."

Nick retreats upstairs and into the nearest bathroom. Staring at the exhausted and wise canine face of his, he strips down his clothes and slowly steps into the shower.

The water pours from the spout, dispersing on Nick's head, and running down his back, chest, and legs. His fur droops under the exposure to the water. For a moment, he stares blankly at the white wall of the shower and quickly eliminates the thoughts attempting to penetrate his brain. After a short, strenuous mental struggle, he kneels on the shower floor and the thoughts penetrate his mind.

Why did this happen? The first thought makes him shake. He closes his eyes and stares at the blank shower floor in between his wet, naked knees. He opens his eyes again and tries to make out his own reflection in the opaque, wet floor.

Maybe I deserved to die.

This thought contains more fear than the previous. He clenches his fist, fingers shaking violently. After he clenches his fist the shaking rattles his upper arm. He subconsciously transfers his suffering paws to his face and groans lightly.

"Stop it!"

Who was that? Nick wonders, his hands falling naturally to the sides of his exposed body. Was it me?

"Did you hear me?"

The voice is angry. Who was that? Nick wonders again, pushing from his knees and standing erect, the warm water bouncing from the top of his head and into his eyes. It takes a few seconds to recover before his thoughts return. The voice is still unrecognizable. He subconsciously pushes the temperature handle inward to shut off the shower, and the water ends suddenly. His ears now switch to surveyor mode as he prepares for the next line of dialogue from the unknown character.

"Can you please leave?"

I think I know. Nick confirms with himself, stepping out, even though he had not bothered to cleanse himself in the shower. He surveys the room, and very desperate, grips the handle, barely realizing the lack of clothes on his body. He soon comes to realize the puddle he creates from his negligence of drying off.

Even though desperate enough to exit the bathroom without clothes, he prevents extensive awkwardness by quickly drying himself and throwing on the pile of clothes, oblivious to the poor drying job on his fur.

As soon as he steps out he soon begins realizing how wet his fur had become. At least I'm wearing clothes... he walks to the top of the stairs and prepares for the descent. He walks down the stairs, Judy looking at Alfred crossly, pushing her finger into his chest. "I said, leave," she snaps.

Nick tramps over and pushes the two apart, giving a short stare at Judy, then pivoting his neck to gaze at Alfred. "What exactly is going on here?" Nick says. Judy focuses on the few beads of water sitting on Nick's snout.

She points at Alfred. "He said he doesn't want to leave."

"Sir," Nick flashes a police badge at him. "Sorry, what I meant to say, Alfred Devney!"

"What?" Alfred says, chuckling nervously. "That's not me. I'm a homeless guy."

"What's your last name?"

Alfred frowns. "I have the right to remain silent."

Nick holds his paws out, ripping a leather object from Alfred's pocket. He scavenges through it while Alfred angrily pleads for him to give it back. "Give me that wallet back. You don't even have authority to do that."

Nick whips out a paper. "Warrant," Nick shoves the wallet back at Alfred. Nick angrily shoves the perpetrator against the wall, whose snout points vertically up the wall. Nick shoves Alfred's legs apart, then Nick places his own paws on Alfred's back. He looks at Judy, making a hand gesture of cuffs. Judy nods, ambling out of the room and returning with a pair of metal cuffs. Nick retreats his paws and locks Alfred's paws behind his back.

Judy follows Nick and Alfred outside. After a few struggles, Nick shoves Alfred into the police cruiser. After turning onto the main road, Nick holds up a communicator to his mouth while Judy supervises the perpetrator. "Clawhauser! This is Wilde."

"Yes, Wilde. What is your 10-101?"

"10-26, Alfred Devney. 10-78 when I arrive at the base."

"I called in a few units despite what Hopps told me a while ago. They'll be here when you get here, Wilde. Chief is already here."

"Okay. ETA three minutes. 10-4."

"10-4."

After arriving at the station, the called in units, Nick, and the chief assist in the impudent struggle of properly jailing Alfred Devney. The police station officials had thanked Nick and even offered him money as a reward. Nick took it without a word and now is heading out the door.

Judy walks out with Nick to his car, and Judy catches his attention. "Nick?"

Nick looks back. "What, Carrots? Jump in and we'll talk."

Judy does so and Nick fires up the engine and turns onto the road. "So, what do you want?" he asks, not looking at her.

Judy pauses for a moment. "Um, I talked to Bogo when you left, about what you did."

Nick takes one hand off the steering wheel and waves it around. "And?"

"Bogo wants to talk to you about a reward."

"I thought I already got a reward," he says, keeping the car in the center lane. "Are you implying that there's some further reward?"

"Yes…"

"Carrots, it's two-thirty. In the morning."

"Chief didn't say that he'd give it to you right now. He's going home."

"Oh. So tomorrow would be the best bet, then?"

"I would assume so."


10:35 AM; Chief Bogo's Office

Nick, seated on the wooden chair in front of the massive desk, looks up at the Chief, who also is sitting. Judy sits beside Nick, looking up at the Chief also. Bogo looks down on his employee, pawing at a thin, yellow folder. "Wilde."

Nick smiles excitedly as he considers his boss' face. "Yes, sir?"

He smiles, extremely unusual for his negative personality. "As stated in the news and through my own experience, I believe you were poisoned by and arrested Alfred Devney."

He nods. "Yes, that's right."

"Well, I now have reason to reward you," he pauses, opening a folder just in front of himself. He pauses again and closes the folder, standing from his chair. "I have brought you here to inform you that I will actually present you with your reward at the ceremony today. At the community park, in an hour."

Nick takes out his phone as he stands up. He looks to Judy. "It's 10:40 right now. How about we go grab some brunch?"

Judy walks out the door, following Nick. "Sure."

"Hi. I'll take your blueberry cream milkshake, and..." Nick trails off and furrows his eyebrows. "Just a second," he looks at Judy. "What did you want?" Nick slowly looks at the speaker of the "drive-thru" of the fast-food restaurant.

Judy smirks and shakes her head. "You really can't remember? I said I wanted the same thing."

Nick nods and turns around. "I guess that's it. Just two straws with that."

"Okay, drive up to the window," the mammal says through the speaker.

Judy looks at him. "You ordered two, right?"

Nick shrugs. "Maybe, maybe not. You'll see."

Judy chuckles as Nick pulls up to the window and pays, taking the drink from the tiger at the window. "Thank you."

The tiger smiles. "Have a nice day."

Nick hands the shake to Judy. "Here."

Judy furrows her eyebrows as she looks at the drink. "What's with the two straws?"

Nick chuckles. "C'mon, Carrots. You're the investigator, so if there are two straws and one drink, that equals..."

Judy smirks. "Sly fox," she takes a sip. "Pretty good, I'd say."

Nick reaches his hand over to Judy. "Let me have a sip."

Judy places it in his hand, and he puts it to his mouth and takes a sip, his one hand still at the wheel. "Delicious."

After arriving twelve minutes later at home, the two officers retreat to the dining table. "So," Judy says, pausing to take another sip of the milkshake. She sets the cup down and puts her hand on the dining table. "We got to get changed and get to the ceremony."

Nick opens his phone. "It's only 10:55."

Judy shrugs, taking the last sip. "It takes us 15 minutes to get there. And you take at least 10 to get changed."

Nick stands up. "Fine. But I almost reconsidered it since you drank most of the milkshake."

Judy laughs. "Let's go, Nick."

He heads up the stairs, walking into his room and slipping on his pants, and Judy knocks. "You ready?"

Nick slips on his shirt. "If I'm not out there, I'm not ready."

Nick walks over to the door, fastening his belt. He opens the door, and with his tie, still untied, draped over his shoulder. Judy holds her phone in one hand, already dressed. She looks up at him. "It's been eight minutes and you're still not dressed?"

Nick begins to tie his tie. "Yeah, so what?"

She sighs. "It means you're slow," she walks down the stairs. "C'mon."

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he says, slowly following suit.

Another ten minutes later, Nick sits upon a wooden stage, looking over an array of mammals seated in white, plastic chairs.

Chief Bogo puts his hands on the podium, addressing everyone that had come to the ceremony. "Today I would like to present the badge of bravery to our newest and first fox officer, Officer Nick Wilde," he hands it to Nick as he steps up to the podium. Applause echoes the park as Nick gazes over his audience.

"Hey, everyone," Nick says with a smile. "I really find this–" he studies the badge for a moment, "–badge of bravery quite impressive. I am glad that I had the opportunity – with my partner, Officer Hopps – to compromise one of the most dangerous people in Zootopia, and I really didn't think that I would earn a badge of bravery in return. And to say that this mission to capture Albert Devney wasn't easy. Especially with Judy interfering."

A few chuckles. After a few seconds, it tones down, allowing Nick to continue. "I was kidding, by the way," he says, another few chuckles interrupting his thoughts. "But to be serious, Judy was a real help back there. She demonstrated true trustworthiness to me during the entire ordeal. She stayed by me until I was better. In fact, I even treated us with a blueberry milkshake," another round of chuckles follows, and Nick smiles in response. "So, I thank everyone, including Judy, who contributed in helping me earn this award. Thank you, and good afternoon."

Quickly following the speech, Nick and Judy return home after a short lingering party. Judy closes the front door of the house, smiling as Nick strolls in front of her. She sits on the living room couch, looking at the blank television screen. Nick sits next to her, still dressed in his uniform. "Something wrong?"

She shakes her head. "No..." she pauses and frantically stands. "Nick."

Nick stands after her. "What?"

She nods, breathing heavily. "Did you realize that Alfred Devney, the mass murderer, stayed in our house?"

Nick shrugs. "So? I got him already. Don't worry."

Her face flushes. "What do you mean by so?" she says, pointing to the kitchen. "He tried to poison you, right? So that means, that there might be another potential hazard that may harm either of us? He could have trapped the entire house, for all I know!"