Chapter 7: A Friend with Vague Answers
As Chief Bogo opened the entrance to the interrogation room, a slight, but acute aroma of perspiration, mixed with palpable tension rushed into the prep room with a cold breeze. Acclimating himself to the anxiety that weighed down on his chest, the fox officer took a deep breath, and let the aerosol concoction rush into his lungs and seep through the pores of his skin. The sweat smelled familiar, like if it belonged to someone he knew. It was the sweat of Franklin Longtail... Observing the door sill separating the carpet in the prep room from the tile floor in the interrogation chamber, Nick suddenly realized he was was far more tense about facing his friend than he would have wanted to be. It was only Franklin after all, he thought. But then again, he might be different…
Before taking his first step into the room, Officer Wilde looked left and glanced over to Judy, allowing himself a moment to contemplate her violet eyes. Those sweet, concerned orbs kept a steady gaze on his visage, whispering voiceless secrets about her feelings towards him. It was odd, but very exciting that he could say he knew the language of her gaze… the language of Judy's secrets. Smiling tenderly, Nick acknowledged the officer, and in return, Officer Hopps placed a paw on his arm, and grasped onto the sleeve of his new summer uniform.
"Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" the bunny officer asked in a hushed voice, aware that whoever was in the interrogation room could hear them. Nick kept himself silent for a moment, as he perceived his own tension again. He was about to face Franklin, his old friend whom he had not seen in ages, and the otter that had nearly killed him earlier on in the day. For a moment, the fox felt the urge to tell Judy that he did want her to come in with him, to face this obstacle like they had faced many others since the Nighthowler Case; but as the seconds passed, he realized he could not do that to Franklin. Franklin was his friend, after all, and regardless of who he was at this moment, he had the right to meet with the fox officer alone. Contemplating Judy's eyes with more voracity that before, Nick nodded.
"Yeah, I'm sure," the fox officer answered, giving Judy a gentle and assuring smile. "Stay here and listen to the conversation though." Having heard him, Judy smiled back, let go of his sleeve, and punched his arm very softly so as to show him she had his back.
"Of course I will, partner," Officer Hopps said in a light-hearted manner. "We'll handle this case together, like we did the one before." Feeling comforted by his colleague's words, Nick felt his shoulders ease up slightly. Still smiling, Nick gave Judy's face one last look, before looking ahead at the open entrance.
"Well, wish me luck then," Officer Wilde said in a half-distracted manner. Officer Hopps placed a paw on her colleague's back, comforting him with her delicate touch.
"Good luck, Nick," Judy remarked, and after acknowledging her words with another nod, the officer took a long step forward, and entered the room.
Having been in the confines of the more dimly lit prep-office, Officer Wilde was caught by surprise when the bright, stabbing, pale light that came from the florescent illumination above struck his face. Looking down at the tiled floor and squinting his eyes, he allowed himself a moment to get adjusted to the brightness. His senses, the fox noticed, were sharper than usual: The aroma of sweat was suddenly more poignant, the air circulating the room felt colder, and he could feel the palpitation of his heart against his chest. Nick took a few steps further into the room, when suddenly, the door behind him was closed. Standing frozen, the fox took a deep breath and closed his eyes, but as he did, he heard the ruffling of clothing and fabric straight ahead, and was prompted to rapidly open his eyes and look up. Franklin Longtail, his old-time friend, had his feet planted firm on the ground, and had nearly risen, if it had not have been for the large puma officers behind him branding their batons and taking a step towards him. Time stood still for a moment, as Officer Wilde looked directly at the otter's face, and recognized the small features that made him who he was; from the slight discoloration on the tip of his nose, to the scar on his left cheek; but most importantly, Nick noticed his crystalline-blue eyes... eyes which he had never seen on any other otter he had met before -and many otters he had indeed met in his life-. Nick's stomach sunk, as he realized he had been a fool to not have noticed his eyes when he encountered Franklin on the streets. They were nearly impossible to miss, yet, in the chaos of the moment, he had overlooked that key detail.
"Nick," Franklin spoke in a timbre that Officer Wilde immediately recognized as belonging to his friend. Swallowing hard, the fox acknowledged the undeniable fact that he was there, standing right in front the one otter that had been a brother to him at one point in his life. For a while, Nick could not break eye contact with Franklin, but once he finally did, he noticed the puma officers behind his old-friend. Both were getting tenser with each second that passed. Observing their eyes and slight gestures, Nick realized they were calculating where to strike the otter to incapacitate him and, therefore, neutralize the threat. As an outcome, a knot was formed in the fox officer's throat. He had to get Franklin to sit, or he would be in dire trouble.
"Frankie, sit down," Officer Wilde ordered the half risen otter, while lifting a paw and gesturing for his fellow officers to stand down. Franklin remained in place unmoved, allowing tensions to rise, but as he heard the slight noise of the police behind him placing a harder grip on their beating-sticks, he flopped down on his chair and put his paws on the table in front of him. Nick loosened his shoulders in return, satisfied to know that the otter could still be reasoned with. At least, in that sense, he no longer needed to expect the worst. Looking away from his colleagues and back down at Franklin, Officer Wilde noticed his friend had focused his whole attention solely on him, and was staring at his face with unsettling intensity, seeming to look for something, or someone as he scanned his face. Perhaps, the fox officer guessed from the bottom of his guts, he was trying to find the Nick he once knew… A Nick that would not be wearing a police uniform, or be ordering him around. This made the fox feel uneasy, as he realized starting a conversation with him would take work. As Nick took a step forward towards his friend, he began to figure a way to begin the talk.
"The officers here behind you are Todd and Rose," Officer Wilde broke the ice with his contemplative friend, gesturing at his colleagues with the flick of his eyes, while methodically moving forward. "They're pretty nice mammals, but they do pack a nasty punch... Trust me, I trained with them at the academy…" Still, Franklin did not react, keeping his face stern and his eyes steady of Nick's. However, this did not discourage the fox, for he had a plan: Reaching the side of the table opposite to his friend, Nick stopped and stood behind the chair he was to sit on. Suddenly, a small, crooked smile grew on his face; a smile Franklin knew Wilde always made right before he was about to deliver one of his infamous punch lines. "If you'd have stayed up, you may have ended up like that one kid that nearly stole your twenty." For a second, it seemed that the words Nick had spoken did not affect Franklin; but suddenly, the otter gave Wilde a glare, assuring the fox he had spoken just the right words to bait his friend into a conversation. After a moment, Nick's otter friend loosened his face, and he returned a smile.
Bingo, Nick thought.
"It's been fifteen years… fifteen whole years since that incident," Franklin said as he slowly shook his head and his smile grew. "And you still haven't forgotten."
Success! Nick thought as his tail perked up and his smile grew a little more.
"It's hard to forget…" Nick remarked, as he thought back to the old memory he had of Franklin when he still dwelled in the orphanage and was a devil of a conniver. "Especially because it happened on the day I met you. If I recall correctly, you decided to escape from Orph Home on that day, taking with you all the girl scout cookies they had recently bought, which you were going to sell them in the name of 'The Orphan Boy Charity.' Am I mistaken?" Franklin Longtail shook his head again very slowly, as he kept his eyes locked on the fox's. The otter had not heard the name "Orph Home" - a name which he had jokingly given to his orphanage- in a long while. He had actually nearly forgotten the name, yet it seemed that Nick had not lost memory of it. Amazing it was, Franklin mused, that his friend remembered.
"Perhaps not..." the otter replied, leaning back on his chair. Inclining himself forward, Nick placed his paws on the back rest of the chair in front of him.
"Well, from what I remember," Nick continued, entertained by his own story. "You were selling each of those cookie boxes for fifteen a pop, but when that kid gave you a 50, the price had very mysteriously gone up to 25 a bit. What was the kid's name again?" The otter rolled his eyes, knowing Nick was intentionally pushing his buttons, as he would often do.
"Bill," Franklin clarified.
"Riiight…" Nick said as he lifted his paw and snapped his fingers. "Bill… Good old 'Don't mess with me, I'm Bill!'" he added, lifting the pitch of his voice as he imitated the kid they had met long before. In response, Franklin felt the urge to chuckle, but knowing he was in a police department, detained and being interrogated, he sealed his lips. The seconds passed, however, and soon enough the otter could not help but to reveal a smirk, prompting Nick to grin coyly in return. "Anyway," the fox officer continued, still contemplating his friends grin. "After he found out you were keeping the money, he threatened to ram you, and call his goat mommy so she could ram you too. That's when I showed up." There was silence for a moment, before Franklin tapped his paw on the table, and leaned forward. Focusing his attention solely on Nick's face, the otter contemplated the fox's smugness, a feature he had not lost since last he saw him. Wilde was Wilde, Franklin mused as his grin grew.
"You did," The otter mused while nodding slowly.
"I did," Nick continued. "And when I did, you told me you needed my help because Billy the Kid was going to steal 20 from an orphan boy charity drive." As Nick's smile became toothy, the fox lifted a paw to his forehead, began to shake his head. "On that day, you not only tricked me into beating that kid senseless, but then you sold me one of your overpriced cookie boxes… and that I cannot forgive you for." Again, Franklin felt the urge to start laughing, but with a bit of self restraint, he swallowed the desire. Instead, he panned his eyes up and down Nick, giving himself a moment to observe his old-time fox friend in nearly all of his entirety.
"You have the memory of an elephant, Nick P. Wilde," the otter remarked as his gaze returned to the fox's visage. Nick winked at the otter, acknowledging his words, and then went to pull out the chair he held in his paws. Once it was drawn, he moved around it with his foxy slickness, and sat down.
"I remember what's important," Nick said matter-of-factly, as he scooted his rear to the edge of his seat, leaned back, and propped his right elbow on the rest behind him. "And you, my friend, certainly are." As Nick closed his mouth and smiled, the fox noticed the words he had spoken seemed to echo in the interrogation room. Franklin shot his glance down at his paws in front of him, as he processed what he had just heard. Staring directly at his facade, Officer Wilde could see a struggle being held behind his gem-blue eyes.
"Nick..." the otter started, speaking the name with a deliberate slowness. "It's been a while since I last spoke to you," he added sighing, as his ears dropped to the sides of his head. "It's been too long..." Nodding listlessly, the fox's smile was replaced for a sullen look of nostalgia. It had been a long time, the officer realized… a time where they both moved on, did their own thing, and had forgotten about each other, even after everything they had been through together. As Nick's eyes shot down towards the surface of the table before him, he let himself remember the struggles and good times they both had shared as con-mammals. It was strange, Nick realized, but while he acknowledged his life had been pretty messy in the past -before Judy-, he could not say he wished for it to be otherwise. It was also curious, the fox also mused, that his life had been divided in two, where things happened before Judy and after Judy. B.J., A.J..
B.J…. heh…
...
… Realizing he had strayed off the matter at hand, Nick looked back up at Franklin.
"Yes..." the fox officer agreed, as his own ears flopped down. "Eight years… it's been eight years since we last stayed in touch, Frank. That is a long time." The otter gave Nick a blank stare in return, when he suddenly he opened his mouth and let out a small huff of air.
"It is," the otter said, before looking down in contempt and shame. Silence filled the room, making the ticking of a clock that hung to the left of Nick and Franklin present. As Officer Wilde continued to observe Franklin, his mind withdrew itself from all thoughts of his present life, and let nostalgia dance in his chest as he remembered the old days. Back then, he had Franklin there to make his day to day life a lot easier. Being that he had left home the moment he turned eighteen, Nick was prone to letting solitude into his life. Sure, he was out on the streets making a good buck out of everyone he could sweet-talk into conning, but at the end of the day, he would always shelter himself away wherever he would spend the night -be it beneath a bridge, or a rutty apartment he could afford. When Franklin came into his life, however, all of that changed. The otter was one to insist on being around Nick even after they had finished their "day's work," and despite Nick's tendency to seek solitude, Franklin would always manage to walk himself home with him. Long nights the two spent together talking about life, and enjoying each others company as they defeated the urban demon of crowded loneliness. That Nick could not thank Franklin enough for.
But then the otter left Nick to join Mr. Big and gang, and the fox fell back into a world of solitude… A world he had only started to escape from after Judy…
… after Judy...
"So…" Franklin suddenly spoke, dragging Nick out of his own thoughts. Looking back up, the fox locked eyes with his old-time friend. "How has life been?" Suddenly, Officer Wilde felt a weight drop in the center of his chest, as his nostalgia quickly turned to mortification. Deep down inside, he could not believe the audacity of Franklin asking such a nonchalant question after not only having disappeared for eight years, but also hacing SHOT HIM -be it that he did by accident, or not-. It was RIDICULOUS, but, oddly, very much like something the Franklin Longtail he knew would do, as he was a mammal to always want to lighten the mood when things would go sour. Burying his emotions within, he decided to take the coy route out of his question.
"Pretty okay, I guess," Nick said sarcastically… perhaps, a little too sarcastically. "I've been around, doing a little bit here… and a little bit there…" Leaning forward, the fox smiled sardonically. "I assume you didn't hear I became a copper. Pretty strange that I would join the shield… I know! But it's a long story." Again, Franklin's head dropped down in shame. The otter knew Nick too well to not be aware of what his friend was getting at: That he was an idiot for having taken this route out of having the conversation they had to have. Taking a deep breath of air, the otter looked back up at his friend.
"I didn't know foxes could become officers of the law," Franklin remarked sincerely. Again, this hurt Nick, for his otter friend seemed to have not taken his hint. Regardless, Wilde held in his emotions, as he snapped his fingers and lifted his shoulders.
"But, I'm the first, Frankie," the fox explained.
"Who would have known..." the otter said in a musing voice as he clasped his paws together. "Nick, you've changed," he added, trying in his own strange way to still lighten the mood. However, the otters last words became the straw that broke the camel's back. Having heard his friend speak, Nick felt irritated to the point that he could no longer hold his facade. Immediately, his smile and ears dropped, as he gave his friend a look of severity.
"I've changed?" the officer asked in surprise and anger, catching Franklin unaware. Glaring at his friend, Nick wanted to yell at him for having disappeared, abandoning him out of a whim, but he knew he could not. Instead, the fox let his anger channel to the next thing that bothered him: That he had shot him without second thought."I've changed!? Franklin, the you I knew didn't include murder in his act. 'We con, we steal, but we don't harm anyone...' remember that?" Nick asked, reminding the otter of philosophy they had taken "for the greater good of predator-kind," knowing that if they would not, they would be among the worst of the worst. Balling his paws into fists, Nick suddenly slammed them against the table, startling the otter and the puma officers behind him. "THOSE were the words you said on the day you decided to drop out from the gang to join Mr. Big! I remember THAT very well." As the foxes shouts rung in the air, Franklin kept a silent, stern face. The ticking of the clock became present again, as the otter opened his mouth.
"Nick… I'm sorry," The otter said in a tone of severity. "I didn't know it was you when I drew the gun and shot." In the back of Officer Wilde's mind, he knew he was looking for this explanation from his friend. It had to be the truth, because the fox knew Franklin would never harm a friend as close as he was. However, Nick could not help but to feel more anger, for while his answer made it clear that his friend would not have harmed him, he was still indicating that his intention was to kill whoever was in his way. As the thought grew out of control in his mind, he came to assume that if it had been Judy that had stood in his way, he would feel no regret destroying her. The idea of losing his friend… and... the greatest thing that had happened to him at the hands the otter he once knew as his friend boiled in his head with such intensity that he started to growl.
"So, if it would have been my partner, or anyone else in front of you, you would hold no regret!?" Nick shouted as the tension clumped in his shoulders. Standing, the fox officer pushed back his seat with such force that it nearly fell on it's back. "'We don't harm anyone,' Franklin! Those were your words!" Remaining up on his feet, Nick looked down at the otter with anger burning in his eyes. Franklin also looked back at him with severity; but little by little, the otter's composure began to falter. As his shoulders dropped, his lower lip began to tremble, and as Officer Wilde noticed this, a tear rushed out from the otter's eyes. Franklin had cracked, and felt terrible for what he had done.
"I know those are my words," Franklin said hoarsely, as he tried his best to not have his voice falter. "And I would still never go as far as to kill anyone… Even my boss knows that…" Franklin added, losing more control of his posture. Taking a deep, pained breath, the otter let more tears run out from his eyes and roll down onto his cheeks. "But I shot you because I was afraid for my life." Nick's rage was subdued the moment the otter finished speaking. While Franklin did doubt himself, and showed fear back when he and Nick were still partners in crime, he had never shown such vulnerability before. The otter, like Nick and Finnick, had also grown tough in the streets, and was taught, like his partners in crime, that "tears were good for no one" -as Finnick would put it. The fox could count the times he had seen Franklin come close to crying on two paws, and the times he had actually cried on one. As he realized he had gotten a bit out of hand on his sudden outburst, Nick dropped his glance. Again, silence governed, and all Officer Wilde could do was keep his glance off his old-time friend. Craning his head back, he looked for the seat he had pushed behind him, but caught a glimpse of the two-way mirror that stood back on the wall. Nick glanced straight at it, as he imagined Judy with a concerned look, and Bogo being disappointed at him for his inability to keep his emotions in line when interrogating the suspect. Perhaps, in a moment or two, the chief would pull him out of the interrogation room, and off the case entirely.
"I am truly, deeply sorry, Wilde," Franklin broke the silence, getting Nick to snap his sight back at the otter, and notice his sorry face. Reaching back with a paw, the fox took the chair behind him, and sat down while a frown grew on his face. "I didn't mean to do what I did… but I did it because of the hell I've been facing in the last several months..." The words Nick heard coming from his friend made him realize he had overlooked all possible motives for why Franklin had attacked, and had simply concluded his old-time friend had done so because Mr. Big and his gang had changed him… As he scooted forward with his seat, Nick realized his emotions had indeed gotten the best of him.
"Franklin, what hell have you been facing?" Officer Wilde asked in a sullen voice as he leaned towards the table and placed his elbows on the surface. Eyeing the fox's police badge, Franklin showed slight hesitation to speak. Nick had treated him poorly, after all, and the otter could not help but think this was the outcome of the change he had gone through. Nick was a cop… and cops were dangerous...
...but as Franklin looked back up at his friend's face, he noticed the regret he wore. Perhaps, Franklin thought, he was still trustworthy.
"Nick… If working for my boss has changed anything, it's my perspective on the deeper sea, and what they actually do," Franklin began to explain, using the term "deeper sea," that both he and Nick knew to mean the underworld of organized crime; a world which, as a rule of thumb, small con arts, or "puddle boys," like themselves would avoid. Nick also noticed Franklin avoided referring to Mr. Big by his name, fearful, perhaps, of the consequences of talking about him in an interrogation. "You and I used to think my current boss was bad, with the paw he has over certain areas of the city… but he is a saint in comparison to others. Sure, he does his share of bad things…" Stopping suddenly, the otter looked away from Nick, ashamed. "...And he's made me do a share of bad things…" Returning his glance to Nick, he added "but he has never gone to extents of others in the deeper sea. Hell, if anything, my boss has bettered his relations with the law." Nick nodded slowly, processing the otter's words little by little as he kept his emotions checked. Mr. Big, the fox knew with the experience he had acquired over the years, was indeed not the worst of the baddies out there, in that sense, Franklin was right. "Maybe you were here..." Franklin added just before he stopped again, and looked down at Nick's badge once more. "…As an officer of the law, and heard from your colleagues involved in the Howler-Predator Trial that he testified against Bellweather in court." Staring blankly at his friend, Nick thought back to Bellweather, the trial, his participation in it, and his life today once again. Amazing it was, he thought -remembering that year old memory-, how that case, and the trial that followed it, changed his life entirely. After Judy… he could help but think as he thought of the bunny and instinctively placed a subtle smile on his face.
"I did," Nick remarked, leaning his torso forward and further towards Franklin. Without thinking it through, he convinced himself he may as well tell him of his involvment. "In fact, you may not have known, but my partner, Officer Judy Hopps and I were directly involved in Bellweather's case… The news coverage didn't say much about us though." Franklin dropped his jaw in awe. In response, the fox thought back to his words, and realized he added one detail which he could have easily left out: that Judy was his partner. A knot formed in Nick's throat, as he wondered what the chief and Hopps were thinking of him at the moment. Again, he realized he could be removed from this case by Bogo at any moment.
"Judy Hopps?" the otter asked in a tone of astonishment. "Nick… Judy Hopps, the first bunny officer?" Sighing and lowering his eyes, Nick stared at the surface of the table. "Nick?" Franklin spoke again.
"Yes," the fox officer replied as he realized that, one, it was too late to go back on his words, and two, sooner or later, his otter friend would know who his arresting officer was. "Judy Hopps is my partner… Why do you ask?" he inquired, as the fur on his back rose. Feeling protective of his bunny colleague, Officer Wilde prayed his friend would reveal why knowing who Judy was had taken him by surprise. Lifting his paws, Nick's old friend covered his eyes.
"The godmother's fox-friend," Franklin muttered in a pained whisper Nick could barely hear, as he ran his paws down from his eyes to his cheeks. "If they don't kill me, the boss will." Dropping his head on the cold table before him, Franklin broke eye contact with Nick. Gazing at his deeply troubled friend, the fox realized what he was getting at. The godmother, Officer Wilde figured, was obviously Judy, who had taken this title after Mr. Big granted her the right to be part of his family for saving his daughter; therefore, the fox-friend was surely him. Putting two and two together in his head, a sorry smile grew on Nick's face. Mr. Big never took attacks to his family lightly; in fact, it was Nick's stunt with the skunk rug that nearly got him and Judy caught by Mr. Big's thugs. Again, the fox thought of Judy, and the change she brought to his life. If it would not have for his rabbit partner, he would have never seen the end to Mr. Big's desire to eradicate him. If not for Judy, the shrew's gang would have captured him sooner or later, and brought his life to an untimely end.
… After Judy, Nick's fear of being killed by Mr. Big and his thugs became a distant nightmare of the past.
"Wilde," Franklin started in a tone of determination as he lifted his head off the table, catching the unconcerned fox by surprise. "You need to know the truth, especially now that I'm sure you, and your partner, Hopps, can do a better job than me at what I tried to do." Nick observed Franklin motionless for a moment, feeling unable to do anything else in response to his partner and his unanticipated words.
What he tried to do? Nick wondered. What is he getting at?
"Look," the otter continued without expecting to hear a word from his fox friend. "As I said before, there are others out there that are far worse than my boss... but of all those, one in particular is uniquely nefarious." Pausing, Franklin clenched his paw and shape it into a fist. "This mammal and his gang come from outside of Zootopia, and he makes everyone else in the city look like a puddle boy with the acts of violence he has conducted thus far... It is assumed that it is because he's from outside, and doesn't know the inner working of the city that he doesn't follow even the basic codes of conduct held among dwellers of the deeper sea, but I disagree. I think he's the way he is because he's a mad mammal, and wishes for the world to burn." Aware that Franklin was more tense than before, Nick began to feel uneasy. From his mannerisms, Nick knew that his friend could not be lying; yet the otter spoke vague words only.
"An extremely dangerous mammal in Zootopia? Frankie, who are you talking about?" Nick asked as he lifted his ears sharply. Keeping his silence for a moment, the otter stared at his friend.
"D.O…" the otter replied in sever tone. "D.O. is who I speak of… He is committing crimes that no other big fish in Zootopia would. To start out, his murder count is out of control for just getting here…" As Nick's old-time friend looked away, the fox noticed he started to tremble subtly. "He kills anyone who gets in his way… anyone who he finds out has crossed him... But that's just the tip of the iceberg in regards to what he does." Still trembling, the otter shot his glance back at Nick. "He steals, does hits, and traffics mammals!" Franklin's fists hit the table, startling the Pumas behind him, who tightened the hold they had on their batons. Nick's eyes shot up at them, making the otter realize his sudden outburst was perhaps a bit rash. "Look..." Franklin remarked, as he eased his fists and shoulders. "What matters to me, Wilde, is that you know I got involved in a struggle against this mammal, against my boss' orders, because he started an operation that personally affects me." Perplexed by his friend's vague discourse, Nick's tail began to briskly wave behind him. The fox had tried to gather the bits of information his friend had presented to him in an attempt to make sense of him but felt that he was being lead into further confusion than clarity.
"Hold on, Frankie," Nick interjected, as he shook a paw in front of his old-time friend. "You're getting a bit ahead of yourself…" Putting the paw he shook down, the fox allowed himself a moment to observe his friend and his nervous mannerisms. Franklin's eyes, he noticed, shifted back and forth ever slightly, as if looking for potential danger; also, he breathed irregularly and was still trembling. All these actions indicated that the otter was feeling more anguished as the seconds passed "Can you tell me who this 'D.O.' is?" Again, Franklin hesitated to speak, leaning back on his chair and eyeing the room nervously.
"I… can't," The otter replied. "However, I can tell you two things: One, D.O. is attempting to obtain weapons for the operation I mentioned previously, which is why the Digas were receiving the money in that bag I stole." Leaning forward, Franklin rested his elbows on the table as he fixed his crystal blue eyes on Nick. "And two, if you so wish to know more about this fiasco, I suggest you and your partner talk to my boss. He has far more liberty to tell you what I cannot tell you today." Frowning, Nick's otter friend looked away. "I can't really say much more without endangering my own life more than I already have," the otter said in a sullen voice. "Nick, I'm entrusting this information to you because I know, deep down inside, you're still the fox I met fifteen years ago. But aside from you, I can't trust anyone..." Shooting his glance over to the two-way mirror, he added "not even those working for the law." Nick felt his shoulders contract as Franklin panned his glance back to him. For a moment, the two were in an uncomfortable silence.
"Frankie, your accusations are pretty big," Officer Wilde remarked, keeping his eyes locked on his friend's. "I know for a fact that many of the mammals working here are good and honest."
"Yeah?" Franklin asked rhetorically. "Well, I'm sure you also know what money leads some to do. Nick, heed my warning… if you decide to get involved in this case, be wary of who you trust..." The fox lifted an eyebrow. Again, Nick's old friend had spoken vague words that hinted at uncertain truths, and this harried the officer. Clearly, Franklin was facing severe dangers, that much Nick knew; but if only the otter would be willing to share a little more information, the fox could do a far better job at helping his friend with the 'hell'he faced.
"Are you sure you can't give me a little more to go by, Frank?" Nick asked in a worried tone as he prayed that his friend would comply. Again, the room got quiet.
"Drake Olden..." Franklin replied, after taking a long breath. "That's the name he's taken on… this D.O. fella'." Sitting up straight, Franklin removed his paws from the table, and placed them on his lap as he began to shake his head. "I'm sorry to do this, Nick…" the otter said in a mellow voice. "But we're done here… if you wish to ask me anything else, I'm going to need an attorney."
A/N: Alas! I have taken enough time out of my busy, college life so as to get this puppy done! Yay!
Sorry for the long delay, guys. I have truly been very busy in the last few weeks with college. School has made it hard for me to complete and edit this chapter, but now that this is out, I hope you enjoy it tenfold -because I sure enjoyed making it-.
I want to thank my beta readers for being so dedicated and patient with me. Without you guys, this project would not be possible.
A special thanks to the following, kick-ass people:
- Tumblr's Vetinarini, for the wonderful feedback she provided regarding the narrative of the chapter, catching a few of my dumb typos, and for complimenting me on my writing style. (D'aawww, thanks!)
- Reddit user eisbaerBorealis, for his mad ability to catch my typos and mistakes, as well as for providing feedback for my narrative.
- John Olsen, for giving me feedback in regards to the story, even when he was on the verge of going on a trip.
-DevianArt's AIMYY, for catching some typos, and being a really good friend in general. Thanks!
Anyway, please tell me what you think of the chapter. I'd love to hear what you have to say. :D
Please comment.
Thankies!
P.S.: Yes, I know Nick can act like an immature goofball at times. He's just that way.