Chapter Ten "Once a Hustler…"

I really didn't know what Judy wanted from me at this point.

As I had said to her, sleep had been nonexistent last night. I had kept myself up thinking about how stupid I was acting at the tavern. Of course Judy wasn't going to be interested in me. I'm a fox and she's a rabbit. There were boundaries she was never going to overcome. She had already proven that enough with our encounter with Rocky on the street.

Jeez, Judy. Could you sound more like a bigot outloud? Even if Rocky was selling illegal goods, the look some mammals were giving us...It was like the Nighthowler conference all over again. I told myself I should just get over her.

But, of course, that was easier said than done.

We watched Judy limp away from the stall with her head in her paws. It was hard to look pleased with the outcome, yet somehow Rocky could keep a smile going.

I could tell that the raccoon was a natural born hustler by how he presented himself. The bite mark on his right ear suggested that a deal had gone bad somewhere down the line for him. But the golden stud was a symbol of success he had. It wasn't some cheap trinket he was wearing for a fashion sense. It was little things like that I knew Judy wouldn't pick up on.

"Thanks for that," Rocky broke the ice. "Mister…?"

"Wilde," I said, not forgetting my manners by forcing a smile and offering a paw. "Nick Wilde."

"Rocco Larrs. Always nice to see a fellow predator in Bunnyburrow. The rabbits like to imagine that they're the only ones who live here. Sometimes you need to knock them out of their ivory towers and bring them down to our level. Isn't that right, Jean?"

Jeanette shivered besides me. I got the impression that she was acquainted with the raccoon, but not in the good way.

"Nice to see you too, Rocky…"

"How is old Gid doing these days, anyway? I don't get to see the fox much since he opened up that pie shop."

"He's doing fine…"

I slowly moved between the two to give Rocky the hint to halt his line of questioning.

He was sizing Jeanette up like she was a piece of meat and he was a savage tiger. I recognized the eyes of a schemer. Rocky was the sort of mammal who analyzed everyone around him for the sole purpose of deciding just how they could be useful to him. Judy was probably one hundred percent right about this guy and his relationship with her sister. But I was in no mood to give Judy's hate-filled comments the benefit of the doubt. I was tired and annoyed enough as it was.

Rocky turned his attention to me upon discovering Jeanette would be off limits. He was about to measure me up next. I could feel it.

"So, Nick. You're from out of town?"

"Yeah...Visiting with Judy to see the faire."

"Where from? The city too?"

"Yep."

"So, you're a fox of the streets then. I can respect that. I bet that rabbit cop has given you all sorts of trouble, eh?"

"You have no idea."

Hustlers, like Rocky, you had to be polite but firm with. If you gave them nothing to work with, they would quickly lose face and either back off or know to keep silent. I made sure my eyes showed my distaste with the conversation. Though I smiled, I was glaring at the raccoon.

Rocky was either the bravest rodent I had ever seen or the dumbest.

"Well, I get the feeling I caused you a little grief. You two were on your way to breakfast, weren't you?"

"Sure."

"Why don't I treat you? For your trouble?"

I squinted my eyes at the raccoon, trying to guess his angle. He was definitely after something, but I couldn't even begin to imagine what. It felt like we were trading bad company, with Judy, for worse. But my mouth moved on its own.

"Eh, why not, I guess? Free food, right?"

I glanced to Jeanette, hoping she would speak up and talk me out of this. But she wasn't about to call out any idea I had. Especially if I knew she was trying to make a good impression with me. It would take an awful mammal to curse her cravenness but I really wasn't in my right mind between the lack of sleep and my fight with Judy.

In fact, I was surprised I was even lucid as I was.

"To the diner then?" I asked.

"One moment," said Rocky as he leaned over his table of fruit and vegetables.

He grabbed his two boxes on both sides and flipped them together, cramming all the food into one tight space. That's when I realized that his display was no more than an open, upside down suitcase. Talk about a cheap mammal.

"Onward, Mr. Wilde."

Jeanette knew where to go and she led on, trying not to make eye contact with our raccoon guest.

I was finding it hard to not stare at Rocky. Jenny had made it sound like he was a misunderstood mammal who deserved a second chance. But all I saw was a greasy furball who had already taken ten second chances and burned them all while laughing his way to the bank. Maybe he was a good fixer upper?

As we walked, we kicked the fallen leaves.

My thoughts turned to Judy again with my head having cooled.

I was overblowing it. It was nowhere near as bad as the Nighthowler conference.

Plus, she was right. Rocky was doing some illegal infringing on trademark. But that was for a lawyer to handle, not a pair of off-duty cops.

And the clear predator distrust from her still hurt just the same. Not to mention, I was growing tired of the lack of accommodations for foxes in the burrow. Everything, from the carrot colored buildings to the older generation of rabbits glaring at me, made me feel unwelcomed. Then there were the signs I had pointed out. "Bunnies Only." Things were worse than it was in the city. At least there they would pretend they'd accept your patronage.

In front of me, Jeanette was hunched low like she was trying to get by unnoticed by Rocky.

When Judy offered Jeanette as a date the previous night, I felt my world coming to a screeching halt.

You often heard about young bucks these days talking about the friend zone when attempting to pursue a beautiful doe that caught their eyes. I guess this is what they meant.

It wasn't like I had never had my heart broken before. My first girlfriend, Samantha I think her name was, stung a bit when she left me. But now I was old enough to forget her name, through some deep burying.

With Judy, it was different.

In the back of my mind, I knew I was going to see her every single day at work. A grim reminder of what could have been and never would be. I envied Stu and his commitment to Bonnie, as he had claimed in his 'noots' story. His advice, to just keep at it, was hard to do when you felt like you just wanted space.

I went over my life and realized something horrifying.

Judy and I did everything together.

Typical days at work involved getting up at six to Judy knocking at my door. Then we'd drive together to the station, chatting along the way. Being partners, naturally, we worked together constantly. That involved eight to ten hour shifts of police work, complete with a lot of communicating and talking to each other. Lunch breaks were an hour, but we had always got our meals together. Be it from the cafeteria or a food stand out on the streets. At closing, around five, we'd always hang out for a bit. Sometimes to get dinner or to just follow up on any particularly difficult cases. I was in bed by nine.

If you didn't count bathing, travel, laundry, and other necessities of living, I had an hour to myself.

One hour. All day.

How was I supposed to act normal around Judy all that time if she had no interest in me? How was I supposed to control myself? I took pride in my mask as a former con artist, but there were limits. What? Was I just not supposed to take off the pleasant Nick mask? Was I destined to never get a decent night of sleep ever again? Or was this just supposed to get easier with time?

Maybe I should just quit being a cop to make things easier for me…

On that dark thought, we entered the diner at the other end of the town.

It was exactly how I expected it to be on the inside, being familiar with a fair few diners all around Zootopia. Standard diner layout, red booths and stainless steel counters. The sign greeted us into what they called the restaurant.

"The Bunny Drop?" I asked, rolling my eyes slightly.

"Get used to it, Nick," spat Rocky. "You're in Bunnyburrow."

I quickly saw that there were few accommodations for mammals larger than the average rabbit. The red booths lining the walls looked like a tight fit for us foxes and much too big for Rocky. Still, we managed to squeeze in with Jean and I on one side and Rocky on the other.

Before we could sit down, Jeanette pulled out her cell phone which had buzzed. She looked down at the screen and frowned.

"Everything alright?" I asked, doing my best to sound concerned.

"Yes...Don't worry. Just a text message."

I nodded and took the menu, glancing to Rocky across from me. I really wished it was Judy sitting there and not the raccoon's ugly mug. He hadn't even bothered to glance at the menu by the time the waitress came around.

"Deviled eggs," he barked to the young bunny server. "And a side of grapefruit."

Grapefruit sounded too sour for me. "I'll just have some blueberry waffles, darling."

"P-Plain oatmeal, please."

Rocky continued to stare at the waitress as she hopped away with our orders. It didn't take someone observant to realize he was leering.

"So," I said, trying to interrupt his perverted gaze. "You and Jenny, huh?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Wilde."

"How did that happen, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, I always have my eyes on bunnies that catch my interest. There's not much in the way of raccoons here in the burrows. So, pickings are slim. Especially with preds or prey willing to experiment outside their natural comfort zone and ignore impulses. I'm very progressive, like that. Really open minded to the possibilities."

Rocky didn't seem open minded at all to me. He reminded me of those specist 'biology experts' who would speak out against inter-species relationships. Talking about how the chemistry was all wrong and usually it was just the mammals confusing their fight or flight instincts with love. If we listened to mammals like that, we'd all be living in separate counties like we did centuries ago. But I knew better than to get into that debate.

"How did you meet then?"

"Stopped by the stall at the right time, I guess. Hard not to run into a Hopp around here. They own some of the largest amount of land in the burrows."

"Really? I thought there were eighty million rabbits here, according to the sign. Or is that just a joke?"

Rocky laughed. Again, that didn't answer my question.

"But yeah," he continued. "The Hopps have a bit of a stranglehold on the farming for the town. Not that the other farmers seem to mind. They're fair with the waterfall effect, trickling down the wealth to other eager rabbit farmers. Hopps handle the stuff like carrots, and now baked goods, while the other farmers cover all the missing bases. But carrots will always be the biggest seller in a burrow full of bunnies."

"Makes sense," I nodded along. "How do you know so much about this though?"

"Well, I'm the mammal who transports their goods out to other cities. Farming is where the real money is. When mammals hear a name like Bunnyburrow, they expect to get some high quality vegetables, namely the carrots. The Hopps can charge whatever they want and rake in a killing so long as it's above the cost of manufacturing the stuff."

I nodded again, but could tell all this talk about farming was beginning to bore Jeanette.

She kept staring at her phone, chatting to who I assumed was Gideon. I wasn't the type to invade her privacy. I'd have to apologize to her later for not being much of a fun date.

"The Hopps Harvest is a display of the worst of it," Rocky continued. "Or best of it, if you're a friend of the family. They all gather around that silly golden carrot and vendor items off that they wouldn't normally be able to sell in mass quantities. Everything is jacked up in prices. So, even if you have a small table, you can still make a killing. The rides are cheaply made and overpriced too."

A lot of what he was saying matched Judy's descriptions from yesterday, though from a much different perspective.

It hadn't occurred to me that in such a small town there would be plenty of other mammals jealous of the Hopps' success.

It made sense. There were always haves and have-nots in every society. Despite Stu starting from humble beginnings, I could easily see why having a golden carrot propped right in the middle of your family faire could be seen as obnoxious. It was bragging of how much money you made and how little the object was worth to you, even though a golden statue could set a poorer mammal up for life.

"Your brother was smart," Rocky turned to Jeanette. "He got in good with the Hopps too. Very smart. Now he owns that little shop in the square. Make nice, make money."

Jeanette glanced down at her phone, which had buzzed again, and then to me. There was a pleading look in her eyes, suggesting she didn't want to be there.

"Why don't you go take care of that?" I gestured to her phone and giving her an excuse to abandon the table.

Our food was brought to us the moment Jeanette left.

"So, Nick," said Rocky as he slurped on his eggs. "You're a fox of the streets, that much I can tell. What do you do for a living?"

If I told him I was a cop, I got the feeling that would shut him up real quick. But something in me silenced the thought.

"Well, I can tell you what my last job was. I hustled popsicles made from borrowed ingredients to lemmings. Cheap labor and an easy two hundred dollars a day."

"Nice," Rocky sounded genuinely impressed. "That amount typical in the city?"

"More or less. It depends on what you're willing to do in Zootopia. How much you want to dirty your tail."

"Of course. If you don't mind me prodding more, what's your relationship with the Hopps cop if you're a hustler?"

"Judy?" I paused mid-thought. "Friends, I suppose. She tried to break up my business, and I somehow ended up befriending and helping her in the big Nighthowler incident. Life is strange."

"Strange indeed. And, out of curiousity, what are your thoughts about stealing?"

I narrowed my eyes. I got the feeling this is what the raccoon really wanted to discuss with me the moment I had stuck up for him out on the streets.

"Depends on what the item in question was and who was going to miss it."

"Smart fox. Very smart. Ask your questions before you blindly agree to anything. Tell me, what's the most expensive thing you've ever stolen, Nick?"

"A few rugs that I thought no one was going to miss," I spoke honestly. "Blueberries, on the occasion, from food stalls. And some candy when I was a kit."

"How about something worth half a million dollars?"

What a weasel.

I knew it would be too good to be true to leave something as valuable as the golden carrot out in the open. I should have seen this coming. The subtle disdain for the Hopps meant Rocky was probably planning this for awhile. He might have even proposed to Jenny just so he could have an excuse to come to the faire and steal the golden carrot.

This wasn't some cheap trinket that nobody would miss or like pawning trademarked goods on the street. This was a blatant felony that could get you put away for a long, long time. As a police officer, even if this was outside my jurisdiction and I was on vacation, I had a duty to report Rocky and get him arrested. Or at the very least put him under watch with the local authorities.

But a thought from earlier burned across my brain before I could act.

Maybe I should just quit being a cop to make things easier for me…

It was impossible to think right there in the booth with Rocky expecting an answer. Besides, the more I thought about it the more I realized that I didn't have nearly enough evidence to turn the raccoon in. He was being too vague.

There was no harm in learning more about the scheme for a little while and seeing what Rocky had planned. Right? I'm not sure this counted as probable cause yet. Not until I knew exactly what he was after. A good officer never accused anyone of anything without proof. Or a recording carrot pen.

"Mm," I leaned in close to whisper to the raccoon. "I'd have to consider it. Need more details and all."

"Not here," Rocky glanced around and gestured above his head to give himself rabbit ears. "Too public. Too many ears. I'm bringing my truck to the faire later this afternoon. We can chat there if you help me 'unload.'"

"I gotcha."

The raccoon dug into his black sweatpants and pulled out a dirty wallet and some cash.

"Here. Fifty for the breakfast. Should be more than enough plus the tip. I get the impression your lady friend is uncomfortable around me, so I'll see myself off."

"Fair enough," I shrugged. "I'll keep my eyes out for you then."

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wilde. I hope we can do business together."

He offered me his paw and I did my best to ignore the grimy feeling as I shook it. He then pulled up his hoodie and took off out of the diner with his suitcase in paw before anyone had even noticed he was missing.

I was left alone with my thoughts for a few minutes.

This was a pretty heinous crime I had stumbled into, even if I couldn't confirm it yet.

Rocky gave me the creeps. He certainly had the motivation to commit such a theft, judging by his colored speech about the Hopps. I tried to calm myself down by remembering my training at the academy.

This should have been a no brainer.

Meet with Rocky later that day and get your proof. Then arrest him. I didn't have any of my equipment with me, not even my handcuffs. Just my badge, buried at the bottom of my travel bag. But that was no excuse. I could just alert the local sheriff when I confirmed it was the carrot he was after. Why was this hard?

Don't tell me…

Was I actually considering going along with this brain-dead scheme of his? Was I that sleep-deprived?

That was a horrible, horrible idea. I mean, sure. Judy had pretty much stomped on my heart this weekend. But to sink so low out of spite? And I hadn't stolen anything this major since my mom had caught me with those rugs…

What would I even do with the money anyway?

Jeanette finally came back to the booth. She must have squirreled away into the bathroom.

"Where's Rocky?" she asked.

"Oh," I said, making something up on the spot. "I...Told him to take off. I saw he was bothering you, so I asked him to take a hike."

"Y-You did?"

"Yeah," I said with a smile.

Something about our exchange calmed me down a little.

It suddenly came to my attention that Jean was actually a pretty good-looking vixen, the kind I would have easily fallen for back when I was a kit. And she made a very lovely distraction from my palpitating heartbeat and thoughts of impending criminal activity.

"Have a seat. Don't want your food to get cold."

"Thanks…"

She took her place across from me and we shared our breakfast together.

Seeing a friendly face sitting across from me helped me relax a bit. That's when I realized something obvious staring right at me.

I could make Jean and I work.

It was safe and familiar to me. I don't know why I didn't see it before. It was comfortable. Like wearing an old tie that you had thought you lost. It made me not think about the dangerous thoughts I was having with Rocky.

"Say, Red. Why don't we hang out around the faire a little bit today? We kind of got this morning ruined for us. Do you need some help at the pie stand?"

She nearly choked on her oatmeal. "I-I'd love to. But you don't have to if you don't want to. I mean…"

"I do. In fact, there's no place I'd rather be."