On most days, Judy and Nick didn't didn't have Chief Bogo hand them a file from the homicide department and direct them to a senior detective's office. Today was not most days. Today, they were heading into Senior Detective Tuskton's office.

Nick opened the door for Judy, letting her in first; which was handy for him because a normally gentlemanly act got him early warning that the office smelt like the inside of a chain smoker's car. Once, Judy was done coughing and had sufficiently waved the air clear he followed her in. The senior detective's office was unkempt, the only professionally kept section being the area between the door and his desk. Two plain wooden chairs were on the near side of the desk, while the detective sat in a cushioned office chair on the far side. The rest of the room was cluttered; stacks of newspapers, files, and magazines lined two of the walls, while shelves in the room were horribly disorganized, one book even falling off a shelf just from the door closing behind them. The detective himself, a European wild boar, was currently simultaneously filing through some paperwork and smoking the largest cigar either of the two officers had ever seen. Judy also noted, with a mild amount of jealousy, that the detective's desk was the only one she'd ever seen in the ZPD that she could comfortable see over without standing on anything.

Tuskton glanced up after the door closed behind Nick. "Take a seat." He grunted, in a way that was simultaneously an order and a request. Once Nick and Judy were seated, he pushed his paperwork aside. "You read the file yet?"

Nick started to shake his head no, but Judy started talking. Rapidly. "Single victim, male, white lapine, ID on the body identified him as one Trent Whitepaw, found after a call was made at 12:05 last night about a gunshot in a residential section of Tundra Town, died from a .44 magnum caliber round to the back of the heart." The detective nodded, mildly impressed, before Judy added. "I don't see why you need us for this."

The boar grunted and pulled out a black backpack from under his desk, blood-stained with a bullet hole ripped right through it. Nick took the bait first, turning the bag around and opening it to look inside. "It's... Empty." He stated after a moment, sounded mildly disappointed.

"No it ain't, reach in." the detective snorted.

Nick did so, finding that the bag was much shallower on the inside than the out, and that he could feel something hard and cool under the bottom. "Ahhh… A secret pocket." The fox noted before finding a seam to pull open. Under the false bottom were two things; a small metal cooler, and an old fashioned brass key. After getting a nod from Tuskton, Nick pulled both out and opened the cooler. Inside the cooler was a set of very familiar blue orbs.

No one in the room needed telling what they were, but Nick and Judy both said it anyway. "Nighthowlers."

The boar nodded. "Now you know why you're here. Nobody on the force has more experience with these things than you. So I've requested to have you two brought on, and first thing I'm having you two do is investigate why the victim had these things." He picked up the key, and tossed it to Judy. Up close, she could see that the key had an address engraved on it; 250 Crowfeather Street. "Start by figuring out where that key goes. Crowfeather's here in city central, so you won't have to go far."

As Nick and Judy piled into their ZPD issued vehicle, Judy tossed the case file into Nick's lap. "While I'm driving, you might as well read up on what we have to work with."

The fox rolled his eyes before opening the file starting to read over the case as Judy pulled their awesome car out of the ZPD lot. The first page had a recent picture of the victim paperclipped to it, poor kid looked blissfully unaware of his future in it. Turning through it, Trent had no other family members in Zootopia, and the only registered family members lived up north. He'd been picked up a couple times for minor infractions, but so far had kept his nose clean from Nick's standards. Granted, that really just meant that he hadn't flat out mugged anyone yet.

Nick flicked forward in the file a couple pages to the crime scene's initial evaluation. There wasn't much initially to go on. There weren't any tracks in the snow, so it's hard to guess what kind of mammal they were looking for, and a shell casing found a fair way back on the road suggested the shot may have come from a vehicle, and no traffic cams that recorded the exact area the murder took place. "So we've got a mystery shooter, in a mystery car, firing a mystery gun, for a mysterious reason. Well that narrows it down."

"Not necessarily a mysterious reason, Nighthowlers are involved somehow." Judy added.

"Oh that makes it so much bet-AUGH!" Nick cuts himself off as he lurches forward due to Judy suddenly stopping the vehicle. "Carrots!"

Judy motioned for Nick to look out the window. "Look at this."

Outside were two buildings, likely some kind of tenements, with a slight alleyway gap between them. Clearly painted on there sides were large white numbers giving their addresses. 248 and 252. Nick for once didn't have a clever retort to the situation. "I guess we should get out and check them?" Judy shrugged and nodded, parking the car alongside 248 Crowfeather.

As the two hopped out of the car, Nick walked toward 252, glancing briefly at the alleyway between them. Except it wasn't an alley. Between the two buildings was in fact, a much smaller lowered building barely noticeable, except for the cement stairway leading down to its front door, which had the numbers 250 painted on them. "Carrots, I think I found the place." As Judy walked up, Nick gestured toward the small building. "City planning must have had a day off when this place was built." Judy rolled her eyes at the statement, moving down to the door. It was locked, of course, but a bit of light seeping under it suggested someone was inside.

"Huh, I guess we should knock?" Judy suggested, before doing so.

After a few seconds, there was a light click as the door was unlocked as the current occupant answered the knock. "Can I help you officers?" the hare answering the door asked. If Nick's face wasn't covered in fur, it would probably have turned pale white. The mammal answering the door was perfectly identical to one Trent Whitepaw.