"Carrots?"
"Nick," Judy sighed in relief. "I didn't think you'd pick up."
Nick immediately noticed her voice sounded off. It was much weaker than Judy's usually commandeering voice, but there was also a thickness to it, as if she were sick or even losing her voice altogether. It continued to shake Nick to the core. What had happened to her?
"Judy, tell me where you are."
Nick put the call on speaker, and immediately went to work pulling up Chief Bogo's cellphone number. He quickly texted the unknown caller's number to the Chief, along with a quick message asking for a location on the number as soon as possible.
"I–I can't tell you, Nick."
"Okay, do you know where you are?"
As he spoke, Nick placed a call to the Chief's desk line, hoping the cape buffalo was still miraculously in the office. He then put that number on mute as he did so, and waited until he saw that the two calls were connected. A response message from the Chief's personal number a moment later proved that the call was currently being traced and recorded from the Chief's office at the ZPD.
"No. I don't have long to talk, Nick."
Relieved that the work was done and that the Chief apparently never went home, Nick put the phone back to his ear, focusing on Judy's voice.
"Tell me what you see, Carrots. Try to help me find you."
"I can't."
Nick's brows furrowed.
"Are you alone?"
"N-no," Judy's voice shook, nearing a sob.
Nick swallowed hard, letting the anger rise in his body like bile.
"Who's there with you?"
"I–I can't say," Judy inhaled deeply over the phone, hesitation clear. "Nick, I have a message for you,"
"Carrots, help me out here, give me something. I know you can give me something."
"There's an abandoned warehouse in Tundratown, on Sleet Drive. There's something there for you."
"Okay, I'll be there, Judy, I'll be there."
Judy took another sharp yet shaky breath over the phone, and then rushed into her next sentence as fast as possible.
"It's her, Nick," she cried quickly. "It's Valerie, she's trying to get to you, Nick, it's Valer–"
A loud growl sounded over the speaker into Nick's ear, then a sharp cry of pain that could only have come from Judy.
"Carrots?"
With that, the call disconnected. Nick stood in stunned silence for what felt like an eternity.
How was this possible? How was any of this even remotely possible?
Pulling himself together, Nick unmuted the call connected to the Chief's desk line.
"Wilde? You there, Wilde?"
"I'm going to that warehouse," Nick said, his body shaking. "I don't care who you send with me, or even if you send anyone at all, but I'm going."
Nick's voice was barely above a whisper, but it stood firm. The Chief stayed quiet for quite some time before his gruff voice came over the speaker once more.
"Done. I'll meet you there."
Seconds later, Nick was hurriedly pounding on the front door of a small auburn-colored house just down the street from the Wilde Home. A very bewildered elderly goat opened the door in a fluffed white robe.
"Mrs. Boer," Nick began in stressed tones. "I understand you don't agree with my interspecies family, or whatever you want to call it, but I have a work emergency and I have four sleeping children at home and nowhere to take them in the short amount of time I have. I will pay you whatever amount you wish – hell, we'll even move out of the neighborhood if that's what you want – but I'm begging you to come to my home and watch my kids for an hour – tops! Then, I will never bother you again."
Mrs. Boer stood in utter shock, her mouth slightly ajar and sleep still stinging her eyes. Then, after a few moments of stunned silence in which she only stared absentmindedly at a very ruffled fox, she glanced down the street toward the Wilde Home before she wrapped her robe more firmly around herself.
"This work emergency – does it have to do with your missing wife?"
The old goat's voice was soft, almost caring. The way she said "wife" wasn't mocking or discriminatory, but rather deeply involved, as if she knew Judy personally. This took Nick aback somewhat.
"Yes," Nick breathed, feeling a breakdown nearing him. "I didn't know you knew."
"I do not know if I agree with your decisions, Mr. Wilde, but I do know that there isn't a day that goes by where I don't miss my late husband," the goat sighed, weariness showing in her features. "If he were missing, I'd be standing in your exact place. Show me to the children, do not worry about fees."
Exactly six minutes later, after thanking a surprisingly pleasant Mrs. Boer, Nick was running red lights and stop signs in his SUV, police sirens wailing. It was nearing two in the morning, and besides Nick's crashing rampage through Tundratown, all was quiet on such a frigid night. When he reached the warehouse in question, the wheels on the SUV came to a screeching stop. Several ZPD vehicles were already parked outside of the entrance, blaring red and blue lights on, and officers perched with guns in paws. The Chief stood waiting just on the side of the snow-covered street, a bullet-proof vest strapped across his large chest. Nick, leaving the driver's side door open, jumped out of the SUV, gun already pulled. Pushing past the Chief and the bullet-proof vest his hoof offered, Nick quickly made his way up to the entrance of the warehouse. Before he entered, he glanced back, noting the Chief following close behind as back-up and several other officers all watching with trained eyes and guns.
"Let's do this," he grunted to himself.
Then, with one swift motion, Nick kicked in the large industrial doors with a loud bang.
Nick, the Chief, and approximately six officers swept the building in seconds. The warehouse was dark and empty with the exception of a wooden chair illuminated by a single bright light bulb near the center of the room. The room was deemed clear of all threats, and with lowered guns, the officers moved closer to investigate the center of the room with Nick at the forefront of the group.
The scene came into view and Nick's stomach turned at the sight.
The chair, and the floor around it, was covered in smears of dark blood – some old, some fresh. Several clipped opaque zip ties littered the floor, traces of blood staining the white. The scene was something straight out of a horror movie, straight out of Nick's worst nightmares. The amount of blood in such a small amount of space sunk Nick's heart as he realized that DNA tests would only confirm that every drop spilled belonged to Judy and no one else. This is where Judy had been for weeks, suffering through who knows what Valerie had put her through. At the thought of Valerie, Nick felt a growl rack his chest. It was because of her that Judy wasn't at home in a warm bed, cuddling her children. It was because of her that Judy was missing at least an ounce of blood, if not more – at least one-fourth of her total blood volume. It was because of her that Judy was still missing, and that Nick was still left with nowhere to turn.
As Nick came closer, trying to keep his breathing even through his rising anger, a glimmer on the chair caught his eye, distracting him momentarily. In the center of the chair sat an eye-catching object that Nick was all too well acquainted with: Judy's engagement ring, the diamonds and band dirtied with blood.