Author's Note: Bit of a longer chapter for you guys today. I really feel like structurally this is becoming messy, and I apologize, but with this story becoming harder to write I often don't end up proofreading it at all. I am aware that some of you thought Finnick was involved in the previous chapter for example, when I was simply trying to refer to one of the murder victims. Nick knows a lot of people! I hope this chapter isn't confusing. If it gets too bad, do tell me, but I am trying to just get these published and keep writing.

Chapter 10

Gentle Snowfall

"You know the guy? How?", Judy asked. Nick's expression had been full of eager anticipation when she had produced the case file folder, but had transformed into reluctance and unwillingness immediately at the sight of the victim's photograph.

"How would you feel about going to check out the crime scene?", Nick proposed instead of an answer. The bunny was immediately excited.

"Yes! Absolutely! I mean, the crime scene has long been cleared, of course, but…"

"Speak to the neighbours, check out the area.", the fox continued for her, and she nodded.

"Good. Let's go."

"You know the way?"

"Yup." With the air of I know everyone, I know everywhere, the fox jumped out of his seat and picked up one of many hats dangling from a hat stand by the door. Honey was not too convinced.

"It's not safe for you out there, Wilde. They're after you. They could be around every corner!"

"Please. No one can look through this disguise", Nick said jokingly, pulling the fedora down over his eyes. He felt around with his paws dramatically. "Carrots, you'll have to be my eyes! Oh, the darkness? Where am I?"

"Stop playing around, Nick", Judy agreed. "It really is dangerous. Maybe I should go by myself."

"Do you know the way?"

"Well…", Judy raised a paw in anticipation of her next few confident words, but her face fell. "No."

"There's your answer then."

Despite being wrapped in one of the honey badger's scarves, Judy shivered in the cold. On her small figure, the piece of cloth looked more like a poncho. She was glad for the extra layer of clothing, because the unexpected trip to tundra town had caught her unprepared for the cold. The honey badger had parted with the scarf hesitantly, accusing Judy at once of never bringing it back, and using it as some evidence against her in court. It had taken Nick's convincing her to let the bunny borrow the scarf. He himself seemed more relaxed – dressed still in shirt and tie, with a large hat pulled into his face, he enjoyed the benefits of an unkempt and wild coat of fur, grown long during an apathetic prison stay.

For the moment, Nick was comfortable walking about. Most of the mammal's they encountered were predators, walking with hunched shoulders and lowered faces, barely meeting their glances. Nick's heart tightened at the sight of his fellow predators walking long curves around the obvious bunny. Tundra town had changed, he thought. There were a greater number of shady figures cowering in the icy shadows, trying to find shelter in card board boxes. They were wrapped in hole ridden and moth bitten blankets, staring out onto the open street out of dark, tired, suspicious eyes. Nick met their glances and shared a moment of understanding with them – tried, at least, to communicate his sympathy. But then they'd look away, and Nick didn't know if it was because they recognized him, or because he was a stranger. He saw so many homeless and pathetic figures in the dark that he became scared of seeing a familiar face.

A previous customer, maybe, or worse: a friend.

"Is it just me or has this place become worse since I've been gone?", Nick murmured to his investigating partner.

"A lot of things have changed recently…", Judy replied with a sigh. She was rubbing her arms against the cold, and scanned the area with growing discomfort.

"Does it make you uncomfortable to see how the evil preds live?", the fox prodded, a note of sharpness to his tone. Judy glanced up at him sadly. "I…yeah, I guess. I mean, it wasn't always like this, right? I could swear just a week ago…"

"What changed?"

"There's been unrest. Mayor Bellwether is really pushing the new safety regulations. You didn't hear? They specified areas for predators in each district. So all the predators living elsewhere had to move, and, well…it looks like there aren't enough houses."

"Of course not! They exiled them to the slums! Carrots, let me ask you. Have you ever had to spend a night in an alley? Do you have any idea what it's like to fear everyone that is walking by?"

Casting her amethyst eyes down, the bunny avoided him, stepped further away. "I know what it's like to fear every predator that passes me…" the fox flinched away at that answer, unsure. Was she still scared of him? Did prey really still fear predators, with the collars, and all the precautions? He searched the eyes of the bunny, still turned away from him, and imagined uncomfortably for maybe the first time what it would be like to be small like her, looking up at a fox with his sharp teeth and sly eyes. Would he fear himself? If he was a bunny? There was no instinct in him that told him to feed on prey… but was there an instinct in prey that still told them to run? Was their survival instinct stronger than a predator's instinct for the hunt? He disliked the memory of Judy flinching away from him, looking upon him like a murderer. She had not seen him as a saviour when he had pulled her out of the river and let her dry by the fire. She had thought him her captor.

"What are we supposed to do, Nick?", she asked quietly. "…it's…necessary…if predators are going savage again…IF", she underlined before he could interrupt her. "We'll find out, okay? If all of this is necessary. When the attacks stop, and the riots…maybe things can change for the better again."

Nick snapped out of his thoughts abruptly.

"Yeah, right.", the fox snorted.

"Do you have to be so pessimistic all the time?"

"it's called being realistic, Bunny. You should try it sometime."

They walked on in silence for a while. As the city got darker, and only few unbroken street lamps turned on, the two of them quickened their pace. Soon they had exited the slums, watched closely by bright yellow eyes staring from the shadows. There were predators guarding the borders, Nick realized. Silent soldiers watching for prey – not to attack, but to defend. Surely.

"I can't imagine the riots got very bad in Tundra town", Judy suggested when they were past the invisible line between predator and prey territory. "It is so cold here! Most prey from other parts of the city wouldn't like that."

"Need me to warm you up again, Fluff?"

"Thanks, I'll pass."

"Don't say I never offer", he smirked, trying to relax his stance. They were on unsafe grounds now. But the streets were empty. So close to the predator district, most prey wouldn't want to be out at night. Those were Judy's assumptions. Nick simply assumed that the prey was more comfortable living out their evenings beyond the rectangles of light adorning every house wall now, enjoying family and friends in the comfort of a warm home. The town had a magical touch here, light from windows making the blanket of snow that covered everything glisten.

And yet the magic couldn't reach the fugitive fox. This style of life was reserved for others, and he would always just be a dirty, ragged stranger looking in from the outside, longing, yearning. If he was seen now…he shuddered. Best distract himself.

"So, what was the crime scene like after the murder?"

"Bloody, I imagine." It was the bunny's turn to shudder.

"You imagine? Haven't you been, Officer?"

"Nope.", Judy shrugged, hurt pride glazing her eyes. "I haven't made detective yet. Actually…I am…I am a meter maid on most days."

Nick couldn't help but grin meanly. "Carrots, I'm honoured. You loved ticketing me so much that you have been trying ever since to encounter someone like me, huh?"

"Chief Bogo doesn't really let me do anything else. Doesn't trust I could do actual police work! I've been working so hard to earn his respect…I was kind of happy when he asked me to speak to you. I know it was only because I knew you a little already, but…it was responsibility, you know? And I messed it up…"

"You're a cute bunny. You'll easily find a job elsewhere. What do your parents do?"

"They're carrot farmers…"

"There you go then! You're sorted. You'll never be hungry."

The bunny stopped frozen for a moment, her eyes angrily fixed on his. "You don't understand, Nick."

She said this with the greatest grief, the greatest sense of betrayal. "It was my dream to be a police officer ever since I was a young bunny. Maybe no one else believed in me, but…I did! I did! And now I can't even believe in that anymore, because it's all gone. I've messed it all up."

"For me", he murmured.

"Oh, don't think so highly of yourself! What would you know? I can't imagine you ever tried to better the world."

"That's where you're wrong, Carrots! We all do our bit. I did mine, actually. You have no idea what Wilde Times meant to people! That was my dream!" His voice had become low and growling, but she did not flinch. She leant in, a low burning fire in her purple eyes.

"Then you should understand what it's like to lose your dream."

"I do! So why are we fighting?"
"We're not!", she groaned.

"Good!" Nick slowly unclenched his fists, let his glance travel over the white ground uncomfortably. "Good, because…I'm sorry."

And he meant it. There was guilt gnawing at him – the guilt he had felt at having lost his dream, and disappointed so many in the meantime, was no different from the guilt he felt at destroying someone else's dream. It was all the same. Ambitions were ripped away from him, crumbled around him.

He had been wronged, but not by this bunny. It was not right that she should suffer because of it. She had a real shot at her dream, after all. She had been born on the right side. Small, but prey. And oh, she was keen. Keen and clever, and quick – she would have made something of herself. Not like him, who would have eventually failed either way. Had he not been framed, it would have been the loans or the police that crippled his illegal, small, poverty stricken park in the end.

To his surprise, Judy laid a paw on his arm and made him look down to her. She glanced at him with a warm intent.

"Don't be. I chose to do this.", she said. "It's not right of me to blame you. It is…it is my job to right the wrongs of this city! To make the world a better place! And as long as I have this badge, I will not stop doing just that!"

The smirk returned to the fox's features, a comfortable, easy smile. "Hah. Big words for such a small bunny."

"Small ego for a fox!"

"They need to be stopped."

Nick and Judy both flinched at the sound of the strange voice, so close, yet strangely distorted. They turned about trying to identify the speaker, until they realized that the high pitched sound had come from a TV screen inside the window of a department store that they had approached unawares. Several screens lined up above and next to each other all showed the same image in different sizes: Mayor Bellwether, sitting with her legs crossed on a dark red arm chair in the company of a pig interviewer with thick red lipstick. The sheep wore a sharp business suit and a beaded necklace, looking confident and dangerously concerned at the same time.

Judy and Nick both exhaled with relief, but they had wordlessly stopped in their tracks and were staring at the screen.

"Absolutely, they need to be stopped. Us little guys, us prey, we make up 90% of the population. And yet we cower in fear. Our numbers make this city distinctly ours. It is primarily our culture and our ways that dominate it, and yet we live frightened of a minority that has struck back at us after every attempt of peaceful coexistence. I believe we can no longer allow ourselves to be kind to these mammals. We have to defend ourselves. We have to defend our families and our children. If we want to see them grow up to be upstanding citizens of Zootopia one day, then predators should not be a threat to them. And in order to reduce this threat, measures need to be taken."

"What a load of bullshit.", growled Nick.

The pig turned towards the camera, obviously reading off notes off screen. She turned back to Bellwether with a practised smile.

"The majority of citizens fully support you in these claims, and have ever since you were elected one year ago. But there are a number of individuals that say predators in our current age are mistreated and discriminated. What is your stance on this?"

"There is no truth to that, my dear. We have recently begun moving predators into their own communities. If you think about it everyone will be more comfortable this way. Predators can live with species they have more in common with, and can be entirely themselves. Most predators feel the obligation after all to avoid prey, lest they be tempted to become dangerous. In their own communities, they can live fearlessly and act like themselves. Prey can live feeling a little safer each day. We cannot forget that predators have been given every freedom in this city. The previous mayor was, after all, a predator."

"You used to work as the assistant mayor for previous mayor Edward Striper, and were elected in his stead when savage attacks threatened the city about a year ago. What can you tell us about Striper stepping down as mayor?"

"Well, Grace, there was simply a conflict of interest. As a predator, Mr. Striper had a natural urge to defend carnivorous species and could not muster the strength to assure the safety of the wider public. It was obvious that the community would feel safer with one of their own as mayor."

Judy's eyes were still glued to the screen with a discomfort she couldn't quite explain herself. Had the mayor always sounded like such a liar? Had they always disguised wrong doings with safety precautions? There were poor, freezing predators all over the Tundra Town slums – could this really be excused as creating a comfortable predator society?

Her amethyst eyes searched Bellwether's pixelated expression with intensity when Nick begun walking off, his paws buried in his pockets, his features soured with displeasure.

"I've heard enough."

Looking between the TV and the fox, Judy eventually ripped herself away from the screen and hurried after him, her heart thumping in her chest.

They reached the building in which the first victim had lived on the second floor after a few more minutes of walking. Judy and Nick approached it from the side, keeping themselves hidden in the darkness of an alley way. Pressed tightly against the wall, close together, they exchanged a look of determination.

"How did you know the way, Slick?"

"I know everyone, and I know where they live.", he shrugged. The bunny felt that there was more to the answer than that, but didn't push it. Nick nimbly made use of first metal bins and then the drain pipe running down the side of the building, to pull himself up onto a narrow balcony beneath an unlit second story window. He lay on his stomach and reached his paw down for Judy, who simply pushed herself off into the air on the lid of the pin and grasped the paw.

Nick pulled hard, and Judy landed atop of him, rolling off his slim body into a sitting position on the balcony.

"There's a bit of a cat burglar in you, isn't there", joked the bunny.

"I tried to join their ranks when I was a kit, but would you believe it? The cats wanted to keep the title amongst them." He tutted with fake disappointment.

"How are we going to get through the window?"

"Lend me that scarf for a second."

She did. Nick easily dropped himself off the balcony and climbed back up holding a rock in one paw. He covered it with the scarf, winked at Judy, who, when realization hit her, widened her eyes in protest, and smashed the rock through the window.

Glass shattered onto the inside, landing softly on carpet.

"Nick! We can't just break in!", she squeaked.

"We aren't breaking in. I am. You just happened to watch." At that cue, he carefully picked glass shards out of the window frame, and then climbed inside to be swallowed by the darkness of the room. Judy remained reluctant for a moment.

"Well…it counts as probable cause.", she shrugged at the end, following the fox inside. It took her a while to get accustomed to the greater darkness. Nick on the other hand was standing in the middle of the room, frozen.

"Looks like that armadillo had a pretty bad time…"

"What do you mean – damnit, we should have brought a torch."

"No need. Here."

Nick approached the bunny that was still fumbling helplessly in the dark, and laid a paw onto hers. Gently he guided her fingers towards the carpet, and helped her run her paw down a long, narrow scratch, paralleled by three others.

"Are those…claw marks?"

"Yeah. They're everywhere. The bed's been torn, the sofa…this place is a mess. Carrots, some of the…some of the blood hasn't washed out of the carpet."

Nick's usually calm and confident voice sounded reluctant and scared. The claw marks were deep. Even when Nick disappeared from her side, Judy kept feeling them, shuddering at the thought of blood long dried on the carpet beneath her. Slowly, the shapes of furniture started to stand out to her vision. Nick was by the door, sniffing, feeling the door frame.

"You said the culprit got away, right? No CCTV in a house like this."

"The location is odd.", Judy agreed. "If a mammal just went savage, they wouldn't walk up the stairs and choose this flat specifically. They'd attack whoever they first laid eyes on, wouldn't they?"

"Talk about strange. There are no claw marks on the door, either. No splinters…no teeth…no dents...if someone escaped through this door, they just opened it and walked away."

"Maybe they went through the window?"

Nick shook his head.

"No, the glass was unbroken before we got here. No claw marks on the window frame either. I doubt a trapped savage animal would even consider the door and the window…Maybe the doctor was attacked outside, and dragged himself here to die?"

Judy, saddened by the thought, quickly and harshly shook her head. She was feeling the ripped bed sheets, let her gaze travel over the multitude of claw marks that had ruined furniture and torn through flesh. "The case file stated that there were no signs of struggle outside of this room."

"That does sound premeditated.", Nick agreed. He didn't seem to like that thought one bit. "So the attacker must have left the room sane. No savage beast escaped from here."

"Perhaps they were tranquilized. And someone took them."

"Who would benefit from doing that and not telling the police?"

"Someone that wants to protect the culprit.", Nick sighed. "Damn it. I don't believe this!"

Angrily, the fox started pacing up and down the room, his fangs bared, his calm demeanour vanished. For a split second Judy even saw a yellow light flash from his collar.

"Look at all this stuff! Fancy platinum clock, expensive furniture, a fine wine selection in the cupboard...I bet the bastard has nothing but brand suits in his wardrobe." He had picked up a strange, artistic looking sculpture off a shelf. Certificates adorned the walls, praising the doctor over and over for his contribution to society. There were pictures of the armadillo shaking the hands of official looking mammals – even a photo of him in a row of doctors, joined by mayor Bellwether.

"Nick! This is a dead mammal you're talking about…"

"Being dead doesn't make him any better a person", the fox hissed back. His tone concerned Judy. She shrunk back a little, dropping the corner of the bed sheet out of her paw. "Nick…?"

"Do you have any idea what kind of guy this Doctor Marty Jenkins was?"

"He…well he was a doctor. He saved countless lives…"

"Let me enlighten you, Fluff. Our friend Marty here was a Doctor, alright? But not the compassionate kind. He must have been about the only Doctor in these districts. And there used to be a fair few predators living here too. The winters here are harsh, Fluff. Not everyone can afford to rent a place elsewhere when the cold gets a little bit too bad. And some of us preds can't afford the heating. Marty here would only treat Prey. He turned the rest of us away at the door. There was an accident close to here one day. Some prey kids had gotten into a fight with the son of a single mother panther who lived not too far from here, and the kid slipped on the snow running away and hit his head bad. His mum had just been in the supermarket across the road, shopping. She came out to find her son unconscious and bleeding bad. He was dying, no doubts about it. He had lost serious amounts of blood at this point. So this desperate mother brings her child to Jenkin's praxis. His secretary called him in to see the child, and the guy takes one look at him and said no. I'm not touching that scum. Go find a predator doctor to help you. Stop wasting my time."

The bunny cop leant weakly against the window frame, staring at the glass shards on the carpet. She had a bitter feeling that she wouldn't like the end of the story. But Nick had fallen silent. An angry, brooding silence that made the air feel heavy. "What happened?"

"Guess, Carrots."

Judy decided not to reply. They stared at each other in mutual misery for several seconds before they both flinched at a noise in the hallway outside. There were questioning voices beyond the unscathed wooden door, asking "Did you hear a noise as well?"

"The apartment should be empty!"

"You don't think the criminals have come back?"

Fox and bunny exchanged one look and then headed back towards the window, slipping back out into the night. The chilling air caught Judy off guard immediately. Nick laid the shawl back around her shoulders and slid down the drain pipe.

They forced their bodies to blend into the shadows of the alley, listening to their own hear beats pulsing in their chests. The street remained empty, no one checked the window they had just escaped from. Whatever neighbour's suspicion had been aroused by the noise returned to their own flats satisfied that it had been just the wind.

"Nick…"

They started walking, side by side once more, their paws buried in their respective pockets.

"You don't need to tell me, Carrots. We have established that there must have been at least one sensible mammal on the scene. And there is plenty of motive for a predator to kill this guy. That's what you're thinking, right?"

"It…does look like that.", she sighed, equally as disappointed as him. He willed his tone to soften. The bunny wasn't his enemy.

"Who were the other victims?"

She told him, name by name, species by species, and his face fell as she continued on.

"Those cashiers that died were bullies. I'd rather not go into it. Those bankers? Refused loans, and sometimes checks, for predators…. darn it. I know it looks bad. I know!"

As much as Nick wanted to believe that the predator community was innocent…why were the victims of these murders all so…despicable? He himself had wished death upon them at one point or another. He had regretted it then, maybe, and he sure as hell wouldn't have committed any actual crime – but was it so unlikely that another predator had acted upon similar thoughts? All things considered they had it coming. They deserved what they were getting in the eyes of the predator community.

The fox could not sincerely claim that there were no violent predators.

"Maybe it was meant to look like that?", Nick suggested meekly. "Maybe they're just trying to make predators look bad again! I am convinced that's what happened to me so…."

"But when you were framed there was a mayor election going on", Judy murmured, deep in thought. "I suppose back then they didn't want a predator mayor, so making predators look back…"

They both stopped, turning towards each other with wide eyes and said nearly simultaneously:
"…would make Mayor Bellwether win the election!"

Judy raised a paw to box his arm playfully. "Nice deducing, Nick."

"That's Detective Nick", he corrected her smugly, tipping his fedora to her. "I wear this hat for a reason."

"Still, right now that is just…a theory. An assumption. We can't jump to conclusions."

The fox nodded in agreement. "But it's a possibility."

"I suppose. But there is nothing like that going on right now! Prey have already won – Bellwether is already mayor; the predators are already being exiled – why would anyone make it worse?"

Nick angrily thumped his clenched paw against a stone wall. They were treading back towards the worse parts of Tundra Town, making their way back to the rain forest district, when Nick stopped in his tracks.

"You wanted to know how the collars could be removed.", the fox murmured. His tone carried a hint of resignation, an uncomfortable despair. Judy, stopped in her tracks by his serious voice, turned back to him with an uncomfortable nod.

"I'll take you there.", Nick said. "All it takes to remove a collar is a scanner – either as police issue or medical equipment. Pay the right amount of money and you can get pretty much anything – illegal or not."

"So someone really could be removing collars illegally!"

Hands in his pockets, Nick Wilde shrugged in agreement. His expression was pleading. "You got to understand, Judy…"

"Who? Tell me, show me, who has one of those devices! We could be really close to finding our culprit!"

"Fine. But we do this my way. I need you to follow my lead, because this guy, he isn't going to be happy to see me. Last I know he should be here in Tundra Town. Up in the fancier districts. He does not like me, and he is not going to like you, either."

"Who?"

"Koslov."