"Wilde. My Office. Now."

Judy blinked in surprise. It wasn't exactly unusual for Nick to land in hot water, although he'd gotten much better about it as he grew more comfortable with being a cop. There were times where his snark still got them in trouble, when he was in a bad mood or interacted with someone who had particularly thin skin. Then, to top it all off, his unorthodox methods sometimes upset prosecutors and defense attorneys alike even though he took pains to never technically violate the law. This was the first time in quite a while that she didn't have any idea what he'd done, however.

She sighed and gave Nick a look, then started to get up when Chief Uncia stopped her. "You're not in trouble, Hopps. I only need to speak with your partner."

For just a second Judy started to relax, simply glad that whatever Nick had done he'd at least had the sense to avoid getting her involved. It was quickly replaced by concern for her partner.

"Sir, are you sure you don't need me? You still haven't given us our assignment," she hinted, looking up at the snow leopard.

"I'm keeping both of you looking into that Tundra Town assault. Clawhauser is holding onto the updated case file for you," the chief said, then narrowed her eyes as she regarded Nick once more. "As for your partner, don't worry. This shouldn't take long."

Nick jumped down from their shared chair, then stretched once he landed. "It doubt you need to worry, Carrots. You know I've been good lately."

His confident tone would have been reassuring, but the snort Captain Uncia gave as she stalked out of the room ruined the effect. Nick played it off just the same, giving her a wink before he followed the feline up to her office.

"Meet you by the front desk in a few," he said, waving once before passing out of sight.

Judy bit her tongue, giving a slight shake of her head as he left, then muttered quietly to herself. "One of these days the chief is going to nail his tail to a wall."

Apparently she spoke more loudly than she thought because Lowell barked out a particularly wolfish laugh. "You sure about that Hopps? I think the chief likes him."

"I don't know if I'd use the word 'likes', but she gets along with him better than Bogo ever did," Francine said, gesturing vaguely with her trunk. "I mean, if she was gonna do something about him she would've by now, right?"

Wolford shook his head, tail wagging slowly. "He's been in trouble with Uncia before. Remember the red pudding incident?" he said, drawing a few groans from the others. "That said, she sure doesn't yell at him like Bogo did."

"Only because nobody can yell like Bogo did," Snarlof said. The large polar bear pushed himself up, scratching his chin as he did. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to head down into the evidence lockers apparently. I suggest the rest of you see to your duties as well."

Lowell watched the polar bear depart, then checked his phone and sighed. "Unfortunately the killjoy is right. See you all later."

As everyone else began to file out Judy decided to make a quick stop by her desk to make sure nothing had come in for her overnight before swinging back to the front to find Clawhauser dancing in place behind the reception desk. Nothing unsuited to work, little more than bouncing lightly in place as he wiggled and moved his hand in time to some internal beat. Despite the cheetah's weight it looked quite good, and he was enjoying himself so much Judy couldn't help grinning as she approached.

"I take it you finally decided to try out that dancing class, Ben?" she asked.

"Started just this weekend," he said, practically beaming while giving his hips a shake. "The instructor is super nice. She says I've got natural rhythm."

"Looks like you had a great time. You're practically bouncing with energy; someone might mistake you for a bunny," Judy laughed, giving the larger feline a wink.

Clawhauser blushed, coming to a stop. "I doubt it, I'm much too big. Plus I get tired really quick. Even this little bit gets me panting before long."

"I'm sure you'll be able to do more with practice," she assured him, still smiling.

"Thanks. To be honest I'm still a little self-conscious about it since I'm such a dough ball. I'm pretty much the heaviest guy there."

"Well what I saw looked great. Plus I've heard dancing is a great way to get in shape, so I'll bet that'll change if you keep it up," she said, then lowered her voice. "Plus you know a lot of ladies love a guy that can dance."

The cheetah's ears folded back as his blush deepened. "You stop that."

"Well, since you aren't in the mood for compliments how about you give me the case file for the Tundra Town assault."

"Oh, the Chief has you working on that one?" Clawhauser asked, beginning to search his desk. He found the file quickly enough, tucked among a pile of folders, and handed it over. "Doesn't she usually keep you two away from that area?"

Just from the size of the folder Judy could tell there was more in there than the last time she'd read it over, but it didn't look that substantial. She accepted it and quickly flipped through the pages. Several officer reports, her's and Nick's included, a catalog of evidence, and witness interviews. Her ears tilted toward Clawhauser as she began to skim over it.

Judy gave a little sigh. "Yeah, but this time we were requested."

"Really? That is. So. Cool! You're making a name for yourself, girl."

The large cheetah's enthusiasm was so contagious that Judy hated to bring him back down. "Not really. It was Mr. Big who asked, and I guess the higher ups are hoping that he'll let his guard down around me."

"Oh, I suppose that does make it less fun," Clawhauser said, his ears beginning to dip down. He recovered quickly though. "Although this is kinda like those Jack Savage movies. You're like a…a double agent."

She blinked. "Claw, if I'm a double agent it means I'm working for the mob."

"Triple agent then."

"I suppose." She shook her head and looked back at the file, grinning to herself.

Evidence was still very much on the light side. The slashes on Brisa's back had been documented, but they were awaiting an expert to tell them what kind of mammal they came from. Likewise the fruit bat's clothing and pack had been collected, but it would take at least a few days for the CSI's to properly check everything for transfer evidence. Everything taken off of Brisa herself—particulate, scrapings from under her claws, and the images of the bruises on her body—were slated to be processed today.

The interviews were, for the most part, even less useful. Nearly all of them involved mammals who were certainly employed by Mr. Big, which made them suspect right out the gate. Their stories were all consistent to a fault. In fact, they were so consistent she suspected every mammal had been coached except for one: the young moose who had made the call. Apparently he had seen Brisa fall out of the sky "in a confusing tangle of flapping wings."

Just as Judy was about to give up on the file she decided to glance over what information they had managed to find about Brisa and was shocked to find they had an address. No, not just an address, but several. Residence, hangouts, and even a number of past employers. She stared at it all, practically able to see the case opening up in front of her even as she wondered how they'd managed to find it all. A second later she looked in the direction of Chief Uncia's office, feeling her tail quiver as she realized that she almost certainly already knew the answer.

"Alright. What did you do?"

Nick looked up at Uncia with his ears tilted back, honestly at a loss. She didn't exactly appear to be angry. Annoyed was a better word. Or perhaps harried.

"Um, I do a lot of things. You're going to need to be more specific, chief."

"One of these days you are going to realize that it isn't a good thing that you need me to clarify these sorts of questions," Uncia said, one hand going to her head. "Why is the ZPD tip line practically ringing off the hook with information about that bat victim of yours?"

"You have to be exaggerating," Nick said, though his ears perked up expectantly.

"I'm not. The line has been getting a constant stream of calls since yesterday afternoon," Uncia said, then scowled as the fox began to laugh. "It is not funny."

"Yes, it is. I expected to get three, maybe four, tips," he said, shaking his head. "If I knew there were this many mammals worried about my becoming a cop I would have done this ages ago."

"Wilde! Stop patting yourself on the back," the chief growled.

Nick tried to stifle his laughter. "Sorry, I honestly had no idea this would happen. Are we getting anything useful?"

"Yes," Uncia admitted with a sigh. "More than we know what to do with, but that line serves the whole ZPD. Whatever you did, undo it before the commissioner starts asking questions."

Suddenly things didn't seem quite so amusing. "Oh…um…of course, chief," Nick said, his ears dipping back. "I'll need to make a call, and it'll probably take a bit for word to get around though."

"Whatever it takes, Officer Wilde," Uncia said, giving him a significant look. "I'm sure neither of us wants this to go any further than it has to."

"No chief. Of course not. I'll go make the call now," he said, already headed for the exit.

Before he reached the door the chief called out once more. "Wilde?"

"Yes?" he asked, hand hovering just over the knob as he cringed slightly.

"Good job. Don't do it again."

For just a second he considered accepting the praise with a witty quip, but quickly decided against pressing his luck and left while he still had the chance. Once in the hall he sent Finnick a text thanking him for the help, then asked him to spread the word that he already had what he needed. For good measure (and to ensure the other fox continued to play along) he let his old buddy know that he'd remember the favor. Then it was back downstairs to find Judy, who was practically quivering with her need to get moving.

"Come on Nick," she said the second she laid eyes on him. "Could you possibly walk any slower? We need to get moving."

He gave her a smile, then paused to give Clawhauser a wave before answering. "I don't know. Would you like me to try?"

That earned him an elbow in the side. "Not funny."

"I donno, I think it was a little funny," Clawhauser said, earning himself an annoyed scowl from Judy.

"Thanks Ben." He gave the cheetah a quick hi-five, then grinned down at Judy. "My mother used to warn me that you shouldn't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to."

"Yeah, well right now we got some leads to run down," Judy said, waving the case file in front of him, "including Brisa's home address."

"Wait, really?" he asked and tried to take the file from Judy, but she pulled it away too fast and shot him a grin.

"You can have it once we're in the cruiser," she said smugly.

"That's playing dirty," he said, though he couldn't help smiling just the same. "Alright, you win. See you later, Claw."

Clawhauser waved as they left. "You too. Good luck."

On the way to the cruiser Nick tried to get the file from Judy, but she kept to her word and refused to hand it over until he'd gotten inside and buckled his seat belt. Once she'd finally relinquished it he immediately began to scan the contents. He was immediately struck by just how many entries there were under the "anonymous tips" section, including the address to an apartment in the Rainforest District. He stared at the page for a moment, taken aback upon realizing that someone had even provided the address to her favorite coffee shop. Apparently Uncia hadn't been exaggerating, and given the response his stunt had generated he'd almost certainly burned through a sizable amount of the good will his past business partners had for him to boot. Hopefully that wouldn't cause problems later, but if it meant he could help Brisa then it was worth the price.

"So, why were you in trouble this time?" Judy asked when he had finished reading.

"I wasn't in trouble exactly," he said, prompting her to snort in disbelief. "Really. She was just kind of…making sure I hadn't overstepped."

Judy gave him a sideways look. "What did you do?"

"That is the exact same thing the chief asked," Nick said with a chuckle.

"Nick, honey?"

A shiver ran up his spine. "Yes?"

Judy gave him her biggest, sweetest smile. "You better tell me, or else."

"I can barely believe you did that," Judy said when Nick finished explaining, shooting him a critical look before pulling onto the road that would bring them to Brisa's apartment. "And I'm surprised that Finnick allowed you to talk him into it."

"It wasn't that big of a deal. Finnick might not act like it, but he is a huge softy sometimes. Most of the attitude is a front so that nobody tries to mess with him."

"Okay, I can see that, but didn't you just threaten a bunch of mammals to get what you wanted? They can't be happy about that," she pointed out.

"No, they can't," Nick said seriously, "but don't worry about it too much. They'll be pissed, but the simple fact is that most everyone who knew Brisa liked her. Lotta them probably would love to help the investigation, only if they did they'd be labeled a snitch."

Judy turned that over in her mind a few times, then blinked and looked over at her partner. "So you gave them an excuse."

He grinned back at her. "That's right. Sometimes all it takes is giving a mammal a reason to do what they already wanted. You'd be surprised how many scams work that way."

"Still shouldn't have done it," she said, her ears flicking back again.

He merely shrugged. "Yeah…well maybe it is worth it."

Judy merely shook her head in response as she finally pulled up to the building. The apartment complex wasn't quite what she'd expected. The Rainforest District was built vertically as much as it was horizontally, with much of the district located above the ground level, supported by the large trees that dominated the area. Even so the elevated locations were usually easily accessed from ground level thanks to an elevator. That wasn't the case in this instance however, as the only access appeared to be a shockingly steep stairway crammed between two large buildings with nothing but a sign that read "The Rafters Housing Complex: Your Home Above It All." The stairs were so steep that both she and Nick were forced down onto all fours to keep their footing.

When they finally reached the elevated platform the building rested upon even she was beginning to pant. At Nick's request they took a moment to catch their breath before heading inside, which gave them an opportunity to get a feel for the area. On its face the building looked to be just another apartment complex, albeit one on the cheaper end of the spectrum, however Nick began pointing out details that made him believe it was more of a dive than it seemed. The front face of the structure was in good condition despite being on the austere side, but the sides were covered with graffiti. Several of the windows had mammals peeking out, who Nick thought might be lookouts.

Why Brisa lived in a place like this, when according to Nick she was liked by many of the mammals that knew her, didn't quite add up in Judy's mind. Nick seemed unsurprised, however, so she filed the question away to ask later. Right then there was business to attend to.

Upon entering they headed straight for the superintendent's office, and were fortunate enough to find it still occupied by a middle-aged badger. The moment he laid eyes upon them he gave a slight start, then immediately began to grumble.

"Not again," he muttered as he massaged the bridge of his muzzle. "Can I help you, officers?"

"We just need to be let into one of the building's apartments," Nick said calmly, his tail flicking. "By the sound of it this isn't that unusual here. I hope it won't cause any problems?"

"Happens all the time. Feels like I only just sat down after the last cops went on their way," he said, twisting in his seat so he could reach the keys hanging on the wall behind him.

"Your cooperation is appreciated," Judy said cheerily, but the badger simply rolled his eyes as he pushed himself up and started out.

"Where are you going?"

"Room 411," Judy recalled, her ears tilting forward. "Tenant should be a fruit bat named Brisa."

The badger tsk'ed and headed for the stairwell. "Her again? What is that girl getting into?"

Judy glanced at Nick, but he merely shrugged. "You've been having trouble with her then?"

"Not normally, but this is twice the same day that cops have asked to see her place," the badger said. "She got a warrant out on her or something?"

Once again Judy looked at Nick, but again he didn't seem to have any answers. "No, she was the victim of an assault," she said, then tilted her ears forward. "You said the ZPD already came to see her room?"

"Yeah, one of your detectives."

"Did you catch a name?" Nick asked. "He's probably working the same case we are."

The badger sucked on his teeth for a moment. "Detective Claws? Or Clawson? Something like that. Snowleopard from Tundra Town I think."

"You wouldn't have happened to get his badge number by chance?" Judy asked hopefully when they reached the fourth floor.

"Never thought to write it down," the badger said gruffly. "No offense, but the ZPD comes around here so often there just isn't any point."

Her annoyance must have shown because Nick gave her a light nudge on the shoulder accompanied by an easygoing smile. "Hey, we can just call Clawhauser. I'm sure he can figure out who it was."

"I know, but you would think we would be told someone else was taking a look at this place," Judy groaned.

"Because we always do exactly that, mmm?"

She gave an annoyed huff. "Well at least we try."

The super announced they had reached the proper room before Nick could reply, and immediately set to unlocking the door. There was a minor delay while he found the proper key. A second later he pushed open the door, then immediately froze.

"What the…" the badger started, then bit back a curse and hurried inside.

Judy quickly pushed in as well. "Is something wrong?"

As soon as the words left her mouth she felt a slight flush of embarrassment as she took in the trashed room. For an instant her mind flashed back to the time Flip had broken into her apartment while she was away and trashed anything he could get his filthy claws on, but after a moment she realized this was something completely different. Drawers had been yanked free and dumped everywhere, and the furniture had been shredded, but here there was no sign of needless destruction. Rather this looked like someone had torn the place apart in a hurry while looking for something.

"I take it the place wasn't like this when you let Detective what's-his-name in?" Nick asked as he took in the room.

"Of course not," the superintendent said, rubbing his paws.

Nick nodded a bit. "Do you think he could have done this? Did you watch him check the room?"

"No, he just came in and looked around for a bit, then left. I was just outside the door the whole time waiting for him to leave," the badger said fretfully.

Judy could already tell Nick was thinking this 'detective' had been an impostor, but held her tongue while he questioned the badger and instead made her way to the bedroom. Inside she found that the dresser had been completely emptied as well, and as with the other furniture the bed had been flipped over and cut into. She also found that the window had been busted, with shards of glass littering the ground just inside the window frame.

"Hey Nick?" she called out. "Someone broke in through the bedroom."

While Judy reported this new crime and tried to help Clawhauser identify the detective that had visited the apartment earlier that morning, Nick busied himself examining the scene in an attempt to piece together what had happened. His first instinct upon seeing the ruined room was to think the detective had been an impostor and tossed the place, but that seemed much less likely with the superintendent insisting that he'd been present the whole time. Then there was the fact that, as Judy had noticed, someone had clearly broken into the room through the window.

He supposed it was possible that the detective was still an impostor and had merely been making sure that he had the right room before breaking in, but why go through so much trouble? More to the point, why bother with the break-in at all? The super had been completely taken in, so why not conduct the search and grab whatever he was looking for in the first place? Perhaps he'd been worried the real ZPD would show up and would realize that he was a phony, only that still didn't really fit. If he was that worried about getting caught in the act why risk coming back at all?

"Nick? Clawhauser insists the ZPD doesn't have any snow leopards going by the name Clawson or anything similar," Judy said, her ears tilted back with frustration as she turned back to the badger. "Are you sure that was his name?"

"I already told you I'm not," the badger huffed. "But I am sure it was claw-something. That much I know for sure."

Judy took a deep breath. "And you didn't bother to look at his badge."

"With how often we've got the ZPD coming through here I didn't see the point. I know he had one though."

"Or something that looked close enough to pass a casual glance," Nick mused, his ears flicked back. "And he wasn't the one that did this anyway. Judy, I think there are several different groups interested in whatever Brisa got mixed up in. Do we have someone watching her at the hospital?"

Judy's eyes widened slightly as she reached for her radio. "I don't know. Let me find out."

His tail swished as she began talking once more, then he turned his attention back to the apartment. There wasn't any point in him searching for clues, Judy was far better at spotting those than he'd ever been. What he did have, however, was a good idea of why the place had been torn apart…assuming Brisa still followed the advice he'd given her all those years ago of course.

Judging by the damage they'd wanted to find some sort of book, probably a notebook, which had to mean they wanted her client records. It was the sort of thing every good courier kept for when work started getting scarce. Sometimes the best way to find a job was to go looking, and it was always easier with a list of mammals who'd needed a courier in the past. Many couriers kept such a notebook, but most made the mistake of keeping it in a drawer or something equally silly.

Looking at the damage Nick guessed the culprits had the run of the place for a good half hour. Long enough to make a mess as they sacked the place, but Brisa was smart enough that she wouldn't hide something so important in an obvious spot. Depending on what sort of information she kept in the client list a mammal could learn a lot about what was going on in the city. He wasn't sure exactly what the intruders had hoped to find, but if they wanted it then so did he.

The question was where she would hide it. If it was him he would probably pull up a floorboard under a table or chair. Easy to get to, and mammals didn't typically look under the floor. That was thinking like a fox, however. Brisa could fly. That gave her quite a few options.

Accessibility was the key. The notebook would need to be safe without being difficult to reach. That often meant something simple. He couldn't imagine Brisa was willing to go through some elaborate setup every time she wanted to contact a former client or needed to add someone to the list, but a cursory glance was enough to tell him all the usual places had been checked.

False drawer bottoms? Nope. Pocket in the mattress? Also no. Hollow compartment in the furniture? Judging by the splintered wood that was also a bust. Even the vent covers had already been removed.

He drifted through the apartment without knowing what he was looking for, only that he would know when he saw it. No hidden panels in the closet. No loose floor boards. Nothing tucked away under the fridge. His tail began twitching with frustration as each idea turned up nothing.

Then he noticed the curtain rod over the bedroom window had claw marks.

"Ha! Here we go," he announced, then pulled it down as Judy and the Superintendent looked on in surprise. As he'd anticipated the wood was much lighter than it looked.

"Nick, what are you—" Judy started, then let out a sharp gasp as he brought the rod to his knee and snapped it in half.

He gave her a smile, then looked down at the two pieces of the curtain rod and blinked. It wasn't hollow like he'd thought, at least not exactly. It wasn't even wood at all. Just a cheap laminated exterior filled with some sort of sponge-y substance to give it strength. He stared at it, genuinely flabbergasted as the Superintendant let out a cry.

"What the 'ell do you think you're doing?" the badger demanded as he stomped over. "There's enough damage without you adding to the list as it is! Stop that!"

"Sorry," he said quickly, blushing as he felt rather than saw the judgmental scowl Judy was throwing in his direction. "It felt hollow, and there are these claw marks on it so I just thought—"

"Of course there are claw marks. She's a blasted bat. Those bloodsuckers hang from these things all the time, you nitwit," the badger continued as he snatched the ruined curtain rod away.

Nick snapped his mouth shut and forced himself to swallow the growl that was rising into his throat. He traded it for his normal easy smile, the very tip of his tail twitching behind him. "Well, learn something new every day, eh Carrots?"

"I'm sure the ZPD will pay for the damage," Judy said, which seemed to mollify the badger somewhat.

"Don't see why we wouldn't," Nick agreed, already examining the room again. "Thing is so flimsy it can't be that expensive. Heck, bet we could cover it if I skip my morning coffee."

The badger continued to grumble, but Nick had already spotted something else. Simple trim ran across the walls at ceiling level. It was the sort of improvement seen practically everywhere since it was a cheap way to make even a total dive have some aesthetic appeal by taking away the hard edges. The panel above the window wasn't fitted quite as closely however, and with the badger having just told him that the curtain rod had supported Brisa's weight…

He quickly hopped up onto the window sill and slipped his claws under the trim. A light tug was all it took for the whole thing to swing up on a pair of small hinges. From where he stood it was impossible to see what was inside, but his hand soon closed around a nylon strap. Then he was back on the floor, grinning as he pulled a bat-sized fanny pack clear of the space.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I wasn't too far off after all," he announced, then gave the badger another smile. "Judging by your expression I'm going to guess that isn't exactly a standard feature to these rooms. Clever girl must've made it herself."

"What is that?" Judy asked, stepping closer to get a look when he undid the zipper.

Nick held it out so she could get a look inside. Money, cheap prepaid cell phone, train and bus passes, bank lock box key, and most importantly of all a small notepad.

"Bolt bag. Everyone that's smart has one," he explained as he picked up the notebook. "And unless I miss my guess, this is what the mammals that made this mess were looking for." His thumb pushed the cover open to reveal a list of names, dates, places, and phone numbers. "See?"

"You think that whoever attacked her is in that book?" Judy asked as she looked down at it.

"That or they are trying to track down someone she worked for," he said as he skimmed the pages. As he did the initial rush of excitement wore off and he bit back a curse. "Brisa, why? Why are you making this so hard on me?"

Judy's nose twitched slightly. "Nick, what's wrong?"

"I can't read this," he announced, throwing his hands up. "It's only got nicknames and I don't recognize any of them. She probably came up with them herself, which means she's the only one who can tell us what any of it means."