Chapter 3 A Loss of Life and the Gain of a Lead
Nick rang the doorbell and waited for one of the many polar bears to answer the door, and sure enough one did. Once in the large house, they were led straight to Mr. Big's study.
"Tell me my boy do you remember Alphonse?"
Nick sheepishly nodded, "Nick I have some grave news, Alphonse was murdered last night." Nick felt a deep pain, Alphonse was his best friend from his days in the Big's house. Memories of his thick accent and gentle manner around the small fox kit running about the house came flooding back to him. Nick struggled to fight back the tears.
"I know what Alphonse meant to you, he was a good mammal." Mr. Big went on to spare Nick the near impossible task of talking over his grief, "Nick, I want you to solve his murder, you know him almost as well as Grandmama did, solve this, bring that scum that killed him to justice, and you will be forgiven."
Nick's sorrow soon turned to a burning fire and with a terrifying look in his eyes he looked at Mr. Big, "I'll do it."
Mr. big motioned for Nick to leave, but stopped Judy with a lift of his paw, "I want you to help him through this, he has gone straight now, but that look in his eyes makes me think that he will do something bad if his emotions go unchecked."
Judy looked in disbelief in Nick's direction, "Surely he wouldn't do anything bad, would he?"
Mr. Big's expression showed a deep, genuine concern for the fox, "I don't know, I just hope I didn't make a bad decision by giving him this information."
Judy looked at Mr. Big, "I will keep him in check, and you don't have to worry about cops snooping around, you are an official informant, and in very good graces with the chief."
Mr. Big chuckled, "Thank you, now go help your partner, you must find whoever did this."
Judy smiled and bounded towards her partner, "We better get going…Nick...who is that?"
Nick snapped out of a pleasant flashback and saw Judy staring at the photo in his hand, "It's me, Grandmama, my mother, and Alphonse."
He barely chocked out the last name, Alphonse was his guardian as a kid, always making sure that no one would hurt him physically, or emotionally, he protected his mother and Grandmama Big too, but when he needed it, no one protected him.
Nick felt a lump in his throat, "Let's get you back to your apartment, you need some rest," and to maybe let out some tears, she thought.
It was a quite ride home, Nick in the passenger seat fending off his emotions.
He saw clouds gathering in the sky, "great," he thought, "like this day wasn't depressing enough already."
Judy pulled the cruiser into the parking complex next to his apartment and parked in a good spot. She turned and said, "Nick, I'm staying here tonight."
He opened his mouth to protest, but all that came out was a feeble squeak as a tear rolled down his cheek.
She helped him into his apartment, and as she closed the door Nick let out his sobs, Judy hated to see her partner this way. She sat down next to him and started petting his snout, unknowingly letting more emotions flow out of Nick.
Two hours later Nick had fallen asleep to Judy petting his snout, about another hour later, Judy followed suite.
Darkness surrounded Nick, he didn't feel right.
"Nick…help."
Nick turned around, and much to his horror, he saw Alphonse. The polar bear was propped up against a wall and he had several gunshot wounds to the chest.
"Al, no, no, no, no please don't go!"
Nick pleaded and begged the bear to hold on, telling him all the while that the ambulance was almost there.
"Nick…be…good…for…me."
Nick knew he was slipping and he pleaded and begged even harder for the large bear to stay.
"I…am…feeling…cold." The bear's chest stopped it's ragged up and down movements, leaving Nick with the grim truth, he couldn't save Alphonse.
Nick let out a scream fueled by a mixture of agony, sadness, and anger, he couldn't stand to see the gentle giant he grew up knowing die in front of him.
Nick turned back to the large white figure, hugged him one last time, and in a shaky growl said, "Al, don't you worry, the mammals who did this to you will wish they never even crawled from the scum filled pits they were born in." Nick turned away and started to walk, but his body grew heavy, eventually forcing him to lie down.
"NICK, WAKE UP, NICK!" Judy was shaking Nick trying to wake him up, "Nick, you were screaming."
Judy wiped more tears from Nick's face and decided it was time for an emotional intervention.
"Nick, we have to talk about what you were dreaming about in the car, I know it hurts, but you can just let it out, I'm here for you."