She was drying her face off with a towel. She looked at herself in the restroom mirror and sighed. The red marks around her eyes deepened, and the blank expression showed on her face. There was no way anyone could not see it from far away.
"I'm a total mess," she mumbled. Just then, she heard voices from outside the restroom door. She couldn't help but listen as they continued to talk.
"That was a shock..."
"I know. Who would've thought she had it in her."
"I could hear her from the other side..." They were male voices, no doubt talking about Sapphire. She clenched her hands as they shook, thinking how ridiculous she might be to everyone.
"Yeah, but I gotta admit...she was pretty strong to take on someone twice her size. It was actually funny the way that guy took a beating." Sapphire shot her head up and looked at the door.
"Let's face it...that bear was a jerk. He shouldn't have messed with Clawhauser or Lovell. They didn't do anything."
"And the way he insulted them...I'm actually ashamed to call myself a bear..."
"Yeah, but he's a petty thief...what else do you expect from a guy who only cares about himself?"
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She slightly opened the door to find a group of cops, one of them being Officer Fangmeyer.
"Speaking of which...do you think she's okay?"
"Who? Lovell?"
"Yeah...Clawhauser told me that she looked pretty shaken up."
"I actually heard her cry in the bullpen."
"Aw man...for real?"
"So what now?"
"Don't look at me..." Sapphire took this chance to escape. She couldn't bare to hear anymore, unsure if they were telling the truth. However, all officers had their ears up in alarm when hearing her footsteps, walking the opposite direction.
"Lovell! Lovell, wait!" Fangmeyer's voice rang, and Sapphire stopped in her tracks. She didn't look back.
"Y-yes...?" Was all she could say.
"You...you heard all that?" The wolf watched her nod. He looked at his friends, and then back at her.
"Listen...the guys and I noticed how you've been having a rough day..."
"Well I...can't argue with that."
"But you know, what you did for Clawhauser...and how you stood up to that criminal...it was pretty cool."
"You're not that bad for a human," another officer spoke, "and what the bear said about you wasn't true." Sapphire slowly turned to them, her hands fiddling with each other.
"...I don't get it," she said, "I appreciate your concern, but...I feel..so lost and confused. It's making me hard to believe if anything you say is true. I'm sorry-I'm just...I'm so tired of this..." She closed her eyes, fingers pressed to her face. The officers exchanged looks. Fangmeyer walked up and put a paw on her shoulder.
"You shouldn't be. I admit you surprised me, but...all you ever did was give me a smile and greet me with respect. So why should I be afraid of you?" Sapphire looked up.
"Like you said in your speech...you never misjudge or overlook anyone, no matter what type of animal we were."
"Here at ZPD we can't let prejudice, race, or species come between us," Delgato smiled, "so you don't have to worry. You can trust us."
Sapphire was stunned. She only met them for a short moment, but they were treating her like she was already a part of something important. Sapphire could barely feel her tears forming again, which made the others feel worried.
"H-hey, what's wrong," Fangmeyer asked worriedly, "w-was it something w-we said?"
When she started to cry, they were really shaken up.
"Oh, nice going Fangmeyer," Snarlof sighed, "that's the first thing you ask her?"
"Hey I was just trying to comfort her, okay!? I don't see you doing anything!"
"Yeah, but I don't make her cry!"
"Are you okay?" Higgins asked her. Sapphire shook her head as she smiled.
"No, its just...I never once heard my co-workers say stuff like that to me. Not ever... I never heard someone say such nice things..."
"Well were not like them, thank god," Fangmeyer grinned.
"I feel like a loser..."
"Hey, you're not a loser," Delgato strongly informed.
"You realize how impressive your uppercut was? You could give Judy a run for her money." Snarlof laughed.
"If you need to talk, then come to us," Fangmeyer suggested, "I'd feel bad if I was the one to make you cry."
"You'll probably do that by making her hear one of your lame jokes," Snarlof smirked. The group laughed, which made Sapphire smile a little, but only to be placed with a sad expression.
"I would like that, but...I'm not sure if I'll still be here..."
"Hey Sapphire," Clawhauser walked towards the group, "the chief wants to see you at the front desk." That was her cue to leave. She surprised Fangmeyer with a hug.
"Thank you," she smiled before walking back to the lobby.
Fast Forward
"Hey guys," Martin the tiger was running towards them, "I heard what happened...so what's going on?"
"We're not sure," said Delgato, "so far they just stood there talking for ten minutes."
"Do you think the chief will fire her?" Higgins asked.
"Are kidding me," Fangmeyer frowned, "I'm actually glad she punched him. That was my idea anyway..."
"If anything, that criminal should be charged for giving a hate speech," Snarlof thought. Suddenly, all their ears went up.
"Officer Clawhauser will give you a file. Look through it and write down information on what you see is important. Can you do that?" The chief looked down at her as she smiled.
"Understood sir."
"Get to it then." Sapphire watched him leave to go back to his office. Unaware to her, Clawhauser was signaling the others and gave a thumbs up. They all sighed.
"Well that was close," the wolf said.
"Guess it was just a warning."
When he gave her the file, Sapphire sat next to the cheetah and opened it. The file contained information on a mammal, a picture of a brown male bear. Only two photos of him were shown.
"So what's the file about?" she asked unconsciously.
"This is a missing mammal case. Oswald Grizzford...he's been missing for almost a week now, but he's not the only one..." Clawhauser took a sip from his soda bottle.
"What do you mean?"
"That's right, you weren't here at the time. Its been almost three weeks since mammals, both predator and prey were disappearing all over Zootopia."
"Three weeks!?" She slightly gasped.
"Yeah, the chief has been on edge since they can't find any leads, but knowing him, he's trying to stay calm. This is way worse than the last missing mammal cases." Sapphire was surprised. She wondered why the chief was so still. Knowing the, she went back to reading the file.
"It says here that he's owns a hat shop...he's also the designer of his own line of hats. He was last seen in Savannah Central..." Sapphire examined it carefully. While doing so, she noticed a few things. Behind the bear, she saw two shops; a bakery and a flower shop. In between them was a street sign, reading 'Central St' and 'Trunks Ave'. She took out a pen and paper, and wrote down the names and address. Sapphire looked at the other photo, and saw a different angle of the bear. He was walking down the street, while carrying a bag of baguettes and flowers. Behind him leaning on a wall was a timber wolf, looking right in the bear's direction, his eye narrowed with a suspicious look. Though what made her notice this, was that it was the same wolf she encountered with earlier.
"No way..." that's when something clicked.
"What is it?" Before Clawhuser could ask any more questions, Sapphire picked up the file and immediately ran back to the chief's office. She briskly opened the door.
"Chief! You're not gonna believe this!"
"...?" Bog raised his eyebrow in confusion. After discussing the notes she wrote down, Bogo ordered one of his men to put the wolf in the interrogation room.
"Lovell," the buffalo called her before she left.
"Yes sir?"
"How did you know that he was the one who kidnapped Grizzford?" He was referring to the wolf.
"Well...other than the photo, I noticed something familiar. Earlier when he got a hold on me, I smelled a sweet scent, like flowers. There was also some bread crumbs in his fur, which means that he did follow Grizzford while he was carrying his groceries. They were in a struggle, and then...he took him away."
"... I see...well, it seems that you did a great deal in this case."
"But sir, can I ask for your permission to speak with him?"
"Why is that?"
"If you let me talk to him, you'll understand. Please...just this once..." Bogo saw the concerned, yet serious look she was giving.
Fast Forward
Inside, the wolf was sitting in the chair, his paws still handcuffed as they laid on the table. Just then, he heard the door open.
"It took you long enough. So what's the big buffalo got to say to me?"
"I don't know..." a different voice answered him. The wolf turned around and saw Sapphire closing the door. Watching them behind the glass, was Chief Bogo and three of his best men, Martin, Randal, and Daniel.
"Is she going to be okay in there, sir?" Randal asked the buffalo.
"We'll see..."
"You should be lucky that he's not here." She set herself down on the other side of the table and adjusted her chair.
"What's this? Are you here to take me down again?"
"Don't worry, I won't make that dumb mistake again. I am sorry for what I did," Sapphire put the file in front of him. She then looked at another file's content.
"Rick Tailor," she began, "looking at your profile, you are currently in your first year of college...you have good grades...and hold no criminal records. It surprises me that you would commit a kidnapping out of the blue like this."
"I didn't kidnap that bear," he protested, "I only knocked him out and left him there."
"And why should I believe you?"
"Because I'm telling the truth, okay!? I didn't have a choice!"
"What do you mean...a 'choice?'"
"Oh, so now you're gonna listen?" Rick leaned back on his chair as he folded his arms. Sapphire sighed, and then leaned on the table with her hands folded.
"If you don't tell me what's going on, you will be put behind bars."
"So what if it's my first time in jail," he mumbled, "I'm smart, but I'm also an athlete."
"So it says here...a blocker in the basketball team," she glanced at the papers and then back at him, "but do you really want to take this risk?"
"I don't care."
"...But your son might..."
"!" The wold looked right at her. Sapphire's eyes didn't look anywhere but at him, as Rick was speechless.
"It's your handmade wristband on your left..." she looked at it. It had the colors white, green, and blue tied together in a braid.
"From what I can tell, it was made by a child, but you probably helped him...and he's about three years of age. That means you were sixteen when he was born. Am I right?"
"How do you know so much?" He asked while being baffled at the same time.
"It's not because of the wristband," she continued, "the one thing that caught my attention was that." She pointed at his necklace. The only thing that hung on it was a silver ring.
"You were going to give that to her...but she probably refused."
"...sigh...you're right," Rick softly spoke as he caressed the necklace up, "the baby was unexpected. When my son was born, I asked my girlfriend to marry me. She didn't want anything to do with the baby...so she left me...and I was left to take care of him myself. I was actually happy, and even my parents love him and always took care of him while I was at school. It was tough, but I managed to do good and being able to raise him."
"Can I ask what your son's name is?"
"It's Alex," the wolf smiled.
"That's a great name. Alex must be really happy to have you. I still need to ask you something... if what you said is true...then why did you knock Grizzford out in the alley?"
"... I got a call...I was told to find him and knock him out. If I didn't do it, then..."
"Then, what?"
"He said that he would hurt my son."
"So you got an anonymous call," Sapphire implied, "and then he threatened you that if you didn't follow his orders, he would come looking for your son. That's when you agreed, and then you went out and did what he said."
"Yes."
"And when the officer found you in the alley, he arrested you without knowing about Grizzford's awareness."
"That's right," Rick nodded.
"Do you know who the caller was?"
"No," he shook his head, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't make it out on the other end of the phone."
"And where is your son right now?"
"At preschool. He's waiting for me right now—so please let me go. If something happens to him—"
"That won't be necessary," Sapphire put her new phone in between them. She tapped on the screen.
"Hopps...Wilde...did you find him?"
"All good," it was Nick's voice as it spoke through the speaker.
"We located Alex Tailor," Judy said, "we're on our way to bring him back to ZPD."
"Thanks guys. Do you mind if his dad says hello?"
"Go for it," Nick said. Sapphire pushed her phone closer to Rick.
"I didn't want to risk anything... if not completely sure..."
Unconsciously, Rick spoke into the phone.
"Alex...?"
"Hi daddy," his son's voice was cheerful. Rick smiled as he rubbed his head.
"Hey buddy, how are you?"
"Daddy I made a paw print for you."
"Ahaha...really? That's good..." Sapphire got up and left the room for Rick to talk with his son. Sapphire leaned on the wall as she took a deep breath.
'I did it...' she thought with a smile.
"She's good," Daniel thought.
"Even we couldn't figure that out," Martin implied.
"You have a point," the chief smirked.
After a while, all charges were dropped and Rick was able to go free. Sapphire watched as the wolf hugged his son. Rick thanked her, and soon the two wolves walked down the hallway to leave. Chief Bogo thanked Sapphire too, but in his own way of just nodding his head. Even so, Sapphire took it graciously and left to head to the front desk. As she was walking by, she heard someone call her.
"Sapphire, wait up!" Martin was jogging towards her.
"Hey Martin."
"Just wanted to thank you for what you did," he said, "you were a big help."
"Sure thing..."
"There you are!" Randal suddenly jumped and landed on Sapphire's back, making her stumble a little.
"Wh...Officer Wolfram?"
"Come on, its just Randal. Call me Randal...or, Randy is okay with me."
"Randy you shouldn't scare her like that," Daniel sighed.
"You were great, Sapphire," Randal grinned, "didn't think you could interrogate someone so quickly."
"Um...thanks?" Daniel pulled Randal off of her.
"So Sapphire..."
"Yes?" She looked at Martin.
"You said you were taking that training test, right?"
"Um, yes. I have a week until then."
"Well if you'd like...I could uh...maybe help you prepare for it."
"What? I mean...is that okay? I don't want to take up your time at work."
"Its no problem. I also have patrol tomorrow...maybe after studying for a bit, I can show you around, if you want to?"
Sapphire started to smile with excitement. She nodded her head.
"Sure. That sounds like fun."
"I can help you study too," Randal pointed his thumb at himself.
"Since when were you good at studying? you just want an excuse to avoid your reports," Daniel smirked.
"Aww come on," the wolf then looked at Sapphire, "let me help too. Please~?" His ears lowered as he gave a pleading look.
"... Can you not do that?" she asked politely.
"What?" He tilted his head with one ear up.
"That! That face...Its too much..." She averted her eyes from him.
"What's wrong with my face?"
"Nothing...I just have weak spot for those puppy eyes, because its too cute, okay? There, I said it," She slightly frowned in embarrassment. She always did have a soft spot for animals. Randal mischievously grinned and made his eyes big and his lip quiver. Sapphire mentally whined in her head.
"Alright alright, you can help! Just stop doing that already!"
"I win~!" He shouted happily. Sapphire sighed in defeat.
"You are a stupid canine...you know that, right?" Martin and Daniel gave him a dead pane look.
As they were busy with their antics, Clawhauser was watching from a distance. His paw was leaning on his chin as he chuckled.
"...I think you're gonna fit right in, Sapphire..." He said to himself.
