It was quite early when Judy woke up the next morning. The last few days were stressful, but last night she had sleep through after her concerns regarding Nick finally went obsolete. The room was dark besides the dim light from the medical monitors. She turned around and gazed Nick. He had put his snout on top of her head during sleep, his healthy arm was still holding Judy and in his left arm he holds the little rag doll from Annie. Judy smiled moony and thought back to her siblings visit the day before. She never thought that Nick would get on with them so easily. But seeing Nick playing with her youngest siblings also invoked new feelings she never thought of before; it was the first time she thought about having her own family and her own children. With Nick. That subject never came up before to her and Judy would have liked to talk about it with her Mom. She sighs and smiled to Nick. He really looked cute while sleeping with this little rag doll in his arm. And how he treated the little kits yesterday, even Bobby, was so dearest and unexpected. She was quite sure Nick would be a great father. But the thought of it made her suddenly sad; was it even possible for her to have biological children with Nick? Or did he even want some?

"You are totally overthinking again, Judy." She said quietly to herself. They were dating for how long, not even two weeks, and Judy was already planning their near, middle and far future. Judy grabbed her phone that was laying on the chair beside the bed, connected to the charger. Half past five; she snuggled back into Nicks' fur, just listening to his heart beat and breathing. Judy smiled and eventually fell in a light sleep again.

It was just after seven o'clock in the morning when Judy left the hospital for the first time since Nick's committal on Saturday. The sun was shining and it promised to be a warm and beautiful Tuesday. She had her badge attached to the belt of her trousers and planned on going to the precinct here in Bunnyburrow at first. Then she would decide if she would go directly to her parents' house and have a late breakfast there, or if she go to the only coffeehouse in town to have some breakfast as a strengthening before talking to her parents. 'What were you overthinking, carrots?' Nick had asked her when she was changing her clothes to something more official: A white blouse with beige pants and a light jacket in the same color, that made her look like an insurance salesman. Evelin borrowed her the outfit, because all she had packet for the weekend-trip was a pair of casual shirts and some jeans. 'Something I want to talk to you maybe later.' she had answered to Nick with a quick kiss on his check. He protested, but Judy already was out of his room. 'Don't get ahead of yourself, Judy.' She said to herself on her way out.

After about ten minutes Judy arrived at the precinct. It was really small on the outside, a simple red-brick building. She was there for a few visits every time they had an open day back when she was a child; it did not change very much since then. In the lobby she was immediately greeted by Misses Croach, an elderly sheep and the receptionist for as long as Judy could remember.

"Hello, Judy! Oh… sorry, of course I mean Officer Hopps!" she gets up from her chair, walked around the desk and hugged Judy with a friendly smile.

"Hi, Misses Croach! And you can always call my Judy, no need to be formal." Judy replied, being happy that she was still recognized by the mother of her old school-friend with whom she also had done the play about Zootopia. "How is Emily?"

"She is doing great; in two months she begins her new job as a technical assistant at the ZASA! Isn't that great?" Misses Croach proudly showed Judy a framed picture from her desk. "This is her graduating from the Messapawsetts Institute of Technology!"

"Wow, that really is impressive! Deliver her my best wishes and congratulations!"

"Of course, my dear, of course! Well, what brings you around, Judy?" The sheep sat on her chair again, putting on her glasses.

"Chief Bogo from the ZPD send me as supportive Officer on grounds of your request for administrative assistance. I should meet the sheriff this morning for more details."

"Ohh…" Miss Croach looked a bit uneasy. "It must be that zooicide yesterday. A real tragedy. We didn't have to handle such extreme circumstances for nearly forty years!"

"Someone I know?" Judy asked worried.

"Most probably, his son was going to school with you and Emily. You know the Leeps?"

"You are not talking about Aaron and Sarah Leep, are you?" Judy was shocked.

"I'm so sorry, Judy." Misses Croach nodded sadly. "Aaron Leep is the victim. But you better talk with Sheriff Darcy, I will take a look if he is busy." With this words the sheep got off her chair again and walked to the back office, knocking on a door. Judy tried to remember as much as she could about the Leeps. They were a smaller family of rabbits, living near the outskirts of Bunnyburrow. Mister Leep was an ornery misanthrope and a skilled carpenter. His wife Sarah was the opposite, a fun-loving personality. They had quite a few kits, as most rabbit families, but Judy went to school with only two of them. Tim and John were the youngest of the family and about her age. But she never had too much contact with them, their father didn't let them play too often with other children. After school she lost contact completely.

"Officer Hopps!" the sheriff walked to the front desk with Miss Croach; he is an old hart and the last decades had worked him over. Judy knew him from her visits on open days and shakes smiling his hand.

"Hello, Sheriff Darcy! Good to see you are still well."

"Let's go to the conference room, I have all documents already prepared for you." The hart pointed along the hall to another door, and Judy followed him to the room. "Well…" he said, after sitting down at the table and thankfully accepting a mug of coffee from the receptionist. "Look at you! You really made it to the force! My belated congratulations, Judy."

"Thank you, Sheriff."

"And now you are back in town, helping out on us poor country people." The hart winked at her and took a sip from his coffee.

"As far as I understood, you send an official request for administrative assistance to the ZPD, Sir?" Judy felt not very welcomed, despite the friendly face of the hart.

"Oh, just call me Mike. We are not very formal here." He smiled. "And don't get me wrong, your help is much welcomed! But I did not anticipate our own town hero to help us out." He winked at her again. "You know, not only your parents are very proud of you; you are a local celebrity since the Nighthowler case."

Judy blushed and twitched on her blouse nervously. "Thank you, but it was not me alone that finished the case, and my parents are greatly exaggerating my involvement."

The sheriff laughed, but was getting serious right after. "Okay, now for the case. You already heard about the zooicide?"

"No, I didn't hear the news until Chief Bogo called me yesterday. Miss Croach told me the victim is Aaron Leep?"

"Exactly. His son John found the body in the delivery entrance of their shop yesterday noon at quarter past one. He was looking for him when he noticed that his father had not opened the shop yet."

"Cheese and crackers, John found him?" Judy put a paw on her mouth. "Sorry, Mike; I went to school with him. And this news just took me by surprise."

"That's okay. You will find his testimony in the case file." The sheriff handed her a brown folder with a copy of the case file. "There are also photos and evidence. We have a suspect, too. Mister Leep had a long lasting neighborhood dispute. My associate searched the adjacent bakery and found a bloodied knife between some sacks of corn."

"The bakery?" Judy only knows two bakeries in Bunnyburrow. One was near the station, and the other one somewhere outskirts; the latter it must be. "It belongs to the Tailors, isn't it?"

"Ah, I see you know your old hometown! Yes, the bakery of Frank Tailor, but the son has adopted most of the business."

"Your main suspect is his son, Thomas Tailor?"

"Sorry for the misunderstanding. No, the junior has an alibi; he was supplying their products during the period of the crime. I was talking about Frank, his father. You know them?"

"Not really, but I know his competitor Gideon Grey; he is cooperating with my parents and he told me a few things about the Tailors on my visit a few months ago.

"They were having an argument for more than a decade with the Leeps. Mainly because Mister Tailor could not go to bed early because Mister Leep worked in the workshop until sunset. The hammering and drilling and so forth. But in the morning Mister Tailor had to start the day always very early. And Mister Leep was bothered by the early customers of the bakery, because he was usually starting his day rather late. The usual stuff we have to deal with in our precinct, nothing fancy."

Judy was browsing through the case file while listening to Mikes report. "And because of their history, you searched the bakery?"

"Yes, we even did not need a search warrant. Mister Tailor almost invited us to search his shop and storage rooms." The sheriff nodded. "Of course we had to arrest him after we found the knife. He is in investigative custody if you want to talk to him."

"I think I will work through all your reports at first. And after that I will visit the crime scene and talk with Miss Leep and her son John. I think I will listen to what Mister Tailor has to say in the afternoon, if that will be okay with you?" Judy was bundling up the case file again.

"Of course, Judy. Just give me a short message if you need any support. But you should know, Misses Sarah Leap died two years ago on cancer."

"Oh… okay."

"Dora will hand you a radio, so you can get in direct contact with us. You can also have a bike from our car pool." Dora – that was the first name of Miss Croach, she totally had forgotten it! "As aforesaid, I am really happy to have an experienced officer from the ZPD on the ground for this case. Especially since it's you!" Sheriff Darcy smiled and shakes her hands, then went ahead, back to the front desk. "Dora, could you hand Judy a mobile radio. And she can have the keys for the bike."

"Thank you, Mike. I will report to you after I visited the workshop." Judy smiled and bid farewell.

Judy only ever ride a motor bike during her driving lessons in the police academy, but after starting slowly and carefully, she got the hang of it. She spontaneously decided having breakfast at her parents' house. Not going there by foot but with a police motorbike and wearing the proper outfit gave her the necessary ego boost. While turning into the access road to the burrow, she switched on the flashing lights and the siren for a moment, then came to a halt right beside her slightly shocked father, who worked on his old truck. She got off the bike full of verve and strolled cool to Stu, who apparently had not yet recognized her; she wore a motorcycle suit made out of Kevlar and a helmet without visor.

"Your driver's license and car documents, Sir!" She said in her most authoritative voice. Stu just stared at her blankly.

"But I didn't even dr…" He suddenly made big eyes: "Wait a second, Jude?"

"Oh my god, what happened, Stu?" Bonnie was running out of the house; she only could see Judy from behind and sounded worried. Judy however was first grinning at her father, then turning around nonchalantly to her Mom, standing there with her hands on her hips. "Oh… Oh!" Bonnie froze and stared to her daughter who just put off her helmet.

"Judith!" her mother exclaimed, a hint of anger in her voice. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Me too!" Stu snorted from her side.

"I think you two quite deserved this…" Judy answered with a sly grin. Her mother lost her angry face at once and now looked guilty. Her father only twitched with his nose.

"Since when do you drive a motorbike? Also an idea by this f… ?" Stu asked indignant but stopped abruptly when he saw his wife's angry looks. "I mean, your partner?"

Judy rolled her eyes and put the helmet on the bike. "He has no idea, and this is beside academy the first time."

"This suite is very becoming to you, sis." Evelin strolled from the house in their direction with a grin on her face. "Hot and sexy!" Stu got a coughing fit and Bonnie hold her breath with a sibilant sound.

Judy laughed, made a quick leap and hugged her sister. "You are damn right, Eve! And best regards from Nick." She turned her head to her parents. "For you, too." Stu murmured something inscrutable and Bonnie twitched her paws, nodding nervously.

"Thank you, hon."

"Well, you two wanted to talk with me, right? I only got half an hour until I have to drive to a crime scene, so let's begin." She still was talking very authoritarian and at least her mother seemed to be somewhat daunted by her direct approach.

"Hey, keep it down, Juju. You should talk with them, not interrogate them like criminals." Evelin winked at Judy and bounced with her hip against hers. "Do you want me to leave?" She offered with an inquiring gaze. Their parents wanted to answer something, but Judy was faster.

"Thank you, but I would prefer if you could stay." Judy's voice was now softer and more friendly. "And perhaps we can go in one of the kitchens, I didn't have any breakfast yet." She added in the direction of her parents, who just nodded. "Well, then let's go." Judy waved with one arm to follow her and walked to the front door.

Judy loved her parents and didn't mean to roast them. But thinking back how harsh they were against Nick, she thought they could earn a wipe-down. Being the bad cop never was her thing, but a few minutes ago it was quite funny; at least for her, and probably Evelin, too. When she entered the nearly empty house – most of her younger siblings were in school, and the older ones working in the fields – she took off her Kevlar jacket, hanging it on the coatrack. She pours herself a pot of herbal tea while Evelin made a few pancakes for her. Her parents already sat down at the dining table, waiting for her. Judy stand beside a chair in the face of them, putting one paw on the backrest and taking a sip of her tea.

"Maybe you want to sit down…?" Her mother started after a few moments of deep silence.

Judy wanted to reply something bitchy, but then decided to play it safe and slowly take a seat. She holds her cup of tea with both paws, having another sip from it. Another moment of silence followed, only interrupted when Evelin put a plate with four pancakes in front of Judy and sat down between her and their parents. Stu was twitching with an old rag he used to polish his truck; Bonnie looked sad and nervous and looked down. Judy finished her third pancake when her mother finally took the word.

"We want to apologize to you and Nick, Judith." Bonnies voice was thin and a little too high, but she continued. "We…" Stu interrupted her.

"Better said I … really misbehaved. And I'm very sorry."

"We are very sorry!" Bonnie added with a side glance to her husband. "There is no excuse, beside we love you and only want the best for you."

"Whatever that may be…" Stu added reluctant. "You always had our respect and trust, and that won't change in the future."

Judy slowly looked from her Mom to her Dad and back to her Mom. There was a somewhat beseeching look on Bonnies face and Judy felt a lump in her throat. She took a large sip from her cup of tea, clothing her eyes. Her thoughts were rushing and her heartbeat was surely faster than it should be. Her parents had apologized, talked about respect and trust. But that wasn't enough.

"What about Nick?" she asked after a while. And when her parents didn't answer but looked inquiring: "Do you accept him being my boyfriend? I really don't want to hide him in my backpack whenever I come for a visit."

"No! I mean yes, you can bring him along and no, you never have to hide him… or your feelings." Her mother quickly said, then hit her husband with her elbow.

"Yes, of course he is also welcomed, Jude." Her father added with only a short hesitation.

Judy smiled lightly; Patrick was right, the Hopps were always somewhat matriarchic. But at least her father said it out loud, that Nick was welcomed. 'Going for phase two…' she thought.

"Well, you will have a chance to prove yourself. After all actions speak louder than words, right?"

"What do you mean, hon?" her mother asked; her voice was nearly normal again. Stu was on the watch.

"Nick is going to be released tomorrow, and I am officially supporting the local police with a case of zooicide. So, Nick and I have to stay for a while in Bunnyburrow. We could go to a hotel, or…?" she offered without ending her sentence.

Stu didn't show any impulse but Bonnie offered a bright smile: "Of course you two won't stay at the hotel! We still have the guest room prepared, you can stay here with us. If you two are okay with that, that is."

"I don't know, Mom." Judy smiled but was still somewhat worried. "Nick still needs some support during the day. And I will have to work during the day, most of the time not being able to stay with him."

"That is okay, Jude." Her father spoke out of a sudden. "Maybe we get to know each other better during your stay."

Bonnie eagerly nodded. "Your father is right! Maybe we cannot undo his first impression of us, but we should try."

"I rest my case." Evelin said, hitting with her paw on the table like it was the hammer of a judge and smiled brightly.

"Well, okay. I will take you at your words." Also Judy was smiling now and started to eat her last pancake. "Eve, my dear. May I have another one?" she mumbled with full mouth and winked to her.

Judy put the warning tape to the side and entered the crime scene. The workshop of Mister Leep was down-and-out; she was never here before, one of her uncles and even two of her brothers were quite experienced carpenters. The rabbit pulled out a few photos from the case file she carried under her arm. She looked around, trying to find the locations the individual pictures were taken. In front of the entrance some dirty footprints were found as well as some remains of a shattered piece of wood. Nothing of interest for the moment. She walked to the back and the first thing she saw was the chalk outline. Judy smiled; this outline was somewhat old fashioned. They were still made when the victim is alive and had to be moved by the medics. But on a zooicide they could make all photos they need without anyone moving the corpse; so, no chalk outline was needed. But she guessed, no one at the local precinct had visited any forensic training in the last twenty years. Inside and outside of the chalk outline were bloodstains. On the photos they were even liquid, now all that was left was some dark brownish stains. Judy walked around them, her eyes travelling over the surroundings. The backyard was not visible from the forefront and a wooden fence of maybe two meters' height was preventing unwanted looks from the neighbors. Furthermore, there was more wooden debris all over the floor.

Judy made a few true to scale sketches and took a few samples of the debris and some fibers she found at the wooden fence. After some closing photos with her phone she walked to the forefront again. Here she took a sample of the wood, too, and made a few more photos from different angles. Then she went to the entrance door of the workshop, examining the door lock carefully. There were some scrapes, presumably from using the keys carelessly. In the case file was also a key to open the door and when it was open, she inspected the lock again from the other side. After a while she came to the conclusion that nobody had tried to open the door by violence, entered the workshop and closed the door. The windows were covered with wooden hatches and only little sunlight came into the room. Judy let her surroundings sink in, sweeping her gaze slowly from side to side. The workshop was a mess and a lot of half-finished furniture and other … things were standing or laying all over the floor or onto one of the two workbenches.

Her precursor did consider it unnecessary to make any photos inside the workshop, so Judy made up leeway. After that she took a measuring tape from her pocket and created a few more scaled sketches of the room and it fittings. The educational books on forensic examination of crime scenes indicated to not only examine the main scene, but the surrounding area, too. You cannot know what is important or not beforehand. And Judy was more than accurate with her examinations. In a drawer of one of the workbenches she found some papers with sketches and calculations. She made a photo, then put them into another evidence bag.

It took her nearly three hours to finish her investigations on the crime scene and it was past two o'clock. She promised to have lunch with Nick over half an hour ago, so she packed all evidence bags and documents into her backpack, and drove off back to the hospital.

With her police motorbike suite on she even did not had to show her visitor badge, she just went straight to Nicks' room. After a short knocking she entered the room.

"Hey, carrots!" Nick smiled and waved with his right arm to her. On his lap were sitting Annie, Annabelle, Bobby, Lucas and Bella – the latter also being young siblings of her. They all were drawing with crayons on Nicks' casts. Evelin and Ralph – another adult brother of them – were sitting on two chairs beside the bed, chatting with the fox until Judy arrived.

"Hey Ju!" Ralph waved at her and Evelin just winked. Judy really was surprised with this sight and looked baffled.

"As I said, you have some competition." Evelin slyly grinned.

"It seems so…" Judy said with a smile.

"Eve really did not understate when she said, you look quite hot in this outfit." Nick snickered and blow a kiss in her direction.

"Thanks! What about lunch, did you all have some yet?"

"Nope" Ralph answered, "We all have waited for you!"

"I will get a wheelchair" Evelin sprung off her chair and rushed past Judy out of the room.

Judy walked beside Nick, bend over and gave him a kiss. "How are you?"

"I'm optimally aided by your siblings here. They decided my white cast isn't en vogue."

"It's boring!" Annie and Lucas said nearly at the same time, the other small siblings giggled.

"Well, okay. They said it is boring." Nick winked and smiled content. When Evelin came back with a wheelchair, Judy helped him to climb into it. Evelin and Ralph each grabbed a few of their siblings onto their arms and went ahead to the cafeteria. Judy started to roll Nick afterwards when he asked: "Were you in a garage or on the shooting gallery today?" He tried to sound unconcerned, but Judy heard his heartbeat going a bit faster, sounding worried.

"The crime scene is a carpentry workshop. Wherefrom did you know that?"

"The longer the nose, the better the scent is." Nick winked at her. "I can smell different kinds of wood, machine oil and gunpowder on you."

"The wood and machine oil sounds right, but with the gunpowder you were out of luck."

Nick paused, then turned his head around. Judy stopped the wheelchair and replied his look. The fox was closing his eyes and taking a deep breath through his nose directly above her paw and arm. "No, there is the distinct smell of gunpowder, carrots. How long did you linger in this workshop?"

"Hm, quite a while; perhaps two hours?"

"Then the smell might just adhere to you because it was in the air."

"But why should there be gunpowder in a carpentry? The victim was not shoot, but bleed to death by stabbing wounds." Judy looked thoughtfully and slowly pushed the wheelchair in the direction of the cafeteria.

"Would you mind if I take a look at your notes and photos?" Nick offered.

"Not today, Nick! You should let it grow easy, and working on a case while still in the hospital is the opposite of nice and easy!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Nick saluted with a grin.

"Oh, and by the way leaving the hospital; I had a talk with my parents…" Judy started slowly, crawling him behind his ears soothing.

During their lunch in the cafeteria of the hospital Judy was rather quiet. She was thinking on her case and all the things and impressions she had collected. Everything had to be sorted into its own category and after that she could value it. Then there was Nicks' discovery of gunpowder. She didn't smell anything of it back in the workshop, but there were quite a lot of different scents and her sense of smell wasn't that distinct like Nicks'.

It wasn't until she noted, that everybody on the table was looking in her direction. Her ears turned bashful a little down and she looked to Nick with her 'Sorry, I was overthinking again, what happened?' face. Nick smiled wildly, it was one of his favorite looks; Judy being Judy and nevertheless being sorry for it.

"Ralph suggested a movie night tomorrow and we were talking about what movies we could watch. Evelin suggested a romantic comedy, Ralph somewhat with more action, and I voted for an action comedy. You are going to tip the scales, carrots." Nick commented and winked in her direction.

"Oh." Judy replied and thought a moment about the choices. It was obvious – at least to her – that Nick choose the compromise between an action movie and a funny romantic novel not randomly. He did not want to take a risk by taking sides with one of them, so an action comedy was a safe vote for him. But that also made it difficult for her, because she had to choose between three categories and whatever she chooses that would it be. Some romantic movie together with Nick would be great, but with all her siblings around? She bet, Evelin suggested this only to experience her interactions with Nick during the movie. An action movie was not exactly her métier, she always had enough action in her life. An action comedy like Nick suggested would boil down to something like Bad Paws or Zootopia Hills Cop. But then she had an idea.

"I go for the action comedy…" Nick made a fist pump. "…but I want Evelin to choose the movie." Nicks face froze and Evelin grinned, now making a fist pump on her part. Ralph winked at Judy.

"Still the mediator of the masses. You should go into politics, Ju."

"Politics are boring and full of machinations. You cannot make the world a better place by only making a speech. You have to just do things right away."

"Hear ye!" Ralph snickered.

"I have to go now, guys. Interrogation of the witnesses and of the suspect." Judy smiled into the round. "We talk this evening, Nick." She tried to give him a quick kiss on his cheek, but Nick turned around in the right moment and they shared a not-so-quick kiss on their snout. "Sly Fox." She snickered.

"Dumb bunny. Be careful, Judy." Nick seemed to be still considerate about her. "I love you."

"Me too." She gave him a quick kiss on his check again, then waved goodbye to her siblings and walked out of the cafeteria."

After a while sitting around the table and chatting, Evelin suggested to go outside for a walk.

"Are you sure?" Nick questioned. "I mean, I cannot drive the wheelchair by myself with one arm broken, and I don't want any of you have to push me around."

"That will be me, Nick!" Ralph jumped off his chair and smiled friendly. I don't mind, and we don't want to run a half marathon like you and Judy did." He winked at him, then all of the smaller siblings hopped onto Nicks' lap.

"Yeeeeaaah, driving around with Nicky!", Nick guessed that was Annie shouting full of joy.

"But only, if you all sit down and hold on to my arm, so no one is going to fall down." Nick instructed the little bunnies. "If that is okay for you?" he smiled in Evelin's direction who nodded also smiling. She walked before and made a few photos of the group.

"You would be a great father; you know that?" Evelin winked at him.

Nick was too distracted to notice the undertone in Evelin's voice. "I had a wonderful dad, but we had a hard time together. I want my own children to have a really great time with me; something they look back on with joy when they are grown up." Nick had a really affectionate smile on his face while tinkering with the smaller rabbit's little ears. Evelin squatted and made a quick photo before the moment would fade away. Nick did not even notice but played with her young siblings. Evelin view the last picture on her phone with a big smile and immediately send it to Judy's phone, adding a message: 'I don't know where you found this treasure, but you should do anything necessary to hold him tight. And when he is already so affectionate with your sisters, he will be an awesome dad for your own kits. :-* 3'

Judy quickly arrived at the victim's house with her motorbike. She put the helmet off onto the handlebar and took a look at her phone: 2 new messages from Evelin; a photo and a short message. Judy gazed at the photo with a smile. It shows Nick playing with her five small siblings, looking at them with a moonily and lost in thought gaze. Obvious he did not notice Evelin making the photo, that made it all so naturally. She read the message from her sister and her heartbeat accelerated instantaneously. Maybe she could talk with Eve about having her own family and kits; later. Judy closed her phone and put it back in her pocket. She reallocates her police badge on a chain around her neck and walked towards the front door of the house.

Judy knocked and had to wait for a moment. It took a while until she heard some feet walking towards the door. The door unclenched for a crack and a rabbit about her height was visible. "Yes, please?"

"Hello, my name is Office Hopps from ZPD. I am investigating the zooicide of Mister Leep at his workshop." Judy spoke slowly and even somewhat sensitive. She did not want to frighten any members of the family even more. The other rabbit did not answer, but opened the door more wildly. "I have just a few short questions to you. Maybe I can get in for a few minutes?" Judy now spoke with a bit more authority in her voice; that did the trick. The rabbit opened the door for her and turned toward their living room.

"Of course, come in Officer Hopps. My name is John; Aaron was my father." He leads Judy into the small room, sit down himself on a sofa and pointed to an armchair for Judy to sit down, too. "Excuse me, please if I am indiscreet, but are you related with the Hopps family here in Bunnyburrow? You have quite a familiar ring…" John looked pensively in her direction and Judy nodded.

"My name is Judy Hopps, we were in the same school class for a few years." She smiled a little bit. It was always helpful if you could make a connection to witnesses or suspects. They are speaking more freely then.

"Judy! Wow, you really made it to the ZPD. Of course I heard about it, but to see you again in person is really something else."

"I think so." Judy smiled lightly. "Unfortunately our meeting is not under the best circumstances." She looked sympathetically to John. "I'm very sorry about what happened to your father, John. Maybe you could tell me, what you still know? For one, when did you last see him alive or talked to him?"

John leaned back and sighs. "We had a small argument on the evening before. He cancelled all open orders and I had to talk to a lot of angry customers in person or on the phone. We had an argument about why he cancelled them. His temperament was always somewhat erratic, and in the last month since Moms dead it was getting worse."

"Did he name you a reason for cancelling the open orders?"

"No, he just said he would not finish them. We argued for a while, but I went home alone after he slung a wooden chair in my direction. He missed me, but hit the wooden fence to our neighbor and the chair chattered in pieces. When Mister Tailor shouted from his bedroom window to shut it off, I leave dad alone and walked back home."

"Did your father argue along with Frank Tailor?"

"I heard him shouting some curses and other swearwords, but I think Mister Tailor shut his window close"

"Okay…" Judy made a few notes on her own. "You did not wait for your father to come home this evening and went to bed around half past eleven, is that correct?" John nodded and Judy continued. "And you did not take a look in his bedroom when he did not come for breakfast?"

"He is a… sorry, was a late riser. We were not allowed to wake him before noon at the earliest. But when I took a look in his room his bed was unused from the night. I guessed he had slept in the workshop, and…"

"Did he often slept in the workshop instead of coming home?" Judy interrupted him.

"Not in the past. But since Sarah, my Mom, died he spent more and more time in his workshop. So staying a night was not that unusual."

"Okay, so you assumed that he had slept in the workshop. What did you do next?"

"I packed something for lunch together to bring it to him. Most of the days when he slept there he did not come home for lunch neither."

"What time was it approximately?"

"I left the house around one o'clock I think. The bells of the church-clock just finished when I put on my jacket." Judy made a few more notes and waited. "I arrived at the workshop perhaps 10 minutes later, maybe 15. The front door was still closed, the window shutters closed and I could see no light within the shop. So I called his name a few times and walked around the building…" John stopped and sniffed quietly.

"I know this is hard, John." Judy leaned forward and putting a paw on his knee. "Just finish when you are ready. Every detail may be important."

The other rabbit twitched his nose and nodded slightly. "I… I found Aar… I mean Dad… laying on his back. There was blood everywhere on his clothing and on the floor. I ran to him and I… I…" he discontinued and sobbed, his head put into his paws.

Judy waited for a while to let John settle down a bit. Then she asked: "Did you noticed anything unusual? Something that did not belong there or was missing? An unfamiliar sound? A different smell?" John interrupted her quickly.

"Fireworks!"

"Excuse me?"

"It smelled like fireworks were ignited." Judy squinted contemplative. One of the principal constituents of fireworks is black gunpowder. Nick also mentioned the smell of it, his sense of smell must really be extraordinary when he could smell it on her after a full day. But why gunpowder on a knife attack? This didn't make any sense. "Is this smell of fireworks important?" Johns question interrupted Judy's thoughts.

"Maybe. Can you tell me, if your father had worked with gunpowder lately?"

"Not that I know. But I can take a look at the workshop if we have some in stock."

"Thank you, but that will not be necessary. I already inspected the whole workshop and did not found anything like that."

"Maybe I am wrong with this firework smell. Tailor killed him with a knife, not with a gun. Perhaps he started a firework out of joy after he killed dad." John sounded angry and frustrated. "What will happen with him?"

"With Mister Frank Tailor? He is in investigative custody; I will have a talk with him later."

"I always liked his son, Thomas." John had a sad look in his eyes. "It did not matter for me that they are wolfs. They were always nice to me, and now and then I got a free doughnut or a piece of cake. Dad didn't like them. He is very old fashioned, you know. … Sorry, I mean he was. I did not really sink in; always believe he will come out of the shop every moment and yell at us or the neighbors for nothing. He really hated all predators. Mom had an affair with a ferret a few years ago. When she got cancer, Dad always ranted, that this predator gave her this disease. It was nonsense, but as he never could stand them it was a welcomed excuse. " John turned to Judy and looked resolute. "My father was not a nice man and he had quite a few bad sides, but he has not earned to be murdered! Can you promise me to bring Frank Tailor to justice for this?"

Judy replied his resolute gaze and said: "I promise you to bring the culprit to justice for the murder on your father. May it be Frank Tailor or anybody else, I still have to see, John."

The male rabbit nodded, then asked: "Can I help you with anything else, Officer Hopps?"

"Thank you, I have no further questions at the moment."

He accompanied Judy to the front door and they said goodbye. Judy put her helmet on and swing up on the motorbike. "Next stop, Frank Tailor." She said more to herself and drove off, back to the police precinct.

"Hello Judy!" Dora Croach greeted her when she entered the small police station. Judy waved her a short greeting and approached her desk.

"I want to interrogate Mister Frank Tailor now. Could you guide me to the cell block?"

"Of course, my dear. Just down the corridor and the last door on the right side. Mister Tailor is currently the only inmate we have." She opened a drawer and took something out of it. "Here is the keycard. Do you need a Taser?"

"I don't think so. Thanks Dora." Judy took the keycard and walked down the corridor towards the cell block. She swiped the keycard in and entered another corridor. On both sides were two cells, each with a toilet, a basin, and a cot. In the first cell on the right sits an elderly wolf on the cot, his head put down into his hands. A metal tablet with a bowl of now cold stew and a loaf of bread are standing right beside him, as well as a plastic bottle of water.

"Hello, Mister Frank Tailor?" Judy stood in front of the cell doors and put out her notebook and a pencil.

"No, I am just a visitor who just checked in here." Frank Tailor snarled angrily.

"Mister Tailor, my name is Officer Judy Hoops from the Zootopia Police Department."

"Oh great, they send the VIP dolly-bird to put me behind bars." Frank Tailor laughed spiteful.

"Mister Tailor, please. I was sent here to investigate in the zooicide of Aaron Leep. You are currently under a cloud because we found the presumably weapon involved in the crime in your storage room. What can you tell me about this?" Judy's voice was calm and steady, she tried to establish a relationship to the suspect.

"Maybe you plant the knife there!"

"Sir, please. If you want to submit an official complaint, I can give you a printed form for that. My only duty is to investigate in this case and uncover the truth." Judy waited for a response, but Frank didn't say anything to her, just leaning against the wall, looking at her.

"Currently you are nothing more than a witness to me, not yet a suspect. But when you prefer to stay quiet, I will not hear your side of the story. So, maybe you really killed your neighbor out of a sudden, maybe you did nothing. But without your witness report the truth will never get public. It is your decision…" she shrugged with her shoulders and turned around to go.

"I did not do any harm to this rabbit…" the wolf mumbled and Judy stopped. "We had an argument the night before, but I did not leave my bedroom."

Judy turned around again and walked back to the cell door. "I talked with Mister Leeps son, John. He was present when you opened the window and began shouting to the victim."

"Yes, of course! It was already past ten in the evening, I had less than five hours to sleep, and Mister Leep was throwing one of his temper tantrums, shattering furniture in his drive and against our fence. I shouted some angry words down to him and saw his son was walking away; I hoped that their argument was over and I got a few hours of sleep."

"You closed your windows and your blinds, corresponding to the testimony of John Leep."

"Yeah."

"Did you hear anything else this evening? Or does anything else happened?"

Frank Tailor was looking contemplative. He tried to remember some more details of the relevant evening. "There was … I don't know, some rumbling outside. Like wood falling on wood or something similar. But that was nothing uncommon. I found diverse wooden blocks, small stones and suchlike in my backyard and my storage rooms in the last few weeks. Not always, I think a few kids were throwing them. Some test of courage or something like that. It was nothing important, the old Aaron would have thrown bigger stones into my windows or even stink bombs; but something to do some harm, not such unimportant things."

"Well, one of those unimportant things is a knife with blood from Mister Frank Tailor. It was found in your storage, just like you described other small things you found there lately."

"You think, that someone had placed it there?"

"I think, that is something I will investigate further. But let's suppose someone placed the murder weapon there. Who wants to outsmart you? Do you have any enemies?"

"You mean besides Frank? I don't think so. Even he was not a real enemy. We always had arguments, but nothing really important. He was just a bellyacher, and after he lost his wife Sarah it became even worse. He was really spoiling for a fight, tried to provoke me or my son Thomas whenever he could. I pity him, really." Then Mister Tailor stand up and walked up to the cell door. "I swear faithfully, that I did no harm to Aaron Leep!"

Judy eyed the wolf slowly, he ears twitched a bit; then she made a few notes. "Thank you, Mister Tailor. I promise you, that if you are really innocent, that you will get free." She nodded in his direction.

"Thank you, Hopps… I mean Officer. You listened to my side of this, that is more then I got until now. I trust in you." And with this words he sat down again on his pallet and looked down to the floor. Judy left the cell block, walked back to the front desk and gave Dora the keycard back.

"Thank you, Dora. Can I speak to Sheriff Darcy for a moment? I promised him a report this afternoon." Judy smiled friendly.

"Oh, I fear he called it a day already. He is no longer in the office then five o'clock. I go at six when our night watchman Hardy arrived."

"Oh…" Judy looked irritated, the attitude of work seemed to be laxer on the countryside. "What about my daily report?"

"Your daily…? My dear, why would you have a daily report for him? Just make a report for the case file when everything is done. We don't want to suffocate in a flood of papers." Dora laughed heartedly. "You should call it a day, too, my dear! Go home and message your parents my best wishes!"

"Sure thing…" Judy said slowly, then walked out of the office. She looked on her phone: It was half past five and a wonderful sunny afternoon in Bunnyburrow. She took a decision with a wide smile, putting on the helmet and drove off with the motorbike.

"Hey, Nick!" Judy walked into his room where Nick sat in his bed, reading some magazines. The fox put them immediately aside and smiled to his rabbit.

"Hey, carrots! You are back early; I did not anticipate you for another two hours at least to be honest." He patted with his right hand on a spot beside him on the bed.

Judy smiled and walked to him, giving him a quick kiss and sitting down on the side of the bed. "The local sheriff apparently has an 8 to 5 job; he even doesn't want me to hand in daily reports."

"Wow! Are there any open positions to apply for?" Nick grinned and Judy rolled her eyes.

"You really wouldn't miss the big city out here?"

"Most probably, but what about you? You could be both, a cop and near your family."

"Don't get me wrong, Nick. I really love my family and those short visits from time to time are really great! But that is the point: They are short. After a certain age you love your family still, but that doesn't mean you want to share your whole free time with them."

"I know, carrots. I am a estray myself, you know? But you bunnies? Until I met you I thought you only live in a pack or burrow, meeting one of you alone is rather rare."

"Yeah, those of us that left the burrow did only to establish their own families."

Both were quiet for a while, everyone letting the mind wander for himself. Judy eventually stood up and walked to the corner of the room, where their backpack lay. She started to undress her motorbike suite; but Nick was the first to speak again.

"Do you want it, too?" he asked quietly, but as far as Judy could tell his heartbeat was calm, too.

"Do I want what?" she asked indifferent while pulling off her pants.

"Do you want to start a family on your own?" Nick asked without getting too nervous.

"You mean to marry, living in my own house, having a few little kits, …?" She also pulled off her blouse and stand there in her underwear, watching Nick. The fox laid his head to one side and let his eyes wander over Judy's body that was in peak condition and absolutely adorably.

"Yes, all of that." Nick nodded slowly, but without taking his eyes off of her.

"I am not sure…" Judy said slowly, walking over to his bed. Nick's ears drooped a bit. Judy perceived it and smiled, while putting her paw on his cheek. "You need two animals to start a family, and I can only speak for myself, you know? If you would have asked me last month, I would have answered you straight, that I have absolutely no intentions of starting my own family. But… something changed since then." Judy was caressing Nicks fur with her paw, stroking his cheek, behind his ears and his neck.

"Yes?" Nick closed his eyes for a moment and enjoyed her petting.

"Oh, absolutely. I'm totally in love with someone. And the first time in my live I gave this family-idea some serious thoughts. More than ever after I saw this special someone with my little siblings and how great they got along with each other. That was the exact moment when I fantasized about me and this special someone having some own kits and what a wonderful dad he would be… but…" Judy sat on the side of the bed, tickling Nicks chest fur and rubbing her own cheeks along his, leaving her scent on him.

"But…?" Nick took a deep breath when he smelled her scenting him, it was nearly taking over his mind and his heartbeat accelerated. When he opened his eyes again, he had a longing look towards Judy.

"But… I am relatively shy and unskilled in such things, like asking your special someone what his thoughts are. As I said, you need two animals to start a family. And if you say the wrong thing at the wrong time, maybe your special someone is scared and will run away." She stoked with her paw over his head and ears, but stopped eventually and looked him in the eyes.

Nick opened his eyes and gazed immediately into Judy's wonderful, charming eyes with endless deepness. He could totally lose himself in those eyes, Nick thought to himself. He sensed, what an overcoming it must have been for Judy to say those things to him now. She really was an innocent bunny when it came to emotions like love. But Nick didn't mind, he was so totally in love with her, that it was physically hurting him when she left him alone. His former self would have made a sly slogan now; but after Judy opened her heart for him, he just could not do such a thing. He wanted to ease her, give her all the protection and safety she needs. And yes, he also was ready to start whatever goal this rabbit has get into her head to do.

"Judy…" Nicks voice was soft and full of affection. "I love you so much, and I also would love to have children of our own."

"Really?" Judy sounded relieved but also incredibly happy.

"Living in our own house, marrying you, even having our own burrow if this is what you want. I would do everything for you, just to see you happy!" Nick said with a smile and kissed her softly. But Judy put her paws immediately around his head and replied to his kiss as passionate as she could.

"Wait a moment…" Judy suddenly froze, and stared disbelieving down to the fox. "Did you just propose to me?"

Nick laughed. "That's a matter of opinion, carrots. How big is the chance, I will get the mercy of your father for this?" he winked at her.

"Hm, I don't know. How big is the chance that you will transform into a handsome, carrot-loving rabbit?" Judy laughed, too.

"Okay, then it was no proposal. But a promise that I will ask you in the near future again." Nick suggested with a smile. "I first have a mission to win him over, to prove myself worthy."

"Scout honor?" Judy asked with a smile.

"Scout honor!" Nick put up his right paw.

"By the way, when you come to my parents' house tomorrow. I thought about the little present you made before we come here."

"The picture of you winning, fist pumping and jumping. Yepp, it's still in the bag with the medal." Nick assured her. "And I still want to give it to them." He winked.

"That's okay. But I framed a second picture today. And I think it will be a great present, too…" Judy jumped from the bed, still in her underwear, and picked up a small paper bag with a frame in it. She carried it within the bag back to Nick, then pulled it out and showed it to him. It was one of the pictures Ralph had taken today: Nick sat in his wheelchair, three little bunnies on his lap drawing on his arm cast, Bobby was trying to hug his tail with his little arms and on Nicks shoulder sat Annie, playing with his ears and tying a little bow around it. Judy was standing behind him, leaning over and putting her arms around his upper body, rubbing her cheek against his, smiling happily; aside was Evelin squatting, with entangled arms on his armrest and her head leaning on top. Judy loved this picture, it was full of positive emotions and affection, she already had made it her background image of her phone. Now it was printed in a big format and put in a wooden frame. Nick gazed the picture for a long moment, and when he spoke Judy noticed he was really affected by it:

"It's perfect."

He took the frame from Judy's paws, putting it on the chair besides the bed. Then he grabbed her with his healthy arm and lift her onto the bed, right beside him.

"I cannot find suitable words to express even roughly how much you mean to me, Judy Hopps." Nicks eyes were filled with tears, but he was smiling. "I love you so much and nothing will ever change this."

Judy got all emotional by herself and as an answer gave him a passionate kiss.