Chapter 16 - Tooth And Claw
The narrow downtown street was very busy. Early morning traffic slowly crawled back and forth between two of the busiest intersections in the city, while a menagerie of pedestrians dodged around and between the colorful cars. Along the side of the street the occasional foreign model car was parked next to a running meter and the sidewalk was filled with busy mammals.
One such mammal was a short red fox. His fur was a burnished orange color that faded to black at his extremities. He was wearing a blue, button up shirt with a brightly colored print of palm leaves and little yellow flowers. Covering his legs were a lightly faded pair of blue jeans.
Large mammals moved slowly along the sidewalks, some in groups, others minding their own business, however none of them interfered with the fox's lazy stroll. His skills at avoiding other mammals was so finely tuned that any casual observer would have thought that the crowds just parted before him. A small herd of striped equines seemed to melt out of his way as he passed, and a hippo in a flowery dress stopped and turned aside to look in a shop window as he approached. The path was always clear in front of him, even while the sidewalk remained crowded.
Brown stucco buildings lining both sides of the street were crammed together like books on a shelf. The fox approached one of the buildings with a long white envelope in his dark paw. Full length glass windows covered the exterior wall and the building he approached and a large revolving door split the wall down the middle. A pair of palm trees sat in planters alongside the door, like two soldiers standing guard.
He stopped in front of the round glass door and looked down at the envelope in his paw. Before stepping into the door's rotating chamber, he checked that the address in the upper corner of the paper matched the bronze nameplate on the side of the building. Both read 'Bank of Zootopia' and he took a deep breath before stepping through the rotating portal.
Nick never trusted banks and avoided them whenever possible. Most banks did not trust foxes and some even called the police when one should dare enter their hallowed halls. Today he had a legitimate reason to be there, this was the closest place to his apartment that would actually cash his paycheck. He hoped to be able to resolve any issues that arose without any more trouble than simply showing his badge.
Stepping through the rotating glass door and into the bank's lobby, he quickly grabbed his tail before it was caught as the door continued to spin behind him. Looking up from what could have been a very embarrassing encounter, he nearly ran into a tall raccoon that was standing just past the door.
"Hey, Chuckles," Nick said with a familiar tone to the mammal he almost walked into. "Is that a new mask?"
The raccoon was almost the same height as the fox and was far more muscular. He wore a light grey hoodie that covered much of his head and a cheap pair of sunglasses that did little to cover his eyes. "Wilde," he replied with a hint of anger in his voice. "I told you not to call me that."
"All right, Chuck."
"What are you doing here?" Chuck seemed slightly agitated at the fox, you could almost say territorial.
"Oh you know," the fox said, waving the envelope. He was about to explain his new job with the ZPD but stopped and swiftly closed his mouth when he looked around the rest of the bank's lobby.
It was a moderately small lobby that could almost be described as cozy, but it was still big enough to allow half a dozen large mammals to wait in line. What caught the fox's attention however, was that all the mammals who had been patiently waiting to see a cashier were now laying on the floor with their paws on their heads. Off to one side, an old Sumatran tiger wearing a security guard's uniform, was laying on the floor groaning and holding his bleeding leg.
In the middle of the room a meerkat, dressed all in black, was standing on a chair holding a pair of small caliber pistols. One of the pistols was pointed at the cashier who was a neatly dressed female deer and the other was directed at the fox intruder.
Nick's quick wit took charge and luckily saved his life. He had started to raise his paws in the air hoping not to get shot, but a different idea crossed his mind, and with his smug mask in place he casually turned to the raccoon, "I thought I could offer my services."
"And what kind of services could a sleazy fox ever offer us?," the meerkat asked, and pointed both guns at Nick.
"I was just strolling by, across the street, when I spotted Chuckles here enter this bank, so I was obviously curious to see what he was up to." He motioned to the raccoon next to him with his paw still holding the envelope. "What ever happened to that jewel heist I heard you were planning last year?"
Looking at his toes Chuck replied, "It kind of fell through at the last minute."
"Chuckie," the armed meerkat yelled across the room, "stop talking and make sure that door is locked this time. I don't want any more surprises walking in on us." Keeping one pistol aimed at the fox, he turned the other back to the doe cashier, "And you, hurry up with filling those bags. I know you just got a new delivery today, so I want to see them as full as possible."
Distracting the robber, Nick took a step forward and asked, "So what's your exit strategy?"
Standing on the chair with both weapons pointed back at the fox, the darkly dressed mammal glared at him in angry silence.
"You weren't planning on just walking out the front door were you?"
"Yeah, Rick said it was going to be a quick snatch and grab job," Chuckie quickly interjected.
"Shut up fool!" the meerkat yelled.
Lifting a paw to cover the smile that slowly crept up his muzzle, the fox shook his head, "It's rush hour outside, you wont get to the first intersection before the cops catch up."
"That was the whole plan," the raccoon added. "The heavy traffic should slow the cops enough to let us get away before they know what happened."
Using his sharp wit, Nick knew he could convince these two crooks of anything and decided to help them out of their little situation. "I have a car parked out back," he lied, "and I know this city like the back of my hand. If you let me be your driver I could get you anywhere in the city in a few minutes."
Scowling, the meerkat named Rick looked over to his accomplice, "What do you think? Should we trust this guy?"
"I am not sure," Chuck said thoughtfully. Looking out one of the big front windows, he added, "He is right, the traffic is really bad out there. I don't think we will even be able to move the car, let alone outrun the cops."
The armed meerkat thought for a minute while the cashier finished filling two large duffle bags with fresh bills and set them on top of the counter far out of the meerkats reach. Pointing the pistol back at the doe he ordered her to throw them on the floor, then turned to the fox. "Alright, fox. If you want in then you can do some of the heavy lifting." He pointed the second gun at the two bags of cash sitting on the floor in front of the counter. "Pick those up, we're heading out the back."
Nick carefully walked around the mammals laying in the center of the lobby, but he nearly stumbled and tripped when he came near the fallen security guard. No one seemed to notice that he pocketed something small and shiny from the guard's belt as he passed.
Both bags were extremely heavy and Nick was barely able to lift them with a loud grunt. He slung one over his shoulder and held the second close to his chest to help reduce the weight.
As Rick jumped off the chair, Nick spotted something interesting on the far wall of the lobby. "Going out the back might not be such a great idea," he said.
"And why is that?" the meerkat asked snidely.
"We should take the side door."
"Side door? What are you talking about?"
"Do you see that cubical over there?" Nick pointed to a small but cheery office cubicle on the left side of the lobby. "Behind that is a side exit that leads into the bakery next door. I bet Chuckles could pick the lock and we could slip out with no one the wiser."
Taking a closer look, Rick smiled back at the fox when he found the poorly hidden door, "Good eye fox. Chuck, can you open this thing?"
"Sure thing, give me a second," the raccoon exclaimed, pulling a couple of small, shiny objects from his pocket.
Watching the raccoon fiddle with the lock, Nick walked over to the door and waited behind the armed robber. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed a few flashing lights out the front window and a brown bear dressed in a police uniform testing the lock on the bank's revolving front door.
"Hurry up," Rick hissed. "The cops are outside now."
"I can't," Chuck cried. "There is something blocking the other side."
"Well, push harder..." the meerkat yelled but was suddenly cut off.
With a deep breath, Nick took the opportunity to complete his plan while the robbers were distracted. He took a large step forward and swung the heavy bag on his shoulder directly at the back of Rick's head. With a loud thwump the mammal went down, dropping his weapons to skitter across the floor.
Chuck was quick to react when he saw his partner taken out so easily and dove for the nearest gun. However with Nick's academy training he was even quicker. The second bag of money slammed into the raccoon's muzzle knocking him back to land on his tail and a red streak followed the bag.
Despite the pain in his tail, the raccoon swung at the fox, but Nick was able to dodge and grabbed the striped mammal's arm. Even though his attacker was much stronger the academy training in taking down and subduing aggressive mammals paid off and he was able to bring the raccoon to the floor and pull his arms behind his back. Nick quickly cuffed the crook using the small mammal cuffs he found on the guard's belt earlier.
With Chuck properly subdued, he stepped over to check on the other crook. Seeing that the meerkat was unconscious he kicked the two weapons into a corner away from the robbers and headed over to the fallen guard to get a second pair of cuffs.
Once both of the bank robbers were cuffed and propped against the wall, he sat down and called the police dispatch office.
"Hey Clawhouser. Yes, I'm actually enjoying my day off, thank you. So I am calling to let you know that I am currently inside the Winston street branch of the Bank of Zootopia." After a long pause he added, "Well it's a long story. Yeah I will have to tell you about it some time, but I wanted you to let the boys outside know that it's all clear in here, so they can come in now." Another long pause, "Oh right, I will unlock it for them right now. Thanks a lot, Spots." Hanging up the phone, he stood up and walked over to unlock the front door and let in his fellow officers.
At that moment, a short llama wearing fancy business attire rushed over to Nick and tried to give him a big hug. "My hero," she cried.
Before the llama could get within arms reach, Nick pulled out his badge and showed it to her, "Just doing my job, Ma'am."
"Wait, you're a cop?"
"Yes, Ma'am," the fox replied proudly.
"Well, I'm now curious to know what brings you to our humble branch in the middle of all this, um, trouble."
Pulling out the envelope again, he showed it to the branch manager, "I just came in to cash my paycheck."
"Oh," the llama positively glowed. "I would be honored to help you with that." She led him up to the counter while the hostages were being helped off the floor by the other officers and the bleeding tiger was taken care of by the paramedics. "Do you happen to have an account with us Officer, ah?"
"Wilde. Nick Wilde," he said with an unconscious salute. "And, no I don't have one."
"Do you want one?" she asked. When she saw Nick's pained expression she added, "Oh, I think I understand. But it would make the process much smoother if you did have an account with us. And I could take care of that for you personally."
"I don't want any special favors, Ma'am," Nick said suddenly abashed.
"Oh, it's not like that at all. We here at the 'B' of 'Z' always try to take care of our heroes in blue."
Thinking about the llama's offer for a few moments, Nick nodded and agreed to let her set him up with a new bank account.
"That's great Officer Wilde. I will just need a little bit of information and we'll get you set right up. We already have your employment info here on your paystub so all I need is your address and license."
Officer Judy Hopps entered her boss's office with a sense of trepidation. To a mammal of her stature, the room was enormous. Everything in the room was built for mammals ten times her size, and the desk that dominated the room was like a small mountain in comparison. The huge mammal waiting for her on the far side of the tremendous desk was no less a mountain all to himself and in more ways than just his size.
With a long, deep breath, the rabbit stepped across the braided green carpet and into the room. Dealing with her domineering boss this early in the morning was like trying to stop a herd of stampeding wildebeests. In most cases, it was always better to duck in a hole and wait for them to pass, but Judy was not that kind of mammal. She would stand up for herself, even if it meant facing down a raging buffalo. Taking another breath, she rolled her paws into little grey balls and walked across the room with focus and determination.
Sitting in front of that great desk, was a large, steel chair with a pale green seat made from a solid block of plastic strong enough to hold the full weight of a two ton mammal. The seat was several inches above her head, forcing Judy to leap onto its smooth, stiff surface. Since she was recovering from last night's fever, she slightly misjudged the distance and had to grab the edge and scramble the rest of the way up, with her tiny hind paws kicking in the air.
On the front edge of the cheap, utilitarian chair, she stood at attention and saluted her boss, "Officer Hopps reporting for duty, Sir."
"Hopps," the large buffalo acknowledged the small rabbit officer with a nod.
Unlike the last time Judy was in this office, the desk before her was fairly clear. It still held the usual office paraphernalia, the chief's bronze name plate, a gigantic desk phone and a small, ceramic pot that looked like a small child had painted flowers and bees around the sides. Inside the painted pot, were several pens and pencils. The usual clutter of files that covered his desk were replaced by a single manilla folder that held so many pieces of paper, that it was thicker than her mattress back home. She thought she caught the name 'Gazelle' on the cover.
The giant police chief motioned for his smallest officer to sit, "There are several matters I want to discuss with you this morning, so this could take a while." Once she was seated on the uncomfortably hard chair, he placed his reading glasses across his enormous muzzle and looked down at a file in his hoof and continued speaking, "First, I have reviewed the mammalicide report you filed yesterday." He lifted his reading glasses for a second to glare at her across the desk, "It is very thorough, yet there are several key elements that are missing, which I am certain that the instructors will clarify in the future. Which brings me to the next point and I should not have to remind you, that as part of ZPD policy we require that applicants for a detective position must have worked a minimum of two years as a patrol officer. Since you submitted this application last month, only one year after you started with us, I will go ahead and hold onto the application and allow you to submit any cases to be reviewed as part of the application process. Understand that the review board will not only be looking at cases you submit but any that they deem pertinent to their decision."
"I understand, Sir," the rabbit nodded with her paws folded in her lap.
"As this is the first time you have participated in a mammalicide investigation I think you should include it with your application, unless you choose not to."
"Yes, Sir. That sounds like a good idea. Go ahead and add it to my application."
Putting down her report, Bogo picked up another file off the huge stack, "About the case... Since you are participating in this investigation, I have some good news to share with you."
The rabbit's ears stood up straight and her nose began to twitch curiously, "Good news, Sir? What news could be good about a murder?"
A small smile crossed his muzzle and she thought she could detect a hint of a sparkle in the gruff mammal's eyes, "I spoke with Gazelle's manager last night, and he told me that the pop star has been happily sipping cocktails on the beaches of Pawaii for the last two weeks."
Judy's jaw dropped to the floor and she nearly stood up, but instead wiped away several tears that had suddenly rolled down her cheeks.
"She has been on an extended vacation to recuperate as well as staying out of the spotlight, and her manager doesn't want the news of this death to affect her right now. But he did assure me that he will be sending us proof that she is indeed alive and would have her call the ZPD this morning. Hopefully, once Dr. Phill is finished with the autopsy, we will know the identity of our victim before then."
"Wow, Chief. That really is good news!" the bunny exclaimed, nearly hopping in her seat.
"Ok, calm down officer." Bogo advised her. "There is still a lot of investigative work to be done before we can solve this case. Captain Berenstain has put Detective Wolfard on the case so I want you to work with him for now. He is an old hound and knows how things work around here, so I want you to follow his lead."
Nodding excitedly at her boss, the rabbit replied, "Yes, Sir. What about my partner?"
"Wilde? He was supposed to have the day off, but he decided to get his paws mixed up in a robbery this morning. Dam fox thought he could be a hero or something and tried to take down the crooks with a single paw. Now he is stuck at his desk for the rest of the day filling out incident reports."
"That doesn't sound like Nick."
"Apparently the thieves didn't give him much of a choice while holding him at gunpoint."
"Well I am glad that he is ok," Judy said with a sparkle in her big purple eyes.
"Is that so?" The chief inquired as his tone darkened.
"Yes, he is my friend as well as a co-worker."
"Are you sure that you are only friends?"
"Sir," the rabbit stood up, her voice more than a little offended as she glared at the huge mammal behind the desk. "What do my personal feelings have to do with anything?"
"When it affects the performance of your duties, Officer, then it becomes my business." He reached into the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a large magazine and held it up for her to see. "This just arrived on my desk this morning. At first I thought nothing of it, just more trash and gossip about the Gazelle case. But then I noticed an article way in the back about a pair of my newest officers."
On the cover of the cheap magazine the chief held in his hooves, was a black and white photo of a gazelle wearing a glittering dress with a look of terror on her face as a pack of predatory animals pounced on her from the shadows. The headline read, 'Fear Strikes Down Zootopia's Art Community - Murder brings low a shining star.' Down at the bottom corner where the tip of his hoof was tapping, Judy noticed a small sub heading. 'Shocking Romantic Affair At The ZPD."
Flipping through to the end of the magazine, he showed her a small article almost hidden amongst a smattering of advertisements. The article had no images accompanying it, but the title said everything she needed to know, 'Bunny Cop Dallies With Fellow Officers.' It doesn't outright give any names, but it claims that a cute and overly flirtatious bunny in the ZPD had been eliciting the other officers on the force. The author even claimed to have legitimate sources that have been disgusted by the rabbit's advances and unwanted affections.
"Unfortunately the author, this Newt Wessels, never mentions any names, and thus can't be brought up on charges of slander. However, there is only one rabbit that is currently employed by this police force as an officer."
"Sir," Judy rebuked. "This article can't be talking about me. Of course, I am friendly with everyone but I am not, how did he put it, making advances, unwanted or otherwise. There are no grounds for any of these accusations."
"Even so, the ZPD does not discourage casual fraternization among partners," Bogo stated as if he was reading from a rule book. "An emotional connection always seems to develop with such teams, however, when a relationship becomes more physical, it is our policy to separate the couple on the grounds that it will affect the performance of their duties. Is this understood, Officer?"
"Yes, Sir," she nodded looking slightly ashamed.
Laying the magazine back inside the desk drawer, the chief continued his warnings, "This article is not going to just go away, and there will be more questions in the future, so keep your relationships with your co-workers, and especially with your partner, strictly professional." His fist hit the desk with a loud thud, "I want to be absolutely clear about this Hopps. You two have been a great asset to this department so far and I see a lot of potential in the both of you. So while you're out of uniform, you're free to hang out and flirt with your co-workers as much as you wish, but while on the job, and in the eyes of the public, keep your paws and your emotions under control. Consider this as the only warning I will give you. And, don't think I am singling you out for this. I will not tolerate any Public Displays of Affection from any of my officers in the field, regardless of gender or species. Is that clear enough for you, Officer Hopps?"
A large lump caught in the rabbit's throat and she tried to swallow it down as her emotions quickly changed from anger and fear to sadness and shame and back through the entire gamut several times before it fell on an almost professional resolve. She respected that her boss was not blowing this out of proportions and making illicit accusations. Judy realized that he was following procedures to warn her that, even as general as the article seemed, there would still be repercussions from its implications. Her reply was a curt nod with a determined smile, "Yes, Sir. I will be more careful."
"Splendid," he said with a grin on his muzzle. "There is one more thing I wanted to mention before you get back to work."
"Yes, Chief. What is it?" the bunny inquired.
"As I have already mentioned, you are not able to take any of the detective training classes yet, but there are not any policies preventing you from, say, accidentally showing up to a class and taking notes. Especially if the class is related to an ongoing assignment."
She tilted her head and a puzzled look crossed her brow, "What is it that you are implying, Sir?"
"Well, I am just casually letting you know, in passing of course, that Dr. Phill is presenting his findings in front of the current class downstairs, in autopsy."
It only took the rabbit a few seconds to catch his hint and she leapt off the chair and headed for the gargantuan door, "Thank you, Sir."
"Oh, and Hopps, the class started five minutes ago."
Everything about the basement was cold, one could even say frigid. The slippery, grey floor and pale walls felt icy under paw. Even the white fluorescent lights only gave off a cold, sterile glow that froze the heart and chilled the bones.
With a yellow notepad and a bright orange pen in paw, the rabbit raced through the sliding glass doors and entered the autopsy theater. Several mammals wearing long white coats stood around a large, steel table positioned directly in front of a stainless steel wall covered in square hatches. The wall looked like a giant freezer and always gave the rabbit chills even thinking about what was locked away behind each of those hatches.
As the door hissed and sealed behind her, she heard a tiny voice that seemed to come from the center of the group, "It's so good of you to join us today, Officer Hopps. Please feel free to join the detective while I finish my lecture for the class." She could not see the mammal where the voice had originated from, but she spotted Wolfard standing next to a wall where he patted on a stool, motioning for her to join him.
After she hopped up on the stool, she was able to see past the taller group and saw Dr. Phill who was the ZPD's Chief Medical Officer and Forensic Scientist. The mouse was standing on the large overhead lamp and pointing at the body of a naked, and very dead mammal laid out on the cold, steel table.
The wolf standing next to her stool leaned over and whispered, "Good timing Hopps. He was in the middle of one of those stories."
Looking past the group of white robed students, Judy was able to make out the dead gazelle's body and her vision was flooded with memories of the recent crime scene. Once again, the cow was laying in a pool of her own blood, while the medical examiners poked and prodded at the corpse like ravens in the park. With a shake of her small head, the vision cleared and she returned to the cold, sterile room where a white robed mouse was once again describing the evidence that was found on the body.
"Although the DNA results are close enough to be considered a match in most courts," the doctor continued to speak from where he had left off before the rabbit entered. "They are phenotypically different enough to show that our victim may have been a very close sibling or even a twin. That forced us to look at the victims dental records."
A tall, young deer wearing solid blue scrubs opened the victim's jaws to give the students a look inside her muzzle. "As you can see," the mouse noted. "This gazelle has an impacted molar on the upper right side of her jaw and several cavities around the inside of the lower jaw. While her more famous sister's records show minor cosmetic work." Motioning to his assistant, he added, "You can close her mouth now, Mr. Hoofmer."
The mouse climbed up the arm of the lamp he was standing on and pointed at a screen on the wall at the foot of the table. "You can probably see better details of the cavities in these x-ray images."
Judy turned to see where the mouse was pointing and indeed saw several dark spots in the image of the victims skull. The small, dark areas were in the exact locations around the teeth that the doctor had mentioned. As far as the small officer could tell, the gazelle appeared to have several cavities along her lower jaw.
"Based on this evidence," Dr. Phill continued, "We have a positive identification that this is actually Tiffany, Gazelle's sister." A murmur passed around the group of students and even Wolfard shifted at the new information, but remained silent. Other than the doctor's assistant, Judy was the only mammal that appeared unsurprised by the victim's identity.
"With a positive ID in paw, we took several blood samples along with other fluids." The mouse pointed to another portion of the screen that contained a chart with several lines and bars. "Her blood was literally flooded with dozens of drugs and various chemicals including elevated levels of naturally occurring Serotonin, Dopamine and Norepinephrine. We also found a large mix of other drugs, ranging from methamphetamines and hallucinogens to mood suppressants and even a rare and expensive blend of Alzheimer's medications. It's surprising that all of these drug's didn't kill her first."
Scratching furiously on her little notepad, Judy struggled to keep pace with all the big words and names that the doctor was using. She fully intended to look everyone of them up on the internet once the class was over.
Despite the small mammal's struggle to take notes, the mouse doctor continued with his findings, "Along with the rest of the cocktail in her system, we found slight traces of refined Night Howler's toxin. It is not the same as the serum that was used last year, but a milder dose that could have the result of reducing cognition while enhancing the baser emotions. After consulting with various doctors who worked on the antidote last year, we surmised that unlike the savage serum, that shuts down all cognitive abilities and greatly increases aggression, this new toxin would increase bravery and arousal."
A small, light brown bear in the student group raised her paw and asked, "So, are you saying that Night Howler's can be used as a love potion?"
"Oh, no, not at all," the doctor chuckled. "It is a stimulant that increases baser emotions, and lust is definitely a baser emotion my dear. With such a mild dose of the toxin, we suspect that lust would rise without being overshadowed by any of the stronger, more aggressive ones." Looking around at the rest of the students he politely asked, "Any further questions?"
Everyone shook their heads and Dr. Phill continued, "Next, we looked for signs of a struggle, scratches, bruises and other odd marks or torn bits of fur. Mr. Hoofmer, can you lift her arm and show everyone her wrists."
The young buck assisting the doctor lifted the victim's arms one at a time and showed them to the class while the mouse continued his lecture, "There are no bruises or abrasions on the arms, wrists or ankles. So it seems our victim did not struggle with her killer, nor was she bound. There were also no signs of blood or fresh scratches on her nails so that suggests that she didn't fight back. However, we did find something interesting." He then pointed to the dead gazelle's neck and shoulders, where Judy could clearly make out a few scratches.
"She has dozens of bite and claw marks across her body. Most of these marks are months or even years old. Only a couple are fresh and most do not break the skin, except for one long scratch on her breast that had a few drops of blood. All of the scratches and bite marks are centered around her erogenous zones, namely the shoulders, rump and breasts. The pattern of bite and claw marks indicate that it was a large feline, more specifically, a tiger."
"Excuse me," a brown elk, in his late twenties asked, "do these marks on the victim's body indicate signs of pred-prey-play?"
"Thanks for that great question, Williamson," the mouse chided. "I think that would make a great homework assignment. Everyone here should research that topic and bring me your conclusions to that question before we meet again next week."
Williamson grinned smugly while the other students groaned, and the bear punched his arm.
"We also found splotches of tiger semen smeared around her body in various places but none inside the vaginal cavity, which indicates that there was most likely no actual intercourse." One of the students made a gagging sound, but even with her large ears, Judy was not able to pinpoint which one it was.
"Now, moving on, we come to the cause of death." Dr. Phill ran along the full length of the examination lamp to the very tip where he leaned over the edge clinging to the brim of the lamp's hooded cover and pointed at the gaping hole in the victim's neck. "The front half of her throat is missing causing asphyxiation and severe blood loss. Fortunately, death was nearly instantaneous and she didn't suffer. Not that she would have felt much pain in her drug-addled state anyway. The missing parts of her throat were never recovered from the crime scene which suggests that they were either removed and hidden, or possibly consumed by the killer."
Everyone in the room groaned in disgust at the doctor's last statement, including Judy and Wolfard who did not actually have a clear view of the large hole in the gazelle's neck.
"However, the killer did leave behind several clues. Can you all see the teeth marks on her neck? If not, look closer and use the magnifier if you wish." All the students took turns looking through the large magnifying glass that was mounted to the table on a long, spring-loaded, swivel arm. "By looking at those marks, what can you tell about the teeth of our killer?"
"That they were sharp," a young muskox replied in jest, and a few of the other students snickered.
"Very funny, Mr. Black," the mouse said sarcastically. "I expect you all to know this, since it was the main topic of last week's discussion."
"The marks look canine, like a wolf or coyote," answered the young ursine.
"Yes," cheered the mouse doctor. "But why is that?"
"Because the front set is closer together and the large canines are farther forward and next to the incisors. The large canines on a feline are set further back and more spread apart."
"Good, but what else do the teeth marks on the neck have to say?"
The students remained silent while they contemplated Dr. Phill's question, and Judy was too far away to see what they were looking at.
After several minutes the elk spoke up, "They don't match the marks on the rest of her body."
"Correct!" the mouse scientist exclaimed.
"So, that means that the frequent biter wasn't our killer," added Mr. Black.
"Very astute, class. Unfortunately, these bite marks alone have been unable to tell us exactly what species they were. It could be a wolf, or coyote or even a hyena. For that we would need something else..." he was about to explain the next clue, but was interrupted by an overly enthusiastic onlooker.
"Saliva," the rabbit officer jumped up waving the carrot pen above her head.
"Glad to see that you're still with us, Officer Hopps," Dr. Phill responded sarcastically. "Yes, the young police officer is correct. We collected salival DNA from the wound, but it came back negative. In fact the sample we pulled from the wound and other hairs found at the scene do not match any known, living mammal. It's definitely a canine species, but none that we have ever encountered before."
With their muzzles deep in thought, the white robed students pondered the implications of what the doctor had said. A new, sentient mammal species had not been discovered in over a thousand years. Was it even possible that one could have been hiding under their very noses this whole time, and why would they suddenly appear now? All of these thoughts and more swirled around in the minds of the mammals in the room while no one spoke a word.
Finally, after several solemn minutes of quiet thought, the mouse spoke up to conclude his lecture, "When I arrived early this morning, I found a new report sitting on my desk from the hematologist's lab. They found something that had been previously buried by the large number of drugs in her system. It seems that our victim is, or was, pregnant. She was barely a week along so the signs were easily overlooked."
Dr. Phill walked back up to the highest point on the overhead lamp to close the class lecture for the day. "Now, all of you have a copy of my examination report in paw and I expect you to write up your suppositions before we meet again next week. Class dismissed."
As the students filtered out of the cold and sterile theater, Detective Wolfard turned to the small officer standing on the stool next to him, "Did you get all that Hopps?" Holding up a paw he added, "Don't answer that, we will discuss everything back at my desk once you have had a chance to let it all sink in. How about after lunch? That should give you a chance to look up all those big words I saw you writing down."
"Thanks, I think," Judy replied with a chuckle.
"Don't thank me yet, the next part of the investigation is extremely boring and tedious." The last of the students had left the room and the wolf turned to the small doctor before he also stepped through the sliding glass doors. "Nice presentation, Doc. You really had them eating out of your paws."
Ignoring the wolf's sarcastic compliment, he replied, "The full report should already be waiting on your desk, so have fun reading it."
"You know I always do, Doc," Wolfard declared before the doors hissed shut behind him.
Walking back to her much warmer desk on the second floor, Judy spied a red furred mammal sitting in the desk next to hers. He was wearing a blue flowery shirt and was struggling to type a report on his computer.
When she entered their shared cubicle, she chose to ignore her boss's earlier warnings and tested her mother's words instead. She stepped up to her partner as she passed and lightly ran a clawed finger across the back of his paw and up his arm, but the red fox didn't blink or respond to her soft touch. However, she noticed that the fur on the back of his neck was standing up. "Was that a shiver?" she thought.
She flicked his ear when he continued to ignore her, "Hey, Slick. What are you doing here?"
"Oww," the fox exclaimed, rubbing his injured, black pointy ear before his paws returned to the keyboard pressing one key at a time. "Well as you can see, Fluff, I am in the middle of writing a report."
"I can see that. But why are you still here? I thought you would have finished that already."
"This is a new report, about a robbery that I just happened to walk into this morning. And chief Buffalo-Butt wants all the details for why I decided to play hero and apprehended two fully armed and dangerous criminals with my bare paws without calling for backup."
"You did what?!" The rabbit almost screamed. "How could you endanger your own life again so soon? We talked about you taking unnecessary risks like this before."
"My life was never in danger, Sweetheart. Plus, I saved the life of the security guard. He had already been shot before I arrived and would have bled out. So, if I hadn't taken control of the situation, things could have gotten a lot worse."
"All right, Nick," she said with a small ember of anger still glowing in her big eyes. "But I want to read that report when you're done."
Nick smirked at the rabbit and quietly returned to his slow hunt-and-peck typing.
"Oh, hey. Since you're here do you want to grab some lunch before I have to go and help Wolfard with the mammalicide case?"
"Sorry, Carrots," he replied gloomily. "I just want to finish this report so I can go back to enjoying my ever-shortening day off. Besides, I still have errands to run and bills to pay." The fox turned around in the swivel chair to see the bunny's disappointed expression. "All right, Fluff. How about I buy us both lunch the next time we go out on patrol?"
"You have a deal, Slick," she cried with joy, jumping into his lap and giving him a warm hug. "I have to do some research before I meet up with Wolfard, so I will quietly leave you to your report." Turning her chair around, she switched on the computer and waited for the search screen to load.
It didn't take her very long to look up all the long words and medical terms she had written on her little yellow notepad. Most results were encyclopedia pages for various chemical compounds and their effects on different mammals. She even browsed through all the newly written pages on the Night Howler's serum. Everything was fairly easy to find once she managed to enter the correct spellings, but one phrase in her notes seemed to be more elusive than a greased weasel. "What was the term that elk had used when asking about the scratches and bites on the body?"
Typing in the word 'play' along with 'pred' and 'prey' came back with results for school children's toys and activity books for all species. Almost thirty minutes passed as she tried to type in different combinations and even described the marking on the victim's body, but nothing came even close, until she typed in the exact phrase, including the hyphens, 'pred-prey-play.' And the results were shocking.
Her screen was suddenly filled with a multitude of naked mammals and advertisements for male enhancement products. With her eyes bulging and both paws covering her muzzle, she quickly looked over her shoulder to see if her partner, or anyone else in the office, noticed what was plastered all over her screen.
After the conversation she had with the chief earlier, she didn't want anyone thinking she was another hormone-driven bunny, and promptly closed the search browser. Switching off her computer, she stood up and quickly stepped out of the cubicle. She didn't want her partner to see her blushing such a deep red, "Well, I am off to lunch. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day off."
Nick looked up from tapping on the keys to see the back of his partner's head disappear around one of the the half walls that broke up the room, "You too, Carrots. Enjoy your lunch."
The rest of her day, after having a quick salad at the diner across the street, was filled with the boring tedium of sorting, classifying and filing evidence. Everything from witness testimonies, to the stomach contents and the weight of the organs in the victim's body needed to be entered into the computer.
It was dark outside when she finally returned home to her apartment. She was tired and sore, but she had a mission to fulfill and was not about to get any sleep until she had answered the burning question on her mind.
Opening the laptop that sat on top of her desk, she once again entered the search criteria for pred-prey-play. This time, she was prepared for the shocking results and let her screen fill with the scenes of fully exposed mammal fur. Most of the scenes were quite tame, while others were borderline hardcore, and several even showed tied and gagged mammals in compromising positions. Almost every species was represented, but what caught her attention was that in every single scene the male and female partners were all from mixed species, and more specifically they were all combinations of pred with prey couples.
She wasn't really interested in looking at all the naked pictures, so she quickly skimmed past them and focused more on the articles and various documents that might hold a clue as to what this curious phrase might actually mean.
Many of the documents she found were more like manuals that described the intimate bedroom activities for mixed species couples. She was surprised to find that some of the manuals were actually quite ancient. Inter-species couples had apparently been around for thousands of years. Judy had thought it had only been a recent thing, now that mammals of all walks of life were living together peacefully in such a large city.
One manual that she found fascinating, described bedroom chases and simulated hunts. She grew more curious after reading about one technique that seemed like a game of blindfolded and naked tag, where the predator partner tried to track down the prey using only their sense of smell and hearing, while the prey did their best to escape, until they were aroused enough to allow their partner to catch them.
Even though there were dozens of articles and documents describing how to please your predator or prey partner, none of them actually explained what the term pred-prey-play actually meant, or why the dead gazelle would have participated in such a thing. She really needed someone to spell it out for her.
It was getting late and even though she had not found any definitive answers yet, she was ready to call it a night when she spotted a business card laying on the desk behind her computer. On the front was an embossed image of a pink, fluffy cloud sitting on top of a white and pink striped cone. The name on the card read "Cotton Candy Escort Service".
After dialing the number, the phone rang several times before a female voice answered, "Hello."
"Hello, this is Officer Hopps. Is this Cotton?"
"Yes, this is she," the voice on the other end paused for a second and then returned with a warm and cheerful tone. "Oh my, Officer Hopps. I am so glad to hear your lovely voice again. How are you sweety?"
"I have been great. I am calling to see if you could help with something I have been working on."
"Oh, I'm sorry hun. But I am in the middle of something right now, can I call you back in say, oh, an hour?"
The hour was late and Judy was starting to feel sleepy, but she agreed to let the other doe call her back, "Sure, an hour will be fine. You don't know how much this means to me. It will really mean a lot if you can help me answer a few burning questions."
Her sultry tones deepened as Cotton replied, "Oh, my. If it's really that bad, I will be more than glad to help in any way I can. But I will have to call you back after I drop off some luggage."
The curvy rabbit with too much pink glitter on her muzzle and down her shoulders, looked up at the boar sitting across the shiny black table. Three small candles sat between them, as did an expensive bottle of wine. Looking back at the elegant and overly pretty rabbit, the boar opened his mouth to continue their earlier conversation, but she cut him off with a sigh. "It has been such a wonderful evening, Edward, and the food was quite delicious. But I really must cut this short."
"But," Edgar lifted his hoof to protest but was quickly cut off again.
"Truly, it has been lovely, and you have some really great classmates, but I do have to run," she stood up, revealing her lovely satin dress and held out her paw to him. "Now can I drop you somewhere? Back to the hotel or maybe a nightclub? I know several good ones nearby, the Cloven Hoof for instance."
Judy hung up the phone with a tired sigh. It had been a long day filled with tedious paperwork, but as tired as she was, she would not be able to sleep until she got some answers, so she returned to her computer and the deep sea of information known as the internet.
After some more extensive searching, she managed to find a few articles discussing biting tips for predators, that covered things like locations, how hard to bite and various techniques that would send shivers up their partner's spine along with general do's and don'ts.
With her nose deep in the computer she did not even realize that an hour had passed, when the phone rang, this time with a muzzle time request. Her ears turned a warm shade of pink and she blushed brightly when she picked up the call and saw the mammal on the other end.
Looking back at her from the phone was a light cream colored bunny whose fur seemed to sparkle in the lamp light. She was wearing a dark pink nightgown that seemed to show off all of her curves. The rabbit was comfortably stretched out on a bed that was far too large for her. With the phone propped up on the nightstand, it left her hands free to sip a wide glass of Chardonnay. "Hello, Officer," she said with a wink.
Stunned for several seconds, the grey rabbit wasn't sure what to say, "Um, hello, Cotton. Ah, please feel free to call me Judy, I'm off duty."
"Ok, then let me start over," the glitter covered bunny slowly closed her eyes and held her breath for a few heartbeats before opening them again. "Hello, Judy. I see you like my gown," she said with an inviting tone.
"Ye-yes, it looks very, ah, um, comfortable," Judy stammered.
"Would you like to try it on? I think this shade of pink would suit you... and, it matches your ears."
Judy's ears only turned a darker shade of red, "Maybe some other time." She coughed into a paw and tried to maintain her composure, "I was hoping you could help me with a case I am working on."
"Sure thing, Sweety," the sparkling pink rabbit enticed. "How can Cotton help?"
"Well, I overheard one of the detective students mention a term this morning that I am curious about. But it's not something I can just go asking about around the office."
The lounging doe's ears lifted and her nose twitched slightly before she took another sip from the wine glass in her paw, "Ok, what was it that this student said? And why bring your question to me?"
"Well this is definitely something I can't just ask my mother. She would never understand."
"Oh, It's one of those questions!" Cotton sat up slightly against her pillow and brushed a paw across her nearly see-through nightgown. "Go on dear. I'm all ears."
"Based on our last encounter, you're the only mammal that I feel like I can talk to who has any experience with this sort of thing."
"Don't ramble Judy. Please get to the point and tell me what your burning question is."
Judy closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady her nerves, "I want to know what you can tell me about pred-prey-play?"
The partially dressed rabbit's eyes lit up and she leaned closer to the phone with a paw over her chest, "Oh, Honey Bunny." She let out a sweet sigh and a soft chuckle, "I thought you would never ask."
"Since you told me that you prefer to date predators, I thought you could help me understand what it's all about."
Running a paw down her torso and over her broad hips, Cotton winked across the phone and quickly replied, "I could show you."
"Wait, What?" the grey rabbit blinked back her shock at the other doe's sultry reply. "I-I thought we could just talk about it. And I thought you could just explain what is with all the clawing and biting."
"Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you have never been bitten?" The pink doe leaned closer to the phone, watching Judy stammer and trying very hard not to meet her gaze. "You have, haven't you."
"Ye-yes," Judy stammered as her blush returned.
"And you liked it didn't you?"
"M-may-maybe," the purple eyes would still not look directly into the phone.
"I knew I wasn't just seeing things back in that hotel," her breath quickened and her eyes sparkled. "So, a predator did bite you and now you are confused by your own feelings. You grew up being told that predators were bad, evil mammals and now, the thought of their teeth and claws brings a shiver of pleasure down your spine. Am I right?"
Nodding, Judy murmured, "Mm'hmmm."
"Up until now, you have been able to hold back all these strange new feelings, but now, they have a name and you're curious to know more about them," the other rabbit declared. "Have you also been dreaming about sharp teeth and claws? Or paying more attention to how predators eat?"
Judy's eyes popped open and her jaw hit the floor.
"Interesting. How about biting things, and I'm not talking about the normal rabbit chew sticks. I mean literally trying to bite other mammals, or maybe gnawing on the ears of those stuffed dolls I can see all over your bed."
"What, No!"
"I can see that you're still sharpening your claws too."
Glancing down at her paw she noticed that her claws were now a rich, shiny, black and much harder than a normal rabbit's claws. "What is going on? I haven't had them done in over a week, they should have gone dull again by now."
"Well it's obvious to me what's going on, Sweetheart," Cotton said warmly.
Looking into the other rabbit's soft brown eyes, Judy pleaded, "Please tell me."
"You, my dear, are addicted," she declared. "You know, I was the same way. All it took was one bite on the neck and I was hooked. For the first few months I felt totally lost and confused, until I met a wolverine who thought I was pretty hot stuff. We fooled around for a while, but he was able to show me what I was missing. And, oh baby! Once I was able to let go of the fear that I grew up with, it opened a whole new world for me."
"Wow, really? You actually let him bite and claw you?"
"Of course, my dear. And the feelings, WHOOO!" She fell back on the large mattress, dropping the glass in her paw and spilling the last few sips of wine all over herself and the satin sheets. "You would not believe how wonderful those sharp teeth and claws feel on naked fur and inside my ears. Mmmmm."
"What about the chasing and bedroom hunting?"
Cotton sat up straight and scooted to the edge of the mattress, "So you haven't just been living under a log this whole time?"
Giggling softly and covering her big amethyst eyes, Judy told the other rabbit what she had been up to, "I only just found out about all this stuff today."
"Welcome to a brand new world darling, one that has been hiding under your nose your whole life."
Sniffling back a few pleasant tears, the grey doe added, "Yeah, I guess."
"Well love, as much I would love to show you this new world, I sense that there is already someone special you have in mind."
A warm smile filled Judy's muzzle and she nodded.
"Have you told them how you feel yet."
Judy shook her head and her ears flopped from side to side.
"Ok, well I want you to do me a favor then."
Sitting up straighter in her chair and ready to help, Judy asked, "alright, since you have helped answer most of my questions, what can I do for you?"
"I want you to close your eyes, and picture that special predator in your mind."
The grey rabbit's muzzle scrunched up and she wrinkled her nose back and forth as an image of a red fox in a green shirt with a blue tie, slowly appeared in her mind. "Ok, got it."
"Good. Now, picture their sharp, white teeth around your neck again and then let them slowly run their claws down your back."
It only took a few heartbeats before Judy let out a sudden wild shiver and squealed, "Ooooo!" She also thought she heard a soft click from the other end of the phone. "Wow," she sighed, still holding her eyes tightly shut. "What next?"
"Just hold that feeling in your mind tonight, along with the image of that special predator. And, make sure you tell them how they make you feel."
"Thank you so much for helping me tonight, Cotton."
"You're welcome, but I should go."
With a warm, satisfied smile on her muzzle, Judy opened her eyes and reached for the disconnect button, "Good night, Cotton."
"Please, call me Kandy."
"Kandy?"
"Yes, that's the name my parents gave me."
"All right," Judy said with a broad grin for her new friend. "Good night, Kandy."
"Good night, Judy."
The well-rounded rabbit hung up her phone and refilled the spilled glass of wine. She downed the whole glass in one gulp then reached over to the tall, bronze lamp on her night stand and pulled the chain, drowning the room in darkness. Placing the now empty glass on the hard flat surface next to her bed, she turned and buried her muzzle in the soft white pillows to hide the tears streaming down her cheeks.
Judy stared at her phone for several minutes filled with a warm, happy feeling that flowed up her spine every time she thought about teeth and claws on her bare fur. Setting the phone on her desk, she shut off the lamp and climbed into her bed. Even in the dark of early night, she felt like her entire body glowed after letting out all of the confused feelings that she had kept buried over the last year since the incident at the natural history museum.
Thinking about the mammal that had brought on all these strange feelings, she rolled over and grabbed the plush red fox and began gnawing at its ear as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
[A/N] So once again I would like to blame, er, I mean Thank, WingedKatt for getting the Evanescence song 'Bring Me To Life' stuck in my head while I write this chapter. I finally finished, or got caught up on, their story, At The Beginning. They go into great detail with the charter expressions, something I have a hard time focusing on in my own writing. So if you really enjoy a lot of fluff, go check out their stories.
I would like to offer credit to the author where I got the term 'pred-prey-play' but I cannot seem to find their story. It is one that I read back in 2016 before I had even considered writing my own Zootopia fanfic so I am not even sure that I followed or favorited it. But if anyone knows the story where Nick and Judy kiss and spend the night together immediately after the Gazelle concert, and then visit Nick's mothers grave before going to bunny burrow, then I will updated this chapter and give them the due credit for the term.
Also the island of Pawaii I borrowed from VarriableMammal's awesome story Partners. If you haven't seen their stuff, I strongly recommend checking out all of their amazing stories.
For my own part, this is a chapter I wrote over a year ago, but because I got stuck in a deep pit of writer's block, this one never got finished so it actually came out differently that originally written. In fact, the autopsy and the intimate phone call were originally separate chapters and the bank scene I just came up with at the last minute to give something to do today.
This is about the same time last year that I hit a rut and stopped working on this story, so unfortunately I am feeling in a little bit of a funk and starting to feel stuck. Also work has picked up again and a lot of BS is going on so I am not able to stay home and focus on writing more fluff. I just find it really hard to write anything romantic about a fox and rabbit when having to deal with all the negativity at work. But I do have a rough draft laid out for the next chapter, I just have to dig deep and find away to get through these doldrums. There are roughly 5 more chapters that I have lined up so I am seriously going to try and force myself to get that far, because I do feel bad for not being able to finish this story sooner. I do have plans for a part 2 but I seriously have to finish part one first. After that we will see how it goes.
I would like to keep this weekly schedule if at all possible since my main beta reader is taking next month off. I hope with the extra time they should be able to help me get the chapters edited sooner, but if work makes me work anymore weekends it may end up looking more like two weeks between chapters. That seems reasonable since I see several other authors sticking with 2 or even 4 week uploads. When I am in the right mood I can usually get 8k-9k words chapters written in a fair short amount of time. I think I wrote the 1st draft of the lunch chapter all on a Saturday, but this one took more than 4 days just to get all my thoughts onto the page. And the next chapter, I have been sitting here all week staring at the opening scene and I am feeling like I may just scrap it for a better idea.
Thank you to everyone who has been following this story, I really hope you enjoyed this little chapter. If you want to see more of Dr. Phill(Ducky) and Hoofmer(Jimmy) or Cotton Candy, I would love to hear from you. Also I've got a box of gold stars for anyone who can guess where Chuckles is from ;) I'm sure I got his species wrong, but a raccoon bank robber was a lot funnier.
Only a few comments this time so I will just say thanks. For the questions I will only say that you will have to wait to see what it is all about.