Loves Bond

Chapter 28 - Evil's Lair

"Your Honor, mammals of the jury," a tall, grey fox in an impressive suit, addressed with a wide flourish. Turning dramatically, he pointed one sharp claw at a uniformed rabbit that was sitting quietly behind a large, oak table. His eloquent voice cracked like a bull whip as he finished his opening declaration, "that rabbit assaulted my client!"

The grey furred fox stood in the center of the courtroom with his paw held level with his shoulder. He wore a sharply cut black suit with a crisp, bronze tie that matched his eyes. A well groomed tail swished from side to side, and his pawstraps had been polished till they glowed. His outstretched paw shook with a fervor like he had just condemned the police officer to a life sentence.

Room E7 of Zootopia's Central Municipal Court was a small room with a high ceiling. It had been designed to accommodate mammals of all sizes, but only had a few rows for guest seating. A single, oak bench dominated the front of the room and along the right wall was a small box where the jury could witness all the proceedings.

Two large oak tables sat divided before the judge's bench, leaving barely enough room for the attorneys to perform. On the left side of the bench was a small desk where a middle-aged mammal fastidiously typed every word that was spoken. Behind the two tables was a low, wooden railing separating the court proceedings from the guest's seating area.

Sitting behind the large and imposing bench, was a rotund and furless boar, dressed in a pure black robe. A pair of brass rimmed spectacles rested on top of his round snout as he gazed down at the grey fox. In one hoof was a solid, wooden mallet that seemed slightly too large for his cloven hoof.

Seated before the table, on the right side of the room, were a strange mix of mammals. First was one of the city prosecutors. The prosecutor was a smartly dressed hart deer in a rich, brown suit. To his right stood a small, grey rabbit dressed in her daily patrol uniform. She even wore her standard chest protection and police issue utility belt. Next to the small police officer was a very large and overly posh hippopotamus. Her earrings and dress screamed of the latest fashion, while her nails and make-up were tastefully elegant.

The table on the left side of the court had one single occupant, seated amongst stacks of paper files. He was a lanky chipmunk dressed in a blue, striped shirt with plain white buttons down the middle. While straining to look over the large table, his neck was encased in a stiff brace. His left wrist was also covered in a thick white plaster and his tail was wrapped in some kind of sling.

In the jury's box was a variety of mixed mammals. To the casual observer, it looked like they had been pulled randomly off the street, but as every mammal in the city knew, a very intense vetting process was required to attend any criminal hearing in the jury's box. The uniformed rabbit noticed that only one, small predator sat on the jury today.

In the center of the floor, the defense attorney was making his statements in response to the prosecution's opening. This fox was well known for taking on the toughest of cases and would not back down from a challenge, but his services did not come cheaply.

Lowering his paw, the fox lawyer stepped towards the jury. His tone immediately shifted from accusatory to compassionate, "As the police footage clearly shows, she leapt across the plaza with all her strength to crash into my client, who is a much smaller mammal."

Again, a fierce determination crossed his muzzle as he held an open paw towards the table on the left. "Mr. Acornson is less than half the size of Ms. Hopps."

"Officer Hopps," the city prosecutor interjected calmly as he tapped his pen on the top of the oak table.

Coughing, the fox continued, "Officer Hopps, crashed into Mr. Acornson causing serious bodily harm to his neck, left forepaw and tail. Her use of excessive force goes beyond mere harassment and is clearly police brutality."

"While Mr. Acornson had mistakenly taken that purse," the defense attorney continued. "He did not deserve to be assaulted and brutalized by this inexperienced cop."

Judy rolled her eyes as the fox continued his story and skillfully played on the heartstrings of the jury. She looked over at the elevated stands filled with a mix of random mammals and wondered why they were even here. This had been a simple case of purse snatching, but after the culprit had been arrested, everything somehow managed to go horribly wrong.

Looking to her left, Judy remembered what the hart had said to her in the hall outside. "The only reason we are allowing a jury on this case is because of what was in that purse. Unfortunately, Mrs. Reeds was carrying a priceless heirloom in her purse at the time. So the estimated value of goods stolen is worth more than my limited edition Rexus."

Rubbing her paws together nervously, she leaned on the edge of the tall oak table. She had been called to court a few times in the past to testify against traffic violators who wanted to contest their tickets. A simple statement and demonstration of the radar gun's readouts was all it usually took for the judge to enforce the ticket's full charge. This case had started out fairly small, but now it had grown into something so much bigger.

As the fox was wrapping up his performance, the hart leaned over and whispered, bringing her thoughts back to the present. "Be careful with this one. It looks like he is going to attack your credibility next."

In response, Judy nodded nervously. This early in the morning, she had been given little time to prepare for her testimony. As soon as she walked into the precinct's lobby, Clawhauser told her she needed to appear in court. With only a few minutes to review the case files that she herself had written, she was now seated next to the prosecutor. Her heart caught in her throat as she listened to the defender's story about how she had viciously harmed the thief during his arrest.

Deep down, she knew the defense could never stand on his accusations, but listening to the protracted tale, she began to wonder. Had she really leapt too hard? Did she actually break his wrist and injured his tail? Did she remember to announce herself as an officer of the law and properly urge him to stop? All of these doubts raced through her mind moments before the fox lawyer called her name loudly and clearly.

"I call Officer Judy Hopps to the stand!"

A deep puff of air escaped her narrowed lips, and she pushed away from the large table. Before she could hop off the large chair, the hart leaned over and spoke softly, "Don't let them see that they get to you."

Once her plush paws hit the tiled floor, she looked up at the prosecutor and tilted her head. "What? What did you say?"

While pushing Judy's chair back against the table, the hart leaned down and whispered to the rabbit officer, "This guy is obviously taking the offensive, so keep your emotions in check. After reviewing the tapes from your body cam, it is clear that you didn't do anything wrong."

With a silent nod, Judy walked behind the prosecutor's large chair and towards the center of the courtroom. As she passed on his left, he added one more comment that was so quiet, Judy wasn't sure if she had even heard it, "He was resisting arrest. Stick with that and you will be fine."

Resting one paw on her growing belly, Judy waddled up to the judge's bench. Taking a right, she headed around the bench to the witness stand. An old rhino in a police uniform waited for her with the swinging gate held open. He also held out one hoof as she hopped up into the chair.

As she had slowly walked across the room, someone had raised the seat in the witness stand, so she could sit there comfortably, unlike her previous seat. This time, her eyes did not peak barely above the huge bench, but she could see the entire room clearly and most of her upper body was also visible to the court.

Once she was seated, the judge turned to her and asked, "Are you comfortable, Officer Hopps?"

"Yes. Sir," she nodded and patted her paws on her lap.

"Good," the black robed pig declared. "Then let us proceed." He then turned towards the court and announced in his outside voice, "The prosecution will interview the witness first."

Across the room, the fox huffed loudly as he sat next to his client. "Twenty years of defending, and the prosecution always goes first."

Without turning his head due to the stiff neck brace, the chipmunk snickered and replied, "If you wanted to go first, maybe you should switch sides."

Snorting, the defense attorney gasped out his response, "Are you kidding." He then took a long sip from his glass of ice water before adding under his breath, "Nobody trusts a fox."

While the defendant was conversing with his lawyer, the hart had risen from his chair, smoothed his tie and gracefully strolled towards the stand. Once he arrived at the desk, he comfortably placed his hoof on the polished oak surface and smiled at the rabbit. His attempts to calm the nervous officer worked, as she let out a slow breath and returned his smile.

"Officer Hopps?" The briskly dressed heart asked, his smile never left his muzzle. "Your title is Officer Hopps, correct?"

"Yes," Judy spoke into the long, skinny microphone standing on the edge of the bench. Coughing, she added, "I am Officer Hopps."

"And you are an officer of the Zootopia Police Department?"

Someone in the jury snickered at the obvious question, causing the hart to turn and look the witness directly in the eye. "This is for the record, so please answer the question."

Leaning forward, Judy once again spoke directly into the microphone. Her clear voice could be heard around the room and up to the top of the high ceiling, "Yes, that is correct. I am an officer of the ZPD."

"Thank you, Officer Hopps." He then removed his arm from the stand and looked towards the jury. When he next spoke he made sure to emphasize her title, "Officer Hopps, can you please tell the court, in your own words, what happened when you arrived on the scene in question?"

"Of course," she stated clearly, but slowly rubbed her paws on her uniform pants. "Fangmeyer and I were driving up Main Street when I heard someone cry, 'Stop thief! Somebody help, please!'"

"And do you know who it was that was calling for help?"

Nodding again, Judy answered, "Yes. It was Mrs. Reeds." She then pointed a clawed finger at the fashionable hippo sitting behind the large table on the right.

"What happened after you heard the call, Officer Hopps?"

"I told Officer Fangmeyer to pull over. As she quickly stopped the car and pulled up to the curb, I informed her of the situation and jumped out of the car."

"Ok, officer. Go on."

"It only took me a moment to spot Mrs. Reeds, who was still yelling for help. When I approached her and told her I was with the police, she then exclaimed, 'That awful mammal stole my purse.'"

Pausing, Judy took a slow breath before continuing. "She then pointed to a chipmunk racing ahead. He was dragging a purse that was nearly twice as large as he was. I was surprised he was able to lift it, let alone run at the same time."

"What did you do next, Officer?"

Leaning towards the mic again, Judy replied, "I took chase. Running after the thief, I called out, 'ZPD, stop!' as procedure dictates. When he heard me, I saw him turn his head and look at me. After that, he jumped and climbed up the nearest giraffe." The jury and the crowd gasped at her description of the culprits' unorthodox escape.

"Once I arrived, the chipmunk had already leapt from the giraffe's neck and into a nearby tree. I watched him jump down from the tree onto the elevated concourse along Leak Avenue."

Judy had to take a few slow breaths to slow her racing heart from the remembered chase. "The stairs were about a block further along, and I know that I am not very good at climbing trees, so I jumped on top of a nearby stall before leaping up to the concourse."

She took another pause and rubbed her paws on her pants again before continuing. "Once I had jumped over the short railing, I looked around for the fleeing chipmunk. When I finally spotted him, he was about halfway across Leak Avenue, I called out to him again, 'ZPD, freeze!' Again, I saw him turn and yell something back in my direction."

"Now he had the purse held above his head and was making good time across the street. It was obvious that he was resisting arrest, so I decided to take more decisive action to apprehend him. After running to the edge of the street, I jumped onto a nearby trash receptacle and from there, jumped over the street."

Lifting his head slightly, the hart looked at the rabbit officer in wonder. "Fully geared and in uniform, what is the distance of your standing long jump, Officer?"

"My jump?" Judy asked, puzzled at the interruption.

"Yes, exactly how far can you jump when in uniform."

"Oh, yes," she nodded. "From a stand still, I can probably jump about 7 and a half meters along the ground."

"Easily enough to cross two Leak Avenues."

"Yes, definitely. And I was running at the time. With the height I gained from that fancy trash can, I was easily able to catch up to Mr. Acornson."

"Ok, Officer, let me stop you there." He turned towards the jury before asking. "I want to make sure I heard you correctly. Did you announce yourself as an officer of the law while you were in pursuit?"

"Yes," Judy said, leaning into the mic. "We are trained to announce ourselves during every pursuit, there is no mistake that Mr. Acornson knew I was a cop."

"And one last question, Officer Hopps."

"Go ahead."

"When you finally apprehended Mr. Acornson, was he still carrying Mrs. Reeds' purse?"

"Yes," she declared very clearly, with an unrabbit-like smirk at the chipmunk across the room.

Turning toward the black robed pig, the city prosecutor tapped the bench and said, "No further questions, Your Honor." With a satisfied strut in his step, he returned to his seat and never once looked at the defense's table.

"The defense may question the witness next," the judge stated in a neutral, almost bored tone.

"Thank you, Your Honor," the grey fox nodded before slipping from his own chair with a paw full of papers. He then glided up to the stand where a stool waited. Standing on the stool, he was able to look the rabbit officer directly in the eyes.

His voice was as smooth as silk and sweet as honey when he spoke to the rabbit, yet every word felt like a lie. She had spent enough time around foxes to know that something felt extremely wrong with this lawyer, and his words turned her stomach.

"Officer Hopps," he started like he was asking her on a date. "How much time did you spend questioning Mrs. Reeds?"

"Um," Judy stuttered for a second before answering. "It was only a brief moment."

"What is a 'brief moment'?" He moved his claws in a quoting motion. "Can you give us an exact measurement? A few seconds or a minute?"

"Yes, it was only a few seconds."

"And was that long enough for her to give you all of the details of her situation? Why was she calling for help?"

"It was long enough for her to tell me that Mr. Acornson stole her purse."

Once again, chocolate and honey flowed from the fox's mouth, but his words were sharp and coarse. "Is that right, Officer? In your own words, you said, and I quote." He lifted his notes and read from them. "'That awful mammal stole my purse, 'that awful mammal." He paused, looking at the jury suspiciously, before continuing, "Are you unable to remember your own words from a few minutes ago?"

Cutting off the lawyer before he could attack her memory further, she said, "She also pointed directly at Mr. Acornson."

He turned back towards the rabbit on the stand. "And you believed a strange hippo who was yelling in the middle of a crowded plaza?"

"Definitely. Mr. Acornson was obviously fleeing with something that did not belong to him."

"How do you know that the object he was carrying wasn't his? The video footage we saw earlier only shows a brief glimpse of a mammal through the crowd. How did you, a small rabbit, make such a quick decision?"

"I saw the object he was dragging was a ladies purse designed for a mammal many times his size. Besides, it was too fashionable for him."

Every woman and some of the males in the jury chuckled at Judy's last comment.

Looking back at the jury, he threw one paw in the air. "That is what's called profiling, Officer. Something that is far too common in the ZPD these days." He then pointed an accusatory finger at the rabbit.

Judy's fist came down on the edge of the oak stand. "I stand by my decision!"

"Good," the fox muttered.

"Mrs. Reeds pointed directly at Mr. Acornson and the bag in his paws was too large and shiny. I followed my training and took pursuit."

Quickly changing his line of questioning, the fox asked another question, "How fast can you run?"

Without flinching at the fox's quick shift, Judy leaned forward and calmly replied, "41 kilometers per hour in full gear." Her paws motioned towards the utility belt at her hips.

"That's quite impressive." Again he looked at his notes before turning back to the witness. "If you are so fast, then why did you need to leap across the street to assault my client."

"Objection," the prosecution declared. "It was an arrest, not assault."

"Sustained," the judge responded.

"Thank you, Your Honor," the fox said in tones that were as smooth as freshly woven silk. It was obvious to the rabbit that this fox would continue to play the court no matter how things shifted and turned in the moment. He then looked back at the rabbit and rephrased his question, "Why did you leap across the street to 'arrest' my client?"

Leaning back, Judy thought for a second before answering, "It seemed the fastest option at the time."

"Why?" He asked firmly. "Why were you in such a hurry? You could have clearly outrun him on a bad day. Yet you chose the most violent and forceful method."

Blinking, Judy's ears fell and her jaw hung open. No words escaped her lips, but her mind raced. Why had she done it? Why had she chosen to leap across the street and land on that poor innocent chipmunk? This fox's smooth and friendly tone now had her second guessing her own decisions.

Was this it? Was this the end, where she confessed all of her bad decisions before a court of law? Her stomach churned once again, and she began to feel the increasing urge to use the restroom.

Her head lowered for a moment and her mouth opened. Before she could mumble something inane, a glint of light flashed from the diamond on her paw. Her engagement ring glittered in the fluorescent lights, and she tilted her paw to watch it sparkle. Another fox had given her that ring with a promise. A promise to live together and build a family, even if it was only the two, or three of them.

She grasped the ring with her claws and twisted it around her finger. Back and forth she turned the ring and watched how it changed in the light. It fascinated her how the facets caught and reflected the artificial light from the ceiling high above.

The memory of how her own fox had knelt and proposed to her last night brought her resolve back to the forefront of her emotions. With one more twist of the ring, she lifted her chin and her ears stood erect. She leaned forward and once again spoke clearly into the microphone.

"Once Mr. Acornson had crossed the street, I was not sure what he would do next."

"Oh? Please clarify," the grey fox said with an almost sickeningly sweet tone.

"He could have run for the alley, or the crowd. He could have climbed another mammal, or dove for an open car door." Her conviction continued to grow as she spoke. "There were too many escape options on the far side of the street that I could not take a chance."

"You could not take the chance?" The fox repeated her words with a huff. He turned towards the jury again. "She could not take the chance, so she chose to cause serious bodily harm to my client."

"That is not what I said," Judy declared fiercely.

Glaring, the fox turned back to the witness. "With your incredibly swift paws, you could have easily caught up to him before he had a chance to flee." Scoffing, the fox cried towards the jury, "But no, she could not take the chance and leapt through the air. When she landed, she nearly broke my client's neck and tail. She could have killed him with the assault." The last part caused the entire courtroom to gasp.

Suddenly, he returned to glare at the rabbit and waved his notes in her muzzle. "Because of your rash decision, my client has had to spend weeks in the hospital and will require months of physical therapy before he can recover." He held up a clawed paw as his gaze returned to the sympathetic jury. "If he recovers."

Once again, her emotions nearly overtook her small body. What was wrong with this fox? Why was he so determined to rip her limb from limb and leave nothing but a smoking corpse behind? She wanted to snap at his arrogant muzzle and tell him exactly what she thought of his delusions and twisted words.

Before she opened her short muzzle, she glanced across the courtroom and spotted the hart, in his fancy suit and his uniquely curved horns. His expression was calm, with not an ounce of concern on his muzzle. When their gazes met, he simply nodded towards her with a knowing smile.

How could he be so calm and relaxed at a time like this? How could he just sit there while this awful fox cut her down and exposed every flaw? Then she remembered the words he had told her before she walked up here, and how they echoed another fox she knew.

Judy took a deep breath and gulped. She swallowed all the harsh words that waited eagerly to fly from her tongue. Looking into the fox lawyer's steely grey eyes, she leaned towards the mic and coldly replied, "He was resisting arrest."

Glaring back at the rabbit, the fox harshly responded, his silky smooth tones had completely vanished, "Is that your answer then?"

"Yes, it is," the rabbit replied. "Your client," she waved a paw in the chipmunk's direction, "refused to stop when ordered, that is why I was required to use all necessary force to prevent his advance."

"Does necessary force include incompetence?" The fox demanded.

Standing up in her chair, Judy slightly raised her voice, "I was required to forcibly restrain Mr. Acornson after he fought back. He continued to resist arrest even after he was cuffed, and I was forced to drag him to the squad car."

The defense attorney's smooth tones quickly returned as he asked, "And how long have you been pregnant, Officer Hopps?"

"Objection," the prosecutor called from across the room. "The officer's current condition has no bearing on this case."

Once again, the judge replied, "Sustained." He then turned towards the fox and added, "This is highly irregular, Mr. Flynn. Do you have a point to make with this line of questioning?"

"No, Your Honor." Without so much as a huff, the fox turned and climbed off his stool. "I have no further questions for this witness."

Once the fox had returned to his seat, the judge looked at Judy and said, "If there are no further questions, then you may step down, Officer."

"Thank you, Your Honor," Judy said before she leaped from the stand in one smooth motion. Carefully, she waddled back to the prosecution's table. Before stepping behind the hart, she looked up at him and stated firmly, "I need to use the restroom."

"Go ahead, Officer. I am sure we can carry on without you for a little while."

With her chin held high, the uniformed rabbit marched down the aisle and through the huge doors that led out of the courtroom. It was a good thing that none of the guests in attendance watched her as she passed, since her emotions riled and were close to boiling over. She needed to find someplace private, and her bladder gave her the perfect excuse to retreat.

The giant courthouse's public restroom was huge. Designed for mammals of all sizes, it had sinks and stalls for everything from mice to elephants. Unfortunately, all the small mammal stalls were out of order today.

For the second time since leaving the comfort of the burrow, Judy was forced to use a toilet that was two sizes too large for her small tail. Instead of leaping up to the slick porcelain, she chose to carefully climb up the side. Her paws grasped the inside of the seat, and she pulled with her strong arms. She was glad for her intense workouts over the last several years because the kit growing inside of her belly was becoming very heavy. The hind claws slipped several times on the slick, white surface, but she was eventually able to pull herself up to the toilet's seat.

Surrounded by profane graffiti, Judy clung to the edge of the toilet seat. She did not care who she could call for a good time or any of the other vulgar things drawn on the walls, but her mind dwelled on everything the horrible fox had said. The worst part was that she had to sit there in the witness box and listen to his accusations. A courtroom was no place for a shouting match.

Once she had relieved herself, the tears broke loose. Being forced to hold onto the edge of the seat or risk falling in, she let the tears flow freely. The last few days had been filled to the brim with so many ups and downs that she had not had the chance to let it all soak in.

Yesterday, she had spent hours struggling to fit into her old witch costume until she finally gave up and chose the fox costume instead. Then there had been the baby shower and costume party with her friends, followed by dinner. And finally, her boyfriend had proposed in the same place that they had first become friends.

To top all of that excitement and joy, this dreadful lawyer was trying to prove that she was an incompetent police officer. It felt like her first day all over again and this time, she let the tears run down her cheeks in a pair of parallel rivers.

Between heartful sobs, a large voice from the next stall called, "Let it all out, honey."

Sniffling and hiccuping, Judy tried to respond, "Th-thank you." She reached up her paw to wipe at her dripping nose, but her tail began to slip into the huge bowl. Quickly, she grasped the edge of the seat again before she could slip any further.

"Everything is going to be alright," the unknown mammal said. "Just give it time, and you will see."

"Uh, ok," the rabbit sniffled before climbing back down from the large toilet. She did not want to explain her entire situation to this strange mammal, so she simply replied, "Ok. I will try."

With her paws back on solid ground, Judy was able to wipe at her eyes. She dried her eyes as she put her uniform back on and wiped the drips from her nose before exiting the stall. Washing up in a sink for small mammals, she left the ladies room and returned to the court.

As she slid into a seat designed for small guests, she saw that the case had taken a turn. Mr. Acornson was on the stand and the city prosecutor was asking about his accomplices. It was also apparent that his real name wasn't even Acornson.

The defendant was not a small-time purse snatcher, but an international art thief who was suspected as an accomplice for numerous high profile crimes. During the questioning, the hart, asked where the other's on his team were. He even asked how they had convinced Mrs. Reeds to leave the house on that day with that specific set of jewelry.

Evidence was also presented that over the prior month, several attempts to steal the heirloom had been foiled. Blurry images of the chipmunk and various other mammals could be seen at the previous crime scenes. After this new evidence, the prosecutor noted that the team may have been desperate and decided to try purse snatching in broad daylight. They had not counted on a small cop like Judy being able to catch the smaller thief before he could disappear.

When the injuries were once again mentioned, the hart pulled out the hospital report and presented it to the judge. "Your Honor. If you note the signature of Dr. Lemrick, whom we know is on the mob's payroll."

"This is disturbing indeed," the judge replied as he scrutinized the hospital reports.

"I have no further questions, Your Honor," the prosecutor declared as he took his seat.

After that, it didn't take long for the jury to come to a verdict. The thief would go to prison and serve his sentence in Zootopia before being shipped overseas. His crimes were numerous and far-reaching, so he would spend the rest of his life touring each of the world's criminal justice systems.


Judy was humming warmly. She sat in her police cruiser, subconsciously playing with her new, diamond ring while she hummed. There was not much of a melody or a tune to her random humming, but it expressed the warmth she felt on that chill, autumn morning.

Her cruiser was still parked behind the Central Municipal Courthouse while she thought over what had happened inside. She had been called to testify at a simple purse snatching that had turned into a much bigger jewel heist.

After the roller coaster of emotions when the thief's lawyer attempted to prove her incompetence, she was almost disappointed that she had not been the detective to discover how deep the case went. Now she sat in the car thinking about everything that had happened.

On the day of the theft, she had returned the purse to the hippo and put the culprit in Officer Fangmeyer's car. After that, she had thought little of the case until Mrs. Reeds brought in a team of lawyers about a week later.

That was a month ago, and Judy had other things on her mind at the time. She rubbed her growing belly fondly. By the time this case blew out of proportion, she was busy trying to find the father of her kit. It had never occurred to her that it was the fox that she loved the most.

Thought's of Nick swelled her heart again, and the humming grew louder. She held the new ring up to the slowly rising sunlight that began to fill her car. It had only been a few hours since the fox placed this sparkling gem on her finger, and everything about it fascinated her. Her heart sang in her ears as she watched the clear gem sparkle in the light.

Before she could start the next bar of her unnamed song, the phone in her pocket rang. When she lifted it into the air, she noticed a fluffy, yellow and black spotted muzzle grinning back at her.

Swiping up with her claw, she answered the phone. "Hello, Clawhauser. How are you on this wonderful day?"

Before she could tell him of the good news, his urgent voice called across the miles, "Judy. Judy, I am so glad I got a hold of you first."

Puzzled, Judy replied, "What's going on, Ben? You know, I have been in court for the last two hours."

"Oh, right, right, sorry," he quickly stumbled over his own words. "Do you remember that evidence you left with the lab last week?"

"Which evidence, Clawhauser?" All thoughts of foxes fled as her mind leapt into the next case. "Please slow down, I can barely understand what you're saying."

"Alright, alright," the big cat panted. After a few short breaths, his breathing began to slow.

"Feeling better?" The rabbit asked. "Now which evidence are we talking about?"

The cheetah's speech sped up again, "The fur you found after your apartment was broken into. Remember, you had the lab analyze it?"

"Yes, Clawhauser. I spoke to Dr. Phil last week, and he said that they could not even tell what kind of mammal it was."

"I didn't know that. He is standing right here and told me that they found a match." His words flew by like a supersonic jet plane.

"A match!" Judy exclaimed. "A match with whom?"

"With the killer!" Clawhauser nearly screamed through the phone. "He says they found the killer."

"What killer?" The rabbit's nose twitched furiously as she asked again, "Which killer?"

"Gazelle," was the last word that escaped from the cheetah's lips before he began to hyperventilate and nearly passed out. In the background, Judy could hear a small voice using numerous big words.

"I can't hear you, doctor. Can you step closer to the phone?"

After several scratching noises, the mouse doctor's voice came through much clearer. "I was just telling Ben that he shouldn't get so worked up over this one pop star." A brief pause followed, and Judy could picture the tiny mammal scratching his chin. "This reminds me of a time when I met a young, northern lass who used to pass out whenever the…"

"Never mind that, doctor," Judy interrupted. "You were going to tell me about the fur from my apartment matching that of a killer."

"Yes, of course," the mouse stated, after recovering from the interruption. "We went back to sequencing the base nucleotides and found an array of similarities in the autosomal chromosomes and were able to create a model of ancestral genes whereby…"

Shaking her head, Judy cut in once again, "In Zootopian please doctor."

"Oh, sorry," he mumbled. "Suffice it to say, that with several more hours of work, we were able to pinpoint the original mammal from that fur you brought us."

"That's great, doctor," she cheered.

"Some sequences looked familiar to me, so I ran them through the database, and it came back with a positive for a lock that was found in the Palm Court case."

A cold shiver ran up her spine and her ears fell, but the little pink nose quickened its pace. "What exactly are you saying, doctor?"

"Whoever was in your apartment was also present at the murder of Gazelle's sister."

The phone fell to her lap as both paws suddenly flew to cover her muzzle. "No," she cried and shook her head.

After the moment of shock passed, she picked up the phone again and asked, "Do we know who it is?"

"Yes," the mouse coughed into his tiny paw. "Dr. Leah Pembroke."

"What!" The rabbit gasped again in shock. "How do you know that?"

"If you remember, you brought in a patch of skin and fur the other day."

"Yes," Judy nodded. The blood slowly fled her muzzle, leaving her once pink nose pale and sickly in appearance.

"The fur that was attached was an exact match for what was in your apartment."

"No, no, no," she mumbled as she shook her head back and forth. "This can't be true."

"Believe me, Officer Hopps. I am as shocked as you are."

"I, I," Judy stuttered. "I took that sample without consent, so we can't use it in court."

"That's ok, officer."

"What," the rabbit blinked. "Why?"

"I went ahead and pulled her dental records."

"You did what?"

"The teeth marks on the victim's throat didn't make sense to me at first. They were clearly canine, but not like any canine I had ever seen."

"Ok?" She asked as her ears rose, and the blood slowly returned to her muzzle.

"Knowing that the suspect was a hybrid makes so much more sense." Tapping his long chin, he continued, "That was why the lateral incisors were out of place and there was an extra cuspid…"

"What do you mean, doctor?"

"Well, I am sure you have noticed, but Dr. Pembroke is what we call an asymmetric hybrid. It's a very uncommon condition that comes from an unbalanced mix of genes."

"How do you know all this about hybrids?"

"Oh, I sat through one of her lectures many years ago. It hardly made any sense then, but I later realized that she was actually talking about her own condition. With all that genetic manipulation, it's a miracle that she is even alive."

Judy stared at the phone for several seconds, trying to digest what the tiny forensic scientist had said. "So now that we have proof that she is the murderer, what do we do next?"

"Oh, oh, oh!" Clawhauser exclaimed as he sat up in his chair. Clinging to the buttons on the big cat's uniform, Dr. Phil hung on for dear life. Once the mouse had hopped onto the receptionist's desk, Clawhauser continued, "I am sending you a copy of the warrant. It should come out on the car's printer in a few moments."

Waiting for the printer under the passenger seat to finish whirring and belching paper, Judy looked on. After the sheets had been deposited on the floor of the squad car, she picked them up and scanned their contents.

"I have the arrest warrant, and a search and seizure. Has Bogo sent a team to pick her up yet?"

"He is also right here, Judy," Clawhauser said as he fumbled the phone. "Oof, ugh. Sorry. Here you go, sir."

"Not yet, Hopps," the police chief's voice cut in as he took the phone from the large cheetah. "Since you are close to this doctor, I want you to try to bring her in first."

"Understood, sir," the rabbit nodded.

"Peacefully, Hopps," the giant buffalo added.

"Yes, Sir!"

After the phone disconnected, Judy sat staring at the sheets of paper for several minutes. Her mind was in tatters. Nothing made any sense, and she spoke her thoughts aloud, "How could this be happening?" How could her doctor, her OBGYN, be a murderer?

Her mind ran in circles as she glanced back and forth between the two sheets in her paws. The warrant was very explicit. Dr. Pembroke was to be detained and brought to the precinct for questioning. In her other paw, the search and seizure detailed that all possessions in the home and places of work could be searched and collected as evidence.

Several minutes passed, but she was still not convinced that this was happening. Doubt filled her mind until she realized one thing, and it brought an urgent question to the forefront. Why had Dr. Pembroke been in her apartment? Why had she broken her furniture, dumped her clothes on the floor, and then poured stale beer over everything?

This question now burned in Judy's mind. Her ears rose quickly into the air and her nose twitched in determination. She was going to get to the bottom of things, but first she had to ask the good doctor, "Why?"

She knew that she wasn't going to be able to do this alone. Sure, she could talk to the hybrid coyote and try to convince her to come in on her own, but she was going to need backup in case things got out of paw. Her first thought was to call Fangmeyer.

As the sun rose slightly higher in the sky, a glint of its light crossed the interior of the police cruiser. That narrow shaft of light fell across the rabbit's engagement ring where it split into a thousand tiny pieces. Each small piece of light broke into separate colors as they danced around the narrow cabin. One of those beams struck the rabbit directly in the eye.

Seeing the light sparkle and reflect off her ring, Judy was reminded that she already had a partner. A partner for life, who had her back and would stand by her no matter what, until the end of their days.

Or so he had promised. They had not yet married, but she would still hold her fox to his promises.

Picking up her phone again, she pressed the icon with a smirking red fox. After several long minutes, Nick finally answered, "Carrots, what can I get for you today?" Before she could reply, he added, "I never thought I would hear the lovely sound of my fiance's voice so early in the morning."

"Nick," Judy sighed at the reminder that they had only recently been engaged.

"Yes, dear?" Nick asked with his own heart catching in his throat.

"Nick, I need you."

"I need you too, sweetheart."

"No, I'm serious," Judy cried into the speaker. "I need you, right now!"

The lovey dovey tone vanished from his voice, "Why? What's wrong?" A creaking sound could be heard like he was sitting up straight in his chair. "Is it the baby?"

"No. Yes!" She exclaimed, nodding her head. "Yes, the baby. I need you to tell your boss that your pregnant fiance needs you to meet her at the hospital." Her paw began to slowly rub her extended belly.

A strong sense of urgency filled the fox's voice. "What is wrong with the baby? The doctor said it shouldn't be due for at least another month."

"There is nothing wrong with the baby, Nick," Judy explained. "I just really need you to meet me at the hospital as soon as you can get there."

"Ok, I will be there, but I need you to tell me why."

"Bogo, just told me to arrest my doctor."


"Janice was it?" The uniformed rabbit asked the nurse on the other side of the counter.

"Yes. I am Janice," the gazelle replied, leaning forward to better see the pair standing in front of the reception desk. "How can we help the police today?"

The lobby of the Pembroke Family Planning Clinic was broad, with a variety of seats designed for small, medium and large mammals. In one corner was a long, curved desk where a pair of ungulates, dressed in plain blue scrubs sat. At each end of the desk were two, tightly sealed doors that required authorized badges to open. Except for the security doors, everything else in the lobby was warm and cozy.

Promotional posters hung from the walls, showing happy families playing with their offspring in several outdoor settings. One showed a litter of cubs building a sand castle with their parents, while another was a pair of foals running through a backyard sprinkler. Many of the posters even had pregnant mothers enjoying life in the home with their spouses.

In the opposite corner from the reception desk, was a play area for young mammals. A large rug marked the area with its colorful pattern of interwoven puzzle pieces. On an oval coffee table sat several kit-safe plastic toys. There were even several coloring books, stacked neatly on one, bright yellow end table.

Stepping closer to the counter, Judy spoke with an authoritative tone, "I am Officer Hopps, and this is Officer Wilde. We are here to speak with Dr. Pembroke."

"She's not.." A yak sitting nearby started to say before the gazelle cut her off with a sharply raised hoof.

Smiling warmly back at the rabbit, Janice's reply was well practiced, "Do you have an appointment?"

"I do, " Judy nodded. "But it isn't until later this afternoon."

Nick stepped forward and placed his paw on top of the counter. "We are here as representatives of the ZPD, not expecting parents. As officers of the law, we need to speak with your director."

"I am sorry," Janice said, shaking her head and folding her hooves together in her lap. "But I cannot let you in the building without an appointment."

Judy hopped up on top of the counter and made sure that the gazelle could see the brass badge pinned to her chest. "We urgently need to speak with the doctor." She paused for a second before adding, "Please."

"You're pregnant," the gazelle noted to the rabbit standing on top of her desk. "I thought I recognized you two. You're patients here."

"Yes," Judy beamed when the nurse remembered her. "We were here last week for my ultrasound."

"That's great. I hope the pictures turned out alright." She then looked over at the fox. "And if I remember correctly, he is the father."

"Disgusting. That is wholly unnatural," the yak said with a shake of her dreads.

"Hush, Sue-Ann," Janice chastised as her hoof rose up to the same height as her slender shoulders.

Crossing her arms, Sue-Ann sat back into her chair with an angry huff. She then scooted her chair away from the desk and watched the scene unfold.

Smiling warmly back at the gazelle, Nick leaned on the counter and asked, "So now that we are all friends here, can you let us in to see your boss?"

"No," she said flatly while shaking her head again.

"And why not?" The rabbit pleaded.

"This is highly irregular," Janice declared confidently. "We are a hospital and a research institute. For the safety and security of our patients and the research being performed, we cannot just allow anyone to march through our doors. Even if they are officers of the law."

"Even if we ask nicely?" Nick spoke with as much charm as he could muster.

"Nice try, but no. We cannot allow you into the secure area without an appointment or an invitation."

The smile that Judy had worn during the entire conversation vanished and her ears rose to their fully upright position. Her tone became cold and firm as she declared, "I am done playing nice here." She pulled the warrants from behind her back and shoved them towards the gazelle's muzzle.

With as much authority as her small body could contain, Judy announced, "Here is the warrant for the arrest of one Dr. Leah Pembroke." She pointed a clawed finger at the nearest door as her voice rose. "Now, you will open that door and allow us access to the building, or by nature I will arrest your tail for obstruction of justice."

Janice refused to look at the recently printed copies of the arrest warrant, but glared back at the rabbit. She sat back in her chair and folded both arms across her chest. "Then that is what you are going to have to do, because I am not opening that door."

Shocked, Sue-Ann leaned over towards her coworker and asked, "Janice, what are you doing?"

"Stay out of this," the gazelle returned, slightly raising her voice.

"Just tell them already," the yak pleaded.

"Tell us what?" Judy asked and turned her glare on the larger ungulate.

"Pembroke is not even here."

Still smiling, Nick leaned closer to ask, "And where is she?"

"The main office, downtown," Sue-Ann replied matter of factly.

"Can you give us an address," the rabbit inquired firmly.

"Sure. It's over on Peak Street. The building and suite number are listed on the back of the brochure." The yak hoofed over one of the pamphlets that sat in a stack behind the desk.

The gazelle's smile returned once again as she leaned towards the counter. "We have cooperated with you, now is that everything?"

"Not quite," the rabbit stated flatly. She shuffled the papers in her paw and presented the second warrant to the gazelle. "This warrant also states that we have the right to search through her personal belongings." Pointing to a line of text near the middle of the page and read, "In the suspect's residence or place of work."

Lifting her head, Judy once again glared back at the gazelle whose smile was slowly fading. "Place of work. That means here." She pointed at the door again. "Now you can let us through that door or do I have to call the CSI department where they will shut this place down immediately. Then they will comb through this entire facility and bag everything as evidence where it will sit in a locker till the end of time."

"No," was the gazelle's only reply.

Judy then turned the sheet towards the yak. "Do you also intend to impede us further?"

The yak raised both hooves and shook her head before snidely remarking, "I am not helping a pair of sickos like you into our fine and upstanding facility. Go ahead and call those CS whatever people."

Growling, the rabbit turned towards her partner. Her ears lay flat against the back of her head and her nose hardly moved. The large front teeth that protruded from her muzzle ground together angrily.

The look on her muzzle was dangerous and Nick was afraid that she was about to do something rash. He reached out his paw and gently touched one of hers. Calmly he spoke in a reassuring tone, "Well, Carrots. It looks like they called your bluff."

"Bluff?" Judy asked as she squeezed her partner's paw. Winking at him, she answered her own question, "I still have one more trick up my sleeve."

Without another look at the two nurses, she hopped off the counter and pulled out her phone. It took several moments to find the number in her long list of contacts, but once she dialed, the other end picked up almost immediately.

Nick could not hear what the mammal on the other end was saying, but Judy's tone was friendly and her words were fast. He could spot a hustle from a mile away and he smiled when he realized how quickly Judy had learned the art.

"Dr. Bernese? Yes, hello. This is Judy. Yes, Judy Hopps. Right." Judy's paws also moved quickly as she talked. With one paw on the phone and the other holding the arrest warrants, she walked in a small circle in front of the reception desk. "When we met last week, you told me to give you a call. Of course, but somethings came up"

Walking up to her partner, she looked him directly in the eyes. Her gaze was almost enticing, and it made his tail itch. "I have something urgent to discuss with you. Yes, how about right now? No, I am standing in the lobby right now, can you meet me here? Great, thanks."

In less than five minutes, a honey badger with flecks of grey in her fur, stepped through the sealed door. She wore business attire that was borderline casual and had a friendly, comfortable feel. Smiling, she walked up to Judy and held out her paw in greeting. "Good morning, uh, Officer Hopps, and?"

Before the friendly badger could get close enough to shake paws, Judy thrust the warrants towards her muzzle. Her hind paw, slowly thumped on the floor in impatience.

"What is all this?" Dr. Bernese waved a paw at the papers and the police uniforms.

The rabbit's tone of authority returned with a vengeance, "We are here to arrest Dr. Pembroke." She waved a paw at the receptionist. "And these two mammals are refusing us access to the facility."

Taking the copies from Judy, the badger said, "I see." Looking over the second warrant, she then added, "Oh my." She folded the sheets under her arm and spoke to the two ungulates sitting behind the desk. "I will take care of these officers."

Standing, Janice put her hooves on the top of the counter and cried, "Doctor, don't!"

Glaring back at the gazelle, she said, "Just try and stop me." Looking over her shoulder she said, "Follow me, Judy. We will get this straightened out and don't worry about these two."

Dr. Bernese walked up to the security door, swiped her badge across the plate, waited a couple of heartbeats until it beeped, then opened the door with a swift tug. Nodding, she waved towards the two uniformed mammals, "After you, officers."

Stepping through the heavy doorway, Nick and Judy saw that the long hallway was comfortably decorated. Ferns and family paintings decorated the hall and the rug sported a calm and friendly pattern. The tough door quietly clicked shut behind them as their paws touched the plush rug.

The small badger stepped around the pair of officers to lead the way. "We will have to take the secure elevator to reach the director's office."

"Of course, doctor."

"We do know the way, but please lead on," the rabbit said with a nod.

When they entered the elevator, Dr. Bernese inserted a key, turned it and then selected the top floor. Once the doors shut and the lift began to rise, she let out her breath in a long sigh. She then turned to the rabbit and began to whisper, "We should be able to speak openly here, but it will have to be quick."

Judy took one step towards the family counselor with a small paw outstretched. "So you didn't want to just talk to me about becoming a new parent?"

The doctor shook her head. She looked down at her own paws and slowly inhaled before speaking, "There is something strange going on here and I don't know what to do or who to tell."

"What do you mean?" The rabbit urged sympathetically. Her head tilted to the side and her ears flopped in the same direction.

"Well," she started slowly. "Back in the summer, I started hearing rumors that Cindy has been seen wandering the halls."

"Cindy?" The fox asked without looking away from his intense examination of the elevator doors.

"Dr. Walia. William's ex-wife," the badger replied. When she only received more blank stares from both of the small cops, she expounded, "William was my co-worker. The ibex you arrested last summer."

"Oh, right. The speciest goat," Nick noted knowingly. He gulped at the dark memory of the same goat crashing into Finnick's van and tossing him into the back of his SUV.

Ignoring the fox's comment, Judy maintained her warm and friendly demeanor. "What kind of rumors have you heard about Cindy?"

The badger rubbed her paws together nervously as the elevator chimed that they had reached the third floor. She lowered her voice and whispered towards the rabbit's tall ears, "I heard that she has been going through patient records."

"How is that strange?"

"Cindy, never worked in this clinic, or the research department," Dr. Bernese declared firmly. "Yes, she is a doctor, but she works for a different facility."

Finally turning around, Nick snapped his fingers and asked, "Wait, isn't she supposed to be dead?" He then turned to Judy and added, "Didn't we look at her obituary and death report during that case?"

"Yes, I remember that," Judy answered. Her twitchy nose increased its pace, "But Wolfard also said the funeral service was extremely fishy."

"I never heard that she was dead," the counselor replied. "That only makes this even more creepy."

"Why is that?" Both cops asked at the same time.

The elevator dinged proudly that it had reached the fourth floor and the doors opened to a sterile room.

Nervously, the badger leaned over further and whispered, "Because I thought I saw her come out of one of our delivery rooms a month ago."

Quickly diverting the conversation, the blue uniformed fox stepped off the elevator and said clearly, "Thank you very much for all those parenting tips doctor, but we really should be getting to the director's office." He then held his paw to the side and waited for the ladies to exit.

Crossing the glass bridge to the other building only took a few moments, but Nick kept his nose in the air to avoid looking down. On the other side, it was a quick journey through the plain and bare halls to Dr. Pembroke's office.

When they reached their destination, the top floor office was very large for a medium sized mammal like the director. The ceiling was high enough that a bear or tiger would only have to tilt their heads to stand up inside the room. Opposite the door, the wall was filled with huge, glass windows. On the left of the door was a bookshelf covered with numerous nicknacks, exotic gifts and awards the doctor had acquired during her career. In the center of the room was a large desk with a clear, crystal top. The rest of the walls were covered in a rich, wood paneling.

Standing back in the hall, the short doctor declared softly, "This warrant states that you can search and confiscate her personal items, but the lab is still property of the clinic. Besides, it is far too dangerous to allow untrained mammals inside."

"We understand," Judy said confidently as she began to close the large door.

Waving to the badger, Nick added, "We will restrict our search to this office, doctor."

"I will go ahead and wait outside for you then," Dr. Bernese called as the door clicked loudly.

Nick tilted his head and he looked at the rabbit. "Why did you close the door?"

"Um," the rabbit mumbled. "I don't know." She then snickered loudly and walked up to the large bookshelf. "I felt that it would be a good idea to have some privacy for this search." Looking up and down the high shelf, she added, "Besides, the door was covering this section of shelves."

While Judy examined the shelves, she opened the drawers and cabinets that were near the floor. She picked up several odd items that looked like they were artifacts from primitive, jungle tribes. There was also an encyclopedia of medicine with enough volumes to cover three shelves. On another shelf were a couple of books describing modern robotics. Near the end of the row of shelves, she found something interesting in one of the cabinets.

It was a solid oak box with a heart shaped padlock barring the latch. "Hey, Nick," she called as she retrieved the heavy, yet small box. "I think I found an old jewelry box."

The fox, who had been examining the computer and the other items on top of the large desk, was instantly by her side. When he looked at what the rabbit held in her small paws, he said, "That lock looks more like what you find on a diary instead of a jewelry box."

"You might be right," the rabbit replied, hauling the heavy box towards the desk. "Will you help me open it?"

Patting down his uniform and utility belt, Nick looked around the room vaguely. "Sorry, Carrots, but I didn't bring my tools." When his gaze fell on the desk, he gasped in surprise.

Directly next to where Judy had set the box was a small stack of papers held together with a paperclip. Nick quickly removed the wire clip and began to twist it into odd shapes.

"You might want to turn around, Carrots," the fox cautioned.

"Why is that," Judy asked. For a brief second, she turned her head to glance out the large windows, curious what the fox had been looking at. When she turned back, she heard a small click and saw that her partner now held the fancy lock in the palm of his paw.

"Oh, it was nothing, dear." He waved his paw over the box with a flourish. "Why don't you do the honors?"

Rolling her eyes, the rabbit stepped up to the box. Reaching out her paws, she glared at the incorrigible fox. Inside the box was a small stack of neatly folded envelopes. She immediately recognized the name stylishly written on the front of the first envelope, "Leah."

"What are these?" Judy asked.

She lifted the first envelope from its resting place inside the box and noticed that a small scrap of paper was stuffed inside. It was a pawwritten letter on a torn pieces of expensive, watermarked paper. When held up to the light, the watermark looked like some kind of feline, but it was torn in half and hard to see clearly.

Dear Leah,

I long for the day when we can dance under the stars again. The memory of your soft paws and the sight of your two colored eyes haunts my dreams. Even the air I breathe reminds me of the taste of your sweet lips.

Huang Guo told me that you loved your last birthday present. She should be back in town again in a few months with another gift of equal rarity. I hope that you will enjoy this one as much as the others.

I have reserved an intimate table for two at the Skyline Bistro for Saturday evening. It would bring me great pleasure if you would join me.

All my love,

Lewis G

"Lewis G?" Judy remarked, tapping a black, shiny claw against her fluffy cheek.

"Gatoli," Nick answered.

"What? How do you know?"

"I recognize the signature from when we raided Gatoli's office."

"This is not good," Judy groaned. "Dr. Pembroke and Gatoli were working together?"

Rifling through the rest of the letters, Nick shook his head. "I think they were doing more than just working together." He held up another letter with a strong scent of perfume, "I think they were romantically involved." Holding the letter up for the rabbit to see, he continued, "This stuff is straight out of Romez and Juanita." Gagging he read a few lines, "You are my morning, my rising sun. To light my every step with your brilliance."

"That is so sweet," the rabbit cooed.

"Oh, not you too?"

The rabbit folded her arms across her well defined chest and glared at the fox. Her paw began to thump loudly on the floor.

After a full minute of the rabbit's glare, the fox tossed the love letter back into its box with a huff. He then returned to his search of the desk. Beneath the crystal top was a series of large drawers that he began to open one at a time.

Still glaring at the fox, Judy gathered up the remaining letters and stuffed them into a clear evidence bag. "You could learn a thing or two from this bobcat, Slick."

"So now you want poetry too, dear?"

She lifted her ringed finger and presented it to the fox. "We are engaged, and you have never sent me a single love letter. Not once."

Nick gulped at her comment before sticking his nose into the next open drawer. Inside were various office supplies and a small box of canine chew snacks.

Judy continued to berate the fox while he tried to ignore her. "Even though we are living together and going to be parents soon, I still want to be romanced."

"Romanced?" The fox lifted his head out of the drawer and looked at his partner curiously. "We went out to a very nice dinner last night. I bought you flowers and," he lifted her paw that held the fancy ring. "And a ring. What else would you want?"

Placing her paws on her hips, she winked at him before replying, "The world of course, dear. But I will accept some poetry to start with."

Turning and waving his paw towards the window, Nick asked exasperated, "How about the moon? All the girls are asking for the moon these days."

"Naw," she shook her head with a warm smile.

"Oh, why not?"

"There is already a rabbit on the moon."

"I see," the fox nodded before returning to his investigation. He pulled on the handle of the lowest and largest of the desk drawers. "I could chase him away for you," Nick started to say but was cut off by a sudden scream.

Nick quickly jumped back from the drawer. He wrapped both arms across his torso and stood on one hind paw like he had just seen a snake. His scream sounded exactly like a young school kit.

Inside the solid oak drawer was the head of a very dead goat. The hollow, empty eye sockets stare back at the fox blankly. A toothless grin smiled up from the lifeless head as it fell over inside the drawer.

"What?" Judy cried as she ran forward. When she spotted the head, she exclaimed, "Ew, gross."

Without a single hint of fear, she stepped up to the drawer. Reaching inside, she began to examine the dead head. Her finger poked at the side and the skull began to slowly cave in. It sank a few centimeters directly under where she had touched.

"Don't!" Nick cried as he returned to standing on both paws. He tried to grab his partner's shoulder before she touched the head any further, but he was too late, she already had both paws inside the drawer.

A cheerful squeak escaped her lips as she lifted the now collapsed head from the drawer. She held the head up to Nick as it flopped around like it was made of rubber. "Look Nick. It's just a mask." Then, she stuck her fingers through the eye holes and wiggled them at the fox.

"That can't be right," Nick uttered. He grabbed the mask from his partner and examined it cautiously. "This looks like real fur to me. This is not your typical, cheap, Spirit's Eve mask."

"Yeah," the rabbit nodded. "It reminds me of something you see in the movies."

Sniffing, the fox mentioned, "Dr. Pembroke's scent is all over it."

Judy also took a sniff of the mask but shrugged when she only smelled plastic and rubber. "How can you tell?"

Pointed at his long, black nose, Nick scoffed, "Sniffer training, remember."

Grabbing the mask from her fox, Judy stuffed it into another evidence bag and sealed it shut. "I think we have everything we need from here. We should head over to their downtown office and see if we can find the doctor there."

"Right. Let's go!" Nick exclaimed. Before they could rush out the door, he added, "I'll drive."


"It's all in the wrist, dear," a voice proclaimed from the other side of the large steel door.

The solid door was unremarkable in every aspect. It was built from a common alloy of stainless steel that had been brushed, giving the door a dull, grey finish. Slightly less than halfway up the door sat a steel ball that was used to turn the latch and open the door. In the center of the knob, was a single slit where a key could be inserted. Even the frame that held the door was lined with a boring white trim.

Wiggling a few times, the steel door knob gave a soft click and began to turn. Once the knob had made a one quarter revolution the door shifted and slid away from its frame. The hinges had been well maintained and the door swung open without any further sounds.

"Good job, Carrots," the voice cheered in half hushed tones. "I knew you could do it."

"Great," another, smaller voice huffed. "Now you have turned me into a thief."

As the door continued to swing open, the silhouette of a strange creature began to appear. It stood nearly as tall as the door knob, but seemed to have far too many appendages to be a mammal. Standing on two, short legs, it also had three sets of arms, two huge antennae sticking up from its small head and a third leg or something that it could have used for balance. That third leg also swished back and forth behind the creature, like it was sweeping the floor. Light from beyond the door was so bright that only an outline of the creature could be seen.

"We are not breaking and entering, Carrots," the first voice reminded. "Police code, and this warrant, states that we have the right to enter the premises to arrest a wanted murder."

"You know what I mean, Slick." One of the monster's arms swung down violently, like it was hitting itself where another of its arms protruded.

Once the door was more than halfway open, the creature took a few tentative steps forward. One of the many arms pushed gently against the door knob while the antennae twisted and turned like they were scanning the room. There was also the sound of many quick, short breaths like someone smelling a bouquet of flowers.

"Ok, we're in. You can put me down now," the second voice whispered. "Or do you think sneaking around like this will intimidate our suspect?"

"Har, har," the first voice replied. Before the words had finished echoing around the room, the monster began to split in two. The upper half lifted away from the creature's larger torso and soon resembled the shape of a small rabbit. Below the rabbit, a very fox-like form appeared in the dark room.

The fox smoothly lifted the rabbit off of his shoulders and placed her back on her hind paws. When she touched the floor again, she made a jerking motion with one of her paws and a small light sprang from that paw.

Judy pointed the light from her cell phone around the dark room and made a mental note of the furniture. There were a few desks with computers that had been shut off and a couple of potted plastic plants. Each desk had several chairs sitting both in front and behind them. Near the door they had opened was a well worn couch. A large television monitor hung from one wall and there were also two closed doors on opposite sides of the room.

"It looks like an office of some kind," the rabbit whispered to the fox standing behind her.

"But why is it empty in the middle of the day?"

"Maybe everyone is out to lunch?" The rabbit surmised. "Or this is a spare room? We did come through the side door instead of the main entrance."

"Come look at this, Carrots," Nick whispered as he stepped near one of the doors. He pointed to the floor and the space under the door. "What do you make of this?" A soft shaft of pale light could be seen under the door.

Quietly, Judy crept forward as her eyes focused on the light below the door. She turned her cell phone away from the door so anyone on the other side would not accidentally see it.

"I hear something," she said. Her whisper was much softer as she pointed at her tall ears.

She leaned gently against the door and put one ear against the cold, steel portal. A soft beep marched confidently from the other side in a very steady rhythm, and she thought there might have been more than one.

Alongside the beeps, Judy also thought she could hear voices. They were not the voices you would typically hear in an office setting. The voices she heard sounded more like kits in a classroom, only much more quiet and reserved. She could also hear pencils scratching, pages turned and the occasional discussion.

Placing the end of his black nose inside the fluffy parts of his partner's ear, Nick whispered, "What do you hear?"

Judy swatted at the foxes muzzle as it tickled the inside of her ear. "I hear kits, but it also sounds like a school. A very somber and quiet school."

Nick sniffed the air near the base of the door. "I smell a number of mammals, but all of the species are strange to me. I don't recognize any of them."

Placing her paw on the knob she began to give it a gentle twist.

"What are you doing?" The fox hushed as he reached for her paw.

"They're just kits, Nick." She continued to turn the knob further until it clicked softly. "I mean to find out what is going on here, and maybe they can help us."

Shaking his head, he reached for the rabbit and quietly cried, "Wait!" Before the fox could reach her supple shoulder, Judy had pulled open the door, blocking his outstretched paw.

Light flooded into the dark and empty office. It was a dull, yellow light emanating from the fluorescent tubes that were dotted across the ceiling. On the far side of the next room, some natural light was filtered through the thin curtains to mix with the artificial luminesce.

The blue uniformed and pregnant rabbit boldly marched into the room, ready to demand answers from its occupants. What she saw caused her to stop only two steps beyond the threshold. Shocked, she lifted a small, grey paw to cover her wide open muzzle. Her ears fell and her twitchy, pink nose came to a screeching halt.

"Judy, wait," the fox called as he also charged into the room behind her. Not watching where he was going, he crashed into the rabbit, causing her to stumble.

Her pregnancy had added several pounds to the rabbit's weight, yet it had not diminished her physical strength. Judy was still able to easily carry the weight of her unborn child and his incorrigible father, thus she did not collapse to the hard, tiled floor when the fox ran into her.

"What's wrong, Carrots?" He asked as he untangled himself from his partner.

Judy did not reply, but a young voice to his right snickered softly. Looking up, Nick noticed what had caused the rabbit to suddenly stop in her tracks.

The well lit room looked nothing like the dark one they had left moments before. Unlike the abandoned officer furniture, this room had eight, small hospital beds sitting in two neat rows along each wall. In each bed sat a young mammal ranging from late grade school age and pre-teens.

Each of the tweens had an IV stuck in their left arm with a tube that ran to a machine by the side of the beds. On the wall behind each bed was a large monitor that displayed the mammals' vitals. Three lines bounced and waved across the screens in a regular rhythm that matched the beeping that both cops could now hear clearly.

A lap desk had been strung across each bed where the youngsters sat. On top of the impromptu desks were books and papers and other basic school supplies. All but the closest two tweens were busy reading in the books or writing down notes.

To Nick's right, a white rabbit with black circles around her eyes giggled again. "He just called you Carrots." Swishing her long tail, she snickered again. "He must really like you."

Despite being half Judy's age, the younger rabbit's ears were longer and seemed to stick out to both sides like a helicopter. Around her neck was a spiked collar and inside her mouth she seemed to have two, sharp canines instead of the large incisors of a typical rabbit. The black and white rings on her long tail also declared loudly that she was not entirely rabbit.

Sitting in the bed on the cop's left side, was a young foal that closely resembled a gazelle. However, his muzzle was far too broad and covered in vertical, black and white stripes instead of the single black string that normally ran from ear to nose. The rest of his fur was a gazelle brown, but his hooves were also striped and far larger than his thin arms should have been able to carry.

Stepping towards the hybrid rabbit, Judy was about to speak, but a voice from above interrupted her. "Ok, young ones. Please turn to chapter seven in your textbooks and we will discuss polynomials."

Swiftly turning around, Judy spotted a larger monitor above the door they had walked through. On the screen was an older ewe in a comfortable sweater and a pair of green studded earrings. She continued to speak as numbers and symbols appeared on the screen beside her, "As you can see here, a polynomial is a sum of terms, each of which is a power of a variable with a constant coefficient and a whole number exponent."

Stretching up on her toes, the rabbit addressed the teacher firmly, "Ma'am. What have you done with these kits?" She waved her paw across the room, motioning towards the eight young mammals.

"The degree of a polynomial in one variable is the largest exponent that appears in any term," orated the sheep as she ignored the rabbit.

Displaying her badge to the screen, Judy raised her voice, "We are officers of the ZPD, ma'am, and we order you to release these younglings immediately!"

Without blinking an eye, the instructor continued, "Like terms are any terms that are exactly alike in their variable factors. The exponents on the variable factors must also match."

"There is no one there," another hybrid said. He was a tuskless boar with thick, black fur, pointed ears, and large, clawed paws instead of hooves.

Nodding, the half rabbit added, "It's just a recording. See." She pushed a button on the control panel on her bed.

"To add two polynomials, we need only remove the…" The sheep started to say but was cut off when the screen went blank.

"Thank you, Sara," Judy replied as she turned around and stepped towards the black and white rabbit.

"What?" Sara stammered and the other seven kits gasped. "How do you know my name?"

Pulling a photo from her utility belt, Judy held it up to the other rabbit. "You're Sara Maky. This is you right?"

Sara snatched the photo of a young, goth, tween rabbit from Judy's paw. "Where did you get this?" She cried angrily.

"Your parent's sent us to find you, Sara," Judy said comfortingly as she took another step forward.

"And you are Joey, right?" Nick asked as he headed towards the gazelle foal.

"Yep, that's me," the boy declared cheerfully.

"Your father was very upset the day you went missing."

"But, I'm not missing," he declared excitedly. "We were rescued!"

"What?" Judy asked, glancing around the room.

"You shouldn't be here," Sara stated coldly. She sniffed sadly as she looked at her own picture.

"We are sick," said a female hippo with a large horn jutting up from her nose.

"The doctor said it was a very contagious disease," the half bear, half pig added emphatically.

"We have to stay here for treatment, or it could ruin the city," a goat with far too much wool said sadly from the far corner.

"Mixed mammals like us have a disease that could kill everyone," Sara said firmly. "So you have to leave, or you will get sick too."

Blinking, Judy looked around the room as she listened to each of the kit's statements. When Sara and the others pointed back towards the door, Judy stepped forward and proudly declared, "I am a hybrid too."

"You look like a normal rabbit to me," the boar-bear affirmed confidently.

Taking one of the sheets of paper from Joey's desk, Judy flashed her sharp claws and asked, "Can a normal rabbit do this?" With one swipe of her claws, she sliced the paper into three neat little strips.

"Wow," a few of the other tweens gasped.

"Hey. That was my homework!" Joey cried, grasping for the strips as they fell to the floor.

"Fancy trick," Sara said sadly.

Turning back to the other rabbit, Judy held out her paws. "You can see for yourself that these claws are real."

Looking the police rabbit in the eyes, Sara nodded before asking, "You said that my parents sent you?"

"Yes, that's right," Nick began to say, but Judy held up her paw.

"Your parents were in tears when you didn't come home from school," Judy said comfortingly. "Your mother called the ZPD and begged me to bring you home safe and sound."

The uniformed rabbit then turned towards the other youngsters in the room. "All of your parents are desperately looking for you. The ZPD has been searching for each and everyone of you."

For a brief moment, the room was silent except for the steady beeping of the health monitors. Sara finally broke to calm with a loud scoff, "Yeah, right. I don't believe that."

Stunned at the response, Judy asked, "Why?" Her paws were cupped tenderly in front of her growing belly.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, Sara tore up the photo before throwing it into the police rabbit's muzzle. "Because my parents sent me away. They sent me here to be 'fixed!'"

"Yeah!" Joey exclaimed. "Mine didn't want me anymore so Ironmammal rescued me!"

"How are we supposed to believe anything you say?" The white and black rabbit asked harshly. She waved her paw at the open door behind the two cops. "You sneak in here and think that we are just going to trust you?"

"We weren't sneaking," Nick stated as he placed one paw over his chest.

"I heard what you were saying through the door, fox," Sara said flatly. She pointed to the two large ears sticking out from the side of her head. "Do you really think these are just for show? I heard you break into the other room before coming in here."

"Then you know why we are here," Judy said with her paws planted firmly on her wide hips.

"Yeah." Sara nodded. "You said something about an arrest." She then tilted her head and one ear flopped to the side. "You don't act like any cops I have ever seen on TV."

Snickering, Nick patted his partner on the shoulder. "She's got you there, Carrots."

Stepping away from her partner's paw, Judy pulled out the warrant and presented it to the rabbit hybrid. "Yes. We are here to arrest Dr. Pembroke. The nurses at the clinic said she was here."

All of the tweens shook their heads, but the boar hybrid spoke first, "We haven't seen her this week."

"Maybe you should ask Cindy," another hybrid added.

"Ironmammal," Joey clapped excitedly.

"What is going on here?" A deep voice asked from the door in the far corner.

Stepping through the door was a large goat covered entirely in polished brass plates. The plates seemed to flow smoothly as the goat moved, like they were part of her fur. A loud clank could be heard with each step the goat took.

"You are supposed to be studying your math lessons at this hour so why is the TV off?"

Once she had walked past the first bed, she turned stiffly and looked across each of the young mammals. As her eyes fell on the two cops, her jaw set firmly and she declared, "You!"

Glaring back at the armored goat, Judy noticed that something seemed off about her muzzle. It looked like she had recently been in a fist fight and her nose had been broken. Her eyes also had an intense glare that was more common among predators than prey. The rabbit also noticed that each eye was a different color. One of the goat's long horns also seemed to be broken near the base.

From the corner of his mouth, Nick whispered down to his partner, "That's the robot from kitnapping footage."

"And is the same one Bucky and Pronk described outside my apartment."

In a single choreographed motion, both Nick and Judy pulled their dart pistols from their holsters. "ZPD, freeze!"

"You are under arrest for kitnapping, breaking and entering, and vandalism." Judy shouted firmly.

"And the theft of an impounded vehicle," Nick added.

Without a single word, the armored goat lifted a hoof and placed a solid bronze mask over her muzzle. Judy immediately recognized the mask as the one that was stolen from the Velvet Orca dance club.

In a husky voice that was also thickly distorted, the iron mammal said, "If you coppers want to arrest me, then I dare you to try."

Still pointing the dart gun at the armored goat, Judy shouted, "Put your paws in the air and turn against the wall."

Ironmammal did not move or speak as the armed rabbit approached.

"Comply with our orders and come quietly and no one has to get hurt," the rabbit said as she slowly marched forward, gun pointed directly at the larger mammal.

Ironmammal looked around the room at each of the young mammals. She then lifted a hoof to her brow in a salute before turning around.

"Don't do it!" Judy nearly screamed as she raised her dart gun higher.

Ignoring the smaller mammal, the armored goat turned and stepped towards the floor length window. In one smooth motion she ripped down the flimsy curtains with a single hoof. The other hoof slammed against the tall glass.

"Step away from the window," Judy ordered again.

A second swing of the metal covered hoof caused the glass to crack and splinter. The third strike caused it to shatter.

Watching the robotic goat break the large window, Judy swiftly closed the distance. Her fox was also close on her heels.

Leaping into the air, the rabbit officer grasped for the armored goat as it tried to jump through the now open window. Her paws only caught empty air as the kitnapper escaped.

"No! Judy!" The fox cried in anguish as he tried to reach for his partner.

Skidding to a halt before falling over the edge, Nick watched as both rabbit and robot flew through the window, five stories above Peak Street. The midday traffic was oddly absent below, but the only thing on the fox's mind was how beautiful his fiance looked tumbling through the air. A bright sparkle of light reflecting off her outstretched paw.


[A/N] This is the penultimate chapter for book 2, Loves Bond. It is a long one but I felt that I needed to spend a lot more time wrapping things up before the big finally. There is one more chapter left, but this summer has been draining and I have not been able to write anything. I want the last chapter to but full of fun an excitement so I want to be at my best before I put the pen to paper. In the past I have been able to get back into a writing mood after work slows down, but now I have a different job so I cant plan what will happen over the next few months. Since this story is based in the fall, I may want to wait until there is a chill in the air before finishing. For now I hope you have enjoyed the story so far and I will get the last one written as soon as I am able.

Thank you all for the wonderful comments and encouragement,

OneWolfe-