The air in the room felt thicker, as if weighed by the burden of Allie's words. Even the repetitious jazz music seemed to hush. Nick and Judy's eyes met.

"You didn't hear about that?" asked the aardvark, blinking.

"We're still in our Rookie stage," Nick told the waitress.

"Come off it, Nick! We're better than that. Why would Chief Bogo keep us in the dark about a crime scene?"

"Judy, keep your voice down!" hissed the fox. "I'm sure Chief Bogo (it was a challenge to not refer to him as Chief Buffalo Butt) would have told us all about it, if he wanted us involved."

Judy sat back, stunned. "But we've solved crimes before, we..."

Nick handed Judy a fork; she took it automatically. "Shh. Eat. You haven't even touched your mashed greens."

Allie touched the cap on her head apprehensively. "I'm sorry I told you, I didn't mean to cause a fuss."

"No, it's all right." Nick said. "It happens all the time. Cops are the only ones you can tell, right?"

"It was in the newspaper this morning..." said Allie. "I thought everyone knew by now."

Nick looked around, taking note of the customers holding newspapers at the front counter. He dug out $5 dollars and handed it to the waitress. "Could you be a doll and get us a newspaper? Sounds like we might be behind on the times."

Allie nodded and shuffled away.

Judy forked in a mouthful of carrot fries, trying to suppress her trembling. Murder... Where? Why so soon? Why couldn't Zootopia go back to being the paradise she had dreamed of as a kit?

"You all right, carrots?"

The rabbit nodded. She chewed and swallowed quickly. She wanted to know more details about what happened, where it happened. Why it happened. And who amongst them could be an enemy, a spy. A predator.

The aardvark returned, refilled Nick's coffee mug, and handed him the newspaper without a word, hurrying off to the next table.

Nick leaned back. Outloud he read the headline: " 'Horse is found decapitated inside local flower shop'..." his voice trailed off. Everything about that scene sounded... wrong. He did not turn the page to read the rest of the article. He folded the paper, giving Judy a thoughtful gaze. "I have a bad feeling about this case... We should probably read the rest of this in the car..."

What do you mean? Judy wanted to ask, but, having a mouthful of kale, she only nodded. What more could she do?

...

"Okay, what's next on the agenda?" asked Judy, looking over her files once more.

"But, Judy, I thought-"

"I need to make sure we haven't been assigned to anything specific, first. Go ahead and finish reading, please."

Nick shrugged, putting on his seatbelt, then unfolded the newspaper. Clearly Judy was in a better, if not more professional mood, since having breakfast. "All right, let's see..."

According to the article, a black and white horse, female, had entered the floralist at 7:30pm, an hour and a half before close. The only other customers (witnesses) were a male beaver and a female ostrich. There was one clerk present. A supervisor by the name of Henric. Henric, a male wolf, was arranging flowers for the ostrich just when the horse entered the establishment. By 8:05pm, the horse had been killed. The cameras picked up no other animals entering or leaving the building. Yet all three witnesses plead not guilty. There was no weapon found. And no leads to follow.

"That's so bizarre..." Judy whispered.

"Tell me about it..." Nick mummured. "Who doesn't leave footprints?"

"Or any image on camera?"

Nick paused. "A ghost?" he asked.

"All right," said the rabbit slowly, ignoring his joke. Judy put her files down on the backseat, neatly. "We have one body, and three witnesses. Someone isn't telling the truth. Which means we have a dangerous suspect on the loose. As far as I'm concerned, this is our priority for the day. We're investigating the crime scene for ourselves. Are you with me?"

The fox put his sunglasses back on and nodded. "I'm with you til the end, Officer Hopps."

Judy straightened her cap, her badge, then gripped the wheel. This was going to be a big case, a dangerous mission. If Chief Bogo didn't alert them of this case, perhaps there was a reason for it... But if they weren't assigned to it, who was?

...