AN I'm still here, and thanks for your patience! This tale's relocation to the rural environs of Bunnyburrow found fertile soil and grew in the writing to well over 12K so far. Therefore, I've again decided to split the chapter and post this first half. The second progresses, and the wait for it should be much shorter.
Thanks to: Hewhoislost, Old Goat, Pampuru, Panoctu, Sapperjoe85, seakard, upplet, WingedKatt, and those that deemed this narrative worthy of follows and faves. I have greatly enjoyed the works of nearly all of the above, and am gratified for your responses to mine. I'm supposed to also thank Disney for this world of theirs, but that would be easier if a sequel was forthcoming!
Tinbuzzard11
Chapter Eighteen:
Hare Apparent
5:25 A.M. Tuesday morning on the road from Bunnyburrow station.
Jack Savage was driving much faster than was prudent. Granted, dawn was advanced enough for decent visibility, but that excuse was rather flimsy. He'd resisted the temptation on the way down earlier—he'd needed to get the Hopps brothers with Wilde's hardcopied evidence safely onto the early express to Zootopia.
It was dark then too, the road wasn't lit, and you weren't alone with your thoughts. In a hurry because you need company? You're guaranteed to never see her again if you broadside some tractor pulling a disk harrow across the road.
Jack eased up and let the rented four wheel drive Land Commander exchange momentum for self-preservation. These rural types—if they hadn't already started their workday—would do so soon. He sighed as his head dipped again towards the steering wheel—to catch himself with a jerk and put his eyes back on the road. His paw fumbled for the unfamiliar window switch; a good cold draft should help keep him alert.
You're a mess Savage. Three days you've pushed yourself to organize logistics for the opposition's arrival and maintain your cover. It also kept you away from the Hopps to hide your misery and duck a lot of social awkwardness—at least so far.
Constant effort and barely ten hours of decent sleep since arrival at the farmstead had drained his adrenaline and willpower. He'd spent most of two nights waiting up for Skye's check-in texts, then had spent Sunday's to absorb and work with Nick Wilde's discovery undisturbed. Then he'd followed up on Ulric and found his innocently stupid email.
He knew he'd stretched the Hopps family's patience—they needed to sate their curiosity about him soon. At least Judy had used some of her time to help deflect their interest and give him some time to prepare for the onslaught. The whole warren was already highly excited, and his visit had added to it.
Jack slowed and turned onto the road that led east towards the Hopps property. Part of the half-section spread before theirs had been leased and worked by the Hopps for years and it had all been sold to them recently. From the overlapping narratives he'd received on his tour, the previous long-time owners had been chronically shorthanded and had decided to retire in town. The Hopps residence was close to the far end of their enlarged agricultural empire, so the decision had been made to expand the other home and split the warren. Some forty members of the family were engaged in renovations and preparations to move.
Even though they'd still be less than two miles apart, dividing the warren was apparently a big change to their family dynamic. There was a lot of angst and overwrought emotions on display to his hare's viewpoint. Which hadn't helped him deal with his own.
Surrounded by a horde of rabbits out here in Bunnyburrow had just made him suffer Skye's absence all the more. It was yet another confirmation for him that his vixen was irreplaceable. That was a part of fox culture that he'd wholly embraced—the 'we mate for life' reputation. He wondered if Judy Hopps shared that conviction as deeply as her new mate obviously did. Earlier, he'd wanted to gently explore and encourage her feelings on the matter if needed, but due to her family's interest in them they'd been forced for appearances sake to avoid significant private time together.
Jack didn't know if that was good or bad. Now they each needed solace only the other could understand or provide—but they might make it worse for themselves if they tried to help each other. Risky, as they weren't psychologists and had known each other for only a week and a half. Was she trapped by the same helpless fear that had paralyzed him?
As for the rest of the Hopps, they'd already tired of his and Judy's forced mien of normalcy—she was already under close scrutiny due to the news about Nick. That forced his choice, he felt he needed to inform them of at least the overt part of their mission here and try to prepare them before Tarija's minions started to nose around. If there was anything further to be discovered or learned here, he had to find it first in order to blunt the impact once the conspiracy did.
Of course, as Judy had repeatedly cautioned on the trip up, any of their evidence or suppositions divulged to even a select few would quickly spread through the family and then to the whole community—their natural gossipy socialization and the boredom relieving novelty of provocative information would guarantee that. It would be considered, she'd said, an abrogation of trust to withhold from family. Yes, she was trapped too.
Jack relaxed his grip on the wheel—again—his frustration wanted to hold it tight, but that merely risked a cramped paw. Days of agonizing still hadn't provided any hint of a solution to this dilemma. If he forewarned the community here about why ZBI investigators would soon descend upon them, it would just make his and Judy's opposition to them obvious and expose them to those same conspirators. Failure to act would cede them the initiative.
The small rounded hill with its distinctive tapered tower on top was already visible ahead against a bright horizon glow. That was the main Hopps residence—he'd already passed their new secondary home unaware, mired in his melancholy. As the sun threatened to rise directly in front of him, he sped back up a little to try to beat it to the warren.
It was a tie; he turned away into the property just as its first rays lanced through the clear morning air and made him squint. Jack drove past the various cars parked out front and stopped in back behind the large bus the Hopps used for major family trips. It was curious that no one had questioned why he'd kept the rental vehicle out of sight there.
Because stress makes you paranoid and indulging that sometimes provides a hint of relief. It might keep them from finding you for another minute or two. But apparently that won't work this morning.
The Hopps had accommodated their guest and he was being…retrieved. His escort skipped towards him in a gingham pattern dress in white, honey and light brown that fairly screamed 'country'. Her fur appeared to match the brown of her dress outside of the same soft white pattern on her front that much of this family had.
Jack didn't think he'd seen this one before. He carefully stepped out of the utility vehicle as it seemed much higher off the ground now, and tried to remain upright as he turned to face her.
"Breakfast is ready!" she chirped. "Judy asked me to watch for you, I'm her sis Emily."
She seemed to be Judy's age and was only slightly shorter—he was certain that her exact relationship would be explained to him—cousin, sister, or littermate—just like the dozens introduced before that had already slipped his memory. Like she'd slipped away. Somehow, she'd stepped through him to close the vehicle door he'd left open. He nodded at his cleverness—he'd made her reveal her power! Jack managed a triumphant smile as he followed her inside.
The corridor that led to the nucleus of the warren seemed uncommonly long today; he'd trudged for some time before he realized the doe had come along both sides to support him. He was seated, and the scent of cinnamon and sugared oatmeal induced him to start mechanically shoveling it in. It went down warm…contentment spread…so goo…
Some time later he felt a moist cloth on his face—it wormed its way around most pleasantly—he was disappointed when it left and arms within his floated him away.
Judy decided to leave Jack sprawled as he was on the bed, but did pull the sheet partially up over him. It had taken both of them to remove the unresponsive hare's coat—she'd hung it up while Emily had closed the window curtain. Judy left a note that said she'd taken his cellphone, and made sure the door still had directions to the nearest bathroom posted inside before they exited.
"We're partnered together and he needs his rest more than anything Em, I'll handle whatever comes up until he's back on his feet," she said in response to the look she'd received while rifling through his pockets for it.
"At least you're not working with that fox anymore! I could barely believe last night's video. Dad was right. Whatever made you think you could trust him in the first place?"
That slapped her ears down hard. Of course her family was upset about Nick; his renegade status had hit the news three nights ago, and her repeated deflection of questions about it had only stiffened their resolve to pry some answers out of her.
Had they finally released the museum's security camera recording? Bellwether had been sentenced; the other trials may have ended too. If so, the timing couldn't have been worse whether it was planned, or just coincidentally exploited by the conspiracy. Regardless, Chief Tarija would have intervened to spin it so Nick would look like a manipulative opportunist that had taken advantage of her, the ZPD, and the void after they'd removed his competition! After all, she'd been the llama's trial run for that fabrication.
Unless it was something else—maybe an overblown news analysis or follow up report.
"What video?" Judy implored—in the forlorn hope they hadn't yet watched Nick so convincingly pretend to attack her.
"The one where mayor Bellwhatever shot the fox savage with nighthowler and he ate you!" Emily said in mockery. She'd stopped in the hallway and turned with paws on her hips as if to add 'don't be so dumb!'
It felt like Emily had reached in and seized her heart. No apparent sympathy, she'd lost her own littermate's support. Months of careful long-distance promotion of her partner to ease family concerns about him—erased by one undoubtedly slanted news broadcast. Or perhaps a cascade of them given that she'd evaded comment ever since the story had broken. That lack of context for them had been a horrible mistake on her part—she'd just been unable to come up with a plausible explanation that wouldn't reject her family's values or reveal their resistance efforts. Now, that video had confirmed their innate fears about violent treacherous foxes; so the avalanche of 'I told you so's' and other accusatory recriminations was about to bury her.
When she reentered the main dining room, the inquisitors were already seated at one of the small tables often used to segregate or discipline unruly kits. Mom had chosen to also involve Bernice and Uncle Ellery! This was inescapably bad—mom had not only sought backup from her closest littermate, but this place she'd picked was intended to clearly remind her willful daughter to respect their joint authority.
So it comes to this, after twenty-five years little Miss Perfect is about to be seriously taken to task before the family. There's a first time for everything and some here had long waited for this moment. You know that Friedkin's upbraids and Bogo's reprimands will pale before mom's. Take it and be strong for them. Give them your betrayal and their petty revenge, they won't know that you'll be trying to buy their safety with them.
Judy was grateful that she wasn't in uniform for this; it would have only accentuated their present divide. Emily didn't look at her as she sat in the middle of the three empty seats on their side—she hadn't included herself to offer support. There were still several dozen others elsewhere in the room—none seemed in a hurry to finish their breakfast, and only hushed conversations were audible. They'd all withdrawn from nearby tables to grant them apparent privacy—belied by the fact that she could see the insides of every ear in the room. They'd prepared for this confrontation since only adults were present.
Judy took her place across from mom after a glance upwards revealed several more pairs of ears around the lower balcony. No doubt this would be the major break of family trust she'd feared. Mom wouldn't give up until she got the answers she wanted—Judy shook her head slightly in frustration at what was to come, which immediately hardened mom's face.
"I've called your father back in. You've changed since we last saw you Judy; how you've gone out of your way to avoid the whole family is…hard for us to understand." It was difficult to watch Mom's face morph from stern to hurt and back again.
"I know mom; what's happened recently would change anyone—I'm trying to keep it from affecting all of you. This investigation is very…"
"No more of that Judith Laverne!" Mom snapped. "I don't want to hear again about how you can't reveal the course of your investigation or talk about the facts of some case. You're not in Zootopia or a courtroom right now. You're home with family—who you and agent Savage keep asking for unquestioned assistance! Now we've all seen what you've kept from us for months, so you'll need to explain that as well as your recent behavior!"
Yeah, it's about Nick too. She's eager to dig out the roots of whatever relationship you may have had with him. Keep it focused on your work with Jack and force her to ask about Nick—that should help you find out what they saw or heard on that broadcast you missed.
"Mom, enough with the guilt trip! I've had good reasons to be like this for…"
"I will have my say," mom stated to cut her off. Dad walked in to a now silent room, he'd obviously heard and quietly took the last seat as mom paused and waited for him.
"Ever since you left us to go to Zootopia and chase your…idealistic dream, we've all feared for your safety and your spirit. But as cautious as we were, as afraid for you, you still had our support. You scared us often enough that we were sometimes afraid to call you—but we always did. But since last month, your own calls back have become few and far between. Now you've come home having harvested the troubles we warned you about and yet you still try to ignore or even deny them to us—your own family!"
"Not what we expected from our trier," dad said softly and earned a look from mom.
"Judy, we've seen the news," Bernice started in after a glance to and nod from mom. "I know that you're still suffering and trying to accept that you misplaced your trust in your partner and that he so callously used you. You're still family; we want to help you through this, but it might be better for you to have…professional help if you find it difficult to…trust us. Heather can get you a referral through the clinic."
"You've always been headstrong and resistant to most of our advice—look where that's left you," Emily said beside her. "Abandoned by that crooked partner you trusted and you still feel you have to hide away from us and reject our help! You kept talking about him, Aunt Bernie's right, that fox is the one that's turned you like this!"
"Enough!" Judy stood with paws braced on the table and glared at Emily; then at the rest around the table, ignoring the broader audience. "Did this mutual connivance make it easier for all of you to have an intervention you felt I needed? You brought up trust, and family, and home over and over like I'm solely responsible for upholding and maintaining those for you and nothing else! I'm an officer, I took an oath to serve and protect beyond just myself, my family, and even our species. The laws that govern my sworn duty restrict the information and operations that I can reveal to civilians!"
"You still need to be more personally open and honest, and tell us what you can say so you don't promote this kind of mistrust in you!" uncle Ellery said.
"Yet your trust in me evaporated after a news broadcast!" Judy shot back—reinforced by several solid foot thumps.
"That you wouldn't talk about for days!" said Bernice, voice raised. "What were we supposed to think after that?"
"Mom, tree—just you—I won't say anything more here. I can't let this turn to gossip."
"Judy, we're your family! You need to tell us these things—don't you trust us?" Dad swept his open paw around in a wide arc. Bernice scowled at her.
"No," she said clearly, "not with this, not here; Mom, the tree." Mom got up with a paw on dad's shoulder to keep him seated, so Judy turned to Emily before they left. "I trust you can check on Mr. Savage periodically, maybe you can find Heather to help if she's around, he's still dangerously exhausted." She got a somewhat guilty look from her littermate—which eased her earlier disappointment a bit.
They walked silently outside, past the garden mom preferred for most personal conversations, and out to the hill well in back. Judy surprised her when she circled the old oak on top and carefully scanned their surroundings before she settled herself in a shaded root hollow. It had been contoured and smoothed by generations of the family who had sought a privacy unattainable within the warren. Her own mere pawful of similar visits here just confirmed her proper reputation. Mom chose an adjacent spot and asked with her eyes.
"Yes, it's that serious, keep watch mom, I still haven't decided how much to tell you."
"I need to understand why you've become so closed to us Judy. Is this something personal that has affected you…about what happened to your partner? Or did something else happen…on the job," mom added unconvincingly.
Yep, I oversold Nick and she's definitely worried there was or is something going on between us. Family and social affairs have always been her primary concerns; I can't reveal enough to dissuade her from that. She's begun a personal campaign for the truth, and has family at her command. If only they knew just how traitorous I've been!
"It's not that kind of personal problem mom, I just know some very bad things, and the simple fact that I know them is why it's so dangerous to me and those close to me." Judy waved past mom and down towards the warren to make the point clear. "Only a few others know this as well and some are already in hiding because it's become known by certain…well… criminal elements that they do know. They would be eliminated to keep those secrets if found! There's far more going on than what you've been told on the news."
Sorry for the melodrama, mom. We both know gossip is gold in the burrows and I know few could withhold information this lipburning—I can't trust anyone with this due to the likely consequences, so I can only appeal to your fear for family.
"And how did you come to know such a secret? Honestly Judy, you've started to make this sound like a badly written potboiler." A maternal paw went to her shoulder. "You're still a rookie patrol officer, why would you be endangered and entrusted with somet…"
"Mom! I'm the rookie officer that took down two crooked mayors last year! Its been noticed by mammals on both sides of the law that I've had entirely too much success exposing political corruption!"
"Political corruption," mom mused. "And Mr. Savage is a Federal agent. Is that why you were assigned to him and why you've been so secretive—he told you to be? Who or what is it this time?" she said slowly, as if each word or phrase had to rouse the next. "Please don't tell me you're going after a higher officeholder than mayor now."
"I can't reveal any of that; it would put several others in danger if even a hint of what we're uncovering leaks out. Our only advantage is that these conspirators don't know we're aware of their activities. It's too early to expose them, we don't know how many are actually involved yet—we need time to identify them and find more hard evidence."
"Do those political…criminal elements have any reason to suspect that you might know anything about their plans?" Thankfully, Mom's voice finally had a hint of fear in it.
"Only about their basic agenda. Not the really bad part. They still hope to recruit me to their cause because I'm…kinda famous and might provide some legitimacy for them."
"They're using Savage to do that! He's a ZBI double agent!" Mom's face lit up. "So Honeybun, he had my boys take some of your hard evidence to Zootopia this morning?"
Yes! That's my avid romance and thriller reader. Dropped some clues to follow and I'm Honeybun again! I hope you can accept being part of a plot just like one of your stories.
"Now that you figured it out, I'll need your absolute word mom. You've always kept our confidence and never forced us to reveal private things about one another, so we trust you like few others in the family. That's why you're out here with me. Please, give me your word for our safety that you won't reveal anything about this conversation to a soul!"
"You…have it…Judy." Mom's voice and expression both fell, as she had to realize that the role of endangered innocent civilians now included the Hopps clan. "But I think it's too late, you avoided us for days and let speculation spread! I've already heard that you gave your brothers cash for the tickets yesterday…and insisted on paw to paw delivery of your photos. Don't look surprised, agent Savage was seen buying some paper for them in town. He attracts interest everywhere Judy—there's even a rumor afoot that he's also some kind of professional fighter. And this morning Corey complained that things had been erased from both his and our warren's computer after he'd helped set you up with them."
What did you expect? Hearsay may not be admissible in court, but it fuels the burrows social network and will tease out your most carefully hidden and hence highly desirable secrets. Why did it all have to happen at once? Good luck stamping out this grease fire.
"That's what I was afraid of mom. Agent Savage didn't want to ask for some here and reveal what he was doing—and why I claimed it was just a overdue ZPD case file of mine. About Corey's computer, yeah, he let us borrow it, but he loaded a keylogger program to record what we did on it! Of course Jack found that and deleted it—that's routine security for a ZBI agent! We said our work was confidential and Corey shouldn't have tried to snoop. I'll bet he's upset because Jack left him a 'nice try' message or something like that!"
"Jack? It seems you're getting along well with agent Savage." Mom's curious tone somehow managed to enhance her already focused concentration.
I'll never understand how she switches concerns so fast. We don't need this complication right now. Better drive a stake into it!
"It's OK mom, sometimes we get tired of saying 'Agent' and 'Officer' all the time—particularly when you're working on a tough case together. Anyway, he lives in Concordia and is just on assignment here. I really don't know anything personal about him."
"It wouldn't hurt to be more…amicable Judy. You do have a habit of scaring the bucks off and I worry about your future life since you don't seem to." Mom pondered a bit and decided to push. "He's certainly more in line with your…interests, and I don't see anything that says he isn't single."
"This is the last thing that should be on any of our minds right now! The Burrows are about to be turned upside down and I haven't figured out how to prepare all of you for that without saying too much and making it worse!" Judy finally took a breath and looked about to see if anyone had crept within earshot. Mom noticed her caution—as she'd hoped.
"Dear, what are you afraid we might do? Interfere with your work? Or do you mean that some of those elements might follow after you two here?" Mom's worried face returned.
Judy let another breath out, grateful that a couple more whacks on the stake had flipped mom out of matchmaker mode and back to the immediate problem.
"A lot of government people should start showing up within a week or so. They'll be looking for certain evidence just like Jack and I will." Judy winced slightly.
Agent Savage, cabbagehead! Don't revive her hopes.
"It's old buried evidence mom, mostly historical—we just want everyone to be…cooperatively unhelpful with these new investigators. Some of those agents might be fine—just mammals doing their jobs. Others will certainly be working on the conspirator's agenda—so we're not sure which one's to trust right now. Don't worry, this isn't about anything criminal, we just need people to say that they don't know or haven't heard of that before when asked. Now what you can do is decide who among us would be…reliable and discreet enough to help get that word out the way we want." She got up and held a paw out for her mother. "Nothing else—I want to talk to agent Savage after he's rested up—we need his input and approval before we start to say anything to anyone."
"Seriously, what do they hope to find out here Honeybun? Nobody's ever considered the Burrows to be a hotbed of government intrigue!" Mom looked honestly puzzled by that.
"Something awful has been waiting to be discovered for a very long time. Possible evidence that might reveal where it is has been traced to this region. I honestly can't tell you any more—I don't want to do that to anyone!"
"So what you and Savage printed up on the computers and sent off this morning with Charlie and Devin had to be something completely different, right?"
"That's right, it's evidence related to events from last year." Mom's knowing nod told Judy that she might have revealed a bit too much. "I'll worry until I get a confirmation that it's been safely delivered. Should be another hour before the train arrives in Zootopia."
They were almost back to the garden when mom took hold of her paw. They exchanged a couple of reassuring gentle squeezes. Mom always knew exactly what to do—those in the warren would consider this to be as meaningful as any explanation when they walked in.
"I'll talk to your father first, then you apologize to him and finally sign yourself up for some chores on the list—you're not a guest here! What do you want me to tell the rest?"
"How about this." Judy stopped them briefly. "I had to get my case report to court by a filing deadline or they'd have to release a suspect! Say something about charges and mention again that I can't discuss ongoing legal matters. Just hold them off a little longer."
"You didn't tell me anything about what that evidence you sent was Judy, except that it's different from what you're looking for here. Is it also that bad?"
"No, much worse. We've unearthed a scheme so foul that any word of it would spread like myxomatosis before vaccinations, and might be just as deadly to those exposed."
Jack wanted to remain where he was; it was dark, quiet and comfortable—except for a turgid fullness of the wrong sort being conveyed up his spinal cord. Damn insistent bladder. He flipped the sheet down and swung his legs over the side of the bed to stand on an irregular pliant surface. He found more stable footing just a step away, and once in the hallway outside he became aware of the fluffed unconfined state of his fur—and that the rumpled pile on the floor back inside could remedy that.
Pants would do for now. The window said it was night and the overall stillness said it was of the late variety. It was unlikely he'd meet anyone wandering at this hour; but in any case he didn't want to be caught skyclad, as the back to nature types liked to call…
Skye! How long has it been since she last reported? Has she done so since!
Desperate hope immediately blew away all remaining vestiges of his somnolence. Jack stifled a curse as he fumbled and found edges of the bedside table with both knee and wrist. He groped for the lamp—only the dimmer switch prevented him from temporarily dazzling himself. His cellphone sat next to it on top of a note—agonizingly, he had to turn it on and wait for it to initialize.
The note was from Judy; she'd had a long talk with her mother who'd agreed to decide which additional members of the warren they could safely utilize. He was relieved to see her mention of not discussing any of their evidence so far. When his phone finally gave out its default chime, he eagerly opened its text inbox.
There were two—one from Chief Bogo acknowledging receipt of their report on the prison, the other a check-in from Nick Wilde that indicated a forthcoming mail delivery from him and presumably Dr. Ulric. Nothing from or about his missing mate.
Little he could do now, so he'd have to wait until Wilde or Dr. Soren got some leads as to her whereabouts. At least the fox realized its importance to him. He left the cloying cheeriness of the Hopps's guestroom to walk down a hallway nearly as dark as his thoughts about their likelihood of success; it was only marginally lit by infrequent orange nightlights. The communal bathroom had better, but still subdued illumination—he took advantage of his early morning solitude and the full hot water supply to take a long shower.
Physically refreshed, dried, and now properly and warmly dressed, Jack retraced his way along the hall to the still, dim cavern of the dining area, then down the main corridor to walk out front under the stars.
The summer triangle was high overhead, brilliant Vega right at the zenith, so dawn wasn't far off. Before he could stop himself, his eyes sought a small inconspicuous constellation about halfway along its eastern side—he'd never seen it better than from here under this dark country sky.
Vulpecula the fox—gender unspecified on the starcharts—although he knew there was only one specific vixen—perfect in mind and body—that this celestial affirmation should have been created for. Our fifth date; they'd been side by side on the warm hood of his car, a laser pointer in his paw. He'd saved that particular group of stars for last, her delight that he'd known about them had gifted him a friendly nuzzle—which she'd followed up with an even more unexpected, teasing, repetitive…nibble.
It had startled and excited him enough to research that vulpine behavior as soon as he'd returned home—which revealed that their heretofore casual, but clandestine and therefore exotically fun dates had just turned serious. Which to his further surprise, was expected to be solely the vixen's choice.
Admit it, you were still unsure after that, apprehensive actually—unaware that the Spirits had decreed that you shall become the luckiest male in all of creation!
Those that could bestow such perfect joy couldn't be cruel enough to snatch it away again so quickly, since they knew that Skye's and his vows bound them past this lifetime through their next. It was a lovely, romantic sentiment that they would forever be together. However, there were no guarantees of that in the here and now, so he needed to make sure they reunited as soon as possible in this life.
Jack realized that although rested and ready, he'd have to carefully pace himself from now on to remain effective. He had a last look up at Vulpecula; then back down to the predawn horizon, far beyond which Skye must be, before he turned to go back inside.
You should teach Judy so she can show those stars to her fox!
It was a good reminder from his inner self that there were still positives in life and hopefully their futures. There was difficult work ahead—resolve and an optimistic attitude would be valuable allies. For his friends too, he needed to maintain them for their sake.
As soon as Jack reentered the warren, he saw light beyond the far end of the entrance corridor. Once there, he found the dining hall weakly lit from above, while more light came from the kitchen. Its lone occupant sensed his presence and turned in surprise.
"Oh! Morning Mr. Savage, you're up early. Nothing's ready yet, I've just started warming the ovens." The doe sounded slightly put out, but it didn't seem to be directed at him. She appeared to be mostly white furred, except for a distinctive chocolate brown spot centered on her nose and similar ear tips. He didn't recall her from before either.
"Not here to bother you miss. Actually, I rather slept in yesterday and went for a walk outside." He noticed that the dining hall felt distinctly cooler than the rest of the warren.
"Wish I could have stayed in this morning, but I put myself on the list for this last week. I'm Mellida, Mr. Savage, Judy's sister."
Another one to remember. At least this one was distinctive enough in both name and appearance that he wouldn't have any problem with that. He'd have to pay more attention to the rest of her family relationships from now on.
Here's your chance to be more approachable. You probably won't have too many one-on-one opportunities like this to see how you stand with her family and fix any problems.
"Yes, officer Hopps mentioned that you all had expected duties in the warren," Jack told her. "We didn't want our own to occupy all of our time here—some unanticipated things cropped up after we arrived and we had no choice but to deal with them. I'm sorry if we both appeared so…serious and devoted to our jobs—we could have used a break from those responsibilities ourselves." He hoped this friendlier excuse—weak sauce though it was—would spread as easily as the more critical speculations about them had.
"It would help if you called her Judy and used some of our names too—or aren't you agents supposed to do that?"
"It's hard to buck our training, Mellida. That aloof Federal formality is ingrained into our government culture," he said and got a noticeable smile from her. A few quiet seconds passed before the doe rolled a come-on paw at him. "I'm Jack; Jack Savage," he added.
"That's better Jack, Jack Savage," she said as the smile broadened. "There's something I've wondered about recently." Her smile turned crafty. "You're a Federal agent; from the Federal district in Concordia. So why does everybody always call it the Zootopia Bureau of Investigation?"
"I'm certain it's still the FBI on a lot of official documentation, but for years now, everyone's been expropriating that name to seem as progressive and modern as our shining city in the west. It's not just our agency that's done that! Even ZNN identifies that way nationwide. Hard to buck a trend like that. I expect that they'll probably rename the whole country one of these days. Might be the first referendum that everybody agrees on."
"You might be right at that," Mellida said, then pointed him to one of several large refrigerators. "If you could lift out two jugs of batter from there and set them on top of…"
She kept him busy and distracted for almost the next hour—they were joined periodically by several others that immediately set to various tasks—as an obviously well practiced breakfast campaign got underway. They noticed him work, which was good; but watched more closely whenever Mellida provided him direction, which was humbling. He did owe them that. Too bad he hadn't been able to volunteer first, although Mellida to her credit never brought that up, so the others might assume that he had.
Jack had long since been replaced in the kitchen, and had nearly finished his plate of waffles with blackberries and jam, when Judy walked into the crowded hall. She seemed rather downcast and gave him a subtle stay put gesture, then sat several tables away with her mother and four other older adults.
He waited, checked his phone, and found a new text; two teams were already on their way up from Zootopia. His fellow conspirators had obviously procured suitable off-road vehicles to drive, so his earlier message about their unavailability in Bunnyburrow hadn't significantly delayed them. Although fairly common among the populace, his had been the last rental of that type to be had, which was another reason to park it out back—he'd let them find out he had it only when necessary.
Jack glanced over at Judy; she was deeply involved in conversation—with her ears and chin all lowered. They had only today to prime the local community to passively frustrate the conspiracy's inquiries—if that was even feasible. She might have realized that too.
At least geography had cooperated to keep them apart from his corrupted peers; the closest suitable hotel he'd found for them was twelve miles away on the other side of town. He didn't know what group of mammals would show up, so if they didn't like those arrangements, they could find something else on their own. That way, they'd be less likely to hang around here and interfere with Tarija's desired seduction of his supposedly naïve and pliable temporary partner.
Yeah, doomed to failure since you'll never even try, although given her present attitude, the hottest movie star wouldn't stand a chance either.
Whoever that celebrity might be didn't matter, he was the one that needed to find out what was wrong and get her focused back on their immediate task. Jack got up and started to walk over—Judy noticed, hurriedly excused herself, and met him halfway. She motioned them down the corridor and typed out a short message as they walked.
"I'll send for 'em when we're ready," she said softly and pocketed her phone. "Now take my paw."
That was unexpected and didn't seem wise, they were still in view of several of her family members.
"Do it; be casual," she insisted just as quietly. He did, and wrapped her unresisting paw within his—her ears started to rise in response before she slapped it away in annoyance a couple of seconds later.
Jack waited until they were outside. "Trying to spread rumors that I'm…pursuing my assignment?" He made air quotes with his fingers to try to lighten her mood. "Or just trying to deflect interest from what we're really doing."
"The latter of course, unless you want me to tell on you to my big sister," Judy managed a brief smirk. "My mom's idea actually, she'll gently encourage it by telling the more intrusive ones to leave us alone after its spread for a bit."
"That might help in the near term," Jack said, "Let's hope it doesn't get awkward later."
"It shouldn't; mom's expert at managing these kinds of things." Judy led him around the side of the warren towards a well-tended garden. "That's why I wanted only a few of them to see us; they'll argue among themselves first, and then with the rest about what really happened, or if it's only just innuendo. It doesn't take much around here to keep 'em going for awhile!"
"I'm more worried about keeping us going," he told her. "You looked rather beaten down when I saw you come in earlier. Anything I can help you deal with? Today's going to be a long one; we're about out of time and need to get to it."
"I'm not sure…it's something I don't want my family to know or worry about—I couldn't tell them since they'll either want me to rest up for awhile, or insist that I see the psychologist in town—they've already brought up that idea!" Judy paused and came to an obvious decision. "I had a really bad nightmare last night…and it wasn't the first one."
Not the time to tell her about your own separation anxiety Savage. She needs a friend.
"With all that's been going on, there'd be something wrong if we weren't all having them Judy. Can you tell me about yours?" Jack tried for the calm demeanor of the one therapist he'd surreptitiously seen a few years ago.
"It's the same one over and over. The day Nick and I broke the savage predator case. We'd gotten a lead and were gathering evidence in Bellwether's lab—it was inside an abandoned subway railcar. Do you know what happened in there?" Her voice was strained.
"I've read quite a bit about the whole case and what you did," Jack said carefully. "You were discovered and fought off two larger conspirators. Then you escaped in the subway car and crashed it in the station at the end of the line. I saw photos of the damage!" He stayed with a broad overview to encourage her to provide any details she might want to.
"There was one point where things were happening too fast to really think about—I was just reacting—got all hyped up! We were in the control cab and fought with a ram that had broken out the front window and was trying to get inside with us. That's where the…dreams start." Judy took a couple of breaths. "We came out of the tunnel onto an open trackway and see another train coming the other way but there's a side track! I tell Nick to speed up to get there first, then go out the side window and climb up top, I'm able to kick the other ram out of the front and into the switch for the track. We turn away from the oncoming train, tip and crash! That's what actually happened." Judy paused and visibly steeled herself.
"The nightmares are different. Sometimes I kick out the ram and he misses the switch; or hits it and nothing happens, other times I can't dislodge him at all and keep kicking! It ends with a head-on crash with the other train and I can see the eyes of the driver right before we hit!" She was breathing very hard. "Sometimes it's a vague random mammal—or just eyes—last night, it was Nick in there! I looked right into his eyes as we hit each other and died!" His arms were around her and he felt Judy's chest heave against him.
To be continued! We resume our stay with Judy and Jack at the Hopps warren, as events rapidly converge on the Tri-Burrows area, in—Chapter Nineteen: Bunny Burrowing