Chapter 11
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AN: I was also looking forward to this chapter XD. Happy new years eve y'all!
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"If it's any help, I completely understand where the anger came from," Judy said. The bunny was sitting down on one of the changing room benches, feet dangling and swinging off the oversized seat. Across from her, neatening out the last few fuss-ups from her toss-up, Carmelita gave a look over.
"The honey badger doctor, si?"
"Uh-hu," she agreed.
"And I remember the ending of that story," the police vixen said, gathering her head-hair in tight. "And the presumed moral. That we have a lot more in common with those we hate the most than we want to admit, si?"
For a second, Judy did her best deer in headlights impression, all tharn'd up and on show. It faded out though as the vixen let a slight smile grow across her muzzle. "I suppose I am lucky she has not read up more about my career. Some of the calls I made."
"Hu?"
And with that Carmletia paused, ears and tail lowering down, her entire demeanor washing over with a feeling of regret or sadness. Once again, Judy wondered if she'd said something wrong, something she shouldn't have, something that might mess things up.
She had to actively remind herself that that was a dumb thought; whatever this was the vixen was thinking it through, and if the bunny wanted to try and work everything out so nothing would go wrong and everyone was happy…
Well, recent experience had informed the bunny that there were occasions where she couldn't solve everything or make it all right, and maybe quitting was the prudent move.
Though in this case, she could settle for offering to help, and being there. "Carmelita? Everything okay?"
She gave a slow glance over. "As I said, there are many things I do not want to tell you. That I cannot due to classifications, or if I did they would put you at too much risk." She let out a huff. "This thing is probably at the nux of all that, and I suppose… It wouldn't be too much a risk to give you the basic version." She let an ever so faint smile grow across her muzzle. "And I suppose it will help you understand the why of the matter."
"If you feel comfortable," Judy said, voice treading on ice.
Carmelita nodded. "Come, I suppose if I am to tell you, your partner deserves to know too. If anything, more than you."
And with that, Judy was led on, outside the female locker room. Nick, waiting there, was gestured along, a concerned look immediately growing on his muzzle. A glance to Judy and she nodded back, flicking her head forward as she followed along. Nick got the message and together, silently, the trio made their way back into the lobby. Clawhauser had sorted out all of her documents and had signed them off and, flicking through, Carmelita led the duo into the backrooms.
Given the increased risk of small-mammal incursion and espionage, a major push had been made towards moving mammals from open office cubicles and into closed-off offices, with daily bug-checking being performed to make sure they were clear.
It was into one of these that they stepped, pausing as they saw three figures waiting for them there. "Inspector Carmelita," Chief Bogo spoke, looking down. "I hear you were delayed earlier. Or, as my loyal dispatch officer stated, 'there was an incident.'"
"One that has been managed for now," Carmelita said, "if not in our side's favour."
His eyes narrowed. "Officially, I'd be required to condemn your actions as reckless, immature and insubordinate. Officially, as an Interpol Liaison, there is little I can actually do. Privately," he paused, bending down to stare her down. "I am incredibly disappointed that that nose poking military mammal didn't get what was coming for interfering with our business."
"As am I," she nodded, glancing up to two figures on the Chief's shoulders.
"Hello!"
"Marvelous to see you again!"
She smiled. "Inspectors Dawson and Dawson, it is a pleasure."
"Quite," Basil agreed, only to pause. "I noticed your partner wasn't coming over with you." He ignored both the oversized nudging of his own husband, and the slight change in Carmelita's look, carrying straight on. "Is he busy on some other case in Paris, or…"
"Deceased," she said.
…
"Oh. I didn't know, are you sure you're okay being here now…"
"It has been eight years," she said solemnly, the mouse's eyes going wide. "Much has faded, though I still feel his absence."
Both Nick and Judy were looking over at her, before sparing a glance at each other. Though silent, their looks shared what they were thinking. Basil had just forced out what she planned to tell them anyway.
"Eight…" Basil shook his head. "I guess that must have just skipped on past me. -Anyways, we're here now and have a job to do I suppose. A dangerous mammal of few morals back in the city, a paw in night howlers here and some obscure intellectuals work there. And now, one of his confirmed underlings delivered right to our door. I'd like, as our resident expert on the miscreant, to say I knew or could guess something about what he is up to. But sadly…" He shook his head. "This time, his intentions are a complete mystery to me."
"Well," Bogo said. "You five will have all the time you want to look into this. Or, to put it more succinctly, no time at all as I want results yesterday. Understood?"
"Yes sir," they all agreed.
"Good," he said, going over to the door. "As soon as that interloper is busy talking to that goat about whatever it is, and presuming she doesn't pull him on another work for me be free deal, then as soon as she's done, I want you in there and raking him over all the coals we're legally allowed to use. Anyway, once I've done talking to Oates about this missing koala he's handling, I'll see if I can drop in and watch the show."
And with that, he left.
"Did he say another deal?" Judy asked, all eyes turning to her.
Carmelita shrugged. "He must have heard about the Delta Fox incident too."
Judy's nose twitched. "I'm not sure…"
"Either way," Carmelita said, turning to her. "I suppose you can figure out what I wanted to talk to you two about in private."
She nodded. "I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thank you," she said, her voice a shadow of its usual self as she brought out a chair and sat down. "I said it was eight years, but a lot of that was spent in false hope… He's technically missing in action, after a highly classified and dangerous operation involving a particularly irritating zorillo…"
"-Skunk," Nick filled in for her.
"I know that," Judy grumbled, paws on hips as she shot him a brief glare. Her attention was then wrenched back around by the memory of what they were talking about, her ears drooping a bit as she realised she may have…
Though in this case, the fact that she was smiling just a little suggested she hadn't.
"You two remind me a lot, of me," she pointed at Judy. "Of him." She pointed at Nick, before huffing.
"-Oh, now that you point it out…" Basil began, only to get a finger over his mouth from Dave.
"Please David," she said, "I am quite alright. A bit of unintended insensitivity is nothing, really…"
…
"What was he like?" Judy asked.
And with that the vixen closed her eyes and lifted her head, shaking it back and forth a little as she reminisced. "Cunning," she said, rolling the words as if they were a fine chocolate to be savoured. "A gentlemammal when he really wanted to be, very proud but when it came to it kind. A bit of a romantic." She shook her head, hard. "No, a real romantic. A true romantic. And when he saw himself on a crusade against someone far worse, he would be… self-righteous. He'd stand up to these terrible mammals and look down his nose at them and tell them exactly what was wrong with them, as if they kits he'd just caught stealing lunch money. But, at the same time," she let her gaze linger over to Nick. "I feel you two would fill this room with jokes and laughter if you got to meet. You two would get on well." She chuckled. "Too well, to tell the truth."
"Ah, bit of a rascal then?" Nick asked.
"You know," Carmelita said, a faint grin on her mouth. "I could imagine those words coming out of his muzzle like I last saw him yesterday. He could spin a joke, play it cool and act like the charmer romantic he was, even when I was chasing him across rooftops, shock pistol in paw..."
Judy chuckled. "I think you mean, chasing with…"
"No," she cut in. "I know what I mean." She drummed her paws across the top of her leg. "As I was saying, if that army vixen knew the truth of my past, and the deals, or rather deal, I spun…"
It hung in the air for a second, one of Judy's ears semaphoring down in confusion, only for her partner to fill it in.
"He was once on the other side too," Nick said, an ear ticking up.
"Sí," she agreed, as Judy, briefly noting that there really was a lot in common between herself and Nick and Carmelita and her former partner, shook her head.
"Hang on, but if you…"
"The difference between that vixen and I, is that she pokes her nose into others' business, closed business, all to rise to the top of her ladder," Carmelita explained, looking like she'd paid for a gourmet meal only to be served the kind of economy dry-kibble they didn't even serve in prisons anymore. Crossing her paws and wrinkling her muzzle, she looked away. "Whereas when I did something remotely similar, it was with a mammal I'd dedicated my career to apprehending, a career I put on the line to pull this thing off with. There is the difference. My partner did not at one time severely injure some of her friends and colleagues, forever altering their lives and receiving their judgement for it, and I did not set out to undo that feeble solace that they'd been granted. Maybe you say it is all personal." She shrugged. "And maybe it is. In any case, he was not some dangerous mercenary or gun runner either. Given what I said about him being a gentlemammal and self-righteous, is it any surprise that he used to be a cross between a gentleman thief and vigilante?"
Both Nick and Judy looked at each other, as did Basil and Dave. "Hang on," the latter began. "You're saying his species was not a coincidence…"
"I told you," his partner whispered into his ear. "I told you, but what did you say…?"
Carmelita just chuckled. "Since he was seventeen, I chased him as he robbed art institutions of illegally held jewells, and street thugs of their piles of money. Were he returning it to the original owners, then maybe it wouldn't have earned such passion, or even attention. But, keeping the stolen property as if it were his own just means he is stealing it from its true owners with additional steps. As a newly minted detective, a prodege of interpol, I set out to chase him down. After all," she let a knowing look grow on her muzzle. "How hard could it be?"
Eyes closed, she gently shook her head. "Years later, after a crusade spanning the globe, after several false victories, after working together, if not cooperating, to take down ruthless life destroying criminal after ruthless life destroying criminal… He suffered a major head injury. Complete amnesia." She glanced up to the mice. "And with that, after getting to know him over the years, on our chases, on the times we were held captive together or I briefly thought I'd finally captured him before he revealed he'd rigged the helicopter we were in and had a parachute! I convinced him he was always on our side, hardpawing the higher ups into giving it a trial run. After all, most of them had little conviction in us being able to keep him in custody for long given two previous escapes, and in his time on the other side he proved instrumental in bringing down some true monsters."
"Interpol can do that?" Judy exclaimed.
She gave a wink. "Only just. And even then, there was a lot of anger. Even surprise at myself. To them I was old ironsides, ruthless and uncompromising enforcer of the law. But, in my time, I guess I learnt to be a little pragmatic, and if letting a thief off easy helped to bring down scores of mobsters and smugglers in the future, then I suppose it's a fair trade."
"And it seems it worked," Nick said.
She nodded. "To our credit, for eight long years we worked together well. For a long time I suspected he'd recovered his memory, but even if he had… What we had worked for us." She glanced down, sighing. "We had a good run. The best years of our lives. Hundreds of criminals brought down, thousands of lives saved. And then, someone from his past forced his paw…" She let out a long sigh. "He tried to go behind my back, and at first I thought there was no coming back, I'd been a fool to ever trust him. But in time, as I saw the scope of what was going on, I realised just how serious this was. At first, I was only mad at him going behind my back and not trusting me, but I soon learnt he only ever wished to protect me. With me caught in, both our paws were being forced... And the life we built for ourselves came crashing down. We fought together, we won, we learnt that we too had been betrayed by someone we held close, we defeated a mammal whose schemes and technology were so dangerous and threatening, even in good hands, that Interpol has wiped them from the records…" Her eyes narrowed. "They never existed, and that is not something I am willing to discuss with you." And with that she relaxed back into a sad look. "But in the end… For him, the victory was purrhic. He was lost, tossed away like a sailor in a storm, and I've never seen him since."
The room went silent.
Judy, standing up, walking forward, laid her paw on Carmelita's shoulder. "I'm sorry. He clearly was… someone really important in your life."
"He was," she said, nodding. "As I say, he reminds me of you two."
Judy blinked, stepping back. "Uhhhh…"
"Well," Nick said, offering a chuckle to cut through the dour mood. "What can I say, great criminal busting cross-species pairings. Am I right?"
"In more ways than that," she said, a little smirk managing to work its way onto her muzzle.
Nick and Judy shared a look.
"Promise me this one thing," she said, to both bunny and fox. "Keep each other close. And stay safe. For as much as I try to keep you safe… Danger has a way of creeping in."
"We have each other's back," Nick said, Judy nodding along.
"Good," Carmelita said, standing up. "Anyway, I hope you understand why I intend to work this way, keeping things secret and you out of trouble where I can. It's to protect you. To keep you out of unneeded danger, just that coming from the work we're focussing on. Speaking of such, I believe we have briefs to read, intel to learn, and a case to dive into! The goat is a stroke of luck, but we have to be prepared for if he doesn't lend us any help in taking the initiative, we…"
She was broken off by a buzzing on the intercom in the corner of the room. Nick walked over and pulled up the newly installed receiver, listening in to what the other side had to say. As intended, the new addition made sure that it was for his ears only, and so he relayed it to the others. "The goat is ours now."
"That quickly?" Carmelita asked, before grinning. "It seems that army fox is all bark and no bite when it actually comes to talking to perps. Shall we?"
"Bogo did say yesterday," Judy agreed, as they began filing out. Nick carried the mice on a paw, leaving the two girls to lock up.
As they did so, the bunny couldn't help but let something escape her lips. "Carmelita?"
"¿Si?" she asked, looking back.
For a moment, Judy paused, thinking about just shaking her head and telling her to forget it. However, her curiosity won over. "Your partner…"
"Yes?"
"What was his name? And species?"
She let a faint smile grow across her lips and looked off into the distance, as if, for however briefly, stepping back in time to a happier place, him at her side. "A raccoon. My nickname for him was ringtail, after all. They all knew him by his Interpol alias, Stephen Ringtail. But to me, he was always my Sly Cooper."
And with that, she snapped back to the present, and led Judy out.
Never mentioning his voice, playing in her head as she imagined him walking alongside them, dressed down in his favourite blue polo shirt. Blue had always been his colour, after all. 'And another one won over to the fan club. Carmelita, it's a good thing you could even pull off an asbestos blanket, because you are on fire right now.'
She let her grin grow, as off they went.
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All too soon, they found themselves by the interview room, a smartly dressed army vixen leading a dignified retreat.
As Nick let the mice in to set themselves up, Carmelita was unable to resist giving her smug look, paws crossed in front of her chest. "I assume your time with him was a great success, yes?"
Lt Vixen just levelled her gaze back at her, paws crossed in return. "He's all yours, super cop."
"Buttered up and ready for a real interrogator, I hope."
"Maybe," she said, nodding along idly while glancing to the side. "Us two, maybe the rest of the ZPD, could eventually loosen him up enough. I don't know. We'd have to keep in touch to know."
"Ah," Carmelita smiled, letting her grin grow, fingers on one paw rapping down her forearm. "And your tactical mistake becomes clear. "Adios, Army Fox."
"See you next time, Cop Fox," she said, leading off and giving a wave on to those behind her. Jack and Skye followed promptly, giving shrugs to their Interpol officer following friends. Carmelita just gave them a level stare, even as Nick and Judy offered a wave too.
"Keep in touch…"
All eyes turned to Judy who, for the momentary flash of sheepishness she showed, stood strong, even as Carmelita's glare bore her down. The bunny doe looked up to the police vixen.
The police vixen looked back.
A second past, before the interpol officer spoke. "On non-police related matters, of course." She turned to give one last big smile to the leaving army fox, and then they were alone once more. "Well," she surmised, "hopefully they'll be out of our tails for the foreseeable future. Now, onto our goat!"
Entering into the observation room and looking through the two-way mirror, there he sat. An ordinary looking, orange furred, slightly bruised and battered goat. Nick couldn't help but look down at Judy. "Is that the one?" he asked.
The bunny looked up. She was the only one of the three here who'd actually seen the mammal who'd had the audacity to bug a police sting mid-progress, even if only via camera feed. And, though at the time she hadn't given much care to what had seemed to be a bystander, after finding out just what had gone on she'd revisited the recording and committed his face to memory. She knew Nick had, as well, and he was vastly better with faces and names than her. Still, the one in front of her was one that she knew very well. "It is," she spoke.
"Thought so," he replied back. Turning to the mice, Nick spoke out. "Did any of those others have a comment about it?"
"Not many, they were a bit hush-hush," Dave admitted.
Nick grumbled a little. "So you don't know if Jack recognised him?"
Of course, the striped bunny was the only one who'd seen him in-mammal.
"Ah, we did ask him about that," Basil said eagerly. "And he did reply."
"Even if his new boss initially gave him a slight look of disapproval," Dave added. "One that quickly vanished when he said that he didn't remember."
Nick's head tilted slightly. "Didn't remember?"
Basil nodded. "He said, and I quote, 'that a lead actor doesn't concern himself with the faces of extras.'" Carmelita couldn't help but let a little smile grow across her muzzle, only for it to fade as the small mammal carried on. "Didn't matter for them though, they said they tried as if he was and got nothing."
"Silent treatment?" Judy asked, receiving a nod back. She looked around, then forwards, eyes narrowing. "Well, they may have failed, but we can make him talk! After all, this time it's a matter of ZPD honour."
"Sí," Carmelita said, looking down at her two partners in anti-crime. Nick looked up and smiled, cracking his knuckles.
"He bugged our sting operation. Now, let's bug him."
They walked in, fast and determined. After all, this wasn't just a matter of honour, there was an awful lot of concern as well. For him to have intercepted an undercover bugging operation, and put a bug on their own bugger, he'd had to have known about it beforepaw. But how? That was still one of the biggest mysteries of the case, given that a thorough turn over and inspection of the ZPD had found no bugs, recording devices, evidence of spying rodents or bats, or even holes in the cyber system security. That last one though did ring a bit hollow. Yes they'd put a lot of money into beefing their computer system security up, but as the mammal in charge of doing that had said 'you don't need to be a cussin' elite of the elite to get into our network. There's probably a whole bunch of teenagers getting in right now just to bury their acorn, take it up again, and get out. All for the bragging rights!'
Whatever the case was, they needed to find out how. They needed to find out a whole lot of things. What was Rattigan and his gang's MO? Were they working with any of the other criminal organisations in the city, or even the true force behind the fall of Mr Big. Judy's ear twitched with that one. It had become increasingly known around the Precinct that the initial crack in the dam, the criminal tax evasion found by her friend Retsuko of all mammals on a form she looked at, didn't actually exist. It existed on the documents she'd blown the whistle on, for certain, but when comparing those to the on the ground reality and the bookkeeping at his limo service, it had turned out to have no bearing on reality.
Had he run a usual enterprise, with nothing else to uncover, he'd have likely got an apology and been free to carry on working. As it was though, the crack in the dam had widened into a torrent, sweeping away Big with it.
And sure, it might have been a mistake, a badly calculated tax form sent out by a new intern or disgruntled (and foolhardy) employee… But...
Despite looking at the company backups and saves at Retsuko's old company, the chain of ownership was cut off, no record of it existing before it got to the red panda. Of course, this wasn't anything on her, her files had shown that she'd been sent an email from her boss with it, but his records showed that he hadn't sent anything. If anyone was guilty there, he, or someone up the chain, was the vastly more likely option, not that it had been given much of a look.
Most mammals in the know thought it was the result of some hactivist who managed to find a way to fire an arrow right into the TundraTown mob's achilles heel. By the time that it had been found to be a false record, the investigations into it had dug up enough dirt to put Big away for good, and while you could technically pursue that mammal for his cybercrimes… For very understandable reasons, the entire Zootopian legal system quite frankly didn't give a cuss.
But now though…
Was it all connected?
Did the same mammal who might have hacked the ZPD and recorded everything in discussion about the raid also hack Retsuko's old company, planting a false and misleading tax form, all to bring down Big as part of their plans?
Was this the very mammal, right here and right now, seemingly disinterested and bored as he sat cuffed to the chair in front of them?
Cuss it, for all she knew this goat could be one of these elites she'd heard about. Maybe the Druid, supposedly MIA elite of the elite, or whatever. Or The Maid, Peridot, or the ever vanishing ever returning PanzR-CrackR, or any other one she'd heard being rattled off about. There were more after that but she'd glazed over, given that the head of ZPD cybercrimes was, as general opinion held, a phenomenal cusshead.
In any case, it was a world alien to her, until Jack very much bumped into a mammal who could be one of them. Before she'd have laughed if she'd been told she was two degrees of separation away from one of those faceless names, but who knew what anymore?
Cuss it, maybe they were all wrong, maybe this mammal didn't have anything to do with Rattigan. Maybe he was with 'Shylock' or 'Carmen Sandiego Fox' or someone else. They just needed to know.
And now she, Carmelita and Nick were sitting across from him. Her partner began listing out the date, the time, his rights.
He just looked at his hoof, idly.
"Petey, was it?" Nick asked, leaning in. "So, tell me. Bugging a ZPD undercover operation. You must have some talent, mustn't you?"
He glanced up at them, then back down.
"Or rather, your team might," he carried on, leaning back. "Some teams have pretty solid games, don't you think? Very clever ones, ones that hook you right in so you can't escape. Can't get out. Now, as we can tell, you good sir are a very clever guy. Maybe not clever enough to not get involved with a dangerous mammal out there. Tell me, are you scared of them?"
He kept focussed on his hoof.
"C'mon," Nick carried on. "Blessed with the red fur to blessed with the red fur. We've both had big scary bosses who are a lot less scary when behind bars. You can trust me."
…
"If you don't," Judy began, "You'll be going away for a long time. I've heard there's a Wildebeest locked away in high security, a cult leader whose bosses haven't been very helpful. And if you're a representative of them…" Her eyes narrowed. "I wouldn't like to share a prison with him. Get where I'm coming from."
Again, he stood idle.
"I'd advise you to start talking, criminal," Carmelita said.
And to that, he brought his hoofs up as much as he could and jiggled them about for a bit before putting them down.
Judy, confused, looked to Carmelita.
Carmelita, confused, looked to Judy.
Judy, still confused, looked to Nick.
Nick looked forward, mouth trying its best to hit the floor.
Judy looked back to Carmelita.
Judy snapped her head to look at Nick again, as did Carmelita.
Nick, shaking his head, looked back at them, eyes still wide as dinner plates. "He just signed at me," he said, eyes narrowing just a bit as he saw the goat smirk.
"What did he say?" Carmelita asked.
"He reserves his right to remain silent."
This time, it was Judy's turn to do a thylacine impression, her mouth dropping open seemingly wider than should be physically possible.
Carmelita though just looked on determined, cracking her knuckles and staring him down. "You think you won't talk? Do not worry. We'll make you talk."
.
.
"Sorry for the delay," Chief Bogo said, walking into the observation room. "Didn't know Oates could keep me talking for two hours straight. Anyway, what's the news?"
Judy, scrunched over a table, looked up to him, paws out. "We cannot make him talk."
"Oh don't be…"
"It is true," Carmelita huffed, shaking her head. "We have tried almost every trick in the book. Nothing…"
"Nada," Judy chimed in.
"Over two hours of attempts, but he remains persistent," Dave summarised.
"He just stays silent," Basil said, shaking his head. "We've had to resort to the closest thing to police brutality in our arsenal."
Carmelita blinked. "Police Bru… Officer Wilde said he was using his 'super special technique'. He's not going to…"
Bogo, eyes widening, stepped forward. "Inspector. If that fox meant what he said, and I have every inclination he did, you should put your fingers in your ears. Now!"
"¿Qué?"
Back in the interview room, the door cracked open, Nick stepping in, a determined look on his muzzle and an old, confiscated guitar in his paws.
Everyone in the observation room immediately stuck their fingers in their ears, bar Carmelita. "¿Qué?"
Nick placed one foot on his chair and pivoted his rear end onto the table, leaning in towards the goat, eyes narrowed. He held up his right paw. "TWO-THREE-FOUR!"
His paw strung down onto the strings, with the refined skill of someone with no practice what so ever. BRUM-BRUM-BRUM-BRUM-BRUM-BRUM-BRUMMMMMM...
He let out an ear splitting fox scream. "KKKKRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAAAA!"
BRUM-BRUM-BRUM-BRUM-BRUM-BRUM-BRUMMMMMM…
"KKKKRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAAAA!"
The goat stared back blankly.
Nick stared him down.
The goat stared back even more blankly.
Nick huffed and left the room.
.
.
…
Carmelita, head tilted firmly to the side, turned to those around her. "¿¡Qué!?"
Various eyes turned to her, before turning to the door as the annoyed tod walked in. "Didn't work."
"I fear we're out of options then," Basil said, shaking his head.
"Well if Wilde can't annoy the confession out of him, I don't know what can," Bogo said, gritting his teeth. He looked down. "Inspector, what do you make of a mammal who refuses to even speak?"
Carmelita shook his head. "Either he fears him to such a degree that even a word said out of place could get him killed… He respects him so much that the same applies. Or, and I fear this is the more likely option…" She trailed off, breathing in and out, ears going down. "This mammal believes his boss is very likely to pull of his scheme, a scheme that will likely render any punishment we give this mammal irrelevant."
"So what?" Judy asked, "a mega jail break?"
Carmelita looked at her for a second, before nodding. "Sure, why not."
"Or at least, he thinks his boss will try to break him out as soon as he can," Nick said, rubbing his chin.
"Well what about fearing him," Dave began, "Us two knew this Rat, his small size did nothing to…"
"-Fear will probably be in there," Nick cut in. "But this isn't like a mob boss. I've met wiseguys before, and seen them on that side of the glass. From the lowest ranks who've been kept in place by fear, to the top of the pile who are loyal to the law of Omerta, they don't just stay silent. They bluff, they try and spin a tale, they act casual. Not this…" He huffed, looking over at Carmelita. "This is something new to us, but I'm guessing not to you. Rattigan, or whoever is in control of this goat, is planning something big. Isn't he?"
She nodded slowly. "I presume so, I…"
"We got movement!" Judy shouted, all eyes turning to the goat, hoof up like he was back at school. He looked through the mirror, and made some signing motions. Nick couldn't help but frown.
"Okay, he wants the guitar."
They looked at each other, silently.
.
"Just careful, the middle right string is a bit off."
The goat, now attached to the chair by a leg cuff instead of a paw cuff, watched as the instrument was slid over to him by Nick, the fox retreating to a safely un-kabong-able range.
The caprid picked it up, gave the strings a few exploratory finger plucks on the strings, and then looked up and smiled.
A twangy tune began playing, before he casually broke into song.
"'Bout a clever old goat,
Let me sing you cops a-boot...
-Hey, diddle-dee, duddle-da,
Doddle-do, doodle-dum."
Nick, and the rest of the officers, blinked.
Giving a little knowing wiggle, he carried on.
"'Twas a splendid little kid
knew when to keep on his lid,
Say zippy-zee, zappy-za,
Yappy-yo, goggle-gum…"
Breath in, he picked up the tempo and volume of his performance.
"Well, like any clever fella,
remanded by the blue yips,
Well, he hard balled and poo-poo'd
And he zipped up his lips,
With a doodle-dum, diddle-da,
Duddle-diddle-doodle-dum
With a zippy-zo, zippy-zay,"
Nick somehow felt unable to not mumble the chorus back.
"Duddle-diddle-doodle-dum…?
With a zippy-zo, zippy-zay…?"
Petey carried on.
"Zippy-zappy-zoopy-zee,
Oh, doo-dah, doo-dah, day!"
As did Nick.
"Zippy-zappy-zoopy-zee?
Oh, doo-dah, doo-dah, day?"
The goat nodded, a smirk on his face, as he slowed the tempo down and got cocky.
"To colour in the fy-eld,
'Cross the table is a foxxy,
Name of Nick Piberius Wy-ilde,
Now he and his friendies,
Had this goat in the can.
Thought that it'd make him squeal,
Oh they had a plan!
But that clever old goat,
knew to let nuthin' past his lip.
Was silent as a mouse.
That never spoke a pip.
Now those stupid cops sit,
'Twhere there's a suspect who won't take the bit,
Singing diddle-dee, duddle-da,
Doddle-do, doodle-dum…"
He paused for a moment, glancing across to the mirror with a smug look.
"And as far as I can reckon
I'll never say nuthin' to the bill,
Singing zippy-zee, zappy-za, yoppy-yo…"
SLAM!
They were all broken off as Chief Bogo marched into the room, lunging at the goat. His head halted itself close enough for Petey to see the fine details of the inside of his nostrils, and feel the jet wash as the cape buffalo huffed out of them. "WHAT ARE YOU SINGING PETEY!?"
If the plan had been for the goat to be spooked by it, it had likely been entirely counterproductive. He just shrugged, idly. "Just making it up as I go along, really..."
"That's just weak songwriting!" The Chief accused. He shook his head. "You wrote a bad song Petey."
…
"FIne, guess I'll be silent again," he said, sliding the guitar across.
And that was that.
.
Back in their office, the group sat down glumly. "I feel like I've been hustled," Nick spoke, pacing about. "We didn't even do anything to get that goat in, it was all someone else, but I still feel hustled."
"I mean, it's better than nothing, right?" Judy asked. "We got one of them."
"Yeah, one who's literally no help at all," the red fox tod huffed.
The red fox vixen meanwhile ran her fingers across her desk. "Of course, for all we know, this mammal might be a crucial part of their operation. Him being held here means they are at a great disadvantage."
"Of course," Basil mused, "that could play into your whole idea about why he was silent. He's expecting to get rescued. So, we just beef up security around him, or better yet do so while making it look like we haven't. And then…"
"We get them!" his husband agreed.
Their sunny disposition did its best to lighten up the mood in the room, but all could tell it rang hollow. "And we let his guys just carry on, planning what they're planning," Nick said, shaking his head. "Yes, it isn't nothing, but we can't just rely on that."
"What about his actual trial?" Judy asked, the others looking to her. "The only thing we've technically got going against him is interference in a police investigation and, if our DNA report on the furs we found on Jack's jacket turn up positive, trespass in a restricted area. And actually thinking about the burden of proof…"
Nick nodded his head. "Even a court appointed lawyer could get him off on those. Just say that it was just as likely to have been anyone else Jack bumped into who planted that bug." His brow furrowed. "Cuss it, that same lawyer could probably argue that even if he did plant the bug, that doesn't count as interference."
"No wonder he's so sure of himself," Judy huffed. "He knows we don't really have leverage on him. A chance of maybe spending a year or two behind bars… That's nothing to him, except…" She paused, beating her foot against the floor. "Why not just act like the innocent bystander caught up in all this? Why go through with the whole silent treatment."
"To annoy us?" Carmelita asked, tail swishing behind her, before lowering down with her ears. "To keep us occupied and make us waste our time on him, while his boss does what he wants." She stood up, pacing around. "In that case then, we need to cut our losses on the goat and focus on where to go next. We'll want to interview the Silverfox academic who might be of interest to him, but are there any other ideas?"
She was met with a round of shaking heads.
And a knock on the door.
"Come in," she said, expecting Bogo, but surprised to see…
"Hey Spots," Nick said, as Clawhauser walked in.
"Hey guys, hope things are going well with the case."
His cheery optimism dashed itself against the reality inside.
"Oh…" he said. "-Though this might help!" And with that, he brought out a letter. "That swift fox in the other group asked to use the bathroom, and when she came out and they left I'm guessing she slipped it on my desk hoping I'd pass it along."
"If you didn't see her do it, how do you know it's her?" Judy asked.
"I smelt Swift fox on it," he said, tail going down. "It's not just the canids, I've got a pretty good sense of smell too!"
"Sorry," she said, sheepishly. And with that, the letter was handed over,. "Oh, and can you see if you can arrange a catch up interview with Dr Silverfox, ASAP please."
"Sure thing," the Cheetah said, stepping out of the room. Volunteering, Judy opened up the letter and read it out.
"I'm sorry about the incident earlier. I hope you understand that my sister isn't a bad person or opposed to what you're doing. All of us here want to see the bad guys dealt with. Which is why I think keeping something important secret from you is stupid."
"She's my sister, I'm loyal to her and love her, but I didn't want to get roped into this. I wanted to stay out. Only, I realised I'd already been roped in way before."
"She's here after some North Korean spies were spotted in the city a while ago, talking to a wolf who represents a major international arms dealer called 'Elsa'. That's who my sister is looking for, and she believes that they might be here to do stuff with your bad guy."
"I happened to realise that that connection is completely true."
"Remember Honey's bunker and her conspiracy board? I only remembered this morning, but the one thing she couldn't fit in were 'some north korean spies talking with someone.' But they weren't Elsa's wolf representative she talked about in that picture, it was a lion and tiger."
"Who I'm certain are the ones who caused us all those issues."
"We're heading off to Honey's now. But you can slip in after and see what you can find too."
"I'm scared, this is getting serious, and I don't know who these bad guys might decide to hurt next. I just hope that all of us can help to take them down."
"Best of luck,"
"Skye."
Judy put the page down as Nick scratched his head. "I remember that… I think… The spies, maybe not the lion or tiger. -But I do remember feeling some kind of deja-vu there or…" He breathed in and out. "Well, I think we now know where we're going next."
Carmelita nodded. "Who is this, Honey?"
Nick breathed in, finger up, before turning to Judy. "How about you tell it, Carrots?"
He received a punch in the arm.
"As Fox abuse compensation."
"Fine," she groaned. "I'll give you the low down while we drive." She turned to the mice. "You coming?"
"We've got some stuff to cover here," Dave said.
"Right then foxes," Judy said. "Off we go."
And so they did at a brisk pace.
After all, who knew what their enemy was planning at this very moment.