Chapter 2: Obscured (written on August 14th, 2016)
"See, Nick? Ya' see?" said Judy, pointing at the orange blur on the screen. They were looking over the traffic tapes near her apartment complex. Judy had rewound the footage to before one-thirty and played it to one-forty where the van crossed a street about one hundred yards from the complex. She played the interval of time over and over again to see the van again and again.
"I guess you're right. It's orange," the fox admitted. He was leaning on the nearby wall. "Why do you keep playing it over and over instead of just looking over the other streets so we can trace this vehicle? You know, like last time, the good ol' days?"
"Well, while personally I'd want to forget the so-called 'good ol' days,' there is a reason—a simple reason: the car disappears after this. While you were coming here late, I was busy looking through all the footage from the security cameras. Perhaps you want to be more aware of your surroundings as there are tapes lying all around your feet right now." Nick looked down at his feet and saw the mess before him. "I'll clean it up later."
"I wonder why Zootopia uses videocassettes to house their traffic footage? They're so ten years ago. Also, I was only late for twenty minutes! How can you look through countless yards of street footage in that amount of time? Downtown is so big for one car, and it appears more so in the pouring rain for Pete's sake!"
"C'mon, fox. You should know by now that I take my work very seriously. Valedictorian of the academy, remember?"
"Don't remind me for the twentieth time." Nick sighed.
"Don't deem me as boastful. I'm not. It's just some out there still think I'm worth nothing to the city, especially when wearing the honorable blue."
"I'm not deeming you anything less than very intelligent. Your reiterations just annoy me."
"I'm sorry, okay."
"No need to apologize, Fluff. Just look at the tape."
"Right, sorry. I'm getting sidetracked." She peered at the screen. The rain last night was intense. Moisture from the Rainforest District blew toward the colder air and triggered thunderstorms across downtown. The rain was obscuring the objects on the screen immensely. Nick could tell the bunny was getting frustrated with the results, looking over and over again to find the slightest clue.
An hour later, Nick offered the bunny a break.
(Hey, sorry, this chapter is short. I was in a hurry.)