"Okay, so this is what we know so far," an elderly but vitality-filled Judy said, providing a refresher on all of the information they had collected. "The reading glasses that turned up missing only did so after bingo night."

"What was that?" responded the aging fox idly coming her way, slouched over as he guided himself with his walker to the kitchen table.

"Bingo night."

"We need to unite?"

"Bingo night," the doe repeated.

"A dingo's in fright?" Nick inquired, still confused due to the fact that he wasn't sure if he was hearing what his bunny was saying to him correctly.

"No, Nick," Judy answered, speaking up. "Bingo night. Mrs. Oakley's reading glasses went missing on bingo night."

Nick nodded his head understandingly. "Oh, yes, yes," he said, puling out a chair and slowly sitting down at the kitchen table next to the doe. "Sorry, Carrots. I figured, being a fox and all, that my hearing would stay pretty good in my golden years. Guess that wasn't the case."

Certainly wasn't, Judy thought to herself in agreement with what he had remarked.

While her hearing remained as good as it was back when she was much younger, during her days on the police force, her old age didn't come without some changes. For instance, despite being quite vital for a bunny in her late sixties, she couldn't run as fast as she was able to in the past.

Nick unfolded the portion of the newspaper he had been holding onto, looking back at the crossword puzzle—one of the things he did alongside word searches to keep his old brain sharp—that he had been working on that evening."It's like we're back in the old days," remarked Nick as he looked back at the doe he was sitting beside. "We both retired from the ZPD many years ago and we're still cracking cases."

"Nothing exciting really happens around here," Judy replied, "so if a mystery just so happens to pop up around this place, I'm gonna hop at the bit for it." She shrugged at the figure of speech that came out of her just then. "Well, these old bones can't handle hopping like they used to, but you get what I mean, Nick."

"I suppose you're right about there not being a lot of excitement here, Fluff," the vulpine admitted. "Matter of fact, this is probably the biggest thing to happen around this center since our friend Saul got a new phone. You know, those ones they make with only a few buttons since he's not that great with technology."

"He said he's trying to get better at using those kinds of smart devices," Judy returned.

Nick snickered, knowing that probably would not occur given his friend's track record with technology and the like. "I'll believe that the day I see a hippo ballet dancing with a crocodile," he remarked with slight disbelief. He returned to the subject at paw before he ended up gong off into a tangent. "Anyway, what else did you figure out? You don't think she just misplaced them somewhere else and forgot, do you?"

Judy took a sip from the water glass that she had poured herself earlier before returning her attention to Nick. "As much as she tends to mess things up or be forgetful, I don't think she would just put them in the wrong place," she informed.

"I mean, she has a track record of getting confused at times," Nick responded honestly. "Remember the dinner party when she put the cinnamon in the soup and cayenne in the dessert instead of the other way around?"

Judy most definitely recalled that particular mishap, as well as how she simply ate the unusually seasoned dish so she didn't hurt Mrs. Oakley's feelings, since she was the sweetest bear one could ever meet. "Yeah," she answered, "I just talked to her again and she swore that she would never misplace her glasses. She needs those to do her reading, after all. But she said that they might've been left in the room bingo night was being hosted in by accident."

"How about the four girls a couple rooms down the hall?" the fox inquired. "Were they any help at all?"

The doe shook her head and responded, "No, they had no idea about that happening."

"Carrots, what is a five-letter word for something of secondary importance?" asked Nick suddenly, tapping the newspaper with the pencil he held in his paw.

"Still trying to win one of those crossword contests the paper holds?" responded Judy.

The tod nodded and said, "Hey, you never know if you're name'll get drawn out of the hat. Might win us something really nice."

"Probably just a goody bag of stuff with their name on it," the doe admitted. "But I think the word is 'petty' or something like that. Does that help?"

Nick's jotted down the letters to the word in the empty spaces on the crossword puzzle. "As a matter fact, Judy, it does," he remarked delightedly. "Now all that's left is to figure out these last few words..."

Judy smiled back at him before widening her eyes as if she had some sort of revelation in that second. "That's it!" she exclaimed as she slammed a paw on the wood table, surprising Nick upon doing so.

The fox raised an eyebrow quizzically. "What is it?"

"Someone here whose name rhymes with petty." Judy said as the memories of that evening came to her just then. "Peggy, and as matter of fact, she was being kind of petty. She was going on about how she she wanted to win that prize at bingo night and was jealous of Mrs. Oakley getting it instead of her."

"So, maybe—hear me out, Carrots—Mrs. Oakley left them on the table and forgot about them," Nick hypothesized, "and then Peggy, getting all petty about the whole thing, decided to take them."

For a brief moment, Judy was silent as she churned out that scenario in the back of her mind. "You know what, Nick? I think you might be right about that."

The vulpine grinned back at her and remarked, "No wonder we made such a great team on the force. Once you help a rabbit take down a plot to divide a city, you can pretty much crack any case."

"Guess the two of us solved this retirement center's mystery," Judy leaned forward and held onto the paw of her fox. "Couldn't have solved it without your help, though."

Nick gazed tenderly into the eyes of the bunny, his love for her still as strong for her in old age as it was back when they were much younger. When he said that he would love her no matter how long the two of them would live, he truly meant that with all of his heart.

"Anyway, we better get downstairs and have a talk with Peggy about this," the rabbit suggested, lifting herself up and pushing her chair in before making her way towards the front door.

"Right behind you, Fluff," replied Nick as he jumped out of his seat a bit too fast for his fragile and elderly body, suddenly feeling a twinge behind him that brought him to a halt. He clutched where the pain hurt with a soft paw and grunted under his breath. "As soon as that darn pain in my back goes away."

Author's Note: Hey there, readers! I always figured that Nick and Judy would always be using their skills when it came to solving mysteries and such even in old age, and that was where this little story came about. I know this one wasn't exactly the most exciting story I could've written with that concept in mind but I hope it was still a short but enjoyable read. :)

As always, let me know what your thoughts are on this. Your feedback, whether good or bad, is gladly appreciated.

'Til next time! :)