Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various canon characters from the movie Zootopia are all exclusively owned by Disney the great and powerful. Any and all registered trade names are the property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

With a Little Bit of Luck... Or Not

Professor Ramsey did not see his tentative contact at The Fold that evening.

Vaughn Wheeler castigated Nick for not doing more to identify the animal who had spoken with the ram. "What if he was scared off! What if he's never there again!"

Nick told the hamster to relax. Things were proceeding just the way they should. Nick wished he felt as optimistic as he hoped he sounded. It was important to make no moves that might warn their quarry. Any hint of surveillance and their contact with Bellwether would be lost – and Ramsey put in danger. Nick wracked his brain, trying to see any hole they had left in their plan that might have alerted the other sheep.

In a group meeting the Bagheeras agreed with Vaughn that something needed to be done to identify the animal who had spoken with Ramsey. However, they also agreed with Nick that everything needed to be done in absolute secrecy. Even the slightest rumor might alert Bellwether's followers. A vacant storage room in an Imperial Enterprise office building had a distant view of the entrance to The Fold. With a powerful telephoto lens it would be possible to get a clear picture of any animal leaving the lounge.

But who would manage the surveillance? The weakness of Nick's disguise meant he avoided being seen in public as much as possible. Vaughn was too small to operate the equipment. The Bagheeras were publicly known to be heading the Bellwether case. Being seen, even a block away from The Fold, possibly on multiple nights – since no one knew when a real break would come – meant they would draw attention. Assigning an active duty officer to the job would generate speculation.

No one dared suggest another animal be told all the details of the plan.

'Raj' Tamil was the compromise they reached. The tiger was a retired officer and a member of the REDS, who remembered the Night Howler Crisis very well. 'Raj' had a long and utterly average career as a police officer. He didn't have a high level of intelligence, and no imagination at all. But he was fiercely loyal and wonderful at following orders. He didn't know why he was asked to take pictures of animals leaving the lounge. He didn't even ask. He happily agreed to take photos of every animal leaving for a one hour period when Lylah called him and told him to begin. He'd take along a novel and read until the panther gave him the signal to start.

An antelope was in the forensics lab the next day, an officer Ramsey had not seen. "Professor Ramsey?" the officer asked.

It was a pointless question. Ramsey's face was well known from the news. The name embroidered on his lab coat was superfluous – every member of the police force and 90% of the population could identify him by sight. "Yes? Have we met?"

"No. My partner and I stopped by the lab – he's dropping a sample off for analysis. I'm looking around... You're something of a celebrity, thought I'd look you up."

"You found me."

The antelope slowly looked around, possibly in awe of the scientific facility, possibly to make sure there were no witnesses to their conversation. "This place is impressive. So much depends on the work you do. A mistake would sure cause problems, wouldn't it?"

"It certainly would. That's why we're so careful with everything."

"Good. I mean, that cheetah that Parr and Carson brought in? It would really mess things up if the lab here lost their evidence, wouldn't it?"

Ramsey shrugged. "Probably. I've not worked on the case so I don't know exactly what evidence there is. What I've heard is they have what may be the murder weapon. It may be here now, or they may still have it locked up at the Third waiting delivery. It will have to come here for for analysis. We can only insure the safety of the evidence we have here."

The antelope nodded as Ramsey silently memorized his badge number, "But it could really ruin the case if the evidence from the lab was lost, wouldn't it?"

"Absolutely. Police would look terrible if a big case collapsed."

"Well, keep everything safe," the antelope told him, winked and left.

While nothing had been explicitly said Ramsey headed for Doc Wheeler's office.

The hamster always looked slightly lost in an office designed for a large occupant. Doc Wheeler had set up his own desk and equipment on the large desk in the middle of his domain.

Ramsey didn't ask if the hamster was busy with something important. Nothing was more important than this. "May have the name of a Bellwether agent in the police department... Well, a badge number. Nothing positive but what he said sounded suspicious."

"Give me the number! I'll... But you aren't sure?"

"He didn't say a thing that would be proof, but he was asking about Parr and Carson's big arrest. He was curious whether we had any important information on that here in the lab."

"We do. The knife they brought in is waiting to be processed. If it has DNA from the cheetah and the victim we've got gold."

"I may be asked to destroy the evidence. At least, I'm thinking that may have been what I was asked."

"With the rumors that the police are soft on preds. Release of a high-profile killer because the evidence has gone missing would be damning. You can bet there'd be a howl. How sure are you that you were asked?"

"I'm not positive, let's say ninety-seven point eight percent."

"We're working in the Forensics Lab," Doc Wheeler told him with a grin, "I expect the odds in three decimal places. I'm gonna check out the badge number and call Nick and the Bagheeras. Doug?"

"Yes."

"Thanks. Stay safe. Meeting tonight before you head to The Fold, usual spot. No meeting with Nick after your trip to The Fold. You might be followed or be able to invite your 'friend' to your place to talk strategy.

The hamster had a personal file and photo of the officer who had spoken to Doug at the lab.

The two panthers bordered on ecstatic.

"We know one of the traitors on the force!" George enthused.

"No hard evidence, yet," Lylah reminded him. "But I feel like I'm seeing a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel."

"Just hope light at the end of the tunnel isn't the headlamp of an oncoming train," muttered Nick

"This was your idea," Lylah reminded him. "You don't think it's going to work?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure it's going to work. But all Hell will be breaking out soon for the ZPD. I just don't want this to be the straw that breaks the camel's back. It's not going to be the public that's pissed off about this, it's going to be the whole police department, city hall, town council, and the mayor."

"But once Bellwether is captured–" George started to say.

"Nick is right," Lylah said, hating to agree with the fox. "Until Bellwether gets captured it is going to get a lot uglier than they are now. And things haven't been this bad since her last plan."

"I wish there were some way to warn Parr and Carson," Vaughn mused. "How would you feel if you cracked a big case and the lab lost the evidence?"

George nodded in sympathy.

"I'd be looking for an animal to tear into little pieces," his wife added.

"Same here," confessed Nick, "which is why we can't tell them. They're going to raise an unholy stink about this – in case the ZPD tries to cover it up. Bellwether's gang needs to think Ramsey has pulled it off. It's our only chance of them trusting him enough to get close again."

All chapters of the biography of Duke's grandmother were in at least rough draft. Teresa prepared a first draft of a chapter from her conversations with Duke, then read it through with Duke to insure she hadn't made any mistakes in understanding Duke and tweak it for the second draft. After setting it aside for a couple days to help clear her mind she would work on a polished version for publication.

In her mind she knew anything the publisher purchased would go through an editor for revision, correction, and readability. She knew that any suggested revisions had to be accepted – it as the price to be paid for publication. She need not have worried. Both potential publishers had been delighted with the quality of her work – which had brought her the offers for a job as an editor or further writing.

The two mustelids had finally agreed to the publisher with the lower up-front offer, but larger royalty percentage. Neither had floated the idea of taking all the up-front money and giving the other the royalty checks. Neither wanted to risk a potential partnership ending in a fight with the book so close to completion.

And Judy certainly hadn't mentioned the potential conflict to either of them. She deeply hoped the two would resolve the issue without needing her to moderate.

The rabbit wasn't positive, but had a strong sense of being doomed.

There was another sheep at The Fold that night when Doug Ramsey arrived. The face was familiar, but the Professor couldn't recall a name. There had been a number of sympathizers with Dawn Bellwether's first attempt to drive predators from the city who had not been prosecuted, or even identified. Ramsey wondered if this ram might have been more important in the first attempt than the police realized, or had assumed a leadership role in planning Bellwether's escape or her current goal.

"Professor?"

Doug nodded his head. He didn't ask for a name.

"Buy you a drink? Talk about old times?"

Ramsey gave him a small smile, "I'd prefer to talk about new times."

The three found a booth in a quiet area of the lounge.

"How is your new job working out?"

The professor shrugged, "It has its interesting points. Much nicer being free than behind bars. Looking towards the day all my friends are out."

"Some of us were suspicious of you."

"Understandable. In your place I'd be suspicious of me. I think I managed to fool the hamster because he wanted another scientist in the forensic lab. Not sure if I've really fooled the fox or not. I think the hamster did more to get him to put in a good word for me than anything I could have done."

"Heard you had some trouble making you way here."

"A hell of a lot more than some trouble. A kiloton or three. Hoping to find a way to show my loyalty – despite any words I said to get me out. Any ideas?"

"I suspect you know what the request is."

"The cheetah?"

"Anything you can do about that?"

"By coincidence an officer was asking me about that earlier in the day. A knife has arrived at the lab for DNA testing. It hasn't been processed yet. Depending on the results a flimsy case may suddenly be airtight."

"It would be wonderful if it vanished. With the police department looking totally inept at best, and possibly even corrupt. Can you do it?"

"I believe I can," affirmed Ramsey. He turned to the sheep he had spoken with more often. "But don't go looking for me around here for at least a week. You're looking at the number one suspect if anything goes wrong in the lab. Suspicion will be on me like fleas on a canid. I'm going to be at home every night watching television when they knock on the door to make sure I'm there and wearing my GPS ankle band."

"Will a week be enough?"

"I'm not sure. I'm calling it a minimum. I'm not the only prey species working in the lab. We out-number the preds five to one... I'll be the prime suspect, but hopefully not the only suspect. We even hired a pred in our first plan – that weasel. They may start checking bank accounts for the preds on staff to see if anyone has been making large deposits. And we have one cheetah working at the lab, they're all related – she'll probably be a suspect. But I'll be the top suspect. Don't worry, I won't be back here if I think anyone is tailing me – when I say a week I mean you won't see me unless I feel it's safe. Even if they feel they've got a better suspect in two days it'll be at least as week, and if the heat stays on me a month it'll be a month."

"Any chance you could steal it tonight?"

"Only if I want them to know it's me for sure. I've got a card that'll open doors to the secure areas at off hours – but it leaves a record of my being there. I go in at my regular time tomorrow morning. Things are always a little chaotic at shift change – animals getting a cup of coffee before they start their work day. Doors left open that should be closed. Supervisors assigning duties. By the time anyone notices the knife is missing I'll be busy with my assignment for the day. And ten minutes after that the two panthers in charge of looking for Bellwether will have me in an interrogation room."

"Think you'll be arrested?"

"Maybe. But if I'm careful they won't have evidence to hold me. I might be fired, but I'm not even sure if they can do that legally."

"Hope not. There's probably more you can do for us in the lab."

"And hopefully it won't be as risky as this." muttered Ramsey.

The sheep he knew better nodded agreement. The new ram repeated the comment as reassurance. "Agreed, hopefully never this risky again."

All five members of the plan were wildly elated with the development in a group call after the professor returned to his apartment.

"Vaughn, can you hide the knife?" George asked.

"With the head's up we got about it, I've been checking it out. George, you and Lylah need to be there six-thirty a.m. tomorrow to take custody of the evidence. Use that side door we used for the rabbit."

"What rabbit?" Lylah asked.

"I'll show you tomorrow," George promised. "Right now, we need to get the photos from the tiger."

"Professor?" Lylah smiled, "I look forward to grilling you tomorrow about the theft. Thanks. We should have prints of the photos for you to identify the animals you spoke with."

With an officer of the ZPD tentatively identified as a member of Bellwether's gang the Bagheera's went to collect the surveillance photos from 'Raj'. With photos of two members of Bellwether's gang – at least one of whom appeared to be part of the inner circle they felt confident of success.

In his nightly call Nick's report to Judy glowed with enthusiasm, even with his warning things would appear to go South real fast. Nick sometimes wondered why going South was a bad thing. He rather liked the South. "Why did South get the bad rap," he asked his wife. "Why not East North-East?"

"Sounds wonderful," she agreed. "The city survived the Night Howler Crisis and that lasted even longer. Have you given any more thought to what we talked about?"

"Which thing we've talked about. We talk about a lot of stuff. Your warning not to do anything stupid?"

"Nick!" Judy warned in a tone of voice Nick knew meant be serious.

"Sorry. I promise to behave... Oh! That talk."

"I mean, we don't have to decide tonight. But if Bellwether will back behind bars soon... Should we go for a second child? I need your opinion."

There was silence for a minute. "Nick? You still there?"

"I worry about your health. You said it was easier for the Pines, but–"

"But I wouldn't even be discussing this if their second pregnancy had been as hard as the first. That's off the table. I want your opinion."

"Easy for you to say it's off the table, I–"

"No, I'm the one who had the pain in the first pregnancy. If I say it's off the table it's off the table for this discussion. Why do I get the idea you aren't thrilled with the idea?"

"'Cause you're smart? You're expecting me to be honest?"

"It would make the conversation easier."

"For you, maybe," Nick snorted. There was an short silence. "Okay, don't laugh... I love Jade so much, I'm worried I couldn't love another child as much as I love her. It wouldn't be fair to him or her."

"Seriously?"

"Hey, don't make fun of me. I didn't make fun of you when you said you weren't worried about possible pain."

"I told you I am worried, but I'm not letting it rule me. And I've got the experience of other animals who've gone through it. Nick, do you remember the period of the warring kingdoms the pandas had?"

"Uh, what are you talking about?"

"World history. High school. Pandas. Warring kingdoms."

"You were your class valedictorian remember? Your husband got a certificate of participation from high school instead of diploma, remember?"

Judy sighed, "You graduated."

"World history was an elective – not required, and I've got no idea what point you're trying to make. I assume you're trying to make a point."

"Okay, life was terrible. Little kingdoms fighting wars. And different pandas were trying to figure out why things were so bad. And one group – the Legalists – said life was bad because people just needed to follow whatever rules the king made, loyalty would solve everything. Another group said our capacity to love is limited and we need firm priorities – how much love to we give the king, how much love to our parents, how much love to siblings, what does the spouse get, and how much for children. Don't give anyone more love than they deserve or it hurts society."

Nick snorted, "Really?"

"It was actually accepted for a long time. But there was another group who said our capacity for love is infinite. And we need more, lots more. If we have enough love–"

"Sounds like bad rock music from fifty years ago. When was this?"

"Good rock music. Jazz doesn't make the world go 'round. Oh, this was a couple thousand years ago. Do you love me?"

"Is this a trick question?"

"No. It's simple yes or no. Do you love me?"

"Passionately."

"I'll take that as a yes. I told you it was simply yes or no. Now, do you love Jade?"

"Yes."

"Do you love me less because you love Jade?"

"If anything I love you–"

"Yes or no, remember? Does loving Jade make you love me less?"

"No."

"And, should we decide to try for another, you will be able to love him or her as a unique individual."

George knocked on the apartment door, and an excited tiger threw the door open and pulled the panthers into the room.

"Picture, I got a picture," 'Raj' exclaimed.

"I hope you got a bunch," Lylah told him.

"This one! I'm sure this is the one you wanted!" He turned to his printer and showed them a picture, of Doug Ramsey. "It's that professor guy! He was there!"

"You were supposed to take pictures for an hour. Every animal leaving the lounge."

"When I saw the professor I figured–"

"We knew he was there. He's wearing a GPS monitor," George told him. "We've seen he goes to The Fold. It may be perfectly innocent, his parole allows him to go anywhere with the ankle monitor. We wanted pictures of animals leaving about the same time in case he's talking with other animals who might be connected with Bellwether."

Lylah couldn't keep all the anger from her voice. "One hour! All the animals leaving for an hour! You got a picture of the one animal we knew was already there! Don't you dare tell a single animal that we are watching Ramsey. If the word gets out he's totally useless to us as a possible contact with Bellwether's gang. If they hear we're watching him they'll avoid him like the plague."

The tiger was crestfallen. "I... I fucked up?"

George put a paw on the tiger's shoulder. "There'll be other nights. We'll call you if the GPS says he's at the lounge. Hey, he may be totally innocent. But don't breathe a word to anyone. Lylah's right, if anyone does contact him there they'll be scared off at a hint of surveillance."

Of course Ramsey wasn't wearing a GPS, and he wouldn't be going back. Evidence was going to disappear the next day and all Hell would break loose. The hope that two of Bellwether's high operatives could be identified had disappeared and it might be weeks before there was another chance to gather evidence.