Something was bugging me as Judy made her way through the inter-district tunnel between Sahara Square and Tundratown.

"Hey Carrots," I said, musing aloud. "How is Loxley supposed to afford his medical bills? Even if he still worked at Wolf Cola, it's not the kind of place to offer benefits and insurance." She hummed in thought.

"I don't know," she said eventually. "Why do you ask?" I shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat.

"Eh, it's just—I've been through hard times before. Never had my jaw broken," I said with a humorless laugh, "but hard times just the same." I could see Judy watching me from the corner of her eye as we pulled to a stop behind a long line of cars waiting to exit the tunnel.

"What are you suggesting?" I shrugged and blew air out of my mouth.

"I don't know. I mean, I have some money saved up, maybe…"

Judy leaned over and pressed a kiss into my cheek as my voice trailed away.

"What was that for?" I asked, rubbing my ruff with a paw. She smiled.

"I'm just so glad I got to see the real you," she said. My ears got very warm, and I started to feel self-conscious.

"Do you think I should? Offer to help, I mean?" She took my paw while we were still at a standstill.

"I think we should." She leaned in close to press a kiss to my lips. Only after we had pulled away did I remember.

"Hey, uh, Officer Hopps," I said, straightening up in my seat and tightening my tie. "The uh, dash cam."

Judy gave a little meep and went rigid.

…

"I should stop by and pay Fru Fru a visit while we're so close," Judy said as we stepped out of the cruiser. Good grief, even with having stopped back at the precinct for some winter gear, Tundratown was just too cold.

"Mm…probably not a good idea, Fluff," I said. "Have you visited them since the whole Night Howler thing?" She shook her head. "Well, we should keep it that way. We got very, very lucky dealing with the Bigs last time." She still didn't seem convinced. I gave an exasperated sigh and took off my coat, throwing it onto the snow.

"What are—what are you doing?" Judy asked, taken aback.

"Rolling up my sleeve," I said, grunting a little as I pushed the material as high as it would go. There it was. "Here," I said, offering her my arm for inspection. "Feel along there, along the top of my bicep." She huffed good-naturedly, but moved to do so anyway.

"Now's not the time to be showing off your…physique…" Her voice trailed away as she found the ropey scar tissue along my right arm under my fur. "This…this was really bad, wasn't it? What happened?" I gave a shudder that had nothing to do with the cold.

"Kevin and Raymond," I replied darkly, beginning to roll my sleeve back down. "That whole deal with the…rug…did not go over well at Casa Big, let me tell you." She stood there silently as I shook the snow from my coat and put it back on. "Just—please. Tread lightly around them, is all."

"Well, if you say so, Nick." She took my paw in hers. "I trust you." My face and ears felt warm again.

"Oh hush, you sweet-talker," I said fondly, giving one of her ears a little tug. "What are we doing standing around in the cold here, huh? Let's go!"

"Does it still hurt ever?" she asked as we fell back into step. I shook my head.

"Nah. The muscle gets a little tight in the cold, but other than that it's fine. It was a long time ago."

We arrived at the main office for the packing plant. Like the rest of the industrial row in Tundratown, it was primarily dominated by foreboding, brutalist architecture that only served to deepen the chill of the district. Judy pulled the heavy door open, stepping aside to allow me to enter.

"Very chivalrous, Carrots," I remarked as I passed by. Unfortunately, the temperature did not improve much as we entered the warehouse. I could see portable heaters scattered here and there amongst the mammals working on the floor, though it was clear that they weren't doing much more than taking only just the barest edge off of the chill.

And the mammals. Suffice it to say that I was beginning to think Judy's hunch wouldn't hold any water.

They were mostly smaller (well, I say smaller, but I mean more "Judy and me" sized) arctic mammals, foxes and hares dominating the majority. Which would be interesting if it came to questioning them. The rest were other mammals in that same size range, although less so inclined to the cold. Badgers, one or two red foxes, a few deer. No wolves yet, though.

"Not a one," I said aloud, and Judy slumped next to me.

The door to the floor manager's office opened, and out stepped an older fennec fox with thick-framed bifocals. He had quite a lot of darker fur tufting out of his ears in a way that gave him a manic air, but the eyes behind his heavy spectacles belied a shrewd operator. He gave a small start to see myself and Judy standing there but quickly composed himself and stepped our way.

"Frank Reynard," he said exuberantly, thrusting a paw out to shake mine. "Owner and proprietor of Wolf Cola." He moved to shake Judy's paw as well. "What can I do for our mammals in blue?" He made a show of adjusting his glasses. "And celebrity policemammals as well! It's not every day one gets to meet Officers Wilde and Hopps!"

Boy, was he a grifter if I ever saw one. Dollars to donuts he had someone shredding documents or hiding OSHA violations behind-the-scenes while he attempted to schmooze us. Well, this ex-hustler wasn't about to be duped.

"Great to meet you, Frankie. I can call you Frankie, right? It's so great to meet a fellow vulpine on the up-and-up, and running his own business, nonetheless!" I could see a light dim in his eyes—he knew by my tone it wouldn't be so easy to keep us in the dark about whatever he had going on here. "You know, I knew a Frankie in high school, on the wrestling team. Frankie Fast-Paws, they used to call him. Or was it Fat-Paws? You know him? 'Course, he was a panda, but still—" I was throwing him off quite a bit; his head was practically beginning to spin now. My partner decided to show some mercy and cut to the chase.

"Officer Wilde and I are following up about an assault on one of your former employees, a Thomas Loxley?" The older fox froze up, so rattled he didn't even try to hide his reaction.

"Loxley?" Reynard replied slowly. "I think we had to let him go. Shame, but that's what happens when you pick fights with your coworkers." Judy and I exchanged a look.

"Come again?" Judy said, leaning forward now. Reynard shifted uncomfortably.

"The assault in the warehouse? With Loxley? It was messy, but we took care of it all internally, no one pressed charges."

I loved this guy. I could just keep feeding him rope all day long and he'd just make that noose tighter and tighter.

"Sir, we were referring to an assault on Loxley that occurred after his employment here was terminated. What happened when he was fired?" Judy asked, pulling her pen and notebook out.

The older fox was visibly sweating now. He removed his glasses to polish them on his shirt, paws shaking as he did so.

"Loxley picked a fight with some of the others, got a little roughed up, is all. I had to let him go." Judy pressed on.

"Who were the others? Could we speak with them?"

"N-no, I had to let them go, too. Causin' too much trouble." Judy smiled disarmingly.

"That's no trouble; if you could just get us their contact information, we could get out of your fur!"

Reynard looked as though he'd be sick. Brushing the fur back on his head, he let out a long sigh.

"Alright, let me get you that information, officer." He stumbled back towards the office and slammed the door.

"He's practically pissing himself, Carrots, this is too good. That's got to mean something for our case, I'm sure of it." She hummed happily in agreement.

"Let's get some answers before he gets back with whatever crock of BS he manages to cook up." Nodding, I stepped forward towards the main floor.

"Excuse me? Anyone here know Todd Loxley? Red fox, mid-twenties? Used to work here?" The room went quiet for a moment. Slowly, a white-tailed deer towards the back raised a hoof. "Let's go, Fluff."

The deer was a female a little older than me, maybe thirty-six or so, and she was scared. Not in the same way Reynard had been; he was clearly worried about his dirty business getting found out, whatever it was. This girl was scared for her life.

"Can we talk outside?" Internally I gave a little moan at the thought of stepping back into the wind.

"Of course," Judy replied. "In fact, why don't we step into the cruiser to talk for a moment?" I wanted to kiss her sweet bunny head.

Judy and I turned as much as we could in the front seats to get a good look at our terrified informant.

"My name is Marcia," she explained, clutching her hooves together. "I worked next to Todd for three months. We would talk sometimes, but he wasn't a very social mammal."

"Your boss said there was some kind of incident?" Judy prompted.

"He used to work on the floor, but then Mr. Reynard asked him to make a delivery, out of the blue." She shook her head. "I don't know what it was, but whoever it was for, they didn't want it, because Todd came back to the warehouse still holding it. And…they'd hurt him."

"How bad was it?" I asked.

"Nothing broken, but he was bruised and bleeding." Marcia took a shuddering breath. "Mr. Reynard yelled at him in the office, and then Todd left. Mr. Reynard said he had been fired for stealing." Her eyes became glossy. "Is…he okay? Todd?"

"He…was assaulted about a week and a half ago. He's in the hospital." I scratched at my neck, uncomfortable still in the delivery of bad news. Marcia's hooves went to her slender muzzle in shock. Judy stretched out from the driver's seat to place a paw on the doe's shoulder.

"Marcia," she said slowly and calmly. "Were there any wolves that worked here? Did you know any wolves that had issues with Todd?" Marcia shook her head, and my heart sank. Still no luck on a suspect. I pulled out a contact card and handed it to the deer, who had begun to cry quietly. I revised my earlier observation: Marcia had not been scared for her life—she'd been scared for Todd's.

"Let us know if anything changes—if you hear something else, if you remember anything else, anything like that, okay?" I tried to pour as much feeling and sincerity as I could into my words, and to my surprise, I was indeed getting better at it.

"Are you safe here? Do you need any help we can provide?" Judy asked, and the crying doe shook her head.

"I'll be okay, I found another job. I'm starting next week. I…can I visit him? Where is he at?"

"He's at Zoo General," I said, reaching out for the card I'd passed her. She gave it back after a moment, perplexed. I started to write down Loxley's room number and visiting hours on the back. "Here," I said, handing it back. She clutched the card like it was a winning lottery ticket and quickly exited the car.

"I don't want to head back in and listen to Reynard again, Carrots."

"Me either," she agreed. "But we have to find out who Todd was supposed to make that delivery to."

There was a burst of static from the radio.

"Z-240, this is Precinct 10 dispatch. I have a request for you to come in to the station." My ears quirked to the side. What did Precinct 10 want with us?

Judy made a movement with her head towards the radio, and after a moment I realized she wanted me to take the lead. Scrambling, I picked up the transmitter.

"Copy that, dispatch. What's the occasion?" I asked, trying to keep my voice light. There was a pause. Finally, another squawk of noise, and dispatch answered.

"There are some feds here that want a word with you and your partner."