Judy POV
Okay, so Bogo was not in his office, nor was he in the main body of the precinct. Logically, I knew he would probably be in or near the interrogation room. I was just avoiding that area as much as I could.
There was a red light above the door of the interrogation room signaling that it was in use. I was not about to go in there and interrupt whatever was going on. Instead, I turned to the room right next to it.
Scanning my badge next to the lock on the door, I stepped quietly into the dark observation area. Before my eyes adjusted I could hear Bogo's voice as well as a new voice that I assumed to be the otter.
In front of me, a large panel of glass showed off a dimly lit concrete room. Chief Bogo was sitting next to another officer on one side of a cold metal table while the otter from before was on the other side. Both of his wrists were attached to the table with a long chain.
The two officers, both wolves, sitting inside the observation area gave me small nods when I walked in before turning back to the glass. The otter looked bored, leaning back in his chair as far as he could with his feet crossed on the table.
I sat in a lumpy chair in the back with the other two officers to watch what was going on.
"Get your damn feet off my table before I cuff them to the floor." Bogo said while slamming his hoof on the table. If he was already this agitated, the conversation must have been going on for a while with no success.
The other officer shuffled through a stack of papers in her hands and set one in front of the otter, ignoring the chief's outburst. "Tony, there's really no point in protecting your boss now. We know all about William Stone and his operation. We're going to catch him one way or another. Why not help yourself by giving us information?"
The otter scoffed. "'Cause you haven't catched him 'till he's caught. And I'm not snitchin' 'till he is." He crossed his arms in front of his chest.
She laid a black and white printed photo on the desk, from where I was sitting I couldn't make out what it was. "We have video and audio evidence that he is the mammal behind Nite Bite. Officers in the entire city are out looking for him. And you are here looking at a very long prison sentence. But if you tell us where he is hiding out, that sentence can be greatly reduced."
The photo was probably a screenshot from my phone recording. The otter barely even glanced at it. He just grinned and leaned back further in his chair. "Like I said, I'm not talking."
The chief leaned over and whispered something to the officer before he stood and walked to the door. She matched the otter, Tony, by crossing her own arms and shifted into a more comfortable position. "That's fine. I have all day. We can just sit here."
I lept out of my seat and ran to the door of the observation room. I wanted to catch the chief before he disappeared again. When I swung the door open he was standing out in the hallway talking quietly to one of the officers who made the arrest this morning.
When Bogo saw me he dismissed the other officer and drew in a long, exhausted breath. "Hopps, follow me to the break room? I need something to eat, we've been talking to that guy for nearly two hours straight. Well, more of talking at him."
Quietly I walked next to him across the precinct. I could barely see Nick sitting in my chair when we got close. He looked like he was asleep, which was fine. It had already been a long day for both of us and it wasn't even noon yet. Sleep was probably a good thing for Nick right now.
When we made it to the break room, the chief put a few dollars into a vending machine and waited for a bag of chips to fall. "I wasn't expecting you back here so soon, I thought you said you would be back tonight. Everything okay with your fox friend?" He ripped the bag open and toasted a few chips into his mouth.
"Yes, sir, Nick is doing fine. He's just tired I think, today has been a lot. Actually, Nick is the reason I was looking for you. I had planned to bring him straight home after the hospital but he insisted that he come here first. I told him you would need to get his statement and he was eager to continue helping."
Bogo grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and turned to leave the room. I fell back into step next to him while he walked toward his office. "I see, where is he at right now?"
I motioned toward my desk, Nick hadn't moved an inch. "He's just waiting at my desk. I think he might have fallen asleep, actually." I tried not to laugh.
The police chief nodded and stopped walking right outside his office door. "Okay, I need to send a quick email to the mayor's office. Wake your friend and send him in here in thirty minutes." He shoved his way into the office without waiting for my reply.
Deciding to let Nick sleep for just a bit longer, I very quietly picked up a stack of papers from the top of the desk and sat down on the floor. The papers were something I had asked Clawhauser to print out for me this morning.
As soon as I sent in the video I knew the audio would be transcribed into text. I wanted to read over it to see if there was anything I missed, especially since it was hard to hear everything from where Nick and I were sitting.
As soon as the two goats met up William asked Micheal if he was sure the cop was around. Micheal responded saying that he thought so but wasn't sure, followed by a round of insults from his uncle.
I had heard most of that when we were out on the pier, none of it was really helpful at the moment. Flipping to the next page, I kept reading.
William had said something about getting eyes on the cop and reporting immediately. I didn't hear this part at all and it didn't seem directed at Micheal, he was probably talking into an ear piece or something similar. If Nick or I had heard this part we may have known that there were a lot more than four mammals out there with us.
After that, William stated that his nephew was completely incompetent and he lost his chances to be a part of the family business. Apparently the envelope we saw handed off was empty and only meant to lead us to believe they didn't know we were watching them.
That didn't matter. While I had put my phone back into my pocket after we were discovered, I didn't stop the recording. I had audio of William confessing to being the mammal making and distributing Nite Bite. And, if we caught him in his lab or in the act, it would be over for him.
The following bit of audio must have been said very quietly since I hadn't heard much of it. The older goat let out a long string of insults and told Micheal that he had better hope the security found Nick and I soon or he would be going home with a few less fingers. I was actually starting to feel bad for Micheal, his uncle was horrible.
After that there was a note that a staticky voice informed William of where we were hiding. I have no idea how they spotted us. But, rereading the small paragraph of insults again, something did catch my attention.
William Stone: I should have known better than to let you out in the field. You were useless in the barn and you're useless out here.
The barn. Growing up on a farm, hearing a mammal mention a barn was far from unusual but there weren't any barns in Zootopia. I had studied the city when I first moved here to be prepared for my job and I was nearly certain I hadn't seen anything related to a barn on my map.
Standing up quietly so I didn't wake Nick, I pressed the power button on my computer and checked the time while it was slowly turning on. I still had a little over ten minutes before I needed to send Nick into Bogos office.
When the computer had woken up I pulled up a digital map and searched for anything that could relate to a barn. Nothing showed up under barn, farm, ranch, or agriculture. Food for the city was transported in from farms in other towns such as Bunnyburrow.
There were absolutely no barns in the city, I suppose he could have been traveling outside the city but the nearest barn I could find was over any hour outside the city limits.
"Missing home already?" A smooth voice sounded behind me. I jumped and spun around to find Nick, now awake, leaning forward in my chair staring at the computer screen.
"No, something that William said caught my attention. Do you remember there being any barns in Zootopia?"
Nick yawned and rubbed his eyes before he cocked his head to the side. "No, not as far back as I can remember. Ooooh, there was a restaurant though. They were so good. My mom used to take me there sometimes for special occasions. But that place has been closed for years at this point."
He started opening and closing my desk drawers until he found a small stack of granola bars. Ripping the wrappers off, he shoved two in his mouth and chewed loudly while he shut the drawer.
I rolled my eyes. "You know, I could have sensitive police evidence or something in my desk. You shouldn't just be digging around." Checking my phone, I saw that Nick needed to be in the office any minute now. "Doesn't matter. You need to go give your statement to the chief. Remember what we talked about."
I stood and shoved him toward the door.
*O*O*O*
Nick POV
I hadn't anticipated actually falling asleep, so by the time I was standing in front of the large frosted glass door labeled CHIEF BOGO I was unprepared. Still, I was sure I could charm my way through this conversation well enough.
Knocking loudly, I heard a drawn out sigh from behind the door before I was invited inside. My confidence dropped when I stepped into the office. It was easy being snarky to the large water buffalo when he was being a jerk and I was feeling defensive but now, sitting in his office, I was nervous.
I wasn't sure if it had anything to do with the chief himself or the fact that I didn't want to get anymore on his bad side than I already was and risk my already dwindling chances at joining the ZPD someday.
Sliding into the wooden chair in front of his desk, I offered a charming smile. My smile was met with a glare.
"Nicholas Wilde. I have heard a lot about you lately." He picked up a notebook and slowly flipped to a specific page.
I grinned, "hopefully all good stuff, sir." Judy must have mentioned me a few times at work since I have been helping with two cases now.
The chiefs expression was still unchanged. "No, hardly anything good actually." Lifting a stack of files from his desk, he didn't open them but the name on the front was very clear. My name. I had forgotten what led to Judy approaching me last week.
Suddenly, I felt very small sitting in the large chair. There goes my chance of becoming an officer. "Right, let's just get this over with then. You needed my statement about what happened this morning?"
Chief Bogo clicked a pen and wrote something in the notebook. "Yes, but that can wait for a few minutes. I want to know why you have been actively involved in two major crime investigations despite not being a member of the ZPD."
This seemed to be getting really bad really fast. I didn't want to get Judy in trouble for involving me but I also didn't want to go to jail and it was almost starting to feel like he thought I had some sort of criminal involvement.
Reminding myself to play it cool, I sat up a little straighter in my seat. "Well, sir, as far as the night howler case goes I met Officer Hopps completely by accident. But in our meeting she came to appreciate my insight into the city and when she was faced with an impossible seeming case she reached back out to me for some help."
He was writing something down quickly and spoke up before I could finish my story. "She appreciated your insight into the city. Meaning your insight as a criminal, is that correct?"
I swallowed the lump that seemed to be forming in my throat. "Well, I wouldn't say criminal. I'm a businessman with a lot of business connections all over the city."
He made a hmm sound in the back of his throat but didn't say anything else. I decided to continue. "After we found the fourteen missing animals we had a bit of a falling out during the press conference, long story. However, when Judy pieced together the final bit of information she found me again because she still needed help to finish the case and was sure the ZPD wasn't going to help her."
That last part was a little bit of a harsh jab but I was getting frustrated. I thought I was here to give a quick statement about what happened, not be put under a microscope. The chief raised his eyes slightly to me but continued to write.
At this point, it didn't seem to matter what I said. There was no way I was going to be allowed into the police academy. I just needed to get through this line of questioning and then get out of the police station before he decided to arrest me. Again.
"I'm sure you know all about what happened at the end of that case. Then last week Judy came to talk to me, probably under your direction, and the next day she asked me to help with another case and that's where we are now." It was the extremely short version of everything but none of it was a lie.
I waited for him to finish writing. "And from what I understand, you were shot with night howler serum during both investigations?" He didn't let me answer the first question before he piled on more. "The second time you were shot, today, Officer Hopps said that she drove you to the hospital herself. And the officers from precinct 9 noted that you were acting a little strangely but neither of them would have guessed you had just been shot with a dose of night howler. Why is that?"
Judy had told me not to give an answer if I was asked this but I didn't feel like I had much of a choice right now. "I really don't know for sure. I was told that I was shot with a lot of that stuff the first time. And when the doctor released me from the hospital she said I still had traces of it in my blood. But she didn't think anything would come of it. And it hasn't, I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary."
That last part was completely a lie but it was the first and only thing I had lied about during this conversation. I wasn't even lying for my own sake. If it got out that Judy knew I was having savage episodes as a side effect and she didn't tell anyone she would be in a lot of trouble.
Chief Bogo opened his mouth to say something but I wasn't done. "If I had to guess, I would say I have probably built up a bit of an immunity to it. A bit, not complete immunity. I definitely felt it when I was shot and before you say anything, I agree that it was reckless of Officer Hopps to drive me to the hospital herself. I couldn't bear it if something happened and I hurt her."
He nodded. "I understand that you became involved with these police cases because Officer Hopps asked you to. But why did you agree? The first time, you barely knew her from what I gathered. And this second time you had barely been out of the hospital. Why put yourself at risk?"
He was leaning forward now, like he was eager to hear my answer. An answer I didn't really have. Why did I agree to help Judy?
Sure, the first time she all but threatened me. But I could have backed out a number of times. I'm sure if I had really asked she would have given me back the pen after we left Mr. Bigs, after I argued for her ten hours left, or when we found out who took Manchas.
She would have given me the pen before the press conference if I told her I didn't want to be there. She did give it to me under the bridge when she came back to apologize. I really didn't have to keep helping her then. And after I was nearly killed and was at home ready to wallow in my own self pity, there was no good reason for me to want to go out there again. Especially when I knew how similar this case was to the last one.
I realized Chief Bogo had been staring at me with one eyebrow raised. I still hadn't answered his question and I wasn't sure how long I had been sitting in silence.
"I don't really know, sir. When I was younger, I wanted to help this city. Make it a better place for both preds and prey. But that changed as I got older. I guess Judy showed me that spark of hope that I hadn't seen in a long time. She was so set on making the world a better place and while I was quick to dismiss her, I was also rooting for her." That got a lot deeper than I was intending.
"Okay, I think that is it for my questions. You may leave." He clicked the pen again and slid it into the spine of the notebook.
I hadn't even given my side of what happened this morning. His questions seemed more personal than just questions for the case.
Pressing my lips into a thin line, I reached for the handle and swiftly left the office. Back in the open room, I looked around for Judy. She wasn't at her desk, she was at the front looking over something with Ben.
*O*O*O*