Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.

…..

Judy pushed open the doors of the Precinct One atrium and made her way toward Clawhauser's desk. She shivered as the door closed behind her, not from the slight breeze, but from having had to talk to her sleazy landlord this morning on the way out of her building.

"Good morning, Miss Hopps. Nice to see you leaving by yourself this morning."

Judy had been about to give the red panda a pleasant morning greeting, but instead, Judy said in a much colder tone, "What's that supposed to mean, Mr. Critterly?"

"Nothing, I'm just happy to see that you've stopped letting that fox hang out with you. I was starting to worry about your taste in friends."

Judy growled out, "What you should be worried about is my taste in landlords. Officer Wilde is my ZPD partner, and if I want him to stay over at my place, then I'm allowed to do that, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Critterly put his paws up as if he were surrendering and took a step back, "Fine, fine, whatever you say, just making sure you remember what was in the lease you signed."

Judy huffed, Mindy was right about Critterly, not that she was ready to use the same language to describe him as she had, but she was getting there. "I know what I signed, and I'm allowed to have guests over if I want to, so please leave me alone."

"Of course, Miss Hopps."

"That's Officer Hopps to you, Mister Critterly. Now if you will excuse me, good day."

Critterly just smirked, and with an exaggerated flourish, he waved his arm toward the lobby door, "And you have yourself a wonderful day also."

Judy finished walking to Clawhauser's desk as she shook her head in the hopes she could forget about that flaming… Judy chided herself, she wasn't going to go all Mindy on him yet.

"Morning Ben, did anything interesting happen overnight?"

Wiping his muzzle, Clawhauser swallowed and then replied, "Nope, all quiet. How about with you? Or should I be asking about Nick and how he's doing?"

Judy rolled her eyes, "Nick's doing fine, although if I hear any more about the deputy he's partnered with and how far he can 'mosey' before he needs to 'take a load off,' I think I'll scream."

Clawhauser gave his friend a serious look as he replied, "Now, Judy. A well-performed mosey is a work of art, it takes almost the same amount of effort and practice to perfect, as being able to eat a powdered doughnut without making a mess." Reaching under his desk, Clawhauser said, "Here, let me show you."

Judy facepalmed, "Ben, no, seriously, please stop."

Clawhauser looked at Judy innocently, with powdered sugar all over his muzzle and covering his shirt, and said, "Mmwht?"

"Ben, I need to talk with Connor, has he come in yet?"

*Cough* "No, he called and said he won't be in until lunchtime. His mate, I mean, girlfriend, was able to take advantage of a last-minute cancellation and get in to see her doctor this morning, and Connor said he had to go with her. He told me that he'd catch up with you later."

Judy chewed on her lip and thought. She'd talked with Nick last night and filled him in on the meet with Thorn, well not everything that had happened, she'd promised Axl that she would keep a few things to herself.

Nick knew about the homeless encampment but had never been there, so it was going to be up to Judy to scope it out and see if she could find Crazy Ray. Nick had agreed with her that her next best lead was to track down Crazy Ray and figure out what had happened to him and if it had anything to do with the drug that was used on Katie Leyton.

As the two partners bantered around ways to canvas the encampment without scattering the residents, the ZMS came up. One of the Zootopia Mammal Services' responsibilities was to work with the homeless. They tried to provide emergency housing and some medical services to the homeless mammals around town, and they might have records on some of the encampment residents, including, maybe, Crazy Ray.

Nick wasn't the biggest fan of the ZMS because he hadn't seen much in the way of help from them when he was living on the streets, but after he and Judy talked about it, they agreed that it would be a good idea to see what they might have on Crazy Ray before just showing up at the encampment and asking a bunch of questions.

With Connor out for the morning, she was on her own with the ZMS. Judy turned back to Clawhauser, who was still wiping powdered sugar off of himself, his microphone, keyboard, computer screen, chair, and a potted plant on the shelf behind him, and said, "Ben, mark me out as going down to the ZMS office this morning. I'll clear it with Bogo after the bullpen meeting."

"Sure thing, Judy," and then mumbled to himself, "O M Goodness, how did I get powdered sugar all over the ZPD wall plaque way over there?"

…..

Nick stretched as he walked into the kitchen, Sunni and her littermates had got him up at the regular time so he'd headed out for a run, showered, rebandaged his arm, dressed and was now ready to grab a late breakfast, well late for the Hopps, still early for a fox and plenty of time before he needed to meet up with Buckstein.

Grabbing a few pancakes off a stack on the counter, Nick smacked his lips. The kitchen was a lot quieter with breakfast over and most of the kits having headed out to do chores or meet up with friends.

Nick set his plate down on the counter and joined the dozen or so kits either helping clean the kitchen or sitting around the counter working, or reading on their phones.

Nick was about to pull out his phone and check the news to see if anything was going on in the world that he needed to care about when a nineteen-year-old doe named Maggie, who was reading an article on Okapi Whinnyfrey in the latest edition of Mammal magazine, interrupted his thoughts with a question, "So, Nick, I was wondering, do you have a mate back in Zootopia?"

Nick nearly choked on a bite of pancake and then grabbed his glass of water and took a drink. "Uh, no. No, I don't have a mate."

"Oh, how about a girlfriend?"

Nick look around as everyone went quiet and waited for him to answer. "Well, sort of, I think. I mean, I hope. You know, there's this girl I know in the City, and I'm pretty sure she likes me, we went out once, but…"

Janae smirked and figured she was due a little payback for what Nick did to her at the department store with Dalton, "Come on, Nick, spill. I heard you say goodbye to someone on the phone at the hospital, and by the goofy look on your face, it had to be a girlfriend."

Nick smiled as he remembered the earlier parts of that conversation with Judy, "Fine. Yes, there's a girl, and we're pretty close, it's just that dating a guy like me might cause her a few family complications."

Janae looked a little confused and pressed, "What do you mean, you're a cop. Who would have a problem with that?"

Mentally kicking himself, Nick realized he'd been a little too cute talking about Judy as his girl in the city and knowing that interspecies relationships weren't a thing in Bunnyburrow, he couldn't exactly tell these guys that he was in love with a prey mammal and him being a predator was the family complication.

"Let's just say she comes from a pretty straight and narrow family, and I've got a little bit of a history, you know, having been a street fox and all."

A doe sitting across from Nick perked up at his comment and got his attention with an excited chirp. The doe's fur was dyed completely black except her head fur which was a combination of purple and red. She wore a black and silver choker, black fingerless gloves and she was wearing some clip-on jewelry, but no piercings. Nick figured she'd gone goth, but her mom had drawn a firm line on how goth she could be.

"Really! Are you like the foxes on TV or in the movies? Do you ride around on a motorcycle wearing a faux leather jacket and get into gang fights? Are you one of those kinds of bad boy foxes everyone talks about and that's why this girl is afraid to let you meet her family?"

Nick wanted to groan at how often foxes were portrayed as an evil underling in the movies but decided not to go there now, "Uh, no. I've never been on a motorcycle; I prefer riding the metro, and wearing leather, fake or not, sounds gross." Puffing up his chest, Nick added, "And I much prefer disreputable to 'bad.'"

"Okay, are you like a 'made' animal and part of the mob? Have you ever killed anyone?"

Nick hesitated before answering that question as a few memories that didn't need to be shared flashed into his head. Shaking the thoughts away, he replied, "No, being a cop means not being in a gang, and I've never killed anyone. I've had to tranq a few while on duty, but that's it."

The doe huffed; this was going to be tougher than she had thought. "How about smuggling or selling drugs?"

"No, drugs are evil, and no decent mammal would be involved in selling them. And just so you know, the only thing foxes like to smuggle are seconds of blueberry pie." Looking at Bonnie, Nick quietly added, "Not that I would have grabbed an extra piece from the pie on the top shelf of the refrigerator, so if any of it is missing, it wasn't me."

Bonnie smiled and nodded, "Nicholas, you know you're always welcome to help yourself as long as you don't spoil your appetite for dinner."

"Thank you, Mrs. H."

The doe shook her head and then leaned closer to Nick and almost whispered, "Did you run a brothel, or were you like a pimp or something? I bet you ran a stable of girls and…"

"NO! That's twisted. No killing, no drugs, no leather, and definitely no to whatever else you were just asking."

Bonnie interrupted her daughter's inquisition, "Grace Marie, that's enough. Leave the poor boy alone."

"Mooooooom! My name is Raven now, no one calls me Grace anymore."

"Of course, dear. Why don't you ask Nicholas a normal question, like what his favorite movie is, or where he went to high school."

"But, Mom, he said he was disreputable, so…" Opening her palms up, Raven looked at Nick, "…tell me, what did you do that's so bad, this girl is afraid of you meeting her family?"

Nick took a breath, "Okay, I'll tell you, but don't say I didn't warn you if what I say upsets you."

Raven smiled tolerantly back at Nick and made a 'move it along' gesture with her paw.

"I used to hustle folks playing cards, a little Three Card Monte, street craps was good, and the tourists were pretty easy to suck into a shell game. Not my favorite way to hustle, but I used to make a little on those games at least up until the city passed an ordinance against street games, and I stopped running them."

"A tall buck at the end of the counter perked up. "Hey, Nick," the buck spread a deck of cards out in an arc in front of him and then lifted one and ran his finger across all the cards, flipping them over in place and then he quickly reversed the motion flipping them again.

Scooping the cards back up into a deck, he grinned at Nick while performing several elaborate card flourishes, "We have some tables set up in the south barn, and we play Outback Hold'em every third Thursday of the month. You're welcome to join us if you'd like. If you're short on the buy-in, we can always play for pinks."

Nick's eyes went wide for a moment watching the card handling skills of the teen, and then he replied, "Ah, thanks, but that was my dad's car, I don't think he'd want me to be gambling with it."

"Jonathan Hopps, I better not hear you're playing for real money again, or your father will tan the fur off your hide."

"No, Mom." Touching the side of his nose with his finger, Johnny nodded his head slightly toward Nick and quickly left before his mom started asking any more questions.

Raven cleared her throat to get Nick's attention again and motioned for him to continue.

"Okay, I used to be pretty good at finding hard to get merchandise and then discretely delivering the purchases to the mammals that had ordered them. Sometimes I had to track down an item, more often, it was information. Either way, I'd make a little money as the middle-mammal in the transaction."

Maggie spoke up, "You mean like using the internet? Someone would order something or want some information, and you'd get it to them and charge a shipping fee?"

Nick shook his head, "Well, no, I mean sort of, except sometimes I had to work fast because buying and delivering the item was really important."

"Like same-day delivery?" asked Maggie.

Nick's face fell, "I guess."

Raven facepalmed, and then shook her head in disappointment. After a few moments, she sighed and looked back up at Nick and waited.

"Look, give me a second, uh, I've got it." Straightening his shoulders, he said, "Classic hustle, works all the time. You find a mark that looks sappy and naive, and you lay a sob story on him. Like, your car broke down, or you're in from out of town and your luggage was stolen or…"

Nick paused at a shout from the other room. "Erika, Erin, I'm going into town, if you want to come let's go."

"…someone is sick, and you need a little bit of cash to tide you over. If you work the story, maybe wear some old clothes, it's almost always a winner. I did really well with that hustle when I was younger, adults can't resist a kit. The most important part of the hustle though, is to make sure that…"

Nick felt a paw pulling on his pant leg. He looked down and saw two young kits. They both had the saddest looks on their faces. One of the kits lifted her paw and showed Nick what looked like a broken doll with a torn cloth wrapped around it. The plastic was old and dirty, and there were only a few patches of fake fur left on the body and head.

Nick held the toy in his paw and sighed, "Oh, I'm sorry. This looks bad. If my dad were here, he might be able to fix the clothes, but I was never as good as he was at sewing."

The kits looked dejected, and their shoulders sagged as their ears fell limply down their backs.

Nick tried to cheer them up, "Hey, how about this," reaching into his pocket, Nick pulled out a ten and gave it to one of the kits, "why don't you go into town and pick out a new toy."

The kits looked at the bill and then back up at Nick. Thinking it over, Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out another ten and gave it to the second kit, "Here, now each of you can get something, okay."

The kits smiled and bounced toward where their sister was waiting for them.

Nick looked back at Raven, who was now shaking her head and had the most incredulous look on her face, "So, like I was saying, the most important part is for the mark to never realize that he was just hustled, that way no one calls the cops."

Nick smiled, believing he'd finally found something to sate Raven when he noticed that she was looking past him. Nick turned just in time to see one of the two kits that had just left the room, toss the old doll into a trash can and then spin around to high four her littermate as they both followed their older sister out the front door.

Raven put her head on the counter and moaned, "Mom, would you please find us a different fox, I want one like they have on TV."

Bonnie laughed and patted the doe on the back, "Be nice, Grace Marie. I can tell that deep down Nicholas is a very disreputable mammal, and if you give him another chance, I'm sure he'll be able to prove it."

Nick shook his paws out and took a breath, "Alright, here's the one that your sister Judy tried to get me on."

Nick had everyone's attention now, Judy was always good at catching them doing things wrong, so this had to be good.

"Actually, this was also how Judy and I first met. Okay, so the way this worked is that my hustling partner and I would pretend to be a Dad taking his son out for a birthday treat, and we would go into an ice cream parlor and convince someone to buy us an elephant-sized red popsicle. I'd make up a story about forgetting my wallet and we'd be holding up the line and usually, someone would buy us the popsicle because they felt sorry for my disappointed son."

Janae asked, "Did Judy catch you trying to get someone to pay for your popsicle?"

Nick groaned a little and rubbed the back of his neck, "I uh, sort of hustled Judy into paying for the popsicle, she even gave the elephant clerk a big tip."

Janae laughed, "I bet she was pretty mad when she found out what you'd done."

Nick nodded at Janae, "Yes, yes she was." Continuing his story, Nick looked back to Raven, "Well, after we had the popsicle, we'd melt it down and take the liquid to Tundra Town and refreeze it into Pawpsicles and sell them for a big profit."

Colton looked up from some papers he was working on, "What's wrong with doing that, did you have a permit to sell food and a receipt of declared commerce?"

"Yes, but Judy didn't know that, and like Janae said, she was pretty mad that I hustled her in the ice cream parlor."

"So, how much was the big popsicle, and how many Pawpsicles did you make out of it?" asked Colton with pencil in paw.

"Fifteen dollars and we could get about two hundred Pawpsicles out of it." Lifting his paw up, "We used our own paws as molds."

Making a note on his paper, Colton asked, "How about the popsicle sticks?"

"We had a great supplier, a dollar for 200 sticks, and we'd collect them after they were used and resell them as recycled red wood lumber to a mouse construction firm." Leaning toward Colton, Nick winked and added, "You know, red wood, with a space in the middle, gotta keep the paperwork right."

Colton rolled his eyes as he made more notes, "How much did you get per unit for the Pawpsicles?

"Two dollars apiece."

"What did your daily sales look like?"

Nick replied, "Including the lumber sales, my partner and I grossed between $475 and $500."

"Do you think they used any artificial flavors or dyes in the original popsicle?"

Nick shrugged his shoulders, "I suppose, never thought about it."

"Any trouble selling all your stock?"

"Nope, we targeted lemmings, once we sold to one of them, they'd all buy one. I know we could have sold a lot more if we'd been able to make more. And if we'd had better distribution, we could have hit different parts of town at the same time or gone into wholesaling."

Tapping the paper with his pencil, Colton nodded, "We've been selling surplus fruits and berries to a wholesaler just to get rid of them. The price we've been getting is so low we've been thinking about just plowing it under or dumping it for compost. I'm looking at a few numbers here, and I'm thinking, if we used all-natural juices, charged a little more, advertised them as no GMOs, gluten-free and no dyes, and up the production, all we'd have to do is figure out the sales side and we could clear a pretty penny."

Raven had had enough, "Stop it, I can't take it anymore! Now you want to go into business with him! The next thing we're going to find out is that he volunteers at an orphanage or something."

Nick bit his lips closed and raised his eyebrows as he looked at Raven.

The frustrated doe stared at the silent fox for a few seconds and then sighed, "You volunteer at an orphanage, don't you?"

Nick nodded slowly, "A couple of times a month."

"Aaargh!" She put her head back down on the counter and rolled it back and forth in frustration.

Colton chuckled as he looked at his sister, "Done?"

Raven nodded without lifting her head off the counter, "I hate foxes."

Nick shook his head at the moaning doe and looked to Colton, "What about the freezing process, making the molds in the snow and waiting for the liquid to freeze took the longest."

"Got that covered, when Cody and I went to Mr. Hunter's to pick up Dad's truck parts, he showed us around his yard, one of the things he'd just gotten in were a pair of industrial, elephant-sized, super-cold freezers, and one of my sisters makes food safe molds for her plasterwork and can make us all the paw molds we need. All we need now is someone that knows distribution, and we're talking some serious money."

Nick pulled out his phone, "I know a guy." Dialing Finn's number, he lowered the volume on his phone and braced himself.

"WHAT, who the hell is calling me this early in the morning on my day off?!"

"Finn buddy, it's Nick, I've got someone here with a business proposal. Are you interested?"

After a few seconds of threats, Nick calmed the irate fox down, let him know about Colton, and then handed his phone to the buck.

Nick leaned against the counter and patted Raven on the back, "Sorry, kit, I don't have a problem with twisting the law into a pretzel when I have to, but breaking it is bad for business."

Looking up, the doe asked with a whimper, "Do you know any weasels that ride motorcycles?"

Nick put his head down low and replied, "No, but I know one that's a Street Minister if that helps."

Groaning and pounding her head on the counter a couple of more times, Raven finally gave up and stomped out of the kitchen.

…..

Judy parked her patrol car in front of the ZMS main office and headed up to the lobby doors. Judy paused at the entrance and took a look around, she hadn't patrolled much in this part of the city and was noticing that the buildings here were a little older and less well maintained. They were also a little off the beaten path, probably due to funding priorities forcing the ZMS to use cheaper space for its offices.

Judy walked into a decently-sized lobby filled with seats and a counter at the front. There were a few stations with ZMS caseworkers talking with clients sitting in chairs. Judy thought about using her badge to interrupt one of the mammals talking, but the lobby was empty, and it looked like an elderly mammal talking to a stoat doe was about done. Judy grabbed a number, just in case, and then took a seat closest to the stoat's desk.

A few minutes later, Judy was sitting in front of the caseworker. Showing the caseworker her badge and ID, Judy looked at the nameplate on the desk and introduced herself, "Good morning, Miss Furring. My name is Judy Hopps, ZPD. If you have a few minutes, I could use your help."

"Of course, Officer Hopps. I'm Penny Furring, how can I help?"

As Judy pulled out her notebook, a female llama in a gray pantsuit, paused to look the rabbit over and then slowly walked to a coffee machine along the back wall.

Judy checked the time, made a notation in her notebook and then replied, "I'm looking for an older male maned wolf, his name is Ray Simon, you may know him as Crazy Ray. I was told that he used to spend time at the homeless encampment on 34th St." Pulling out the picture that Thorn had given her, she handed it to Penny. "I was hoping you might know of him or have some records on him that might help me figure out where he is now."

Furring looked at the picture and then tapped on her computer keyboard for a few moments. Judy could see the doe furrow her brows in confusion and then type a little more. After another few shakes of her head, she looked behind her and waved for the llama to come over.

"Miss Packler, Officer Hopps here, is looking for anything we may have on Crazy Ray, you know the big maned wolf who was always a little off, up at the 34th street encampment." Showing her supervisor the picture from Judy, she continued, "I know he was treated for an infection a year or so ago because I was at the camp when the medic worked on him, but I'm not finding a record of his treatment or anything at all on him in the system."

Packler pointed at something on the computer screen, thought for a moment, and then she looked up at Judy, "I'm sorry Officer, a few months ago, we had a system crash, and it looks like some of our records were lost." Looking at the stoat, she added, "Penny, it happened when you were away visiting your parents, someone deleted something they shouldn't have by mistake, and the system went down. Once the computers came back up, the technicians told me nothing was lost, but they must have been mistaken."

As the llama walked away, Furring handed the picture back to Judy and shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry, Cecelia is not only my boss, but she's also the one that gets stuck dealing with the IT mammals the most, I'm guessing if she can't find the records, they're gone."

Judy put the picture back in her notebook and asked, "What can you tell me about the encampment where Crazy Ray used to stay and the other mammals that live there?"

Penny searched her desk for a moment and then finding a flyer, she handed it to Judy, "That's a list of the ZMS managed shelters around City Central. They are all fully staffed and have all the necessary facilities you'd expect to be provided.

"The encampment, on the other hand, formed itself a couple of years ago. It's located away from any residential neighborhoods and is surrounded by a large industrial park, a highway, and a forested greenbelt. It's not exactly sanctioned by the City, but ZMS tries to make sure there are some basic hygiene facilities, like portable toilets, available to those camped there.

"The residents there are mostly predators, maybe 80% of them, and for the most part, they want to be left alone, and they don't want anyone getting too close. I'd say the population is a mix of mammals who've lost their jobs and homes, some addicts, a few veterans that are trying to sort things out, and a few that just can't fit in. Thankfully, there's rarely any violence at the encampment, but we do hear about some petty crime every now and then."

Judy took down a few notes and then asked, "I was told that Crazy Ray had an episode of some sort about four months ago, something that was more dramatic than his normal, unusual behavior. I was also told that he ran into the nearby woods, and some of the camp residents heard howling that lasted for a few hours. Do you know anything about that?"

Furring shook her head, "Sorry, no. But, if what you are saying is true, it wouldn't surprise me that no one said anything, the mammals living there really aren't ones to talk to the authorities about anything."

Tapping her chin, Furring suddenly smiled, "Officer Hopps, besides providing medical care a couple of times a month, the ZMS works with a local non-profit to provide hot meals once a week. The next meal service is going to be the day after tomorrow. If you are interested in meeting with the encampment residents, that would be a good time. As a matter of fact, a good number of mammals come in from the surrounding areas to pick up some food and a few supplies that we provide. The non-profit is always looking for volunteers, and I'd be happy to let the organizer know that you'd like to help."

Judy nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, please. That's a great idea. It will give me a chance to see the encampment, and maybe I can ask around to see if anyone remembers Crazy Ray and if they know where he might be now."

As Judy folded up her notebook, Furring added, "Officer Hopps, one thing you should be aware of is that the meals being served include chicken, fish, and other proteins, and the residents that are predators can be a little aggressive in using their claws and teeth while eating. I know you're a cop and all, but I figured I should warn you, and if you would prefer to only serve the prey mammals, I'm sure the coordinator would understand."

Judy smiled and feeling a few goosebumps go down her back as she thought of a certain fox's claws brushing through her fur, replied, "Please call me Judy, and thanks for the heads up, but you don't need to worry, claws and sharp teeth don't bother me."

"Well, I'm Penny, and I'm glad to hear that you're okay around predators; not too many prey are, at least not while they're eating."

"Pfffft, you should see my partner at lunch, the way that fox attacks a salad, it's frightening."

Laughing, the two girls exchanged contact cards and made a plan to meet at the encampment before dinner so Judy could help set up. As Judy left, she asked Penny to call her if she remembered anything more about Crazy Ray or if she heard of anyone seeing him. Judy pocketed her notebook and headed back to the precinct to catch up with Connor for their afternoon patrol.

…..

Bonnie walked over and watched with Nick as Raven left, "Sorry about Grace Marie, she's going through a phase."

"Don't worry about it, Mrs. H., us bad boys are used to it."

Patting him on the shoulder, she said, "Of course you are, dear."

Bonnie stood with Nick for a few moments as they listened to Colton, and a couple of his siblings negotiate with Finn. Nick was about to help when Bonnie cleared her throat, "Nicholas, do you have a moment?"

"Sure, Mrs. H."

I'm glad to hear that you have a special someone in the city, even though it sounds like there are a few wrinkles you need to work through. I can tell by the look on your face that this girl makes you very happy."

"Yes, ma'am, she's the most important mammal in my life, she's an amazing girl."

"That's how I feel about Stuart, he's frustrating sometimes, but I love him with all my heart. Most mammals don't understand how important family is for rabbits, they think we are just interested in lots of kits and that we jump into and out of relationships without a thought. The reality is that once a pair of rabbits decide to become mates, they bond on a level that most other mammals don't appreciate. The bond takes time to form, but once it does, it's unbreakable and very special."

Bonnie paused, thinking about her lost son, "Sometimes the bond can hurt, but the joy that comes from finding your one true love can't be described."

Nodding, Nick was about to describe how similar imprinting sounded to the type of bonding that rabbits experienced when Bonnie continued, "Nicholas, I'd like to ask you for a favor, it has to do with Judy."

Nick smiled, he figured he'd have to wait for another month or so before asking Judy's parents about courting her, and here Bonnie had just provided him with the perfect setup. "Of course, Mrs. H., as a matter of fact, I think the world of Judy and her being happy is–"

"Oh good, I'm glad because I've tried a few times in the past to convince her to get out and meet a nice buck. I so want her to meet someone that makes her happy. Judy's always been so single-minded about being a police officer that I'm worried she'll miss out on finding her true love or settle for someone that she can't bond with and then she'll miss out on one of the most wonderful things a rabbit can experience in life, the feeling of comfort and joy that comes from being with the one you want to spend the rest of your life with."

"Well, Mrs. H., I um…"

Pulling a notecard from her apron pocket, Bonnie held it out for Nick. "Nicholas, this is the number of a nice buck in the city. He just finished his pharmacy degree and has a small apartment not too far away from where Judy lives. I spoke with him and let him know you and I would talk. If you're willing to give your blessing for him to call Judy, then she might listen to him and maybe go out with him on a date."

This was not the way Nick had wanted this conversation to go. No way was he going to let some other guy anywhere near his bunny, especially a smart, well-heeled, professional rabbit buck.

"I don't know, I'm not so sure she'd appreciate me sticking my muzzle in her personal life." Nick grimaced, and hoping that Bonnie would forget about trying to fix Judy up with the buck, tried to give the card back.

Bonnie folded Nick's paw back over the card so he would keep it. "Nicholas, please think about it, I told Randall not to do anything unless he heard from you. I just want Judy to be happy."

Looking at the card in defeat, Nick nodded, "Okay, I'll think about it."

Bonnie smiled and patted Nick on the arm, "Thank you, dear."

…..

Packler watched as the small rabbit officer left and then went into her office and grabbed her phone out of her purse. Making her way to the breakroom, the llama went in, shut and locked the door, and dialed a number to make a call she did not want to make.

Stopped at a light, an SUV with tinted windows idled as the Ram driving it waited impatiently for the light to turn green. The phone sitting in one of the car's cupholders rang. Picking it up, he glanced at the screen and saw that the caller ID was blocked, "White here."

"Sir, this is Pink, you said you wanted to know if anyone ever came around asking about any of the test subjects."

"Yes, go on."

"That rabbit cop, Judy Hopps, was just here asking about Crazy Ray, the big maned wolf we acquired a little over four months ago. She even had a picture of him from the encampment. I deleted all the records on him when we captured him, but one of the caseworkers remembered him even without the records.

"Sir, the caseworker invited Hopps to ask around the encampment about Crazy Ray while helping to serve dinner the day after tomorrow."

White gritted his teeth, "Okay, not much we can do about that. Lucky for us, that canine was a mental case, and I don't think anyone took his rants seriously, so keep an eye on Hopps, but don't do anything that draws any attention to you or us."

"Sir, I know your team was going to make another pickup at the encampment this weekend, I think you should have them hold off until I can identify a few new candidates at alternate locations."

"Fine, anything else?"

Pink paused, "What about Brown? If he finds out Crazy Ray escaped from the lab and we didn't tell him…"

"I know, I know, just keep me informed on the rabbit and make sure that there aren't any records in the system on any of our other subjects."

"Yes, sir." Hanging up the phone, Pink pulled up a file on her phone, and after unlocking it, she reviewed her old escape plan. If things go south, she wanted to make sure she had a way out of town and away from both Brown and White. They paid her a lot of money to identify subjects that could go missing without being noticed, but she didn't care enough about their cause to end up as one of the missing herself.