"Treat captured spies kindly. Then bribe them."
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Nick's mind scrambled to respond to the skunk's remark. How Poisson knew about his connection to Judy was beyond him, but he pushed that aside for the moment in favor of how the heck he was supposed to get around this predicament. If Poisson was as innocent regarding the Night Howler scheme as she claimed, that still left him in pretty hot water. He still remembered her grievance against Ramses for double-crossing her family, not to mention the stunt she had played on Judy for having the nerve to investigate her. Still, hopefully she'd have the sense not to do anything drastic. Even if she was up to no good, it would be crazy to hurt him knowing that Judy was aware he'd gone to her house. Every successful crime boss knew the best way to continue as one was to not act like one – or at least not leave a trail when doing it.
He comforted himself with that thought and kept calm, putting on an air of confusion. "Uh, what's police work got to do with this?"
Olivia raised an eyebrow just a little dangerously, as if questioning whether this fox was really silly enough to play stupid with her. "You're either very brave or very stupid," she said bluntly, pointing her fork at him, "and I don't think you're stupid enough to take me for a simpleton. I know you've been working with Officer Hopps and the ZPD, and I can only assume she sent you here to collect some kind of evidence relating to my use of Night Howlers and what connections it might have to the Bellwether Conspiracy. You know, meanwhile, that I'm correct about these matters, and that trying to deny any of this now can only waste time. Do we understand one another?"
Nick knew he was caught, but folded his arms anyway. "And suppose my loyalty to Officer Hopps – who I still don't know – was strong enough to say I'm not telling you anything."
Steepling her fingers, the skunk considered him with an airy, thoughtful demeanor before nodding to her butler. The hyena, letting out a huff that sounded uncannily like one of Chief Bogo's, took his paw off Nick's shoulder and stepped back.
"I'd as soon destroy my prized flowers as an artist like yourself," Olivia told him, looking him in the eye. "You showed chutzpah, resourcefulness, and impressive powers of persuasion. It's not every ex-boyfriend who can convince Misha to help him with something this audacious."
Nick gulped, wondering if Misha had done all of this to set him up as payback.
"Talking of which, she still speaks the world of you," Olivia added as if she had dropped her secretary's name just to get Nick thinking what he was now thinking. "She mentioned you have exceptional initiative as well, and even though you're taking orders from the police now I'm inclined to think she speaks true."
This buildup led Nick to take the initiative now and ask the obvious. "Okay, so since it doesn't sound like you're planning to rough me up, why did you ask me to dinner if you knew?"
She smiled and gestured above and behind him on his left side with a paw. He turned, only to be greeted with a briefcase popping open in the paws of Mr. Barracus.
A briefcase… full of cash.
"Because I've decided to sponsor your father's vision."
Some two hours later, Nick met with Judy at his apartment to compare notes. He found her sitting in the living room with her ears hanging low, but she brightened – affectedly so, perhaps – at his entry and jumped to her feet. "What'd you find?" she asked hopefully.
Nick chewed his lip as he reached into a pocket. "Well, I got our sample for study," he offered as he held up a pair of evidence bags.
Judy pricked up her ears. "Two flowers?" she asked. That was all the better. A secondary sample would allow them to be surer of their findings.
"Actually, one flower and some sheep's wool." Nick separated the two parcels. "I found some on the seat of her limo."
"Interesting," Judy mused, taking the two bags and eyeing them thoughtfully. Then she looked up at Nick. "So, what's the other shoe?"
He smiled weakly and shrugged. "Shoes? What, do I look like a-?"
"Don't mess around with me," she told him, propping a fist on her hip and waving the other paw, still clutching its sample, at him. "What aren't you telling me?"
He sighed. "I don't think those samples are going to help us much. She knew what I was doing there."
Judy blinked in surprise. "Wait, she knew? But then how…?"
"I don't know how. Maybe someone was watching us, maybe Misha figured it out; I don't know. All I know is, she had me cold… and she didn't do a thing about it. She even offered to bankroll Suitopia – in cash. One hundred big Ks there for the taking." He held up his paws with the fingers spread for emphasis.
Silence was all the doe could muster for a long moment. "She tried to buy you off," she said at last.
"Maybe. Maybe not." He let his shoulders drop. "Listen, Carrots, I know she's been giving us the run-around, but maybe it's time we just write this off as a wild goose chase and try some other lead."
He was expecting her to defiantly argue that Judy Hopps was no quitter, no matter how shrewd her opponent was. So it was with no small surprise that he noticed her ears – which had been going up – were drooping again.
"Funny you should say that," she said in a tone which suggested 'funny' was the last word on her mind. "I got a message from Bogo."
"Frankly, Officer Hopps, I don't know why we're even bothering to examine this last bit of evidence. You've spent two weeks chasing down information and all you've gotten me is a wilted flower and a bit of wool that might be from one of our renegade rams or might just as easily be from whoever cleans Poisson's car."
Judy bit her lip in frustration but said nothing.
"Chief Bogo, with all due respect she is still a rookie," Catano offered, quietly coming to Judy's defense. Hastily she added, "And I don't think we'd have run into so many roadblocks in Poisson was really innocent. But if she is up to no good-"
"Oh, she's up to no good one way or the other," Bogo cut in. "She's giving us the runaround while maniacs run loose. I don't care if the darts are getting weaker. All it takes is a few fresh supplies and they can be back to their old tricks in no time. Lives are at stake, you three, and we can't afford to waste time."
"On a case you assigned," Nick cut in.
"Well, I am un-assigning it as of now," Bogo snapped, glowering poisonously at Nick. "Catano, I'll be putting you back on night shifts tomorrow. You can take the rest of today off. Hopps, you're going back to patrols."
"But sir-!"
"That's an order, Hopps," Bogo cut her off, pointing a condemning hoof. "And as for your informant, if this is the best he can turn up on an investigation maybe he should take her up on that business deal and leave detective work to professionals. Clawhauser will give you your new route assignment and by the way, I strongly suggest you apologize to Poisson at the concert tomorrow night before she finds a way to turn this into a PR disaster for the entire force. Dismissed."
Judy was about ready to explode, but a light touch on her shoulder stopped her. She glanced towards it, then up at the oner of the tail lightly resting on her shoulder. Catano gazed down at her, shook her head slightly, and turned back to Bogo. "Thank you, Chief."
As the trio strode out of the office, Bogo's voice called out again.
"By the way, Mr. Wilde."
Nick and Judy both pricked up their ears and turned as one, and though Catano never moved her ears or turned she also stopped to listen.
"Whatever business offer Poisson made you, you might want to think about it harder. I'm not going to push further into your background, but from what I've seen I don't think I can push for scrubbing it either."
Both of the small sleuths' expressions fell. "But Chief, he risked his life to help us out – several times, in fact, and I-"
"Hopps," Bogo cut her off, raising a hoof, "my decision is final. Dismissed."
If it was technically against the rules for Judy to take Nick along with her on patrol now that he was no longer part of an investigation, nobody said anything. She herself kept quiet until they were parked at a traffic stop. Then the tears started up.
"Carrots?" asked Nick in confusion. Then in a quieter tone, he added, "Judy?"
She slumped her head against the steering wheel and started to sob. "It's over, Nick. Don't you get that? We had one shot at getting you recommended and we blew it!"
"Hey hey hey, ease up a little," he protested, laying a paw on her shoulder. "This isn't the end of the road, you know?"
"But we were so close, and now…"
"Hey now, get in here," he soothed, pulling her in for as much of a hug as the seats allowed. "So I won't be the first fox cop. Would've looked great in a uniform, but there's other ways to make the world a better place, right? It's not the first time I've washed out on a big idea."
It took some doing, but Judy did manage to regain her composure under Nick's gentle persuasion. Finally she dried her face (realizing after the fact that she had grabbed the end of his tail to do it), and nodded once.
"You're right," she said at last. "Cop or no cop, we can still find a break in this case and find the missing sheep. You still in?"
"Am I still in?" he asked with an ironic smile. "Yes, I'm still in. I have to see the look on Buffalo-Butt's face when we solve this thing."
Judy broke into a chuckle, then laughed out loud event through her remaining tears at his next remark.
"Besides, now that I'm not gonna work there, I can actually call him that again."
While they were hatching plans, Catano had clocked out and was headed for the exit. She didn't have to see Judy's breakdown; the defeated look on the bunny's face was clear enough.
What wasn't clear was why it bothered her so much. Nicholas Wilde was a lawbreaker by his own admission, and besides that there was bias to be reckoned with. She had lived her whole adult life and her whole police career with the mindset that some things a cop could change, but others even the best cop could not. The only thing to do was to do the best you could with a bad situation. Good mammals got hurt. There was nothing you could do to change it.
Deep down, though, Judy's pain started to worm its way into Catano's jaded heart as well. She had never been one to question Bogo's orders, but something deep in her gut told her that this time the chief was wrong. Nick's predicament might be unchangeable, but it was still unfair.
'It's never been about fair or unfair,' she reminded herself. Nick had at least gotten something out of his efforts. Bogo was a mammal of his word, and now Nick had that word that the ZPD would leave him alone about his past infractions. On top of that, he was back on decent terms with his mother – something which tied Catano's stomach in granny knots wishing she could say for her own situation in life. He had fallen short of his prize, but at least he was better off for having helped them. That was more than could be said for some very fine officers she had once known, because being an officer wasn't about making life fair. It was about making life safe. Fairness was the rest of the world's problem.
Except, Judy didn't see it that way. Neither did Nick. They weren't just in this to punish criminals or stop threats to physical safety. They genuinely cared about their fellow mammals. Inside her, a tiny voice raised the difficult question: 'When's the last time I stuck my neck out for someone?'
All the while she was thinking this, she had been walking more or less on autopilot towards the precinct's exit. A sudden lurch at her feet nearly threw her to the ground, and she staggered against a sheep officer who had crossed her path.
"Sorry," they both excused, and he hurried off on his way.
Looking around, she noticed Clawhauser talking with Officer Wolford and caught a snatch about 'the concert.'
"I guess we'll see you there, huh?" asked Wolford.
Clawhauser's ears drooped. "Yeah, I wish," he admitted. "Bogo's been saying the invites sent to the precinct are strictly for business, and I'm not really… you know, business material."
Looking steadily at him for a moment, Catano dipped a paw into her pocket, telling herself this was because she had no one else to bring along and not for some other reason like pity or personal interest.
"You could be my plus-one," she offered, trying awkwardly to offer a warm smile.
Apparently she needed to work harder on her warm smiles, because Ben's face drooped into a nervous 'oh no' kind of look. "Oh, uhh, yeah. That's really nice of you to offer and all, Callie, but Chief Bogo's really strict about da-"
"Stop… right there," she cut him off, raising a paw before he could embarrass them both bigtime and possibly win them a long talk with Bogo or even the ethics department. "I am not asking you there as a date; just as friends."
He regarded her uncertainly, clearly wondering what it was she wasn't saying. "Okay, but… why?"
"Why not?" she asked impatiently, spreading her paws. "Can I not just bring someone to a party because I feel like it? Is that against the bylaws or something?"
He quickly drew back a little, shaking his head. "No, no, I didn't mean that. It's just… I didn't even know you went to parties, you know?"
Seeing that she was scaring one of the few mammals she'd ever had a real personal chat with, she reminded herself to simmer down just a little. "I'm… sorry," she offered meekly. "I don't mean to be grouchy, Clawhauser. I'm just trying to be a friend… and apparently I stink at it."
"Oh. Well, sure. I'd be glad to come."
She stifled a yawn, having not yet realized how badly she wanted to get back to her normal sleeping hours. "Great. We can take my car."
As she turned to leave, he called after her. "Hey, Callie?"
Briefly scrunching her face in a pained 'what now?' expression, she turned to face him. "Yes?"
He smiled at her. "I don't think you stink at it at all."
To her surprise, she actually felt her mouth tug upwards a little at that. She wasn't sure if that meant a lot coming from him or if he would have said it to anyone, but it felt good.
Surprised at how things are turning out? Gotta admit I am too. I wasn't really planning on having Nick get told point-blank that he wouldn't be accepted, or having Catano go through that internal debate abbout it, but the more I've been working on this the more it seemed like things lead in that direction. So, we know Nick makes it onto the force, but the question now is how. Seems the farther we go the more loose ends need tying up!
Sorry to take so long with this chapter, but as luck would have it with my laptop out of order I was unable to recall my password (I've made a note of it now) and for some reason it was months before the emails for resetting a password actually came through. Then when I was getting it ready, I looked it back over and realized it needed some changes. Still, better late than never and there's also a new chapter of Night Plague for you all to enjoy. Happy reading, and be sure to let me know what you think. Plenty of action just around the corner!
P.S. Going to be working less on new chapters until AO3 is caught up to what I have here, but since that's mostly revisiting and refining stuff I already have it shouldn't take too long.
And it occurs to me that I've kind of stopped slipping in Easter Eggs, for some reason. Not sure if I'll go back to it or not. Any thoughts?
Guest Reviews:
Guest (1): Sure looked that way, didn't it?
Guest (2): Hazlo doble