-Chapter 6-

"And you said that you only saw one animal, you said?" Nick asked into the phone. He was trying to take notes on the conversation while talking, so he had propped the phone in between his shoulder and head so that he could use both paws to hold the notepad and write at the same time. "Did you happen to catch what his face looked like?... Of course, ma'am, I understand. Well, the ZPD thanks you for this information and for your cooperation. Have a nice day."

"So, any new information about our suspect?" Judy asked Nick as he hung up the phone. They both had been calling witnesses and trying to get a better idea of what had occurred at Edvin's Bakery to little success. Because it had been such an early hour of the morning there were very few eyewitnesses who could give any information about what happened. The few accounts they had also didn't give very many details, as it had been hard to see who committed the crime both because of how dark it had been and because of the mask the suspect had worn.

"Not really," Nick sighed. "She said she only saw one animal run out of the shop after it had been lit on fire. She couldn't tell what kind of animal it was, but she said it wasn't taller than three feet."

"Well, I just got off the phone with Mr. Klosen himself," Judy said. "He gave me some details about why they may have targeted his shop, but not much else. Apparently he also immigrated to Zootopia at a young age."

"What about Etson's cafe? Any witnesses at all?" Nick asked.

"Yes. They gave the same accounts as the ones at Klosen's shop, saying it was a smaller mammal wearing a mask. So we're either dealing with one repeat offender or a bunch of similar types of animals," Judy replied. "And because neither shop had a security camera, that's all the evidence we've got."

Nick sat back in his chair as he stared at a map of Zootopia, contemplating which animals he knew would do something like this.

Hmm... he thought, obsessed with fire, vigilante, wears a mask...

Only a few came to mind as possible candidates, but they were all either larger animals or didn't fit the descriptions that he and Judy had been given. Normally he would be able to come up with at least a few names to run background checks on, but this time he was thoroughly stumped.

There was a knock on the door. Judy hopped out of her seat and went to open it.

"Hey Etson!" she greeted the raccoon. "How did it go?"

"I have no idea," he replied, shrugging, "but I zhink I did okay."

"You showed up at the perfect time," Nick remarked, spinning his chair around to face Etson. "We're just starting to go over the details of what happened at your cafe. So, whaddaya got?"

Etson sat there for a moment. It was an awfully large question to just have sprung on him like that.

"Uhm...I'm not sure where to start," Etson replied, tapping his index fingers together. "Everyzhing was turned over and burnt on both floors of the zhe building. Zhere was red spraypaint spelling P.P.P. on zhe wall of zhe second floor. From what I've heard, it was almost zhe exact same as what happened in zhe ozher shop."

Nick stared at the wall for a moment, thinking.

"Hm. Well, you're right about it being similar to the other attack," he said. "Unfortunately, that's all we have to go off of right now."

Judy paced back and forth through the office, habitually tapping her chin with her carrot pen again. "Did you find a note anywhere when you searched the place?"

"A note?" Etson raised his eyebrow. "I searched zhe whole place twice, and didn't find any note."

"They left one at the last place," Nick said very matter-of-factly, still leaning back comfortably in his chair. "It said something about 'wanting to open eyes.' Very cryptic and odd."

"So whoever did zhis to me was some sort of poet?" Etson asked.

"More or less, yes. We think that they're some politically motivated vigilante, seeing as you and Klosen were both predators from another city, which would indicate some kind of correlation. And as to who they are..." Nick paused briefly to allow his words to sink in, "we don't know squat."

Etson crossed his arms and began tapping his foot thoughtfully. He knew that there wasn't much to go off of for this case, but he had no idea that evidence was this sparse. "Have you Zoogled what P.P.P. means? Is it at all related to criminal activity?"

"Trust me, we've gone through lots of search engines," Nick deflected the idea nonchalantly. "Only corporate websites show up."

"Well, zhere has to be paw prints zhat we can examine," Etson suggested.

"They wore gloves."

"Even on zheir feet?"

"Yes."

"What about security cameras?"

"Neither store had any."

"Traffic cams?"

"No footage on either crime."

"DNA samples?" Etson desperately spat out possible solutions, hoping that something would stick, but Nick shot them all down.

"Too many other animals in the shops to confirm that it would be the DNA of the criminal," Nick casually grinned, watching the raccoon go through the exact same process he and Judy had. "Good try though."

Etson let out a sigh, only now realizing how big of a task it was going to be. Still, he was determined not to be discouraged. "Zhe lack of evidence isn't going to stop me from solving this case. Is zhere any other information we have?"

"Well, considering the fact that they got away undetected both times," Nick replied, "we assume that knew where the traffic cams are in the city, which shops have security cameras, and when those shops would be empty," he lectured to Etson, "Basically, whoever did this did their homework."

"So how are we going to catch zhis animal?" Etson asked, his arms crossed. "You guys must have zome plan."

"Well...I don't know if I'd call it a plan," Nick confided, "but it's something. We're trying to predict where they are going to strike next, so that we can catch them. We have a couple places in mind-" Nick was interrupted by a blaring voice coming through his radio.

"Hopps! Wilde! We have a 1052 on Vapor Street!" the voice yelled. Nick's eyes widened. He suddenly sat up in his chair. Judy stopped pacing and turned around, her ears perking up.

"Get down here, pronto!" it commanded.

"1052? What's a 1052?" Etson asked, looking at Nick and Judy.

"It's the code for vandalism," Judy mumbled. "Which means..."

Nick finished her sentence. "The P.P.P. have struck again."

"Excuse us," Judy said as she, Nick and Etson pushed through the crowd of animals. A small group had gathered at the end of the avenue to see what had happened, cut off from going down the street by yellow caution tape and a string of officers around the perimeter.

"Hey everyone, make way for these two officers please," one of the guards, a rhino, asked the crowd, recognizing Nick and Judy. A small pathway emerged, the three of them walking up to the front of the crowd. Judy and Nick went first underneath the crime scene tape. Etson lifted the tape above his head and started to duck under before he was stopped.

"Woah there pal, what do you think you're doing?" the rhino asked him, towering over the raccoon.

"He's with us, Rick," Nick said, calling the rhino by name.

"Oh. Sorry about that, sir," Rick apologized, lifting the tape up for Etson to walk underneath. The three of them walked down the street towards crime scene. The street was entirely abandoned, having been evacuated by the fire department for fear that the fire that had been reported would spread to other buildings. Afterwards they had decided to keep people off of the street so that they wouldn't interfere with the crime scene.

"So, what do we know about zhe victim here?" Etson asked, itching to find some more evidence. "Zhere had to be some reason that zhey went after zhis place."

"It's a female cheetah," Judy responded, continuing to lead the way down the street, "that's all they told us."

"Another predator," Nick noticed, shaking his head. "No surprise there."

They kept walking, finally reaching the victim's house. It wasn't hard to spot which one of the homes had been vandalized. The windows had been smashed, the flower pots destroyed, and the door knocked in, making it stick out from the other similar townhouses on the street.

"It looks just like my cafe did," Etson said. He still felt sad whenever he remembered what had happened to the cafe, but he was at least able to talk about it now.

"Let's go inside and see what we can find," Judy suggested. The three of them walked up the steps.

"Wow, they were even kind enough to leave the door open for us," Nick remarked sarcastically, the door lying in two pieces on the floor. "How thoughtful."

Judy shone her flashlight around the room. It seemed like the other two incidents in nearly every way - charred couch, toppled refrigerator, broken chairs. Whoever had done this certainly had a routine that they liked to follow.

The three of them decided to divide and conquer the investigation of all the rubble, reasoning that it would likely be just as effective but much quicker. Nick and Judy took the main living room, and Etson went to investigate the office.

"Hey, Carrots, do you think that we could sell any of the stuff we find in the wreckage?" Nick asked curiously, looking around at all the furniture and various other items. "You know, hypothetically speaking, of course."

"Don't tell me that you're actually thinking about that right now," Judy replied, her voice coming from across the room. "Even as a cop, you keep trying to hustle people."

"C'mon, Carrots, you have to admit, we could make quite a bit of money," Nick argued, trying his best to sell her on the idea. "I would take all of the things I found here, fix them up, and then sell them again. I could have my own little store, it would be great," he explained. "You know what I would call it?"

"I dunno, what?" Judy responded, half annoyed, half amused.

"I would call it, wait for it..." he grinned smugly, "Nicknacks."

Judy didn't respond for a moment. "That...I don't even know what to say to that," she replied. "Was that whole scenario a setup for that pun?"

"Yes," Nick answered, seemingly proud of himself. "Yes it was."

She sighed. "At least it was an okay pun," she admitted as she continued to look through the wreckage. "But you're still a dork."

They continued moving throughout the house, looking for anything out of the ordinary among the wreckage. Seeing nothing on the first floor, they went up the stairs to the second floor.

"Let's see which room they decided to spray paint this time," Judy said, walking into the first bedroom. The sheets had been burned, but nothing else was out of the ordinary. She noticed a closed door in the corner of the room, which she presumed led to the bathroom. Slowly, she walked over and turned the knob.

Judy gasped. "Guys, in here!" she yelled. "I found it!"

Etson and Nick both quickly scurried in from the other rooms they were investigating.

"What did you-...oh my god, why would anyone do this?" Nick asked, his tone clearly disgusted. He looked around the room, shaking his head in disbelief. "I mean, just look at how terrible this is. Who ever thought that this wallpaper was a good idea?"

Etson smirked, but Judy didn't find Nick's sense of humor funny. "C'mon Nick, this is supposed to be a serious investigation, not some home buying show."

"Serious? Carrots, it's plaid flower wallpaper that we're talking about here. Do you even understand how many rules of design that breaks?" Nick replied, apparently very passionate about the subject. "In fact, I would say that the P.P.P. spray paint on the wall actually adds to the room."

"Wait," Judy noticed something on the opposite side of the room. "What's this?" she picked a sticky note off of the wall, examining it. "It's another note..."

"Well, what does it say?" Etson asked.

"I will make my move... the tides will turn," Judy read aloud. "It's signed P.P.P."

"Ah, yes, more vigilante jargon, just what I was hoping to find," Nick complained sarcastically.

"If I didn't want to capture zhis guy," Etson commented, "zhen reading zhese notes would change my mind. Like seriously, who does he zhink he is?"

"Well, if this place is anything like the others, that clue will be the only one we get," Judy said, putting her carrot pen and notebook away, "Let's finish up here and see if we can get in contact with whoever lives, err...used to live here."

"Sounds good," Nick replied. "Lead the way."

The three of them explored the rest of the townhouse, and, unsurprisingly, found no further evidence as to who committed the crime. They walked back out the front door, which was still in pieces on the floor. They started walking back towards the crowd of animals, where there police cruiser was parked.

"I just don't get it..." Judy said, thinking through what she had seen again. "How does someone commit a crime like this in broad daylight?"

"You'd be surprised how easy it is," Nick answered. "It's not hard if you know how to properly conceal yourself."

"Yes, he's right," Etson confirmed. "All you have to do is stay in zhe shadows of zhe buildings, and zhen it's not really broad daylight anymore. Makes it a lot easier to sneak around," he said nonchalantly. His eyes widened, suddenly realizing what he had admitted to. "Not zhat I - I mean I've never, like, done anyzhing in zhe shadows, it's just that I...um..."

Nick laughed. "It's okay, pal. We won't tell anyone what you did."

"But I didn't do -"

"Shhhhh," Nick interrupted, putting his finger over the raccoon's lips. "Your secret is safe with us."

"He's just giving you a hard time, Etson" Judy said as she punched Nick in the arm. "We know what you meant."

Etson blushed, embarrassed that he had humiliated himself. He wanted to say something to try to redeem himself, but he was so flustered that he couldn't think of anything.

They had now reached the crowd of animals, who were all still waiting behind the caution tape.

"We're all clear," Judy said to Rick, who was still guarding the perimeter. Now that the three of them had been through the site of the crime, she suspected that they would allow the animals to have access to the street once again, as there was no chance of them disrupting potential evidence. They walked past the crowd and found where the cruiser where they had left it. Together, the three animals climbed back into the car.

"Where to next, Carrots?" Nick inquired, putting his aviators on as he buckled his seatbelt, riding shotgun. Etson climbed into the backseat.

Judy looked down at the screen of her phone. "Well, Bogo just sent me a text," Judy stated, "Apparently we're going to interview the victim of the attack now."

"The cheetah?" Nick asked.

"Yeah. Apparently she didn't even know that something had happened until they called her and gave her the news. She's still at work," Judy replied, reading the information off of her phone.

"Where does she work?" Etson wondered.

"478 Kapok Street, Canal District," Judy answered, "Which is where we are going to be heading."

The police cruiser pulled into the parking space closest to the entrance. They had arrived at the cheetah's workplace, which part of a large complex at the end of the street. Zootopia Chemical Research Facility. The building looked somewhat like a hospital, being a large, mostly glass building with a large parking lot.

Nick, Judy and Etson all got out of the cruiser, the doors slamming shut. They walked in through the main entrance of the building, where they met the building's receptionist, a deer. She was talking on a phone, clearly busy with an important client of some sort.

"Of course sir, that paperwork is right here..." she frantically looked around her desk, shuffling through a stack of papers in a blur. As she did so, she noticed the three animals standing in front of her desk. "If you'll just give me one moment, sir," she covered the phone with her hoof, turning her focus to Nick, Judy and Etson for a brief moment. "You officers are going to want to ask for Clare Accino, second floor, wing B. She should be expecting you," the receptionist smiled at them, putting the phone back up to her ear. "Yes, sir, I have the papers right here somewhere. Just give me a moment to locate them."

"Thank you," Judy replied, the deer already tearing through papers again.

"And I thought police work was exasperating," Nick remarked, watching and admiring the speed with which the receptionist worked. They followed her instructions, taking the elevator up to the second floor and following the signs that were marked for wing B. They came to a set of two glass doors, a massive plaque overhead with "WING B" printed in golden letters. The three of them walked through the door, and were greeted by a long hallway with glass looking into laboratories on both sides. On the opposite side of the hallway there was an elephant wearing a labcoat.

"Um, excuse me, do you know where we can find someone named Clare?" Judy asked the passerby.

"Third door on your right," he responded.

"Thank you, sir."

They walked down the hallway, exactly three doors down from where the elephant had directed them. Hoping that the elephant's directions were correct, Judy slowly reached up and knocked on the door.

"Hello?" the door gradually opened, a cheetah scientist standing in the doorframe.

"Hi there! I'm Officer Hopps, this is my partner Officer Wilde, and..." Judy stumbled for a moment. She didn't know Etson's last name. "...my friend Etson. Pleased to meet you."

The rabbit and cheetah shook paws.

"I'm Clare Accino, lab supervisor here at the facility," she introduced herself, taking off her safety goggles. "Please, come in and have a seat at my desk."

Doing as instructed, the three took their seats across from Ms. Accino.

"So, you have some questions for me, I take it?"

"Yes," Judy said, "but first, Ms. Accino, we just want to express how sorry we are that this happened to you. We're trying our best to figure out who did this and bring them to justice, but we need your help."

"Oh, trust me, it's no big deal," Clare reassured them, waving off what the rabbit had said. "I've been trying to sell that crappy place for over a year now, and now I finally have a reason to move out for good."

"In that case, are you alright with starting the questioning now?" Judy asked respectfully. She took out her carrot pen and notebook, ready to write down anything important Clare had to say.

"Sure thing. What would you like to know about?" Ms. Accino replied.

"Could you maybe give us a little bit of background about yourself?" Judy requested.

"Well...Let's see. I've lived in Zootopia my whole life," Clare started. Nick's eyes narrowed in surprise. The other two victims had both immigrated to Zootopia at a young age. "I grew up in the Savannah district, right around Acacia Street," Etson perked up at the mention of Acacia Street. That was two streets away from where he had grown up. "Our family...we were fairly well-off. My mom raised me at home while my dad worked an office job. Things were good. I graduated basic schooling with good grades, decided to go to college to get a degree in neuroscience, when I got an internship here. Currently I'm continuing to do post-graduate neuroscience studies while continuing to work my way up here. It's a pretty nice arrangement, and I'm happy with where I'm at."

"Pardon me, but which street did you live on?" Etson asked, adding "I happened to grow up around Acacia as well."

"We lived on Grassland Street. You?"

"Sunrise Avenue," Etson replied.

"Oh, that's neat," Clare said, nodding her head. "Now, I know that a lot of Alimandish people live in that area. Are you a part that group, or...?"

"Yes, I am," Etson said, impressed that she knew so much about his local area. "My parents were both Alimandish. We came here when I was seven."

She smiled. "So...the reason I ask is because I actually speak Alimandish," she admitted, grinning excitedly. "It was my minor in college, and I always like to practice."

"Ah, mourez i Alimanz? Taz jes ali," Etson responded. You speak Alimandish? That's cool.

"Mourem fiomal, ro yez, lucem mour," Clare said, her accent quite thick. I speak it poorly, but yes, I can speak it.

The two of them looked at each other, both smiling.

"Ahem," Nick interrupted, "as much as I'd like to watch you two get to know each other in a language I don't understand, we still have a lot of questions to get through."

"Of course, officer, sorry about that," Clare apologized. "What else would you like to know?"

"Well, we have two other victims who are in the same circumstance as you...And they were both predators who had immigrated here from somewhere else," Nick explained. "So, have you ever been part of a group that was against prey rights, or any other organization that may have put a target on your back?"

"No. I don't get involved in politics," she answered bluntly.

"Is there anyone who you can think of who would want to do this to you?" Judy questioned.

"No. Not that I'm aware of, at least," the cheetah replied. Judy sighed. It didn't seem like there was anything they could use from this info, much less try to identify a suspect with it.

"Are you sure?" Judy pressed, grasping at straws. There had to be something they could get out of this interview. "Is there anyone who is mad at you, or who you may have upset that you can think of? Even if it doesn't seem related to the case. We're desperate for info here."

Clare sighed heftily. "Well...there is one thing that I can think of..." Nick and Judy suddenly became more attentive. "But it's not at all related to what happened here today. And I'm not sure that I'm even allowed to talk about it."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Not allowed to talk about? What do you mean?"

"Some of the research we're doing here...It's not exactly what you'd call...available to the public, to put it one way," Clare told them. "It's classified information."

"Please, Clare," Judy begged, "This criminal is still at large and it might be the only lead we have to catch him."

Clare leaned back in her chair, contemplating what she should do. If anyone found out about this, she would be in huge trouble. She would absolutely lose her job, and maybe even get sued afterwards. Still, she felt as though she couldn't just withhold the information from them at this point, especially since she had already told them that she had something to tell them. She also knew that this room didn't have any security cameras in it, so as long as there was no extra ears, nobody else would hear. "Alright, I'll do it. But listen closely, because I'm not repeating it," she warned them. She did a quick look around to make sure that nobody was going to eavesdrop on their conversation. "Okay. First of all, the team I'm on is designated to night howler research. We're supposed to figure out what causes animals to act how they act when exposed to night howlers, what it does to their brain that makes them...well... go savage. Up until a couple weeks ago, we were working on a vaccine for night howlers that we would hopefully be able to use to immunize the population. Then, suddenly," Clare went on, her voice softer, "things got strange. The animals on the board of research at city hall told us to start studying how to make this weird anti-night howler, something they called 'day whisperers.' I see that you're confused," she commented, noticing the quizzical look on Etson's face. "These 'day whisperers'...they're meant to do the opposite of night howlers. Night howlers make an animal go savage, as you know. Well, day whisperers make them completely docile and pacified, in theory anyways. We don't even think that they're possible to make, currently," Clare rapidly spat out what she knew, with Judy furiously writing everything she heard. "Anyways, the part you need to know is that I, like many of my colleagues, was confused about why we suddenly made this shift in research after so much time invested on the vaccine project. And so I decided that I was going to take it up with the head of the board, Mr. Fasco."

"Wait, the Mr. Fasco?" Etson asked. "The politician?"

"Yes, the one who's running for mayor," Clare confirmed.

"Something about him...what was it? He's the koala, right?" Etson asked to confirm. The others nodded. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, trying to remember something important. It's on the tip of my tongue... Etson thought.

"Anyways, I confronted him about it, just asking a simple question...and he started yelling really loudly at me... Something about doing my job with my head down, threatening to fire me on the spot. I started crying, and he screamed at me to stop wasting his time and get out of his office," Clare's face shifted into a frown. "I still don't know why we've switched research projects, but I don't dare ask anymore."

Judy scribbled the last of what Clare had said on her notepad. "Thank you so much, you've been such a huge help," she said to Clare, shaking her paw again. The three officers got up and made their way towards the door.

"No problem," Clare replied, getting up from her chair. "Oh, wait, I forgot one more thing." She ran back over to her desk, grabbing a pen and a sticky note. She wrote something down, picked up the note and gave it to Etson. "Dza. Em polerez casmiz."

Etson's eyes widened as he looked at the note. "Uh...coutwere. Zirem."

Clare giggled. Nick and Judy glanced at each other. "Did you get any of that?" Nick asked.

Judy shook her head. "Not a word."

"Alright, goodbye. Drive safe, you guys," Clare said to them, waving.

"Thank you again!" Judy said, the three of them also waving goodbye.

"My pleasure. Take care," she replied, putting her safety goggles back on, ready to get back to work.

The three animals walked out of the room and down the hallway, having gotten the information they needed.

"So...what exactly did she say to you back there?" Nick inquired curiously.

Etson grinned. "She said to... call her zometime."

Nick's eyebrows shot up. "Really now?" He seemed surprised. "Huh. Not bad, kid."

The three of them went back down the elevator, heading past the receptionist again, who was just as busy as when they had left her. They walked out the front door and headed towards the police cruiser.

"So, where to next?" Nick wondered aloud.

Judy looked down at her watch. It was 4:10pm, meaning that there was still time to continue investigating. "I was thinking maybe we should try city hall. If anything Clare said is true...then we might want to see if we have a lead on this Fasco guy."

"I mean, it was nice of Clare to share that with us...But why would Fasco be related to our case at all?" Nick asked. "There's no way that he would be the one vandalizing the shops. Clare only pointed him out because we begged her to point us to something. And besides," he argued, "it's not like he even did anything wrong. Changing a research project is hardly criminal."

Judy tapped her chin with the carrot pen. Nick was right. They had no evidence tying Fasco to the vandalizers, only the fact that he was doing something odd at a research facility. And even if they did want to question him, they had no way of confronting him without exposing that it was Clare who had given them the evidence. The bunny groaned. "We're at a dead end again."

"Well, maybe discussing this over food would help," Nick suggested. "There's supposed to be a good open air market near here."

Judy sighed, disappointed that they still weren't getting anywhere with the case. "Alright then, let's go."

Chapter 6 is up! As always, reviews are appreciated and encouraged. Please let me know what you think about the plot and characters!