-Chapter 3-

The police cruiser drifted through the intersection, the small rabbit at the helm rapidly turning the wheel and trying to control the vehicle.

"Why didn't you tell me to turn left before the intersection came up again?" the rabbit questioned the fox, who was supposed to be giving her directions. "You said that you knew where we were going."

"I do know where we are going," Nick defended himself, "but I don't completely know how to get there."

Judy sighted. "Pay more attention please," she said, annoyed, "I don't want to be on the news tonight for crashing the cruiser."

"I'm sure it will happen at some point, Carrots," Nick said in his usual sarcastic tone. "Might be better if you get it over with now."

"There are so many problems with that statement I don't even know where to start," Judy replied, trying to keep her eyes on the road. The vandalized bakery was supposed to be around here somewhere, according to Nick. Then again, he could be completely off, as he had been with the directions multiple times already. She wondered sometimes whether or not he was intentionally giving her unreliable directions so that he have an excuse to keep calling her a bad driver. It wouldn't be the first time Nick had messed with her for his personal enjoyment. Granted, Judy did reciprocate Nick's pranks sometimes, but the fox was almost always the perpetrator of the foolery.

"I think this is it," Nick said. He had taken off his aviators and was now examining the picture of the building from before and comparing it to what he was seeing on the street. "Yep, this is the one."

Judy pulled over and parked on the side of the road. She put her coins into the parking meter, inserting just enough to give her and Nick exactly one hour to investigate the scene.

"It's kind of -"

"That better not be a meter maid joke," Judy cut him off, preemptively guessing what he was going to say. "You don't mean to tell me that you were going after the low hanging fruit, were you?"

Nick blinked, caught slightly off guard that she had predicted what he was going to say.

"Wow, Carrots," he said, "I see that I'm finally rubbing off on you."

She winked at him, causing the fox to smile, before she turned to face the building that they were here to investigate. A large part of the store's face had been charred, and all of the windows had been smashed. The building appeared to have been lit on fire, as many of the baked goods were now nothing more than piles of ash.

"So, what do you think happened here?"

"Someone probably got bored, if I had to guess," Nick said, taking a closer look at the site. "It looks like they were a pyro, too, if these ashes are any indication."

"Do we have any security cam footage of what happened?" Judy asked.

"Nope. Edvin decided against buying any, apparently. So all we have is what's here and whatever Mr. Klosen can tell us."

The two of them started to walk into the building, being careful not to step on any shattered glass. Gingerly, they went deeper into the store. All of the shelves that had previously held the wares were now knocked over and slightly charred. The counter the employees used to stand behind was located behind the shelves, along with the kitchen where they made the fresh food. Just to the left of the counter, there was a seating area with a few tables and chairs that had all also been knocked over. A vending machine had been toppled and smashed as well, its glass scattered across the floor. The partners looked around, trying to find any clues as to what may have happened. Judy put on some plastic gloves, and began searching through the the piles of items on the ground.

"Wait a minute," Nick said, his eyes darting around the room, "where is the cash register?"

"It could be in the wreckage," Judy said, "if not, we might have the motive of the crime."

They began overturning everything, looking for signs of a cash register among the disaster.

"I don't see anything here," Judy said after a good few minutes of thorough searching.

"Hey, Carrots, check this out," Nick yelled from across the room. Judy quickly hopped over to him. "There's one more room we haven't seen yet."

"The bathroom? What could possibly be in there?"

"I dunno," Nick shrugged. "You wanna do the honors?" Nick motioned to the door.

The rabbit placed her paw on the doorknob, slowly turning it, revealing the bathroom.

"Wait, what?" Nick remarked, upon seeing the bathroom. "What is this?"

There were three large, spraypainted letters that covered the entire wall opposite of the door, with the paint even going over top of the mirror and the sink. Aside from that, everything was as to be expected from a typical retail store bathroom.

"P.P.P.?" Judy read the letters on the wall aloud. "What is that supposed to mean?" She looked around the room again. "Look Nick, the cash register!" She pointed to the corner of the room, where, surely enough, there the cash register was, sitting atop the toilet completely unharmed.

"There's a note here, too," Judy exclaimed, grabbing a sticky note that had been placed on the register. "Here, you read it," she said, handing the note over.

Nick cleared his throat, and began to read the message. "I seek not the wealth nor possessions," Nick paused before reading the next line, "I only want to open their eyes. - P.P.P."

The two partners looked at each other, processing what they had just read. "I think our criminal is very...poetic, to say the least," Judy commented. "If I had to guess, based on this," she grabbed the note from Nick to look it over, "I think our suspect is trying to be some sort of vigilante."

"Or he's some crazy anarchist," Nick said, "not that there's a difference, really."

Judy took out the notebook she had used for all of her cases, along with the trusty carrot pen she always wrote with. She started scribbling down details about what they had seen. She never looked at the notes afterwards, but nonetheless Judy found that writing everything down helped her think about possible pieces of the puzzle. "What do you think P.P.P. stands for?" she asked Nick.

"Hard to tell, really," Nick replied. He searched his brain trying to find any connections to anyone he had met, but it was difficult to find correlations. For one, he didn't know many last or middle names, nevermind the fact that oftentimes he only knew people's street nicknames, which often didn't match up to their real names. "It doesn't ring any bells, but if it might be their initials or the acronym of some group they belong to or something."

Judy tapped her chin with her pen, as she always did when contemplating. "Well, I can't think of any connections right now, so I don't see any point in sticking around here."

Nick nodded in agreement. "We've searched everything, and we have some idea as to what the motive was."

"Alright," she folded up her notebook and put it with her pen in her back pocket. "Back to HQ it is, then."

The clock hit 9:00pm as the last customer of the day walked out of Etson's cafe.

Another day in the books, Etson thought as he changed the sign in the window from reading "open" to "closed." He wiped down all of the tables and the main counter, grabbed the money he had earned that day, and climbed up the ladder to his living quarters. He went over to the safe that he kept, and stored the various dollar bills inside. The safe had been virtually empty ever since Etson had purchased the mini security camera.

It was an investment, Etson reminded himself. The prize money will pay it back a thousand times.

He took the camera out of his pocket, and pulled out his old laptop from underneath his mattress, blowing the dust off of it. He hardly used the thing on account of how old it was and how little time he had on an average day. It still ran Minnows 5, three editions behind the modern Minnows 8, and hardly could do anything without crashing. Nonetheless, it sent email and allowed him to upload files, which was all Etson really needed. He opened up a tab of Zoogle Chrome and opened up his email account. The files were too big to attach via email, so he would have to use Dropfox and link them in the email. The raccoon started typing up what his intentions were, noting any information that would be crucial for the ZPD in making the arrest. He checked through for any grammatical mistakes, desperately hoping that he hadn't forgotten any rules of Zootopian sentence structure. Fairly confident, and equally as terrified, he clicked on the send button, emailing his plan to the officers. He let out an exasperated sigh, and shut the laptop. What happened now was out of his hands.

Nick yawned as he hopped out of his bed. He had gotten pretty used to his morning routine as a police officer. He would shower, put his breakfast in the microwave and let it heat up while he put on his uniform. Nick then would take his food out of the microwave, and turn on the TV while he ate.

"With general elections two months away, the race for Mayor is heating up," the news anchor said, "Today it was announced that llama candidate Marcus Camelid would suspend his campaign, on account of his sinking numbers in polls across the city, leaving only our two frontrunners, giraffe Tory Ossicone and koala Frederick Fasco, both of whom emerged as potential candidates after the night howlers case. Polls are relatively even between the two candidates despite their very different campaigns."

"It will certainly be interesting to watch," another news anchor chimed in, "that's for sure. In other news, interim Mayor Pawleen -"

Nick changed the channel, trying to find something more appealing to watch. He didn't care at all for politics, having an inherent distrust for those involved in government. Politicians were the only animals he had ever met that were better at conning people than he was, which was certainly saying something.

After channel surfing for a few minutes while he ate, Nick finished his meal. He washed the dish he had used, grabbed his wallet, keys, and sunglasses, and headed out.

He walked out into the hallway, passing doors of his apartment neighbors. He reached the end of the hallway, where the elevator and stairs were located.

Out of order? Nick read the sign on the elevator, groaning. He lived on one of the top floors of the building, which meant that he was going to have to go down more flights of stairs than he wanted to. He slowly trudged over to the staircase, and started his descent. A good two to three minutes later, Nick finally reached the bottom.

That better be fixed by the time I'm back from work, he thought, annoyed. Because there's no way I'm going to climb that again.

Normally, Nick was very happy with where he lived. It was within walking distance from work, and the apartments were reasonably spacious. They also had a workout area, which Nick made use of on the weekends when he wasn't working. He stepped outside of the building, and walked along the sidewalk. A few blocks later, he had arrived at the police station. Usually he was able to time it so that he could catch Judy on her way in, but the elevator problems had made him later than usual. Nick walked into the briefing room where all of the other officers were, taking his seat in the front row next to Judy.

"Hey Carrots, how was your -"

The door swung open, and Chief Bogo walked in, cutting off Nick. "Alright everyone, listen up," Chief Bogo said, quieting the room down. "You all know the drill, so I'm not going to waste any time."

He went through the list of names, just as he had done the day before, finally coming to Nick and Judy. He turned his focus to the rabbit and fox. "You two, did you find anything that we can use to convict whoever vandalized that shop?"

"Negative, sir," Judy replied. "We're going to get more details from some witnesses and nearby shop owners today so that we can catch whoever did this."

Bogo looked at his clipboard, flipping through the assignments one more time. "I think...that sounds like a go-" the back door of the briefing room burst open, the entire room turning around, their eyes fixed on the scene.

"I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, Bogo," Clawhauser said, the officers all staring at him, "but I have something I think you'd like to see."

Chief Bogo looked at the cheetah inquisitively, taking off his glasses. "What is it, Clawhauser?"

"We have a strong lead..." Clawhauser said, pausing to allow his words to his words to sink in, "...on Omar Moufflon."

Chief Bogo's eyebrows immediately shot up in surprise. "Omar Moufflon?"

"Yes, sir," Clawhauser confirmed, "the one who was trafficking the night howlers."

The chief stood in silence for a minute, calculating what to do next. This was now their top priority. Catching Omar would mean a huge boost in public opinion, not to mention ending the possibility of him trafficking more night howlers. This could be the only lead that they got, and he needed to make sure that they didn't blow it.

"Officers Hopps, Wilde, Fangmire and Delgado... you're going to stay here," Bogo announced. "Everyone else is dismissed."

The four officers, Bogo, and Clawhauser were now alone at the reception desk.

"Alright, Clawhauser," Bogo said, "show us this new lead you have."

"It's all here in this email I got this morning, sir" Clawhauser said, turning around the monitor so that Bogo and the others could see. "It links to compelling video evidence on Moufflon's whereabouts, and gives a precise guide on when to apprehend him."

"Do we know who this email is from?" Officer Delgado asked.

"It comes from the email address cafesienno ," Clawhauser replied, "but that's all we know. He's sent us five separate clips of Moufflon entering his store and staying there for an extended period of time. Apparently he's a regular there."

"Can we see the clips?" Bogo asked. "I want to know if this is legitimate or not."

"Sure," Clawhauser clicked on the links that led to the video files. "This is Monday..."

The videotape clearly showed a sheep entering the cafe, saying hello to the shop owner, and sitting down to order his drink at precisely 3:02pm.

"He stays there for about seven minutes," Clawhauser said, fast forwarding through the clip, "before leaving at 3:10pm."

"What about the other clips? Are they all like this?" Judy questioned.

"Exactly the same," Clawhauser answered, adding "The shop owner is the one who sent the email, and he says it would be extremely easy to catch him if we showed up as he left the shop."

"How do we know that this is Moufflon?" Bogo said, still skeptical that apprehending the most wanted criminal in the city would be this easy.

"The famous tattoo he has on his arm is visible in the recordings," Clawhauser said, adding, "The shop owner, who sent the email, also reportedly got him to slip up on his identity during some of their conversations."

The officers looked at the screen, trying to find any other holes in the evidence that they would need to reasonably apprehend Moufflon.

"So we just show up at three o'clock at this shop and catch him?" Judy asked, staring in disbelief. "It's almost too good to be true."

"Which means it probably is," Nick said, shaking his head. "There's gotta be something we're missing here. Wanted criminals don't just fall into animal's laps like this."

"You may have been good at avoiding police activity, Wilde," Bogo pointed out, "but not everyone is as sly as a fox."

"He has a point though," Judy said, defending Nick's perspective, "Why would anyone with that big of a target on their back regularly visit somewhere?"

"Maybe he just makes really good coffee," Officer Fangmire suggested. "I mean think about it, what's the worst case scenario if we do show up?"

Officer Delgado nodded in agreement. "I say we stake it out the next couple days and see if he comes. Ideally, we capture him, and if not, it's just a couple days down the drain."

"So what's the verdict going to be, Bogo?" Judy asked, "Do you think it's worth trying out?"

Bogo stroked his chin contemplatively. "I think that there's at least some info we can get by visiting this cafe, so I'm going to be sending the four of you to check it out this afternoon," the chief ordered. "Hopps and Wilde, I want you to be inside the cafe at the time our criminal is due. If you see him and can confirm that it's Moufflon, you should be able to arrest him on the spot. Delgado and Fangmire, I want you to wait outside the cafe, filming the incident from the outside. If stuff hits the fan, I expect you two to provide assistance. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir," the four officers said in unison.

"Then you are dismissed," Bogo said. The four officers began to disperse when Bogo suddenly turned around. "Oh, Hopps and Wilde, I forgot to mention one more thing."

Judy and Nick turned around. "Yes, chief, what is it?" Judy replied.

"Try to see if you can get in contact with those witnesses for the vandalism case before you have to assume your post at the cafe," Bogo said, "I want whoever did this arrested within the next week. Are we clear?"

"Yessir."

"Good. That's all."

Judy saluted the chief, with Nick following suit after he saw his partner. They then turned around, and started walking towards the evidence room. It was time to make some phone calls.

"Zhank you, and have a nice day," Etson waved goodbye to another customer. He grabbed his water bottle, and took a sip. He had been trying to maintain his friendly personality to everyone who came into the shop, but on the inside he was plagued by anxiety. Ever since the ZPD had responded to his email this morning with the plan of action for apprehending Moufflon, he had been struggling to keep his composure.

The clock hit 2:30pm, and a fox and a rabbit walked into the store together, trying not to draw unwanted attention. The fox was dressed in an untucked pale blue button up shirt and a striped purple tie. The bunny was dressed a bit more casually, wearing a simple white t-shirt with a flower decal in the middle and dark blue jeans.

The fox stepped up to the counter. "Hello. What do you have for specials today?" he asked, keeping his voice low.

Etson looked around his surroundings, checking to make sure that nobody else was in sight. "Tomato soup," he finally answered, remembering the code word from the ZPD reply.

The fox, upon hearing the correct reply, extended his paw to the shopkeeper. "Nick Wilde, ZPD officer," he introduced himself. "And this is my partner, Judy Hopps."

"Pleased to meet you," Judy said.

Etson shook their paws. "My name is Etson, owner of zhe Cafe Sienno. It is my pleasure to meet you."

"So you know the plan, right?" Nick asked, wanting to be sure, "Do you have somewhere we can hide?"

"Yes, and yes. If you'll come behind zhe counter," Etson said, quickly opening up the gate that allowed them behind the register, "you two should be able to hide up zhere." He pointed up to the second floor of the building.

"Perfect," Judy said. "Thanks for your help with this case, sir. If all goes well, you'll have been a huge help."

"I do what I can," Etson shrugged. "Could I get you two anyzhing to drink? On zhe house, my treat."

"Oh, you don't have to -"

"No, no, I insist," Etson persisted. "What would you like?"

"Well, if you insist," Judy replied, looking over the wide varieties of beverages, "I'll take an alvoursh."

"Ah, zhat is one of my favorites. Good choice," Etson said, "And for zhe fox?"

"Surprise me," Nick grinned, as he climbed up the ladder with Judy. They were surprised at how much stuff there was up on the second floor, especially considering how small the cafe had looked from the outside of the building. It reminded Judy of her first apartment when she moved to the big city, small but cozy nonetheless.

"Do you live up here, Etson?" Judy asked, raising her voice a bit so she could be heard from the first floor.

"I do," he answered, preparing both of their drinks. "I spend my day down here and my nights up zhere."

"How long have you lived like this?" Nick asked him.

"Seven years," Etson replied. "I get by nicely, lots of loyal customers who come to zhe shop."

"Wait, you said seven years?" Nick said, scratching his head in confusion. "How old were you when you opened this place?"

"I was only eleven years old when I came to zhis place," Etson answered. "All I had was five hundred dollars and zhis abandoned building. Zhat was it."

Judy gawked in disbelief. "You were eleven when you found this place? And you made it into all of this?"

"Yes," the raccoon said. "I used zhe money to purchase basics for running zhe place. Zhe rest is history, as zhey say." He climbed up the ladder, balancing two of the mugs in one paw. "Here are your drinks. Enjoy."

"Thanks," Nick and Judy said in unison.

"No problem. I will be down here when our customer comes. You should be able to hear him come in."

Etson climbed back down the ladder and assumed his post, the time now being 2:38 pm. Nick and Judy remained upstairs, lying in wait to catch Omar. The two of them sat on the ground near the ladder, with Judy taking a sip of what Etson had given her.

"Mmmhmm..." Judy said as she swallowed. "He doesn't mess around with his drinks, does he?"

Nick took a sip, and was overwhelmed by the perfect blend of flavors mixing in his mouth. "I think I taste blueberry," Nick said, in awe at how good the drink was. "How did he know I love blueberries?"

"Secrets of the trade, I guess," Judy said. As she took another sip, she couldn't stop thinking about what Etson had said. Alone at age eleven...she couldn't imagine how she'd fend for herself in that situation. What would she eat? How would she find somewhere to stay? She looked over at Nick, who was staring at his phone. He had been alone since age twelve, meaning that he must have been in a situation similar to Etson. Despite how close they were, Nick had never really shared any details about his past, other than what he had told her about being bullied. She knew he had always been a good talker, but it still must have been difficult to get by alone.

"Say cheese, Carrots" Nick said, taking a selfie of him and the rabbit. She smiled and made the peace sign as he snapped the photo. He always took selfies any time they were on a major mission, which Judy didn't mind, as it lightened up the mood and eased the pressure of trying to capture a major criminal. It also made for a good scrapbook of the memories that they had shared together.

Suddenly, the bell downstairs rang, signaling that a customer had come into the cafe. Judy immediately perked up. Her large ears allowed her to listen in on the conversation below.

"Joe! How are you today!" Etson said, heartily.

"The bird is in the nest, I repeat, the bird is in the nest," Judy whispered into her radio.

"Roger that," Delgado responded. "We have secured the exit, over."

"We are advancing on the target. Engaging, over."

Judy quickly slid down the ladder, clutching with her tranquilizer gun. "Freeze!" she yelled. "Omar Moufflon, you are under arrest!"

Omar's face instantly shifted from one of contentment to one of fear. "Judy Hopps! What are you doing here?"

Nick slid down the ladder, also holding onto his tranquilizer. The door flew open, and the other two officers showed themselves, one of them holding a video camera.

"Put your hands up, Omar! We have you surrounded."

Omar started to yell in rage. "Etson! You betrayed me! Espirem tez soufersh, mamihosha!"

Etson looked at Omar, disgusted. "First of all, zhat is not even how you say that," the raccoon retorted. "Second of all, watch your language!"

"You are all fools, all of you! We were going to bring sweeping progress!" the sheep yelled.

"Can it, fluffy," Nick replied, clearly ticked off. "If you or Bellwether had half a brain, we could have avoided this mess altogether. Now, we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"You can do whatever you want to me! I'll be a martyr, a hero of the people!"

"Uh-huh. That's what Bellwether said too, and look how it's turned out for her," Nick said calmly. "So, I'm going to ask you again, do you want us to drag you out of here like the screaming toddler you are, or are you gonna be a big boy and walk out yourself? Your choice."

"I will tear you apart, stupid fox! When I'm done -"

Nick pulled the trigger, his cool demeanor unwavering. "Would you look at that? It must be nap time for our little baby."

The sheep fell over, almost instantly going unconscious. "Let's take him to the cruiser," Nick said, placing cuffs on the criminal. "He should be out for the next few hours."

Nick, Delgado and Fangmire lifted him to the cruiser and put him in the backseat.

"Well," Judy let out a sigh of relief, "that went smoothly. Nice work, Etson."

The raccoon smiled, relieved everything had gone well. "Zhanks. I am just trying to serve zhe city the best I can."

"Speaking of which," Judy said, "would you care to come back to the ZPD with us in the cruiser? I know that you must be eager to collect your reward."

"Uh...would I have to, you know...share a seat wizh Omar?"

"Yes, but I wouldn't worry about that," Judy said. "He'll be out the whole time, like Nick said."

"Okay, if you say so," Etson replied. He wasn't sure what was making him more uneasy, the fact that he was going to be sitting next to the most wanted criminal in Zootopia, or that his life was going to change dramatically over the next couple days.

"In that case," Judy said, "follow me to the cruiser."

Etson switched the sign on his shop from "open" to "closed", took off his apron and headed after the rabbit.

Here's chapter 3 everyone! This chapter is pretty important to the plot later on, but there's still a good amount of action. As always, feedback is welcome! I'm always looking to improve my writing :)