-Chapter 9-

Nick groaned. The alarm clock beeped loudly, signalling that it was time for him to find a way to pull himself out of bed. He hadn't even tried to move yet, but already his body was incredibly sore from everything that had happened yesterday. He turned over, slapping his alarm clock off. Nick reached for his phone, groggily dragging it off of his night stand. He double tapped the screen, turning on the display. 6:31am. To his surprise, he had two notifications from Judy to respond to.

plz come to the ZPD asap, the first text read. His eyebrow raised as he scrolled down to the second message. i figured out what ppp means

The fox hectically threw the covers off the bed. He dashed over to his closet, practically ripping the handle off of the door. He grabbed his uniform, putting it on as quickly as he could. He didn't bother tying the tie, as that was something he could do on his walk over. This was the first time that he had ever gotten a text from Judy about work, which meant that she had found something serious. The messages were also dated from fifteen minutes ago, which meant that Judy was probably already waiting for him at HQ. He grabbed a package of blueberries and a small cup of meat bites, and ran out the door. Sprinting past the other apartments, Nick reached the end of the hallway.

"Oh, come on!" he exclaimed exasperatedly, as he read the out of order sign on the elevator. They still hadn't fixed it from the day before. Reluctantly, Nick dashed for the stairs, hopping down as many as he could at a time. Flight after flight, he desperately ran, panting heavily. He had finally reached the bottom. After a moment of recovery he continued running through the lobby, bursting through the doors and stumbling into the street. He pulled his tie out of his pocket, balancing the blueberries and meat bites in his off hand, and started in the direction of the police station. He looped the tie around his neck, flinging it about with his free hand while simultaneously running. He rounded the corner and hurried off down the street, the animals around him all staring.

Judy sipped her drink as she leaned against the couch in the lobby at the ZPD HQ. "Mmmm..." she breathed as she drank the warm beverage. "I'll be honest, Etson, this coffee was a great surprise to wake up to."

Etson waved off her comment. "Please, it was zhe least I could do after you let me stay for zhe night," he told her.

"What did you even put in here to make it taste so good?" she questioned, staring into the mixture. "I didn't think I had anything like this in my kitchen."

The raccoon smiled. "I had to get creative," he replied. "Zhat is all I will say."

"You're going to have to show me how to make it," Judy said as she took another sip. "Gosh, so good!"

Suddenly, two of the glass doors flung open, a fox busting through. Everyone in the room turned to face the commotion.

"Ah, there he is!" Judy remarked, grinning. "And only..." she glanced at her phone, "twenty one minutes after I texted you."

Nick walked over to Etson and Judy, completely out of breath. He bent over, gasping for air.

"Heh...zomeone is out of shape," Etson commented sarcastically.

"Hey!" Clawhauser yelled from the reception desk. "Did you seriously just say that? Just because I'm over here, doesn't mean I can't hear you talking about-oh," he stopped mid sentence. "You weren't talking about me, weren't you?" he asked embarrassedly. They both shook their heads no.

"I...mean...if the shoe fits," Nick mumbled quietly between breaths. Even when completely depleted of oxygen he was cracking jokes.

"Stop it, that's mean," Judy whispered to Nick, slapping him on the wrist. "You're lucky he didn't hear that,"

"Didn't hear what?" Clawhauser piped up.

"Nozhing!" Etson quickly hollered back.

Clawhauser stared suspiciously at them for a moment. He put two fingers up to his eyes and flashed them back and forth between the three animals, mouthing the words, "I'm watching you." He turned away, his attention now focused on the unopened box of donuts that was sitting atop his desk.

"Oh, by the way," Judy said, looking across at Nick as she sipped her coffee. "I like your tie."

Nick quickly looked down at his chest. He sighed, putting a paw to his face. In his haste, he had grabbed the wrong tie. Now, instead of the usual monocolor black, he wore a dark blue with thin horizontal green and white stripes.

"You almost made it, too," Judy teased, shaking her head in sarcastic disapproval. "I wonder what Bogo will say."

"If he has the slightest sliver of fashion sense," Nick replied, "then he'll love it."

"Yes," she took another sip from her mug, "just like he loved when you refused to take off your sunglasses the other day."

"Okay, that time it was just him being irrational," Nick argued. "I mean, how does he expect me to be a smooth cop without cool sunglasses?"

"I don't know...Maybe you could take lessons from me," Judy suggested, smirking.

Nick laughed. "You're such a dumb bunny," he said, playfully messing up the fur on her head with his paw.

Etson glanced back and forth between the two partners as they chatted, amazed by the chemistry that they had. They're so perfect for each other, he thought to himself, smiling. He wondered if they had ever considered the prospect of becoming a couple before.

"So, Carrots, you still haven't told me why I'm here so early," Nick said, popping one of the blueberries into his mouth. "I trust that I didn't miss breakfast for nothing."

"Right," Judy replied, putting down her empty mug to pick up the pile of papers that was lying on the coffee table. "Let's go into the office to discuss it."

"Here it is," Judy said, plopping a packet of paper on the desk. "All of the info about the Prey Protection Program we could possibly need."

"How did you figure this out again?" Nick wondered, leaning back in his chair as he always did.

"One of my sisters mentioned it while I was chatting with my parents," Judy answered. "She was doing some history homework on it."

"Huh. That's lucky," Nick remarked, scanning through all of the info in the packet Judy had just plopped on his desk. "So, why didn't this come up when we Zoogled it?"

"We only searched for P.P.P." Judy replied, "This program was referred to as the Triple P. If we had used different keywords we would have gotten it."

Nick kept reading through the papers. "So, from what I understand, this was some government program that did some stuff with equality," he said. "What does any of this have to do with our case?"

"It means we have a motive," Judy explained. "Whoever did this...they did it to bring equality."

"Hm. So equality means defacement of the property of predators now," Nick commented bleakly. The whole time they had known that this type of motive was a possibility, but to have it actually confirmed was the equivalent of a punch to Nick's gut. "What a great world we live in."

Judy sighed. "Well, that's why we're here, right?" she consoled him, putting her paw on his shoulder. "To make the world a better place."

Etson stood there, listening to Judy's explanation for the second time. He had been suspicious about the truth of her hypothesis when she told him last night, and he was having the same doubts again now. He went over the facts again in his head. Something just didn't add up.

"I don't know about zhis, guys," he admitted, his arms crossed. "I zhink you are reading into zhis too much. Zhe P.P.P. spraypaint shouldn't be evidence of who did zhis," he proposed, adding, "It could just be zhem trying to mislead us."

"What do you mean, Etson?" Judy asked, her eyebrow raised.

"I don't know," Etson answered, sighing. "I just have zhis feeling zhat we're going down zhe wrong pazh here. We had a good lead on Fasco...and now we're just throwing it away, it feels like."

Nick looked over at Etson. He still was annoyed that he was doing the investigation with them. The only thing he had offered them was to show them a clip of Fasco, which Nick still viewed as waste a time. He knew Fasco was shady, like all politicians, but a criminal? Nick didn't think so. Investigating him was a waste of time, especially now that Judy had figured out the real motive of whoever had done this.

Etson looked back at Nick, who was staring at him as he leaned back in his chair. He wasn't sure what the fox thought of him, as he was sure to leave very few of his emotions easily accessible, making it difficult for Etson to get a sense of what was going through his head. The only thing Etson really knew about him (aside from his obviously caustic attitude) was that they disagreed about Fasco's role in the vandalizations. To Etson, it seemed obvious that Fasco was the one behind whatever was going on, but he could tell Nick didn't feel the same way.

"Look, I know that you're convinced about Fasco," Nick started, sitting up in his chair and leaning over the desk. "But logically it doesn't make sense. Fasco has no business burning down property, and if he did, he wouldn't go about it during an election period when his action is under heavy scrutiny."

"If he felt zhreatened enough he might," Etson retorted. "He was taking care of two immediate zhreats to whatever it is he is trying to do."

"I would hardly call you or Clare a threat," Nick argued calmly. "And vandalizing those houses would only serve to make sure that he drew attention to himself, which, as I mentioned earlier, is not good for him."

Judy kept thumping her foot as she thought. "Maybe," she proposed, "you're both right."

Nick and Etson looked at each other questioningly before looking back to Judy.

"It makes sense. Fasco is an outspoken prey rights advocate. He could be paying someone off to do this for him," Judy explained.

"Do you really think he would do something like this, though?" Nick asked sincerely.

"It's possible. And currently," she said, "it's the most likely possibility we have."

Nick sighed. This case was turning out to be bigger than he had expected. This was supposed to be a simple "catch the bad guy" type of case...not another government scandal.

"So, what is zhe plan?" Etson inquired. "Are we still going to meet wizh zhe beaver zhat we talked about yesterday? Zhe one wizh zhe info on Omar."

"I think..." Judy pulled out her notebook, reading over all of the case info. "That sounds good. Is that okay with both of you?"

"That depends," Nick replied, a grin appearing on his face, "are you driving us there?"

Judy rolled her eyes. "Never heard that one before," she said. "Can't you do better than that?"

"Aww, c'mon Carrots, it's a classic," Nick playfully rebutted, "It's like Elvis Preysley or the Moleing Stones."

"Or Guns and Rodents," Etson added.

"Exactly! Etson gets it. Classics like that never age. Bunnies like you not being able to drive will always be funny."

"Oh good," Judy said sarcastically. "I was worried for a second that you had run out of things to make fun of me for."

"Don't worry, Carrots, " Nick assured her as they started to walk out of the office. "I'm sure you'll give me some new material soon."

Etson snorted. Judy just shook her head, smiling, and stepped out the door.

Judy knocked on the door, the three of them waiting for a response. Nothing happened. Judy knocked again, slightly more forcefully this time.

"Are you sure this is the right house?" Judy asked, not quite confident in Nick's navigation abilities.

"Am I sure? Carrots, would I ever let you down?" he questioned. Judy opened her mouth to start to reply. "Don't answer that."

The door suddenly swung open. A beaver stood in the door frame, wearing thick glasses and a pink t-shirt. "May I help you?" she asked, her tone annoyed.

"Hi there! Officer Hopps, ZPD," she introduced herself, extending her paw.

"Nick Wilde, ZPD. Pleasure to meet you," he said likewise.

Suspiciously, the beaver shook their paws. "I'm Lila, thanks," she replied, glancing at each of the three mammals who had shown up. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We have some questions, you see, about a certain mammal you may have been close with," Judy started.

The beaver let out a sigh. "Joe? Or Omar, or whatever his name is?"

"Yes, that's the one," Judy confirmed.

"Not ready to talk about him. Sorry Officers," she responded, moving to close the door.

"Wait!" Judy pleaded. "It's for a really important case that we're super close to cracking. Could you please reconsider?"

"Look, rabbit, I'm not interested in talking about that scumbag. Have a nice day," she went to close the door.

"But we need you!" Judy blurted out quickly, desperately trying to convince the beaver. "We hate Omar too. We just need your help. Please."

Lila looked Judy and Nick in the eye for a moment.

"Fine," she said. The three of them immediately perked up, excited that she had accepted. "But," the beaver emphasized, "the fox and raccoon... stay outside."

Their faces all sunk, the excitement of moments earlier fleeing. A grim realization set in as to what Lila was actually asking. She didn't want to be interviewed...by predators.

"Um..." Judy mumbled. She looked at both of her partners, her ears drooping. Were they okay with this?

Nick and Etson both nodded at her.

"We understand ma'am. We'll wait here for you to finish with Officer Hopps," Nick respectfully said.

Lila gave a half-hearted smile, a thinly veiled attempt at hiding her discontent for the fox. "Come right on in, Officer," she said. Timidly, Judy looked back at her partners as she walked through the door frame. As the door shut, Nick let out a large sigh. He walked down the front steps that led up to the entrance, seemingly unaffected. Etson stood there in a mix of disbelief and disappointment as the fox began to walk up the street.

"Where are you going?" Etson asked.

"For a walk," Nick answered nonchalantly. Etson hurried down the steps, catching up to walk alongside Nick. The fox didn't acknowledge his presence, keeping his eye fixed on the sidewalk in front of him.

Etson kicked a pebble down the street, in equal parts due to boredom and frustration. He let out a sigh, and turned to look at Nick.

"Did...did zhat whole zhing back zhere...bozher you?" Etson questioned sincerely. He and Nick both knew that they had been asked to leave because of the fact that they were predators. In some ways, it didn't surprise him. It was a beaver who was living alone allowing animals who could potentially harm her into her house. But they were still police officers. They were supposed to be upholding the law, serving and protecting. If anything, logically it made her more safe to have him and Nick.

Nick kept looking forward. "Not really," he admitted. Over time he had become accustomed to the fact that he was going to be prejudiced against. Now he took instances of discrimination with a grain of salt, accepting them as a part of his life.

"Well," Etson started, kicking the rock again. "It bozhered me."

"I've learned," Nick replied, "that things like that aren't worth getting bothered over."

"I know, I know..." Etson sighed as he stared at the ground. He kicked the rock again, but this time it fell into a nearby sewer grate. "Do you ever wonder...what makes zhem so... scared of us?"

Nick shrugged. "I don't know. Teeth. Claws. Stigmas perpetuated by the media."

"I just don't get it," Etson said, shaking his head angrily. "Why do zhey hold onto zhings like zhat? It's so clearly wrong."

"Bad habits are hard to break," Nick responded apathetically. He had spent years being angry at injustice, but after a while he had simply given up. Being angry at the wrong didn't do any good. Not caring about the issue was the best way to cope with it. "I have it half as bad as you do, though" Nick confided in the raccoon, turning his head to the right to look at him. "I have to show them my fangs before they get scared," Nick said. "You just have to talk."

Etson's shoulders slouched, his head tilting downward to face the concrete. Sadly, Nick was right. To most animals in Zootopia, Alimandish citizens were tied to high amounts of crime and civil unrest. From what they could see from the news broadcasts on their televisions, Alimand was nothing more than a constant wave of protests and police brutality. The stigma was so ingrained in the mammals that Etson could often pick out the exact moment in a conversation when someone would begin to distrust him. As soon as they identified his accent, their faces would contort from a smile or laugh to a sudden frown or uneasy sigh. Etson had made something of a game out of it. The longer he could go into a conversation without someone making what he dubbed "the face," the better his Zootopian was getting. When he had first started speaking the language, he often couldn't get past the first syllable of a word, but now he could last for a good few sentences before being recognized.

"You...you know...when I first moved here," Etson told Nick, swallowing heavily. "Zhings were a lot, lot worse."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I didn't know any Zootopian. I...couldn't talk to any of the kids at school. Aside from my parents...I..." he was finding it difficult to force out the words, "I was totally alone."

Nick looked at Etson sympathetically. He too knew that feeling.

"It made me so...so frustrated. All I wanted was zomeone...anyone... to talk to," Etson continued, eyes fixed on the ground. "I sat in the corner alone every recess...never able to understand what the other kids were saying."

Nick kept looking at the raccoon. He hadn't expected Etson to open up like this to him.

"So I decided to change zhat," Etson kept telling the story. "I committed myself to learning zhe language. I brought a notebook to school. Every time someone said a word I didn't know, I wrote it down," he recalled. "We didn't have a computer at home, so I would stay after school for hours translating words and making note cards. I worked so hard to learn the language, Nick. Ozher kids were playing games outside...and I would stay inside practicing for hours and hours," he told the fox. "I guess...I guess I zhought zhat maybe...maybe if I could talk to zhe ozher kids...zhen maybe zhey would be my friends," Etson said, shaking his head. "I was so naïve back zhen."

Nick knew the look in Etson's eyes. He saw it in himself, whenever he remembered his own past. "What...what happened?"

"Well...one day I finally felt courageous enough to try and talk to one of zhem." Etson started recounting to Nick his memory. It had all happened on the recess area, when the kids were having a break from their classes. Some kids were on swings, others playing on slides or bouncing a ball on the ground.

Etson, tapping his fingers together anxiously, walked up to a zebra who was standing in the field by himself.

"Uh, eeckcooseh me..." Etson introduced himself nervously. "What iz your nayem?"

The zebra raised an eyebrow. "What...what did you just say?"

Etson started breathing more heavily. Nervously, he repeated, as clearly as he could, "What iz your nayem?"

The zebra smirked at first, and then started laughing. "Hey everybody!" he called out. The whole schoolyard turned to look at the small raccoon, who was now bent over with fear. "This guy talks funny!"

Curiously, they all came over, forming a circle around him. "Say something, coony!" one of them urged. "Do it!" another encouraged.

Panickedly, Etson looked around at the large group that had formed around him. This wasn't what he wanted. "I is zoory!" he yelped. "I joost want say hallo!"

The other animals all began howling with laughter. "He sounds so dumb!" a rhino yelled from the crowd. "Go back to dumpster diving, coon!"

"Yeah, he doesn't even know how to talk right!" a bunny in the group agreed.

Etson turned and started to run, crying hysterically. Why were they doing this to him? All he wanted was to be their friend. Vision blurred from the tears, he ran as fast as he could. He didn't see the tree root below him, and tripped and fell flat on his face, scraping up his knees, causing everyone in the group to only laugh more. He turned back to look at them, wiping the tears off of his face, and sprinted as far away as he could. He had worked so hard for this. The hours in the library...the time with the flashcards...they meant nothing. He had learned a language to be less lonely, but he was more alone than ever.

He collapsed against a wall, burying his head in his knees. He couldn't stop sobbing. He just wanted to disappear, wishing that the mask on his face could actually hide how he felt.

Etson felt a paw on his shoulder. He quickly looked up to see who it was, rubbing the tears off his furry face.

"Are...are you okay?" the deer asked him. "You fell pretty hard back there."

Etson stared blankly at the deer, not able to come up with a response.

"I'm Terrance," he smiled, helping Etson to his feet. "What's your name?"

"Terrance..." Etson gulped, "Terrance was zhe reason I kept going to school. He and I...we were best friends, to put it briefly. He helped me learn Zootopian, and I would teach him how to play different Alimandish games. And zhen..." Etson paused, trying not to get emotional. "Zhen...zhen zhings happened...and...we were...separated."

Nick looked at Etson as he finished telling the story. He could see that the raccoon was trying to hold back tears. Nick looked down at the sidewalk. When he had first started living on the streets, he had thought that his story was special. But the more that his so-called "business ventures" brought him into contact with other animals, the more he realized that his story wasn't as unique as he thought it was. Nearly every predator he talked to told him that they had struggled with insecurities about themselves as a kid. Some had been shunned by fellow classmates for being perceived as dangerous, while others had been discriminated against by teachers. In practically every case, it resulted in them feeling incredibly unsafe about who they were, going to great lengths to remedy the perceived flaws in their "biology." Etson's story, to Nick, was no different.

"Etson," Nick said sincerely, looking the raccoon in the eyes, "thank you for sharing that with me."

Etson wiped his face, stopping the tears from flowing.

"I wonder how zhe interview is going," Etson remarked, his eyes on the sidewalk, pretending as though nothing had happened.

"Wow, Lila, you have such a beautiful home," Judy complemented, trying to earn the respect of the beaver. "I love the decorating here."

"You can cut the nice cop act, Officer Jumps, or whatever your name is," Lila replied hotly. "You got me to agree to be interviewed. Let's just get it over with."

Judy suppressed a sigh. Now was not the time to be hot-headed and start an argument.

"Of course, ma'am," Judy responded politely. She pulled out her notebook and carrot pen, ready to start writing. "So...let's start with your relationship with Omar."

"He was my boyfriend," she replied. "He just moved in with me a couple months ago. He told me that it was because he wanted to take the next step in our relationship. But now I know that it was because he needed a place to hide from the cops."

"Wait, you didn't know he was a wanted criminal?" Judy asked. That seemed like pretty vital info to share with anyone that you were close to.

"Nope. Had no idea," she answered. She started drifting off, reminiscing. "That was quite the shock, I have to admit," she shook her head. "One year. One year I believed in his fake identity. For a whole year he tricked me into thinking I was loved. Do you have any idea what that feels like?"

"No...I'm afraid I don't," Judy answered, taken aback by the beaver's story. "I'm so sorry. Omar was a terrible mammal."

"You're telling me. I hope that he's behind bars for the rest of his life," she exclaimed angrily. "Making animals like me into his puppets like that...It's disgusting."

Judy nodded in agreement. "Well, he's going to be in jail for a long time, I can tell you that" she assured the beaver. She decided to start asking some more questions. "So…you said Omar moved in…a few months ago?"

"The day after the Bellwether case broke," she replied. "That's when he asked me. Why do you need to know?"

"Just trying to get some background on the situation," Judy calmly answered, pretending as though there had been no intended hostility in the beaver's words. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a photo. "At any point over the past few weeks did you happen to see this briefcase?"

"That?" she asked. Lila moved in closer to examine the photograph. "Yes, I've seen it. It was lying in our closet for a few months."

"Well, he handed off the briefcase to a certain suspicious mammal," Judy told her. "And we're trying to figure out what was inside."

Lila chuckled. "And you expect me to know that information?"

Judy ignored her comment, continuing on to her next question. "Did you notice or find anything suspect while living with him that he may have wanted to put in the briefcase?"

"Actually…" Lila started, pausing to recall the incident. "There was one thing. I was doing his laundry for him, like I always did. I went to put away his underwear in his drawer…and found something underneath all of the clothes."

"What was it?"

"Papers. There was a stack about this thick," she held her fingers about a centimeter or so apart for scale. "I flipped through and looked at each sheet," Lila continued,"but I couldn't understand any of it."

Judy raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"It was all scientific jargon," she responded. "Complicated chemical formulas and terminology I didn't understand."

"Was there anything about them that you could understand? Could you glean what they were talking about? Anything?" Judy questioned.

"Nope. Never was all that good at science."

Judy tapped her chin with her pen, thinking about what Lila was saying. If the papers had to do with cerebral function, then they were probably related to night howlers. "When did you find these papers?"

"About a week or so ago," Lila said.

"And are they still there?"

The beaver looked back at her strangely. "I'm…not really sure. I haven't checked since then."

"Would you mind if we took a look together right now?" Judy asked. If the papers weren't there…then she was reasonably sure that they had been given to Fasco. And if they were scientific papers, as Lila had suggested, then that would mean that Nick would be right. Fasco was just trying to get more info for the board of research in a way that wouldn't ruin his reputation.

"I guess not," Lila replied. "Follow me."

Lila and Judy got up out of their chairs. The beaver led the bunny down the hallway into an empty room. There were clothes on the floor and the bed wasn't made. Judy guessed that it hadn't been touched since Omar had left.

"The papers were in here," Lila told Judy, opening up a drawer in the dresser. She started going through all of the clothes, taking them out of the drawer. Judy peered over the beaver's shoulder, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"What's that?" Judy asked, pointing at what looked to be a slip of paper at the bottom of the drawer.

Lila pulled out the paper, handing it to Judy. The bunny quickly grabbed it and started scanning over the paper. From what she could tell, it seemed to be an excerpt of whatever scientific writing Omar had done. She kept reading, when two words jumped out on the page at her.

Mindicampium holysithius, Judy read, a lightbulb going off in her head. That's the scientific name for night howlers!

She read over the rest of the page, trying to understand what she could, but there wasn't much else that was actually intelligible. Besides, the page had been left three quarters blank, which Judy presumed to be a sign that this page had been left on the bottom of the stack. Omar had likely been in a rush and had left the paper in his haste.

Judy glanced up from the paper to look at the beaver. "This is a huge clue," Judy told her. "Is it okay if we take this to use as evidence?"

"Please do," Lila said. "I'm going to get rid of all of his stuff anyways. Don't want any reminders of that piece of garbage."

Judy nodded. "You've been such a huge help. Thank you for your time," Judy affirmed, shaking the beaver's paw.

"Make sure Omar gets justice for me, okay?" Lila told the rabbit as she headed for the front door. Judy turned the knob, and headed out onto the steps, where Nick and Etson were sitting.

"Remember, ten life sentences, Officer Jumps! Got it?" Lila shouted from her door.

"I'm no lawyer," Judy responded, "but I'll see what I can do. Bye!"

Judy waved as the door shut.

"Officer Jumps, eh?" Nick remarked, grinning. "That's a pretty good one. Maybe I should use it sometime."

Judy glared at him. "I let you get away with 'Carrots,'" she told him. "Don't push it."

"Whatever you say, Officer Bounces," Nick smugly replied.

Judy just sighed. He was the best kind of annoying to have to put up with, but still he was still annoying to put up with nonetheless.

"So...do we have any new leads?" Etson inquired, pointing to the paper in Judy's paws.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I know what was in the briefcase, for what it's worth."

Both Nick and Etson's ears stood up. "What was it?" Etson curiously asked.

"Night howler research. One of the pages that was supposed to go in the briefcase got left in that apartment," Judy explained, handing them the paper.

Nick and Etson grabbed it and read over it together. Their eyes moved back and forth as they read line after line.

"Uh...zhis doesn't make any sense to you eizher, right?" Etson said, looking at Nick for confirmation.

"Nope. I was hoping you would understand it," Nick joked. He handed the paper back to Judy. "So how do we know that this was in the briefcase?"

"That's the thing...we don't know that it was in there," Judy confessed, biting her lip. "It's just an educated guess. But it's the best thing we've got."

Nick sighed. More loose ends that they would somehow have to find a way to tie together. It seemed that nearly every clue they got was based on an educated guess, which made him nervous about how much they actually knew about their suspect. "Alright, so what does this mean for solving the crime?"

"I'm not sure. I think we should go back to HQ and go over all of the points again and see if we can tie all of this info together somehow. We might have enough info to make a guess as to where they're going to strike next."

Etson's eyebrows raised at the mention of HQ. He needed to visit City Hall at some point today to collect his money, and it just so happened that it was on the route back to the ZPD building.

"Uhmm, zhis is... awkward, but could you maybe drop me off at City Hall so zhat I can wizhdraw my prize money?" Etson squeamishly asked. He was trying hard not to tap his fingers together. "I don't want to have to intrude at Judy's place another night."

Judy and Nick looked at each other. Nick made a slight nod of approval.

"I don't see why not," Judy answered, shrugging.

"You guys are zhe best," Etson responded, smiling. "Seriously, zhank you."

"Of course," Judy replied. "After all, what are friends for?"

BOOM! Next chapter is out. Still not a lot of action in this chapter, I know, but I really want to make sure that these characters are really well developed as we get into the really juicy chapters. I hope you guys are all enjoying the story. Please, please leave a review on what you think! I love hearing feedback and try to personally respond to all reviews.