Chapter 1: The All Seeing

Death holds in orbit around it a morbid fascination, a teasing of the wondering mind. It is the ultimate mystery; all of life known before the final moment remains re-accessible and recorded, but once someone passes over it all seems for naught. Does the story end? Do one's previous deeds still hold sway now that the initiator is no more? Are legacies living entities?

Yes, Judy thought. Bellwether's actions have made her immortal. She would continue to live through her influence and fear, even as her body lay in a pool of blood at Judy's feet.

A general uneasiness pervaded about the manner in which she was killed: a neat slash across her neck, white wool stained red. According to the prison's logs, Bellwether was being kept in solitary confinement for her own safety; there was concern that other prisoners, or guards for that matter, wouldn't take kindly to her plan to rule through dividing and conquering predators. So far there was no evidence of forced entry, and suicide was ruled out almost immediately due to the absence of any objects that could produce such a neat cut as well as the cleanliness of her hooves.

Soon the forensics team would have some answers. Judy scanned the cell, noting the hazmat suits were draped on animals not too much bigger than her, considering the size of the space. Bellwether's eyes, wide and staring unmoving at the ceiling, were cast in the shadow of a badger who stood by her head, sketchpad and pencil in hand.

Judy's stomach twisted. She'd stared at the lamb's eyes for too long, and she turned away, dry-heaving into her palm and leaning on a bar for support. Everything had hit her all at once. She looked up to see Nick sitting in the empty cell across the hall looking a little green himself.

"You okay there, Carrots?" he asked, giving a shaky chuckle.

After a hard swallow, Judy crossed the hallway and joined the fox in the cell. "Mostly," she said. "I'm just afraid of what this means."

"I hear ya."

There was silence as Judy hopped onto and sat on the bed across from Nick. "I don't know how someone could do this and leave no evidence. Do you think any of the mobs would have the resources? Mr. Big?" She asked.

Nick thought for a moment, taking a deep breath. He shook his head, "It isn't Mr. Big's style. I know of other bosses that are fans of throat-slitting, but I haven't heard of any of them going after someone in prison, though we can't rule that out. And I don't know if any of them had anything against Bellwether directly."

"Aside from a few henchmen getting hit with the Night Howler serum, I think you're right."

Nick chuckled. "Nothing like opening up an old case for my first homicide, eh?"

"Better than starting with parking duty," Judy replied.

Nick had graduated from the academy six months prior to receiving the call about Bellwether's murder this morning. Their celebratory doughnut run with Clawhauser was rudely interrupted. Since then, Judy had lost her appetite.

"I'd say that led to good things though," Nick said, smiling serenely.

"I would have to agree," Judy smiled back. She stretched and ran her hands from her head down her ears. "I guess we should see if forensics has found anyth-"

"Officers Hopps and Wilde?" Came the voice of a deer. His antlered head was exposed as the hood of his hazmat suit was pulled back. He held an envelope in a plastic bag.

"Yes?" Nick asked, standing.

"This was discovered on Bellwether's body. It's addressed to the two o' you." The buck's accent was thick, obviously a stag from across the Eastern Sea.

Nick gingerly took the bag. The envelope inside had a small spattering of red across it. "Mmm," he said sarcastically, "delicious."

"Are we good to open it?" Judy asked, nose twitching. There was a peculiar scent to the deer. It was obvious he was a smoker, but the tobacco's signature was unique, almost spicy.

"Aye, the team's 'ad a good look at it. Logged it and all that; shouldn't be any trouble. Anywho, back to work I go." The buck said with a click of his hooves.

Nick retrieved the envelope, still using his fingertips. It wasn't sealed, so he carefully unfolded the piece of paper. Judy could see it was surprisingly thick and high-quality, qualifying as stationery rather than simple paper.

She noticed Nick's ears flatten as he read whatever was written. "Nick?"

"Have a look," the fox said.

The paper was clean apart from two words typed in the exact center, the folding lines crossing over the letters like crosshairs. "Step one," Judy read. She looked back up at Nick, who was wringing his paws.

"This isn't right…I haven't seen this kind of thing since my hustling days, and it was poorly done at best," Nick said, "It's meant to screw with your mark. Let the target know you're onto them and watching them, and then turn them into your puppet."

"That sounds…so you mean to tell me that we're already being watched?" She asked, replacing the strange letter and envelope into the plastic evidence bag.

"Yes or no," Nick said, scratching behind his ear. "It could either be simply to screw with us and point us in the wrong direction, or it's the thing I said before."

Judy couldn't help but huff a frustrated breath. There was no way to establish a pattern this early, and it seemed wrong to let one form if more animals were to get hurt or be killed. But what was the motive? Why kill the one that set the bigotry in motion, who so successfully divided a city overnight? Even after the plot was revealed and the arrests made, there still existed a large, and often violent, prejudice against predators.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated. Half expecting it to be a text from Clawhauser, the unfamiliar number drew her face into a frown.

Don't worry.

She was about to comment on it when Nick's phone gave a small trumpeting noise, his notification sound. All the color seemed to drain from his face as he read. "You two aren't next on my list."

A coldness washed through Judy's chest. "So what was that you said earlier? About making your mark your puppet?"

"…Shit," Nick swore as their eyes met.

"Should we go to Bogo with this? Maybe they can track the number," Judy said. Almost immediately her phone vibrated.

I wouldn't if I were you.

"Son of a biscuit."

Nick stepped out into the hallway, eyes darting around. Judy followed, scanning the animals milling about in their hazmat suits. Only one of them was on their phone, but she was having an animated conversation with someone at the station. There were four cameras she could locate in the ceiling corners of the hallway, all of them with blinking red lights next to their glossy lenses. Their phones received another text.

I have eyes and ears everywhere, it won't be that easy.

"Well it obviously isn't someone here," Nick said, looking down at his phone.

Judy rubbed her palms over her face a couple times, giving herself time to try and comprehend the situation. It didn't help. "If we tell Bogo, bad things will happen. If we don't tell Bogo, bad things will happen. I don't know what to do."

"This is exactly the kind of thing they try to pull," Nick said, then swore. "Either way, it's dangerous for everyone. I say we try and do the right thing if both outcomes are going to be the same."

Judy raised an eyebrow playfully. "That's a pretty solid argument coming from the hustler."

"Ex-hustler," Nick corrected her.

Judy just smiled, then it fell. "But what if letting him have his way results in less animals being affected? Like, what if he'd be less inclined to do collateral damage to get in our way?"

"We have no way of knowing. And what makes you think it's a he?"

"I…w-well…" Judy gave the ground a sidelong glance. "There's no direct evidence for it, but I just have a hard time imagining a woman being so…malevolent."

Nick's mouth opened with a smacking noise. "There are lots of women like that, you just haven't met any of them," he said flatly, eyelids heavy.

"Have you?"

"Too many."

"Oh…" Judy replied, clasping her paws in front of her. She felt sorry for the fox in that moment, the intensity of the emotion somewhat puzzling.

"We have to tell Bogo," Nick said, starting down the hallway.

"Wait what?!" Judy scrambled after him. "You heard the text guy, really bad things will happen if we do that!"

"Bad things will happen either way. Indecision is exactly what he wants; he wants us to be hopelessly lost trying to figure out what to do so he can manipulate us more easily. Never let them see that they're getting to us."

The walk back to the cruiser was short. There were only two other police vehicles in the parking lot: a cruiser that McHorn and Delgato drove over in, and the van that carried the forensics team. That being said, there was a large group of animals crowded around the entrance to the prison, mostly reporters, their crew, and various vans from numerous news stations.

Judy grimaced; since the Nighthowler incident, she'd shied away from the press as much as she possibly could. She couldn't stand the way they manipulated facts and words to present an overly dramatized version of what was reality. Thankfully, Nick seemed to be able to handle them much better, taking to ignoring them completely and shoving through their squawking hordes before they had a chance to get an answer to any of their questions. Judy could almost hide within the bushel of his tail.

When they made it to the cruiser, with some of the reporters knocking on Judy's passenger window, Nick got on the radio.

"Clawhauser, this is officers Wilde and Hopps, we've determined the crime scene no longer requires our presence, McHorn and Delgato have it covered so we're on our way back to the station. We have some things to discuss with the chief."

"Copy that, doughnuts still uneaten from this morning, see you two soon," came the cheetah's reply in a professionally mocking tone. Nick and Judy both chuckled at his reply as they pulled out of the parking lot, Nick donning his aviators as he signaled to turn onto the freeway ramp.

Just then Judy's phone vibrated. Her chest went cold at the words.

Bad move.