The Greys Chapter 20: Investigation
#21 of The Greys
Nick listened to Judy explain the situation, though, the fox couldn't help but laugh the whole time. It was amazing what country bumpkin housewives could come up with when left to their own devices. His laughter made the rabbit stop several times to give him a glare, only for the tod to apologize.
"Sorry, Judy, but it's hard not to. I mean," he smirked as he curled up in his chair, bending over himself as he let out another laugh, "Does Aunt Marry-Ann just sit around the house all day watching soaps?"
"Yes, why," the bunny asked, one of her ears flopping to the back of her head as the other stood up on end. Her answer only made Nick keel over laughing, "Because it sounds like the plot line to one."
Judy let out a huff, her foot tapping against the ground as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Nick, this isn't funny."
"You're right, Carrots. It's not funny. It's hilarious," the tod said as he wiped away a laughter tear, "Oh you country bunnies and your imaginations."
Judy couldn't help but let out a very audible sound of frustration as he gave Nick a glare. "And what do you think will happen with a bunch of country bunnies with active imaginations decide that their imagination makes more sense than reality?"
Her words made Nick pause. She was right. Judy's father had gotten her that can of fox repellant because of his delusions. What was to say the other bunnies didn't do something worse? "You're right, Carrots," he said, "we probably should do something."
Judy let out a sigh, "Nick. I have a bad feeling about this. I don't want to judge, Ray or Kody or whatever he's calling himself, but I'm concerned he might be scamming them."
Nick shook his head, "Ray was a lot of things, Judy, but never a scammer. A jock, a nerd, a geek, and a goody two paws, but never a scammer."
"You'd be surprised, Nick. I thought the same thing about Miss Bellewether," the rabbit replied, the visions of how sweet and kind and noble the ewe had been only to learn it was all a façade. The fox just nodded as he took another sip, "The only way to find out is to start looking up his records, but to do that, you're going to have to sell it to Bogo."
The bunny nodded, "I know. Back me up on this?"
"Sure thing, Carrots."
Chief Bogo was in his office. It may have been his day off, but it was the one place he could find some solitude. If he went home, he would be harangued by his wife to start on the hundreds of projects he'd promised to get around to. Surprisingly, the water buffalo was dressed casually in a ZPD tracksuit and not in his uniform. He was in his office to relax, not to do any actual work. He had just pulled out his cellphone to flip through some pred-prey inter-species porn when a familiar voice came over his desk phone's speaker.
"Hey Chief. Officers Hopps and Wilde want to talk to you about opening up a case," Clawhauser's soft voice rang out. It had taken the bull completely by surprise, making him drop his phone on the ground. His alone time had been spoiled. Angrily, he pressed the intercom button on his phone. "DAMNIT CLAWHAUSER! IT'S MY DAY OFF!"
"I know, sir, but it sounds really important," the fat leopard replied.
Bogo just growled to himself, "Damnit Hopps." His day was going to be ruined whether he liked it or not. At least he hadn't managed to pull up anything on his cellphone before Clawhauser's call. The bull pressed the button again, "Fine. Send them in."
Judy and Nick already knew that Bogo was in a bad mood when they entered the office. His expression was a scowl.
"Chief Bog, I was hoping to look into a case of identity fraud," she said, expecting Bogo to cut her off at any minute and tell her, "no," but he just sat there, stone faced. "I believe the perp may have a history of it in Zootopia."
"Where's the perp now," was the only question he asked.
"Bunnyburrow," Judy said hesitantly.
"That's out of our jurisdiction, Hopps."
"I know, but..."
"Hopps, you can't go digging through their records unless Bunnyburrow ASKS for them," the bull replied.
"Yes, sir, but..."
Bogo didn't let her finish, "But! We both know you're just going to walk out that door and do it anyway. My official answer is no, Hopps, and if this whole thing comes back to bite us, you are going to have to take the heat. Understand?"
Judy was stunned. Bogo was right, she was probably going to ignore him anyway, and they both knew it, but she hadn't expected him to turn the tables on her. "Yes, sir," she replied while nodding her head.
"Good. Now get out of my office," the bull said abruptly.
When the bunny and fox left, Bogo waited a few seconds before reaching down to grab his phone and do what he'd come here to do.
"Well. That went better than I thought," Nick chuckled as he walked down the hall next to Judy.
"Yeah. Almost too well," the bunny replied as she looked down at the image of Gideon Grey that the fox had said looked like Ray Schaiferhund, "So, what else can you tell me about Ray?"
The fox just shrugged his shoulders, "Not much. He joined the Army after High School, went to college while he was in, then went into the Air Force. He was stationed over in Mammoth River last I heard."
Judy blinked, "That wasn't 'not much,' Nick."
Nick shrugged his shoulders, "What can I say, his mom was friends with mine, so you end up hearing all kinds of things. Have an idea of where to start?"
The bunny tapped her chin, "We could try requesting his military records."
"Good luck," the fox chuckled, "Remember the last time we tried that? It took them weeks. Besides, it would show our hand."
"Well, we could start looking him up in the database to see what we have on him, maybe something will show up," the rabbit said as she looked down at the drawing again.
"Best place to start."