Mincemeat 3: The Investigation Starts

Story by MiwAuturu on SoFurry

, , , , ,

#3 of Mincemeat

Third chapter. Only one more until this is caught up as far as I've written, then I'll have to write more before posting. Not much to say about this one.


Nick and Judy sat in their patrol vehicle after their meeting with Bogo, still parked in the precinct lot. Nick was taking a turn in the driver's seat so that Judy could look over what they had in the file. She quickly flipped past the pictures of the crime scene, to find that the file was, as Bogo had implied, annoyingly thin beyond it. Little was in there besides what they had already been explained.

"So," Nick finally spoke up "Where am I taking us first?"

"Well, the club-" Judy quickly looked through the file "The... Cat's Meow? You ever heard of it Nick?"

Judy made a quick sidelong glance at her partner, turning back to the files before realizing he had a strange grin on his face, making her turn back towards him.

"I can't say that I'm familiar with the place, Carrots."

"Nick, why are you lying to me?"

Nick put his hand on his heart, feigning pain as he turned towards Judy, his tone overly dramatic "Carrots! How could you accuse me of such a thing? I would never lie to you!"

The two had a brief stare down, a smug grin on Nick's face that worried Judy, but she knew when he got like this, she wasn't going to get anything out of him. Frankly, she was even kind of glad for how normal he was acting.

"Right." she finally continued "As I was going to say, the club is probably going to be closed this time of day, so we'll need to wait until later if we want to look over their security footage, which leaves Mr. Varas as our only lead so far."

"Which means going to find him at work at ZNN right? Didn't Bogo tell you pretty clearly that you're to let media relations talk to the media now?"

"We're going there to talk to our witness, not the reporters, Nick."

"So we're walking into a lion's den to interview one of them, and hoping the rest don't try and eat us alive."

"Okay, now you're really being overdramatic, Nick."

Nick started the truck, pulling out of the parking lot, since they had a destination in mind now.

"Whatever you say, Carrots, just don't accidentally let anything slip. This guy's already brought too much media attention to the case."

Judy just replied with an "Mhmm" as the car started to move, putting the now very cold half of her drink into the cup holder and leaning back in her seat. She jerked back up, almost to the point of falling out of her seat about ten minutes later, Nick just about swerving the car to the side at the sudden motion.

"Ack! Carrots, don't do that when I'm driving!"

She quickly reached for the Snarlbucks cup she had put down, drinking a big gulp of the sweet, carrot flavored drink before answering, seeming heavily embarrassed by her jump

"Sorry, the car must have hit a bump or something, woke me up with a start."

Nick gave her a quick glance, unable to take his eyes of the road for very long. Just from his look though, it was pretty clear he didn't buy her excuse for waking up just such a jump. He didn't argue with her any though.

"Well, it's a good thing you're awake now. We're almost there."

The rest of the ride was mostly filled with a slightly awkward silence, Judy quickly finishing her drink to try and keep herself alert, while Nick kept his eyes on the road, stealing the occasional glance at his bunny partner. Soon they reached a large building downtown, "ZNN" emblazoned on the side of it in large lettering. Nick parked after finding himself a spot in the parking lot large enough for the police cruiser.

Both of them headed in through the main door, finding a large open atrium meant to accommodate any visitors. A lynx in a security uniform stood next to the door, watching the two officers come in, and nearby a hare receptionist was busy typing something on her computer.

Nick and Judy walked over to the receptionist, who looked up and smiled at them.

"Hello, how can I help you today?"

Judy spoke up, pulling out her badge "Hello, we're officers-"

The hare quickly cut her off "Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. It would be hard to work here without knowing about the two officers who solved the Nighthowlers case. Oh! You're not here to give an interview about the new case are you? I know someone who would be really interested!"

Nick hopped in before anything could be set up "No thanks. We're just here to speak with one Dipper Varas."

The secretary perked up excitedly for a second before her ears drooped. "Oh. Mr. Varas. Third floor, follow the corridor to your left, his office is labelled. Security'll buzz you into the elevator."

The two officers thanked the secretary and went on their way, getting the lynx in the corner to open up the elevator for them, they headed up to the third floor, finding the office easily and knocking. From inside a voice called

"Who is it?"

Judy was again quick to identify "Officers Hopps and Wilde. We met last night. We need to ask you a few questions about what you saw."

Muffled curses responded first, before a female voice called back "Come on in." This followed by muffled arguing, which immediately stopped when the door opened. Inside were two raccoons, Dipper was in blue overalls, but a woman in a nice suit was with him.

Dipper quickly turned towards the two officers "Look, I was really drunk last night, I walked into the alleyway, I saw exactly what you two would have seen, and you know what came after that. There's really nothing that I can tell you that you don't already know. At this point I would much rather forget it all happened and move on with my life. Hell, I don't even have to speak to you, I'm a witness, not a suspect, and I have work to do, so I will be going to do it now. Good day."

He quickly shoved past the two officers, Nick indicated to Judy that she should follow him. He was right that they didn't have any cause to hold him at the time, but Nick remembered that not stopping her in the past. That left him in the office with the other raccoon, who quickly introduced herself.

"Nicholas Wilde, correct?"

"Seems everyone in here has heard of me then. And who might I be addressing?'

She offered her hand, which Nick quickly took "Amandine Varas, I'm Dipper's younger sister, interning here, hope to work here someday."

"Going to work behind the scenes like your big brother then?"

"No, I want to be a journalist. I want to go out there and collect the stories for the ZNN to report on."

"Raccoon journalist huh? You're going to have some trouble getting people to trust you then. You remind me of Carrots though, reaching out beyond what people say you should be. Maybe it should be her you're talking to. Good luck with that though."

Amandine just smiled at Nick before waving him off "Oh, I don't think it will be too hard. I just need to find one good story, once you have a name for yourself, it seems like people will forget all about who you might have been in your past."

Nick paused, sizing her up a few times before turning around "Well, I should really be catching up with my partner. We have a busy day, and a big investigation to be working on. You have a good one."

She grabbed his arm quickly, looking up at him "You sure you can't share any details about the case before you go? It would really help me along, not even a little bit?"

Pulling his arm free from her grasp, Nick shook his head "Nope, sorry. Might end up rooting for you, but I would be in a whole world of trouble if I went around blabbering cop secrets."

Slipping out of the office, Nick headed back towards the direction of the elevator, only to find Judy already waiting for him there.

"That was quick, you get anything out of Dips?"

"Nah, he managed to slip away somehow, must have been as soon as he was out his door. Security isn't keen on us looking around too much, and frankly, I'd much rather we stick purely by the book, hanging around in a newsroom. How about the girl? Who was she? Did she know anything?"

"She was his sister, Almonds."

"Almonds? Normally your nicknames are a little more on the nose than that."

"Well, her name was Amandine, figured it worked. She was his sister, and I have the distinct feeling she knows more than I would like her to after our conversation. Like I was hustled somehow, but I can't figure what she might have gotten out of me. I didn't say a word about the case."