Silent Enemy

Chapter 4: Dead Ends

"Come on Nick, you're killing me."

Nick smiled, and continued to whistle tunelessly as he ambled towards the unpaid parking meter. Parking duty never seemed to bother Nick overly much. He found the idea of easing around town all day, even if it was to do such an onerous task, to be fairly relaxing. After all, it was the easiest job on the force. The sun was shining, the air was fresh, and for the next week, he and his partner had been assigned to light duty tasks. Yes sir, Nick thought to himself, not a bad way to make a living.

Up ahead, a door to a café burst open, a panicked antelope racing out the doors to the unpaid meter. Nick heard Judy groan, her desire to race forward to ticket the car warring with her promise to go easy on her injured leg. Nick snickered, and ever so slightly, slowed his walking pace. The antelope hurriedly shoved change into the meter, its internal mechanism flipping to green. The antelope turned a look of triumph upon the approaching vulpine. Nick smiled, tipped the edge of the ridiculous pith helmet he had been issued, and turned back the way he had come. He made his way back to the three wheeled patrol vehicle in which his exasperated partner sat.

Judy sat in her parking duty uniform, hat slightly askew from where she had placed her paw to her temple. She slowly shook her head, as she looked up to Nick, who had swung himself in beside her. It was a tight fit to be sure, made more so from the presence of the crutch sat between them. Never the less, both officers were used to it, and made accommodations for each other as best they could.

"You know, it is our job to actually ticket cars parked at expired meters," Judy said, turning to look at her partner.

Nick made a noncommittal sound from his throat, and said, "You know it, I did see that written down somewhere." He put his paw to his chin thoughtfully. "But now that you mention it, it must have slipped my mind. Oopsy."

Judy shook her head, and smiled. There first day back on the job together, while not unexpected, had meant a more lethargic pace. Judy had learned patience in her time as an officer, but she still found the prospect of such inactivity grating.

"By the way," Nick said, crunching on a handful of nuts he kept stashed in a tin in their vehicle's cup holder. "Is there a reason you brought us to this part of town?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Old Zootopia certainly has parking meters, but it isn't exactly a gold mine." He screwed up his eyes, a look of overt suspicion playing across his features. "Unless you had something else in mind other than illegally parked cars."

Judy turned her attention back to the road. Her mouth pressing into a thin line.

"Let me guess. You want to go look for any evidence that creature may have left behind?"

Judy looked back to her partner sheepishly. He was wearing that insufferably smug look of his. He slowly chewed, the crunch of nuts sounding irritatingly.

"Yeah yeah," she said, waving dismissively.

Nick just crunched louder, and readjusted his helmet.

Judy rolled her eyes, and started the little vehicle towards the site of their encounter with the creature.

In truth, they weren't too far from where they were when they first received the call from Clawhauser. However, the engine on their glorified golf-cart left something to be desired. The journey dragged on, punctuated by the sound of Nick snacking, and the high pitched whine of the engine. Overhead, a faint whirring sounded from the lights set into the vehicles roof. Nick, however, wasn't filling the air with his typical small talk. Judy stole a quick glimpse at her partner, but found his expression unreadable.