Zootopia: ZPD Mysteries - Case #1: The Blackout at Steel Mountain Manor

Chapter 5: Secret Passage

Nick and Judy were both impressed by how ornate and grand the Steel Mountain library was. For a second, Nick thought that they had entered another building entirely.

The room was tall, circular and stretched up about twenty feet to where it ended in a domed ceiling, decorated with etchings of elk dressed in medieval armor and wielding great axes. A series of four bay windows, furnished with plush, comfy-looking cotton pillows, projected out from the sides that faced out of the house. Even though they were slightly taller than he was, Nick could see outside, looking onto the rolling waves of trees of Forest Hills, streetlights shining brightly down below. The paint in the room was a rich, lovely dark red, fitting for the night of a lunar eclipse, Judy thought. In between each of these four windows was a semicircular bookshelf, stretching high above Nick and Judy's heads, carved from solid oak and polished with a gloss that reflected light from the pine-cone-shaped chandelier suspended from the apex of the dome above. Volume after dusty volume lined each of the shelves, holding pages of history untold and stories yet to be read.

Goldie, who was still quite nervous, had showed them into the library before marching over to a large, dark-red-and-brown antique couch, parked near the curve of an entire wall of bookshelves, which, for the most part, were strangely empty.

"So, Goldie," Nick asked, "can you show us where you and Clawhauser were standing in here again?"

Goldie pointed to the couch with both hooves.

"This is right where Clawhauser was sitting," Goldie explained, backing up a couple of steps as she did so. "I was standing right here, in the center of the room, note pad in hoof, chattering away when... BANG! The lights all went off."

"You're sure he didn't rush past you?" Judy asked again.

Nick cast her a suspicious glance.

"Carrots," he said with a smirk, "we're talking about Benjamin Reuben Clawhauser, a 350-something-pound cheetah. He's not exactly the fastest land animal. He can barely run twenty feet without stopping for a breather."

Judy had to admit, Nick had a point. He really couldn't run twenty feet without stopping for a breather.

"I'll help in any way I can," Goldie offered.

Nick quickly shot Judy a look that implied he was not too keen on having the perky, slightly over-the-top reporter along for the ride.

"Goldie," Judy said as she acknowledged Nick's gaze, "it's quite possible that the kidnapper is still at play somewhere, maybe even in this room. For your own safety, I think you should go elsewhere."

Goldie mulled that over, and, although she didn't look happy about it (or that confident), she eventually nodded.

"I guess I can take a few photos of the celebrity guests here," she said, slinging her camera off of her shoulder. Nick cringed as he imagined just how much pain the guests would be subjected to on the other end of the camera's flash.

"I'll see you later," she called out, heading back out the door to the library and into the grand hallway once more.

As she departed, Nick suddenly became aware of a door set in the wall underneath the staircase. It was padlocked and was plastered with a puce-colored "DO NOT ENTER" sign.

"Where does that door go to, Carrots?" he asked, eyeing the door like it was some sort of notorious criminal.

"I think that that goes into the basement," Judy explained, "but last time I came here, no one was allowed in the basement except employees."