Zootopia: Secrets And Deception

Chapter 4. Security

That morning, when they had walked into the ZPD, Judy was brought in for questioning. "His name is Jeremiah Hissserpent, and was unlike anything I had ever seen before." She said. "He was long and powerful, but had no arms or legs. His skin was hard, but smooth. He was black and green, and one of his eyes was yellow while the other was milky and covered in scars." She explained to her questioner. Bogo was present on the other side of the one-way glass as well as Nick, listening to her description even though both of them were baffled by her description of this creature. "He talked in a calm, gentleman-like manner." She added, and was later finished with her description, then they went back to their desks and continued in their search for the missing mammals.

Even after Judy was questioned, Nick felt like something wasn't right. Looking over at her from his desk, knowing she was keeping something from him, but trusted that she may have a good reason to and knew that she would tell him when she was ready. Judy put in every description and even his name, but nothing was coming up, not even a parking ticket or a late return of a library book. Jeremiah is completely off the grid, and isn't making contact anytime soon.
"Hey, Nick?" Judy asked suddenly.
"Yeah, carrots?" he answered.
"I need to ask Bogo if I can go ask a couple of questions to Jake, if he accepts it, do you want to come?" she asked as she grabbed her note pad and got up from her desk.
"Sure, anything to get out of this desk. It gets a little claustrophobic in here sometimes." He answered. Judy then went up to Chief Bogos office to talk to him.
"I'm not sure that is a good idea, officer Hopps." Bogo said.
"With all due respect, sir. Why?" Judy asked.
"Why? Because you were abducted by a very dangerous suspect that could be our culprit in this case. He sprayed you.....twice! With an unknown chemical that you even admitted to still have some of the effects from. I highly recommend to remain at your desk until you feel like your 100% self....." he stated. Judy was feeling almost completely like herself, but was almost discouraged when he was stating some pretty solid facts.
"But, if you really feel the need to talk to Jake? Then ill grant you clearance and ask him some questions." He said, and Judy's ears perked up when she heard this.
"Thank you, sir." she said as she walked out of the room and got Nick.

When they pulled up to Jakes establishment, they saw that Delgotto and Sam were keeping watch over him. Judy and Nick walked up to the door and knocked, "I hope I can find out more information about the case, or at least about Jeremiah." She thought. Jake then opened the door and saw that it was Judy.
"Hello, please come in?" he asked.
"Thank you very much, Jake. After you, carrots." Nick said and both entered. It was a nice two-story house, with a white fence in a community that was gated. Inside it had very nice decorations and a piano that seemed to be antique, the interior was painted a nice, creamy white color. The pictures on the walls were of Jake and his family, but dust had begun to settle on the surface that had him with his parents in a nice, wooden frame.
"If I would have known the ZPD was stopping by, I could've cleaned up a little bit." He said as he picked up some newspapers and coffee mugs that were strewn in a few places.
"It's quite alright, is this you and your parents?" Judy asked as she motioned at the wooden frame.
"Yes, that picture was taken three years ago almost to the day, before the....." he stopped suddenly. Nick looked over at him, noticing tears began forming in Jakes eyes, but quickly wiped them away.
"If this isn't a good time, we can come back at another?" Nick said.
"No, it's.....it's alright. I'm happy to help." He said as he put everything away. "As I was saying, that picture was taken before they died in.....in a plane crash." He said as he sat down in a chair adjacent to them.
"I'm.....I'm so sorry, Jake." Judy said.
"Over two-hundred dead including the pilots. No survivors. The plane had engine trouble, the engines, sensors, guidance and autopilot just died at once, when they reached 30,000 feet. The wings locked up and they just dropped out of the sky, I was told that no one suffered on impact." He said as more tears began forming. Judy had her hand over her mouth. "But before they impacted, mom and dad called me and told me where their 'last will and testament' was. They left me all this. The house, the money, and dads business, but it's.....it's just not the same without them. It's just too.....too....." he couldn't find the right words to finish his sentence.
"Too quiet." Nick said. It kind of interrupted Jake, but it was a helping kind of interrupting.
"Exactly." Jake said, and took in a deep breath. "Sorry for going on like that, I just haven't spoken to anybody about this before." He admitted.
"It's quite alright, Jake." Nick said. "It does feel nice though, like a weight just fell off your shoulder. It still hurts, but hurts in a good way." Jake added. Nick noticed that his hands were now folded and shaking a bit.
"Is it alright if I ask you a couple of questions, Jake?" Judy asked softly.
"Yes, of course. I took us a little off topic there." He said.
"It's alright. We all sometimes need someone to talk to every now and then." She said and gave a light smile. "The suspect that attempted to abduct you, made contact with us and explained that four years ago, your father may have taken something from him. Do you remember anything about your father coming home one day nervous and afraid?" Judy asked.
"I think I remember, but I had no clue that dad took something from him. But there was one day that he came home early and closed all the blinds and locked them." Jake explained. Both Nick and Judy were listening intently. "I only caught a glimpse of it, it was covered in a cloth or something. It was no bigger than a shoebox, and wooden. It had a lock with two key holes, but I didn't think anything of it at the time." He said.

After Jake had answered all their questions, Judy became curious as to what this box was. Could this box be the one Jeremiah wants? Or is it just a piece of the puzzle? These questions were on Judy's mind. Unfortunately, Jake had no clue as to where his father put the box, but was given a key. A rather large key, like it unlocked something large and heavy duty, and handed it over to nick and Judy, who were grateful for his cooperation and time. When they got in there car, Nick turned to Judy. "He seemed really nervous about something, did you notice his hands?" he asked.
"It's almost his parent's time of death almost to the day, I would be upset about it too if I was him." Judy said as she turned the engine on.
"But I would be upset, not fidgeting with my thumbs and looking nervous, carrots?" he replied.
"Well, it has been a stressful couple of days for him. Almost being abducted and having the police question him a few days before the death of his parent's anniversary." She said.
"True, but I got a weird feeling off him when you started questioning him." He added, and both drove back to the ZPD to analyze the key that Jake had given them.

Back at the ZPD, they found that it went to something older, like a really old safe. The safe that the key went to was bought from a company that went out of business ten years ago, and was later condemned for demolition. "It says here, carrots. That 'the ground was too unstable for deconstruction workers to go inside and plant controlled explosives.' It's been sitting there for a few years untouched, but it is still condemned." Nick said as he was sitting at his desk.
"But it doesn't say why they went out of business, or why all of their equipment is still sitting there?" Judy replied, looking over Nicks shoulder at his computer screen.
"There's more here....." he added as he scrolled down. "Some of this is news reports from that business, 'kids claim ghost haunts condemned building.' And 'workers find footprints in the settled dust that are unknown.' Something is still going on down there, carrots." He said as he kept scrolling.
"Well, we aren't going to find anything staring at a computer screen. Come on." Judy said suddenly, that Nick almost jumped.
"Right now?" he asked confusingly.
"What's the problem with going right now?" she asked as she grabbed her coat.
"It is getting dark out, don't you think?" nick asked looking at his watch.
"What? Is someone scared of a ghost or something?" Judy said teasingly.
"Ha ha! Very funny, carrots." Nick said as he logged off and followed after Judy.

When they pulled up to the building, it was almost seven pm. "Wow! I've got to say, carrots, this place has definitely seen better days. The place is literally falling apart." Nick said as he got out of the car. The building was in shambles! Almost every single window was either broken or missing, there weren't any doors that could be locked, the front of the building had a gaping hole in it, and the stairs were falling apart. All the equipment to demolish it was still sitting here, rusting and growing dust in the shadow of this place. Nick and Judy grabbed their flashlights and began walking up the stairs to the entrance. Before heading in, Nick checked if both their talkies were on the same channel.
"Just in case we get separated." He said. They turned on their flashlights, and headed into the darkness. Once inside, they appeared to be in the lobby, or what's left of it, anyway, and was dark and very dusty. Broken glass, documents, and newspapers were strewn all around. The pictures that hung on the walls were slashed or lay broken on the dirty floor. The walls cracked, and the floors creaked with each step they took inside.
"Now this place is creepy." Nick said as he shown his flashlight all around.
"We aren't going to find that safe standing here in the lobby, we better split up to cover more ground?" Judy said as she walked over to the hallway on her left.
"Watch out for white things!" Nick teased.
"Like what? Ghosts or ghouls?" Judy replied, but heard a scuffle behind her. She turned and saw Nick brushing all around his face, and then fell to his knees and came running. "What is it, Nick? What's wrong?" Judy asked worriedly.
"I ran into a huge spider's web! Ugh! I think some of it got in my mouth!" he said, trying to spit it out.
"Okay, don't scare me like that again, Nick?" Judy said sounding mad.
"I'm sorry, carrots. It won't happen again." He said as he smiled at her, and both then began walking in different hallways through the rundown building.

It had been almost two hours before they met back in the lobby, both didn't have any luck finding anything remotely close to a safe. "There's nothing here, just old newspapers and broken glass." Nick said, sounding a little frustrated.
"Maybe what used to be here got taken somewhere else?" Judy said with disappointment.
"I guess we're back at square one, now." Nick added, as they began walking towards the doorway. "We should head home and get some....." Nicks sentence was suddenly cut off from a cracking sound that broke through the air, the floor opened up and he fell through! The light from his flashlight was gone when she heard a loud impact! Silence is all that followed after that.
"Nick!" she called out in terror. "Nick!" still hearing no response, she raced to their car and got some climbing gear. She fastened the rope to a pillar that was still intact, and looked down. "Oh, Nick! Please be okay!" she said to herself and headed down into the darkness below.