in Old Todd's booth, about Madame Mystique and her hypnotising act, about the baby chick dolls and how there was some connection between these things.

Bogo listened carefully and finally spoke.

"All this…did you piece this together yourselves?"

"Yes," said Judy. "Just from observing and following the clues from the Bunny Burrow robbery and the attempted robbery at the Maison du Bison."

Bogo sat in silence, looking straight ahead into empty space.

"It is borderline nonsensical," he said. "But stranger things have happened. What you say…might actually lead to something."

"If we could just get a warrant…"

"And there's where we hit our first problem, Hopps," said Bogo. "No judge in his right mind would issue a warrant based on what you have so far. There just isn't enough to go with."

"But if we don't act now, they might give us the slip," said Judy.

"You think I don't know that?" said Bogo gruffly. "Look, I want to catch whoever is behind this as much as you, but there are procedures to follow. If we had some solid evidence linking the carnival booth to the attempted robbery and the bank robbery at Bunny Burrow…"

He stopped at that.

"Well, we won't solve anything sitting here," said Bogo. "Dismissed."

Judy and Nick hopped off their chair and walked to the door.

"Hopps."

Judy and Nick turned around to see Bogo with that rare, unreadable expression.

"I know you have a gut feeling, and good cops usually do. Sometimes you have to trust your gut when all else fails," said Bogo. "But even you have to admit that this is just too outlandish."

Judy was distracted as she put the car into gear and drove out of the precinct garage.

"We have to get that warrant," said Judy as they turned onto Mamba Avenue.

"No arguments there," said Nick.

They drove a few blocks in silence.

"Bogo is right. Sometimes you gotta trust your gut, and let your brain figure it out as you go," said Judy.

"Yes. Problem is, though, judges aren't exactly known for trusting their gut in anything, except the buffet line," said Nick.

Judy couldn't help chuckling. She knew what he meant. Judge Hodgson, whom they saw occasionally at the courthouse, was a large pig with a belly as round as a watermelon.

"We need evidence. Hard evidence," said Nick. "Something that will unequivocally tie the robberies to Old Todd and Madame Mystique. Truth be told, even we can't be sure they're the true culprits, despite all the signs that would point to them."

"Sadly, that's true," said Judy.

At the carnival, everything was joy and entertainment. But a certain boar was nervously watching Madame Mystique's show, not paying attention to the act.

As Madame Mystique finished her show, the audience walked out of the tent. All but the boar, who sat down nervously.

"So…" said Madame Mystique, once she was alone with the boar. "That was your wonderful fool-proof test to demonstrate the brilliance of our plan, was it, Todd?"

"It wasn't my fault," said Old Todd.

"Oh, really? Then whose fault was it, pray tell me? Because as far as I'm concerned, you insisted upon hitting an upper-class establishment with little to no security to rob the snobs of their trinkets, except you weren't counting on there being off-duty cops among the attendees. It sounds distinctly like it's your fault."

"Well…one minor hitch…"

"Minor hitch?! You idiot! There were COPS at the restaurant! Which means they'll be investigating what happened, which means they'll probably find out about the robbery at Bunny Burrow, which means they'll most likely trace a connection, which means they'll come asking some very uncomfortable questions."

"They ain't got nothing on us, Madame M, and you know it," said Old Todd. "Our helpers won't say a thing. Last thing they'll remember is gettin' into their jammies and going to bed."

Madame Mystique couldn't think of anything to answer. She just pursed her lips and walked towards the entrance of her tent.

"One more heist…one more…and then we're outta here," said Old Todd. "The Lemming Brothers Bank. Then we'll hit the road and not stop until we reach St. Canard or some other faraway city."

Madame Mystique sighed and nodded. Old Todd sighed in relief.

"Now get out of here. They shouldn't see us together," said Madame Mystique.

"You won't regret it, Madame M. You won't regret it."

"I certainly hope not. Now begone!"

Judy and Nick had lunch together at Sheila's Café, a quaint café overlooking the Old Outback Bridge just north of Savanna Central. The owner, Sheila, was a koala and she had met Judy and Nick seven months earlier during the Bridge to Everywhere incident. It had been an ugly incident in which Judy almost ended up at the bottom of the bay while going after the escaped prisoner Singcor Swim, a platypus who had led a series of violent protests against the politicians at City Hall. Singcor Swim was the founder of the Outbackers For Equality movement, a group that vehemently defended Outbacker rights, sometimes taking things too far.

Thanks to Judy and Nick, the Outback Island residents were able to get help from the new mayor, Vince Mousawitz. Mayor Mousawitz did his best to make sure everyone in the city had a voice and could have their problems solved by the proper authorities.

"Business has been ripper ever since they repaired the Old Outback Bridge," said Sheila brightly as she brought Nick and Judy their bill. "I owe you two so much."

"It was our pleasure, Sheila," said Nick as he paid the bill. "Anything to help our city move forward and keep its citizens happy."

Sheila brought Nick his change and gave them a little pastry box with two cupcakes decorated with little koala faces.

"For my favourite police officers," she said.

They thanked her and walked out of the café, going back to their squad car.

"You know, Nick, I was thinking," said Judy as she started the car.

"I thought I heard wheels grinding," teased Nick.

"That was probably just your stomach, running on fumes," retorted Judy with a playful smirk.

"Touché," said Nick.

"But seriously…I was thinking about something. The baby chick plushies. So far, there was a plushie at both crime scenes. One in Bunny Burrow, one here."

"Yes. The one from Bunny Burrow disappeared, though."

"Aha. And I think it might have been because the crime was successful. We thwarted this last one, so they left behind their baby chick plushie."

"Mm-hmm."

"I'm pretty sure it's a code. Some kind of signal. The baby chick plushies are given to the winners at the booth. The winners then commit the crimes. That coyote girl, the college student. She was at Old Todd's booth the day before the attempted robbery. I saw her. And she was in Madame Mystique's tent also."

"So Old Todd selects the winners, who take the baby chick plushie as a prize. Then Madame Mystique hypnotises them. So the baby chick plushies are a code to let Madame Mystique know whom to put under her spell."

"Yes…well, maybe."

"Hmm…"

Nick thought of this for a while. As Judy stopped at a red light, he spoke again.

"Something has just occurred to me."

"I'm all ears," said Judy.

"Goes without saying," said Nick mischievously.

Judy giggled and fake-elbowed him in the midriff.

"Making bunny jokes now, are we, Mr Comedic Genius?" said Judy.

"Sorry, had to be done," said Nick.

"Comedy is all about timing after all, isn't it, slick?"

"Darn straight."

The light turned green and Judy drove on.

"I was thinking maybe we can ask one of our colleagues for help," said Nick. "Wolford or Fangmeyer. We could ask them if they could volunteer to win at Old Todd's booth, go to Madame Mystique's magic show, and then wait and see if they sleepwalk or do anything suspicious."

"Do you think they'd be game?" asked Judy.

"No harm in asking," said Nick.

Judy stopped at the end of the block and parked their squad car. They got out and walked side-by-side along the sidewalk, watching the movement at either side of the street.

"Why not try it ourselves?" asked Judy after a while. "You know, get one of those baby chicks and test our hypothesis?"

"Old Todd didn't want me winning the second time I played at the booth," said Nick. "My guess is because he saw I was a cop."

"Wolford and Fangmeyer are cops, Old Todd wouldn't let them win either," said Judy.

"Only if they're in uniform," said Nick.

"In uni…aha! I see where you're heading," said Judy. "You mean ask them to pose as regular customers, in street clothes."

"Exactly," said Nick.

Judy thought of it more and traced a plan in her mind.

"This…could actually work," said Judy.

Their thoughts were interrupted, though, by a loud scream and shouting inside the store they were walking by.

"SHOP LIFTER!"

Judy and Nick stopped. They turned their heads and saw inside the window of a store that a shopkeeper was

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