out of prison, my men are going to pick you up and you're going to come over and pay me a little visit, Dukey. And believe me…it won't be as pleasant as it was the last time you were here."

Duke swallowed hard.

"Word of advice: grow a nice thick winter coat while you're in the slammer, because things are going to get nice and frosty when I'm through with you," said Mr Big with relish. "And then there's choice number two. You tell them everything they need to know, they close the case, and you spend the rest of your sentence in prison knowing that you did the right thing, and thus avoid a great deal of discomfort."

Duke looked at Judy, then at Nick. Both their faces were stern and unmoved.

"I'm making you an offer you can't refuse," said Mr Big. "Ciao."

And he hung up.

"Okay…okay…I'll spill the beans," said Duke, shaking like a gelatine cube.

Judy held up her carrot pen to take the confession.

"Start talking," she said, pressing the RECORD button.

"…and so I sold them to Todd. He gave me big bucks for 'em. I didn't ask any questions."

Chief Bogo listened to the recording with his eyes wide.

"I don't know how you do it, Hopps," said Bogo. "But this is our golden ticket."

Then came a knocking on his office door.

"Come in," said Bogo.

Judy, sitting on the chair in front of Bogo's desk, turned around to see Clawhauser walk into the office.

"The results for the van identification came back," said Clawhauser. "It was purchased by one Todd H. Boaringer two years ago, in an auction. We looked into Boaringer. His list of offences is two pages long. Known accomplices: Pandaki Kumamoto, known by her carnival name Madame Mystique, fortune teller and magician. Her list of offences is almost as long as Boaringer's."

"That will do, Clawhauser. We've got them," said Bogo. "Well done Hopps. I want everyone in the briefing room immediately."

There was another knock on the door.

"Come in," said Bogo.

It was Nick, and he had someone with him: Garth O' Possum.

"Greetings and salutations, Chief!" said Garth. "I got a little something you'd like to see."

Garth held up the chirping mechanism and a sheet of paper. It was the schematics with details about the parts and their functions.

"Um…who might you be?" asked Bogo.

"Garth O' Possum, mechanical genius and computer operator extraordinaire, and recently Junior ZPD Officer," said Garth, showing Bogo his sticker badge on his shirt. "On this sheet of paper is everything you need to know about the devices that the perpetrators used to control their victims and coerce them into committing crimes on their behalf, thus taking the blame and leaving the real criminals out of the spotlight."

Bogo took the paper and read it. Nick, Judy, Clawhauser and Garth all waited for him.

"This…is incredible," said Bogo. "Briefing room. Everyone. At once."

Bogo stood at the podium in the briefing room. For once, everyone was silent and eager to listen.

"Alright everyone! We have our perpetrators! Dim the lights, Higgins."

Higgins did, and Bogo switched on the projector, showing the pictures of Old Todd and Madame Mystique, along with their long list of crimes.

"I want two teams!" said Bogo, showing them an aerial view of the carnival. "Team One will be at the entrance of the carnival, making sure they don't run away. Team Two will move in and arrest them. There will be people at the carnival, we don't have time to clear the area. I want everyone to exercise caution and good judgement. All canine officers must wear earplugs; the perpetrators use a sonic device that can affect officers with hearing ranges in the upper ten thousands. Your positions…"

Everyone listened, got their assignments and rushed to their squad cars. Bogo himself would go and oversee the operation.

"Hey, Chief!" said a voice in the back. It was Garth.

Bogo was surprised to see him. He hadn't noticed the opossum walking into the briefing room, but he didn't have time to say anything.

"This is a tracking device I whipped up," said Garth, giving Bogo a small gadget with a screen and some knobs. "It can detect where the radio signals sent to the baby chick dolls are coming from."

"I see," said Bogo, holding the tiny device in his massive hoof. "Perhaps one of our…er…less corpulent officers can operate this device. Hopps…"

"I'm on it, Chief!" said Judy as she jumped onto a desk and took the device from Bogo.

"Okay, then. Let's get moving."

Judy and Nick drove through town with Clawhauser in the backseat, heading towards the city exit.

"All this tension is making me hungry," said Clawhauser.

"You don't say?" said Nick, grinning and looking sideways at Judy, who struggled not to chuckle.

"Hopps. Can you please stop over there for a minute?" said Clawhauser, pointing at a doughnut shop.

"Clawhauser, we're on our way to make an arrest," said Judy.

"It'll only take a minute," said Clawhauser.

"Grrr…alright. Make it quick," said Judy, slowing down and stopping the squad car in front of the doughnut shop. "If you drop any crumbs in our squad car, I expect you to clean them up."

"Don't worry, I can be very tidy," said Clawhauser, opening the door.

"Emphasis on 'can'," Judy muttered under her breath.

"Hey! Look over there!" said Nick, pointing at something farther down the block.

Judy looked and saw that it was the Mystic Springs Oasis, a naturalist club where she and Nick had had to go into ten months ago during their investigation of the missing mammals.

"Oh cripes," said Judy, rolling her eyes. "Don't remind me..."

"Oh! The Mystic Springs Oasis," said Clawhauser smiling. "I haven't been there in a while."

He got out of the car and walked to the doughnut shop.

Judy and Nick sat looking into empty space, processing what Clawhauser had just said, their eyes wide.

"My mind just went to a place I hope it will never go to again for as long as I live," said Judy.

"Mine too," said Nick. "And now I need mind bleach."

They looked at each other and shuddered.

The fairgoers noticed the heavy police presence. Four squad cars were parked at the entrance of the carnival, and three more were parked a short distance from the road beyond.

Judy switched on the tracking device that Garth had made, and she and Nick followed the beeps, with Officers Higgins and Anderson behind them. Then they spotted it.

"Jackpot," said Judy, pointing at the brown van with Granny Mae's Flower Boutique painted on the side. "Ten to one the money is in the van."

Higgins brought a wheel clamp and locked it securely on the front wheel. Then Anderson forced the lock and opened the back. Sure enough...

"Holy fifteen-buck-van-with-fifty-thousand-worth-of-equipment!" said Nick.

The inside was decked with electronics. A box of baby chick plush dolls stood in the corner, and some toy cars in a bag.

"Looks like the carnival is over for the gruesome twosome," said Judy triumphantly.

Chief Bogo marched through the crowd, heading straight to Old Todd's booth. He saw the boar going about his shtick as usual.

"Step right up, folks! Try your luck, only for a buck! Hit the target...oh, good day, Officer!"

"Good morning," said Chief Bogo as he stood in front of the booth and rested his elbow on the counter. "How's business going?"

"As good as one can hope," said Old Todd. "Gotta make a living somehow."

"Yes, and from the looks of it, you are making quite a tidy profit for a carnival booth owner, aren't you, Mr Boaringer?" said Bogo, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Ermm...come again?"

"Does the number eighty thousand and six hundred sound familiar to you?" whispered Bogo.

Old Todd's face went pale. Bogo knew that he had shaken the old boar. Eighty thousand and six hundred was the exact amount of money that was stolen from the Lemming Brothers Bank.

"Umm...er...who...I mean...how did you..." stammered Old Todd.

"Oh, a little baby chick chirped it to me," said Bogo triumphantly.

Old Todd edged backwards into his tent.

"Um...er...I don't think...um..."

"Todd Boaringer, you are under arrest..." started Bogo, but suddenly, the boar shot out of the tent by the side-flap and made a run for it.

Bogo ran after him.

"ALL UNITS!" said Bogo into his radio. "HE'S RUNNING EAST, TOWARDS THE FERRIS WHEEL!"

Old Todd charged through a funnel cake stand and raced towards Madame Mystique's tent. He burst into the tent, finding her on the stage performing her flower magic trick.

"The game's over, Pandaki! Let's split!"

Madame Mystique jumped off the stage and ran towards the entrance of the tent, followed by Old Todd. Her audiences looked confused, wondering what was happening.

"I'll distract them," said Madame Mystique and pulled a smoke bomb out of her garment.

She threw the smoke bomb into the crowd and it exploded in a puff. Loud screams and commotion ensued, giving the two perpetrators a good diversion.

"The van!" said Old Todd. "It's in the parking

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