outside.

Everything went the way it should. Nothing strange.

There was a small audience of mostly children and a scholarly-looking wolf inside the tent. Madame Mystique did her hypnotic trick on the wolf and made him do silly things for the kids to laugh.

Then Nick felt it again. A ringing in his ears, like a distant kettle whistling. The last time he felt it was after he walked out of Madame Mystique's tent. After he had done the juggling act.

The act was over and Nick cautiously walked away and acted natural. Nobody noticed anything out of the ordinary, all the kids were happily chattering as they exited the tent.

But Nick's ears were still ringing.

"Officer Wilde!" said a voice not far away.

Nick turned his head and saw a group of familiar faces. It was the Otterton family.

"Good morning, Officer Wilde!" said the Otterton boys.

"Good morning!" said Nick with a cordial salute. "Enjoying the fair?"

"We most certainly are!" said Mrs. Otterton.

"Say hello to Officer Hopps for us!" said Mr Emmitt Otterton.

"Will do!" said Nick. "Y'all have a good time!"

The two Otterton children waved and Nick waved back, watching as the happy family blended in with the crowd.

It was then that Nick noticed his ears weren't ringing. And he also noticed something else. He was standing next to a tent with a small circular hole in it. And a loud jolly voice could be heard coming from the tent.

"Step right up, folks! Everybody's a winner at Old Todd's Game Gallery!"

"Well, I'll be giraffe's walking stick," said Nick to himself. "Look who decided to set up shop here."

Nick peered through the hole in the tent and saw exactly what he had seen at the Bunny Burrow fair. Old Todd the boar was running his game booth as usual, and his trotter would flick a switch from time to time to turn on an electromagnet behind the targets. And the winners would take away cute-looking fluffy baby chick plush dolls.

"And I still can't imagine why he'd cheat to make the customers win," Nick said to himself.

Nick looked a little closer at the electromagnet behind the dart board and suddenly saw it move. It moved off centre, and the customer who was throwing darts missed the target entirely.

"Or lose…"

Nick watched Old Todd's trotter closely and saw that the switch under his counter moved in two directions. When he pushed it right, the customer won. When he pushed it left, the magnet moved off centre and the customer missed.

"The plot gets thicker," thought Nick. "So that's why Judy missed her shots. The magnet made her miss."

He looked back at Madame Mystique's tent. She was ushering people in and doing her routine, same as before.

"That's two suspicious things at the same carnival," thought Nick. "Is there any connection? Detective Wilde is on the case."

And Nick's ears were ringing again.

Judy had very little to eat during the day, so her appetite was excellent when the Hopps family sat down for supper that evening. There was nothing like a homemade meal to lift her spirits and fill her with hope and energy after a long day. She had spent the day going back and forth between the bank and Nana Bernardine's house, trying to find anything suspicious, any clue that could lead her on the right track. She had asked the neighbours if they had seen anything out of the ordinary. They hadn't.

"So, sweetheart," said Bonnie after the table had been cleared, bringing a mug of warm tea for Judy. "Did you find anything?"

"I'm afraid not," said Judy, sipping some tea. "But I think I have an idea, which is just an idea at this point, but might turn into something."

"Anything that could help would be welcome," said Stu.

"Nick and I have a working theory," said Judy. "One that's still in progress. We think someone made Nana Bernardine commit the crime."

"You mean someone was with her and forced her to rob the bank?" asked Bonnie.

"More or less," said Judy.

"But she'd remember, wouldn't she?"

"Yes, and there's the snag," said Judy. "And that's where Nick suggested that maybe she wasn't awake when she robbed the bank."

"Not awake?" asked Stu. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe, she was sleepwalking," said Judy. "And maybe the person with her used a hypnotic trick to make her rob the bank."

Stu and Bonnie went quiet and looked doubtful.

"It would explain how she doesn't remember anything," said Stu. "She took a nap, woke up surrounded by deputies, no memory of the crime."

"But to do everything while being asleep?" asked Bonnie. "A little farfetched, isn't it?"

"Stranger things have happened," said Judy as she took a sip of tea.

The three sat in silence thinking about it. Something was dodgy about this whole affair. Judy felt that the essential missing piece of the puzzle was somewhere between the missing money and whether or not there was someone else in the car with Nana Bernardine on that day.

The late train arrived a few minutes before midnight. Nick was standing on the platform at Central Station, watching the passengers descend.

Suddenly, he felt someone hug him tight from behind, someone small and fuzzy and warm.

"Hey you!" said Judy as she surprise-hugged Nick.

"Wha…I didn't see you get off the train," said Nick.

"I must be getting better, then," said Judy as Nick turned around and hugged her tight.

"Sly bunny," said Nick playfully.

"I learnt from the best," said Judy, planting a playful kiss on the underside of his muzzle.

They walked paw-in-paw to the escalator. There were few people around, some cafés and refreshment stands were still open.

"Come on, Carrots, I'll buy you a drink and we can talk about your trip," said Nick.

Judy accepted happily.

Meanwhile, sitting on a park bench not far from them, a panda lady was drinking tea from a thermos and seemingly waiting for someone. She didn't wait long. Someone sat down beside her, an old grizzled boar wearing a hat low over his face.

"Well?" said the panda lady.

"It worked," said the boar. "We're about to hit the jackpot."

"We have to do this carefully," said the panda. "One thing is pulling it off in a backwater town with three cops per square mile. This is a big city."

"Exactly," said the boar. "It'll be easier to hide."

"Maybe," said the panda.

"Nobody will suspect," said the boar. "We'll be gone in two weeks, cops will have their perps, case closed. Clean as a whistle."

"Maybe," said the panda. "Just don't get careless. I still think it's too early to try and hit a big target."

"Come on, Madame M, where's your spirit of adventure?" said the boar.

"Sitting right next to my spirit of caution," said the panda.

"High rewards demand high stakes," said the boar.

She said nothing, just got up and walked away.

"I can prove it," said the boar. "A test. Tomorrow night. Just to show you it'll be perfect."

The panda stopped. She turned around and looked hard at the boar.

"Alright," she said finally. "Just to make sure."

"You won't regret it," said the boar.

With those words, they both walked away in opposite directions and disappeared into the night.

Judy was telling Nick all about her trip and her encounter with Nana Bernardine as they sat at a late-night café near Central Station. The more they discussed the facts, the less sense they made.

"It doesn't add up," said Nick. "If Nana Bernardine had known you all your life, and everyone else in Bunny Burrow all her life, and everyone in a small town does know everyone else…why would she rob a bank in her own backyard?"

"Exactly," said Judy. "Everybody in that bank knew who she was, and had known her for years. She didn't bother to wear a mask or anything. And then she just goes back home to bed like nothing happened."

"It definitely sounds like she's taking the blame for someone else's crime."

"And what backs that theory is the money. Where'd it go?"

Judy told him about the missing money and how the Bunny Burrow officers had searched high and low and had not found it.

"And they searched the house?" asked Nick.

"Up and down, inside-out, and nothing," said Judy.

"The money had to be somewhere, unless…"

"Unless it wasn't for her," said Judy.

"Exactly," said Nick. "If someone was giving her orders..."

"…then that someone must have ran off with the cash," said Judy.

"Yes, but who is that mysteriously elusive someone?"

"It had to be someone outside of Bunny Burrow…someone who was there for a spell and then moved on."

"Someone like a travelling performer?" said Nick.

"Yes!" said Judy. "And it fits perfectly with the county fair."

Then they both remembered Madame Mystique.

"I kept an eye on her," said Nick. "She goes through her routine at every show. On the surface, she just looks like a regular travelling performer. I can't see how she could have placed Nana Bernardine under her spell if she was hundreds

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Next page