The Fire Triangle -- Part II, Oxidizer

The Fire Triangle: Book II - Chapter 6

Bottom line: She'd seen one of Mr. Big's polar bears fleeing the crime scene because that was who she'd WANTED to see.

Unfortunately, that was something Judy didn't dare point out to the Red Pig—not when he was already this close to the boiling point. Putting her thinking cap into overdrive, she remembered something else.

"Mr. Peccari, when I met with Mr. Big the other day he told me that Raymond has an alibi for the morning of the Flora and Fauna fire; he even checked it out, just to make sure."

That sent her host flying straight out of his chair again, not just angry but also incredulous.

"What, you expect me to believe what THE SHRIMP told you?"

"No," Judy responded coolly, "But if the evidence was there for him to find, it's there for you to find too." He only glowered at her, but that was enough; she moved quickly into the opening he'd left her. "Forgive me for stating the obvious. Mr. Peccari, but if there is a third party at work here...well, it goes without saying that they'd want you and Mr. Big to blame each other for those fires." It sounded like a pretty reasonable argument to her, but it sank like a sash-weight, almost at once.

"So...what happened?" The Red Pig scoffed, snorting loudly. "Someone just put an ad on Stagslist, 'Firebugs wanted, must be stinkin' polar bears?' Gimme a break awready!"

Judy blinked like a semaphore and stifled a groan. Put that way, it did sound absurd; if the animals that burned down Flora and Fauna hadn't been with Mr. Big, then where the heck HAD they come from? Even James 'The Mister' McCrodon couldn't have rounded up a pair of polar bear arsonists on such short notice.

On the other paw...

"That may be, Mr. Peccari, but the fact remains that the vast majority of polar bears living here in Zootopia have nothing to do with either Mr. Big or the Tundratown Mob. In any event, doesn't it behoove you to at least check Raymond's alibi for yourself? As I pointed out earlier, you have nothing to lose...by that or by agreeing to a cease fire. Time is on your side, remember? And whatever else you may think of Mr. Big, you know you can trust him to keep his word."

"Like HECK I can!" the Red Pig squealed, slamming a fist on the table beside him, and sending his drinking glass tumbling to the deck. This time his words carried more bitterness than anything else. "If the Shrimp can't be trusted even to follow the law of Omerta, then as far as I'm concerned, he can't be trusted, period!"

"Since when have you ever cared for the rules of Cosa Nostra?" Judy shot back, snappishly. Oops, now SHE was the one letting her anger off the leash. But dangit if this animal wasn't the most—all right, the most pigheaded individual she'd ever encountered. "Aren't YOU the one who's always saying those rules are a waste of time?"

"Not THAT one!" Peccari practically exploded out of his chair, voice rising from beyond a scream to nearly a roar. But then, surprisingly, he sat himself down again, speaking in a firm but quiet tone. "Okay, yeah, that ring-kissing, Don-whatever, pride-and-honor stuff is way past its expiration date—I'll give ya that—but NOT the rule of Omerta. That one never goes outta style; without it, there would be no Cosa Nostra. Mr. Big woulda said the same thing to you once." His face darkened and he turned and spat, "before that punk son-in-law of his gave up my jewelry store to the coppers." He seemed to have forgotten there was a police officer sitting opposite him.

No, that wasn't quite true, Judy decided. Fru-Fru might have forgotten it, the last time they'd talked, but the Red Pig simply didn't care.

And now they had traced the river of acrimony to its headwaters. But that was fine with Judy; she was ready for this, (she hoped.)

"Mr. Peccari...WAS that rule broken? Doesn't it apply only if you knowingly give up a mob-connected individual or business? Tad had no idea you were involved with the Rafaj Brothers when he bought that ring."