Zootopia: Secrets And Deception

Chapter 18. A Discovery

They drove down to the ZPD and checked in, Nick was greeted by fellow officers who were grateful to have him back. Grabbing some empty case files, some evidence bags, and gloves before heading out towards Mr. Bigs' house in Tundra Town.
"What do you think was so urgent that he needed you right away?" Nick asked as he put on his shades, and looked through his phone.
"I don't know, Nick. But whatever it is, it doesn't sound good." Judy replied as they passed beneath the climate control walls. After a few minutes, they pulled up to the front of the manor and were accompanied by his men. They were escorted into a room, where he was waiting for them.
"Hello, Judy and Nick. How are you doing?" he asked them as he sat down in his chair, appearing to be pacing.
"I am fine, thank you. How are you?" they replied, while chairs were brought in for them to be seated.
"Just the same." He answered, while still looking troubled.
"Mr. Big. What was so urgent that made you call Judy this morning?" Nick asked politely.
"Late last night, two of my men were out patrolling near the small stream behind this manor, when one of them almost tripped over something, which was buried in the snow." He began to explain, but paused.
"What did he trip over?" she asked curiously.
"This." He replied and signaled them to bring it in. they brought in a large black bag, and set it on the floor in between Judy and Mr. Big, before unzipping it. Judy and Nick looked with grim expressions on their faces, for what was laying in the bag was the body of one of the missing mammals!
"What happened to him?" Judy asked while being puzzled at this.
"I have no clue as to what happened to him, but I had my coroner's check it out. They found that there is a barcode on his left wrist, five digit numbers inside his right eye lens, and six digits in his left. While there appears to be a....." he stopped suddenly, making them look up at him. "A branding." He said with fear in his voice.
"Mr. Big, what has made you this frightened?" Judy asked with some concern.
"The branding is what I am frightened about. It is of the Serpents Head, and is the mark of the greatest and most powerful group of animals, than any other species combined. They used to be protectors of the helpless and week, and their symbol used to represent courage, strength, unity and protection. There used to be nine of them, but one of them killed three of them, and influenced two others to join the new Serpent's Head. Now that mark represents fear, destruction, suffering and death. None was safe from their wrath of this new Serpents Head, and none could escape from them either. There are only a few that know what happened in the past. I don't think that they can be stopped, but if there is some hope left for them to be, it could be you." After he had finished, he motioned his top body guard to hand them something wrapped and bound in leather. She unwound it, revealing a book in a completely different language.
"What is this for?" she asked, being confused.
"This language is in Serpentine, meaning 'only those of cold blood can read it, but there are some that can read this." Mr. Big replied, as he sat down in his chair and they talked for a while longer.

Once they said their goodbyes, they took the object book in leather home, and the body to the coroners to see which one of the missing mammals he once was.
"What do you think about all this, carrots?" Nick asked as they pulled into the parking lot at the ZPD.
"I don't know, but I think that Jeremiah could either be the leader of this new Serpents Head, or works for someone who is." Judy replied, knowing it was too soon to tell. Only when time begins to unravel when they will see the truth.

Nick and Judy went through all the files and documents of the others that are missing, and were able to identify the one found dead, his name is Matthew WrothHorn. He leaves behind a son, a daughter, and a lovely wife named Sarah, who were all of them destroyed when the children heard that their daddy, won't be coming home. His wife was later questioned about the time of his sudden disappearance, and the tattoo on his wrist. Sarah WrothHorn answered every question the best she could, and told them that Matthew never had a tattoo, even on the day he went missing. While she was being questioned, Judy and Nick were called to the morgue where the coroner's have finished examining the body.
"How are you doing, Freddy?" Nick asked the head coroner.
"I'm doing just fine, thank you. How are you doing?" he replied as he put on a different pair of gloves. Freddy Quillson, the head coroner at the ZPD and good friend to both Nick and Judy, was a brilliant scientist in both biology, and computer science. But also had OCD tendencies to always change out his gloves numerous times throughout the day, and he always carried around hand wipes and tissues.
"So, have you found anything else on Matthew besides the tattoo, the Numbers, and the branding?" Nick asked curiously.
"As a matter of fact, I did. Our victim has numerous scars and bruises all over his chest, arms, and legs. He also has puncture marks on both his left arm, and his spine." He elaborated, while Judy and Nick put on rubber gloves so they could look at these marks. "I took the liberty of running both the numbers and the barcode. While the numbers mean nothing, the barcode however, once scanned took me straight to a blocked system in the dark net, and was later locked out when trying to hack into it." He said as he got back on the computer and put in some information about their victim.
"What are the numbers?" Judy asked curiously.
"They are 54552 and 255450, but the weird thing is that the tools you need to do this type of work on the eye lens itself, are very difficult.....impossible even, to acquire and are very hard to write that small. They are still able to see out of the lens without any blurriness, or seeing disabilities." He said and moved the large table microscope away from the eye of the victims head.
"What was the cause of death to him?" Nick then asked as he picked up the chart that had the number sequences written on it.
"It's the most peculiar death that I have seen so far. He was first crushed from what appears to be a circular motion around his entire body, resulting in his spinal column dislocating and breaking in numerous places. All of his ribs breaking and shattering, resulting in punctures in his muscles, lungs, and heart. And finally, blood loss.....extreme blood loss, which is probably caused from his bones puncturing every inch inside of his chest. He probably choked on his own screams of pain and blood before he died." Freddy said as he read from the examiners chart while writing the time of death, and had the most puzzling expression on his face while he did so.
"What could have done this to him?" Judy asked, while looking at the collapsed area where there should be ribs, but felt like pudding had been replaced, and made her feel sick. Both Nick and Judy had seen pretty gruesome stuff while on duty, but nothing like this.
"It's hard to say. Something like this has to be very powerful and strong to break almost every bone in his body, but would also have to be big and heavy to move." He answered while he changed his gloves out again.
"You would think that it would be very hard to move around, and would draw some unwanted attention?" Nick stated as he crossed his arms, and grabbed his chin while he thought.
"You would think, but I don't know if there is machines out there that can accomplish or are capable of something like this." Freddy added, and sat down in his chair in front of his computer.

Once they were done talking with Freddy, they left the morgue and went to clock out. The day had grown into night, and they were pretty tired from these events, but they still felt uneasy about this. As they drove home, nothing was said, stated, of asked of or about this case to either of them, just a quiet drive back home. They were perplexed and thought about everything that has happened this past week, and had even more questions than answers in their heads, but all they could do is hope that the other missing don't end up like Matthew.