~Judy~

"I can't believe she'd do this!" Nick screeched while pacing around the room. "How could she risk her life going out there for a stupid rabbit she met a few days ago! What makes him so important that she'd believe him over me!?"

Judy was sitting down on the bed listening to him rant and querying the same thing.

Casey had known Jack for only a few days, how could they get this close this fast? However, she did acknowledge how she and Nick had been through a similar situation, heck they trusted each other faster than Casey did with Jack. But it still seemed fishy to her. Would Casey really get this upset over the simplest thing?

"I don't get it! Where did I go wrong? All I've ever wanted is for her to be safe but no matter how hard I tried, she still didn't listen to me!"

"Why don't you go after her then? Maybe we can still talk some sense into her."

"Go after her? No way! I tried my best to help her! If she wants to risk her life after some dumb goose-chase, she can be my guest! I'm not gonna protect her from something she caused!" he sat down next to her. He seemed unhappy but was trying to hide it with his rage. Judy, however, was able to catch on to him.

"Nick...You're want to do it, don't you? You want to go to her."

He stayed silent.

Neither said a word for a while. Judy took the time to think about things even more. She kept thinking of how sure Casey was, of how positive she was about Jack being innocent.

Casey isn't stupid...What if she's on to something?

Judy had that weird feeling. The feeling that something was wrong. That she was missing a key detail in this case. But what could it be? The criminals could be lying but why would it be someone that specific. Why'd it had to be Jack?

"Judy...I don't know what to do anymore." the fox said, his tone seemed more exhausted than bitter like before. "I want to protect her. I want to be there for her like she's always been there for me but...I think I just ended up hurting her more than helping her. I never meant to make her feel this bad."

"I know, Nick. I've had my own past experiences with hurting my siblings' feelings when I was only trying to protect them. Sometimes I was right but sometimes I was actually wrong..."

The fox looked confused, probably as to why she'd bring up that point of her being wrong.

"I-I'm just saying...maybe we should rethink all of this. What if she actually has a reason other than emotions?"

"Are you seriously siding with her on this?"

"What? No! I'm not siding with either of you. I'm just saying, I've actually been in both situations before. I've had some of my siblings tell me when I did something wrong and while sometimes they were right, other times they were wrong. What if Casey's right here."

"...That's still siding..." Nick sighed, sarcastic at Judy's point.

"Nick, think about it. Casey knows Jack better than either of us. They spent so much time alone so obviously they would've talked to each other. The two of us haven't exchanged more than what? Ten words with him? If anyone knows Jack, it'd be Casey. She even explained her points. The both of us are thinking like the criminals: Jack liking carrots and gardening makes sense since what kind of bunny wouldn't be interested in those things? But if Jack really is different, the only one out of the three of us who'd know that would be Casey."

"Are you even listening to yourself, Judy? How can a bunny hate carrots!? It's ridiculous!"

Judy sighed at his stubbornness. "Nick, if Casey's right then she's also right about the real criminal roaming around free. All the lives this one hotel took in the name of a ghost...All those mammals and their families would never find justice..."

"I can't believe it! You're seriously taking sides with her on this? Of course, since Nick always has to be the bad guy!"

The grey bunny was about to say something but a soft sound had stopped her.

Her ear twitched as she started looking in that direction. Nick started talking again.

"Neither of you believe me! I'm not trying to be the villain but you guys are making it seem that way-"

"Nick, stop talking." she cut him off. The sound was louder. It seemed closer.

"What? No, I will not stop talking! Just because you can't argue doesn't me-"

"Seriously, stop talking! I hear something..."

She saw Nick's ear twitch, too. The sound was close enough for him to hear, too.

A soft, high pitched voice whispered.

"Hello..."

The lights were off and it was too dark to see anything. But they saw a figure, close to them now. It seemed familiar.

A grey pony, black hair on the front of her face. She was wearing a white dress with blood stains on it. Then it hit her.

She's that pony...the ghost pony...

"Recognize me?" she kept walking closer and closer to them.

Both of them were frozen in place. Something kept them from fighting or running. Fear? Maybe an instinct?

The pony was dangerously close. Her hooves stook out. But they weren't hooves at all. More like spiny paws resembling claws.

What? How can she have paws as a pony...

Suddenly there was a loud thump behind her. The ghost froze. She started to...glitch. One time she dropped to the floor but a second later she was back up standing. Her voice flipped from screaming high pitched to low pitch. It was rather odd.

When she was glitching on the ground, a cub was standing behind her, a bat in hand.

He took something from her and pressed it. The glitching stopped. The pony was on the ground, unconscious. She looked different. She was a tan pony with gold hair and was wearing a white t-shirt and red pants.

How did that happen???

"Thomas? What are you doing here?" Nick asked in confusion. "And what demon from the seventh layer of hell did my eyes just witness?"

"You two are cops, aren't you?"

Judy's jaw dropped. "H-how did you know?"

Judy and Nick had disguised themselves before coming here, especially Judy. The two not only had changed names, but Nick dyed the tip of his tail white and wore dark green contacts while Judy had dyed her fur a honey yellow and wore blue contacts. They were unrecognizable. How did this one cub know?

"I overheard you two talking that day when I first talked to you. I need to tell you something."

The both of them let the cub continue.

"I...I know who the real criminal is. They're not whom you think they are. It's not that other bunny. It's...um..."

"Who?" the bunny asked softly, trying to not scare the small cub.

Thomas sighed. "Clarisse..."

"WHAT!?" Nick screeched. "How!? Why!?"

"I don't know. She never told me. I just heard her plan everything once. She caught me and told me if I don't help her and tell anyone, she'll kill my dad. So...I-I got scared. I just obeyed. But I'm done being a coward. I saw that fox. How upset she was over this. The guilt was too much for me to handle. I don't want to be the reason families and friendships broke. I want to help now."

"How did this pony do that...that thing, though?" the bunny questioned.

"It was this chip." He held out a small circular disk. "This was clipped to her shirt. It gave off high pitch sounds to mess with your minds and cause you to hallucinate. She probably didn't look the way she did before I turned this off. She would have murdered you tonight if I didn't knock her out. She's a friend of Clarisse."

"I should've known!" Judy growled. "She even likes carrots and has a passion for gardening! How could I forget!? IT WAS RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE!"

"Wait...If Clarisse is still roaming free and Casey was right about Jack, that means..." his face went pale as he looked over to Judy.

"CASEY'S IN DANGER!" they both said in sync

Instantly, Judy whipped out her phone and opened the app that Casey was being tracked on. She showed it to the cub.

"Thomas, do you know where this is?"

"Yes, it's where Clarisse is right now with all her assistants. I can get you there and guide you through it."

The three had left while Nick told Bogo what happened and asked for backup at the location.

Author: YEP update is HEEEEEEEEERE! Yeet did u guys see the hint? I actually made this one small detail really important. Clarisse likes carrots and gardening while Jack doesn't. Tbh I'm proud of my improvement in writing mystery :V Yeah this still isn't the best but it's much better than the last one. Anywho hoped ya enjoyed the chapter I got like one more left and this case is finished. After that, we can focus more on Jacey cuz of the chapters about normal life xddd Author out! *dabs*