The next day, Judy was back to ticketing cars parked at expired meters. She plunked a ticket down, and a moose yelled at her: "I was thirty seconds over!"

 

As another meter dinged, Judy scribbled¹ the ticket and placed it on a tiny windshield.

 

"You're a real hero, lady!" yelled an angry mouse.

 

Ding! Judy wrote out a third ticket, which a hippo picked up. Her small child looked at Judy and said, "My mommy says she wishes you were dead."

 

An angry driver shouted, "Uncool, rabbit. My tax dollars pay your salary."

 

Later, Judy got into her cart and turned the key. But the engine wouldn't start. She banged her head against the steering² wheel, making the horn honk³.

 

"I am a real cop," she muttered weakly. "I am a real cop. I am a real cop..."

 

"Hey hey!" called a frantic⁴ pig, running toward her.

 

The pig pounded on her cart window. "You! Bunny!"

 

"Sir, if you have a grievance⁵, you may contest your citation⁶ in—" she responded mechanically.

 

"What're you talking about?" shouted the pig. "My shop! It just got robbed! Look, he's getting away! Well! Are you a cop or not?"

 

"Oh, yes," said Judy, snapping out of it. "Don't worry, sir. I got this!"

 

She spotted⁷ a weasel running down the street, carrying a bag of stolen goods and jumped out of her cart.

 

"Stop!" she yelled, chasing the thief. "Stop in the name of the law!"

 

"Catch me if you can, cottontail!" shouted the weasel.

 

McHorn screeched⁸ up in his patrol car. "This is Officer McHorn. We've got a 10-31," the rhinoceros⁹ said into his radio.

 

Judy slid right across McHorn's hood¹⁰ as she ripped off her vest and hat and shouted, "I got dibs! Officer Hopps. I am in pursuit!"

 

She chased the weasel through Savanna¹¹ Central, dodging¹² giant elephants along the way.

 

Then the weasel ducked into the tiny community of Little Rodentia. The large cops, who had joined in the chase, couldn't fit through the gate, but Judy was small enough to follow the weasel in.

 

"You!" she yelled forcefully. "Freeze!"

 

"Hey, meter maid! Wait for the real cops!" called McHorn.

 

Little Rodentia was packed with tiny rodents¹³, and Judy and the weasel looked like giants pounding down its small streets.

 

A mouse school bus swerved¹⁴ to avoid the weasel and flew skyward. Judy caught it in mid-air, preventing a disaster. The mice inside cheered as she gently placed the bus on the ground. Judy watched the weasel jump off the top of a mouse building, tipping it over. She struggled to protect each and every building the weasel knocked into. Then he leapt on top of a moving mouse train!

 

"Bon voyage, flatfoot!" said the weasel with a chuckle¹⁵, riding the train away.

 

But Judy wasn't about to give up. She ran even faster, until she was able to push him off the train. Rodents screamed and ran as Judy and the weasel came barreling through their midst.

 

"Hey!" she yelled. "Stop right there!"

 

"Have a donut, copper¹⁶!" the weasel said with a laugh as he yanked a huge donut sign from the front of a shop. He flung it at Judy, but it missed and bounced toward some shrews coming out of Mousy's department store.

 

"Ohmygawd, did you see those leopard-print jeggings?" said a fashionable shrew to her friends. She turned to see the donut bouncing toward her and screamed in terror. "Aaaaaaaaaaagh!"

 

A second before it crushed the shrew, Judy moved in front of the donut and caught it in her arms. Then she turned to the shrew and said, "I love your hair."

 

"Awww...thank you," said the shrew gratefully.

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Judy noticed that the weasel was about to get away. She threw the giant donut over his head and around his body, trapping him inside. The weasel was stuck!

 

It wasn't long before the weasel, still inside the donut, rolled through the front door of the ZPD lobby and hit Clawhauser's desk.

 

"I popped the weasel!" Judy exclaimed.

 

Chief Bogo yelled from the other room: "HOPPS!"

 

Like a kid in the principal's office, Judy sat on a giant chair in front of Chief Bogo as he reviewed the report in front of him.

 

"Abandoning your post, inciting¹⁷ a scurry¹⁸, reckless endangerment of rodents...but to be fair, you did stop a master criminal from stealing two dozen...um, let's see...moldy¹⁹ onions." Bogo looked straight at the bag on his desk that Judy had confiscated²⁰ from the crook²¹ she had stopped—Duke Weaselton.

 

"Hate to disagree with you, sir, but those aren't onions," Judy replied. "Those are a crocus varietal called Midnicampum holicithias. They're a class C botanical, sir. I grew up in a family where plant husbandry was kind of a thing."

 

"Shut your tiny mouth, now," said Bogo.

 

"Sir, I got the bad guy. That's my job."

 

"Your job is putting tickets on parked cars."

 

Bogo's intercom clicked as Clawhauser's voice came through. "Chief, uh, Mrs. Otterton's here to see you again."

 

"Not now," answered Bogo.

 

"Okay, I just didn't know if you wanted to take it this time—" said Clawhauser.

 

"Not now!"

 

Judy said, "Sir, I don't want to be a meter maid. I want to be a—"

 

"Do you think the mayor asked what I wanted before he assigned you to me?" Bogo interrupted her.

 

"But, sir—"

 

"Life isn't some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and your insipid²³ dreams magically come true. So let it go."

 

Just then a female otter²², Mrs. Otterton, barged in with Clawhauser trailing behind, wheezing²⁴.

 

"Chief Bogo, please, just five minutes of your time," pleaded Mrs. Otterton.

 

"I'm sorry, sir, I tried to stop her; she is super slippery. I gotta go sit down," said Clawhauser, panting.

 

"Ma'am, as I've told you, we are doing everything we can," said Bogo.

 

"My husband has been missing for ten days," said Mrs. Otterton. "His name is Emmitt Otterton." She held up a family photo.

 

"Yes, I know," said Bogo.

 

"He's a florist," she added. "We have two beautiful children. He would never just disappear."

 

"Ma'am, our detectives are very busy."

 

"Please. There's got to be somebody to find my Emmitt."

 

Bogo tried to calm Mrs. Otterton down, but nothing worked. She kept going on about her concern over Mr. Otterton's disappearance²⁵.

 

"I will find him," said Judy.

 

Bogo looked at Judy as if he was about to explode. He watched as Mrs. Otterton hugged Judy tightly.

 

"Bless you, bless you, little bunny!" she said, relieved. "You find my Emmitt and bring him home to me and my babies, please."

 

Bogo grunted²⁶ and ushered²⁷ Mrs. Otterton back outside. "Mrs. Otterton? Please wait out here."

 

Bogo closed the door and turned to Judy, furious. "You're fired."

 

"What? Why?" she asked.

 

"Insubordination. Now, I'm going to open this door, and you are going to tell that otter you're a former meter maid with delusions²⁸ of grandeur²⁹ who will not be taking the case."

 

Bogo opened the door and there was Assistant Mayor Bellwether³⁰, hugging Mrs. Otterton.

 

"I just heard Officer Hopps is taking the case!" said Bellwether happily. Bellwether pulled out her phone and began texting. "The Mammal Inclusion Initiative is really paying off! Mayor Lionheart is just going to be so jazzed!"

 

"Let's not tell the mayor just yet—" said Bogo.

 

"And I sent it, and it's done, so I did do that," interrupted Bellwether. "Well, I'd say the case is in good hands!" Bellwether smiled at Judy. "We little guys really need to stick together! Right?"

 

"Like glue!" Judy responded.

 

"Good one," Bellwether said. "Just call me if you ever need anything. You've always got a friend at city hall, Judy. All right, bye bye!"

 

"Thank you, ma'am," Judy said.

 

Bogo forced a smile and closed the door. He turned to Judy, even angrier than before. "I will give you forty-eight hours," he said.

 

"YES!" cried Judy.

 

"That's two days to find Emmitt Otterton."

 

"Okay."

 

"But you strike out, you resign."

 

Judy couldn't believe what he was suggesting. "Oh, uh...," She thought for a moment and then nodded. "Okay...deal," she said.

 

"Splendid. Clawhauser will give you the complete case file," Bogo said.

 

Excited, Judy rushed out to the front desk to retrieve³¹ the case file. "Here you go!" sang Clawhauser, handing her the file. "One missing otter!"

 

Judy opened the folder³² and her jaw³³ dropped. Inside was a single piece of paper. "That's it?" she said in disbelief.

 

"Yikes! That is the smallest case file I've ever seen! Leads: none. Witnesses: none. And you're not in the computer system yet, so resources: none." Clawhauser chuckled³⁴. "I hope you didn't stake your career on cracking this one," he said, smiling.

 

Judy didn't smile back. Clawhauser took a bite of his donut and crumbs³⁵ landed on the picture inside the file.

 

"Last known sighting...," she said, looking at the photo under Clawhauser's donut crumbs. The picture was from a traffic camera and showed Mr. Otterton on the street. Judy blew the crumbs off and noticed something about the picture. She squinted³⁶. Still unable to see, she looked around. "Let me borrow that." She grabbed Clawhauser's empty soda³⁷ bottle. She looked through it, using the glass at the bottom to magnify the image. Now she could see Mr. Otterton holding a frozen treat. She examined it and said thoughtfully, "Pawpsicle."

 

"The murder weapon!" Clawhauser said, nodding.

 

"Get your pawpsicle...," Judy said, thinking back to the incident with Nick.

 

"Yeah, because...What does that mean?" asked Clawhauser.

 

"It means I...have a lead." She headed out, leaving Clawhauser sitting at his desk, confused.

 

第二天，朱迪又去给超时停泊的车子开罚单。她刚撕下一张罚单，一头麋鹿就冲着她大喊大叫：“我只超时30秒!”

 

随着又一只计时器叮的一声响起，朱迪匆忙开好罚单，把它放在一块小小的挡风玻璃上。

 

“你可真了不起，女士!”一只气愤的老鼠大嚷道。

 

叮!朱迪开出了第三张罚单，一头河马拿了起来。她幼小的孩子盯着朱迪看了看，紧接着说道：“我妈咪说她希望你死掉。”

 

一位愤怒的司机喊道：“真不厚道，兔子。你的工资都是从我的税里出的。”

 

稍后，朱迪坐进巡逻车，转动车钥匙。但是发动机却启动不了。她用头砰砰地撞击方向盘，使得喇叭鸣叫不停。

 

“我是名副其实的警察，”她无力地咕哝道，“我是名副其实的警察，我是名副其实的警察……”

 

“喂喂!”一头气急败坏的猪大声喊着向她跑过来。

 

那头猪砰砰地敲打着她的车窗玻璃。“你!兔子!”

 

“先生，如果您有什么不满，可以对罚单提出异议——”她机械地回答道。

 

“你在说什么?”那头猪大叫道，“我的商店!刚刚被盗了!看，他想逃跑!喂!你到底是不是警察?”

 

“哦，是的，”朱迪说着，打起了精神，“别担心，先生。我来处理!”

 

她发现一只鼬鼠正拖着一袋偷来的东西沿街逃跑，便马上从车上跳了下来。

 

“站住!”她一边大叫着，一边追逐着那名小偷，“以法律的名义，站住!”

 

“有本事来抓我呀，棉尾兔!”那只鼬鼠大喊道。

 

麦大角开着他的巡逻车嘎吱一声过来了。“我是麦大角警官。发生了代号为10-31的案件。”那头犀牛对着无线电说道。

 

朱迪一把扯掉马甲，脱下帽子，一下子从麦大角的车子引擎盖上翻跃了过去，大声喊道：“我捷足先登了!是霍普斯警官。我在追捕!”

 

她一路追逐鼬鼠，穿过热带草原中部区，沿途还躲过了巨大的象群。

 

就在这时，那只鼬鼠一弯腰躲进了一个极小的社区——小型啮齿动物镇。身形高大的警察加入了追捕的队伍中，却无法从门口穿过，但是朱迪小小的身体正好可以尾随鼬鼠进去。

 

“你!”她坚定地喊道，“不许动!”

 

“喂，处理违章停车的女交警!等真正的警察过来吧!”麦大角叫嚷道。

 

小型啮齿动物镇里挤满了丁点儿大的老鼠，而朱迪和鼬鼠看上去像是巨人，正沿着狭小的街道咚咚地前行。

 

一辆老鼠校车为了躲避鼬鼠，突然急转弯，飞向了空中。朱迪从半空中接住这辆校车，避免了一场灾难。她将校车轻轻地放到路面上时，车里的老鼠欢呼起来。朱迪看到鼬鼠从一座老鼠大楼的顶端跃了过去，撞得大楼摇摇欲坠。她竭尽全力去保护每一座鼬鼠触撞过的大楼。紧接着，鼬鼠跳上了一列正在行驶的老鼠火车的车顶。

 

“一路平安，平足警官!”那只鼬鼠乘火车离去时窃笑着说道。

 

但是朱迪并没有放弃。她越跑越快，直至赶上火车，把那只鼬鼠拖了下来。朱迪和鼬鼠从一群老鼠中间飞奔而过，把他们吓得惊叫着四下逃窜。

 

“喂!”她大叫道，“马上站住!”

 

“吃个甜甜圈吧，警官!”那只鼬鼠猛地拉了一下一家商店门面上巨大的甜甜圈标志，大笑着说道。他将甜甜圈标志朝朱迪扔去，但是没有砸中，甜甜圈弹跳着朝着正从穆西服装店出来的一群鼩鼱滚去。

 

“哦，天哪，你们看到那些豹纹紧身裤了吗?”一位时尚的鼩鼱对她的朋友们说道。她转过头发现弹跳着朝她滚过来的甜甜圈，吓得尖声惊叫：“啊——”

 

眼看甜甜圈就要碾压到那只鼩鼱，朱迪抬腿移到甜甜圈前方，一把将它抱起。这时，她扭头对鼩鼱说道：“我喜欢你的发型。”

 

“哦……谢谢你。”鼩鼱感激地说道。

 

朱迪用眼角的余光注意到鼬鼠想要逃跑。她将那个巨大的甜甜圈抛向鼬鼠头顶，套住了他的身体，把他困在里面。鼬鼠被卡住了!

 

很快，还卡在甜甜圈里的鼬鼠就从动物城警察局大厅的大门口滚了进去，撞在了克劳豪瑟的办公桌上。

 

“我抓住了鼬鼠!”朱迪高兴地叫道。

 

牛局长从另一个房间里大声吼道：“霍普斯!”

 

就在牛局长审核面前的报告时，朱迪就像校长办公室里的犯错的小孩，坐在局长对面的巨大座椅里。

 

“擅离职守，鲁莽行动，危害鼠类……不过，说句公道话，你确实阻止了一名要犯偷盗两打……呃，让我看看……发霉的洋葱。”牛局长直直地望着办公桌上的袋子，那是朱迪从她刚刚拦截的小偷威斯顿公爵那里没收的。

 

“很抱歉我不能苟同，长官，只是那并不是洋葱。”朱迪回答道，“那是藏红花的一种。它们属于C级植物性药物，长官。我是在以种庄稼为业的家庭长大的。”

 

“现在闭上你的小嘴。”牛局长说道。

 

“长官，我抓到了坏人。那是我的职责。”

 

“你的职责是给停放着的汽车贴罚单。”

 

牛局长的对讲机咔嗒一声响了，这时克劳豪瑟的声音传了进来：“局长，呃，奥獭顿女士又来了，现在想见您。”

 

“现在不行。”牛局长回答道。

 

“好的。我只是不知道这次您是否同意——”克劳豪瑟说道。

 

“现在不行!”

 

朱迪说道：“长官，我不想做处理违规停车的女交警。我想当一名——”

 

“你以为市长把你指派给我时，问过我的意见吗?”牛局长打断了她的话。

 

“可是，长官——”

 

“生活不是什么卡通舞台剧，只要唱首小曲儿，你那无聊的梦想就能奇迹般地实现。所以还是放弃吧。”

 

就在这时，一位雌性水獭名叫奥獭顿的女士闯了进来，身后跟着气喘吁吁的克劳豪瑟。

 

“牛局长，求您了，就占用您五分钟时间。”奥獭顿女士恳求道。

 

“对不起，长官，我本想拦住她的;她太滑了，抓不住。我要坐下了。”克劳豪瑟上气不接下地说道。

 

“女士，我已经告诉过你了，我们正全力以赴。”牛局长说道。

 

“我丈夫已经失踪十天了，”奥獭顿女士说道，“他的名字是艾米·奥獭顿。”说完，她拿出了一张全家福。

 

“是的，我知道。”牛局长说道。

 

“他是一位花匠，”她补充说道，“我们有两个漂亮的孩子。他不会就这么失踪的。”

 

“女士，我们的侦探非常忙。”

 

“求您了。总得有人去找艾米。”

 

牛局长试图让奥獭顿女士平静下来，但都不起作用。她纠缠不休，为奥獭顿先生的失踪而担忧。

 

“我能找到他。”朱迪说道。

 

牛局长望着朱迪，好像要大发雷霆。奥獭顿女士紧紧地搂住朱迪，他在一旁观望着。

 

“谢谢您，谢谢您，小兔子!”她如释重负地说道，“拜托您找到艾米，把他带回家，带回到我和孩子们身边。”

 

牛局长哼了一声，把奥獭顿女士带到了门外。“奥獭顿女士?请在外面稍等一下。”

 

牛局长关上门，转身面对朱迪，怒不可遏：“你被开除了。”

 

“什么?为什么?”她问道。

 

“不服管理。现在，我去打开这扇门，你要告诉那只水獭你妄自尊大，以前只是处理违章停车的女交警，不能接手这起案件。”

 

牛局长打开了门，羊副市长却在那里，正与奥獭顿女士拥抱。

 

“我刚刚听说霍普斯警官接手了这起案件!”羊副市长开心地说道。她掏出手机，开始编辑短信。“动物选拔计划的确很成功!狮市长现在可能会非常激动!”

 

“我们还是先不要告诉市长——”牛局长说道。

 

“可是我发过去了，信息发好了，这么说来我的确那么做了，”羊副市长插了一句，“那么，这起案件已交给可靠的人去处理了!”羊副市长笑眯眯地看着朱迪，说道：“我们小个子动物需要团结在一起!是吗?”

 

“就像胶水一样!”朱迪回应道。

 

“说得好，”羊副市长说道，“有什么需要，尽管给我打电话。你在市政厅永远都有一位朋友，朱迪。好了，再见!”

 

“谢谢您，女士。”朱迪说道。

 

牛局长强作笑颜，关上了门。他转身面向朱迪，比先前更气愤了：“我给你48个小时。”

 

“是!”朱迪大声说道。

 

“两天内要找到艾米·奥獭顿。”

 

“好的。”

 

“要是失败了，你就辞职。”

 

朱迪对他的提议感到不可思议。“哦，呃……”她思忖了一会儿，然后点了点头。“好的……一言为定。”她说道。

 

“好极了。克劳豪瑟会把全部案宗都给你。”牛局长说道。

 

朱迪兴奋地冲到前台去取这份案宗。“给你!”克劳豪瑟把案宗递给了她，满心欢喜地说道，“一只失踪的水獭!”

 

朱迪打开文件夹，顿时惊得张大了嘴巴。文件夹里只有一张纸。“就这些吗?”她难以置信地问道。

 

“呀!这是我见过的信息最少的案宗!线索：无。目击证人：无。而且你现在还没加入计算机系统，所以资料：无。”克劳豪瑟咯咯地笑了起来。“我希望你没有把前途押在破获这起案件上。”他笑容满面地说道。

 

朱迪一点儿也笑不出来。克劳豪瑟咬了一口甜甜圈，碎屑落在了卷宗里的照片上。

 

“最后一次看见……”她说着，看了看克劳豪瑟的甜甜圈碎屑下的那张照片。照片是道路交通探头拍下的，上面显示奥獭顿先生站在大街上。朱迪吹掉那些碎屑，发现了照片上的蛛丝马迹。她眯起了眼睛，依然看不清楚，就四周张望了一下。“借我用用那个。”她一把夺过克劳豪瑟的空苏打水瓶子。朱迪透过瓶口望过去，利用瓶底的玻璃片来放大图像。这下她看到了奥獭顿先生手里拿着一份冷饮。她仔细研究了一番，若有所思地说道：“梅花掌冰棍。”

 

“杀人凶器!”克劳豪瑟点着头说道。

 

“来买梅花掌冰棍……”朱迪说着，回想起了尼克那件事。

 

“哦，因为……那是什么意思?”克劳豪瑟问道。

 

“那意味着我……有线索了。”说完，她出发了，留下克劳豪瑟坐在桌前，丈二和尚摸不着头脑。

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