Judy and Nick drove to frigid Tundratown, where everything was covered in snow and ice. When they found Tundratown Limo-Service, it was locked up tight.
“Closed,” Judy said, gesturing to the lock on the gate. “Great.”
“And I will bet you don’t have a warrant to get in. Hmm? Darn it. It’s a bummer,” said Nick.
“You wasted the day on purpose,” said Judy.
“Madam, I have a fake badge. I would never impede your pretend investigation.”
“It is not a pretend investigation!” Judy said, showing Nick the picture of Otterton. “Look! See! See him? This otter is missing!”
“Well, then they should have gotten a real cop to find him.”
She wasn’t going to let Nick get to her. “What is your problem?” she asked. “Does seeing me fail somehow make you feel better about your own sad, miserable life?”
Nick appeared to consider her question before answering. “It does. One hundred percent. Now...since you’re sans warrant, I guess we’re done?”
Judy sighed, defeated. “Fine,” she said. “We are done. Here’s your pen.” She threw the pen over the fence, into the lot.
“Hey,” said Nick, staring at her, puzzled. “First off, you throw like a bunny, and second, you are a very sore loser.” Nick started to climb over the fence. “See you later, Officer Fluff. So sad this is over. Wish I could’ve helped more—”
Nick jumped down to the other side of the fence and reached for the pen, but Judy was already there, beating him to it.
“The thing is,” Judy said, “you don’t need a warrant if you have probable cause. And I’m pretty sure I saw a shifty lowlife climbing the fence, so you’re helping plenty. Come on,” she said, heading off as she whistled a merry tune.
Nick watched her, annoyed, but his face also showed a morsel of respect for her trick.
In the parking lot, Nick wiped snow off the back of a bumper to show the plate.
“29THD03,” read Judy. “This is it.”
The limousine was actually a “refrigousine.” It had a heavy refrigerator door and was cold inside. Judy pulled out an evidence bag with tweezers as she and Nick snooped around the chilly limo.
“Polar bear fur,” she said, holding up a piece of fur trapped in her tweezers.
“OH MY GOD!” said Nick.
“What? What!” exclaimed Judy, whirling to see the source of Nick’s excitement. He had opened the glove compartment.
“The Velvety Pipes of Jerry Vole!” said Nick, showing her CDs. “But on CD? Who still uses CDs?”
Judy rolled her eyes and went back to collecting real clues. Nick lowered the back partition, and his eyebrows shot up. “Carrots, if your otter was here...he had a very bad day.”
Nick and Judy stared at the backseat. It had been shredded! Violent-looking claw marks were scraped across it.
“You ever seen anything like this?” asked Judy.
Nick shook his head, actually concerned. “No.”
Judy spotted a wallet on the floor and picked it up. She opened it to find Mr. Otterton’s driver’s license and business cards for his floral shop. “This is him! Emmitt Otterton. He was definitely here. What do you think happened?”
Nick shook his head, stumped. Then his eyes drifted to the cocktail glasses at the bar inside the limo. They were etched with the letter B.
“Wait a minute,” said Nick suspiciously. “Polar bear fur...Rat Pack music...fancy cups...” He turned to Judy. “I know whose car this is. We gotta go.”
“Why? Whose car is it?” she asked.
Nick rushed around the limo, nervously trying to put everything back the way they found it. “The most dangerous crime boss in Tundratown. They call him Mr. Big, and he does not like me, so we’ve gotta go!”
“I’m not leaving,” said Judy. “This is a crime scene.”
“Well, it’s gonna be an even bigger crime scene if Mr. Big finds me, so we are leaving right now!”
Nick made a break for the limo door, but when he opened it, two big polar bears looked down at him.
“Raymond! And is that Kevin?” said Nick, trying to sound excited. “Long time no see! And speaking of no see, how about you forget you saw me? For old times’ sake?”
Without saying a word, the polar bears yanked Nick and Judy out of the limo. They shoved them into a car and sandwiched Nick and Judy between them.
“What did you do to make Mr. Big so mad at you?” Judy asked Nick.
“I, uh, may or may not have sold him a very expensive wool rug...that was made from the fur of a...skunk’s butt,” Nick said quietly.
“Sweet cheese and crackers,” said Judy.
A short time later, the car pulled through a guarded security gate into a giant residential compound that was the home of Mr. Big.
朱迪和尼克驅(qū)車來到了天寒地凍的冰川鎮(zhèn),這里的一切都被冰雪覆蓋了。當(dāng)他們找到冰川鎮(zhèn)禮賓車租賃公司時(shí),那里已是大門緊鎖。
“關(guān)門了,”朱迪說著,指了指大門上的鎖,“真是太好了。”
“我敢肯定你沒有進(jìn)去的搜查證。嗯?見鬼。真掃興。”尼克說道。
“你白天是在故意浪費(fèi)時(shí)間。”朱迪說道。
“女士,我戴的是假徽章。我不會(huì)妨礙你做模擬調(diào)查。”
“這不是模擬調(diào)查!”朱迪說著,把奧獺頓的照片展示給尼克,“看!看到了吧!看到他了嗎?這只水獺失蹤了!”
“哦,那么他們應(yīng)該派一名真正的警察來尋找他。”
她不會(huì)讓影響到她。“你怎么回事?”她問道,“難道看著我失敗,你就覺得你那不幸的、悲慘的生活好過了,是嗎?”
尼克似乎思考了一下她的問題才回答道:“的確是。絕對(duì)如此。現(xiàn)在……既然你沒有搜查證,我覺得我和你之間的事情了結(jié)了?”
朱迪嘆了口氣,一臉的失落沮喪。“好吧,”她說道,“了結(jié)了。這是你的筆。”她把那支筆扔到籬笆的另一邊,落在了地上。
“嘿,”尼克瞪著她,困惑不解地說道,“首先,你扔起東西來像個(gè)兔子;其次,你真是輸不起。”尼克開始翻越籬笆。“再見了,絨毛兔警官。這樣結(jié)束,真悲哀。真希望我能多幫——”
尼克跳到籬笆的另一邊,伸手去撿那支筆;但是朱迪已經(jīng)在那兒,搶先拿到了。
“問題是,”朱迪說道,“如果你有充分的理由,你是不需要搜查證的。我非常確信,我剛才看到了一個(gè)賊眉鼠眼的壞蛋翻過了籬笆,所以你幫了大忙。來吧,”她說完,吹著歡樂的口哨走開了。
尼克有點(diǎn)惱怒地注視著她,但是想到她的這個(gè)壞招,他的臉上又閃過一絲敬意。
在停車場(chǎng),尼克擦掉保險(xiǎn)杠上的積雪,露出底下的車牌。
“29THD03,”朱迪讀了出來,“就是這輛車。”
這輛禮賓車實(shí)際上是一輛“豪華冷藏車”。它有一扇重重的冷藏室門,里面冷冰冰的。朱迪取出一個(gè)收集證據(jù)的袋子和一把鑷子,和尼克在這輛涼颼颼的豪車?yán)锼南滤褜ぶ?/p>
“北極熊的毛,”她用鑷子夾住一塊皮毛舉起來說道。
“老天哪!”尼克說道。
“怎么了?怎么回事!”朱迪驚呼道,急忙轉(zhuǎn)身去看尼克興奮的原因。他打開了儲(chǔ)物箱。
“《杰瑞·沃爾的天鵝絨風(fēng)笛》!”尼克說著,拿起CD給她看,“不過是CD版的?這年頭誰(shuí)還用CD?”
朱迪翻了個(gè)白眼,又去收集真正的線索。尼克蹲下身子,揚(yáng)起了眉毛:“‘胡蘿卜’,如果你的水獺來過這里……那他那天一定很慘。”
尼克和朱迪注視著后座椅。后座椅已經(jīng)被撕碎了!上面留下了爪子用力抓過的痕跡。
“你見過這種情況嗎?”朱迪問道。
尼克搖了搖頭,有點(diǎn)不安:“沒有。”
朱迪在地板上找到一個(gè)錢包,就把它撿了起來。她打開錢包,發(fā)現(xiàn)了奧獺頓先生的駕照和他花店的名片。“就是他!艾米·奧獺頓。他肯定來過這里。你覺得出了什么事?”
尼克搖了搖頭,怔住了。這時(shí),他的目光飄移不定,落在了這輛豪車吧臺(tái)上的雞尾酒酒杯上。這些酒杯上都刻著字母B。
“等一下,”尼克懷疑地說道,“北極熊毛皮……‘鼠幫’音樂……高級(jí)酒杯……”他轉(zhuǎn)身面向朱迪:“我知道這是誰(shuí)的車。我們得走了。”
“為什么?這是誰(shuí)的車?”她問道。
尼克急忙在車?yán)镛D(zhuǎn)了一圈,提心吊膽地將一切物品恢復(fù)原樣。“冰川鎮(zhèn)最危險(xiǎn)的黑幫頭目。人們都叫他大先生,而且他并不喜歡我,所以我們得走了!”
“我不走,”朱迪說道,“這是犯罪現(xiàn)場(chǎng)。”
“如果大先生找到我,這里會(huì)是更重大的犯罪現(xiàn)場(chǎng),所以我們要趕緊走!”
尼克沖向車門準(zhǔn)備逃走,但是當(dāng)他打開車門時(shí),兩頭龐大的北極熊正低頭看著他。
“雷蒙德!這是凱文嗎?”尼克說著,想要裝作很開心,“好久不見!說到不見,你們就當(dāng)沒看見我怎么樣?看在往日的情分上?”
北極熊一聲不響地將尼克和朱迪猛地從車?yán)锢鰜?。他們把尼克和朱迪推進(jìn)了一輛小汽車,將他倆夾在中間。
“你對(duì)大先生做了什么讓他對(duì)你這么惱火?”朱迪問尼克。
“我,呃,有可能是賣給了他一塊非常昂貴的羊毛地毯……而它實(shí)際上是用臭鼬屁股上的毛……做的。”尼克悄聲說道。
“真糟糕,你中彩了。”朱迪說道。
片刻之后,這輛小汽車通過一扇有門衛(wèi)把守的安全門,到了一片開闊的住宅區(qū),那是大先生的家。
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