This Is The Rhythm of His Life

The city breathed in the crisp nighttime air as it was bathed in the pale moonlight.

 

This was always Detective Maurice Fournier's favorite part of the day: when  the bustling megalopolis of Zootopia finally settled down for a rest.  As he drove on in the midnight hours, he was reminded why he used to love this city.  Here, he once again saw it as a metropolitan microcosm of the whole world, a  sleeping teeming abundance of life living in harmony together.  Not as a malevolent entity, not as a blight.

 

He had learned to cherish these fleeting moments of peace while on watch.  Windows rolled down, public radio off, police band turned down low, all so he could hear the purr of his Cord engine as it pulled him up the road and the rhythm of his city at night as the wind flowed through his antlers.  He smirked to himself; he didn't use to be able to do the last one, but that was in his younger days before radios got smart enough to be able to pick up on call signs.

 

Coming up on a turn, he signaled and began to slow down.  Before he could do either, however, a Herd driven by an ass blew by him on his blind side, evidently heading for the Tundratown Turnpike's on ramp.  He frowned, and considered for a moment going after the ass, but shook his head to himself.   No, no it wasn't worth turning on his siren and disturbing the peace for some idiot who was probably just out past his curfew.  Why spoil a good mood for a pointless chase?

 

He smiled as he proceeded on his turn.  That donkey didn't know how lucky he was.

 

**

 

As it turned out, that good mood only lasted for a few more minutes.

 

He was sitting at a red light when his radio suddenly turned its volume up.  “15 Hotel 20, respond.”

 

*Fuck.*  He reached for his handset, as the city around him got a little darker.  “15 Hotel 20.”

 

“15 Hotel 20,” replied the dispatcher “Suspected arson in progress in Savannah Central, on Riverside Road.  Please respond Code Three.”

 

Fournier did a little math in his head.  That was nearly on the other side of the city from where he was.  “Dispatch, ZFD on scene?”

 

“Yes, they just arrived.  They reported immediate signs of arson and contacted the ZPD.”

 

He closed his eyes and breathed a deep breath.  “15 Hotel 20 responding, Code Three.  Out.”

 

The peaceful rhythm of the night was shattered as the wail of his siren replaced it.  As he swung his big Cord 812 around, the darkened buildings that lined the street seemed a bit more malignant than they were a few minutes before.

 

**

 

On the midnight-empty roads, it only took Fournier 45 minutes to arrive to the scene of the fire.  By then, the fire had been mostly extinguished.  His team, or rather the night time crime scene team he was borrowing from Homicide, was already setting up at the scene.   With a sigh, the moose detective pulled over behind the CSI van and killed his engine.

 

A crowd of civilians had long since gathered at the perimeter of the scene to watch the fire, which seemed to have occurred in a row of houses.  However, they parted without a word as Fournier stalked through them towards the crime scene tape.  A beat cop manning the line noticed his approach and silently raised the tape to allow him entry, pointing him towards the on-scene commander at the same time.

 

“Captain Fournier, ZPD Arson Squad,” said Fournier as he shook the old white tiger's hand, “What do we have?”

 

“Captain Sergetov,” replied the firefighter.  “We have a three house fire.  It started in the westernmost house there-”he pointed “-and spread to the other three fueled by the seabreeze going into Sahara Square.  All three were in flames before we got here, but they were uninhabited so we just set a cordon to keep it from spreading further.”

 

“You're sure they were empty?”

 

“We sent a team in with SCBAs and a heat scanner to check.”

 

“Alright.  What made you think it was arson immediately?”

 

The old fire captain let a snarl slip onto his face.  “The wind shifted for a minute when we arrived.  We could smell gasoline wafting from that open garage door from inside the truck.”

 

Fournier sighed.  “Great.  I really hope we don't have another firebug on our hands.  Alright, thank you Captain.   I'll let you get back to directing your cleanup.”

 

The tiger left with a nod as the CSI team walked up with their gear.  “Alright, mammals,” said Fournier “ZFD says they could smell accelerant coming from the first house on this row.  That does not mean we  can immediately rule out the other houses, so you four-” he indicated “-go check them out.  It's time to earn those fat pensions.”

 

**

It didn't take long to determine the starting point of the fire.  The garage of the first house held a burnt hulk of a car that reeked of gasoline, as well as several melted gas cans.  It appeared that someone had tried to torch the car while it was still in the garage, used too much gas, and unwittingly set the house on fire.  

 

Fournier was silently cursing the ineptness of this particular arsonist when his radio clicked on.  “...Captain, we've found bodies in the third house.”

 

He dropped what he was doing and made it his way over as fast as he could.  As he entered the third house, he knew what he was going to see.  From the tone of the voice on the radio, he just KNEW.  He grimaced as he found the team; the youngest, a badger tech, was already silently weeping.

 

The room they were in was filled with toys.

 

“Under the bed?”

 

“Under the bed.”

 

As Fournier lifted the mattress up, he found them.  Two wolf cubs, a brother and a sister, were held in each other's arms in a peaceful sleep they would never wake up from.  As he silently checked each of their necks for a pulse, he found their fur was tinged with smoke.

 

“Damn it all,” he said softly, “they hid.  When they smelled the smoke, they just hid under their bed...”

 

“Lamb Above, they can't be older than five, Captain...”

 

“...why?” asked the badger through her tears.  “The ZFD said they checked the house.  Why didn't they go with the firefighters?”

 

“You kidding?” Fournier sighed.  “Have you seen a firefighter in full knock-out gear before?  The poor cubs probably thought that aliens came to finish them off and hid deeper under the bed,”  He paused.  “These are your first bodies, aren't they.”  It was a statement, not a question.

 

“Y-yes.  Yes they are...”

 

“How long have you been on the force?”

 

“Th-three months.  Three months in and I'm already seeing dead babies...” her voice trailed off into sobs.

 

He stared at the two bodies for a few seconds more and sighed again.  A simple arson investigation had turned into a double homicide.  The city had taken two more of its youngest out of the world.  “Alright, get on the horn, and let ZFD we need ambulances.  Plural”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

“And start documenting the scene.  I want this front and center in the courtroom for the jury when we nail this bastard.  Hey.  Hey!  Amanda!”  He bent down to the weeping badger.  “Amanda.  Stay with me.  We're going to get this guy.  You understand?  He's not going to get away with this.”

 

Amanda wiped a few tears from her eyes.  “Ye-yes.  Yes sir.”

 

“It's okay.  Everyone's first body is rough, and it never gets easier,”  He put on a smile.  “You can do this.  Don't think about them.  Think about putting away the son of a bastard who did this.”

 

She nodded, and readied her camera.

 

“We can get you an appointment with the councilor when we get back to Cen-” Fournier was drowned out by a  deep anguished roar coming from the front of the house.  “-oh Hell, the ZFD just realized what happened!”

 

Out front, a polar bear firefighter was down on his knees surrounded by his comrades, weeping with fury as the EMTs wheeled  their stretchers past him.  “I CHECKED!  I SWEAR TO GOD ABOVE I CHECKED!”  

 

“Easy, Frank.  Easy-”

 

“I checked.”  His voice broke into sobs.  “I checked the house.  I checked it, but I didn't look under the bed.  Why didn't I look under the bed...”

 

The polar bear sobbed into his elephant buddy's chest as he helped him to his feet.  They had only just begun to pull him towards the waiting fire engine when the EMTs came back out.  The sight of the small body bags being tenderly wheeled towards the waiting ambulances broke the dam, and the polar bear fell to his knees again with another roar.

 

Fournier grimaced and quickly made his way back towards the first house.  Captain Sergetov headed him off.

 

“He a rookie?” asked Fournier

 

The old tiger nodded at the howling bear.  “Yeah.  It was his first night on watch.  New blood fresh out of the academy”

 

“Lamb Above...”

 

“Yeah.  Poor bastard forgot that those heat monitors sometimes have a problem finding children under mattresses.  Well,” he looked back at the bear finally being helped to his feet once more, “I don't think he's going to ever forget again.”

 

He sighed.  “So, do you know what happened here?”

 

“Yeah,” replied Fournier.  “I've got a good idea.  I've seen this before, but I've never seen someone this fucking dumb do it.”

 

“Good.  When you catch the fucker, let us know.  The boys at Station 104 would like to have a word with him about fire safety.”

 

Fournier smiled.  “Will do, Captain.  Have a good evening.  Well, as good as it can be.”

 

“You too, Captain.”

 

As Sergetov left, Fournier's smile fell off his face.  With a quickness, he made his way back to the garage of the first house.  “Alright,” he said to the team still there, “Call that plate in right the fuck now and put an APB out on the owner.  We need to catch this guy tonight, before the ZFD gets him.”

 

He need not have worried.  Right as one of his team members opened his mouth to call it in, the radio came to life.  “Captain Fournier?  There's a pig here to see you.  He says he wants to turn himself in.”

 

Fournier's head snapped around.  There at the crime scene tape with one of the beat cops was a pig in a wifebeater and boxers...and a singed face.  “No.  No no no no!  Get him out of there!”  He reached for his radio.  “Get him out of sight before-”

 

Once again, a roar split the night air.  Fournier was already racing towards the pig with his service weapon drawn, but the polar bear was faster on his feet.  Before Fournier's legs could even get him halfway, the firefighter already had the pig in his claws.

 

“YOU SON OF A WHORE!” roared the bear through tear filled eyes.  “I'LL KILL YOU!  I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU YOU BABY MURDERING BASTARD!”

 

“Wh-what?  I don't kno-” stammered the terrified pig.

 

“SHUT UP!  JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP, HAM HOCK!”

 

“STAND DOWN, FIREMAN!” roared Fournier right back as he drew a bead on the polar bear with his tranq gun.  “Put him down or I will be forced to put YOU down!”

 

“I'LL KILL YOU TOO, MOOSE!” shrieked the firefighter as he turned to face Fournier.  “DON'T YOU DARE STAND BETWEEN ME AND THIS MURDERER!”

 

That's all the opening his comrades needed.  Without warning, the other firefighters were on him.  The elephant snapped his arms back, letting the pig fall on his read end with a solid *thump!* and put him in a headlock with his trunk.  The polar bear roared, but after fighting the fire and crying his soul to the heavens, he was spent.

 

Fournier holstered his weapon quickly and grabbed the petrified pig before he had a chance to come to his senses and run off.

 

“T-thank you...” stammered the pig.

 

“Shut the fuck up,” growled Fournier right back as he dragged him away.  With a backward glance towards the beat cops still watching the firefighters wrestle their own away, he shouted over his shoulder “Clear the fucking crowd already!”

 

“I don't understand!  Why is everyone so mad?” squealed the pig.

 

“Why is everyone so mad,” repeated Fournier as he tried very hard to keep his voice calm and failed.  “Why is everyone so mad?!  You know damn well why everyone is so mad!  Why did you set the fire?!”

 

The pig was shamed into silence.  “...I needed to get out of my lease, alright?” He stammered out after he found his voice.  “It was way more than I could afford and I was going into the red on it.  I thought that since the new Leopards are known for electrical issues, I could just say it caught fire!  I'd get out my lease and get the insurance money too!”  His gaze dropped down to his hooves.  “I didn't think it would set my house on fire...”

 

Fournier barely suppressed a snarl.  “Well.  Maybe you should have considered that BEFORE you set fire to it in your own garage.  And BEFORE you used too much damn gasoline,”  He pulled his cuffs from his belt.  “What's your name?”

 

“Bill Autry.”

 

“Bill Autry, you are under arrest for three counts of felony arson, and two counts of murder in the first.”

 

“WHAT?!”

 

“Yes.  As it turns out, your neighbors children were at home in bed,” growled Fournier as he slapped the cuffs in.  

 

“Wh-Bu-H-What?!” stammered the pig as he was led away towards a patrol car by one of the uniformed police officers.

 

“You got out of your lease, Mr. Autry.  I hope it was worth it.”

 

**

 

Two hours later, and Fournier was done.  His team had collected plenty of evidence from Autry's house and car linking him to the fire, and the booking team at the precinct got enough residue off of him to make the case ironclad.

 

Fournier had also taken upon himself to inform the parents of the two cubs of their loss when they arrived back at their block.  They had been out dancing, and felt that it wouldn't have hurt to spend a few more hours out on the town.  As he climbed back into his car, they were still in the middle of the death howl with the social worker.

 

“Lamb above,” silently sobbed Fournier as he pinched the bridge of his snout.  “Just...Lamb Above give me strength to make it through another night in this forsaken city...”

 

He didn't make it 30 seconds before his radio came to life again.  “15 Hotel 20, respond.”

 

With a supreme amount of effort, he pulled the handset over.  “15 Hotel 20.”

 

“Double homicide reported in Tundratown on Drift Street, please respond Code Three.”

 

“...15 Hotel 20, responding Code 3.  Out.”

 

With a wailing cry, Fournier's siren came to life, and once again added itself to the rhythm of Zootopia's night.