Chapter 13
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.
第 13 章
朱迪和尼克驱车来到了天寒地冻的冰川镇，这里的一切都被冰雪覆盖了。当他们找到冰川镇礼宾车租赁公司时，那里已是大门紧锁。
“关门了，”朱迪说着，指了指大门上的锁，“真是太好了。”
“我敢肯定你没有进去的搜查证。嗯?见鬼。真扫兴。”尼克说道。
“你白天是在故意浪费时间。”朱迪说道。
“女士，我戴的是假徽章。我不会妨碍你做模拟调查。”
“这不是模拟调查!”朱迪说着，把奥獭顿的照片展示给尼克，“看!看到了吧!看到他了吗?这只水獭失踪了!”
“哦，那么他们应该派一名真正的警察来寻找他。”
她不会让影响到她。“你怎么回事?”她问道，“难道看着我失败，你就觉得你那不幸的、悲惨的生活好过了，是吗?”
尼克似乎思考了一下她的问题才回答道：“的确是。绝对如此。现在……既然你没有搜查证，我觉得我和你之间的事情了结了?”
朱迪叹了口气，一脸的失落沮丧。“好吧，”她说道，“了结了。这是你的笔。”她把那支笔扔到篱笆的另一边，落在了地上。
“嘿，”尼克瞪着她，困惑不解地说道，“首先，你扔起东西来像个兔子;其次，你真是输不起。”尼克开始翻越篱笆。“再见了，绒毛兔警官。这样结束，真悲哀。真希望我能多帮——”
尼克跳到篱笆的另一边，伸手去捡那支笔;但是朱迪已经在那儿，抢先拿到了。
“问题是，”朱迪说道，“如果你有充分的理由，你是不需要搜查证的。我非常确信，我刚才看到了一个贼眉鼠眼的坏蛋翻过了篱笆，所以你帮了大忙。来吧，”她说完，吹着欢乐的口哨走开了。
尼克有点恼怒地注视着她，但是想到她的这个坏招，他的脸上又闪过一丝敬意。
在停车场，尼克擦掉保险杠上的积雪，露出底下的车牌。
“29THD03,”朱迪读了出来，“就是这辆车。”
这辆礼宾车实际上是一辆“豪华冷藏车”。它有一扇重重的冷藏室门，里面冷冰冰的。朱迪取出一个收集证据的袋子和一把镊子，和尼克在这辆凉飕飕的豪车里四下搜寻着。
“北极熊的毛，”她用镊子夹住一块皮毛举起来说道。
“老天哪!”尼克说道。
“怎么了?怎么回事!”朱迪惊呼道，急忙转身去看尼克兴奋的原因。他打开了储物箱。
“《杰瑞·沃尔的天鹅绒风笛》!”尼克说着，拿起CD给她看，“不过是CD版的?这年头谁还用CD?”
朱迪翻了个白眼，又去收集真正的线索。尼克蹲下身子，扬起了眉毛：“‘胡萝卜’，如果你的水獭来过这里……那他那天一定很惨。”
尼克和朱迪注视着后座椅。后座椅已经被撕碎了!上面留下了爪子用力抓过的痕迹。
“你见过这种情况吗?”朱迪问道。
尼克摇了摇头，有点不安：“没有。”
朱迪在地板上找到一个钱包，就把它捡了起来。她打开钱包，发现了奥獭顿先生的驾照和他花店的名片。“就是他!艾米·奥獭顿。他肯定来过这里。你觉得出了什么事?”
尼克摇了摇头，怔住了。这时，他的目光飘移不定，落在了这辆豪车吧台上的鸡尾酒酒杯上。这些酒杯上都刻着字母B。
“等一下，”尼克怀疑地说道，“北极熊毛皮……‘鼠帮’音乐……高级酒杯……”他转身面向朱迪：“我知道这是谁的车。我们得走了。”
“为什么?这是谁的车?”她问道。
尼克急忙在车里转了一圈，提心吊胆地将一切物品恢复原样。“冰川镇最危险的黑帮头目。人们都叫他大先生，而且他并不喜欢我，所以我们得走了!”
“我不走，”朱迪说道，“这是犯罪现场。”
“如果大先生找到我，这里会是更重大的犯罪现场，所以我们要赶紧走!”
尼克冲向车门准备逃走，但是当他打开车门时，两头庞大的北极熊正低头看着他。
“雷蒙德!这是凯文吗?”尼克说着，想要装作很开心，“好久不见!说到不见，你们就当没看见我怎么样?看在往日的情分上?”
北极熊一声不响地将尼克和朱迪猛地从车里拉出来。他们把尼克和朱迪推进了一辆小汽车，将他俩夹在中间。
“你对大先生做了什么让他对你这么恼火?”朱迪问尼克。
“我，呃，有可能是卖给了他一块非常昂贵的羊毛地毯……而它实际上是用臭鼬屁股上的毛……做的。”尼克悄声说道。
“真糟糕，你中彩了。”朱迪说道。
片刻之后，这辆小汽车通过一扇有门卫把守的安全门，到了一片开阔的住宅区，那是大先生的家。
