Hello! This is a little bit darker than my other two. It's a major "what if" scenario, and hopefully you enjoy it!

P.S - I own nothing, except the plot. Animal Crossing belongs to Nintendo.

The room was dark, dingy, and stale with the stench of unwanted smoke. A solitary light bulb loomed over a chair, as two figures clothed in black circled their prey like predators.

"We'd like to thank you for letting us use your venue, Dr. Shrunk," one of them said gruffly, extinguishing a cigarette. "You can understand that we require the space and privacy to carry out this investigation."

"U-uh sure, I do. B-but are you going to be doing that all day?" The axolotl pointed to the ashtray heaving with stubs. He was sweating profusely. "It's just that this is a no smoking area, and it's not very good for my, uh, health."

"We won't take long," the other man replied, taking out a notebook and pen. "We need to ask you a couple of questions."

"W-what?" Dr. Shrunk blanched. "I-is it because of my jokes? Are they that bad?"

"This isn't regarding you, sir." The one more established to be a little tougher stepped forward. "We would like you to tell us all you can about your mayor."

"…The mayor? W-what's the mayor done?"

"Well that's what we'd like to know."

"So you're telling me that the mayor makes little effort to maintain the appearance of the town, and sometimes doesn't bother to pick weeds? Interesting…" The black -clad man started jotting down this information.

"Yes! I offered to help them. I mentioned my weeding service, but oh, that poor little face fell at the price. Maybe I was being too stingy… asking for all that money."

"Or maybe they were," the other mumbled. "Hey, aren't you the bloke that sells a 'happy axe'?"

"Yes," the sloth replied, adjusting his green cap. "I thought that when the mayor bought it, they might have used it to control the bamboo growth. But no… Everywhere I look, I see bamboo. It's gotten out of control. It makes me sad. Perhaps I should step in and help them out."

"That shouldn't be necessary. Thank you for your input, Leif." Writing in the notebook, the man – apparently known as Detective Cross – waved the gardener away.

"It's not like I hold any grudge against the mayor. Nothing of the sort!" The owl ruffled his feathers. "But culturally, this town just hasn't had the opportunity to flourish, which disappoints me greatly. How shameful to say that our museum doesn't have any artwork in it, hoo!"

"Right," the detective balancing a cigarette between his fingers paced back and forth. "Any other peculiarities?"

"Not that I'm aware of. No, that's all I can think of."

"Then you're done."

"Hey, this is a little shady, isn't it? You're not one of those guys that's going to try and frame me and blackmail me, are you?" The villager shivered. "I ain't got nothing to hide!"

"Detective Grimes," the smoker said, flashing his identification. "Here to ask you a couple of questions about the mayor."

"Tell me Bill, has the mayor been acting strangely towards you in any way?" Detective Cross held his pen above the paper, with baited breath.

"Strangely? Very strangely! Why, the other day I thought it would be nice to pay them a visit. They were in their house, and I assumed they'd be lonely. I knocked on the door, and I waited patiently and all, but nothing. They didn't even acknowledge I was there."

"Have they always ignored you?"

"Come to think of it, yeah. Saw them wandering about the place just last week and I had something exciting to tell them. Think it was about a sports shirt I wanted to give them. Ran up to them, but they flat out ignored me. Just kept walking. Boy, I hadn't been that upset since I pulled a muscle working out."

"I see…" Detective Grimes leaned back against the wall. "Must be hard, huh?"

"It's like our input doesn't matter. Guess that fire pit I suggested isn't going to happen anytime soon." The duck sighed. "Hey, you aren't going to tell the mayor I said any of this, right?"

"Don't worry about a thing," Detective Cross said, looking apprehensively across the room at his colleague.

"I understand that this may be a sensitive issue for you, but please. We need all the evidence we can get."

"I know," the pink alpaca sobbed into her arm. "It's just so hard, you know? Cyrus and I are barely making an income because we're giving all our money to the mayor. All we get is… b-beetles. A-and none of that money is going towards the town. They spend it on themselves. Oh, I'm sorry!"

"Not to worry, miss. We'll let you get back to your husband now."

"I'm actually thinking of moving town."

"Oh, that sounds like quite a predicament. Care to talk about it?" Detective Cross held his notepad and pen at the ready.

"I suppose I can," Rhonda replied, biting her lip. She took a deep breath, only to gag at the smoke – that now circled the legs of the chair in thick rings. "The mayor isn't very trustworthy. I asked them if they could fetch me an apple one day, as I was very hungry. They said they would, but they didn't get me one. And then there was another time when I asked them about a petition, but they never helped me out. In fact, the mayor never helps me out. Doesn't even talk to us."

"You're saying the mayor can be pretty selfish then?" Detective Grimes asked, raising an eyebrow, nodding at his colleague to note it all down.

"I… yes." The rhino paused, reflecting on a clearly painful memory. "They didn't even come to my birthday. I sent them an invite, but no. Nothing. That's why I want to move. I deserve better than this!"

"Certainly seems like you do."

"Please try to remain calm. This is a serious interrogation."

"I know, I know. It's just that the kid really knows how to push my buttons. If they're not going ahead and resetting they're coming in and intruding my personal space! That kid doesn't know manners!"

"Have you ever confronted the mayor about these issues?"

"All I get is some lousy apology. Sorry? That little punk doesn't know the meaning of the word!"

"Quite. You're free to go now, Mr. Resetti."

"You want me to scram? I will most certainly scram!"

"Our mail service hasn't been the best for a while now… I'm really not good with these kind of things. You should have asked my sister instead!"

"It's quite alright, Pelly. We just need your honesty."

"I see that they put a lot into their bank account, which on the surface should be seen as a good thing, right? Except none of that money ever comes out. When it does, it never goes on anything else but them. They never come up to the counter to say hello either."

Pelly sighed dejectedly, looking up to the light bulb cast directly above her head.

"Having known Tortimer in my past, he would not be proud of the way things have shaped up to be."

"You seem to have an extensive knowledge of the mayor's spending habits. Care to explain?"

"Why, certainly." The racoon chuckled, making himself as comfortable as possible in the chair. "The thing is, I've known the mayor since their starting days. They were poor, to put it bluntly. But I can see now that they're not so poor, hm?"

"That would be the case, yes."

"Then what I would like to know is how they have outstanding debts. They still owe me money from the last renovation I gave them. And yet, my nephews tell me that the mayor is in their store every day, buying all sorts of luxuries. Heaven knows I'm thrilled that they managed to upgrade the store thanks to their profits, but I can only wait for my money for so long, hm?"

"Hm," Detective Cross agreed, nodding.

"Always liked to upgrade, that mayor. The bigger the better. I can't complain – I share a similar ideal. It's entirely different when you have to repay a loan, however."

"Thank you Mr. Nook. Your comments have been insightful."

"No, thank you."

"Damn it Cross! I know you said she'd be a tough one to crack but we've been standing here for ten minutes now trying to get a response!" Detective Grimes rubbed at his temples, then proceeded to light another cigarette.

"Listen," his colleague started, trying to level with the dog, who was whimpering in her place. "Listen we just want to ask a couple of questions."

"I-I… I c-can't do that."

All that you say in here will be private and confidential. This is a very important matter, and we need you to talk to us. Can you do that for us, Isabelle?"

"I…I…" She simply nodded, cheeks flushing crimson. She began to fidget with her skirt.

"You get along very well with the mayor, don't you?"

"Yes," she meekly nodded.

"I'd estimate you – as their assistant - see the mayor every day, would that be right?"

A nod.

"Can you tell us a little bit about what they do on a daily basis?"

"The m-mayor does lots of b-beneficial things for the town."

"What kind of things?"

"…Good things. L-like Public Works Projects." So soft-spoken.

Detective Grimes groaned, circling the chair with an increasing irritation.

"You know it's an offence to lie to us, don't you?"

"I'm sorry, it's just really hard. I care a great deal for the mayor."

"We understand," Detective Cross chimed, trying to smile for her sake. "But your evidence is crucial in helping to improve the town. You want the town to improve, don't you?"

"How will you do that?" She gasped, eyes widening in panic. "You're not going to do anything bad to the mayor, are you?"

An unsettling silence filled the air, as the two men looked at each other.

"You seem like quite a shy young thing, Isabelle. Is the mayor the only person you talk to within this town?"

"W-well, yeah. I guess they are."

"What kind of things do you talk about? Talk about the town? The weather? What kind of things, huh?"

Isabelle's eyes glanced down, as her brow furrowed. "N-not very much. In fact, I rarely get the chance to talk with them."

Perking up at this new piece of information, both detectives leaned in closer to the dog, Cross noting down all he could.

"And why is that?" One of them asked.

"I… I don't know. I-I feel a little ignored at the office. I say hello, but the mayor rarely sticks around. They don't even come in to ask how the town is doing. Y-you know, citizen satisfaction and things?"

"Yes, keep going."

"They never seem to take my advice either, a-and I take it a little personally sometimes. W-we haven't had a project in weeks now, a-and they don't participate in any of the events we put on for the citizens. It's rather disheartening, really."

She sniffled, as a couple of tears slid down her cheeks. She hastily wiped them away, and avoided eye-contact with the two men.

"Thank you very much for this. It really means a lot."

"W-what are you going to do? Y-you won't tell the mayor, will you? P-please don't tell the mayor!"

"I can assure you that you are safe, as is your evidence. You may leave now, we're done here."

As soon as Detective Cross said this, Isabelle dashed out of Club LOL, breath hitched. Both men looked at each other.

"Shall we head back to the station and let Copper know how we got on?" Detective Cross flipped his notebook shut.

"Yeah, sure," Grimes replied, smearing the ashy remains of his cigarette into the ashtray. "I'll tell you one thing, that mayor is one bad egg."

"That's for sure. Don't know how they ever got the job, to be perfectly honest with you."

The mayor's reign of deceit, greed, and terror was to be put to an end. At last.

Ooh. I'd just like to say - I would never in a million years treat my villagers this way! I'll always treat them with love, and I think after writing this, I just want to go check on them and make sure they're okay. Hope you enjoyed - feel free to tell me what you thought. Thanks!

Peace, love, and COOKIES! ~ MissSteph22 x :)