FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was a warm New Mexico night. The air was tainted with exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke, The red and blues of the police cars flashing over every surface. Cops swarmed behind the yellow police tape taking pictures of the mutilated corpse that lay in a mangled heap in the back of the ally. I took a deep drag on my last cigarette and blew it out adjusting my fedora. I walked up to the police tape and flashed my badge, getting a

"Prepare your self Detective, Its bad" From the officer regulating the flow of bodies beyond the tape. I gave him a nod and silently walked passed him. I am not the tough guy I make my self out to be, scenes of violence and gore disturb me as much as the next guy and I have been known to lose my lunch on some of the more brutal cases I've worked on this not being the exception my tail twitched and my stomach lurched sideways as i saw the body of the little vixen laying haphazardly on some trash bags. She couldn't have been more than ten years old, laying there naked and dead. Her eyes had been plucked out of her head and replaced with shiny new quarters, and her entrails were slipping free of her slashed belly. Being the hot night it was didn't help with the smell as I put the collar of my T-shirt over my muzzle failing to block the rancid smell of blood and death. I gagged quietly my eyes taking in everything about the scene around me. A smaller but equally distressed voice came from beside me.

"We Can't get a positive I.D On the victim. Nobody has reported a missing girl, and the pads on the ends of her fingers have been sanded off with what looks like a belt sander."

My gut lurched and I felt bile sting the back of my throat. I pressed my paw firmly to my maw and shoved cops out of the way as I ducked behind the dumpster vomiting, trying but failing to keep my nice wing tipped shoes free of my earlier dinner. Pulling myself together I walked back over to the the body and slipped on some latex gloves, pulled a pen from the breast pocket of my tan blazer. the small voice came again and I looked over at the glasses clad cheetah before leaning down and pulling up a small golden locket on the end of the pen. I blanched a little at the smell as I got closer. I popped it open looking at the small picture inside. A picture of the Jane Does family was on the inside. To happy and smiling foxes and one sulking child, Who was now laying dead and dumped in a downtown Albuquerque back alley. I unclasped the chain and pulled it around from the dead girls neck. I turned to the cheetah, who was now looking more than a little green around the gills.

"Randy, Bag this please. We can use this to find her parents." Randy looked at me and nodded and took the locket from the end of my pen and put it into a little plastic bag. Looking back at the body I felt a sudden rage come over me for the people who would do this heinous thing to a little girl. I spent a few more minutes combing the scene, but there were too many cops milling around and I really really didn't want to be there any more. I had gotten all I was going to get from that alley and I needed to clear my head and let the coroner do her work before I could proceed with the case.

I walked in the door to my little one bedroom apartment hanging my hat on the rack and hanging my coat up in the closet. I mulled over the nights events. I kicked off my shoes cursing at the mess I had made all over the fine leather. Too tired to mess with them now I shucked my pants and walked into the bathroom in nothing but boxers and black socks. I looked in the mirror, the deep caves around my eyes dark, black and disturbing. my visage looking more like some sort of snow white demon than a majestic white lion. I scoffed at my reflection, knowing that such words would never apply to me. Dropping two alka seltzer into a short glass I knocked it back, hoping to alleviate my now pounding headache. Having been on the force for over eleven years now I dreaded closing my eyes at night. Visions of all the murders and violence comes back to haunt my dreams. I walked back into the bedroom, Only to see the dead girl sitting on my bed. Her arms wrapped around her knees.

1. Okay, This is where my story gets a little weird. When i say I saw her sitting on my bed I don't mean she was actually there. I mean she was only there in spirit, the mess of pillows and blankets not affecting her slumped form as she sat there on my bed. The quarters gleamed in her sockets as she turned her head. She opened her mouth and reached out for me, her fingers clutching at the empty air. her jaw and lips moving as if she were trying to speak. I looked closely at her lips. "D,H,T One, four, seven "

she repeated the same same string of numbers three or four times before she faded out of existence. Yet another reason I have more than a little trouble closing my eyes and or sleeping, I sometimes see the lingering dead, Among other things, but i'll get to those later. I picked up my cell and dialed lieutenant Dan Myers hoping he was still in at the station.

"APD Lieutenant Dan Myers speaking." He sounded tired. "Dan Its Detective Cobalt." "Hay detective hows it haingin? " "Listen Dan I need you to run a license plate number for me." "A license plate number? Arnt you off duty?" "Yea, but its important." "Is this about the Jane Doe case, This isn't one of your hunches is it?" I sighed getting a little short on patience. I lit up a smoke.

"Yea Dan it is, and before you start bitching about my hunches you better remember that my hunches are most never wrong. Now are you going to help me out or not?" "Yea yea Ryan don't get your tail in a twist sheesh. what's the number?" I told the number and wrote it down on a piece of paper as I did.

"Okay this might take a while. I'll call you back in a couple of hours with what I find." I took a deep drag and blew it out as i spoke.

"Naw man hold off on that until in the morning I am gunna hit the sack. thanks for the help." "Alright Detective no problem. Good night." "You too Lieutenant."

I hung up walking into the bathroom once more fishing the Night Quill out of the medicine cabinet. Looking at myself in the mirror again I grimaced and popped the cap off the dark green bottle.

"Bottoms up." I sighed and tipped the bottle to my lips finishing off a third of it.. I plopped down in to bed and the world faded into a chemically induced, dreamless oblivion.

1. The next morning the station was as busy as always, phones ringing off the hooks, cops running around like chickens with their heads cut off. At the front desk Angela brushed the hair out of her face and greeted me with a wan smile.

"Morning Detective." I smiled back tipping my hat. "Good morning Ange, We still on for dinner on Saturday night?" The lioness blushed, brushing the dark brown hair out of her face. She bit down on her lower lip and nodded. I grinned and winked at before turning away and walking toward my office in the far back corner . "Ryan hay, Hay Detective!" Dan walked up to me a little breathless, I turned toward the aging husky, a few doughnut crumbs and ketchup stains adorned his uniform shirt.

"Lieutenant Dan hey." He handed me a manilla folder with a few pieces of paper poking out the top.

"I found the Vehicle that matches the plate you gave me. It's a California plate that is registered to a Aurin Miller on 3313 Argyle drive in San Diego. He reported the plates missing over a week and a half ago to the S.D.P.D. We found a van with the stolen plates abandoned in a field just a few miles north of Belen. we have the CSI guys working on it now."

I nodded. "Thanks Dan, Good work. Update me if anything come up?" Dan smiled and nodded before heading back into the fray of cops. I tipped my hat and made my way back to my office. Now, lets talk about my office for a moment shall we. There comes a time in every man's life when he takes pride in something that is his. for some, its his car, for others it's there fishing pole collection. For me, Its My office. I am old fashioned sort of guy. I like things back from the old Humphrey Bogart days. The door is solid wood with a large frosted glass window. ' Detective Ryan Cobalt' Has been painstakingly hand painted on the glass. Every piece of furniture in my office is old hard wood. I take particular pride in my desk, Even with all the dings and nicks in its hardwood flesh. It brings the nostalgia of those old detective movies to life. In the corner stood an old Isolated Vintage Nineteen thirties Philco radio, complete with custom retrofitted Ipod dock. Behind my desk sat an old creaky leather chair of which I would love more than any children I should ever have, and only my rump was ever to perch upon its cracked glossy surface. I opened the door and hung my coat and fedora on the rack. I sat behind my desk and opened the laptop, Intending to do some research. Before I could even so much as turn on my computer my door swung in violently and I looked up to see, a very upset looking Chief Mary McClintock standing just inside. She is a very busty dark purple leopardess with long blood red hair. A vein bulged on her forehead and the cords in her neck stood out stark relief. Doing the whole plane cloths shtick today her white V-neck T-shirt was wrinkled and her badge was hooked on to the waistband of a pair of gray sweatpants. Her gun was slung in a shoulder rig was bulging slightly against the gray hoodie she had on over it. The growl and the nasty look on her face the only thing that made her ugly.

"What the fuck Cobalt?! I thought we had a discussion about this? Coming up with evidence in places you haven't even been to yet. How Did you know? What tipped you off about the license plate number, Who told you?" I didn't react to the tone of her voice, I just sat there calmly and put on my best cop face.

"What does it matter Chief?" I leaned back and opened the window behind me as I spoke. "Evidence is evidence is it not? Why does it matter where i got it just as long as its true?" My Zippo Clinked and I lit a cigarette.

"Because Internal Affairs is breathing down my neck Detective! I personally don't give a shit how you get you evidence, but when its starts threatening my job and the job of my best detective i am gonna start cracking down!" My expression must of faulted because she seemed to see the recognition on my face. I hadn't known it was that bad.

"That's right, they have there eyes on us, and if you don't start telling how you know things they're going to come down on the both of us like a ton of bricks." She turned guiding another officer into the room. His uniform was neat and clean and he looked nervous as hell, a thick sweat breaking out on his forehead. She practically had to shove him into the room. " This is your new partner Detective. His name tag read, Nathaniel Meyer." She swept a lock of read hair out of her face and I stood up quickly, a wave of pure anger washing over me.

"What? No! you know I work alone Mary, I won't have another partner after what happened to the last one!" She came forward growling deeply and shaking her finger at me.

"You know what Detective, that's just tough shit! you may be the glory boy of the department but if you want to keep your job you have to follow the same fucking rules as the rest of us." At that she turned around and slammed the door leaving officer Meyer in my office. I cursed loudly and flopped back down in my chair. Thankfully Meyer waited a few minutes before moving. letting me get my thoughts straightened out and my anger under control before setting a steaming cup of coffee down on my desk in front of me. First I looked at the coffee and then I looked up at him. I snorted and picked up the cup and took a small sip, my head resting on my free hand,

"I'm sorry about that. I don't normally lose my head."He nodded and took a seat on the other side of my desk.

"May I ask what happened to your last partner Detective?" I let out a long sigh. The memory of Detective Morrison still too fresh in my memory. I felt a shadow creep over my heart, not yet wanting to talk about that awful day. But Officer Myer deserved to know the truth. "He uh, took a bullet for me." At that point head started to pound. "There was a robbery in progress at one of the Seven Eleven's around the corner about five years ago. I was stupid and green and said that we should go in. He wanted to call backup but I told him we could handle it ourselves and jumped out of the car as he started protesting again. He was a better cop than me, but he followed me anyway. He never hesitated and he had my back the entire time. When we pulled open the door he went left and I went right, drawing our side arms as we did. The guy had on a ski mask and had a gun drawn on the cashier. She was pulling what little money there was in the drawer and all but throwing it on the counter in front of him. We had both our weapons trained on him and he put his pistol down on the counter and lifted his hands. The only thing we,.. Um I didn't account for was the back room. He came out with a hostage....