FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Nodding up and down across the counter behind the register, I pretended to be invested in the doe's sordid detail about going to the doctor as I counted her change, all as I counted down the minutes before Marissa returned from her thirty-minute lunch break. Normally, I didn't volunteer to take over for Daniel's employee's breaks but given the fact that one of his baristas quit the day before without any warning, the St. Bernard somehow convinced me otherwise. It also didn't help my case though that my schedule was cleared out ever since I finished my previous case: a Mormon she-wolf that lived deep in the dry suburbs of Crossroads City, who wanted to know if her son-in-law remained faithful to his wife, the she-wolf's daughter.

Going in, I expected it to be yet another infidelity case with nothing different to expect. Boy, I was wrong. After performing a quick search on social media and discovering that the son-in-law and his wife had secret AD accounts the she-wolf didn't know about, I found out the truth. They were just in an open marriage. Simple as that. The son-in-law especially preferred for his hookups to be with exotic species like dragons--male or female. In the end, managed to get access to their private--yet public, by definition--photographs on social media by creating a fake profile of some hunky reptilian from Germany, which really turned on the husband. Because dragons.

Even with such personal knowledge, I decided not to lie to my client. I got paid, she learned the truth that he was not cheating on her daughter, end of story, right?

Well... BANG!

The front door to the café burst open and two canines glared daggers at me, ignoring the gasps and confused scowls directed at them from Danny's customers.

"You!" the male wolf pointed at me.

I raised a quizzical eyebrow, "Me?" as they skipped in front of the line. "Uh, listen, you're going to have to wait in line lik--"

My feline instincts warned me to duck, so I did, right as the middle-aged canine thrust his fist over the register to where my muzzle was seconds before. When I looked over the counter, I relaxed at the sight of his wife and a nearby Doberman holding him back.

He calmed down, only to shout at me, "You told my mother-in-law about what me and my wife do! Now she and the rest of our relatives are hounding at us!"

I saw one of the baristas quietly slip around them to snatch Daniel in his main office around the corner, while the rest tried to pretend to do the rest of their jobs. Marissa included, who took over the register for me while avoiding eye contact with me or the two wolves. Nobody could blame her for that.

"Mr. and Mrs. Devens, I assure you I was just going my job," I raised my paws to them across the counter. "I didn't mean any harm. If you want to talk, we can go out--"

"Fuck no!" he seethed angrily, "You think you can just screw over me and my wife, and walk away?"

Um...yes, I could. Legally, I could. It wasn't my problem. However, I dared not to mention it aloud. Meanwhile, Mrs. Devens said something to her husband before trying to get around the counter to reach me. Thank God that was when Daniel emerged from around the corner to block her path.

"I demand to speak to your manager--"

"I am the manager," he interrupted her like a true boss, much to Mrs. Deven's fuming silence. "You're disrupting business here, so either wait in line for some coffee, or kindly get the fuck out before the police get here..."

At that point, I made a small reminder for myself to I also quietly mused at the idea of the she-wolf would soon be steaming from her ears, like her hapless husband crossing his arms beside her. She seemed ready to squeeze past him any moment to grab ahold of me.

"You're a sick fucking bastard, you know that?" she growled at me like a madwoman, her claws digging into her sides. "You're a sick fuck for spying on us! You broke in--"

"I didn't spy on you or your husband," I groaned, trying my best to ignore the surrounding eyes of everybody. "You let me join you on your private after-dark account, giving me permission to see what you posted to your followers. No laws were broken."

A sliver of bravery crept into me, as I looked directly at the couple.

"If I were you, I wouldn't have posted those pictures on an account that was so easy for me to find," I told them off, "You used your names, your photos and you easily let me follow you and see what you and your husband did in your spare time. Sooner or later, somebody would have told your relatives."

Mr. Devens had none of it, still trying to get past Daniel's large form, "We're gonna sue you for fucking--"

"Hey!" I interrupted them and hissed, "I was just doing my job! I didn't legally hire a P.I. to legally search the Internet for something both of you posted onto social media!"

Somebody besides the baristas or Daniel must've called the police, because a cop car suddenly pulled up on the street beside the café, and an officer appeared through the door. He was a muscular, easy-going tiger with the deepest of green eyes.

It didn't take long for the officer to question Daniel, me and the Devens what happened, and when they tried to weasel out of their predicament by claiming that nothing happened, Daniel was quick to point out he had a security camera on the ceiling. To make a long story short, they left the café without any more fuss and I decided not to charge them with attempted assault, but Daniel did take the opportunity to gain another dedicated customer after Officer Owens asked for a good cappuccino. I did too when he asked if I was available for consulting on an open case of his. Safe to say, I accepted after seeing two things in my field of vision: a handsome smile and dollar signs.