FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

April showers were usually spread out thin in Crossroads City. The projected first week often had the steadiest rainfall to be seen throughout the valley, while the rest of the month could be further spent enjoying spring. Not too hot, not too cold, and plenty of sunlight. As always, the weather forecasts were never wrong.

Danny's Boulevard remained open. The cafe had little customers for my roommate's workers to serve, let alone brew some lattes. I'd joined them outside my office to watch the trickling rain or glance at our phones in boredom. At that point in the early evening, as a nasty storm cloud bathed the city in a darker, wetter hue, we didn't expect any more customers for the next half-hour the place was opened.

"Looks like it's really gonna come down hard, Zack." Daniel commented behind the register. "I heard Crossroads might be getting five or six inches this week."

"That cappuccino vixen who stops by every morning doesn't count as a reliable source, Dan." I drawled in boredom as I ate dinner at an empty table nearby. Glancing out the window, I commented, "Another customer, coming this way."

Daniel straightened up his posture behind the counter. He quickly an appreciative, "Thanks."

"No problem." I turned back to look at him, curiously asking, "By the way, how's that date last night went? That retriever--Lana, right?--did she call back?"

A slight smile crept up his canine muzzle. "Sure did." He confessed. "Went really well, actually. Lana's a really smart, really charming and cute."

The feline customer burst through the door and went straight for the counter, warily looking over his shoulder until pausing at my direction. My tail and ears twitched in alert confusion. Why did the jaguar seem so familiar underneath that gray hoodie he wore?

"Zack Leander, it's been some time."

I hardly recognized the drug dealing jaguar out in broad daylight. Or outside for that matter. It was his familiar voice that gave away the normally elusive jaguar.

"Is that really you?" My eyes widened at him. "Jake the Jaguar?"

Daniel stood behind the cashier with an intrigued and surprised expression. Of course, I'd told him about the Gregory Henderson case a while back, but neither of us expected a key fur like him visiting our little café.

"Would you, uh, be interested in an order, sir?" Daniel nervously asked the jaguar.

"Sure do." He smiled back at the large canine while pilfering for a twenty in his pocket. "One small smoothie with boba please. On the bottom."

Minutes later, I escorted the drug dealer to my office and sat down behind my desk, looking at Jake for a reason to be outside his abandoned superstore where he dealt. Well, I got my reason. And a new case for me to reluctantly take.

***

Two hours later, I found myself cautiously scouring for a briefcase underneath an overpass. The reason for my adventure into the late-night concrete jungle during a rainstorm?

See, Jake the Jaguar had a genuine problem. Earlier that after, one of his...business associates had been chased by 'hoodlums' that wanted his backpack. A backpack that didn't contain drugs or illegal contraband of the sorts. It even had a combination lock connecting the two zippers together ("This is Crossroads City. One must be careful walking down the street, right?). Anyway, during the fight/chase, the desperate business associate made an opportunity to hide the backpack inside of an emptied dumpster underneath a certain overpass, and the associate managed to escape.

I asked why he couldn't pick it up? Apparently, the hoodlums were still looking for him and his business associates, so they needed somebody to grab the backpack and deliver it to the J-Mart where they operated. Or at least, a place close enough to the J-Mart to drop off.

I almost rightfully refused. Whatever was in that backpack wasn't worth the punishment if a policeman caught me with it. Best case scenario: losing my private detective license. Worst case scenario: take the fall for the items in it and get sent to prison. Yeah, I almost refused on principle. However, Jake managed to change my mind after offering a $1,000 deposit.

Who knows, maybe the backpack's content is a rare dildo made of hemp?

After getting Daniel to drop me off near the spot, I made my way under glaring streetlights. The wind and rain wasn't terrible enough for me to bring an umbrella, but at the same time, I couldn't stop thanking the Saint Bernard for reminding me to bring a flashlight.

Crossroads City certainly had a homeless problem like any metropolis. Comparing it to the likes of Las Estrellas or Manhattan City would be the overstatement of the current century though. From what I'd gathered in official statistics and word on the street, those who couldn't afford a permanent home yet didn't trust either moving out of the city or into a nearby homeless shelter would likely be found under Highway 44 leading south.

"Try not to get mugged, okay?" Daniel joked before dropping me off.

"And try not to get in a crash, Dan." I joked, returning his smirk back. "I'm definitely gonna owe you one for this..."

"You sure are, Zack."

The Highway 44 overpass reminded me of Hoovervilles from textbooks about the Great Depression; old tents and cardboard boxes of ridiculous width served as shelter from the cold. No furs could be found, meaning they were either inside them, or out of sight. I had to be careful traversing through the haphazard maze. Just because I didn't have anything against homeless furs (Hell, I helped a few in the past), it didn't mean I wouldn't be watchful of my surroundings.

Low and behold, inside the graffiti-laden dumpster bin that Jake described to me, I found the backpack. It wasn't as heavy as I expected, but I dared not to question what was inside. Daniel said he'd pick me up from the abandoned J-Mart, insisting I not bring the backpack into his car, but he did promise to keep in touch once he got there.

Well, by the time I got there, unblinking as I went around the back to place the backpack against a conveniently opened door, I waved to the pair of blinking eyes coming from the darkness. A paw snatched the bag inside, followed by Jake stepping forward to hand me an enclosed envelope. It definitely felt heavy.

"This better not make you think I'll launder your money." I warned him, pocketing it into my jacket. "This was a one-time thing too."

"Of course, Mr. Leander," he grumbled, then paused to say, "and by the way...thank you."

"Just doing the job." I waved back before going to the car. I sighed before getting in, "I got to update my terms of service for clients to be honest with me..."