# The Adventures of Travis McQuinn: The case of the Cub Snatcher

Author: Robin L Tinderfox
Tags: Abduction, Canine, No-Yiff, Plot Development, Series, Story Series, Wolf

#1 of The adventures of Travis McQuinn

"Crap, I'm gonna be late!" I thought to myself as I ran out the door of my apartment complex,  
  
with a burnt, slice of toast hanging in my muzzle. I glanced at my watch, 9:34 A.M. read the  
  
digital numbers,  
  
"Alright, I was suppose to be there at 9:30 A.M. on the dot, but no one will care that much  
  
right?" I asked myself, taking a bite of toast. I ran as past as my legs could carry me,  
  
passing people, who glanced at the me. "It's alright, just your average wolf late... again!" The  
  
thought was so random I just had to smile at it.  
  
I passed a building with the side almost completely covered in missing children reports. I  
  
nearly stopped to read them, hoping that some of them would of been taken down, a sign  
  
that the child was found, but knew already that the flyers were all there. I sprinted down a  
  
couple more block and finally stopped at a large, red-bricked, building. I sighed to myself and  
  
checked my watch again, 9:47 A.M. not bad, guess all that time on the high school track team really  
  
did pay off.  
  
A sign on the door read: Now hiring Private Investigator, please ask the main desk for more info.  
  

  Times are 8:30 - 9:30.  
  
"Well, here goes nothing." I said outloud as I stepped through the door.  
  
The lobby of the place was small with a few hallways leading here and there, at a small  
  
desk, in the middle of the room sat a rabbit. She seemed preoccupied with filing her claws  
  
and didn't notice me. Walking up to her I felt my stomach tense up and started to get  
  
nervous. Upon reaching her desk, she looked up at me.  
  
"Excuse me sir, can I help you?" Her voice was delicate, yet had authority in it.  
  
"Yes, I was wondering about that job applacation for a private eye." She looked at me  
  
then at a foldier on her desk, on a bit of tape, in sharpie had a name written on it, my name,  
  
Travis McQuinn, in big letters.  
  
"Well, you're abit late for the interview but I can check and see if the boss will see you."  
  
"Alright, thanks." I was surprised by how calm I sounded, I knew I needed this job, or I  
  
might not be able to pay the rent. I was perfectly qualified to be a Private Eye, I had high  
  
marks and everything... but who would hire someone that is late for the job. I thrusted this  
  

  thought out of my head. "It's going to be alright, I bet a lot of people show up late for there  
  
interview and get hired."  
  
I stood there for a few minutes and when my legs started to ache I went over and sat in  
  
one of the leather chairs, in the corner of the lobby. The wait seemed like an hour as different  
  
people walked in and out of the building, a fox, horse, and a few rabbits all walked in and out  
  
of the building before the rabbit behind the desk called my name.  
  
"Mr. McQuinn, this must be your lucky day, he will see you now." My heart seemed to jump in my  
  
chest but I didn't let my excitement show, I walked up to the desk and the rabbit, her name  
  
tag said Arlene Sanders, gave me directions to the boss's office.  
  
I took a left and walked down a long hallway before reaching the boss's office, opening  
  
the door, I stepped into a cloud of cigar smoke. Coughing, I waved the smoke away, The  
  
office was pretty neat, considering what the lobby looked like. The boss's office was large  
  
and had awards, documents, pictures of everykind posted on each wall. behind an nice  
  

  looking desk sat a pudgy, bulldog, with a cigar in his mouth, his eyes were closed and I  
  
thought he was sleeping, but he soon opened then when I came into the room.  
  
"Please, have a seat." He pointed to a seat of swivel chairs placed infront of the desk.  
  
As I sat, he puffed on his cigar, finally, after a few seconds of puffing, he said,  
  
"So, you wanna be a private eye?" I didn't answear, I was still coughing abit from the  
  
cigar smoke. "Yes." I managed to choke out between coughs.  
  
"Well, kid, I looked at your record and you seem to me to be pretty good. High honors,  
  
good grades in school, everything. Just tell me this. Why do you want to be a Private Investigator?"  
  
The question struck me as odd " It's because I want to make a difference in peoples lives, I  
  
want to help people." The bulldog, puffed some more. "Well... alright, here's the deal, we are  
  
low on the Private Investigators and since you do have high marks, I'll give you the job." I  
  
couldn't believe what I was hearing, it coulnd't be that easy. "But"- he continued- "But if you  
  

  screw up, I assure you, the first, and last, thing comming out of my mouth towards you  
  
are 'your fired' do you understand?" I nodded my head. "Good! Start tommarow at 8:00 A.M.  
  
Oh and... do be on time, okay?" I nooded my head again. "Okay.... you can leave now."  
  
I shot up from my seat and walked out of the boss's office, past Arlene and out the door, as  
  
soon as I heard the doors close behind me I jumped for joy, tail wagging and head held high.  
  
At the moment, I didn't care about the people passing by, or the fact that Arlene was staring  
  
at me funny from the glass doors, I finally had a job and I could finally pay the bills!  
  
The next day.  
  
"Your office is right through here Mr. McQuinn." Arlene said as she led me  
  
down a hallway and into a small room. The door had some sort of plastic on it that  
  
made everything blurry if you looked through the window and my name was on the  
  
door Travis Mquinn "Sorry about the misspell, we'll have someone fix that later on."  
  
Arlene continued. I walked into the office, MY office with a spring in my step,  
  

  althought I am usually someone who dosn't freak out that much, I was barely  
  
keeping my tail from wagging a mile a minute.  
  
"Okay, thanks, Arlene." I said, still taking in the room, it was small office, a  
  
nice woody aroma came off the walls and the floor, like the rest of the building,  
  
had a nice, hard wood floor. It seemed simple enough, one desk, two chairs, two  
  
windows, in the back of the room.  
  
"You can fill this room with whatever you want, as long as Mr. Bullman  
  
approves." Mr. Bullman, was the boss. "Well, anyways, I have to go back to my  
  
desk, if there is anything you need don't hesitate to ask." she turned and left, her  
  
heels making clicking noises as she walked down the hall. I sat behind my desk  
  
and gazed about, thinking of where to put what, when there was a knock at the  
  
door.  
  
"Come in." I said, a hint of excitement in my voice. The door opened and in  
  
walked Mr. Bullman, he held something behind his back. "Hi, Mr. Bullman. What  
  
do you have there?" I asked, easing back into my new chair.  
  
"Well, as the boss of this joint, I get to do my favorite job, making someone an  
  

  official Private Eye by giving them this." He placed what was behind his back on  
  
my desk and slid it over to me. At first it looked like a wallet but when I opened it,  
  
the first thing that caught my eye was the big, shiny, P.I. badge, with my name  
  
engraved on the top.  
  
"Wow, thanks, Mr. Bullman, this is great!" I could barely contain my  
  
excitment. "It's alright, Travis, oh and just so you know, you'll need to take the gun  
  
course if you want to have a firearm." I nodded my head and we said our good  
  
byes and he left, I sat down in MY chair, I couldn't believe it, a small tear was in  
  
my eye.  
  
"If only you could see me now, Jenny." I muttured to myself, leaning back, staring up at the ceiling  
  
thinking about Jenny.  
  
When I had been a cub, I was mean, restless, angry with everything, I lived in a broken down house  
  
on the north east side of town. When I was fifthteen I join a small gang of people. The "Outcast" as we  
  
called ourselves were nobodies that had been thrown out by society, had given up on themselves, been  
  
in one too many fights, or whatever your excuse was to wear crappy jeans and a leather jacket with a  
  

  wolf skull on the back. When I was sixteen me and a group of guys mugged a fox that was walking  
  
home from school. She was so little, must of been fourteen maybe less.  
  
we had encircled her like a pack of feral wolves, now that I look back at it I believe a few of them  
  
where feral, I was in the back and didn't see, no didn't want to see, what they did to her but I saw the  
  
aftermath, a beutifull fox battered and bloody from where some of the guys had punched her when she  
  
didn't give them her back pack  
  
Her nose had been broken and her back pack was torn to shreds, the contents of the backpack  
  
spilt all over the sidewalk. All the guys had run. All but me, I stood there and watched her, a few times  
  
she tried to get up but her leg had been stomped on hard enough to fracture it. and she crawled  
  
towards her back pack. Finally, after watching her try to search through her back pack for something, I  
  
walked over and helped her. She flinched when I got close but relaxed after I made it clear that I didn't  
  
mean her no harm. After a minute of searching I found her cell phone, her eyes widened, apparently  
  

  that was what she was looking for.  
  
I knew if I gave her that phone I was probably going to go to jail but after what they did, I probably  
  
deserved as much. Giving her the phone I watched, I was afraid, I could smell the fear comming off of  
  
me as she dialed 911. I could hear a muffled voice then she spoke.  
  
"I've just been mugged, they beat me up and I think my leg is broken." Her voice was sad, she was  
  
breathing in short breaths, but also beutifull, just like the rest of her. the fur around her face was a solid  
  
red, except for some white under her chin, her school uniform was ripped around her arms, shoving  
  
more of that solid red.  
  
She had just finished her 911 call when she turned to me. "You better get out of here before they  
  
get here." I stared at her for a second, trying to process what she just said in my mind before I got up  
  
and left.  
  
Several days later, I visited her in the hospital, I had left the gang, after what had happened I couldn't  
  
look at them anymore. I still wore my jacket, which brought some distrust among the hospital staff but  
  

  none said anything, just pointed me to her room.  
  
When I entered the room, I saw her, she was wearing a hospital robe and had some bandages on  
  
her left foot. She was sleeping, I sat down in the chair next to her, wishing she was awake so that I  
  
could tell her that I was sorry or something, anything! Instead I sat up and left my leather jacket on the  
  
chair, hoping she'll know who it was from and what it meant.I walked out of the hospital, holding back  
  
tears, not saying anything to anyone. I went back to my home, slamming the door and wishing I could  
  
do something to show her that I was truly sorry.  
  
A knock on my office door, awoke me from my memories, as a Bloodhound entered my office.  
  
"Sorry to wake ya, just here to fix your name on the door."  
  
"Okay, thanks." I rubbed my eyes, to my surprise I had cried abit. I turned my head away quckly so  
  
the Bloodhound, a name tag pinned to his jacket said Otis, wouldn't see my tears and ask why I was  
  
crying. I looked out the window, Jennie's memory still in my mind,  
  
"If only you could see me now, Jennie.... if only."

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/dePgWGk1
Part of the series The adventures of Travis McQuinn
Next: https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/93872-the-adventures-of-travis-mcquinn-the-case-of-the-cub-snatcher-part-2.md