FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

1

Tyrus MacIntosh gnaws on the eraser of his pencil. The sour taste should tell him to stop but he feels the need to. Who wouldn't? After losing two friends in one night, Ty has turned into a complete train wreck. He couldn't sleep in his room last night. He could still smell Titus' blood from two days prior. Ty settled for the couch instead.

As for why he would be sitting in his math class after a hurricane doesn't make sense. Cal told him that it might take his mind off his friends. For once, Detective Madala was wrong.

Beside the wolf are two empty seats. On his immediate right is where Titus used to sit with Raquel on his right. Now, both are bare and this new change is noticed by everyone. All Ty hears about in the hallway is about the fox who killed himself in the storm.

"Hey, isn't that Titus' friend?"

"Yeah, the fox that killed himself two days ago."

"You think Ty might do the same? Join his friend?"

"I think that Raquel girl killed him and ran away."

Most are from those who went to the party; but in high school, rumors spread like wildfire. One minute, it's a secret between you and me and the next, it's everybody's business.

Ty couldn't even eat during lunch. On his tray sat one of his favorites: Mashed-Potato-Monday. It wasn't its real name, but it was fitting. Alongside the potatoes were a cup of cubed fruit, a carton of milk, and a small cookie that he snuck from home.

But today, he does not feel like eating. He takes his tray and sets it on top of the trash bin, thinking someone else will come along and take it. He looks outside where the sun is in the sky yet it is semi-overcast. Maybe that's it, he thinks. I just need a change in scenery. What he needs is to be alone.

Without looking back at those who are staring at him, he grabs his bookbag and heads outside. He walks around the side of the building. Attached to one of the walls is an old fire escape for those on the second floor. Some of the bars are rusty and are on the brink of collapse. Students have been warned to stay away from it as it could be dangerous. Last Ty has heard; it's being taken down next month in exchange for another.

Curious, and mostly eager to get away from everything, Ty grips onto the bottom rung of the ladder that leads to the first platform. It holds. He pulls himself up and grabs onto the next rung. Up, up, and up until he reaches the bottom platform. Other than a door to the inside, a set of stairs leads to a second platform. From here, he is one story off the ground. He can mostly see the student parking lot; a variety of colors just below his feet. From here, he can breathe a little easier.

If Tyrus looks up, the wolf can see small bits of light through the floor. All his life, he's been fascinated with heights. His mom always said that it was because he likes the way the wind brushes through his fur. In the deep part of his mind, he knows that he should be getting back to class as it starts any minute.

His feet go for the stairs instead and he climbs up. The world up here is even more different. Ty has a better view of the suburbs at this height. Similar two-story buildings that are a bit scratched up.

He closes his eyes and lets the breeze take away all the memories of the past three days.

"No fair!" A voice comes from nowhere. "I had a few tens!"

"Too bad; queens beat tens," another person says. This one sounds cocky. Ty looks around to search for who is making the voices. No one is down below in the parking lot. "Whatever, are you going to set up another game or not?"

It's coming from above.

Ty wedges his feet in between the bricks on the wall and pulls an inch to see if it will hold. It does. He heaves himself up, grabbing onto the concrete roof. Dust and pebbles gather onto his paws, digging into his fur as he pulls one leg over the side. Once he's on the roof, he sees a wide expanse of bright grey that is the top of the school.

A few furs sit on the ground with a deck of cards out and a pile of food sitting next to it. Perhaps they are gamblers, Ty thinks. The fur that sits in the middle, a skunk with a white stripe running up her muzzle past her head, looks up from her hand first and locks eyes with Ty. He knows exactly who she is the second she sees her grey eyes.

"Missy?" he asks.

She shyly waves. "Oh... hey, Tyrus." She chuckles nervously as if she admitted to shoplifting. Her friends, or fellow gamers, are a panda bear in a neon purple shirt and a white shepherd wearing a peace pendant and a tie-dye shirt.

Tyrus MacIntosh steps a little closer to them. "Missy, what are you doing up here?" Another question would be how did she get up here? The fire escape, duh.

"Oh, just... you know, playing cards with my friends." She gestures to the Bicycle cards. "What are you doing up here?"

He could just lie to her. Just because she's only fourteen and a freshman doesn't mean she needs to know everything. Then again, they've been friends for years. With a sigh, Ty answers, "I needed to get away from everything. With the whole Titus and Raquel deal going on-"

"Right! I heard Titus killed himself," Missy says. "Poor thing; his parents must be devastated." Tyrus doesn't know. His old mother might have liked it, judging by her love of suicide.

The wolf kicks a pebble around on the roof. "Are you always up here?"

Missy shakes her head. "No. We mostly like to skip study hall together. We can't take any more of Mrs. Gradstein and her excessive use of makeup." All three of them shudder. Ty tries not to picture that overweight weasel in makeup. He doesn't need to puke any further.

"So..." Ty gulps. He cannot tell why he's fidgety around Missy. It's only her new friends, he thinks. "Aren't you going to introduce me?"

The skunk smacks herself in the head. "Of course! Where are my manners? Tyrus, this is Braden and that's Joshua." She points to the shepherd and panda respectively. "Want to join us in a final game? We still have ten more minutes."

It was the first time that Ty wasn't talked to about Titus. He was being accepted into a group where he can be himself. What was he thinking about throwing the whole hurricane party? The only friends he needed were always near him.

The wolf smiled. "Sure. I'd love to." He took a seat across from Missy as she dealt some cards out.

2

On a different end of town, Cal sits out in his front porch, waiting for his mate to return home. In his paw in a steaming mug of coffee to wake him up. It's a cold Monday afternoon. Hurricane Sarah has hardly done any damage to Cal and Ren's property other than minor damage that can easily be repaired.

All the bear can think about is his promise to Ty. Even if he hadn't, he still wants to know the whole truth. Why would Titus Bremner kill himself? And right when he has hooked up with the girl of his dreams?

A smart place to start would be in Titus' bedroom. The fox could have hidden something even from his friends. He makes a note on his phone to visit his adopted parents later today. First, Ren deserved to know Titus' fate. After all, Titus loved Ren just as much as he loved Cal.

Then there is the case of Raquel's disappearance. For all Cal know, her being missing and Titus' suicide could be connected. Had to be connected. There's no way two big things like that happen in one night, at the same place and time even, without there being some kind of link between the two. Obviously Cal knows that this will be something himself, his co-workers, and even the police will be talking about for a long time.

Most detectives have partners. With his intense I.Q. and reasonable logic, Cal works alone. Plus, Ren is a member of Mensa; so, in more ways than one, Ren is his partner.

There's also the deal with that news 'yote. What was her name? Nancy? No, she preferred her nickname. CeCe, she said. She claimed to have been living in Mayville for several days yet she decides to come out of the shadows right when someone in town killed themselves? It's the last thing Cal needs; for some random person from nowhere to show up and exploit the lives of those lost.

Maybe it's because this suicide is more personal that Cal cringes more on the inside when someone brings up Titus' name. He already knows he's not going to trust that news lady. Not with a single bone in his fat body.

Another thing that has crossed his mind is Titus' real mom, Sheryll. As much as he hates to admit it, she might be able to help in some way. She was studying suicide before causing the Massacre that got her locked up. Though Cal knows most common reasons for wanting to one's self (depression being a big one), Sheryll dug deeper into the mind for more specific reasons. The first victim of the Massacre wanted to die because his dad wouldn't stop doing drugs that resulted in brutal beatings. Sheryll thought that if there was a common element that tied these reasons together, she could help prevent suicides everywhere.

Her being locked up proves that she had failed.

Up the street, Cal can see a black Saab 900 Turbo slowing down as it gets closer. He gets up as soon as he sees who's in the front seat. Ren takes the keys out of the ignition and rushes out to greet Cal at the top step. They tightly embrace each other, digging their noses into each other's shoulder to remember their scent.

"I've missed you a lot," Ren mumbles in his ear.

Cal replies, "I've missed you too." For a tease, he licks the black fox on the nose. Ren nuzzles him on the cheek and kisses him on the maw. "Hey, let's get your bags unpacked before we get affectionate, okay?"

"That's fine." Ren only had two suitcases but they were both heavy. Once Cal sets the one he carried down near the bedroom door, he can hear the familiar sound of grumbling in his midsection. "Hungry?" Ren asks. The bear nods.

Cal takes a seat at the island. Though his stomach aches for food, his head to tell Ren everything that has happened. "What are you in the mood for, hun?" his fox companion asks.

"Something that will take a while to make." Because I have a lot to tell you.

3

Ren keeps his ears in Cal's direction as he spills what he knows. Behind him, the convection oven whirrs to life. Sarah passed through Mayville for a whole day, that much they both knew. Ren's interest truly peaks when Cal starts talking about a party at Tyrus' house. "His parents were away for the weekend. He figured that a category one wasn't going to stop him from having a good time." Ren notices Cal's fingers fidgeting on the table.

He continues. "Yesterday morning, I got a call from Ty himself pleading for me to come over. He sounded frantic. I rushed over to his house right away and found him on his knees outside his bedroom door."

The hair on the back of his neck stands up when Cal pauses to rub his eyes, which threaten tears. Ren leans across the counter. "What did you see?" he asks, expression more of concern than of curiosity.

Cal chokes back a sob, the fur on his cheeks dampen as water flows from his eyes. From the sound of it, it sounds like he forces his words out. "Titus..." He sniffles. "I found Titus in Ty's bed..." Ren's own eyes begin to tingle, watering up at the sight of his mate - husband - crying. Whatever he saw must have been horrible.

"...Dead." Cal whispers the last word as if he doesn't want to believe it. Out of all the words that could have come out, Ren was hoping this one wouldn't be it.

"Are you sure?" he asks with false hope.

Cal nods. "He slit his throat. I didn't want to believe it, but then I saw the knife in his paw and..." He doesn't finish. He doesn't need to. Ren understands completely. "You know that Raquel girl?" Ren nods this time. "She's gone. Me and Ty filed a missing report this morning before I took him to school. What is she's dead too?"

"Hun, I need you to calm down." Ren grips him by the shoulders and looks into his eyes. Cal has dealt with suicide before, he knew this. But this one hurts a lot more. Ren remembers when Titus would come over because of his abrasive parents. The same hurt in his eyes then are in Cal's now.

He waits until the bear's breathing slows down before continuing. "Titus was a good kid. Right now, he's probably looking down on us, begging for us to move on. Isn't that what he would do?"

"Yeah." Ren wipes away any tears. "He would do that. All he's ever cared about was other people's feelings."

Ren takes a seat next to him, resting his head on his shoulder. "Would talking to his parents make you feel any better?" It could help him get some closure, he thought. Cal moans softly as he starts rubbing his back.

"Yes. It would." The oven goes off.

4

By the time Cal's stomach is full to the point of bursting, CeCe Cartwright is already up and about the town. Her job technically doesn't start until Friday, four days from now. Though the Titus suicide would make a great story, she first thinks to head downtown where the mayor has set up a voluntary clean-up of the city.

City Hall towers over most of the buildings in Mayville. CeCe steps over the debris on the ground; scattered papers, shredded leaves, and chucks of grass, dirt, and rock. The sky is light yet no sun appears through the foggy clouds. Everywhere, people mill about; sweeping up sidewalks, throwing away trash. It's amazing how a small town like this comes together so quickly. Although she can see a little resistance in the younger ones. A couple fox and wolf cubs chase each other around as their parents do the heavy work.

One bear cub blindly knocks into her leg. She looks down at him. "I'm sowwy!" the little bear says. His fur is snowy white, mostly covered by a blue coat and black jeans. He also bears sunglasses on his muzzle and he doesn't appear to be looking directly at her.

"Dylan, what are you doing?" An older polar bear scoops up the cub in his paws. This one wears a sports jacket with his name in cursive near his chest. Brian. "I'm so sorry," he says to her, "Dylan rarely gets to go outside and he hardly watches where he goes."

"Hey!" the cub squeaks. "I'm blind!"

CeCe giggles. "It's no trouble, really." Feeling compelled, she offers a paw. "I'm Nancy."

"Brian." Her paw disappears in his as he shakes it. She looks into his eyes as he does hers, as if searching for something. "Are you that newspaper woman? I think a few of my friends noticed you yesterday."

Tyrus' house party, Nancy recalls. Someone might have saw her when the ambulance came to take Titus away. "That would be me," she says. "I'm the new junior editor for the Mayville Press." She finds herself saying that to everyone lately. It feels more right that way.

Brian sets Dylan down on the ground. "You go back to mom and dad." He gently nudges him in the right direction. The elder polar bear couple stands just a few yards away so Dylan reaches them easily.

Once she's sure no one is listening, CeCe asks, "You were there at that party, weren't you?"

"Sorry ma'am." Brian holds up a paw. "I don't talk to the press."

"I get it. Nobody really does." She doesn't know why, but she finds herself starting to pick up debris on the ground alongside Brian. The concrete is wet and sticky, which makes it harder to grab paper. "I just wanted to know what happened that day is all. The only person I've really talked to was this brown bear detective who was at the scene."

Brian stops for a second. "Why were you there in the first place?" Worry is in his voice. As a reporter, Nancy knows how to detect little signs like that.

"Because whenever I see a potential story, I chase it," she answers honestly. She launches into a full story about how she heard sirens and came rushing to see what the excitement was about. "What really pulled me into this town was something that happened last year."

"The Suicide Massacre?" Brian doesn't look at her directly. CeCe nods. He takes a breather. "Yeah, everyone in this town knows about that. Everyone had no idea what to think or do. Teens were killing themselves off every day. One of the worst ones was my girlfriend, she hurled herself off her roof because her legs were paralyzed. She couldn't deal with the pain anymore." She can see Brian starting to tear up.

She rests a reassuring paw on his arm. "Believe me, I've seen some crazy shit too. I come from a family of drug addicts. It's one of the main reasons why I chose to move here. And you know what? Even though I've only been here a day, I can see how awesome this town is. Look around us."

CeCe waves her paw behind them. Brian turns to see the other residents working together. For any large branches that fell, some of the stronger species (huskies, bears, and tigers) help one another out. Little mice give each other a hand sweeping up the sidewalks. A few jaguars race up and down the streets, handing bottles of water of small bags of food out to everyone, seeing as the clock keeps ticking closer to noon; lunchtime.

Beautiful, she thinks, how one event ties so many people together.

Like a true community.

"I see your point," Brian says. "This is how most small towns are. When one thing happens, everybody knows within minutes and we're suddenly there for each other." If only the same words rang true for the fox who killed himself two days ago.

CeCe tries to push again. "Are you sure you don't know anything about that Titus boy?" she asks.

Once again, Brian shakes his head. "Sorry, I'm still not comfortable talking about it right now. I can still see the way he was lying on the bed like he was frozen."

"Again, I understand. If you ever want to talk, though, I live on the south end of town in a house with all the boxes inside of it." The two hardly speak after that.

5

For two hours, CeCe helps the town clean up. The easy part was getting most of the garbage off the streets. A bigger problem lies within most of the houses of Mayville, whose sidings and gutters were ripped off and strewn across yards. A couple live powerlines also run in the streets. Those who are more electrical engineered take care of that problem, shutting off the electricity for the day to lessen the danger.

As the city goes dark for the day, another kind of blackness stirs within Mayville. It lurks in the shadows, hiding amongst its citizens. Thumbs tap away at the keyboard on their phone and it hits send.

Last one, it thinks. Either he'll finally take the hint or he won't and everything will be just fine. It's a risk to taunt the one who can put it in jail, but it knows things will be fine.

That detective won't be able to track me down.

_ _

6

Cal decides to take a stroll to Titus' house instead of drive. The fresh air gives him something to think about other than seeing the fox's body. He passes a few strangers picking up garbage or sawing up large tree branches for potential firewood. Out of politeness, he acknowledges them with a nod. They wave back.

Around the corner and down the street several hundred yards stands a green, two-story house with tinted windows and a rose bush on the front lawn. Cal hops up the only step on the porch and rings the doorbell. A sky-blue husky with a slender frame and a pierced ear answers. "Cal," she says, "it's good to see you again."

She looks up and down, taking in every detail of his outfit; a casual buttoned shirt which strains against his sizable stomach, and blue jeans. "Vanessa," Cal acknowledges. He can tell by the way she sniffles and rubs her eyes that she's been crying. "Did you hear about what happened?"

"That my son killed himself?" She waves a paw in her face dramatically. "I still have trouble believing it."

"May I come in Mrs. Fletcher?"

"Of course!" She moves out of the way and he steps inside what appears to be a den. A dirty, hard-wood floor covers the room. The sounds of a pre-recorded football game come from the room next to him. "George! That detective bear is here!"

"The fat one?"

"Yes!" Cal blushes, though he refuses to be ashamed of his look. Bears tend to put on a little extra weight.

The TV clicks off and out of the room comes a taller husky with black fur, a buff chest, and thicker arms. He wears a cameo tank top with khaki shorts. His bitten ear, in addition to the dog tags that hang around his neck, shows how much he's toughened up in the military. "What in the world are you doing here?" George asks. His voice is low; bass-low. Lower than Ren's voice (and even that is _miles_deep). George doesn't particularly like Cal or Ren. Not because of sexuality, but because of the whole mess with adopting Titus.

"I came by to see how you guys were holding up," the bear answers. Which is not technically a lie. "Titus was as meaningful to me as he was to you guys."

"We're managing," Vanessa responds. "It's still sad to see him go." George wraps an arm around her as she tips on the verge of crying again. So many tears in so little time. "I just wish I knew why he would take his own life."

"That's another reason why I came over." George grunts at Cal's confession yet he lets him continue. "I was asked by several people to find out why. Is it okay if I look around in his room?"

Vanessa nods. "It's upstairs, the door at the end of the hall." Cal climbs up the steep steps as he hears George discuss with his wife about why it was a bad idea to let him up there. Ever since he met these two, he liked Vanessa, but something about her husband that seemed... off. Maybe it's all the spite towards him and Ren despite still getting Titus under his roof.

Upstairs is a very small space. The hallway only has two rooms. One on the immediate left is the bathroom, which a peek inside reveals a rusty sink and a dirty bath. No one must have cleaned it in a while. The other door opens to be a small bedroom. A large bed takes up the corner with a couch sitting right across from it. A pile of dirty laundry sits next to a closet door, reeking of sweat and dirt.

Think, Cal says to himself, if I was Titus, where would I hide my secrets? Probably under my pillow but the only thing under his are dust bunnies. He rummages through his old pants pockets thinking a note would be inside. No luck there.

By the time ten minutes have gone by, he starts to get worried. Surely, George will want Cal out of the house sooner rather than later. The detective picks up one of the pillows again, stuffing his paw in the case. Upon coming up short, he's about to give up when he notices a slight groove in the headboard. A hole the size of his finger near the edge that makes it appear as a shelf. Cal pokes through it and lifts.

Dust flies out as a secret compartment in his bed is opened. Cal coughs. Inside, the size of this container looks about big enough to store his entire leg. The only things inside are books yet the glisten in the light as Cal takes one out to observe closer. Across the top of the one he's chosen is a single word engraved in golden cursive.

Junior.

Another one says Freshman across the top.

Titus' diaries? It makes sense. His mother studied psychology; what better mind to learn about than her own son?

For now, Cal takes the blue one that says "Junior" and the black book that says "Senior". Vanessa and George might not know about these. To be safe, Cal opens a window, the freshly cut grass of the front lawn lies below. He carefully holds one book out over the edge and drops it. It lands on the grass with a small thud. He does the same with the other. Hopefully, his parents won't notice that anything is amiss.

Cal closes the secret container and hides it with the pillows before heading back downstairs. Vanessa and George sit cuddled up on the couch, watching some action movie Cal doesn't recognize. "I'm heading home now!" he calls out to them, not glancing their way.

"Come again soon!" Vanessa shouts.

Detective Madala slips out the door. Before he heads to the sidewalk, he traces around the side of the house until he finds the books lying on the ground. He brushes the grass of with the side of his hand and walks off towards his house.

Most of the way back, his mind floods with several thoughts. Does this count as stealing? No, he scolds himself. Titus would want me to have them out of all people. Anything that are written in these surely he would've told me or Ren at some point, right?

_ _ Cal walks back into his house, heading into the kitchen to set the books on the counter. He hears the TV clicking off and footsteps. Ren comes in wearing a cameo t-shirt and black shorts. "How did it go?" he asks.

"I'm pretty sure George still hates our guts," Cal says. "Vanessa's doing okay, at least." Ren smiles. Cal tries to return his, but can't seem to take his mind off his find.

Ren tilts his head, smile temporarily gone. "Everything okay, hun?"

The bear leans across the counter, his belly pressing against it. "I discovered something." He rests a paw on the blue and black journals/diaries or whatever they're called these days. "As it turns out, we don't know Titus as well as we thought we did. I found these in a secret compartment under his bed."

Ren picks up the "Senior" book and skims through the first few pages. "Doesn't this seem like an invasion of privacy?" he asks with a hint of concern in his voice.

"I know, I know." Cal rubs his face, more out of frustration than guilt. "But I need to know why Titus would kill himself. Besides, we have the right to read these as much as they do; Titus entrusted us with pretty much everything."

"Not everything, though, if he kept these hidden even from us," Ren points out. He sets "Senior" down. "I think you should return these right away."

And right when he's close to a possible answer? Cal isn't too sure about it. His conscience is screaming at him to do the right thing and put them back. On the other hand, his inner detective begs for him to peek at the pages. For all they knew, the whole answers lied just a few lines of words away.

Detective Madala finally looked up at his husband. "I'll look over the books tonight and if I cannot find anything, I will return them back tomorrow." But then there is the dilemma of the "Freshman" and "Sophomore" journals. Those he would have to deal with later.

Once again, the ends of Ren's muzzle turn upwards. "I'm glad you're seeing things my way a little bit."

"Of course I would." Cal kisses him on the maw to seal the deal.

7

In Mayville, the school bell always rang at 3:00 pm every single day. At 2:59 pm, Tyrus MacIntosh stands near the door of his final class, impatiently tapping his foot as he waits. Finally, the bell sounds the end of the day. The wolf takes off down the hall to avoid the end of the day crowd. He bursts out through a side entrance and jogs through the parking lot towards his car. His Volkswagen Beetle sits at the end of the lot.

The sky, still gloomy, seems to be getting a bit brighter by the hour. Ty slips into the driver's seat and starts his car up. As he eases out of the space, a few figures come running up to him. One of them is Missy. The others are Braden and Josh, her friends. His _new_friends, Ty supposes.

Missy taps on the window for Ty to roll down. "Hey," she breathes. She must have run out here. "Me and my friends are going to hang out at the bowling alley tonight. Wanna come?"

"Gee, Miss, I'm not sure." Ty scratches his ear. "I have a bit of homework tonight and I'm still not over the whole Titus situation." He notices her tail droop and Braden's ears flatten. Ty quickly adds, "It's nothing against you! In fact, I love being with you guys. But, maybe tomorrow, if that's okay?"

"Sure!" Missy's face brightens and her tail sways. "If you change your mind, we'll be at the alley on the north end of town. Freeway Drive."

Ty thanks her for the directions and slowly drives out of the school parking lot onto the main road. He heavily thinks about taking her up on her offer. Missy and her buds could be a way to escape the whole madness that has been going on in the past few days.

Ty makes sure to take back roads home in case one of the volunteers were still cleaning up. For the most part, Mayville looks nice, albeit the houses need some work on them. But with the way the whole town is coming together, that will be a problem fixed in no time.

A few sharp turns and he's back on his street. The house that Ty parks in front of seems so foreign to him. It isn't because he sees his parent's Acadia parked out front as well. Only a few days ago, the whole house turned upside down because of one isolated incident.

He digs his keys out and heads inside. Not two steps into the kitchen and he finds himself pulled into a tight embrace. Grey arms wrap around him in a tight hug from behind. "Ty, honey, we were so worried about you!" his mother cries. She turns him around and holds him by the shoulders. Her muzzle is starting to turn a lighter shade of grey, but other than that, she looks young.

"Mom, I'm fine," Ty answers. Though, he isn't. He's still shaken up. Pictures of Titus' body still process through his mind, flashing at times he doesn't want them to. But it's hard to forget your best friend. His eyes well up with more tears. "... Titus... Titus is dead."

Mother tilts her head and looks at him warily. "Are you sure?"

Tyrus nods. "He killed himself. Right in my bedroom." There was so much blood everywhere. The sheets, the pillows, even some of the floor was covered in dark red. Mom pulls him close as he threatens another sob.

"What am I going to do without my best friend?" he whimpers.

Mother coos him and rubs his back as he lashes out another round of tears. "It'll be okay," she whispers in her son's ear. "Titus is in a better place now. You know he wouldn't want you to cry over him."

Tyrus knew this. But it was difficult to accept. "Can I sleep downstairs tonight? I don't know if I can even look at my room ever again."

"Absolutely. Take as much time as you need, little cub."

"Thanks, mom." Ty slips out of her embrace. He feels a little better, knowing that he can always count on his mother. He just hopes that his parents don't find out about the party he threw. Then _he_will end up dead next.

Reluctantly, he heads back up the stairs towards his room with the intent on just grabbing a pillow and blanket before going back down. He nudges the fixed door open with his foot. A picture flashes before him, one of Brian knocking the door down, revealing Titus' body.

His bed is newly made and fresh with new sheets. The floor is cleaner, though if one tilted their head to the side, one might still see a faint brown mark, indicating blood. Tyrus supposes that it could pass off for coffee despite not drinking any in a while. To keep himself from crying, he inhales through his nose and out his mouth. In thru the nose. Out thru the mouth.

In thru the nose...

The strawberry scent!

Ty remembers his room pungent of the smell of the sweet fruit. It was like he pressed one against his nose and snorted it, burned into the recesses of his mind. How could his room smell so heavily of strawberries? He hardly keeps his room clean, let alone smelling decent. Perhaps Raquel had some perfume on when she and Titus were in here?

He passes it off as that. The wolf grabs his pillow and large blue comforter, his paws lazily hanging at his sides. Once he's past the threshold of his room, something pulls back on him. He turns around yet nobody stands behind him. He looks down. The comforter is tugged on the air vent on the floor next to the door stopper.

Dropping everything, Tyrus kneels on the floor to unhook the blanket. Something catches his eye. A few scratches on the vent, like claws scraping the metal off, leaving silver marks. The two screws that keep it shut bear a few scratches as well, like someone couldn't see where to stick a screwdriver.

Maybe it's curiosity or panic or the escape from thinking about his friend that pushes him down the stairs for his father's toolbox. Dad's toolbox sits just on the inside of the basement steps. A big red screwdriver sticks out of the lid. Ty grabs it and quickly runs back upstairs before his parents ask him what he's doing. After all, it would be weird to suddenly be interested in a vent you didn't care about until today.

Ty checks to make sure the tool has a Phillips-Head on it. He closes the bedroom door behind him, heart pumping blood and adrenaline through his veins. With shaky paws, he sticks the screwdriver into one screw and untwists it. He does the same for the other. Ty sets them to the side and grips the vent itself by the grating.

It takes all his energy and determination to yank the vent out of the ground. The force knocks him back onto his ass. For a moment, Ty worries that his parents have heard him.

"Tyrus!" his mother shouts from downstairs. "What are you doing up there?!" Thumps make their way up the steps.

Shit!

Thinking fast, Ty stuffs the vent in his closet and covers the open hole with his pillow. The fast wolf grips the comforter with both paws as his mother comes bursting into the door.

She tilts her head as she looks down at him. "What on earth are you doing up here?" she asks. Maybe she won't buy his story.

"I tripped," Ty says. "Still a bit shaken up that my legs feel like jelly." He smiles one that shows off his white teeth.

Mother offers a paw. "Here." She pulls her son to his feet and guides him out of the room. Tyrus pulls the door shut, telling himself to go check out the vent later when his mother isn't so suspicious of him.

8

While Ren cooks him dinner, Cal cracks open the Junior book and skims some of the pages. Being a fast reader, he knows he can tackle both books in a matter of hours. Titus' handwriting is small, yet in a way beautiful. His pen strokes look quick but it makes his cursive look more... pleasant to look at more than read.

The words are what's more important here, Cal says to himself.

He turns to the first page.

Mom got me a third journal for me to use during my junior year of high school. I guess that's okay, if you're one into journalism, but as I expressed deeply in the last two volumes, I am not. Might as well use it; don't want to put this thing to waste.

Where to begin?

My summer vacation was okay. Me, Tyrus, and Raquel found this nice spot in the woods to build that treehouse we were talking about building over the past year. Raquel says that since her dad has friends in a lumber yard the next town over, we might be able to get the wood for it.

Raquel is amazing. In case I haven't mentioned yet, she's the most beautiful tigress that I've ever met. I can't stop thinking about those gorgeous green eyes or those beautiful orange and black stripes. My best friend, Tyrus, a wolf, caught onto my crush quickly and he makes jokes about it. Frequently. He continues to beg me to ask her out, but I can't. I don't even know if she likes me the same way.

I'm too shy and scared to. Have you ever experienced one of those moments where you don't want to destroy a great friendship? This would be one of those times.

Cal reads on for a few more pages about the friendship he shared with Ty and Raquel. Something falls out of the book from one of the middle pages. Cal picks it up from his chest. Three pairs of eyes stare back at him.

A photo of himself, Titus, and Ren. All of them smiling. I remember this. This was taken after Titus started his frequent visits to my house.

The bear turns the pages to one in the middle where he thinks the picture came from. The words on this page are written normally, like Titus was in a panic to get the words on the page.

Mom and dad will not stop fighting. He doesn't know anything about these books or mom's "secret project" that she keeps bringing up. These fights have been going on forever and they do not seem to be stopping. I must hide where they won't find me. Or wouldn't dare to find me. Luckily, I have a few friends who live across town. More on them in a moment.

There's a few drops of water on the next page. Cal recalls the first time he found Titus at his doorstep. It was rainy and cold; the blue fox was shivering and wet from head to toe. His eyes were big and pleading. Ren was also more than happy to let him stay over for a night or two.

On the next page, the neat cursive writing is back. On the right side of the page, Titus seemed to have drawn what looks like a realistic chest-up rendering of Cal himself. He even included the fedora he wears a lot and his lighter shaded muzzle.

I realize that I have not mentioned these friends in any of my journal entries so I should probably introduce them now.

The bear I've drawn is Detective Calin "Cal" Madala, a 26-year old brown bear living on the eastern end of town. I met him and his mate, Renard "Ren" Soro, last year at the town bicentennial. They were the two guys who brought these unique snacks that looked like mini burritos stuffed with meat, cheese, and peppers. I don't remember what they said they were called.

Anyways, Cal is a very nice guy, smart too. I've heard a lot of people saying that his brain is the size of his gut, which is very large. I have watched him snack a lot, which explains how he got that size. Yet unlike most obese people, Cal doesn't seem bothered by it, nor does it seem to set him back that much. He's still quick on his feet and strong too from the size of his arms (unless it's just more fat).

Cal turns the page and sees a chest-up drawing of Ren on the left. Titus had captured his youthful look, even giving him those cute glasses of his that he wears sometimes. In the background of this picture is a symbol with an M with turned-up sides and a globe sitting on top of it; the symbol for Mensa.

Cal's mate, Ren, is a 24-year-old fox who's bound to him by matching rings on their left paws. Ren offers his own kind of smarts, textbook ones, with an I.Q. of around 150. High intelligence, yet such a bass deep voice. And I mean very bass deep; you would think that he sounds unnatural the second you meet him but that's how he sounds. (Is there another way to express sound on paper?)

Ren is a lot leaner than Cal (quite noticeably). I've asked about his job before but for the life of me, I cannot remember what it is. Something about engineering? Designing? I'm willing to bet a whole year's allowance that it's something along those lines.

Cal had no idea that Titus paid attention to them _that_much. It just shows that he was a true friend; one that listens.

There's a few breaks in the pages before is resumes. The words on the pages start to get more frantic, worried. Cal looks at the date of when this was written. A little over a year ago. Right around the time when the Suicide Massacre had occurred.

As it turns out, Titus knew what his mother was doing the whole time:

Day One

I am writing this in Cal and Ren's spare room in their house. I managed to scrape together $100 and some clothes and I didn't look back. Mom and Dad are fighting again, but this one is worse. Dad found out mom's secret project. She was using some of the teenagers in town to find a way to fight widespread suicide.

While Cal is upstairs making the three of us dinner, it occurs to me that my mother might go insane before people understand her motives.

Ages ago, my grandma, my mother's mother, committed suicide by jumping off her family's barn when my mom was only five years old. From then onwards, my mother was determined to find out more on why people took their own lives.

Growing up, she talked to all kinds of depressed people from little kids to senior citizens. By the time she turned 20, around when I was born, she had hit a roadblock and contemplated giving up and tossing her own life out the window.

A month later, a survey came out that said most suicide victims were kids ages 15-21. So, she started her focus on high schools to study the adolescence that is teenagers. She wanted to save every single kid, but she started thinking about a possible way to increase the help by searching for a widespread way to fight depression.

Over the past year, she's been pushing herself harder. She wanted to find every single different reason that people took their own lives and find a common element within them. With this, she was hoping that there would be a way to solve everyone's problem at once.

But last week, something has gone wrong. During the last seven days, every person that my mother has talked to has killed themselves. Whether it's jumping off a roof, slashing their throats or overdosing on drugs, it's been happening.

When I realized what was going on, I begged for my mother to stop. That is wasn't worth trying to find help the way she wanted to. "This is my life's work, son," she said. "I will not stop until I can figure this out."

Dad overheard us, then started yelling at mom about what he was hearing. She started screaming back at him. It was a nightmare. I couldn't take it anymore. So, I packed up what I could and ran away here. I have no idea if I intend to go back or if I ever will.

Cal's a detective, I know he's going to figure out something eventually. But I cannot rat my mother out. She would never be able to look at me again. My father is already bad enough; if my mother is taken away at my own paws, she'd never talk to me ever again.

He's coming! Must hide this!

He closes the book and sets it on the table beside him. Ren warned him not to read it. Now Cal can see why, because he might read something that he would regret. Titus knew all along that his mother was killing people. But he didn't speak up because he was afraid she'd get taken away.

Ironic, that's exactly what happened.

But Titus was afraid, he was such an emotional fox. Cal knew very well how Mr. Bremner was to his own son. Occasionally, Cal or Ren would notice faint scratch marks or a huge bruise on his wrist, hardly covered by his black paws. His father was abusive and he didn't want to lose his mother; the only escape he had at his home.

In a way, Cal feels bad that he discovered what Sheryll had been doing. But she would have killed more, urging teens that final leap into the unknown; the afterlife.

"Hun! Dinner's ready!" Ren calls from the kitchen.

With all the skimming through Titus' journals, Cal didn't notice the smell of cooked fish circling around the house. He pushes himself out of the chair and rubs his semi-dry eyes, stretches his limbs before walking into the kitchen.

The bear takes a seat across from Ren, who serves him a half-dozen slices of fish squares with melted cheese on them. His appetite is half alive now but he stabs his fork into the meat and chews it slowly anyways. "Thanks, Ren."

"No problem." The fox reaches across the table with a wet cloth in paw and slowly wipes his forehead. "Everything okay? You look like you haven't slept all night."

Cal has to stifle a yawn to answer. "I was reading some of Titus' books." He looks down to avoid the unapproved look he _knows_Ren is wearing. "It turns out he was lying to us the whole time." Cal dares a look up. Ren, instead of upset, looks confused, his ears perked up and directed towards him.

"What do you mean lied to us?"

"He knew what his mom was doing the whole time. With the whole suicide thing." Ren's ears fold back as he pieces the info together. "He was afraid of telling us because he thought that it would drive his family apart further."

Nevertheless, Ren shakes his head. "That's really upsetting. He must have been in a difficult position."

"This makes me wonder..." Cal forgets about his food for a second. His rubs the back of his head with both paws. If Titus didn't want his mom turned in, then her being taken away must have hurt Titus a lot more than he let on. Perhaps the grief wasn't enough to handle. "... what else has Titus been keeping from us?"

9

Tuesday, March 31st in the town of Mayville, North Carolina. The city's main focus today instead of debris is the torn-up houses and leftover debris. As Cal walks down the street in his brown overcoat and fedora, he observes all the citizens scrambling together to clean the mess that Hurricane Sarah made.

Deep in the heart of the city, near the courthouse that takes up a whole block, sits a one-story tall silver structure with large glass panes for windows and a revolving door as its entrance. The Police Department. By now, Raquel's father has filed a report on his missing daughter. Cal was hoping to get some sort of case revolving around either her or Titus.

One of his co-workers, a mouse by the name of Dan Goodman, is standing in the doorway of the bear's office. He wears a similar outfit as his friend except he hangs a satchel on his shoulder. "Madala, I was hoping to run into you." Cal can see a manila folder in the mouse's paw.

"Danny." Cal offers a paw in greeting. "I'm guessing the reason you called me in this morning is because you have a new case for me."

The mouse detective shakes his paw and slips into the room. Cal sits behind the desk he's known for many years. It has a computer sitting on it and a few novelties such as a coffee mug and a snow globe that Tyrus gave him once; it contains the Eiffel Tower inside.

"As a matter of fact, Calin, I do have a new case for you." Danny slides the manila folder across his desk. "As you know, a local teenager, Raquel Tiger, went missing three days ago. No one has seen her since the night of that house party." Now that Cal thinks of it; he wonders if Ty ever told his parents about the bash he threw at his house on Saturday.

"Yeah, I know her," Cal says. Or he knows _about_her. He's never met her in person before.

"Well, there's still no sign of her so we want you to find her. You're our best detective after all."

Cal opens the folder. Inside, paperclipped to the cover is a picture of Raquel herself. She looks so young; fresh green eyes, a bright and confident smile. All the information on the first page shown is basic info; her species (tigress), eye color (green), height (6'1"), and fur color (orange and black mostly).

At the bottom of the page, her last known sighting is listed in bright red ink. Tyrus MacIntosh's house on Saturday night.

He winces as he remembers going there Sunday morning, the frantic call from Ty and witnessing Titus' body for the first time. "Do... Does... Does anyone know when the funeral for Titus Bremner is scheduled?" Cal had some trouble finding the right words.

"Not sure," Dan says. "I can ask around if you want me to."

"I would very much appreciate that."

Dan is called away by a superior so the mouse gives a tip of his fedora and leaves Cal's office. The bear gets immediately to work. Raquel must know something about the real reason Titus killed himself. If he can find her, he can breathe a little easier.

Think, he tells himself, think. Missing children tend to go to familiar territory when they run away. So where does Raquel like to go to a lot? This question will require a little bit of digging around since Cal never met her. But who would know her well enough...?

Ty.

10

Ty had placed the cover of the vent back in the hole on the floor last night but he didn't screw it back in. He wanted to be sure he was home by himself before he went to investigate whatever was inside.

And this morning, he is in luck. He hears his parents' car roaring to life and speeding down the street towards downtown. They must have heard about the volunteer program, he thinks. Whenever the city has one, they're always on board because they feel like it is their "duty" to help the community.

For the second time in four days, Ty is left by himself. Seizing the moment, he grabs the air vent and rips it back out of the ground and digs his paw around inside. His fingers scrape against the cold metal, dust wads catching into his fur. He sneezes, swirling the dust around in the air, only irritating his nose further. His eyes swell a little with tears. But his fingers find something to the right. It's round and long. He takes it out and replaces the vent.

Ty rubs his eyes, trying to get a little feeling back into them. In his paw is a small can with duct tape all around it. The can itself says "Febreze" and has a picture of strawberries on them. At least now he knows how the room got that smell.

But the question remains of who would put this here? And why?

Ty instinctively grabs his phone and is about to call Detective Madala, but then he thinks Cal might assume he's being overreactive. For now, he sets the phone down. Not until he figures this out should he call the Detective.

All kinds of theories get tossed around in his mind as he heads downstairs, leaving the Febreze can upstairs. He heads into the kitchen, pacing around the table. The wolf grabs the opened bag of chips he remembered buying for his house party. Jalapeño chips; they're hot but the fire in his mouth feels good for some odd reason.

Perhaps that's always been there and he hasn't noticed? Maybe Raquel did it as a joke; it sounds like one of the things she would do. Or... or maybe Titus put that there to mask the scent of... of...

Ty shivers from the thought. If they had sex in his bed, he'll have to burn his mattress later and get a new one.

Whatever this is, Ty vows to find out what went on that night.

At that moment, his phone goes off. Cal's name appears across the screen. Unsure of how to feel, Tyrus answers and turns on speakerphone, hoping to mask any worry in his voice. "H-Hello?" Smooth, he tells himself.

"Tyrus, I need your help." The hairs on his neck stand up. Cal doesn't normally sound this urgent unless he means it.

"What's the problem?"

"It's better if I explain this face-to-face. Simply put, I got the case of Raquel's disappearance and I need your help. Are you able to come after school?"

"I didn't go to school today." Crumbs get into his fur as he munches on the chips.

A silence brews before Cal says, "How come?"

"My parents wanted me to stay home so I can get some extra rest." What they really wanted was for him to have some time alone to grieve over Titus. Ty lies. "They had to run out for a moment; I'm sure they'll be back soon."

"How fast do you think you can make it to my house?" The wolf looks over at the clock above the sink. The little hand is just past the nine. Right as he's about to answer, Cal says something that makes his heart drop. "It has to do with Titus."

Ty hangs up, grabs the keys to his Beetle and runs at full speed to his car.

11

Several minutes have passed. Cal paces around the kitchen with a half-eaten turkey sandwich in his paw. A lot of things can go wrong; one, Ty isn't the quietest kid in town. Last time Cal checked, he spreads rumors like the common cold. Another is that perhaps Ty won't be willing to tell what he knows. After all, his best friend died four days ago; who would want to talk about their dead friend's secrets?

By the time the rest of the food sits in his gut and is about to make more, he hears the familiar sound of a Beetle pulling up outside the house. Seconds later, a frantic rapping on the door snaps the bear awake. For a scrawny wolf, he sure is strong. Cal opens the door and sees Tyrus leaning against the doorframe, paw over his chest as he heaves in breath after breath like he ran all the way here.

He lets him inside where the wolf takes a seat on the couch in the next room. "Did you really need to run here?" Cal asks half-sarcastically.

Ty shakes his head. "I drove. But I ran... all around the house... to find my keys." The cub clears his throat as if it'll help. "What is it you needed help with?"

Cal walks over to the small table next to his recliner and tosses Ty the "Junior" book. "I found these under your friend's bed." He leaves out the part about taking them without Vanessa or George's permission. "In that one, he mentions a treehouse over and over throughout the book. Do you know what he's referring to?"

Tyrus flips the pages, eyes scanning the numerous amount of words Titus had hidden from him. He finally stops on a page with a drawing of a wooden house suspended in the air. "Yeah," the wolf answers. His ears fold back halfway. "But I don't understand; why would Titus have these? He never expressed any interest in journalism."

"His mother was..." Crazy. "... a psychologist. It makes perfect sense that she would be interested in the mind of her own son." Cal tries his hardest not to think too much about Sheryll; especially since there's a chance he may have to visit her again soon.

"Oh." Ty puts the book down as if he would regret reading any more. Cal knows the feeling. "Well... yeah me, Titus, and Raquel made ourselves a treehouse in the woods last year because we decided it would be cool to have our own hangout spot. What does that have to do with anything?"

Cal holds up the manila folder with Raquel's file. "I got the case with your friend's disappearance. And, like you asked me to, I'm trying to find out why Titus killed himself." He taps the book. "I believe that your treehouse might tell me something."

"How?"

"It's complicated. Look, the police don't know about this so unless you want your clubhouse swarming with men in blue, I suggest you take me there right now." Cal smacks himself to make it sound like a threat. What was it he heard once? Desperation can make people do the craziest things? Something close to that.

With a little hesitation, Tyrus nods and hops off the couch. "We should go in my car. It would seem less suspicious." Cal doesn't think so, but he doesn't want to demand more from the wolf.

He squeezes into the passenger seat of Tyrus' Beetle and buckles in. Ty backs out of the driveway and speeds down the road. One thing Cal notices right away is that Ty is a sloppy driver; quick but not 100% careful. Sometimes his paws shake and give a jerk, swerving the car slightly. He also speeds so much, given that he's leaning forward so his legs push down further. But luckily, no one is around this time of the day; the city is still focused on rebuilding the town after the Hurricane. Whether or not Mayville will ever be the same, Cal is not sure. Sarah has affected more people psychologically than even Katrina.

Around a few corners towards the northeast end of town. The sun barely visible behind grey clouds that bring the spring wind. On the next road, one that leads towards the highway, the woods take up the right side, the tree line starting along the pavement. Tyrus stops his car along the shoulder of the road, leaving Cal enough room to open his door.

Climbing out of the car, Cal looks out into the woods. The leaves on the trees are starting to return after a snow-filled hiatus. Beyond that, the skyline appears darker as if something sinister is waiting for them to arrive.

"It's only a short hike." Ty appears next to him. He trudges through the fallen leaves and branches and mud. Cal trails, the Beetle disappearing behind him. As they delve deeper, their surroundings become more familiar. The only thing he focuses on is fabric of Ty's shirt as he leads the way.

Birds chirp, twigs snap, leaves crunch. Seconds turn into minutes as Ty leads Cal deeper into the forest. Eventually, the trees clear out. A small fire pit sits on the ground, a dozen large rocks form a giant circle with ash in the middle. Attached to one large tree, a wooden ladder that leads up to a large wooden structure about ten feet off the ground. Several metal pipes and cords keep it suspended.

Ty grabs the first rung and hoists himself up. He looks over his shoulder at the bear on the ground. Cal indicates his large body. "Relax big guy," Ty chuckles. "It'll hold." Up another rung. "This treehouse was designed to hold myself and my friends."

Taking him for his word, Cal begins to climb upwards. Ty opens a trapdoor at the top and gives him a paw. "Thanks," the bear says. He's greeting with a warm smile from the wolf, but behind him...

Cal can hardly believe his eyes. Inside is a mid-air lounging area. Three set-up beanbag chairs sit in front of a TV plugged into a generator. An opened cooler with cans of soda and beer sit in the middle, within armlength of each chair. A few banners with Mayville's colors (orange and green) are hung up on the ceiling.

Closing the trapdoor, Ty doesn't hesitate to toss himself onto his chair in the corner. "Awesome, right?" he says. "Me and the others designed this place a few months after we first met."

"Why a treehouse?" Cal asks. "Doesn't that seem a little... for 10-year-olds?"

"Well, we figured this would be a good place for us to go where no one would find us. Hardly anyone comes through the forest after the Massacre." Cal remembers one of the last few suicides being a hanging here in the forest. No wonder everyone in town keeps their distance. "Go ahead, take a seat, big guy."

Cal takes his coat off and rests in a red bean bag next to Ty. The wolf hands him a small can of alcohol, to which the bear accepts. "Where'd you get the drinks?" He tips the can past his lips and the cool liquid flows into his maw.

"Fake IDs." Ty sips down his own can. "It wasn't that hard. Besides, it's not like we drink excessively." Cal leans back, looking up at the ceiling, eyes tracing the banners weaving to and fro, almost making a pattern. "That chair use to be his, you know."

He looks over at him, a grim smile spreads across his muzzle. This was how Titus looked at him when he sat here, Cal thinks. He didn't come here for a getaway; he needs to keep telling himself that. The bear sets his beer can to the side. Something silver catches his eye.

A metal handle the size of two fingers and teeth stretch across the bean bag for about a foot or two. Cal grips the zipper and pulls. Tiny little foam beans come spilling out onto the ground.

"I never noticed that." Ty puts his own drink down and leans in to get a closer look. Cal digs his paw inside. There are not supposed to be zippers in these kinds of chairs. Which means that Titus might have put this on there himself.

He digs around for a few seconds until a sharp edge pokes his finger and he winces. Cal grasps it; it's thin and feels like paper. With a yank, the papers come out along with hundreds of more of those foam beans. Only they weren't ordinary papers, this was an envelope. The return address label has a logo along with a street address for somewhere in California.

University of California, Cal realizes.

The "mail to" location is here in Mayville. Raquel C. Tiger.

Cal opens the back flap, finding that it's already open. "I think this is Raquel's acceptance letter." He scans down the page.

Raquel Tiger

We are happy to inform you that you have been accepted by the University of California. We were very impressed by your academic performance and your dreams of attending this school.

The letter mostly talks about how excited most of the staff are about meeting her in the fall when she comes. The date on the letter was all the way back in November. Titus kept these to himself. But why?

"That's odd," Tyrus says, taking the letter from Cal's paws to get a better look at it. "Why would Titus keep this for himself unless..."

Cal was already thinking it too. But just to be safe, he brought out the "Senior" journal and flips it towards the November pages. In black and white, the truth unfolds before him.

NOOOO!!! DAMN IT ALL!!! SON OF A BITCH!!! PLEASE, THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING!!!

Raquel got her acceptance letter in the mail. Well, it accidentally went to my house since we have the same house number (the mailman might've gotten confused by the street names; he has a cataract in his eye, poor thing). Anyways, Raquel cannot under any circumstances find out that she got in. If she did, I'd be devastated that she would be leaving.

I've already lost my mom almost a year ago, I can't lose her. I'd rather take my own life than watch the one I love dearly go.

I know! I'll hide it in my beanbag chair at the treehouse. She would never think to look there...

But on the other hand, I know that this is wrong. What kind of friend would I be if I prevented another friend's dream from coming true? I tried to apply for that college around the same time she did; but unfortunately, I'm not good enough for it.

Solution: keep applying to colleges around the University until I get one. Then I won't be across the country from Raquel. After all, I can't be told _no_forever.

Right?

Cal might have to go back to Vanessa and George's house later and ask them about if Titus got accepted somewhere. One theory is that if he didn't, he might not have been able to take the pain of being alone and ended up killing himself. Of course, Skype and planes make it easier to communicate with her. There _had_to be another reason.

But he believes that he found a step in the right direction.

He pulls out his phone and makes a note to himself. Visit V + G tomorrow.

"You think this is why he did it?" Ty asks. "Because he would've been devastated that she would be leaving?"

Cal shrugs. "It's possible. Either way, it's one step closer to the answer." He tucks the envelope in his coat pocket.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

Cal sighs. He could talk to Vanessa or George or Mr. Tiger again, but he knows that none of them could explain the way Titus' mind worked. If he wanted a real answer, he would need to talk to the one person that would have what he was looking for.

Sheryll.

12

The funeral for Titus Bremner was to take place on Friday, according to Dan. It_would be there at the funeral, watching all those poor saps weep and cry over the loss. _It would try to cry, only they wouldn't be genuine tears. There are already black garments for it to wear to blend into the crowd.

Cal hasn't been answering his texts,it thinks. He's probably hot on the trail, ready to expose it for the killer it is. No, it tells itself, Cal has no idea who I am. And I intend to keep it that way.

All it needs is a plan to keep the bear's mouth shut.

_It_snarls.

_It_has a plan.

13

Wednesday morning and Cal is already having high doubts over what he's about to do. A short three-minute drive to the next town over carries him to the nearest mental hospital. A tall white building houses the institute with large glass panels for windows and six concrete columns surrounding the door in two rows.

He parks near the back of the lot in case he changes his mind. The bear doesn't. He climbs out of his Audi and walks his way towards the doors.

Cal walks under the big grey sign that reads Miletown Mental Hospital. At the front desk, a vixen with red lipstick and a white nurse's outfit sits. She and her buddy, a white wolf with red highlights, gossip to each other about something until Cal stands before them.

"How can we help you?" the vixen - Amelia, by the look of her nametag - asks.

Cal answers, "I'm here to see one of the patients." His heart pounds hoping for a decline in visitors at this hours. Anything to get him out of talking to that bitch again. The look of that vixen's face alone would remind him of Titus.

"Do you have an appointment scheduled?" the wolf - Ava - asks.

Cal nods. "That I do. With Sheryll Bremner."

Amelia and Ava sit up in their seats, their expressions changing as if he had said he murdered someone. Their eyes widen enough that Cal can see little red cracks in their eyes. Lack of sleep? he thinks. Why would they not be able to sleep? Don't they get hours off?

Finally, Ava speaks up. "If you want to see Sheryll... you'll have to come this way. You're Detective Madala, right?"

"Yes." He's about to show his detective ID, but she holds up her paw.

"Sheryll has been expecting you."

14

Ava and Amelia lead Cal down the east wing hallway. Cal doesn't recognize any of this. The last time he came here, Sheryll was on the other side of the hospital. What is she doing here? Unless this is a trap.

Nonsense, he tells himself. Perhaps there's been a mix up.

Nurse Amelia opens the door to a special type of room. Along both walls are two long tables that stretch across from one side to the other. Two plexiglass windows separate this room from another. A few people sit in chairs across from various patients, blocked off by the transparent wall. Two workers surround each patient as if they might try to run off.

"What is this place?" Cal asks.

"A special room where patients in maximum security can see their loved ones," Ava explains. "We just had it built on last year."

"We don't normally use this room voluntarily, except for this case," Amelia says. "Sheryll asked to use this room instead of the other one."

_Asked?_Why would she do that? But Cal knows why. Because she wants protected in case Cal goes nuts and tries to strangle her. He has always told himself to never resort to such measures. He may be a bear but he's not aggressive.

In the corner, Ava motions for him to take a seat. The chair almost gives in to his weight but it surprisingly holds. Across from him, a familiar blue vixen with the same eyes as Titus stare at him through the plexiglass. Ava and Amelia leave. To head back to the front desk, Cal presumes.

Sheryll looks a little different; her silky black hair is starting to grey, as well as a few furs on her muzzle. Her paws look calm, relaxed even. Cal tightens the strap on his satchel, the weight of Titus' journals become heavier.

"I was wondering when you would finally show up." Her voice is the same as it's always been; plain with a bit of taunting. "I've been told by the nurses what happened to my son." Cal says nothing. She looks too much like her son and for a minute, if he tilts his head and doesn't think, he could almost mistake her for her son. "It's a shame, really."

Cal decides to talk in a low voice. "Is it?" he says. "You were the one infatuated with suicide and now your son has committed the same act." The hairs on the back of his neck stand. Whatever you do, don't yell. That's what she'd want from you. He leans across the counter, nose almost against the glass. "You were never helping anybody. All you are is a monster."

Surprisingly, Sheryll stays calm as well. She must have matured a little since the last meeting they had all those months prior. "Calin, I know exactly what you think of me," she says. "Your lasts words were 'demented blue bitch' as I recall."

Cal sits back. He regretted saying those words to her the second they came out of his mouth. It wasn't like him to let his anger take over him; the words were provoked by Sheryll.

"Let's not waste any time, shall we." Sheryll moves on too quick. It's one of her flaws. But Cal knows that he needs an answer and if anyone has one, Sheryll might. "Why did you want to see me after all this time? After six months of complete absence, you suddenly crawling back to me makes me think that you want something from me."

The bear sighs then reaches into his bag. He pulls out the Junior book and Raquel's opened college letters. "I found these under Titus' possession." Sheryll perks up as she gets a good look at the journal. "I was wondering if you could shed some light on them. Perhaps tell me if what I'm thinking is right."

"What is it that you are thinking?" she asks.

"That he killed himself because he felt guilty about keeping news like this from Raquel." Cal slides the letters through a small slot in the glass. Sheryll opens it up with shaking fingers. Her eyes dart around the page as if seeing words for the first time. Cal calms down from the sounds of the clock that hangs on the wall.

Silence drags on for minutes until Sheryll says, "It doesn't sound likely. Titus isn't a troublemaker."

"Titus was in love with Raquel." It pains Cal to say was instead of is. "So much in love that he hid these from her so she wouldn't have to leave him." Cal then slides the journal over to her. "I found this under his bed a couple days ago."

"Snooping around, haven't you?"

Cal leans forward again, brows coming together. "Titus was one of my greatest friends. So when he suddenly decides to take his own life without telling anyone, that raises some red flags, wouldn't you say?" The vixen says nothing. "He trusted me more than you," he growls, "because you and his father frightened him. He always turned to me and Ren for help; _obviously,_I would've wanted to know what happened if he killed himself."

Sheryll nods in agreement. "I agree. I never wanted this to happen. My work was-"

"Your 'work' was to talk people into killing themselves. Children, Sheryll!" Cal yells louder than he meant to. The other visitors stop mid-sentence to glare at him. The vixen across from him smirks. Exactly what she wanted to happen. Now she's satisfied.

Detective Madala slowly counts to ten, guided by the clock's ticking. When his fists are no longer clenched, he turns the conversation back to his original point. "Can you tell why he killed himself from this stuff?" he asks.

Titus' mother looks through the pages of the book, mostly the ones marked by Cal's dog-ears. Sheryll shakes her head; a reaction Cal wasn't expecting. "Your theory would be incorrect, Detective," she says. "Titus would never hurt himself out of guilt. Maybe you should change it based off one of Titus' weaknesses: emotions."

"What are you talking about?" Cal asks.

"He has a weak heart, bless his soul. The sight of someone else failing something is enough to bring tears to his eyes. I recall when he needed to get a few stitches in his paw after an incident when he was ten; he was overwhelmed then."

"There's a difference between those scenarios, you know that?" I know she doesn't.

But she continues. "What I'm saying is that Titus is not the best at handling pain, physical or emotional. How would you feel if the love of your life was suddenly going to leave you for a long time, possibly to never return?"

"That's ridiculous," Cal counters, "people can come back home for the summer after school is over."

"Ah! But you didn't read the fine print, did you?" Sheryll presses the letter against the glass and points to the middle. "The University talks about how Raquel rented an apartment there for two years because of her father's fortune." How she knows about that, Cal doesn't want to know. But he didn't read the whole letter word-for-word.

This changes things.

Gears start turning in his head.

"Titus was never going to see her again," he mutters. "And he didn't want to live with that."

Sheryll smirks and brings the paper back down. "And there's the answer you were looking for, Mr. Madala." She stuffs the letter back in the envelope and hands it back to Cal. But she hesitates on the journal. "Is it okay if I keep this?"

Cal is about to say no, but then remembers that this is Titus' mother. No matter how much of a bitch she may be, she has every right to look at her son's thoughts. "Yeah," he says. "I'm done with it anyways." He's about to mention the Freshman and Sophomore books but decides to keep them for himself. At least, until he gets a good look at them.

He sits up and is about to leave but something else crosses his mind. "Do you think you know where Raquel Tiger went?" The words are out before he can think twice about them.

Sheryll looks up. "I have no idea," she says. "But if she found out that her friend committed suicide..." She sets the book aside and shakes her head. "Suicide can make people do crazy things, a few people might try to follow in his footsteps, even those close to him. If Raquel isn't found in two weeks, odds are, she might have taken her life too."

Cal stares at her, speechless. He didn't think about others wanting to do the same thing Titus did. He thought it was one-and-done. Maybe he was wrong.

"I need to find her," he says. "Before it's too late." Cal slides the letters back into his back then stands up. As he fastens the strap around his shoulder, he looks over for one last look at Mrs. Bremner. "I'd say it's been a pleasure seeing you, but I'm still not going to forgive you for what you did."

Sheryll nods, her ears half back. "I understand."

Before the bear detective leaves, he says, "Thanks for the information," then walks about before hearing her response. He recalls the way out from Amelia and Ava's directions. He passes them at the front desk, where they wave goodbye and encourage him to come back soon (he won't, not this time), and heads back outside.

He looks at his phone and sees a few unseen messages as well as the time. "I've been inside for an hour," he mutters. Twice as long as the last time he was here.

Cal walks back to his car thinking about what Sheryll said. It is impossible to know the exact reason that Titus ended his own life. But whatever the reason is, Raquel is tied to it.

If he finds her, maybe she can answer the question that's been burning in his mind for the past few days. Where to start, he thinks. Titus talked a lot about Raquel in the Junior journal. The Senior book might have a lot more on their relationship.

Cal climbs into his Audi and slips out of the parking lot. The roads are not busy between this city and Mayville; only a five-minute ride. He turns left off of the highway onto Main Street, towards City Hall.

As he makes a right turn, his phone goes off again. Up ahead is a four-way stop sign. Seeing no one around, and with no intentions of texting while behind the wheel, he slips his phone out and reads who it is from. Unknown number.

He forgets that he's driving as he unlocks his phone. Displayed before him are four messages from the same number. The first one being the most terrifying.

*Your son is going to die tonight*

"What?!"

Cal looks up. A figure in a black cloak with grey paws walks in front of him. It turns its head to the left, as if staring directly at him.

Without thinking, Cal swerves sharply to the left. He drives over the sidewalk and crashes into a nearby telephone pole.

The front end of his Audi crunches up against the pole, the windshield cracks and shatters, slicing his eyebrow and cheek. The air bag deploys and deflates faster than the blink of an eye. Cal is thrown forward slightly, but his seatbelt tightens, holding him back.

With fumbling fingers and shaking paws, Cal pushes the door open with some resistance from it. He steps back a couple feet. From the look of the damages, it looks like his Audi could be repaired, but it will set him and Ren back a thousand bucks or two.

The stranger. Cal looks around to find the cloaked pedestrian.

No one is in sight.

Was it real? The figure looked so real.

It was real.

15

"Hey, Ty, how are you holding up?" Missy asks.

The wolf responds, "I'm doing better." But he isn't. Grief still tugs at his chest every time he thinks about the empty seats next to him or the lack of the ping of his phone indicating a text from his two best friends. The two greatest people in his life suddenly snatched away from him.

Missy rubs his back. "I know you still miss them. Is there anything we can do to cheer you up?"

He looks over at Braden and Josh. Both boys look at him in a way not like everyone else in the school has bene doing; like he sick puppy or a homeless person. "I'm fine," Ty says. "You guys letting me stay up here is good enough." He gives a sway of his tail to try to sell it.

All four of them sit on the edge of the roof, legs dangling over the edge. Braden managed to hack the vending machine to score all four of them a free can of Mountain Dew. To Tyrus, the soda is a bit too fizzy yet he tries to let the taste take his mind off the last four days.

It's hard to believe it was only four days ago that Titus was alive, excited about graduation yet nervous about Raquel's departure. Ty thinks about the letters that Cal found in their treehouse. Ty has known Titus for years but he had no idea that his best friend would hide something from him. It makes him wonder what else he was hiding from him? The journals were one surprise, the letters were another.

What else is Titus hiding?

He glances over at the skunk, retriever and panda sipping down their drinks. Ty has known Missy for quite some time. She has always been a determined person. The time she forced her brother into giving up the location of her teddy bear when he hid it once serves as an example.

"Can I ask you guys something?"

"What's up, pup?" Missy asks.

Ty looks down at his paws, thinking that he could be betraying two friends that are long gone. "Do you guys want to see a treehouse that I made with my friends?" he asks.

"Sure." Missy crushes her empty can with her forehead, tossing it over the roof. Her strength is one thing that scares Ty. "Why don't we head over right now?" She stands up and stretches, her friends getting up to do the same thing.

Ty is confused. "Wait, right now? I meant that we should head over after school. We still have a couple more periods."

"Aw, come on pup," the skunk passes. "It's not like you have to be in class right now, do you?"

The answer is yes; Mom told him that if he didn't keep his grades above a C she would take away his car. But something about the thrill of ditching tugs at his brain. His friends were the most important thing in the world to him. Now that they're gone, what else matters?

"Fine. I'm in," the wolf agrees. "It's towards the woods on the other side of town so it will take us a while to get there."

Missy says, "That's ok."

She leads Braden and Josh down the ladder of the old fire escape with Ty heading down last. Once they hit the pavement, Ty turns them east towards the other end of town. They cut through several cars and the tennis field to ensure that they aren't seen. As soon as they're across the street and 100 yards from sight of the school, the group chuckles and they hi-5 each other.

Tyrus has never felt this rush before. Normally, a slight thrill comes when he picks on the underclassmen or trick Titus into doing a few crazy stunts. Never did he think he would do the biggest dare yet; cutting class.

"This is the most fun I've ever had," he says. He leads the three towards the suburban area where no one is present at this time of the day, especially since most of the town is still cleaning up after Sarah.

"Really?" Missy asks. "You've never tried to do anything worth getting in trouble for?"

Ty shakes his head. "No. Well... there was the time back in freshman year where I was dared to put a thumbtack on a teacher's chair. But she never found me out." Easiest fifty dollars he ever made. It was so easy too. All he really needed was gloves so no one would catch his scent.

Missy and her friends cracked up. "I thought I heard about some teacher who got a needle shoved up their ass during class. Was that you?"

"Yep. It was a dare, no big deal." Ty blushes.

"Nonsense," she says. "It shows that you do have some bad blood in you."

"Kind of. The only truly bad person in my family is my Uncle Carlisle. He was arrested for drugs twice."

"Woah! Sounds awful. What did he do."

Ty launches into the full story. "His girlfriend had been battling cancer for years. And it sucks because she was the sweetest person that I ever met. On their two-year anniversary, Carlisle proposed to her and she said yes. Unfortunately, the next morning, she was dead." Missy gaped. "He went crazy after that. Started getting spontaneously mad at people, stealing, and eventually turned to drugs to cope with his depression."

"Oh my! That sounds awful!"

"It was." His mother was upset when she heard about his first arrest over the phone. The second time, an officer came to her face-to-face and told her the news. After that, she told Ty and her husband that Carlisle was no longer a member of the family and all contact to him was to cease.

Ty continues. "After all of that happened, mom was upset. I never knew what happened to my uncle. I assume that he's still in prison, hopefully learning to be a better man." Because even though Carlisle made stupid choices, it makes sense that at least one member of his family still cares for him.

"Sounds like it was pretty rough," she says after Ty finishes. She wraps an arm around his shoulders. "If it makes you feel any better, my dad went to prison too but for another reason. One day, I came home to find the basement door open and some vixen was down there gagged and chained to the wall. Apparently, my dad kidnapped her three weeks prior because my mom left him at the time. I was eventually fostered here in Mayville by two loving mothers."

Listening to her story made his heart drop. No wonder Missy acts tough and daring; because she's seen some nasty stuff happen around her. With new parents and a new attitude, it makes it easier to put the past behind you; even though the past never rests.

Ty's ears begin to ring. Before he passes it off, he notices Missy's ears twitch a little. Then Braden's, then Josh's. "Does anyone else hear that too?" he asks.

"Yo! It's an ambulance!" Braden points behind them. The four quickly duck into a nearby bush as the large white vehicle turns the corner, the siren louder, tearing their eardrums apart. As it rounds another corner, another car passes by with a familiar face inside the driver's seat. Scarlet fur with a canine muzzle.

CeCe?

If she's following them, something big might have happened. Before Tyrus can think too long, he comes out from behind the bushes and follows the bitch's car.

"Ty!" Missy hisses. "What are you doing?!"

"Just follow me," he whispers behind him. Ty sticks to the sidewalk, making sure to stay within CeCe's blind spots. Darting behind a fence, sneaking up to her bumper at a stop sign, and bolting around a house as she nears the ambulance.

Both turn onto Shannon Avenue. About one hundred feet away, an Audi sits smashed against a telephone pole. A bear in an overcoat stands at the site, seemingly confused while a few paramedics try to help with the large cut on his forehead and cheek. The initial shock of seeing a car crash disappears as soon as he gets a good look at the bear's face.

Detective Madala!

How did he get into a car crash?

Ty thinks he sees Cal looking in his direction. They lock eyes. Cal looks surprised to see Ty in the middle of the street instead of in school where he should be. His expression hardens some then he waves him over.

Tyrus gulps. Whatever this is, it cannot be good.

16

"I'm fine, really," Calin insists to the leopard who stitches up his forehead. She has asked him the same questions twice. Are you okay? How many fingers do you see? Is your vision blurry in any way? What was the last thing you remember? Yes. 4. No. And a stranger walking in front of me.

After a few moments, Dan showed up, along with an old polar bear whose name Detective Madala cannot remember. "What happened here?" Dan asked.

"I got in a small crash," Cal answered. "Nothing serious." But Dan continued to prod him with questions anyways. The day has already been stressful enough talking to Titus' mother. All Cal really wanted was to go back to get or even get a quick bite to eat before heading home. Why would he look at his phone while he was driving? He never has in the past. Did he think that by some miracle that a simple text would pull him out of this nightmare?

And those words...

What did it mean that his son was going to die? Cal has no biological children (although him and Ren have tossed the idea back and forth). At first it made no sense. But after thinking about what Titus said in his journals, about how him and Ren are like parents to him, the text was obviously referring to Titus.

This changed every thought about this mystery that Cal ever had.

Not suicide... Murder?

How was such a thing even possible?

Cal knows, though. There were dozens of kids at the house that night. Any one of them could have snuck a butcher knife in their pocket and made their way upstairs to...

Even imagining Titus' throat being slit by someone else made bile rise up the bear's throat.

The big question now is not a why but a who. Whodunit? Who would want to hurt an innocent fox? One who stayed in the shadows yet cared for anyone he came across? Could it have been a family member of a Massacre victim? Sarah was only a Category One; perhaps someone snuck into the house and killed Titus while the party was going on downstairs.

So many possibilities.

So many suspects.

The scariest thought is that the killer could still be out there.

A flash of grey catches his eye. Cal looks up to see a grey figure at the end of the street. At first thinking it was the killer, the bear backs up a step or two. The figure's familiar jacket comes to mind and he lets go of a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Cal waves Tyrus over to him. A couple other kids come running up behind him. They look to be a few years younger; a skunk, a panda and a shepherd. "Ty?" Cal asks. "What are you doing here?"

"I was... uh..." Ty struggles to find the right words. He knows he's supposed to be in school safe and sound. Now that Cal thinks there's a murder on the loose, the last thing he needs is for kids to be out during the day. Ty turns to his friends. "Can me and the Detective talk alone for a second?"

The skunk shrugs. "Whatever," she says. She leads her little posse over to where Dan and the polar bear are talking to each other.

Cal looks back at the wolf, who cannot look him in the eye again. "Ty, what are you doing out of school?" he asks. "You know that ditching will get you in big trouble."

"I was only going to show Missy and her friends my treehouse," he explains. "I didn't mean anything by it." Calin presses for more details. "This past few days has been very hard on me. I honestly do not think that school is what's best for me right now. I need to clear my head and I can't do that if their empty chairs are next to me in class." Ty looks about ready to break down, eyes watering and choking back a sob.

Cal sighs and rests a paw on his shoulder. "If you knew this," he says, "then why did you agree to go back to school?"

"I didn't want mom and dad to be worried about me," Ty answers. "I don't want them thinking that there's something wrong with me."

"There isn't anything wrong with you. This feeling is completely normal, I've seen it plenty of times."

"Really?" Tyrus sniffles. Cal nods. "Say, speaking of my friends, did you figure out what happened to them?"

A ball dropped in Cal's heart. Telling Ty would destroy him. But lying isn't the best policy either, especially since the kid is in danger. "I haven't found anything on the whereabouts of Raquel. But I think I may know more about what happened the night Titus died." Ty's tail swayed and he perked up. This is what Cal was afraid of. "Unfortunately, you're not going to like it."

Cal takes about ten minutes explaining what he knows. The journals, Titus' mother, and the texts. Ty shakes his head, unable to believe it. "No," he says occasionally. "No, nobody would ever murder Titus. It makes no sense."

"That's what I thought too," Detective Madala continues. "But his mom orchestrated one of the largest Massacres in Mayville. She killed fourteen people, Tyrus. Surely, one of those victims had a relative or friend who wanted nothing more than to seek revenge. With his mom locked up in a maximum facility, there had to be another way to strike against Sheryll. What better way than to kill her only son?"

Tears sprung in Tyrus' eyes. Cal sees them flash through memories, possibly reliving the moment where he opened the door to his room and found his friend dead. "So, you're saying that someone in this town is a killer?" Ty whimpers.

"Yes."

Panic starts to take over Ty; his eyes become frantic and his arms and legs turn into jello. "Well why are we sitting here? We have to tell someone."

Cal stands up straighter. "We cannot tell anyone," he says firmly. "If news gets out that there's a killer on the loose, there will be a widespread panic. Plus, I was supposed to be investigating Raquel's disappearance, not Titus' death. I'd be in major trouble." Sealing off the borders of the city would make sense but it's been nearly five days since Titus died. Anyone could've got out by now.

The killer could be anyone.

"So what can we do?" Tyrus asks.

Cal thinks. This can't be that hard. This is nothing. Just another mysterious case with a few game-changing details.

First, the bear tries to visualize that room the night of the party. Titus and Raquel were upstairs alone that night according to Ty. This part he knew was true. But now, instead of Titus killing himself and Raquel vanishing, Cal imagines someone bursting in to kill the fox and Raquel fleeing from danger.

"We need to go back to your room," Cal concludes. "There might be something in there that we may have missed. Did you change your bedsheets since the party?"

"Obviously," Ty snaps. "It had blood on it and the smell of... sex..." At the word, the wolf gags. Cal couldn't tell if it was from remembering the smell of blood or the smell of... what? Cal had no idea that Titus had sex with Raquel that night. That naughty fox.

"Do you think you can take me over to your house?" Cal asks.

"Yeah, of course," Ty says. "But what do we do about my friends?" He nods to the skunk and her two cling-ons. Currently, they are deep in conversation with Dan and the polar bear about something that makes Dan's tail whip around angrily.

Cal walks over to Dan and the kids. "Dan, I need to run out real quick," the bear says. "Can you give these three a lift back to the school?"

"What about the wolf?" the mouse nods over to Ty.

"I need to stay with him for a while. He's helping me out on the Raquel case." It hurts to lie to Dan, but what choice does Cal have? Each false word he spits out feels like a stab to the heart. He isn't used to being so... dishonest.

But Dan nods and lets the younger kids into the back of his Mustang. Together, they drive off Shannon Avenue, towards the school.

Cal then turns to the polar bear officer. "Can you give me a lift to Mr. MacIntosh's house?" he asks, nodding to his now-wrecked car. The officer (Howard, by the name of his tag) grunts in response and hops into the driver's seat of his cop car. Cal takes the other seat in the front with Tyrus taking a spot in the back.

Nobody says anything on the ride over to Ty's house. The silence splits through Cal's ear like a faint buzzing. He looks in the rearview mirror. Ty stares out the window, one paw grasping the other as if it will stop it from shaking. Cal doesn't blame him. After everything that has happened, everything new that they've learned, he should be scared too.

A killer. Never would Detective Calin Madala, whose brain was as large as his gut, would have suspected that someone murdered_Titus. Yet as the scene of Titus' death at that party flashes into Cal's mind, all he can think was _It looked so much like a suicide. Whoever the killer was, they knew they had the perfect alibi with Raquel's college letters. Did Vanessa and George secretly know about the journals and read them? Did someone else at the house that night know the same secrets Titus was trying to hide?

Anyone can be the killer. The thought hits him like a pendulum.

Anyone.

_ _

17

Ty was relieved when we got out of that cop car. Not too long ago, he was blowing off school. So the idea of being in the back of a police vehicle didn't thrill him too much. But he knew it was the only way to get to his house without having to walk halfway across the town.

By the time him and the Detective arrive at his house, Ty still isn't sure what the bear had in mind. Was there something else even Ty missed? He's already searched his room high and low for more stuff after he found the can of Febreze hidden in his vent.

Cal and Ty walk up the front steps to the house. Ty produces his key from his pocket and unlocks the door. Stepping inside, it feels like a ghost town. Another eerie silence penetrates their ears. The vents downstairs whistle with the cold dancing in the air. A chill runs down the wolf's spine.

"We're here," he finally stammers. "What is it you wanted to look for?"

"Now that there is a motivation for Titus' death from another person, we need clues that will hopefully give us a new lead. The best place to look is upstairs in your bedroom." Ty let Cal go upstairs first; as if the killer will pop out from behind one of the doors. Shaking, the wolf trails behind the bear as he stomps up the stairs slowly.

Outside Tyrus' bedroom, Cal stares at the door with a paw outstretched to the knob. Ty doesn't know what hesitates the bear. Perhaps the thought of seeing the last place he saw Titus. Ty will never forget that night. Brian right outside the door, looking inside with horror written all over his face. The smell of strawberries masking what should have been metallic blood. The window open and his other best friend completely gone. But nothing beats the sheer terror of seeing your best friend lifeless in_your own bed._

Tyrus covers Cal's paw with a look that says We're in this together. In a way, they are. With the help of the wolf, the Detective turns the knob and the door opens. Inside is a seemingly normal teenage boy's bedroom. But they both knew better. This room went from a bedroom to a crime scene in only a matter of days.

Going in blind, Tyrus and Calin search the room for anything that could help. Ty got low on his knees, skimming under his dusty bed, between the crevice of his dresser and wall. Cal sifts through the closet and the bed, probably thinking that smells stay pungent after a certain amount of days.

Then Tyrus remembers, Cal doesn't know much about the smell of the room that night. Now would be a good time to tell him.

While Cal is lying on his belly, getting a second look under the bed, Ty goes into his closet and reaches onto the shelf for the empty can. There's a distinct smell on it that Ty cannot identify. It makes him wince and his nose twitch.

Cal gets onto his knees, leaning against the bed for support. The frame creaks, as if about to collapse. He notices the can in Ty's paw. "What is that?" he asks.

"I..." Before the wolf can think of how to word his story carefully, the words spill out of him. "I found this in my vents yesterday." He hands the canister to the bear, who scrutinizes it. "When I saw..." he chokes on the word Titus, "... him in my bed, there was a strawberry scent in the room. I think this is where that came from."

"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" There's a look on Cal's face that spells anger.

Ty folds his ears back. "I thought... I thought that I could solve this on my own." Cal shakes his head in disappointment. "I'm sorry! I wanted to tell you, but I wasn't sure if it would be relevant."

"It's relevant now," he says. "Now that this is a murder case, any detail we find can be crucial." Detective Madala gets a good whiff of the can and winces. "Great," he adds. "Whoever planted this in your room bleached it. If there was any DNA on it before, there isn't any now."

"What do we do now?"

Cal rubs his face with both paws, setting the Febreze can aside. Another moment of silence hangs between them. Cal's eyes dart back and forth, contemplating their next move. Ty's heart skips a few beats. Finally, Cal lets out a long sigh and asks, "How many people were at the party that night?"

Ty can remember his house full of people, kids around his age crammed into the few rooms downstairs. From those who were gaming in the living room to the ones getting drunk in the kitchen. Even the music pounded in his ears like he was back at that night, reliving every beat of every minute. "Around forty or fifty," he answers.

"And none of them noticed Titus or Raquel going upstairs?" Tyrus shakes his head. Frustrated, Calin rubs his forehead with both paws. "This is going to take a long time to solve," Cal grumbles.

"Don't give up hope, big guy." Tyrus rubs the Detective on the back; a friendly gesture. "Maybe this isn't the right place to look."

"I'm just trying to think of what we could be missing."

Tyrus is back at the party with Brian right behind him, gawking at the body sitting in Ty's bead. Ty can remember how Titus looked, paler and glass-eyed with blood covering his neck and chest. Raquel was nowhere to be seen. The only sign of her was the window being open, letting the harsh winds of Sarah inside...

The window!

Ty leaves Cal's side in favor of his window. He unhooks and pushes the frame open, looking down to the ground. No way Raquel would have jumped that far downwards. A tree jutting from the neighboring yard does lean over towards his window though. The branch closest to his window looks close enough for him to reach out and grab. Raquel probably would have climbed down. But it gets Ty nowhere; she could have run off in any direction.

Looking down at the frame of the window, Ty notices faint tan marks clashing with the classic wooden brown; parallel lines streaked over and over. Claw marks, he thinks, like she was scrambling to get away.

"Cal, you might want to get over here to see this."

Cal struggles to his feet and walks over to the wolf's side, where Tyrus points out the marks on the window. The bear leans in for a closer look. His eyes skirt all over the frame, as if there were more that Ty hadn't discovered. When Cal looks down again, he squints like he cannot see the scratches at all.

It's when the Detective leans over to grab something off the ground that Ty realizes he was looking past the frame. At first, what looks like a feather is pinched between his fingers. But it looks softer, more solid, with a bright shade of red. Red like the dress a friend was wearing that night of the party.

Ty gently takes the torn piece of the dress of Cal's paw, saying, "I think Raquel was wearing this during the hurricane."

"You know what this means, right?" Detective Madala asks. Ty shakes his head but he has a bad feeling that he knows. What person would scratch at a window unless they were trying to escape? Cal takes a deep breath and lets the words flow out. "Your friends were attacked."

A concrete weight settles over Tyrus' heart. The weight feels real and he needs to sit down. He plops himself on his bed, staring off into space. Attacked. By who? Obviously the killer, but why? How? Ty closes his eyes and clamps his paws around his ears, muffling the noise outside, as if this whole nightmare will go away. That Titus and Raquel will be standing in front of him and they'll share a good laugh at this whole funny memory.

Ty opens his eyes. Only the Detective is there; kneeling in front of him. "What did you say?" Ty asks when he uncovers his eyes.

"I said, are you all right?"

He shakes his head. Tears sting behind his eyes, threatening to trick down to his cheeks. A shudder runs through him. And he cries. Cal wraps an arm around him but he doesn't feel it, instead feeling the loss of two friends in one night. It was like someone had shot an arrow directly into his heart. A literal arrow to the chest would be an easier pain to handle.

"I miss them so much," Ty mumbles in his tears.

Cal gives him a pat on the back. "I miss them too." His voice is soothing, like his mother was when he broke his thumb in the door when he was seven. "I'm going to find out who did this."

Tyrus sniffles, but feels a little bit better. If anyone can figure out who did this, it's Detective Calin Madala.

Feeling a little better, but still letting tears run down, Ty sits up in his bed, wiping his face with the back of his paw. He chuckles. "Look at me; I've went from all talk to-" he waves a paw in the air "-this in only a matter of days."

His ears twitch when he hears an engine right outside his window. Cal looks out the window. Suddenly, his expression leaps from sad to anger, noted by the way his fists clench and his muscles tense up. "It's that news lady," he says.

18

Cal bolts out the door and down the stairs without thinking. That news girl--CeCe, was it? --had been showing up at odd times. What is it about that girl?

It doesn't take a detective to know that the coyote is right outside on the steps, camera in paw. When he throws open the door, CeCe gasps in shock as she sees him standing there. "Sorry," she says. "You frightened me."

"Yeah, I'll bet." Cal doesn't hide his sarcasm. CeCe tilts her head in confusion. "What are you doing here? Are you following me?"

She shakes her head. "No. I heard there was a car crash on the other side of town. What exactly happened out there?"

"I don't have to answer your questions, newswoman. But answer me this: How did you find out where I was and what are you doing here?"

"Cal." The bear turns around and sees Tyrus on the stairs, the wolf locking eyes with the scarlet lady on his porch. "I saw her truck at the crash sight."

This was big news to the bear. He slowly turns back to her. Her breathing has increased and Cal knows that she's hiding something. Behind her, her brown truck sits at the curb. But with the sun shining bright on the car, even Cal can see the blotch of black in the driver's seat.

Pointing behind her, Cal asks, "What in the world is that?"

"It's my truck," CeCe says so nonchalantly. She's evading her real answer. She knows what Cal is referring to.

She back up as Cal takes a threatening step forward. "Is that a black sweatshirt?"

"N-No."

"Really? Because it looks like the same shade of black that was worn by the person who stepped in front of my car." Even though he remembers that person had grey fur, anyone's fur looks darker under a shadow. Plus, that person was a canine... just like CeCe.

Before he can think to do anything, the vixen spins around and hurls herself off the porch, running towards her truck. Cal is already down the steps running for her as fast as he can. He loops around her truck as she fumbles for her keys. Paws out, the bear presses her against the door of her truck. She struggles under his strength, crying out as if Cal were about to kill her.

"Stop! Stop! Please!"

"You were there at the scene of the crime," Cal growls. "TYRUS!!!" The wolf is out on the lawn, sprinting towards them. Cal reaches into his pocket and tosses him his phone. "Call Dan. Tell him to get here right away."

The coyote panic and squirms again under Cal's paws. "Let me go!" CeCe begs. Cal can almost see tears streaming down, like she's going to die.

"Miss Cartwright, you're going in for questioning." Cal states it as a fact, letting the words sink into her ears. Ty mumbles into the phone with Dan on the other line.

"No! Please! You don't understand! That wasn't my sweatshirt!"

"What do you mean?" Cal's grip on her tightens.

"Let me go and I'll explain!" It could be a trap, the bear thinks. But Tyrus already has the mouse on the phone; surely cops are already on their way here.

Releasing her slowly, but staying within a few feet of her, just within reach, Cal says, "You better have a good explanation." Of why my car is destroyed and what you know about the person who did it. That is... if you're to be trusted.

_ _ Taking a deep breath, CeCe whimpers, "Okay. I don't know whose sweatshirt that is or how it got into my car." Could be lies, but Cal allows her to continue. CeCe's breath shakes as words tumble out. "Yes, I was at the scene of your car crash but that was a total coincidence. I was on my way downtown to the editing office to give a report about the cleanups finally finishing.

"That was when I saw you and your smashed car and your friend on the scene." She nods towards Ty, who gives the bear his phone back. "I didn't say anything though because I know you don't like me."

"Then why follow me to this house?" Cal asks.

"I wanted to know if you had any more leads about that fox's suicide." Cal was about to snap at her when she didn't say Titus' name. But he remembers why he can't tell her anything; as soon as CeCe knows, the whole town will know. "Or that tiger's disappearance. Plus, maybe you could figure out who the sweatshirt belongs to."

Cal backs up when he hears sirens coming his direction. A blue police car turns the corner, sure enough, a tiger officer with Dan riding shotgun screech to a halt on the other side of the street. "Madala," Dan says as he hurls himself out of the door and runs up to them. "I got a call from Ty; what happened here? I can't even leave you alone for an hour without something going amiss?"

Cal looks at his phone. The mouse is halfway right. It's only been nearly two hours since the crash. "I found something that might be connected to who crashed my car," the bear says. He has CeCe open up her truck door where he grabs the black sweatshirt and tosses it to Dan. "I was hoping you can find out who this belongs to."

"Sure, buddy, because we totally run the Lost-and-Found business," Dan says sarcastically. He tosses the article of clothing over his shoulder. "I'm sure I can find out with the forensics team. Before I go, did you find anything about Raquel's disappearance?"

"No," Cal lies. "But I'm going to keep searching."

"You do that." Dan's attention turns to CeCe, who tenses up as he faces her. "Ma'am, if you would mind letting us speak to you for a few moments." The coyote steps out into the street and follows Dan to where they talk privately.

Cal takes a moment to call Ren, who must be worried sick about him. "What happened?!" Ren demands on the second ring. He sounds more scared than angry. "You were only going to talk to Titus' mother! Now I'm hearing about a car crash on the other side of town?"

The bear calms his husband down with words. "Yes, I'm fine." "No, none of my bones are broken." "No one else got hurt." The part where he explains that someone walked out in front of him was tricky to explain. By the time he finishes his story, Ren sounds better than when he answered. Ren promises to give him a ride home. He hangs up.

19

He goes to sit down on the porch next to Ty, watching Dan and the tiger talk to the news lady. "Cal?" Tyrus asks, his thin tail curled around himself as if he was cold. Detective Madala turns to him. Ty has an expression of concern and fear; similar to the night they discovered Titus dead in his room. The memory of smelling iron mixed with strawberries burns the bear's nostrils. "What are we going to do now? Are we even safe anymore?"

It is a ridiculous question. All though, after everything that the bear has seen, he's beginning to question his own safety. If someone will walk out in front of him as he's driving just to make him crash, then what else are they capable of? Perhaps he or she is setting up for their next potential victim right now. This is quite a dilemma, Cal thinks. His head starts to spin.

But he keeps a straight face as he says, "I'm sure everything will be okay."

"What if it won't?" Ty argues. "The killer could be anywhere and we have no way to catch them."

"Not true. Once we run that sweatshirt through the forensics lab, we should be able to find our lead." Cal gives the wolf a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry; I promise you that nothing bad will happen. I'm going to find Titus and Raquel's attacker."

Behind him, the wind picks up, blowing musical notes across the windchimes. Ty's ears twitch and his fists clench up, ready to fight. For a second, Cal scoots back in case he tries to swing a punch, even though he can beat him in a fight. When he finally looks up, Cal can see something different in his eyes; fire and determination.

"No..." he growls. "We are going to find that son-of-a-bitch."