FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter Six

Joseph returned to the lobby and was Terri watching as if waiting for his return. Her eyes were no longer watching the front entrance so he could only guess what she wanted to know. She probably expected him to give her the answers of why her friend was murdered. She probably watched a lot of TV shows and expected that he would find some insignificant clue that would unravel the entire mystery.

"Just who I was waiting for," She started as Joseph wrenched a smile trying to think of something that might allow him to escape a never ending conversation. Unfortunately nothing was coming to mind.

The pretty nurse returned as he searched the bathroom with disappointing news. They had nothing on file linking any of the workers to Shane Krong. So now the theory of the scorned lover looking for revenge was now no longer viable in this case, leaving him back to find a new theory. The bathroom revealed no other hidden clues so he decided to leave.

"How can I help you?" He politely asked Terri but was afraid of what was to come, a story about this and that which he was not in the mood of idle conversation.

"Can you tell your cop buddies to stop picking on my niece?!" Joseph groaned within himself because he knew where this was leading.

"Your niece?"

"Yes, her name is Jessica and everytime she drives your cop buddies keep pulling her over and giving her tickets. The problem is she has no money to pay the tickets and since she takes me shopping I end up paying them. Now I'm on a limited budget I can't keep affording bogus tickets so could you guys give me a rest?!" Terri asked sternly.

"What is she being ticketed for?" Joseph asked not really caring nor was he going to announce to the entire department that one little old lady needs her niece to stop getting ticketed.

"They keep saying something is expired so they ticket her but everyone knows that's not the real cause," Oh No here it comes, Joseph thought to himself. "A few years ago she was arrested for minding her own business," Joseph groaned to himself and wanted to roll his eyes. "See she was in a shouting match at her job because her boss was being a pill and she called the police and made up stories about Jessica hitting her. So she got a lawyer but he was not good at his job. He told her the best thing to do was plea bargain. So she pleaded guilty even though she wasn't and she went to jail for two years. Now that she's out your cop buddies keep stalking her and giving her tickets, that I can't afford, to keep punishing her for being innocent. So please tell them to stop." Terri said.

"I'll see what I can do." Joseph replied.

"Thank you because there are other real criminals they should be after, not my innocent niece." She said and Joseph nodded and quickly left before she could say anything else. Outside he saw Silvia yelling up into a tree as the aid was trying to usher her inside.

"Bill? Come down Bill. It's time to go, we got things to do." Silvia shouted and she seemed unaware of anyone else around her and he casually walked by and nodded to the beautiful aid before he reached the cruiser and drove back to the station to finish any last minute projects before clocking out.

He made a quick note reminding him that he needed to stop and buy some food for Marms. If she showed up empty handed hem Marms might kick him out of the house and lock the door. The thought always made him chuckle but if Marms could actually do that then he was sure he would.

Joseph arrived home and as he entered the apartment Marms sat on the headrest of his favorite chair and meowed at him. He got close and Marms started rubbing his face all over Joseph's. He called this kitty kisses and it was Marms way of telling him that he was missed and loved.... And that he wanted to be fed.

"Hi baby." Joseph said then kissed Marms head and heard him purring loudly. He went into the kitchen and Marms quickly jumped down and ran in front of him as if to lead the way. Once in there, as Joseph opened a can of food, Marms meowed but the sound made him think of a bird cawing rather than a cat meowing. Doing stuff like this made him wonder if when Marms was meowing at the birds maybe he was having a real conversation with them. Maybe Marms was bilingual!

Joseph turned on the television to catch the news then turned on his computer to do the daily tasks of the online computer games he played.

"Warning to the public as numerous pet owners have reported being bitten by their own pets! Health officials are looking into what might be causing pet owners to be bitten by their own pets..." Joseph was vaguely listening as he began to play his online games. One game he had been playing for three years had the same events every other week and each time he played he had to force himself to not quit the game permanently. He reasoned that he had spent so much time on it to just throw the game away would upset him.

Marms jumped on top of the chair and began to groom himself with one of his legs sticking up, pointing towards the ceiling. The happy little kitty could care less about what was happening in the rest of the world because his own kingdom consisted of what was in the apartment. Soon he would go on patrol to exert his dominance over the place and remind everyone that he was the king of it.

"The Animal Pet Lovers Association, or APLA, have been coming forward to renounce the people bitten by their pets saying that they deserve to be attacked for their mistreatment of the animals." Joseph immediately stopped playing and turned his attention to the news cast. The scene changed to a spokesperson for the group giving their opinion of the attacks, Joseph retrieved his notebook from his coat and began to search it. Sure enough he found that Shane was a member of that group.

"We find that most animals that attack their owners have been abused by them in some way." A mousy little man said whose receding hairline was at the back of his scalp. He had thick black frames of the glasses he wore. He reminded Joseph of a high school science teacher he once had. The caption below him said he represented the APLA but judging by his statement Joseph could tell that he had never owned a pet in his life.

While what he said was true to a certain degree it was more of a half truth that the full truth. Some animals were not aware of their own strength and while they thought they were playing they have no idea that they are being too rough. Other times animals might bite an owner if they are in pain and the owner touches them in that spot.

The scene changed and a female, identified as being a veterinarian, began to correct the man by calmly explaining why he was wrong and gave a more medical professional understanding of the topic. However the man persisted in his belief that he was right and everyone else, even the experts, were wrong.

Joseph wrote down his name because he may have to deal with him later regarding Shane. He returned to his games and then turned and looked at Marms as he meowed at him.

"What is it baby? Need something?" Joseph said and Marms tried to roll over onto his back as he began to loudly purr and he rolled down onto the seat of the chair. Joseph tried not to laugh but could not help it and he went over to him and picked him up. Marms looked at him with a look of confusion mixed with disgust as if blaming Joseph for his tumble.

"Don't blame me, Mr. Kitty because you did that to yourself." Joseph said and Marms quickly began to purr again as Joseph began to pet his belly.

Rachael parked her SUV as she pulled into her driveway and started gathering her belongings. She was glad today was over because after Margarett, she needed to get away. She wondered if maybe she should take a day off or two to center herself and revitalize her energies. The others would not mind and they would probably be happy that she was trying to center herself with the universe.

Evening was setting in as the sun was descending, leaving the sky turning from the beautiful fiery reds and yellows to darker colors like lavender blues and blacks. Distant points of light, called stars, started to appear as the daylight that kept them hidden was fading. Finally as the daylight weakened their splendor was at last able to break free.

Her dog, Cosma, was barking as she stepped out of her vehicle and she could hear her through the front door. This was her typical greeting and once Rachael opened the front door, Cosma would run out into the yard barking at the trees and finally come over to her with her tongue hanging out.

Cosma was a black lab and despite her size she was so loving and gentle. A few years ago Cosma was laying in the grass and she just stood still as a butterfly landed on her nose. She just stood still and Rachal was able to get a picture of it. She proudly displayed it in her home and even won a prize in a local pet photography contest.

This time however Cosma did not run out and start barking at trees instead she crouched in front of Rachael with her hackles raised showing her teeth.

"This is not like you, are you sick of barking at the squirrels? Come on Cosma we don't have all day for you to play as night sets in." Rachael said her voice held the briefest hint of exhaustion. For some reason Cosma was not her usual playful self instead the growling got louder and she clamped her jaw as if ready to bite.

"What is wrong? Cosmaaaa '' Rachael was in mid sentence and her dog unexpectedly lunged at her and bit her arm causing her to shout out the dog's name. Instinctively Rachael dropped to the group and kicked her dog. Cosma shook her head while her maw was still clamped onto Rachael's arm and ignored the struggling between them. Finally Cosma let go after a minute and walked away making a whining sound.

Rachael looked at her arm in disbelief and saw blood dripping from the teeth wounds. Cosma had broken her skin and Rachael felt stunned because this kind of action was unthinkable. Cosma went to the front door and curled herself laying her head laying on her paws. Rachael felt tears getting ready to fall as she frantically tried to figure out why her dog attacked her. I made no sense Cosma had never done anything like this before.

Rachael sat on the ground as she felt herself fall and began to sob. She could not tell if Cosma even knew why her owner sat there crying. Occasionally she heard a whine from the dog but Rachael just sat there vulnerable. She was scared of her pet coming back to attack a second time and made no movements to try and encourage her. She felt like a mouse hoping that if she remained still the cat would get tired of her and leave.

She was not sure how long she sat there but she suddenly found herself shivering. She slowly reached up and wiped the moisture from her eyes and saw Cosma had not moved from the entrance. She was tired of being cold and decided to take a chance and stood up. Cosma raised her head as she watched and Rachael found herself relaxed and Cosma had her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

"Let's go inside." Rachael said as a test to see how Cosma was going to react and also as a means to give her courage to push her forward. When she took a step Cosma ran over to her, which made her immediately stop in panic, and began to rub herself against Rachael. Rachael let herself relax and walked towards her place and entered the house. By the time she entered the fear she had been feeling vanished and curiosity now replaced it as she wondered why Cosma had bit her. Was she just over excited?

Rachael wondered but as Cosma started to behave as her old self Rachael began to forget about the incident. She bound the wound and treated it to prevent infection then went about her evening routine. By the time she went to bed everything seemed normal again.

Joseph sat in the meeting area for the morning briefing and hated how it looked like a classroom to him. It made him feel as if he had never left school even though this briefing had nothing to do with it. Daily assignments were passed out during this briefing as well as any information the officers need to know about.

Typically a sergeant or a lieutenant would conduct this meeting but today George walked in and called the group to order.

"Alright people listen up!" George said and the room immediately quieted. "I received word from the city council that we are to be on the lookout for animals wondering about." Several of the officers began to groan and talk under their breaths. Joseph vaguely remembered hearing something about animal attacks and wished he had paid more attention to the news story.

"Isn't that animal control's job?" One officer grumbled. Joseph recognized him by face but he was not too familiar with him personally. He was just one of the guys he saw around the station. He usually complained about everything and Joseph did not have time to indulge in his pessimism.

"Technically yes, however, there have been numerous animal attacks reported by pet owners. We have been asked to report any suspicious behavior regarding any animal on the street because there are concerns about this being a new form of rabies. If you see anything just call it in and Animal Control will be dispatched." George replied.

"After all we are on the same side." Joseph said not really caring if anyone responded to his comment.

"I have a question," Mike said raising his hand and Joseph wanted to shake his head because he knew what was coming.

"Go ahead." George replied.

"Does this new rabies cause the animal's head to explode?!" Mike asked.and all eyes turned to look at him.

"Head explode?" George asked.

"Yeah Detective Namer and myself were out on a case and we had to put down a dog that almost attacked some kids. When we got close to it, the head looked like it exploded." There were several murmurs from the other officers as Mike finished and George gestured for the group to calm down.

"Detective Namer, can you confirm this?"

"Nothing we actually witnessed but there could be a possibility of a sniper. Based on 'another' case I'm on, I'm looking into the possibility that a sniper could be involved because one of the bodies found was in the same condition as the dog." Joseph said, trying to ignore all eyes looking at him now.

"Let me know if anything turns up on that matter. For the time being I want everyone keeping a close eye on any animals wandering around... especially if their heads explode." George said and this brought about a round of laughter from the group. George dismissed everyone but called Mike and Joseph over.

"Snipers? Exploding heads?? What is all this?" George asked them as the other officers left the room.

"That's the thing, we don't know. All I can say for sure is that Shane Krong was found with his head smashed to bits then when I took Officer Barboza to Shane's place we encountered a dog about to attack some children. I discharged my weapon in defence of the minors and after making sure the area was secure we went over to the dog's body and the head was in the same condition as Shane's was.

I thought a sniper might be involved because our weapons could not have desecrated the dog's body the way it was but I can't find any evidence of one." Joseph said.

"You said the dog was about to attack some children, could a parent be involved with shooting the dog?" George asked.

"With all due respect, sir, it's unlikely. We were both there and other than ourselves we saw no one else shoot the dog. Which I think is why the idea of a sniper being involved was put forth." Mike replied.

"Anyone get close to the body? Maybe a parent tried to crush it's head by stepping on it?" George asked. Mike and Joseph turned and looked at each other and Mike shrugged.

"It's possible." Mike said with uncertainty and Joseph nodded his head in agreement.

"I want copies of all your reports on the shooting and Krong case. It might be a longshot that they are connected but we can't take that chance."

"I'll get right on it." Joseph replied.