Titus hated flying. Mostly, it was the turbulence that made him queasy. A couple of Dramamine tablets usually did the trick to get him past the worst of it, but he was always happiest once his feet were back on solid ground. Thankfully, the flight was short and he was able to get his luggage and rental car with minimal fuss. A half an hour or so drive put him to his motel, which was the only real hassle. The place was run down and Titus wasn’t entirely certain there wasn’t a bedbug infestation. Stress kept him awake, tossing and turning for half the night before he popped another Dramamine to make himself sleepy.

Then his alarm went off entirely too early. A quick lukewarm shower shared with the cockroach lurking in the corner of the bathroom had Titus checking out before he even tried to stomach the continental breakfast, determined to find a new motel before the end of the day. He gave the little boxes of sugary cereal the hairy eyeball before deciding that some blueberry yogurt and a plain bagel with peanut butter would suffice as accompaniment to a cup of really bad coffee. Not even putting a packet of hot cocoa mix into the cup could save it. 

By the time his phone read 8:00 am, he was more than ready to head out.

According to the GPS app on his phone, it was about 10 minutes to the local PD office. A quick check of his email showed a reply to his message that basically said to call when he was on his way so someone named Officer Hezekiah Branch could meet him to coordinate efforts on the case. The email included all the drivel and double talk that, reading between the lines, meant this Hezekiah was an officer like himself: assigned all the cases dealing with Lycos and Nostu. Well, that was fine by Titus. At least Officer Branch was more likely to take the missing teen’s case seriously.

Titus dialed the number he’d been provided. 

“Ky Branch. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”

“Hi, Officer Branch. This is Officer Titus Westman of...”

“Oh, yeah! The missing Lyco!” Ky Branch sounded almost chipper as he interrupted Titus’ introduction. “Chief Thompson forwarded your email to me. I take it you’re on the way?”

“Yeah. About 15 minutes out,” Titus fibbed. It was a habit, that he always wanted to be at least a few minutes early to everything.

“Sounds good. I’ll be on the lookout for you to get here. See you soon!” The line clicked dead before Titus could even sign off. He stared at the cell phone for a moment before stuffing it back into his pocket and starting up the car. With an eye roll, he put the little hybrid in drive and pulled out into traffic.

By the time he’d arrived at his destination, Titus had decided that all California drivers were completely batshit insane. He’d been cut off more times than he could count on one hand and had to stomp on his brakes for the car that had sped through a stale red light. The tailgater behind him had swerved out nearly into oncoming traffic to avoid rear ending him, then laid on his horn and flipped him off like it had been Titus’ fault. Part of him definitely wished he had jurisdiction here so he could write every single one of them a citation. Instead, he satisfied the irritation by flashing his badge at the driver trying to pass in the center suicide lane and watched her stomp on her brakes to swerve back into traffic behind him. 

A quick drag of his fingers through his hair in the rear view mirror after he’d parked gave Titus the moment he needed to collect himself and try to slow his racing heart. He tugged his dress shirt into place once he’d squeezed out of the tiny car, then pulled on his blazer and straightened his tie. Still two minutes early. Perfect. 

Stepping into the building, Titus realized he was once again overdressed. Even worse than usual, it seemed; almost everyone he saw inside the main offices for this precinct was sporting a polo shirt and jeans if they weren’t in uniform. The officer behind the desk took his name and put in a call to Officer Branch before directing Titus that he could wait in one of the chairs lining the reception area. A particularly sour part of Titus wanted to call the rock hard seats rejects from a DMV waiting room, but he was painfully aware that with budgets being what they were, these were probably the nicest the department could afford. With a sigh, Titus settled in for the short wait.

“Hey! You’re Titus?” The cheerful voice matched the one he’d heard on the phone. Titus looked up to find it belonged to an officer with short black hair and a round, friendly face. A nod confirmed his own identity. “Hi! Hezekiah Branch. But you can just call me Ky; the other’s too much of a mouthful. Come on back!” Ky Branch held the door open as Titus got to his feet. “So, tell me what ya got,” Ky inquired as he led the way deeper into the precinct offices. 

Titus repeated the vital information from memory as they walked, with Ky nodding understanding as he listened. “One of our Lyco consultants tracked a scent trail to the bus station,” he wrapped up as Ky motioned for Titus to have a seat in the cramped office they’d entered. “We learned her bus was headed out here, but it meant our Lyco couldn't follow her any further. The department sent me out to try and either locate her or recover her remains, depending on what I find. I was hoping your precinct had a Lyco that could help me on this end; I have a shirt from her family that’s been sealed up for a while to preserve the scent.”

Ky nodded, looking reflective. “We’ll cooperate in your investigation, of course,” he hedged, “but you know this is a big town, right? Kind of a needle/haystack situation here. San Diego proper has roughly 1.2 million residents, and that goes up to more like 3.3 million if you take in the surrounding areas.”

Titus felt his mood sink. That was even more residents than Phoenix, the most populated city in his home state of Arizona. And if the insane drivers were any indication, this case was going to be a nightmare to solve based on the pure levels of lawlessness around here. 

“You’re in luck though,” Ky continued, and Titus pulled his attention back to the other officer. “We have the best scent tracker in the southwest right here in the county. If anyone can get you a lead on your missing teen, it’s Beau. Lemme give him a ring and get him over here.”

Titus felt himself zone out while Ky got on the phone. It was impolite to listen in on the conversation, so he kept himself occupied by scanning the office he’d been led into. And the impression he came away with was that Officer Ky Branch was probably an overworked, disorganized, low officer on the totem pole sort of guy. An overstuffed filing cabinet leaked paperwork out onto the top of itself, despite the presence of a computer on the messy desk. Several awards and commendations hung framed on the wall, which spoke of Branch being a successful 25 year veteran of the force, and a couple of photos poking out of the paperwork strewn across the desktop showed him to be a family man. Titus counted three different kids that he could identify. A cheerful woman in one of the pictures was probably a wife, her slim build offsetting Branch’s significantly less sveldt figure. But overall, Branch seemed to be a fairly pleasant person, if the smiles he showed the camera were any indication. 

“Okay, Beau. See you soon. And thanks.” The end of the conversation pulled Titus’ attention back. “He’s on the way. Can I get you some coffee or water or something in the meantime? It’ll take Beau about half an hour to get here and I have to make sure there’s a fresh pot of dark roast ready for him.”

“Coffee would be great,” Titus allowed, the memory of the awful sludge from the motel trying to turn his stomach. “The continental breakfast this morning was…uh…less than ideal.”

Ky nodded, his expression scrunched up in sympathy. It started a round of small talk about terrible lodgings and which of the local motels to avoid as Titus followed Ky deeper into the precinct, winding up in what appeared to be a break room. Titus wasn’t entirely surprised to hear the name of his own motel near the top of Ky’s list. He made a mental note to ask later about any recommendations Ky might have for a different place to stay. Preferably one with no roaches sharing the shower.

Ky clearly knew his way around the break room. Titus watched as he started a fresh pot of what appeared to be better than grocery brand coffee. Even more interesting was that the old fashioned drip machine was situated right next to a fancy looking single cup brew machine. And it was the single cup machine that Ky used to brew Titus’ requested cup of coffee, letting the drip machine chug away undisturbed. 

Titus kept his opinions on that to himself. Though it was hard when, once it was finished brewing, Ky picked the entire carafe up. “Okay. Do you need anything out of my office? We have to meet with Beau outside; he says it reeks too much in here for his nose.”

“Um…” At a loss for words, Titus stalled for a second while his brain processed what was happening. “Y-yeah. The shirt. It’s in my briefcase. And the case file.”

“Okay. We’ll grab those and head out, then.” Coffee carafe in hand, Ky led the way back to his office so Titus could grab what he needed, then to a side door out to what appeared to be a patio. 

Titus decided then and there that people in California were all officially nuts.