It was pure hell waiting for Danni to get back that evening, Titus decided. He’d taken Beau up on his offer to wait at his place rather than go back to the motel room. But it had felt inappropriate to play console games or even watch a movie while Danni was out doing all the investigative work. So Beau had set him up at the small kitchen table to do some busy work on his laptop while the Lyco played video games in the living room. Titus managed to get his report started for this case and had written out an email to update Sandoval on the status. He wasn’t expecting much from his department head, but Titus was still going to go through the motions.

It was somewhere north of 2 am when Danni finally returned. They barged right into Beau’s little granny flat, wearing nothing more than hot pink skinny jeans and a black binder. “Hey, boys! Got some juicy gossip for you!”

Titus flipped shut his laptop as Danni slid into the seat opposite him. “Spill the tea, sibster,” Beau announced from the other room.

That was all the encouragement Danni needed. “So! Got a couple leads for you. First, Mike absolutely would never have talked to you, Titus. But he was all too willing to talk to me, in exchange for agreeing to me taking some hours at his place and a free BJ off the books. So I got him to fill out your questionnaire. But he also gave me a lead on what he thinks might be going on. Here, look at this.”

Danni pulled out a magazine and slid it across the table to Titus. Large print across the tops of each page declared the periodical to be The Cryptid Medium, which felt to Titus like a huge stereotype. He leafed through the pages idly for a minute, wondering what he was supposed to be looking for, until he got to what appeared to be the adverts and personals. That was when Danni slapped their hand down onto the page and commented, “Here! Look at this.”

So he did. Titus scanned the page, eyes skimming over a variety of help wanted ads. One in particular was circled on the page, seeking applicants for a delivery person. “Okay…”

“This just happens to be the magazine your missing kid was looking at when Mike saw her,” Danni finally supplied. “Which tracks with that ad. It’s advertising for a Simp runner.”

Titus read over the wanted ad a bit closer. “Wanted: reliable delivery person. Cash paid daily. Earn top dollar! No sales, easy work. Must provide own transportation.” Then it listed a contact name and an address. The ad looked entirely ordinary to Titus.

“Danni, he ain’t a Lyco.” Titus tried very hard to not jump out of his skin. When had Beau come in? And how had he not noticed the big Lyco leaning in to read over his shoulder? Does he just not understand personal space? Apparently not, as Beau also placed a hand on Titus’ shoulder as he scanned the rag sheet. “You’re gonna have to spell it out for him.”

“Shit. Right.” Danni bonked themself in the forehead with the heel of their palm. “Okay, look. Other than the clearly fake name, it’s not what the ad says that gives it away; it’s what it doesn’t say. No phone number, first of all. They don’t want to make it easy for cops to track down the dealers. Second, I’d bet that if someone showed up at the address, it’d be abandoned. There’d be a spotter looking for people waving around this magazine, and the applicant would get intercepted and sent to the real address. They want runners to have their own transportation so if they’re followed, they can get the fuck out. ‘No sales’ but ‘cash paid daily’? And ‘reliable’ means it’s gotta be someone that won’t inject from the supply they’re transporting. So your runaway was here looking for Simp dealers.”

“Shit,” Titus swore in agreement. 

They were all quiet for a moment, lost to their separate thoughts. It was Beau who finally broke the silence. “Well, this is your show, Titus. You’re the cop here. We can’t stop you if you wanna try to run this to ground. But I don’t recommend it. No offense, but if you show up sniffin’ around, you’re not the only one’s gonna get hurt here. And I have a feelin’ you’re sittin’ here thinkin’ you don’t wanna involve me an’ Danni ‘cuz we’re civilians.” Titus wasn’t about to admit that it was exactly what he’d been thinking. “All’s I’m gonna say about that is that me an’ Danni can get into places you can’t and we’re both a hell of a lot more invested in making sure Lycos stay safe.”

“Beau may not want to say it, but I will,” Danni went on as their brother lapsed back into silence. “I can get places neither of you can. Furthermore, I’m willing to. You want to know what happened to this kid? Then let me help. Let me go pretend to apply for this position. I know what I’m walking into.”

“You gonna be able to keep a needle outta your veins if you do this?” Beau asked softly.

Danni had to look away from their brother as they answered. “For long enough to get this done? Yeah, probably. It’ll be tempting, not gonna lie. But I got other sources for my fix. You know that.”

Shit, Titus realized. Danni was a Simp addict. That made him even less inclined to let them help. And yet…

“I don’t know what other options I have at this point,” Titus admitted. “If I just let this go here, I’ll always know I didn’t give it my all. That I didn’t use all the tools at my disposal.”

“You callin’ me a tool?” Beau teased slyly.

It was enough to get a chuckle out of Titus. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“I would’ve had to beat the shit out of you if you had,” Danni joked. “I’m the only one that gets to call him a tool.”

“You’re just envious of my tool,” Beau fired back with a grin.

“Only sometimes. Other times, I like the parts I was born with just fine.” 

Titus managed to blush less that time. “Anyway, where I was going with that was that if you’re both willing, I have an idea.” That got the twins’ attention back on him. “I’m open to suggestions, but here’s my thought: Danni, I like the idea of sending you to that address to pose as an applicant. But I don’t want you going alone. So I propose that Beau and I follow you and provide cover. We can get you a wire from Officer Branch so that if something goes wrong, all you have to do is yell and Beau or myself can come to your aid.”

“I’m fairly certain Ky would hate bein’ called ‘Officer Branch’,” Beau remarked.

Titus nodded guiltily. “He did tell me to call him Ky.”

“Who the hell names their kid ‘Hezekiah’, anyway?” Danni grumbled.

Beau just shook his head. “Ky’s folks were blessed with an overabundance of religion and no understanding whatsoever of the fact that kids are little bastards when it comes to archaic names. Way I hear it, he got bullied right into uniform so he could get his self respect back.”

“Oof. Anyway.” Titus pulled them all back on topic again. “How does that sound? Danni, you’re likely to be the one most at risk here, so if you’re not comfortable with any part of this just say the word and we’ll pull the plug before it even begins.”

“No, I’m good,” they assured the other two. “The wire is a great idea, honestly. Ky can probably also get us a couple of units standing by in case we need more than just you two. But I’m expecting to just go there and talk to someone; get you an address you can look up and see if it gives you another lead in your case. And I can always pretend to rethink the idea and get the fuck out of there if it gets too dicey.”

“Beau? You see any obvious holes in this plan?” Titus peered up over his shoulder to catch Beau’s expression. Through the hand still on his shoulder, Titus could tell that the Lyco wasn’t as relaxed as his expression seemed to indicate; that subtle tension that always seemed to be present in Beau’s form was definitely still present. 

“Well, can’t say I like the idea,” Beau hedged, “but I can’t see too many alternatives either. ‘Course, it don’t matter if I say no ‘cause Danni’d go and do it anyway. So I might as well be there as backup for when shit goes pear shaped.”

“He knows me so well.” Danni seemed to be taking Beau’s criticism as a point of pride. 

“Okay, then.” Titus pulled the conversation back to the point yet again. “Well, it’s a start at least. I’ll go back to Ky tomorrow and run this by him; it’s not even my jurisdiction, so at the very least, I’ll want the county sheriffs to know what’s going on and Ky can help with that. He can also help me coordinate everything with the appropriate departments. Barring unforeseen circumstances, I think we can go ahead with this operation tomorrow night.” Titus watched the other two nod agreement.

“Sounds good,” Danni agreed, then yawned. “I’m gonna go pass out for a while, then. Behave yourself, Beau!”

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?” Beau grumbled, but there wasn’t any heat in it. He then turned to Titus. “Kept you a mite longer than I’d planned,” he apologized. Titus noted that Beau’s accent had gotten thicker as he’d gotten more tired. “Wouldn’t feel right t’let you drive home at this time’a night. Couch is comfy, though. S’long as you don’t mind a little cat fur.”

Titus perked up immediately. “You have cats?”

Beau hummed agreement. “Two big sons a bitches,” he confirmed. “Keep ‘em locked in the bedroom when guests are over, so’s they don’t make trouble. But I need to let ‘em out for overnight, else they’ll try to suffocate me in my sleep.”

“We mostly had dogs when I was growing up, but I’ve always loved cats. What’s their names?”

“The grey and white doofus is Oberon,” Beau explained as he walked off, ostensibly to let the aforementioned felines loose. “And the orange idiot is Titania. The names they came with were unpronounceable and unspellable to a backwoods California hick turned Texan, on account of them bein’ Norwegian Forest Cats, so now they’re just a pair of fairies.” Titus got the distinct feeling that there was supposed to have been more to that sentence. But he also caught the barest hint of pain beneath Beau’s words and realized he’d best leave that question unasked.