Turned out, Titus needn’t have worried in the slightest. The building was just as empty as Ky’s contact had reported. Echoes bounced around the cavernous space with each step Titus took, which was its own kind of unnerving since the building had been fully occupied less than 72 hours prior. The floor had been swept clean, though there were some scuff marks in the concrete slab that no push broom could fix. There weren’t any interior walls, so the sight lines were clear to see that while the building had been vacated in a hurry, no unexpected surprises had been left either. In fact, nothing had been left.

Well, nothing except scents. Because Beau padded with purpose across the floor, his nose to the ground, crossing and recrossing his own path several times. While Titus meandered aimlessly around peering into half shadowed corners, Beau was working the scent trails with single minded focus. 

Titus left him to it. He sure as hell didn’t know how scent tracking worked. All his nose was good for was telling him whether he’d remembered to put deodorant on after a shower or if the milk had gone sour. Instead, he took out his phone and snapped a few photos of the scuff marks on the floor and the railroad tracks bisecting the center of the building. Those led to the far end of the warehouse, and seemed like a pretty good candidate for how the perps had cleared out so damn fast. 

Inspecting the wall, Titus was able to discern that it was actually a set of panels that slid open to either side. At a guess, each panel was roughly 10 feet wide and would hook onto the next one when opened, allowing for each of the four panels per side to stack atop one another when fully pushed aside. Titus noted that the mechanisms and wheels shone, which meant they were probably well maintained and used often. It wasn’t hard to imagine a railcar fitting through this door when it was fully open.

Unfortunately, it also meant that unless Beau found a different trail, their case had gone cold again. There wasn’t any good way to track a train car that Titus was aware of. Maybe Ky would know how, except for him being in the hospital. 

It left a hole in Titus’ gut that tried to fill with hopelessness. He scuffed his shoes on the ground in a futile attempt to kick the feeling out, but that didn’t help. Unlatching the door mechanism and pushing at the huge panel made a gap big enough to fit through, so he stepped outside to see if he could figure out where the tracks led off to. And because Beau had yapped at him for scuffing his feet. Which made sense, when Titus stopped to think about it; it left his own scent all over the place and probably muddled up whatever tracks Beau was trying to follow. Though that made him feel like shit even more for compromising the evidence. 

Leaning against the rail door, Titus sighed. The tracks led off through some industrial areas. It wasn’t really any help at all, since Titus was pretty sure all train engines smelled the same. They couldn’t sweat or wear cologne, so there was nothing to differentiate between the stink of cold steel from one to the next. Maybe Beau would have more insight into that once he shifted back. Titus let his mind wander instead, thinking of questions he really wanted to ask Beau about being a Garmr. Did people all have individual scents like in the stories? Were there alphas? What about omegas? Did fated mates exist? How much did those fantasy tropes actually get right, anyway? He proceeded to get lost to his thoughts, staring out at the skyline.

Titus had no idea how much time passed as he let Beau work the scent trails. It was a furry head pressing into his hand that startled him back to awareness. On instinct, Titus dragged his hand over the top of the head and absently started scratching behind the nearest ear as he looked down. Only to remember that the head he was scritching belonged to Beau. Mortified, Titus froze.

Even as a wolf, Beau managed to give him a snarky look. One ear flattened out to the side and his head tipped at an angle as if to ask, “Really?”

“Shit. Sorry.” Titus drew his hand away slowly as he flushed deep crimson. “My mind was on autopilot. My family’s German Shepard used to do that all the time when she wanted attention. She’s been gone for nearly 20 years, but the habit’s still there.” A huff of air that sounded like a laugh puffed out of Beau, but he also pressed his shoulder into Titus’ leg. “I take it you’re done in there?” A flick of Beau’s ears told Titus precisely nothing. “Okay, while the nodding thing is still creepy, it was at least more clear than whatever you just tried to tell me.” Beau pinned his ears back briefly, but then bobbed his head. “So you’re done then?” Another head bob. “Okay. Let’s go on back to the car, then. I’ll get your clothes back out and you can use the guard shack again to shift.”

Titus pushed off the door as Beau trotted across the parking lot. Do Garmr have to abide by leash laws? he wondered idly, watching Beau pause to lift his leg on the side of the building. Probably not. That would be kind of insulting. 

By the time he reached the car again, Titus had very firmly decided on several things he was NEVER going to ask Beau about. Most of them weren’t things he was okay asking a friend about in the best of circumstances. Like anatomical features and hygiene habits. Maybe if Beau volunteered the information, though. But Titus had made up his mind to not ask, at least. He retrieved Beau’s clothing and left the pile on the little desk built into the shack before purposefully turning away to let Beau do his thing. This was still a carryover of the first shapeshift, Titus reasoned. Therefore, his promise was still in effect. Instead, he busied himself with getting into the passenger seat and figuring out ideas for where they could get more leads on the case. Titus also tried very hard to not get his hopes up that Beau had found some miracle scent that broke the case wide open for them. Because as much as it would be fantastic for everyone involved, the possibility of that was miniscule.

It felt to Titus like this shift took Beau longer than the first. Then again, he still knew so little about Garmr in general, and Beau in specific. And was Beau even a typical representation of a Garmr? Or was there even such a thing as a ‘typical Garmr’, since they were so rare? Titus felt like he was going to have to start writing some of these questions down, just so he didn’t forget them.

Of course, the answer became obvious when Beau returned to the car with two big cups of coffee. “Here, ya want one?” he asked as he slid behind the wheel.

“Where did you get coffee?” Titus asked, though he still took the proffered cup.

“Guard shack had one a them little machines with three pods left. So I figured fuck them, they’re mine now.”

“So you left one random coffee pod lying around?”

“Titus, you’ve seen me drink coffee. This is my second cup.” Beau saluted with the upraised beverage before slurping a mouthful.

With a chuckle of appreciation, Titus snipped at his own cup. “I’m a little surprised you didn’t just steal the machine, too.”

“Didn’t want t’drive around with it in the car and slop water everywhere.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense.” Titus paused to sip his coffee again before continuing. “So, smell anything interesting?”

Beau heaved a deep sigh. “Danni’s scent was definitely there. So was yer missin’ Lyco teen. Lotsa different scents; prob’ly a dozen Nostu, another half dozen Lyco. Also a good 25 or so humans, besides the random fragments of cop. An’ all of ‘em converged on them train tracks down the middle. You prob’ly already guessed it, but they’re shippin’ their captives out by rail. We could follow the tracks fer a while, since train cars are locked to ‘em, but no tellin’ how far they went. An’ rails ain’t usually used fer short distances.

“Now here’s the kicker: the Lycos and Nostu weren’t in great shape. Smelled half feral. Which means they’re prob’ly starvin’ ‘em, maybe beatin’ ‘em. Wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve hooked the Lycos on Simp and are denyin’ ‘em their fix; it’d be a hell of a way t’keep ‘em under control. I can’t tell a Simp junkie from a teetotaler by scent alone, so I can’t be sure. But I’d still put money on it bein’ the case.”

Well. That was disheartening. Titus caved to a moment of despair before setting himself to rights once more. “Fuck,” he breathed instead. “Another dead end, then.”

“Yeah.” Beau sounded almost despondent.

They sat there in Beau’s car for several minutes, lost to their own thoughts. Titus turned over several possibilities in his mind, discarding most of them, before finally settling on an idea. “Do we know where Corinne got that magazine?”

“Shit, that rag sheet’s all over town. There’s racks of ‘em in every minimart and grocery store. I think most haunts have a stand for ‘em, too.” Beau turned a quizzical look on Titus. “Why?”

“Well, it gave us a lead last time. And while it may yet be another dead end, it’s all I can think of to check out right now.” 

Though Titus knew it was an idea borne of desperation, he at least felt a little validated when Beau nodded agreement. “We can grab a copy on the way.”

“On the way to where?”

“I’m starved. And you’re buyin’.”