Fraudulent Death, Draft 01, CH 08 (Patreon)

The restaurant was nice enough, Trembor thought as he parked in the half-full lot. He tightened the jacket against himself as he hurried to the door, then inside. The tigress behind the podium smiled at him as he relaxed. He couldn’t wait for warm weather to return.

The scents of cooking meat, fragrant sauces and spices wafted over him, and he salivated. “I’m meeting my brother, Bolifen Goldenmane.”

“If you’ll follow me.” She led him to a table near the back, where Bo sat next to a mole. The hostess placed a menu on the table and left. Trembor looked at the other tables, trying to identify the mole’s thugs, but people he saw all seemed to be respectable middle-upper tax bracket people.

“It’s only the three of us, Mister Goldenmane,” the mole said, “Please take a seat.” Bo looked uncomfortable when Trembor fixed his gaze on him. “It’s customary to sit at an eating establishment.”

Trembor sat and pushed the menu aside. If he ate anything while here, it wouldn’t be on the menu. “Who are you?”

“You know who I am him.”

“No, I know who you represent. I want to know your name.”

She smiled. “Ahhh.” She considered, her minuscule eyes looking ahead without moving. He’d done some research, and moles weren’t blind, but without glasses, she probably couldn’t see him clearly. “Maoma Burrows will do, I think.”

“And if I ask to see your ID, what will that say?”

“Nothing of relevance, as you will not see it. Before you get yourself and the people you care about into trouble, know that while my people are not in the restaurant, they are monitoring the situation. If something happens to me, something will happen to someone in your family. Have I made the situation clear enough?”

“You have,” he growled.

“Good.” She smiled. “Now, after our last discussion, you went and did something rather idiotic. You had a hacker plant information that led enforcers to arrest some of my people. Two of which they ate.”

Trembor watched her. Her he didn’t feel the need to admit anything to.

She placed a pad on the table. “Before you begin protesting your innocence, you should listen to this.”

“He paid us to do it!” Jasber Braid’s voice came from the pad, the volume low enough her yelling wouldn’t disturb the others in the restaurant. Behind her, someone was screaming.

“Who?” a man demanded.

She didn’t say anything. The screaming intensified.

“Trembor! His name is Trembor Goldenmane! Please stop it. I made the deal with him. It was me. Stop torturing him!”

Maoma tapped the pad, and it fell silent.

“What happened to them?” Trembor felt sick. He thought Jasber and her friend were in enforcer custody.

“What do you think?” the mole answered. “She confirmed that you had her employee plant information within our communication network for the purpose of shifting the blame for the cub’s death from your brother to us. Despite my assurances we had nothing to do with that.”

“You’re crooks,” Trembor snarled. “I wasn’t going to believe—”

“And yet,” she cut him off, “you now know, we had nothing to do with it, don’t you? A Nikal Swiftfall confessed to doing it, I believe.”

Trembor gritted his teeth.

“Now, you owe me two employees, as well as the time I had to invest in clearing this little mess you made for me. How do you plan on replaying me?”

Trembor stared. “You can’t be serious. You lose people all the time.”

“And anytime it requires it, those who cause the loss are made to pay, just as in this case. The business I run doesn’t have the luxury of looking to the government for productivity compensation, so I must ensure I receive said compensation directly from the people who created the loss.”

“I am not paying you anything,” Trembor growled. “You brought this on yourself when you ensnared Bo.”

“Your brother brought his situation in on himself. He is repaying a debt he acquired.”

“You expect me to believe you didn’t manipulate him into it?”

“What you believe is irrelevant. And you should focus on your situation instead of your brother’s. Now, I will not have you kill. You are more valuable alive. I will have anyone you know killed for this, as I don’t believe that would lead to a satisfying conclusion for either of us, but be careful of how far you push me, Mister Goldenmane, I may change my mind on this one. You have stated you will not be reimbursing the value of my employees your actions caused to be eaten. This leaves only one course of action.”

Trembor waited for her to continue. When she didn’t he sighed. “Which is?”

She smiled. “For you to work for us until you’ve paid off your debt, of course.”

Trembor snorted. “Good luck with that one. I’m heading for a cage complex.”

“That is easily resolved. Although even if it wasn’t, a male like you would be useful to us even inside such a complex; but no need to worry. You are much more valuable to me as a Registered Investigator.”

“My license has been suspended.”

“Only until the case against you is resolved,” She replied casually.

“You aren’t going to be able to make the evidence the enforcers have against me.”

She shrugged. “You would be surprised what I can do. But no, vanishing evidence would only speak to someone helping you. I don’t need you freed with suspicion over your head. I need you cleared so you can return to work without anyone looking over your actions.”

“You can’t make that happen.” Trembor wished he felt as confident as he sounded. They’d gotten into where ever Jasber had been held. Either gotten her out along with her friend or, and that was more worrisome, had tortured them right there.

She smiled. “If you’re referring to Prosecutor Flattooth, I wouldn’t worry about her.”

“There’s no way she works for you,” Trembor said before he could stop himself. If these criminals had someone like her under their control and she managed to replace City leader Sharphorns…

“Wouldn’t that be nice for us,” she said. “But we don’t have to control her, to make sure this case moves in our favor. You agree to replay me this way, and you will go free. Once your debt is paid off, you will be entirely free, this lapse in judgment on your part will never return to bother you again.”

“No,” Trembor snarled. Even if he believed her that eventually they’d let him go, he wasn’t working for criminals.

“Mister—”

He was on his feet, hand on the table, leaning toward her. “I fucking said no. I’d rather die than be pulled into what you do. I am going to be caged for my crimes. I’m going to pay for what I did. I don’t get other people to pull my tail out of my trouble.”

“An admirable sentiment,” she replied, unmoved by his growling. “Utterly misplaced, but admirable. I am a business female. You may disapprove of the services we provide, but they are needed, otherwise, we wouldn’t still be in business. A such, I will do what any good business person does, and give you the time to consider my offer. If you become overly difficult, I can always decide to have you feed my people. I’d endure a loss, which I would have to explain to my superiors, but if it comes to that, I can accept that.” She stood. “But I’d like to think you’d rather continue to live.” She stepped around the table and left.

“Trem,” Bo began.

“Don’t, Bo. Just don’t.” Internally Trembor screamed. He thought getting himself caged was going to be tough when his lawyer was working against him. If criminals now wanted him to be proven innocent, how was he going to make it happen?