A Fraudulent Death, Draft 02 CH 54 (Patreon)

“Let—” the nervous-looking squirrel in the ill-fitting suit sitting next to Marlot began, then stammered. “Let me do the talking. Whatever she says, however she tries to get you angry, don’t say anything.”

Marlot nodded to his lawyer, the two of them sitting in an interrogation room. He hadn’t wanted one; as far as he was concerned, it would go better with no one trying to save him. But the law didn’t make allowance for what he wanted. If he didn’t take steps to get one, one was appointed to him. They were waiting for the prosecutor for his case to arrive. He expected she wouldn’t be long. Anger, if nothing else, would propel her.

The squirrel looked at him, resignation on his face. “Look, you need to prepare yourself. From what I’ve sniffed out, you’re getting the top female out of the prosecutor’s office. She’s ruthless. My guess is that she wants to tear you apart because she was wrong about the previous person accused of this.” He hurried to scroll through his pad, searching.

“Trembor Goldenmane,” Marlot told him.

The lawyer kept going until he found the information he wanted. “Yes. How did you know?”

Marlot smiled and shrugged. If he’d asked his lion for help, he’d have gotten someone from a top-of-the-line firm who might have gotten him out of this, or reduced his sentence. Instead, he had this first-year lawyer hoping to make a name for himself by helping the hopeless, and so far out of his depth, Marlot considered eating him to put him out of his misery.

“But like I said, I do the talking.” He slipped a pad to Marlot. “If you need to say anything, and this is vital, write it down on this and hand it to me. If I don’t think it’ll hurt your case, I’ll tell her on your behalf. I know you think the law is here to protect you, but it isn’t. The law’s purpose is maintaining order, and the law doesn’t care who gets mauled under its desires.

Marlot held back a chuckle. He knew the law wasn’t there to help him. This part of his plan depended on it. It depended on the hippopotamus now entering the room thinking she could do anything she wanted to him because he was a criminal. She was dressed in a green suit worth ten times that of his lawyer, and she fixed a glare on Marlot as she sat.

He kept his amusement off his face as the two lawyers exchanged terse greetings. She’d see it as a dismissal of what she represented. As far as she was concerned, the situation was outside of her control. She’d gotten bad information and her prime suspect, the key to advancing her career, had been snatched out of her reach as she was about to feast. If she suspected Marlot had been involved in that, she might decide to throw reason out the door and do as his lawyer warned.

“Mister Blackclaw,” she said, the effort not to grind her teeth visible. “I’m—”

“I’m the one who tampered with the evidence against Bolifen Goldenmane,” Marlot stated and ignored the horror-filled look his lawyer gave him. As she stared at him, the squirrel stood, looking at the door. Enough fear emanating from him, Marlot had to fight the instinct to pounce on him. How had he made it far enough to be picked to defend a hopeless case? Did anyone expect cases like this to teach him not to want to bolt at the first sign of trouble? Or was whoever was in charge of assigning lawyers to cases like this looking for the squirrel to drop dead of fright?

And who paid the tax if that happened? The legal system?

The hippopotamus was quicker to recover. “Do you expect me to believe you got into the enforcer database, found the reports, and altered them? You’re an RI,” she scoffed.

“Who programs on the side.” He smiled at her. “And does net security to help pay the bills. I’ll be happy to give you the name of a few of the clients I worked for. Those I did legal work for, anyway.” His smile broadened. “As for the enforcer database, don’t sing its praises too loudly. The firewall on it is weak enough I’m surprised so many cases don’t get altered. When we’re done here, you should recommend they hire an actual expert to re-enforce them. I’d offer to do it for them, but I don’t think they’ll be keen on letting me close to them again.” He entered information on the pad and slid it over to her. “That’s the address within the database the pertinent information was located. As for how I modified it, if you think it will help speed up this case, I’ll be happy to explain the process of data substitution under self-adjusting string, but it will get technical.”

It had been done by his friends, but only because he’d been busy getting Trembor, his nephews, and ensuring Burrows wasn’t an immediate threat. He could have done everything they had, but it would have taken him much longer. The security around the enforcer database wasn’t the joke he was implying it was.

“What did you have to gain by doing that?” she demanded. “Bolifen Goldenmane is nothing to you. As far as I’ve been able to gather, you met maybe twice, and only in passing.” Motivation. She needed to know what someone like him got out of committing such a crime.

“Bo was Trembor’s brother, who is my mate. I believe you’ve met?” Marlot smiled at the hippopotamus, but it was the squirrel who reacted, stepping away from the wolf. Marlot was grateful for the lawyer’s near terror. The scent filling the room made the need to control himself less important. “I did it because I needed something to show him breaking up with me was a mistake. That I was good for him and his family. And if I hadn’t done it, he would have acted and possibly done something stupid. I wasn’t going to risk him getting himself in trouble.”

“And yet, he was the one arrested for it.”

Marlot sighed. “I didn’t think he’d try to protect me. He broke up with me, after all. I guess it shows he still cared. I don’t really know how he found out.” He shrugged. “But he was always the better investigator.”

“I don’t believe you,” she snapped. “This is some ploy to protect him. You’re sacrificing yourself so he’ll be able to continue manipulating the enforcers, taking over the city. Do you expect me to believe you aren’t the one who made the evidence regarding the string of death he caused vanish? I still have a copy of the list. Everyone on them is in a position within important corporations to control the decisions they make.”

Marlot glances at his lawyer, but he was useless. By the scent and his body language, you’d think he was trapped in a room with two hungry predators fighting over who got to eat him.

“That, I had nothing to do with. But you have met my mate, haven’t you? The idea of bending the law kills his appetite. Most of our arguments have been about how flexible I consider it to be. I don’t know who your investigators are, but you should look into their qualifications. Because even if Trembor had the skills needed to orchestrate what you’re implying, he’d rather eat himself than see his city turned into the chaos such a take-over would bring. Better yet. Maybe look into who, among the people who provided the information, doesn’t like him. As hard to believe as it is, I hear some people hate my lion.”

Her expression darkened. Maybe she’d hoped he would have slipped in his gloating—did that qualify as such—and admitted to having destroyed that evidence. Marlot didn’t know how Mister White had managed it. Harik had poked at the Justice Department servers and stepped away. Two months, he’d informed them, was the minimum time he’d need to get into it in such a way no one would trace the attack back. Marlot planned on investigating it, once this was all over, to satisfy his curiosity, and fill the amount of free time he expected to have.

“I know you’re behind it,” Flattooth growled, and Marlot was impressed. He’d never hear prey manage a threatening one. “I’m going to—”

“What you know,” the squirrel squeaked and Marlot looked at him in surprise. “Doesn’t matter. It’s what you can prove that counts. And you, yourself, said there’s no evidence left regarding that.” He smoothed his suit and sat down, actively ignoring Marlot, still staring at him, trying to understand where that courage came from.

“I’m going to find it,” she stated.

“That may be,” the lawyer replied, his voice growing steadier, his fear diminishing to where it was imperceptible among that already filling the room. “But until you do, this is about resolving the case of evidence tampering to which my client has admitted to doing.” The squirrel glances at Marlot and the wolf thought there was an attempt at scolding him, but the fear spiked until he looked at the hippopotamus again.

Marlot reconsidered his opinion of the squirrel. Maybe he had a future as a lawyer after all.

The prosecutor nodded and made an effort to regain control of herself. Marlot was even more impressed with her. The fear scents had to get to her. She was prey. It was ingrained in them to respond to fear. How, varied from one individual to the other, but they always responded.

“Since you’ve admitted to the crime,” she said, “and that admission has been recorded. I need to inform you that tampering with evidence is a caging offense. As having a criminal record is prohibited for the holding of a Registered Investigator’s license, your contract with the revenue bureau will be terminated.”

Marlot nodded. He knew the price. He’d even started the process to get a loan to cover his bail to avoid being caged while he waited for the sentencing to happen. He had too much to do before that, and he counted on the change in the situation to cause her to not be in such a hurry to see him caged. It would no longer result in her being able to drag the entirety of the enforcer down and advance her political career.

“You’ll have to prove that he—” The squirrel snapped his muzzle shut under both their stares. “Sorry, force of habit. My clients don’t usually admit to committing the crime.” This time, his lawyer managed a weak glare at Marlot, and the wolf acted repentant as a way of acknowledging the effort it took the squirrel to do it.

“Since you have my admission on record,” Marlot said, “How long do you think it’s going to be until the sentencing is pronounced?” He had both of them here. Why not make use of their expertise? “And based on your experience, how much will my bail be set to?” Being able to plan his budget ahead of time would be useful.

She looked at him in surprise, and he saw her thinking as the expression turned into a glare. “Are you mocking me?” she demanded. Her anger reaching him despite the smell of fear still thick in the room. “I couldn’t understand why I was given these instructions, but now I get it. You made a deal behind my back.”

“What deal?” Marlot asked, confused at her reaction.

“Are you telling me you didn’t leverage that fame you got capturing that hunter years ago and that one a few months back to pressure that spineless bull to keep you out of the cage until your sentence is pronounced?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Marlot answered.

What was the city leader up to? Not that Marlot minded. Owing the bull was better than any financial debt, but the actions puzzled him. He’d said he couldn’t intervene in how justice was rendered, and if he wanted Marlot fully in his dept and was willing to act to affect how justice treated him, he should have buried the case entirely. Or at least keep it in reserve for if he ever needed something done that would make even Marlot balk.

Or was it that one would draw too much attention, while the other could be passed off exactly as what Flattooth claimed it was? Thanks for services rendered for the city in stopping two hunters?

The prosecutor studied him, sniffing the air uselessly. There were too many stronger scents for her to determine his honesty sitting across the table from him. “I’m going to push for the maximum sentencing. I’ll also push to have every crime Goldenmane was accused of committing, which you made disappear, taken into account as part of that.”

“You can’t do that,” the squirrel said, outraged.

Marlot stared at her. What kind of crime did that fall under? Was taking control of a corporation seen as manipulating their productivity rating? Corporate espionage? Something else? How many people had Trembor been accused of placing in how many corporations? If she managed that, he was looking at decades in a cage, and possibly in a maximum security one.

He fought not to react. Not to look at the door, not to bolt. That wasn’t what he’d planned for. A few months, a year at the most in a minimum-security caging complex, had been what they’d worked out he’d face. Maybe reduced, because he admitted to the crime.

“I can make whatever fucking case I want,” she snapped, and the squirrel stiffened. “The judge will make the decision about what is valid.” Her smile told Marlot she was confident in her chances.

He hadn’t predicted this reaction. Not anything close to that. Would the information she’d received in a few days be enough to change her mind? Would it be delivered in time, or would she try to expedite things now that the city leader had kept Marlot out of a cage until a decision was made? Harik had warned him that once the package was sent, there was no way to contact the delivery service about it. It was part of how they were so secure.

The room was quiet as the two lawyers looked at him. He didn’t react. He was too busy trying to think of a way to ensure he would not be in a cage for the rest of his life.

“Since your client has confessed, this meeting is over,” she said, putting her pad away. “Once the transcript is made, it will be forwarded to you to have your client sign. Should he decide to change his mind,” She grinned at Marlot, “Remind him his confession is on record and that there are no indications it was forced out of him.”

“I won’t recant,” Marlot replied. He couldn’t. Regardless of the consequences, the only way he protected Trembor and his family was by taking on this crime.

“I don’t know what game you’re playing, Mister Blackclaw,” she said, standing. “But I will make sure that in the end, it’s too expensive for you. The law isn’t some system you can manipulate to your liking. It is the foundation of our society, and anyone who thinks otherwise will be put down.”

Marlot couldn’t help the smile and even knowing he shouldn’t he said, “I’m sure you can afford me, so why don’t you try it right now?”

She stiffened and looked like she was about to be sick, before hurrying to the door and storming out.

How many predators did she know? When would his tax drop because of his confession? She didn’t have the killer instinct that would let her finish this now, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t given her the idea of letting other predators know about him, about his new criminal record.

Maybe he should get 1.0 connected to the news system and look into anyone who made the news as being found guilty of one crime or another. That was a pool of affordable meat he’d never considered before.

“What was that about?” the squirrel demanded, his voice trembling. “You don’t confess. I can’t protect you once you do that.”

Marlot leveled his gaze on him, and his lawyer jerked back before regaining control of himself. “With all due respect to you and the control you’re demonstrating, you weren’t going to protect me from her. You said it yourself, she’s ruthless, and the way you’re shaking now, she could have eaten you. This saves everyone time and money.”

The lawyer considered what he’d said, then nodded. “Is she right? Did you engineer everything to protect your mate?”

“We’re still being recorded,” Marlot pointed out, then added, “but I’ll say this. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for my mate.” With Flattooth out, what he said now could be accidentally erased without her having to know about it. “Feel free to ask him the extent to which I have already gone to do so.”

The squirrel looked even more uncomfortable as he stood. “Well, this little show of yours has made my presence here unnecessary, so I’ll take my leave. I wish you luck, Mister Blackclaw.” He was at the door when it opened, and Trembor shoved him aside, rushing in.

Marlot was up, cursing mentally. He couldn’t be here. If he said the wrong thing on the record and they weren’t fast enough erasing it or someone was watching right now and told Flattooth, everything would fall apart.

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