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A Familiar Death
Chapter 1
“And that’s another body out of the freezer,” Marlot said, smiling as he put his hands behind his head.
Trembor didn’t say anything, eyes on the road as he drove. He tensed his shoulder. There was none of the stiffness from the bullet and operation, but he still felt a dull throb. It didn’t affect his movement, but it was a reminder he could do without. After two months he’d expected it to be all gone. He’d seen the surgeon only a week ago and he’d confirmed he was fully healed. The throbbing was either in his mind, or only a--
“Trem?” he called to the lion.
“Hmm?”
“I’d think you’d be happier about that.”
Trembor didn’t immediately answer; he had to think back on what they’d been talking about. “I am,” he finally said, although his tone didn’t carry joy. “I just don’t like that you gave that ocelot money.”
“Filgyr did know where our killer was hiding.”
Trembor glanced at the wolf. “He’s a thief.” He focused back on the road. “We shouldn’t be paying him for information, I should have hauled his tail to prison.”
“He’s a thief who hears a lot of things.”
“And it doesn’t bother you that he’s going to put the money you gave him toward planning another robbery?”
“I doubt he needs my money to do that.” Marlot looked at his lion, then placed a hand on his thigh, rubbing it. “Look, if it really bothers you, just think about it this way: Isn't it just a question of time before he gets caught?”
Trembor put his hand on top of the wolf’s, squeezing it gently. “And that’s enough for you? We’re part of law-enforcement, you know.”
“No, we’re not. We’re Registered Investigators. We go after killers who don’t pay the productivity taxes on their kills. That put us under the revenue department.”
“It still feels wrong to pay a criminal instead of arresting him.”
Marlot smiled and leaned over to the lion, nuzzling his neck. “I love it when you get all indignant.”
Trembor chuckled and pushed him away. “Not while I’m driving. We don’t want to get in an accident.”
Marlot brought the lion’s hand to his lips, nuzzled, then licked it, before releasing it and straightening in his seat.
* * * * *
Trembor had his pad out before the car was parked, checking the lock. No change to it, which meant their secretary, Hela’han, hadn’t gone out for lunch today. That was odd.
“You think we have enough meat in the cooler?” Trembor asked, shutting down the car.
“Of course we do. We took down an elk last week; that’s going to last us at least another week.” The wolf paused, looking at Trembor’s stomach. The abs weren’t visible under the gray shirt. “That is, if you eat reasonably.” He grinned.
The lion cuffed Marlot’s ear playfully. “I don’t overdo it, and you know it. It isn’t my fault that with you spending so much time at my place now, I end up doing more exercise than before.”
The wolf smiled as the words brought their times in bed to mind. “Yes, well, it should still be enough.”
Marlot put his pad away and headed to the office, the lion a step behind him. Inside, the elephant seated behind the desk smiled at them. “Mister Blackclaw, Mister Goldenmane, how did it go?”
“It went well,” Marlot answered, sniffing the air.
“We caught the killer,” Trembor continued, “although I’m not entirely happy with how we went about it.”
The wolf moved closer to her desk, still sniffing the air.
“Marl,” Trembor called, “what are you doing?”
“I smell a salad: carrots, onions, greens, tomatoes—”
“That’s what I had for lunch,” she said.
“And an elephant? Male.” Marlot watched Hela’han as she avoided looking at him. She tried to type something, but her trunk got in her way as it reached for the bowl of sweets she kept on the side of her computer, moved it a little, then went for the stylus, straightening it.
With a soft curse, she grabbed it with a hand and pulled it against her body. It always had a mind of its own when she was nervous. She looked up at the wolf and her large ears gained a pink hue.
“He smells like he likes you a lot,” Marlot said, then gasped as the lion grabbed him by the collar and pulled him away.
“Alright, that’s enough. She has work to do.” Trembor dragged the wolf into their office and closed the door. “I can’t believe you’d embarrass her like that.”
“The instructor says we need to constantly practice scent recognition in other species. That’s all I was doing.”
“Well, stop using that to pry in Hela’han’s life.”
“Aren’t you curious as to who her prospective mate is?”
“You don’t know that’s what that male is.”
“I know that’s what he wants to be. He smelled very…” Marlot searched for the right word. “Determined.”
There was a knock at the door, then Hela’han opened it. “This came in for you earlier.” She handed Marlot an envelope.
“Thanks, and I’m sorry for embarrassing you.”
“It’s alright, Sir.”
“When are you going to introduce him to us?”
Her gray cheeks also gained a reddish hue as she turned and left.
“You’re incorrigible,” Trembor said, throwing his jacket on the hanger.
Marlot’s pad buzzed. He looked at it, silenced it, and put it away.
“Who was that?”
“No one important.” Marlot looked the envelope over. From the government. Revenue division.
“From your home town again?”
“Yes.” He opened it.
“Are you ever going to take their call?”
“No.” An ID card fell out of it. “As far as I’m concerned, the lot of them can go find a lake and drown.” He turned it over and looked at the image of a badger. “Again?” The name next to the picture was Oldric Digger. Marlot took out his pad.
“What?” Trembor asked.
The wolf showed him the card. “Third time in two months that I got someone’s replacement card. They need to fix that glitch in their system.”
“Revenue department, ID issuance division,” a young-sounding male answered.
“Hi, Marlot Blackclaw. You sent me someone else’s replacement card again.”
“Excuse me?”
He sighed. “If you call up my file,” he gave him his ID number, “you’ll see that this is the third time it’s happened. You need to get your technician to find what’s causing it. I’m not part of your delivery system.”
“I’m sorry sir, what’s the name and ID number on the card?”
Marlot gave him that.
“And you received that today?”
“Yes.”
“That’s odd. According to the system, no replacement was—”
“Sent out, I know. Like I said, this is the third time it’s happened. Look, I’ll get this card to its owner, just have someone fix this, okay?”
“I’ll have a technician get on that right away.”
“Thank you.” He put his pad away. “I’m borrowing your car. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
“You want lunch first?”
“I’ll eat when I’m back.”
* * * * *
When Marlot returned, he and Trembor ate at their desk. The wolf’s pad buzzed twice, and each time he glanced at it, then ignored it.
“Maybe you should talk to them. Seems like they can’t stop calling today.”
“And they can keep trying. It’s from the council, so it’s nothing I want to hear.”
Trembor looked at him. “Are you ever going to tell me why you’re so angry at them?”
Marlot looked away.
“It’s okay.” The lion reached across the desk and patted Marlot’s hand. “When you’re ready.”
They finished eating moments before Marlot’s computer dinged, announcing he had a call on the office line. He brought it up.
“Marlot Blackclaw, Registered Inves—” He stopped as an older lynx appeared on the screen. “Councilor Tuff.”
“Marlot, my boy,” the old town councilor greeted him with a smile. “It’s been too long since I’ve seen you. Four years now since you left to track that hunter and never returned to us?”
The hunter had been named Ruxul. He’d come through Marlot’s home town and left dozens of unclaimed bodies in his wake, predators and prey alike. It hadn’t made a difference to him. The council had ordered Marlot to track him and make him pay for his crime, no matter what it took. That had taken him to the city, where he’d discovered he didn’t have to be under anyone’s heel. With Trembor’s help, as well as many of the other city RIs, they’d found Ruxul and he’d died rather than be caught. Marlot had let the council know that the hunter was dead, and that he wasn’t coming back.
“You know,” the lynx said, “you were supposed to come back after you dealt with that hunter.”
“I’m not the one who killed him.” It had been Trembor and another RI, but the newsies had made him the focus of the story.
“That’s not important,” the councilor said, dismissing it with a wave. “But we were expecting you back.”
“And I explained that I wasn’t coming back. One of the RIs died and I was offered his territory.” It was more that he’d begged for it. He’d wanted to have a real reason to give as to why he could stay in the city, and not just how he’d begun feeling for the lion.
“Your father was disappointed. He told me you haven’t called him.”
“What’s the point? What’s he going to say? That he needs me at the commune? That my mother misses me and wants me to come back? Well, I miss her too, but I have work here to do.”
“That’s good. Then you’ll make sure to visit them when you are here.”
“I don’t have any plans to go back anytime soon.”
“Actually, we need you to come home now. Someone killed Na’ego this morning.”
Marlot found his voice had stopped working. Na’ego Softpaw was, had been, a bear on the council, and the town medic. He’d been one of the few people Marlot actually liked there. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he finally managed to say. “I hope you find his killer and bring him to justice.” And who knew? With him having been a councilor, maybe they’d actually look for the killer instead of finding the closest vagrant they could blame.
“That’s why we need you here.”
“No. Someone has to have taken over the RI position when I left.”
“Yes, some bison from another town.”
“Then have him deal with it.”
The lynx’s features hardened. “Listen to me, Marlot Blackclaw. This isn’t something for just any stranger to handle. You are the only one I trust to handle this.”
The only one you can push around, you mean, Marlot thought. He felt like yelling, but forced his tone to remain calm. “I’m sorry, Councilor, but the answer is no.” He ended the call and set his computer to route his calls through Hela’han, letting her know he wasn’t available to the rest of the day.
Three times over the next hour she came in saying there was an urgent call for him. When he asked who, they turned out to be other councilors. He didn’t take their calls either.
* * * * *
His pad buzzed. When he checked, the ID came up as ‘government’. He sent the call to his terminal and answered it, expecting it was the revenue department with an update on the glitch.
A well-built brown and blond wolf appeared. “Is this Marlot Blackclaw?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Please hold.” The screen changed to show a creek and the sounds of nature.
Marlot frowned. This was an odd procedure.
Trembor looked over his screen with a questioning tilt to his ears, but Marlot just shrugged.
When the image changed back it wasn’t the wolf, but a massive bull sitting at an expensive desk.
“Marlot Blackclaw?” he asked in a deep voice. “This is Carik Sharphorns.”
Marlot sat straighter, and he saw that even Trembor straightened. “City Leader Shaprhorns, it’s an honor to speak with you again. What can I do for you?” He’d met the city leader when he’d felicitated all the RIs who had taken part in capturing Ruxul.
“You can start by explaining to me exactly why I just had a councilor from some farming town scream at me for stealing their RI.”
Marlot groaned. “I’m sorry about that, Sir. They want me to investigate a death there, but I told them no.”
The bull’s features didn’t change, but his tone became colder. “And why did you do that?”
“It isn’t my territory anymore. There’s another investigator in that region. They should be asking them to look into it.”
“Then why does he want you to do it?”
“I don’t know, Sir.” Marlot wasn’t going to bring up town politics to the city leader.
The male drummed his fingers on the desk for a moment. “Look, why don’t you just go and deal with this? It’s a farming town, it won’t be all that difficult to find the killer and get them to pay the tax.”
“Sir, I can’t do that. Ignoring that I’d been acting in another RI’s territory, I have responsibilities here. I can’t abandon them just because my home town’s councilor would rather deal with me than the local RI.”
“You’ll only be away a day or two, I don’t see how that’s going to affect any of your investigations, and if there’s something that’s really urgent, you can pass it on to another RI for the duration.” He thought for a moment. “Aren’t you that RI who works with a partner? Can’t he take over your cases while you’re away?”
“Sir, that isn’t how this works. RIs have their territories, and we can’t take on cases that originate outside of them. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing you can say that can make me go there.”
The bull sighed. “Marlot. Do you mind if I call you Marlot?”
The wolf shook his head.
“Marlot, here’s the situation. That Arlion Tuff threatened me with a price hike on all the vegetables they ship to us. On top of that, he said it was entirely possible there would be a blight hitting their crops this year. He also implied that if it hit their communes, it was bound to hit the other towns' as well. Do you catch my drift?”
Marlot swallowed hard and nodded.
“Now, if that happens, it’s going to make the herbivores of this fine city unhappy. That is going to make my life very difficult, and I’m going to feel obligated to make someone else’s life difficult.”
“Mine,” Marlot said softly.
“Look,” the bull said, his tone gentle. “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to force you to go there. I understand that puts you in a difficult position, so I’m just going to ask, as a personal favor to me. Just go there, find that killer. Make them happy so that people here can also be happy.”
Marlot felt small. “Alright, I’ll go.”
“Thank you, Marlot. I appreciate your cooperation. I’ll let them know you’ll be leaving as soon as you can.”
The screen went blank.
Marlot put his head in his hand. He could already feel the headache coming on. He couldn’t believe he’d just been blackmailed into going back there.
“I can have Cyril look after my part of our territory while we’re away,” Trembor said, coming next to him. “He won’t mind doing that for a few days.”
“You don’t have to come,” Marlot replied. “Trust me, you don’t want to have to deal with them.”
The lion squeezed his shoulder. “I’m your partner. Even if we weren’t lovers, I wouldn’t let you do this on your own.”
Marlot rested his head against Trembor’s side. “Thanks.”
They remained like that for a moment, then set about making sure things would continue while they were away. They gave access to their files to the two investigators who’d take over, and informed Jaxca—their medical examiner—as well as the enforcers of the temporary transfers.
After, Marlot went home to pack a bag and collect the meat in his cooler. He brought that to Trembor’s place. The lion had borrowed a freezer from his parents to keep their meat while they were away. Freezing that would change the texture and the taste, but it was better than letting his last hunt go to waste.
Then Marlot had to do one last thing.
He called Bahamel. “Hi Ba, it’s Marlot,” he said when the message buffer came on. She was probably busy with a suspect. “I know you were looking forward to me and Trembor coming to dinner, but we have to cancel—well, postpone. I’ve been blackmailed into going back home to deal with a body, and Trem’s coming with me.” He sighed. “It shouldn’t be more than a few days, so I’ll pad you when we’re back and see what we can arrange.”
He terminated the call and resigned himself to a drive he wasn’t looking forward to.
Trembor didn’t say anything, eyes on the road as he drove. He tensed his shoulder. There was none of the stiffness from the bullet and operation, but he still felt a dull throb. It didn’t affect his movement, but it was a reminder he could do without. After two months he’d expected it to be all gone. He’d seen the surgeon only a week ago and he’d confirmed he was fully healed. The throbbing was either in his mind, or only a--
“Trem?” he called to the lion.
“Hmm?”
“I’d think you’d be happier about that.”
Trembor didn’t immediately answer; he had to think back on what they’d been talking about. “I am,” he finally said, although his tone didn’t carry joy. “I just don’t like that you gave that ocelot money.”
“Filgyr did know where our killer was hiding.”
Trembor glanced at the wolf. “He’s a thief.” He focused back on the road. “We shouldn’t be paying him for information, I should have hauled his tail to prison.”
“He’s a thief who hears a lot of things.”
“And it doesn’t bother you that he’s going to put the money you gave him toward planning another robbery?”
“I doubt he needs my money to do that.” Marlot looked at his lion, then placed a hand on his thigh, rubbing it. “Look, if it really bothers you, just think about it this way: Isn't it just a question of time before he gets caught?”
Trembor put his hand on top of the wolf’s, squeezing it gently. “And that’s enough for you? We’re part of law-enforcement, you know.”
“No, we’re not. We’re Registered Investigators. We go after killers who don’t pay the productivity taxes on their kills. That put us under the revenue department.”
“It still feels wrong to pay a criminal instead of arresting him.”
Marlot smiled and leaned over to the lion, nuzzling his neck. “I love it when you get all indignant.”
Trembor chuckled and pushed him away. “Not while I’m driving. We don’t want to get in an accident.”
Marlot brought the lion’s hand to his lips, nuzzled, then licked it, before releasing it and straightening in his seat.
* * * * *
Trembor had his pad out before the car was parked, checking the lock. No change to it, which meant their secretary, Hela’han, hadn’t gone out for lunch today. That was odd.
“You think we have enough meat in the cooler?” Trembor asked, shutting down the car.
“Of course we do. We took down an elk last week; that’s going to last us at least another week.” The wolf paused, looking at Trembor’s stomach. The abs weren’t visible under the gray shirt. “That is, if you eat reasonably.” He grinned.
The lion cuffed Marlot’s ear playfully. “I don’t overdo it, and you know it. It isn’t my fault that with you spending so much time at my place now, I end up doing more exercise than before.”
The wolf smiled as the words brought their times in bed to mind. “Yes, well, it should still be enough.”
Marlot put his pad away and headed to the office, the lion a step behind him. Inside, the elephant seated behind the desk smiled at them. “Mister Blackclaw, Mister Goldenmane, how did it go?”
“It went well,” Marlot answered, sniffing the air.
“We caught the killer,” Trembor continued, “although I’m not entirely happy with how we went about it.”
The wolf moved closer to her desk, still sniffing the air.
“Marl,” Trembor called, “what are you doing?”
“I smell a salad: carrots, onions, greens, tomatoes—”
“That’s what I had for lunch,” she said.
“And an elephant? Male.” Marlot watched Hela’han as she avoided looking at him. She tried to type something, but her trunk got in her way as it reached for the bowl of sweets she kept on the side of her computer, moved it a little, then went for the stylus, straightening it.
With a soft curse, she grabbed it with a hand and pulled it against her body. It always had a mind of its own when she was nervous. She looked up at the wolf and her large ears gained a pink hue.
“He smells like he likes you a lot,” Marlot said, then gasped as the lion grabbed him by the collar and pulled him away.
“Alright, that’s enough. She has work to do.” Trembor dragged the wolf into their office and closed the door. “I can’t believe you’d embarrass her like that.”
“The instructor says we need to constantly practice scent recognition in other species. That’s all I was doing.”
“Well, stop using that to pry in Hela’han’s life.”
“Aren’t you curious as to who her prospective mate is?”
“You don’t know that’s what that male is.”
“I know that’s what he wants to be. He smelled very…” Marlot searched for the right word. “Determined.”
There was a knock at the door, then Hela’han opened it. “This came in for you earlier.” She handed Marlot an envelope.
“Thanks, and I’m sorry for embarrassing you.”
“It’s alright, Sir.”
“When are you going to introduce him to us?”
Her gray cheeks also gained a reddish hue as she turned and left.
“You’re incorrigible,” Trembor said, throwing his jacket on the hanger.
Marlot’s pad buzzed. He looked at it, silenced it, and put it away.
“Who was that?”
“No one important.” Marlot looked the envelope over. From the government. Revenue division.
“From your home town again?”
“Yes.” He opened it.
“Are you ever going to take their call?”
“No.” An ID card fell out of it. “As far as I’m concerned, the lot of them can go find a lake and drown.” He turned it over and looked at the image of a badger. “Again?” The name next to the picture was Oldric Digger. Marlot took out his pad.
“What?” Trembor asked.
The wolf showed him the card. “Third time in two months that I got someone’s replacement card. They need to fix that glitch in their system.”
“Revenue department, ID issuance division,” a young-sounding male answered.
“Hi, Marlot Blackclaw. You sent me someone else’s replacement card again.”
“Excuse me?”
He sighed. “If you call up my file,” he gave him his ID number, “you’ll see that this is the third time it’s happened. You need to get your technician to find what’s causing it. I’m not part of your delivery system.”
“I’m sorry sir, what’s the name and ID number on the card?”
Marlot gave him that.
“And you received that today?”
“Yes.”
“That’s odd. According to the system, no replacement was—”
“Sent out, I know. Like I said, this is the third time it’s happened. Look, I’ll get this card to its owner, just have someone fix this, okay?”
“I’ll have a technician get on that right away.”
“Thank you.” He put his pad away. “I’m borrowing your car. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
“You want lunch first?”
“I’ll eat when I’m back.”
* * * * *
When Marlot returned, he and Trembor ate at their desk. The wolf’s pad buzzed twice, and each time he glanced at it, then ignored it.
“Maybe you should talk to them. Seems like they can’t stop calling today.”
“And they can keep trying. It’s from the council, so it’s nothing I want to hear.”
Trembor looked at him. “Are you ever going to tell me why you’re so angry at them?”
Marlot looked away.
“It’s okay.” The lion reached across the desk and patted Marlot’s hand. “When you’re ready.”
They finished eating moments before Marlot’s computer dinged, announcing he had a call on the office line. He brought it up.
“Marlot Blackclaw, Registered Inves—” He stopped as an older lynx appeared on the screen. “Councilor Tuff.”
“Marlot, my boy,” the old town councilor greeted him with a smile. “It’s been too long since I’ve seen you. Four years now since you left to track that hunter and never returned to us?”
The hunter had been named Ruxul. He’d come through Marlot’s home town and left dozens of unclaimed bodies in his wake, predators and prey alike. It hadn’t made a difference to him. The council had ordered Marlot to track him and make him pay for his crime, no matter what it took. That had taken him to the city, where he’d discovered he didn’t have to be under anyone’s heel. With Trembor’s help, as well as many of the other city RIs, they’d found Ruxul and he’d died rather than be caught. Marlot had let the council know that the hunter was dead, and that he wasn’t coming back.
“You know,” the lynx said, “you were supposed to come back after you dealt with that hunter.”
“I’m not the one who killed him.” It had been Trembor and another RI, but the newsies had made him the focus of the story.
“That’s not important,” the councilor said, dismissing it with a wave. “But we were expecting you back.”
“And I explained that I wasn’t coming back. One of the RIs died and I was offered his territory.” It was more that he’d begged for it. He’d wanted to have a real reason to give as to why he could stay in the city, and not just how he’d begun feeling for the lion.
“Your father was disappointed. He told me you haven’t called him.”
“What’s the point? What’s he going to say? That he needs me at the commune? That my mother misses me and wants me to come back? Well, I miss her too, but I have work here to do.”
“That’s good. Then you’ll make sure to visit them when you are here.”
“I don’t have any plans to go back anytime soon.”
“Actually, we need you to come home now. Someone killed Na’ego this morning.”
Marlot found his voice had stopped working. Na’ego Softpaw was, had been, a bear on the council, and the town medic. He’d been one of the few people Marlot actually liked there. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he finally managed to say. “I hope you find his killer and bring him to justice.” And who knew? With him having been a councilor, maybe they’d actually look for the killer instead of finding the closest vagrant they could blame.
“That’s why we need you here.”
“No. Someone has to have taken over the RI position when I left.”
“Yes, some bison from another town.”
“Then have him deal with it.”
The lynx’s features hardened. “Listen to me, Marlot Blackclaw. This isn’t something for just any stranger to handle. You are the only one I trust to handle this.”
The only one you can push around, you mean, Marlot thought. He felt like yelling, but forced his tone to remain calm. “I’m sorry, Councilor, but the answer is no.” He ended the call and set his computer to route his calls through Hela’han, letting her know he wasn’t available to the rest of the day.
Three times over the next hour she came in saying there was an urgent call for him. When he asked who, they turned out to be other councilors. He didn’t take their calls either.
* * * * *
His pad buzzed. When he checked, the ID came up as ‘government’. He sent the call to his terminal and answered it, expecting it was the revenue department with an update on the glitch.
A well-built brown and blond wolf appeared. “Is this Marlot Blackclaw?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Please hold.” The screen changed to show a creek and the sounds of nature.
Marlot frowned. This was an odd procedure.
Trembor looked over his screen with a questioning tilt to his ears, but Marlot just shrugged.
When the image changed back it wasn’t the wolf, but a massive bull sitting at an expensive desk.
“Marlot Blackclaw?” he asked in a deep voice. “This is Carik Sharphorns.”
Marlot sat straighter, and he saw that even Trembor straightened. “City Leader Shaprhorns, it’s an honor to speak with you again. What can I do for you?” He’d met the city leader when he’d felicitated all the RIs who had taken part in capturing Ruxul.
“You can start by explaining to me exactly why I just had a councilor from some farming town scream at me for stealing their RI.”
Marlot groaned. “I’m sorry about that, Sir. They want me to investigate a death there, but I told them no.”
The bull’s features didn’t change, but his tone became colder. “And why did you do that?”
“It isn’t my territory anymore. There’s another investigator in that region. They should be asking them to look into it.”
“Then why does he want you to do it?”
“I don’t know, Sir.” Marlot wasn’t going to bring up town politics to the city leader.
The male drummed his fingers on the desk for a moment. “Look, why don’t you just go and deal with this? It’s a farming town, it won’t be all that difficult to find the killer and get them to pay the tax.”
“Sir, I can’t do that. Ignoring that I’d been acting in another RI’s territory, I have responsibilities here. I can’t abandon them just because my home town’s councilor would rather deal with me than the local RI.”
“You’ll only be away a day or two, I don’t see how that’s going to affect any of your investigations, and if there’s something that’s really urgent, you can pass it on to another RI for the duration.” He thought for a moment. “Aren’t you that RI who works with a partner? Can’t he take over your cases while you’re away?”
“Sir, that isn’t how this works. RIs have their territories, and we can’t take on cases that originate outside of them. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing you can say that can make me go there.”
The bull sighed. “Marlot. Do you mind if I call you Marlot?”
The wolf shook his head.
“Marlot, here’s the situation. That Arlion Tuff threatened me with a price hike on all the vegetables they ship to us. On top of that, he said it was entirely possible there would be a blight hitting their crops this year. He also implied that if it hit their communes, it was bound to hit the other towns' as well. Do you catch my drift?”
Marlot swallowed hard and nodded.
“Now, if that happens, it’s going to make the herbivores of this fine city unhappy. That is going to make my life very difficult, and I’m going to feel obligated to make someone else’s life difficult.”
“Mine,” Marlot said softly.
“Look,” the bull said, his tone gentle. “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to force you to go there. I understand that puts you in a difficult position, so I’m just going to ask, as a personal favor to me. Just go there, find that killer. Make them happy so that people here can also be happy.”
Marlot felt small. “Alright, I’ll go.”
“Thank you, Marlot. I appreciate your cooperation. I’ll let them know you’ll be leaving as soon as you can.”
The screen went blank.
Marlot put his head in his hand. He could already feel the headache coming on. He couldn’t believe he’d just been blackmailed into going back there.
“I can have Cyril look after my part of our territory while we’re away,” Trembor said, coming next to him. “He won’t mind doing that for a few days.”
“You don’t have to come,” Marlot replied. “Trust me, you don’t want to have to deal with them.”
The lion squeezed his shoulder. “I’m your partner. Even if we weren’t lovers, I wouldn’t let you do this on your own.”
Marlot rested his head against Trembor’s side. “Thanks.”
They remained like that for a moment, then set about making sure things would continue while they were away. They gave access to their files to the two investigators who’d take over, and informed Jaxca—their medical examiner—as well as the enforcers of the temporary transfers.
After, Marlot went home to pack a bag and collect the meat in his cooler. He brought that to Trembor’s place. The lion had borrowed a freezer from his parents to keep their meat while they were away. Freezing that would change the texture and the taste, but it was better than letting his last hunt go to waste.
Then Marlot had to do one last thing.
He called Bahamel. “Hi Ba, it’s Marlot,” he said when the message buffer came on. She was probably busy with a suspect. “I know you were looking forward to me and Trembor coming to dinner, but we have to cancel—well, postpone. I’ve been blackmailed into going back home to deal with a body, and Trem’s coming with me.” He sighed. “It shouldn’t be more than a few days, so I’ll pad you when we’re back and see what we can arrange.”
He terminated the call and resigned himself to a drive he wasn’t looking forward to.
