A Fraudulent Death
Chapter 01
The precinct’s central office was crowded with people that Marlot had to step around as he paced in front of the bank of monitors; eyes on a specific one, the one with the lion and armadillo, seated on one side of a table, talking. Opposite them a hippopotamus in a dark blue suit sat, watching like they were her next meal.
It felt to him like they’d been at it for hours and he wanted to barge in. Throw Trembor’s lawyer out and demand answers. Instead, he paced, cursing life and everything it threw on his way. He could do it; he didn’t give a damn about what that hippo or anyone out here, looking at the screen, would think. But the one person whose reaction mattered to him was in that room. He was who Marlot wanted to make demands of, and he knew how badly that would turn out.
The two of them had kissed for the first time again in too long just—he checked his pad—too many hours ago. For Marlot to make demands now you shatter the thread of a relationship they had. He’d be telling his lion he saw him as a possession; that only what Marlot wanted mattered. Trembor was his mate, not his thing. He never wanted to treat him that way and hated himself for giving that impression. Gorrek had treated Trembor as a possession, and Marlot would be nothing like that male.
But his lion was right there, in an interrogation room down the hall, and he couldn’t go there to hold him. The hippopotamus said something and his lion stiffened. That’s it, he thought. He was going in there and putting an end to this farce. He wouldn’t demand anything of his lion, but everyone else in that room had better listen to him.
He turned to the hall’s entrance and found a large brown bear blocking the way, her arms crossed ever her chest. How had she gotten there without him noticing?
“What are you doing here?” He demanded, considering if he could slip between her and the wall. She was fast, he knew that, but if he was quick enough he--
“Someone called to tell me some wolf was about to commit a crime against commonsense,” she replied, freezing him in place with a stare. Yeah, she knew what he’d been planning, and not just slipping by her.
“I can afford them,” he said dismissively.
Bahamel canted and ear. “Both?” she looked at the screen. “You’re planning on eating Trembor’s lawyer too? You do know he’s helping your lion, right?”
Marlot snorted. “If helping was what he was going, Trembor wouldn’t be in there anymore.” He looked around. “How did anyone here even know to call you?”
She rolled her eyes. “They’re enforcers, wolf. When one of theirs comes home injured, they sniff the air far and wide to find out who did it and how they can fix it for him. Once they knew you broke the lion’s heart, it didn’t take long to connect me to you. You’re lucky I like you because more than one asked me how I’d take it if they ate you.”
“You kept them from coming after me?” He asked in disbelief. They were friends, but she had a definite ‘deal with your own problems’ attitude.
She snorted. “I told them to clear it with the lion.”
“And you trusted that to be enough?”
“Wolf, you might need your nose cleared, but I don’t. It didn’t matter how bad thing got between your two, he wouldn’t want you eaten, by anyone.”
Marlot looked at the screen. He’d known Trembor wouldn’t want him eaten. He’d have done it, if that had been his desire. He growled at the sullen look on his lion’s face as the armadillo and hippopotamus spoke harshly to one another.
He eyed the space between the bear and the wall. He could make—she moved to close the gap.
“What’s going on?” He asked, pointing at the screen.
“Don’t you know?” she narrowed her eyes. “Didn’t you hack your way into the building’s system already to find out?” The comment had the closest enforcers look at him suspiciously; more so than they had already been.
“Do you think I’d be standing here if I was hacking anything? Life got in the way.”
She studied him, then motioned for Marlot to walk, away from the hall. Resigned, he did as instructed, looking at Trembor one last time. She had him stop by a door, which she opened without knocking. “Groff, you mind if I borrow your office?”
An older silver fox looked up from the pad he was typing on; first at her, then at him. “What happened? Your people finally had enough of you and locked you out of the building?”
“No, I decided I needed a bigger place to put people in their place.”
The fox looked at Marlot again, then at his office. “I guess here is better than out there. Less clean up by the time he’s done with you.”
“I wouldn’t,” Marlot replied, offended at the implication.
“Not that I hear.” The fox stepped around his desk. “People who threaten Trembor have a tendency of ending up in your stomach.”
“It only happened a few times,” Marlot said defensively, “and it was him or them, so it was an easy—wait, how do you know about that?”
The older fox leveled his gaze on Marlot. “You hurt one of ours, and there’s nothing we won’t dig out.” He looked at Bahamel, a slight pleading expression on his face. “Be careful of my office. I know it isn’t much, but it’s the only one I have.” He walked by them and she pushed Marlot in.
She sat on the edge of the desk, which protested loudly.
“There are cages,” Marlot offered, “we could go talk there.”
“Just close the door and tell me how it is that you, Marlot Blackclaw, didn’t hack your way to get what you wanted.”
Marlot winced. Even she’d noticed. He wished she’d said something before. “I was planning on it.” He leaned against the closed door. “I was ready to call in everyone I know, destroy whatever got in my way to keep Trem out of whatever this is.”
“So what happened? I like you wolf, but when you get angry, commonsense is the first thing you kill.”
“Trembor’s nephews.” He sighed at the memory of the two cubs stepping out of the house, fear and confusion on their face. Even now, he didn’t know how much they’d witnessed, but the devastation reminded him of what Trembor asked him to do. So he’d gotten Cerek’s number from them, then did his best to keep them calm until he arrived.
Trembor said that of everyone in his family, Cerek was the least likely to eat him on sight, but if not for the cubs, Marlot wasn’t confident the two adults would have survived the meeting.
“I calmed down enough to realize going off wouldn’t do Trembor any good, and that I did care if he was angry at me. So I came here and had to watch that lawyer not do anything to get my lion out of there. The officer who arrested him talked about him interfering with an investigation about something that involves one of his brothers. There was something about hacking, which, come on, Trembor and computers are not a thing. He doesn’t even remember to charge his pad if I don’t tell him.”
“He can still hire hackers,” Bahamel said. “Which is what he did. He falsified evidence, had them do it. It was a good job too. I had my people look it over. If that new evidence hadn’t surfaced, I don’t think we’d have ever figured it out. But with it, they had to look again, and found the cracks.”
“What evidence?”
“Someone anonymously sent a slate explaining how that hunter you caught did it, down to scratching the lion to get his blood. It was all there.”
Marlot didn’t immediately understand. Nikal hadn’t talked, and no one else knew what had happened. Unless Bo had—Marlot groaned. The slate Nikal told Trembor about. Of course, his lion would turn it over. At least he’d been smart enough to do it without revealing it had been him.
“Something you want to tell me, Wolf?”
“I hate life sometimes,” he growled. If Trembor could have just held on to the slate, destroyed it even. He wouldn’t be in this mess.
But he wouldn’t be the lion Marlot loved.
Now he wished the entire thing with Gorrek had never happened so he could knock some sense into his lion and not feel like he was abusing him.
“Okay, Bo was innocent all along, right?” Marlot asked. “Then what does it matter what Trem did?”
“You know that isn’t how the law works. Your lion committed a crime, a pretty severe one at that.”
“Come on, it’s just hacking. I get away with it on a daily basis.”
“I’m going to forget you just said that. But it’s not only the hacking. His interference caused the death of several people who weren’t guilty of the crime either. He isn’t the one who killed them, but those officers killed who they thought were cub killers. Forget that now they’re stuck paying for a body whose tax didn’t drop, that they might not be able to afford the bodies. Your lion created the situation where that happened. There has to be an accounting for it.”
“That’s a rotten scent. Trembor would never take part in arranging for innocent people to be killed.”
“I didn’t say they were innocent. Just innocent of this crime.”
Marlot sighed. She was ahead of him on everything. There was a reason Bahamel lead the entire vice division and not just one precinct. She could out-think just about anyone, and those she couldn’t, she could pound them into the ground.
“The hippopotamus. That’s the city prosecutor, right? She’s going to take away Trem’s license, isn’t she?”
“My understanding is that she’s after something a lot bigger. She’s looking to use your lion to show how corrupt the revenue bureau and, indirectly, the enforcers are; and that city leader Sharphorns let it happen. If she pulls it off, your lion will end up in a cage, and her in charge of the city.”
Marlot frowned. “That can’t be legal. She can’t push some political agenda through prosecuting Trembor.”
Bahamel sighed. “What’s legal and what ends up happening don’t always smell the same, Marlot.”
“Trem’s father isn’t going to let it happen,” Marlot said resolutely, then his confidence faltered. The old lion was retired. What could he do? “Fine, I’m just going to go in there and eat them in that case.”
She chuckled. “You’re going to give yourself indigestion before you’re halfway through them.”
“I’ll share them with Trembor.” His lion could probably use a good meal at this point.
“Marlot, your lion’s lawyer is a good one. He isn’t going to let her have her way. I suspect this is going to be one of the longer cases, but in the end, he’s probably looking at no more than paying for part of the bodies his interference caused and the loss of his license.”
He stared at her. “Ba, being an RI is Trembor’s life. You take away his license and I might as well eat him myself.” His pad buzzed, and he took it out.
“I can give you pointers on the kind of eating that will leave him begging for more.”
Marlot read the information and growled.
“What’s wrong?”
“I have a body. Of all the bad timing. I thought that with Nikal out of circulation we’d have some quiet to resolve our problems. Now Trem could lose his license and I can’t be there to comfort him.”
“It won’t happen today, Marlot. You have the time to take care of that. I doubt your lion will even see a night in a cage.”
“You tell Trembor I was here. You let him know it wasn’t my choice to leave and you tell that lawyer that if she tries anything smelly, I will eat her.”
“I’ll make sure he knows, wolf.”
Marlot glared at her for the implication that was all she’d give of his messages, and she grinned at him. With a huff he stormed out of the precinct and, outside, as an echo of his mood, frigid wind buffered him all the way to his car. The sky was so gray that the afternoon looked more like dusk.
He pulled his light jacket tighter. Just a few hours ago it had been warm enough it was all he’d needed. He wished the weather would make up its mind and that his winter coat would come in already.
He slammed the door once in the car and left without waiting for it to warm up. He wanted to file this body away and be back here before Trembor could even realize he’d left.
It felt to him like they’d been at it for hours and he wanted to barge in. Throw Trembor’s lawyer out and demand answers. Instead, he paced, cursing life and everything it threw on his way. He could do it; he didn’t give a damn about what that hippo or anyone out here, looking at the screen, would think. But the one person whose reaction mattered to him was in that room. He was who Marlot wanted to make demands of, and he knew how badly that would turn out.
The two of them had kissed for the first time again in too long just—he checked his pad—too many hours ago. For Marlot to make demands now you shatter the thread of a relationship they had. He’d be telling his lion he saw him as a possession; that only what Marlot wanted mattered. Trembor was his mate, not his thing. He never wanted to treat him that way and hated himself for giving that impression. Gorrek had treated Trembor as a possession, and Marlot would be nothing like that male.
But his lion was right there, in an interrogation room down the hall, and he couldn’t go there to hold him. The hippopotamus said something and his lion stiffened. That’s it, he thought. He was going in there and putting an end to this farce. He wouldn’t demand anything of his lion, but everyone else in that room had better listen to him.
He turned to the hall’s entrance and found a large brown bear blocking the way, her arms crossed ever her chest. How had she gotten there without him noticing?
“What are you doing here?” He demanded, considering if he could slip between her and the wall. She was fast, he knew that, but if he was quick enough he--
“Someone called to tell me some wolf was about to commit a crime against commonsense,” she replied, freezing him in place with a stare. Yeah, she knew what he’d been planning, and not just slipping by her.
“I can afford them,” he said dismissively.
Bahamel canted and ear. “Both?” she looked at the screen. “You’re planning on eating Trembor’s lawyer too? You do know he’s helping your lion, right?”
Marlot snorted. “If helping was what he was going, Trembor wouldn’t be in there anymore.” He looked around. “How did anyone here even know to call you?”
She rolled her eyes. “They’re enforcers, wolf. When one of theirs comes home injured, they sniff the air far and wide to find out who did it and how they can fix it for him. Once they knew you broke the lion’s heart, it didn’t take long to connect me to you. You’re lucky I like you because more than one asked me how I’d take it if they ate you.”
“You kept them from coming after me?” He asked in disbelief. They were friends, but she had a definite ‘deal with your own problems’ attitude.
She snorted. “I told them to clear it with the lion.”
“And you trusted that to be enough?”
“Wolf, you might need your nose cleared, but I don’t. It didn’t matter how bad thing got between your two, he wouldn’t want you eaten, by anyone.”
Marlot looked at the screen. He’d known Trembor wouldn’t want him eaten. He’d have done it, if that had been his desire. He growled at the sullen look on his lion’s face as the armadillo and hippopotamus spoke harshly to one another.
He eyed the space between the bear and the wall. He could make—she moved to close the gap.
“What’s going on?” He asked, pointing at the screen.
“Don’t you know?” she narrowed her eyes. “Didn’t you hack your way into the building’s system already to find out?” The comment had the closest enforcers look at him suspiciously; more so than they had already been.
“Do you think I’d be standing here if I was hacking anything? Life got in the way.”
She studied him, then motioned for Marlot to walk, away from the hall. Resigned, he did as instructed, looking at Trembor one last time. She had him stop by a door, which she opened without knocking. “Groff, you mind if I borrow your office?”
An older silver fox looked up from the pad he was typing on; first at her, then at him. “What happened? Your people finally had enough of you and locked you out of the building?”
“No, I decided I needed a bigger place to put people in their place.”
The fox looked at Marlot again, then at his office. “I guess here is better than out there. Less clean up by the time he’s done with you.”
“I wouldn’t,” Marlot replied, offended at the implication.
“Not that I hear.” The fox stepped around his desk. “People who threaten Trembor have a tendency of ending up in your stomach.”
“It only happened a few times,” Marlot said defensively, “and it was him or them, so it was an easy—wait, how do you know about that?”
The older fox leveled his gaze on Marlot. “You hurt one of ours, and there’s nothing we won’t dig out.” He looked at Bahamel, a slight pleading expression on his face. “Be careful of my office. I know it isn’t much, but it’s the only one I have.” He walked by them and she pushed Marlot in.
She sat on the edge of the desk, which protested loudly.
“There are cages,” Marlot offered, “we could go talk there.”
“Just close the door and tell me how it is that you, Marlot Blackclaw, didn’t hack your way to get what you wanted.”
Marlot winced. Even she’d noticed. He wished she’d said something before. “I was planning on it.” He leaned against the closed door. “I was ready to call in everyone I know, destroy whatever got in my way to keep Trem out of whatever this is.”
“So what happened? I like you wolf, but when you get angry, commonsense is the first thing you kill.”
“Trembor’s nephews.” He sighed at the memory of the two cubs stepping out of the house, fear and confusion on their face. Even now, he didn’t know how much they’d witnessed, but the devastation reminded him of what Trembor asked him to do. So he’d gotten Cerek’s number from them, then did his best to keep them calm until he arrived.
Trembor said that of everyone in his family, Cerek was the least likely to eat him on sight, but if not for the cubs, Marlot wasn’t confident the two adults would have survived the meeting.
“I calmed down enough to realize going off wouldn’t do Trembor any good, and that I did care if he was angry at me. So I came here and had to watch that lawyer not do anything to get my lion out of there. The officer who arrested him talked about him interfering with an investigation about something that involves one of his brothers. There was something about hacking, which, come on, Trembor and computers are not a thing. He doesn’t even remember to charge his pad if I don’t tell him.”
“He can still hire hackers,” Bahamel said. “Which is what he did. He falsified evidence, had them do it. It was a good job too. I had my people look it over. If that new evidence hadn’t surfaced, I don’t think we’d have ever figured it out. But with it, they had to look again, and found the cracks.”
“What evidence?”
“Someone anonymously sent a slate explaining how that hunter you caught did it, down to scratching the lion to get his blood. It was all there.”
Marlot didn’t immediately understand. Nikal hadn’t talked, and no one else knew what had happened. Unless Bo had—Marlot groaned. The slate Nikal told Trembor about. Of course, his lion would turn it over. At least he’d been smart enough to do it without revealing it had been him.
“Something you want to tell me, Wolf?”
“I hate life sometimes,” he growled. If Trembor could have just held on to the slate, destroyed it even. He wouldn’t be in this mess.
But he wouldn’t be the lion Marlot loved.
Now he wished the entire thing with Gorrek had never happened so he could knock some sense into his lion and not feel like he was abusing him.
“Okay, Bo was innocent all along, right?” Marlot asked. “Then what does it matter what Trem did?”
“You know that isn’t how the law works. Your lion committed a crime, a pretty severe one at that.”
“Come on, it’s just hacking. I get away with it on a daily basis.”
“I’m going to forget you just said that. But it’s not only the hacking. His interference caused the death of several people who weren’t guilty of the crime either. He isn’t the one who killed them, but those officers killed who they thought were cub killers. Forget that now they’re stuck paying for a body whose tax didn’t drop, that they might not be able to afford the bodies. Your lion created the situation where that happened. There has to be an accounting for it.”
“That’s a rotten scent. Trembor would never take part in arranging for innocent people to be killed.”
“I didn’t say they were innocent. Just innocent of this crime.”
Marlot sighed. She was ahead of him on everything. There was a reason Bahamel lead the entire vice division and not just one precinct. She could out-think just about anyone, and those she couldn’t, she could pound them into the ground.
“The hippopotamus. That’s the city prosecutor, right? She’s going to take away Trem’s license, isn’t she?”
“My understanding is that she’s after something a lot bigger. She’s looking to use your lion to show how corrupt the revenue bureau and, indirectly, the enforcers are; and that city leader Sharphorns let it happen. If she pulls it off, your lion will end up in a cage, and her in charge of the city.”
Marlot frowned. “That can’t be legal. She can’t push some political agenda through prosecuting Trembor.”
Bahamel sighed. “What’s legal and what ends up happening don’t always smell the same, Marlot.”
“Trem’s father isn’t going to let it happen,” Marlot said resolutely, then his confidence faltered. The old lion was retired. What could he do? “Fine, I’m just going to go in there and eat them in that case.”
She chuckled. “You’re going to give yourself indigestion before you’re halfway through them.”
“I’ll share them with Trembor.” His lion could probably use a good meal at this point.
“Marlot, your lion’s lawyer is a good one. He isn’t going to let her have her way. I suspect this is going to be one of the longer cases, but in the end, he’s probably looking at no more than paying for part of the bodies his interference caused and the loss of his license.”
He stared at her. “Ba, being an RI is Trembor’s life. You take away his license and I might as well eat him myself.” His pad buzzed, and he took it out.
“I can give you pointers on the kind of eating that will leave him begging for more.”
Marlot read the information and growled.
“What’s wrong?”
“I have a body. Of all the bad timing. I thought that with Nikal out of circulation we’d have some quiet to resolve our problems. Now Trem could lose his license and I can’t be there to comfort him.”
“It won’t happen today, Marlot. You have the time to take care of that. I doubt your lion will even see a night in a cage.”
“You tell Trembor I was here. You let him know it wasn’t my choice to leave and you tell that lawyer that if she tries anything smelly, I will eat her.”
“I’ll make sure he knows, wolf.”
Marlot glared at her for the implication that was all she’d give of his messages, and she grinned at him. With a huff he stormed out of the precinct and, outside, as an echo of his mood, frigid wind buffered him all the way to his car. The sky was so gray that the afternoon looked more like dusk.
He pulled his light jacket tighter. Just a few hours ago it had been warm enough it was all he’d needed. He wished the weather would make up its mind and that his winter coat would come in already.
He slammed the door once in the car and left without waiting for it to warm up. He wanted to file this body away and be back here before Trembor could even realize he’d left.
