Paradigms Lost (63 page)

“Oh, dear, I’m sorry. But I really need your help and there’s absolutely no one else I can trust, not with something like this.” The voice quivered slightly. She sounded serious.

Unfortunately, most of the nuts sounded serious too, and without Syl I didn’t have a built-in bullcrap detector. Still, I caught a faint fragment of dialogue in the background that sounded like it mentioned “. . . the lieutenant . . .” A police station?

“Go on, please.”

“Well, I’ve been arrested, you see . . .”

I blinked. “I’m sorry to hear that, miss, but I hope you aren’t wasting your one phone call on
me
. I’m an information specialist, not a lawyer, no matter how odd your case is.”

“This
is
my one phone call, Mr. Wood, and I know you’re not a lawyer, but you’re a better choice for me.”

This was, at least, a different approach. “What have you been arrested for?”

“Murder. But he was going to
rape
me! It was self-defense!”

I winced. “That sounds terrible, Angela, but I’m sorry, I don’t understand why
me
.”

“Oh, damn, I’m going about this all wrong. It’s because of
how
I killed him that no one else would possibly be able to understand.”

Now it began to make some sense, although I
really
didn’t like where this was going. She’d probably used magic or psionics on the guy. “And how was that?”

“Chopped him in half, basically,” she said.

“Chopped—with
what?
”

“Why, with my
claws
, of course. I’m a werewolf.”

CHAPTER 89

Inhuman Rights

Staring at a phone does no one any good, but that’s what I did for some number of minutes, trying to grasp the entirety of the situation. Finally, her repeated “Mr. Wood? Mr. Wood? Are you there?” got through.

“Yes . . . yes, I’m here. A
werewolf?
” I asked incredulously. “Are you serious?”

“I am and these policemen are. They’re holding guns loaded with silver bullets on me as we speak, and I think they’re discussing silver handcuffs.”

I thought for a moment. The situation was so bizarre that it really took some effort to force my brain into its normal analytical channels. First, I’d better confirm that she was telling the truth. “Angela, no offense, but how do I know that you, well, really are a Great Wolf?”

She gave a light, pleasant chuckle. “Hard to prove it by phone, yes. But . . . Hastrikas told me about having to work with you.”

That sealed it. Hastrikas was the real name, the Wolf name, of Sheriff Baker back in Venice, Florida. The number of non-wolves who knew that name could probably be counted on one hand. “Okay, Angela.” The irony of her chosen name was, no doubt, intentional. “Then I’ll give you the same answer I gave a certain Mr. Carruthers when that deal was made. Why the hell should I care? I know what your people are like, I’ve killed a whole bunch of you, and I know you’d all kill me in a flash if your King hadn’t marked me down as his particular bag of munchies.”

“Because, Mr. Wood, you’re interested in justice and the truth, and because if you think about the implications, you’ll know it’s a good idea.”

I wondered how old she was, because it was that little speech that set the hook. The thought of a Great Wolf needing to be defended in the name of truth and justice . . . and that
I
was the one to be their defender . . . “I won’t promise anything yet. I think I need to see this for myself. Where are you?”

“Los Angeles.”

It was
definitely
going to be a long day. “Tell one of the officers I need to talk to them.”

“Lieutenant Ferrin here. Is this Jason Wood?”

“It is. This is one of the strangest calls I’ve gotten, and I’ve had a lot of strange calls, let me tell you.”

“You damn near didn’t get any call. If she’d stayed in wolf form, she’d have been gunned down, but we barely saw a flicker of the monster, and as soon as we pulled in—”

“Wait, wait, Lieutenant. I do need to hear everything from everyone’s point of view—if I’m going to get involved in this case—but this is probably not the best way to do it. What I
do
need to do is see the site, get the information from your ME and CSI teams, all that kind of thing. And I can’t do that remotely.”

“You’re seriously considering helping this . . . thing?”

I felt my skin trying to crawl. “I’m thinking about it. I don’t like it any more than you do. But I may have to.” A part of me was already starting to understand what she meant by it being a good idea. “I’ll need all the information on precinct or whatever you call it down there—where exactly you’re holding her, and so on.” I gave him my contact information, while swapping in a new, fully charged battery to my cell. No point in risking it failing again, I’d just keep the old one in case. “I’ll be getting airline tickets as fast as I can. Now put, um, Angela back on.”

“Mr. Wood?”

“I’m going to be on my way soon. I’m still not promising anything, but if you want me to do this, you have to cooperate with the police until I get there and make my decision. That means you’re going to sit in jail for a while.”

“I understand. If I want humans to help me, I have to play by your rules,” she said calmly. “I will cooperate fully, as long as they do not try to hurt me.”

“Good enough for now.”

I hung up and started to look for tickets online. At least money wasn’t a problem; if I had to, I’d charter a flight. However, a much more difficult problem lay immediately ahead.

I was going to have to explain to Syl why I wasn’t going to be home for dinner.

CHAPTER 90

Attorney-to-Wolves

“Are you
sure
about this?” Lieutenant Ferrin asked. “I’ve seen the videos from that wolf they caught in Vancouver last year. If she decides to take you out, there isn’t anything on Earth we can do to save you if there’s no one with you.”

“Lieutenant, believe me, there isn’t anyone on Earth who
knows
that better than me. But I’m sure. She won’t try anything on me even if I take a gun out and try to shoot her.” I went on through the doorway, which locked behind me.

Angela McIntyre, in her human form, was a dangerously cute young woman no more than five feet tall with straight bobbed blonde hair and bright blue eyes, a Nordic pixie designed by a fantasy artist. She stood up as I entered, a warm smile flashing out as she recognized me. “Mr. Wood! Oh, thank you so
very
much for coming!”

I shook her hand without much of a qualm. Somewhat to my astonishment I was starting to get used to this business. I made a mental note not to let that go too far. I had to remember that no matter how friendly this girl acted, from everything we actually
knew
about the Great Wolves she was nothing but a highly intelligent predator with humans like myself being the preferred prey.

“You’re welcome, at least tentatively. I’ve retained the services of Rosenfeld, Opal, and O’Brien to help me with the actual legal maneuverings, since I am not a lawyer myself.”

“A very good defense partnership. I know the firm. I will of course pay all your expenses and a reasonable fee.”

I shook my head. “No, this is
pro bono
. You blindsided me with the original call, but by the time I finished my connection in Chicago, I’d figured out why you’d implied I’d better take the case.”

“Of course you did, Mr. Wood. Were you too stupid to figure that one out you’d hardly be alive now.”

“Thanks, I think. I’ll note that I’m treating this as though I were a lawyer, and Rosenfeld et al have found enough precedent to allow me the same privileges—that is, what we say here stays between us. The only recording of this conversation, or others we may have in the future, is being done by me. That took some arguing, let me tell you.” I looked her over. “Now, just to be on the record, the reason I’m taking the case is that I know other, shall we say, nonhuman residents of this world who are not inimical to our existence, and it would be inadvisable for me to permit a precedent to be established that allows human beings to deny these residents rights similar to their own, which allowing you to be railroaded and shot like a dog would indeed establish.”

“Exactly right, Jason!”

“Don’t get too excited yet. There’s a flipside to this, and you’re not going to like it. But it’s . . . my fee, so to speak.” I looked squarely into her deceptively human eyes. “You want legal rights established because your people will then have some leverage to slow down and stop the current all-out war of extermination that’s going on. Fine. But TANSTAAFL—there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch, my friend. I’ll do my best to defend you, but you will accept the decision of the court . . . even if it means you lose.”

Her friendliness, alas, evaporated like dry ice on a hot griddle. There might even have been a flicker of inhuman light in the depths of the sky-blue eyes. “
WHAT?”

“Oh yes, indeed.” My grin had all the savagery I’d saved up from the prior Day of Hell. “If they convict you for murder, you’ll meekly and obediently let them lock you up for fifty years, if necessary. And you’ll be a model prisoner. And if they establish premeditation and go for the death penalty, you’ll take that last walk quietly.”

The perfect white teeth sharpened and glittered for a moment, and I saw an accompanying snarl on her face. “And just why would I do that instead of trying my best to escape?”

“I told you. You don’t get something for nothing. That means that if you want legal leverage, you’d damn well better be ready to accept the decisions of the law. There’s no guarantee I can get you cleared. As of yet, I have only your word that it was self-defense, and even if it was, proving that to what’s guaranteed to be a pretty hostile jury isn’t going to be a picnic. I’m going to be subject to a lot of public outcry for defending you at all; are you willing to take the risk for the gain?”

She glared at me for a few moments, then took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and when she opened them again she was back to being the blonde pixie. “All right, Mr. Wood. I promise that I’ll go along with the court’s decision.”

I laughed. “Nice try. I don’t trust you people as far as I can throw one of you in your
real
form. I want you to swear—on the name and honor of Virigar—that from this moment forth, you will comply with all human law and custom as regards criminal prosecution, exoneration, conviction, prison time or other penalties assessed against convicted criminals, up to and including execution for premeditated murder.”

The name of the Wolf King had made her wince. I knew from experience that it was the only thing that meant a damn to the wolves; they feared Virigar more than silver. “I will not!”

I turned for the door. “Then we have nothing to discuss.”

“You human
worm!
” The last word dropped two octaves and I whirled to see her half-changed and already starting for me.

“
Virigar
.” I reminded her.

She froze, monstrously half-human face working with rage and fear, glowing eyes now on a level with mine. Finally, she snarled something in a language no human had ever used and collapsed back into her human form. “You win.”

“Then promise, and don’t try any fancy word tricks on me. I promise—on my own honor, which you people know damn well is good—that I’ll do my best to get you off on this charge, just as if I were a real defense lawyer, but only if you play this dead straight with me.”

Finally, she nodded slowly. “Very well. I begin to see the silver beneath your humanity, Mr. Wood. It is somewhat . . . disconcerting to encounter it in person, even though I knew how formidable you are from prior events.” She took another deep breath. “I swear, in the name and on the word and law of our King, Virigar, and in my own name of Tanmorrai, that I shall comply with human laws as you have specified, even . . . even unto accepting penalties in the case of conviction, up to and including . . . including my own execution.”

“Satisfactory,” I said, sitting back down at the table. “Then let’s get to it, shall we?”

CHAPTER 91

Innocent Monster

The facts of the case didn’t take too long to establish. Angela McIntyre had worked for the deceased, Frederic Delacroix, for the past year and a half. Delacroix ran an extremely high-priced escort service—one of those whose “escorts”
might
actually be top-end call girls, but which was circumspect enough and had customers with leverage enough to avoid investigation or prosecution.

“So was it?” I asked. “Not that this has to come out in the trial, but I’d better know.”

“Oh, certainly,” Angela said easily. “Not official, you understand, and we were given the latitude to decide if some particular, um, client didn’t meet our standards, but sexual interaction was definitely part of our job description.”

I looked at her. I could certainly see that she could play such a role, but . . . “And what the hell do you get out of it? Or did you kill the real Angela and take her place?”

“Oh, no, this isn’t anyone else’s form, Mr. Wood,” she said. “We can choose our own forms if we like. Most of us have at least one human shape that’s ours and ours alone. I live in this one most of the time. It’s comfortable.”

“Still . . . I can’t imagine that you find us attractive, except for dinner purposes. So why this job? For that matter, why a job at all?”

She sighed. “Let’s get into that later, shall we? First let me finish the story.”

I nodded.

While that kind of contact was part of the work, Angela insisted on keeping relations between her and Frederic strictly business. This had annoyed him, but Angela was a very, very large draw with his clientele and he wasn’t about to shoot himself in the foot by firing his most lucrative asset. “I’m guessing your nature gave you an advantage in pleasing the clients.”

“How perceptive of you, Jason.” She gave another devastating smile. “While of course I couldn’t do the trick of becoming the Girl of Your Dreams without giving things away, at close range any wolf can read a lot from your soul. I could always tell the proper approach to take, the right moves to make, that would leave them utterly infatuated. Or not, if I didn’t want them around me long.”