Fang and Claw

by Markie Madden

  So, it was no surprise to her that the courtroom was so crowded. Not everyone was seated in the long, narrow wooden benches; many people were standing along the outer walls of the room, and everyone seemed to be having conversations in low voices. Lacey spotted an empty bench at the front that had been roped off, as one would do at a wedding chapel. She tapped her partner and indicated the bench with her chin.

  “At least they saved us a spot.” She was amused.

  They elbowed their way through the press of people until they were at the front of the room, just behind the table where the prosecution’s team would sit. The bailiff unhooked the red velvet rope stretched across the walkway between the bar rail and the first row of seats, allowing them to enter before clipping it back into place. The low rumble of voices continued. Lacey spotted quite a few cops in the crowd, some in plain off-duty clothing, some still in their uniforms.

  As they sat, Joe turned to them from in front of the intricately carved railing separating the front of the courtroom from the general seating area in the back. He shook both their hands, saying, “This is about to turn into a media circus, I’m afraid. This case has garnered a lot of attention since Mr. Blyge was arrested.” Jenessa Donner, Joe’s boss, was also there, sorting through piles of paper and taking notes on her tablet, and she glanced at them with a tight smile of acknowledgment.

  “I can imagine.” Lacey stuck her hands into the pocket of her cocoa-colored suit jacket. “The fact that a living, breathing Skinwalker has been found alive has been all the talk of reporters and newspapers for months.”

  “Not to mention said Skinwalker being indicted for multiple counts of assault here, spanning ninety years, and facing additional charges in Louisiana!” Colton spoke up for the first time. He looked nervous and jittery in his dark suit. At least he seemed more at ease with the young assistant district attorney; both he and Lacey had spent countless hours during the past months going over and over their testimony for this case. The commander had even granted them some overtime hours due to the defendant’s attorneys filing various motions of continuance that delayed the case.

  “Are you nervous?” With a glance, Joe included both of them in the question.

  “We got this.” Colton looked over at Lacey with a smile. She gave him a small grin in return.

  Then, the door to the left of the judge’s bench opened, and in came several corrections officers, leading Jason Blyge to his seat across from the prosecution’s table. He was wearing the blaze orange jumpsuit of a prisoner. His hands were cuffed together, and held down by a steel chain belt around his waist. The man’s feet were also shackled. It looked as if no one wanted to take a chance of him escaping. The corrections officers in charge of the prisoner were all Shifters wearing gloves; medical testing over the past months had determined that the DNA from these Immortals was the only genetic material the Skinwalker could not copy. It was also discovered that the man could only sample and copy someone which he’d come into physical contact with. He could not simply turn into any random person by using the DNA from normal cells shed by the human body to become dust.

  Here in the courtroom, Blyge would have no access to fresh DNA, as the first two row of benches behind the bar on the defendant’s side were empty. The suspect’s flock of attorneys had been given strict instructions not to touch their client, and he was seated in a chair away from the defense’s table, his back to the wall and looking directly into the jury box. The officers escorting him had cuffed his arms to rings in the chair, and were standing at attention well clear to either side.

  From the right of the bench, another door opened and the jury was escorted into the room by the bailiff. The rumble of conversation quieted as the twelve men and women took their seats in the jury box. They were a mixed group consisting of five humans, three men and two women; two male Shifters; one female Shifter; and four Vampires, two males and two females.

  Joe turned back to the front of the room as Janessa said under her breath, “Here we go.”

  “All rise!” The bailiff called, opening the door directly behind the judge’s bench. “Dallas County District Court is now in session, Judge Garfield, presiding!” The noise level increased, then the room grew so quiet, Lacey imagined even a deaf Vampire could hear a pin drop. District Court judge Montegue Garfield made his entrance to the court. The middle-aged man was a tall, severe figure in his black judge’s robes. He had a full mane of silver hair, and his face was deeply wrinkled. He’d been a judge long enough to have retired from it.

  Lacey had come into contact with the judge a few times throughout her career, and she knew he was a stickler for the law. Anything and everything being admitted into evidence in his court had to be perfect. Not for the first time, Lacey was glad she had enlisted Linus’ help in processing the strange evidence they had gathered over the course of their investigation. Linus was just as straight-forward with his testimony as she was, and he knew how to engage the jury.

  Once Judge Garfield took his seat, the rest of the room did the same. The judge shuffled some papers, banged his gavel down with a sharp sound, and looked expectantly at the prosecutors.

  Janessa stepped forward, tugging down the jacket of her tailored navy suit. She walked in front of the prosecution’s bench, gave the judge a respectful nod of acknowledgment, and approached the jury. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are here today in the matter of the state of Texas versus Jason Blyge, AKA Blaze Sherman. The charges against Mr. Blyge are numerous, not only here but in the state of Louisiana as well.”

  Lacey felt Colton shift next to her, and slanted her eyes in his direction. “Yes, they decided to add in the cold case from Louisiana you found.” Her voice was whisper-quiet, pitched so that only he could hear it. “They matched the DNA from that case to him as well.”

  “Good.” Like her, Colton kept his voice down, but he couldn’t hide the smug tone. She nodded agreement then turned back to the proceedings.

  Janessa had continued her opening statement. “Mr. Blyge is a species of Immortal called a Skinwalker. We have now mapped his complete DNA code, and it is DNA the likes of which we’ve never seen before. However, because that code is so unique, we will present evidence to you that should leave no doubt in your mind that the defendant is, in fact, the person who committed the crimes we will tell you about. The first charge of assault is from April 24, 2028. The victim was his 28 year old live-in girlfriend, who unfortunately has since passed away. But even then, the Dallas Police Department collected DNA from the young woman at the time of the assault. This DNA, as we’ll later prove, belongs to Mr. Blyge.”

  Janessa turned from the jury then, clasped her hands lightly behind her back, and took a few steps toward the table where the defense lawyers sat. Then she turned back to the jury. “Our second case was an assault and rape of a young woman in Louisiana. We will not be trying the defendant in this court on this charge, however we can verify that once again, DNA belonging to Mr. Blyge can be matched to DNA from this case. Finally, we have the newest charges: assault and rape, a home invasion, a simple assault, and an assault on a peace officer. Not to mention the lesser charge of evading the Undead Registry. Again, we will provide you with the evidence that should prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Mr. Blyge was the assailant in all these cases.”

  “She’s good,” Colton whispered into Lacey’s ear as he watched Janessa maintain eye contact with each individual juror. Lacey gave a slight nod in return.

  “The defense is going to tell you that since Mr. Blyge is an unknown species of Immortal, there may be others of his kind unknown to us, and that we can’t possibly prove that his DNA is unique among his species. They will claim that since the defendant’s DNA is always mixed with that of a human, there’s no definitive way to prove that the samples collected after these crimes match his. They will try to create confusion among you, hoping for a mistrial or hung jury. But I will prove to you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the defendant is guilty of these crimes, and ask th
at he be punished accordingly. Thank you.”

  Janessa returned to her seat. Joe put his mouth to her ear and whispered something Lacey couldn’t quite catch. Then one of Blyge’s lawyers stood.

  “We would like to withhold our opening statement, Your Honor.”

  “So be it.” The judge banged his gavel once more.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  It was the third day of the trial, and already Colton was chafing at the bit to get it done and over. I’m getting tired of getting up every damn morning and putting on a damn monkey suit to sit here and do nothing! He had a scowl on his face as he approached the courtroom doors. Wish I could catch a big case, something, anything to get me out of here! But he was scheduled to testify in today’s proceedings, and he wanted more than anything to put Blyge away, where he could no longer harm anyone.

  As had become their habit, he met Lacey at the top of the courthouse steps. She was dressed in a well-tailored pants suit of dark blue, and carried her customary cup of tea from her favored coffee shop. In the other hand, she held her tablet, and she was dictating notes in her soft voice. She looked up when he approached.

  “Are you ready?” She asked him.

  He shrugged, trying to show that it didn’t bother him, but seeing the look on Lacey’s face, he assumed he’d failed. “Joe drilled the routine into me enough, I think I can handle it.”

  “But-?” The look she gave him spoke volumes. Ever since the incident on the roof, it seemed that their relationship had gotten easier. He thought maybe he’d earned just of bit of her respect, and her trust.

  “But I still hate speaking in front of people. Especially this many people.”

  It was true. The case hadn’t lost any of its public appeal, and each day they stepped into the courtroom, it was filled beyond capacity. Everyone in the city was waiting and watching to see how it would turn out.

  “Just keep your anger under control.” He couldn’t tell if she’d meant it as advice or a joke.

  Once the jury had been seated and the room was called to order, Joe stood and said, “We call to the stand Detective Colton Scarber.”

  He made his way to the witness stand, and tried to get comfortable in the small chair not meant for someone with his bulk. He was sworn in, then Joe asked him to state his name and rank for the record. The court reporter dutifully entered the pertinent information then paused, awaiting the prosecution’s questioning.

  “Detective, tell me about the first scene.”

  “A young woman had been assaulted on her way to the subway. She thought her attacker had been a Wolf, so that’s how we caught the case.”

  “And was there any evidence that would have been from a Wolf at the scene?”

  “No. All we recovered was some bloody clothing belonging to the victim, and a bit of tissue in some clear goop.”

  “And that bit of tissue was later identified as belonging to a Skinwalker, to the defendant?” Joe was expertly tossing out the questions.

  “Yes, it was.”

  “And what did you find at the second scene?”

  “It was a home invasion. At first it didn’t seem to make any sense, but we knew it was connected because of the scent.”

  Joe turned to look at the jury as if lost in thought. “What scent?”

  Colton squirmed a bit in his seat. “The first vic, Angelica, had told Lieutenant Anderson that she’d smelled an odor, like cinnamon, coming from the attacker. Lieutenant Anderson smelled something similar at the home invasion scene, and she brought it to my attention. I guess she was hoping that I could identify it. To me, it smelled like pumpkin pie, or the kind of spicy scent that’s popular around Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

  “And did you ever identify that scent?” Joe faced him with a direct stare.

  “Lieutenant Anderson talked to a tech in the Olfactory Unit. Nothing was on record of that scent being associated with any species of Undead.”

  “But can you now identify that scent?”

  “Objection!” One of Blyge’s attorneys stood. “Opinion, not fact!”

  “Overruled,” Judge Garfield declared. “The witness will answer the question.”

  “Yes, Your Honor.” As instructed, Colton passed a sweeping glance at the jury, then looked at the suspect sitting apart from his council across the courtroom. “It’s the smell of a Skinwalker.”

  “And the defendant in particular?” Joe pressed him for a more complete answer.

  “Yes, that scent comes from Jason Blyge.”

  “Objection!” This came from another of the defendant’s legal team. “He’s leading the witness.”

  Judge Garfield shook his head. “Sustained.”

  Joe faced the jury and said, “Detective Colton, let me rephrase. Have you ever encountered this particular scent before?”

  “No.”

  “So, to clarify, the only time you remember coming across this particular scent is when you were close to the defendant?”

  “Yes.”

  “Objection,” the lawyer argued. “Sense of smell is subjective from person to person!”

  “Overruled.” The judge’s voice became hard. “Detective Scarber, while not an olfactory tech, certainly has a better sense of smell than a human does. His testimony will stay on the record.”

  The defense attorney sat back down, and Blyge rattled the handcuffs pinning his wrists to the arms of his chair. He glared at Colton in what seemed to be barely-contained rage. Colton could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

  “We will call an expert witness in due time.” Joe addressed both the judge and the defense. “However, the smell was brought to light by the first assault victim, who mentioned it to Lieutenant Anderson, isn’t that right?”

  Colton shifted his weight in the hard chair. “Yes.”

  “And what did you later learn regarding the second crime scene? The home invasion?”

  “The apartment belonging to the second victim, Mrs. Smith, was the same apartment Blaze Sherman’s girlfriend lived in when he was questioned about her assault ninety years ago.” Colton passed his gaze over the jury. “It was discovered that the defendant had a hidden compartment inside the victim’s book case, and he returned to the apartment in an attempt to find several pieces of false identification he’d hidden there long ago.”

  “What sort of identification?” Joe asked.

  “Birth certificates, work IDs, even social security cards, all using different aliases.”

  “His plan was to run?”

  “Objection!” The defense attorney seemed outraged. “The witness can’t possibly know why my client had that documentation.”

  “Sustained,” the judge ordered.

  “No further questions, your Honor.” Joe was satisfied that the jury now knew about the suspect’s plans to flee from justice, and returned to his seat next to Janessa, while one of the defense lawyers shuffled through several pages of yellow legal tablet. Then he stood, buttoned his coat, and bored his deep brown eyes into Colton’s.

  “Detective.” His voice had a nasal quality to it, very similar to the voice of the man he was defending. For a brief moment, Colton thought, what if the bastard’s defense attorney is a damn Skinwalker, too? “In your report of the first incident, you state that the victim identified what she thought was the smell of cinnamon, is that correct?”

  “Yes, but--”

  The lawyer cut him off short. “A simple yes or no will suffice.” He shuffled through his paper tablet again. Colton felt a sense of smug superiority as he watched the man thumb through his notes. “And at the second scene, you mentioned the smell of pumpkin pie, correct?”

  “Yes, I did, but--”

  He was smoothly cut off once more. He felt his temper begin to flare. “So how is it you think these two scents could possibly be related to my client?”

  “Well, I didn’t smell anything in the alley, at the first scene. By the time I arrived, the victim was already on her way to the hospital. But I definitely
smelled it at the second scene. It reminded me of the holidays.”

  “So you can’t, in fact, prove that the same smell was at both scenes?”

  “No.”

  “So you can’t, in fact, know that my client was at both scenes?”

  Colton was growing frustrated at this line of questioning, even though Joe had prepared him for it. “No, I can’t prove he was there. That’s the evidence’s job.”

  “And at the third scene, not one person you interviewed mentioned any kind of scent?”

  “Objection!” Janessa stood, beating Joe to it by mere seconds. “Argumentative!” She stared at the opposing counsel with a look that put Colton on edge, though it was not aimed in his direction.

  “Sustained,” the judge bellowed.

  Evidently satisfied with his line of questioning, the lawyer turned toward his seat with the other members of the defense team. “No further questions, Your Honor.”

  “The witness is excused.” The bailiff directed him back to his seat then called Shellie, the olfactory tech Lacey had first talked to, as an expert witness. Colton wiggled on the hard wooden bench, trying, and not succeeding, to get comfortable. He had a feeling this would all take a really long time.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  The jury had reached a verdict. Lacey was at home when the call came in. She’d been on edge ever since the jury had been sequestered. Her mind swung back and forth like the pendulum of a clock: guilty, not guilty. Guilty, not guilty. She barely slept, and when she did, nightmares of the episode on the roof haunted her. Marcell had met with her several times, but no amount of talking about the incident helped to relieve the nightmares. More so than most other cases she’d worked, Lacey was ready to finally put this one to rest.

  Colton met her at the top of the stairs. She must have looked tired, for he asked by way of greeting, “Long night?”