Fuzzy Nation

Chapter Twenty-three

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Holloway said. “Now, as Ms. Meyer has astutely noted, the last piece of evidence showed only that arson had occurred. It did not identify the man who landed at my compound, beat and killed those fuzzys, and in the process of doing so managed to set fire to my cabin. The man in question was careful to conceal his identity, whether or not he knew the security camera was there. He wore a ski mask. He wore gloves. He wore common boots sold in the general store to thousands of ZaraCorp workers and contract surveyors. He quite intentionally intended to evade identification.

“But,” Holloway said, “then something happened the man didn’t intend.” Holloway queued up a shorter excerpt from the previous video. It was of the man suddenly getting a faceful of Pinto.

“The man clearly did not intend to get the crap beat out of him by a fuzzy,” Holloway said. “Look how he’s taken by surprise, completely unprepared to deal with a small creature bent on tearing off his nose and popping out his eyes.” Holloway looked directly at DeLise, who was grinding his teeth. “It must have been some surprise to get schooled so completely by something the size of a cat. Here, let’s look at it again.” “Not unless you have a point to make, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said.

“Quite right, Your Honor,” Holloway said. “And indeed, I do have a point to make.” Holloway played the video once more, this time in slow motion. “Color commentary aside, the fuzzy is doing some very real damage to the man’s face: There are some serious scratches, bites, and cuts going on there. This happened a week ago.” Holloway paused the video mid-gouge and then went to his table and pulled a picture out of his folder and gave it to Soltan. “This is a picture I took of Mr. DeLise three days ago, using a secure camera. You can see how scratched up his face is. In fact”— He pointed to where DeLise was sitting. —“you can still see scratches on his face a week after the attack.” Soltan looked over to Meyer. “I assume you have an alternative theory of the scratches,” Soltan said.

“We do, Your Honor,” Meyer said. She glanced over to DeLise and nodded.

“I got drunk,” DeLise said. “I had too many to drink at Warren’s and on the way home I fell facedown into a bush.” “Congratulations,” Soltan said.

DeLise shrugged. “I’m not proud of it. But that’s the reason,” he said.

“Mr. Holloway?” Soltan said.

“Well, since I know how much Joe likes his drink, normally I’d be perfectly willing to believe him,” Holloway said. He walked back to his table and pulled out a sheet with graphs and text on it. “But there is the little case of the DNA evidence.” Soltan took the sheet, frowning. “The man who set fire to your cabin left DNA,” she said.

“He surely did,” Holloway said. He walked back to the table. “As you might imagine, there was a lot of blood when the man attacked the fuzzys, and the fuzzys attacked back. I had it tested. Most of it was fuzzy blood, of course, considering the gunshots and the vicious physical attack. But enough of it was human.” “Ms. Meyer?” Soltan said.

“The plaintiff is collecting and processing his own DNA evidence, Your Honor?” Meyer asked.

“I’m accusing a ZaraCorp security officer of arson and destruction of property,” Holloway said. “And it’s a small security detail here. I have good reason to doubt that any material collected and processed by them will be compromised. And in point of fact the DNA evidence was collected and processed by the same ZaraCorp biology lab that would process DNA evidence for the security office, not by me. I just eliminated the middleman.” “Was the blood taken from the floor of Mr. Holloway’s compound?” Meyer asked.

Soltan looked at Holloway. “Yes,” he said.

“The compound floor was flooded with fire suppressant,” Meyer said. “The chemicals in the suppressant would dilute and degrade the blood. Any DNA report from that source would be suspect.” “My colleague is absolutely correct,” Holloway said, and noted the slight flare Meyer had at the implication that he was her colleague. He reached under the table, where he had stored a sturdy cooler. He hauled it up on the table. “Fortunately, we also have DNA from tissue samples.” Holloway started undoing the lid latches.

“Tissue samples from what?” Soltan asked.

“Not from what,” Holloway said. He opened the lid. “From whom.”

And with that Holloway reached into the cooler and gently removed Pinto. He placed the fuzzy’s corpse on the table. Meyer gasped in spite of herself.

“Bringing a corpse into the courtroom was not necessary, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said, sharply.

“With all due respect, Your Honor, I disagree,” Holloway said. “If I had not, I doubt Ms. Meyer would accept the authenticity of the evidence, of which there are two types.” Holloway held up Pinto’s small hand. “First, human skin and blood underneath the fuzzy’s nails.” Holloway set the hand back down, gently, and then reached into the cooler again, taking out a small jar. “Second, this bullet, taken out of this fuzzy.” He reached into his folder and extracted a third paper, then walked the bullet and the paper over to the judge. “Here’s my request to impound any and all handguns in Mr. DeLise’s possession, to perform a forensic analysis of their ballistics.” Soltan took both the bullet and the jar.

“That bullet could have come from anywhere,” Meyer said. “A bullet hole in the creature does not mean that particular bullet caused it.” “The bullet was extracted by ZaraCorp’s own biologist,” Holloway said. “She also ran the DNA tests and compared the results against samples in the employment database. I’m certain she would have been happy to testify.” Soltan looked up. “Would have been happy?” she asked.

“She’s been transferred Earthside,” Holloway said. “She’s on the same transport Mr. Sullivan was.” Soltan looked over to Meyer. “Ms. Meyer, is there any particular reason that the all the people who would be really useful to Mr. Holloway have suddenly been transferred off the planet?” she asked.

“I’m sure it’s coincidental,” Meyer said.

“Uh-huh,” Soltan said. “I’ll be having my clerks do another search and rescue so she can testify. In the meantime, Mr. Holloway, please put that body back into your container. I’m going to have to impound it for the time being.” “Yes, Your Honor,” Holloway said. He walked back to Pinto and gently returned the fuzzy to the cooler, the condenser of which hummed quietly after he closed the lid again. He walked the cooler over and set it down next to the judge.

“We should note that the biologist in question is Dr. Isabel Wangai,” Meyer said. “She has a past relationship with Mr. Holloway.” “Noted,” Soltan said. “It’s one reason I’m impounding the animal.” “Not an animal,” Holloway said.

“The creature,” Soltan corrected. “Happy, Mr. Holloway?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” Holloway said.

“I will order an independent study of the DNA under the creature’s nails, and of the ballistics of Mr. DeLise’s weapons,” Soltan said.

“The body of the … creature has been in Mr. Holloway’s possession all this time,” Meyer said. “The evidence is almost certainly tainted.” “How?” Holloway asked, incredulously. “I somehow arranged to have Mr. DeLise’s flesh clawed off his body and then stuffed it under the fuzzy’s nails? That’s a little elaborate.” “The body is in my possession now and will be examined for any sign of tampering,” Soltan said. “Unless you have an objection with my doing so.” “No, Your Honor,” Meyer said.

“Now you see why I brought the body, Your Honor,” Holloway said. “Imagine what Ms. Meyer’s objections would have been without it.” “Stop grandstanding, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said.

“Apologies, Your Honor,” Holloway said.

“We’ll take another half hour break while my clerk retrieves Dr. Wangai from the beanstalk,” Soltan said. She stood. “See you in thirty.” She returned to her chambers. Holloway sat at his table and watched Meyer and DeLise confer furiously.

Sullivan came up to the audience area directly behind the plaintiff table. “He doesn’t look very pleased,” he said to Holloway, nodding over to DeLise.

“That’s because he’s realized that the fuzzy he thought got eaten by a zararaptor has come back to haunt him,” Holloway said. “It’s finally getting into his thick skull that he just might have to go to trial on this, and if he actually goes to trial, he’s going to lose.” “And you’re enjoying that fact,” Sullivan said.

“Shit, yes,” Holloway said.

Sullivan smiled. “That’s the Jack Holloway I’ve come to know,” he said. “Always ready to revel in the cheap dig.” “It’s not cheap,” Holloway said. “It’s cost ZaraCorp six hundred billion so far.” “Not bad for a morning’s work,” Sullivan said.

“The day’s still young,” Holloway said.

“Here comes Janice,” Sullivan said. Holloway looked up. Meyer was standing over him.

“Let’s talk,” Meyer said.

“Of course,” Holloway said. He stood up, and the two of them walked out of the courtroom, leaving DeLise and Sullivan behind.

“This whole thing is getting out of hand,” Meyer said, as they stepped into a vacant conference room.

“You’re just saying that because I’m kicking your client’s ass with the evidence,” Holloway said.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Meyer said. “Making a show of an animal corpse in a preliminary hearing is one thing. But it’s the sort of thing I’m going to demolish in an actual trial. Shit, Holloway. You hanging on to that thing for a week? You really think I’m going to have a problem introducing reasonable doubt on that? Not to mention it’s morbid as hell.” “I see,” Holloway said. “So you want to do me a favor and save me the embarrassment of falling on my ass in a big-boy trial.” “Don’t do that,” Meyer said. “I know about you, Holloway. I know you used to do this for a living. I know you were good at it too, until you punched your client. And I know that you didn’t exactly punch your client out of passion, either. You did it for effect, and you got paid well for it, and that your time on this planet has been a sort of extended vacation for you. So, yeah, Holloway, I know you’re good. All right?” “Okay, better,” Holloway said.

“But we both know this is all bullshit anyway,” Meyer said. “You and DeLise have a history. Fine. He finally went over the line with it. Fine. Let’s all agree he’s an asshole and just settle this.” “What’s the offer?” Holloway said.

“Drop the suit,” Meyer said. “DeLise apologizes without admitting guilt. ZaraCorp fires DeLise and puts a note in his employment record that keeps him from working security again—but no criminal record. We ship him off and he spends the rest of his life washing dishes somewhere and is grateful for it. And not that it should matter to you at this point, Mr. Billionaire, but ZaraCorp also reimburses you for your cabin and anything else damaged by the fire.” “How much total?” Holloway asked.

“We’re not exactly going to be pinching pennies,” Meyer said.

“And what about for the fuzzys?” Holloway asked.

“What about them?” Meyer said.

“Your boy stomped one, shot another, and killed both,” Holloway said. “That has to be worth something.” “Name your price,” Meyer said. “But don’t go crazy about it.”

“It’s not a bad deal,” Holloway said.

“It gets you what you want,” Meyer said. “Hell, it gets everyone what they want—DeLise out of security. He’s a menace. You’d be doing the universe the favor.” “That is, if you can get him to accept it,” Holloway said.

“Don’t you worry about that,” Meyer said. “That’s my job, and I’m good at it.” “I’m sure you are,” Holloway said.

“So we have a deal,” Meyer said.

“Absolutely not,” Holloway said.

“No deal,” Meyer said.

“No way,” Holloway said. “Not a chance in Hell.”

“Can I ask why not?” Meyer asked.

“Because, Ms. Meyer,” Holloway said, “with all due respect for your considerable skills and intellect, the fact of the matter is you have absolutely no clue what it is I want out of this.” *

Isabel’s testimony was anticlimactic. Yes, Your Honor, Jack brought me the body to examine. No, Your Honor, it was not tampered with in any way I could see. Yes, I dug the bullet out myself. No, I am not a licensed forensic examiner. Yes, the DNA work was only preliminary; I was locked out of the lab for half the week when they informed me I was being transferred. No, I don’t know why they should have locked me out of the lab. Holloway smiled at Isabel as she walked out of the witness stand. Now the whole gang was here.

“Mr. Holloway, any other evidence for me before I get to the defense exhibits?” Soltan asked, after Isabel had sat down in the audience area.

“No more physical evidence, Your Honor,” Holloway said. “But I have a witness to the arson. Someone who can definitively identify Mr. DeLise as the man in the mask.” “Very well,” Soltan said. “Bring in your witness, Mr. Holloway.” “The witness is in my skimmer, Your Honor,” Holloway said. “It’s in the parking area.” “Send someone, then,” Soltan said.

“Mr. Sullivan knows what my skimmer looks like, if that’s all right,” Holloway said.

“Fine,” Soltan said, irritably. “Make it fast.” Holloway nodded to Sullivan and handed him his key fob. Sullivan left.

“Is there a reason you left your witness in the skimmer, Mr. Holloway?” Soltan asked, while they waited.

“The witness wanted to spend time with my dog,” Holloway said.

“Is the witness someone you have a personal relationship with, Mr. Holloway?” Meyer asked.

Holloway smiled. “You could say that, Ms. Meyer.”

The door to the courtroom opened and Sullivan walked through, followed by something small.

It was Papa Fuzzy.