"At least he was friendly and paid for dinner," Molly commented.
I slowly sighed and nodded. I had tried my best to identify the unknown man who wanted us to urge Leona to let the people filing the lawsuit win. He didn't resemble anyone at the trial, the people who had already stated that they supported it, or other members of the prosecution that had been photographed, but weren't at the trial. It left a fair number of avenues to investigate, as he could have been an employee of one of the companies that hadn't formally supported the lawsuit, but there were still several of them and without the formal announcement of support, I couldn't be truly certain if they supported the lawsuit or not. But in all the searching that I had done, there had been no matches and still too many other avenues to look at...
So it was likely that Molly and I would never know who the unknown man was. It was frustrating in the sense that he remained an unknown, but at the same time, Molly was right. At least he made no threats, had tried to be friendly, and above all, paid for dinner. He could have very well proved to be a violent gun nut like MacClure or a greedy racist like Beauregard and ended up killing us and getting away because no one could identify him. But he didn't, and while Molly and I didn't agree with him, at least he treated us in a way we wanted to be treated.
"Do you think Leona can win?" Molly asked as we got up to get ready for dinner.
"She can," I sighed, "but it seems to me that it will depend on the judge and jury completely ignoring the evidence..."
"That bad?" Molly asked.
"That bad," I sighed.
Molly only sighed and looked to the television, now turned off.
"Maybe we've sold some of the people short and they'll actually be fairly responsible with all of this," Molly commented, "They won't simply take the serum thinking being an animal person grants them the right to be naked or mate wherever they want."
"Maybe," I nodded with a sigh, "we turned out fairly well, after all."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next morning involved the meeting with the man who would be prosecuting Dusty MacClure for the murder. I suspected that since the murder was not connected to any national or state level crime, the trial would be held in the county seat in Kalispell, as Ebenezer Smith and his son's had been. Which meant the local DA would prosecute the case. I actually ran into the man as I made my way into the station.
"Good morning, sir," the man greeted me as we met at the door, "I take it you're one of the arresting officers in the present case?"
I opened the door to let him in.
"Yes, yes I am," I nodded, "Officer George Wayne."
"I apologize for the way my fact checker behaved on the first case you were on here," the DA answered, "he had no business carrying personal favors for a man with criminal tendencies."
"You're the county DA?" I asked.
"Indeed," he nodded.
"It's not my place to comment on your relations with Regus," I told him.
"I see," the DA replied, "all the same, he had no business taking that case... and it's likely got me a ticket out of office in my next election."
"Maybe this will be a source of redemption for you," I commented, "since you'll be dealing with R.A.M. on R.A.M. violence in this case..."
"As well as illegal weapons," came Officer Howard's voice as we made our way in.
"Illegal weapons?" the DA asked, recognizing Columbia Falls' Police Chief's voice.
"MacClure had several military grade weapons, one dating back to World War II, and all of them modified for increased rate of fire and on a few a higher muzzle velocity in addition to the murder charges," Officer Howard explained, "and in addition, his fingerprints are all over the weapons that were modified."
"I take it you're wanting to add the weapons charges to the murder charge?" the DA asked carefully.
"I do," Officer Howard nodded, "if you can do it quickly, we can begin running the real questions with him... at least the questions we can ask before the trial begins."
"I'm sure," the DA nodded, "you will be aware though that the case on the murder end of the charges have some holes in it. He'll likely admit that his weapon was used but that he didn't use it... and will create the story that he lost it, went back to get his weapon, and found it on the ground outside the house."
"Essentially blaming the sons for the actual murder," I grumbled.
"And reducing the sentence MacClure will receive if found guilty," the DA nodded, "and based on the testimony I've received, it doesn't seem that there is enough evidence to convict the sons of the murder, either, though. The one son seems to be too totally out of it to have committed the murder. And the other has been too cooperative."
"I would think basic logic would also keep things away from the son, and given MacClure's temper and violent tendencies, he is far more likely to have committed the murder," I told him.
"I agree with you, Officer Wayne," the DA nodded, "we'll need your testimony though to get the non-physical evidence that we will need to convict him, since you say you haven't found the paper evidence that connects your suspect to the murder or the sort of "smoking gun" type evidence that you've found in your previous cases."
"We'll do what we can to help," Officer Howard responded, "now, let us take you to the physical evidence that we do have."
++++++++++++++++++++++++
The county DA did a good job in getting the illegal weapons charges added to the official charges already listed against him. The judge in the case hadn't set a date yet, and Officer Jenkins and I got the opportunity to question him a couple of days later. Unfortunately for us, none of that really went well. MacClure's lawyer refused to allow him to answer any questions about the night in question beyond a superficial story about his revolver falling out of his holster during the "discussion" and then finding it outside Marksman's home an hour or two later. I had the sense that he was lying, but he wouldn't answer any questions that would prove that. I resigned myself to waiting until after MacClure was under oath.
When I made my way into Bandhavgarh that evening, I could smell pork steaks cooking and could hear Molly moving about in the kitchen.
"I'm home," I called, though privately certain that Molly had heard me enter.
"I know," Molly answered, "Could you check the TV? I think the news will be on soon... we'll get the result from the lawsuit."
"Will you be coming out?" I asked back as I turned and made my way into the living room.
"I'll be out, but I need to finish with something in the kitchen, first," Molly answered.
"Okay," I nodded, though Molly couldn't see it, and turned on the television.
"We take you now live to the Peoria Court House for the official verdict on the case," the reporter then spoke as the television came on.
The screen settled on an image of the judge seated at his desk/podium.
"By a vote 6-3, the verdict is in favor of the Prosecution allowing for the legal distribution of the Animatrix Serum to those wishing to buy it," the judge spoke in a firm voice, "however, the Defense has raised valid counter points and it is the ruling of this court that various restrictions will be applied to the distribution of the Animatrix Serum."
The screen zoomed out to show the prosecution table.
"The first is that because of health risks posed by potential invertebrate transformations, no DNA from any inveterate animal is to be allowed," the judge continued, "those that are victims of Eugene Changes' "Fun House" will not be penalized, but no other invertebrate transformations will be allowed. Also because of pollution issues and because of the depth of various streams, no further fish or marine wildlife outside of the Polar Bear will be allowed."
There was a brief pause.
"Only bird, amphibian, reptile, land mammal, and polar bear transformations will be allowed," the judge continued.
The screen then switched to show Leona standing stoically at the defendant's table.
"And because of practical and instinctual difficulties that may arrive," the judge continued, "all candidates must go through a three week waiting period during which they must present a completed paper in which the candidate explains a complete understanding of the animal instincts of the animal they wish to become. They must also demonstrate they have the financial means or the land needed to provide for themselves after their transformation before the Animatrix Serum can be administered, or delivered with all the proper instructions."
The screen then switched back to the judge.
"The US Food and Drug Administration will oversee the the handling of the Animatrix Serum and insure that these regulations are carried out," the judge finished.
"And so the world will gain more furred beings," I sighed.
"Maybe they'll be a bright spot in this somewhere," Molly commented, "if they regulate it, we won't get people who don't know what they're doing getting it."
"Hopefully," I nodded, "of course it could also mean that the human race as a species could vanish..."
Molly slowly shrugged, "but the prosecuting attorney did have a good point... we still have all the intangible factors of being human... even if our DNA and appearance for us is Panthera Tigris Tigris."
I nodded. This ruling would change the world. In time, the human race might end up vanishing and being replaced by several races of humanoid animals, though that would likely take thousands of years. In the short term, it would certainly change how many laws were viewed and operated... and of course if larger portions of society became animals and houses, furniture, and other things were built to suit them, it might help other aspects of society. And if people were responsible with it... as much as I didn't want to admit it, things might not be that bad overall.