{I have another source of information concerning Mr. Compton’s identity and crimes,} Hchchu said reluctantly. {It was this source who informed me that the Frank Abram Donaldson of the scholar’s report was the same as the Frank Compton soon to arrive aboard Kuzyatru Station.}
[The name of this source?] Minnario asked.
{At this time, I’m not at liberty to disclose it,} Hchchu said.
Clearly, Minnario had been expecting that reply. [The Slisst Protocols specify that a defender must have a clear view of all weapons in the opponent’s array,] he said. [Unless the identity of this source is revealed in a timely manner so that I can assess its strength and temper, I must request that the attack against my client cease without risk of blood, honor, or spirit.]
{I ask time to consult my source,} Hchchu said before any of the judges could respond.
Wandek murmured something down the line of judges, and received other murmurs in reply. {You have one day to lay this weapon on the table,} Wandek told Hchchu. {We will reconvene on this field at this same time tomorrow. The groundstage has ended. The opponents may leave the field.}
Silently, Hchchu stood up and began putting his collection of readers into the pouches of a belt bag fastened around his waist. I started to stand up, stopped as Minnario laid a hand on my arm. [Wait,] he murmured. [You were last to arrive. We must similarly be last to depart.]
Hchchu finished his packing and strode down the center of the room, not looking at either of us, and disappeared through the double doors. As they closed behind him, the judges gathered their own paraphernalia and filed off their bench, Wandek bringing up the rear as they too marched toward the doors. Like Hchchu, the first three judges ignored us, but Wandek paused as he passed. “Come by quickly,” he murmured. “Ms. German’s condition worsens.”
I started to speak, again stopped at the touch of Minnario’s hand, and watched as Wandek followed the others out through the double doors. “Now?” I asked, standing up.
[Yes, we may depart,] Minnario confirmed, making no move to maneuver his chair away from the stone table. [But there are matters we need to discuss. This is as good a place as any to do so.]
I looked at the double doors, thinking about what Wandek had said about Terese. But Minnario was right, on both counts. With our quarters possibly bugged, and me with no faith whatsoever that an attorney/client conference room would be any cleaner, the courtroom itself was probably our best bet. Especially a courtroom made entirely from stone, which would make hardwired microphones extremely hard to install.
And to be doubly sure …
I stood up and turned back to the doors. “Thank you for your assistance, Logra Emikai,” I called, beckoning Bayta toward me. “I need to speak with my attorney for a few minutes.”
Emikai hesitated, then nodded. “Very well,” he called back. “But I’ve been informed that there are new developments in Ms. German’s case.”
“Yes, I know,” I said. “If you’d like, go on ahead and assess the situation. We’ll find our way back from here.”
“Very well.” Emikai pushed open one of the doors and ushered the two Jumpsuits ahead of him out into the corridor beyond.
“We can find our way back from here, right?” I asked Minnario.
[Of course,] Minnario said. [There are directories at each major intersection. Touch the green emblem, speak your destination, and follow the directions you’re given.]
“Oh,” I said, feeling more than vaguely foolish as Bayta came up to us. “I must have skipped that page in the guidebook.”
[Now we may speak?]
“Sure.” I pointed toward the judges’ bench. “Up there.”
Minnario looked at me in astonishment. [In the guardlaws’ positions?]
“I won’t tell if you don’t,” I said. “If there’s any place in a courtroom guaranteed not to be bugged, it’s the place where the judges discuss their side of the case.”
[You may be right,] Minnario said reluctantly. [All right, but we must be quick about it.]
We crossed to the stone table, Doug and Ty padding along behind us, and I climbed up into the place where Wandek had been sitting. “Plenty of room,” I pointed out.
“That’s all right,” Bayta said, standing beside me as Minnario stopped his chair at her side. “What exactly do we need to discuss, Attorney Minnario?”
[To begin with, Chinzro Hchchu’s mysterious information source,] Minnario said. [Have you any idea who it might be?]
“Emikai and Dr. Aronobal are the most likely suspects,” I said. “They were both on our super-express Quadrail, which gave them opportunities to see me in action, and both were on Earth when the reports of the New Tigris incident filtered in. Either of them could have put those two pieces of data together and come to at least a suspicion, if not a conclusion.”
“Could they have obtained a private police report?” Bayta asked.
“Assuming they have a top-level contact in the Filiaelian embassy, sure,” I said. “I’m more interested in who exactly this Filly scholar is that Hchchu mentioned, and how she was conveniently on hand in that part of the galaxy to go around collecting bodies and evidence.”
[I have her name,] Minnario said, scrolling through his reader. [But I’ve done a search, and she seems to have no connection to Chinzro Hchchu or anyone else aboard Kuzyatru Station. It appears she was simply on Homshil when the report of the santras’ deaths reached the Assembly, and as the nearest Filiaelian with governmental connections she was ordered to delay her return and travel to New Tigris.]
“So she has no actual expertise in police procedure?” I asked.
[None,] Minnario said. [And to tell you the truth, it shows. Her report’s full of oddities, curiosities, and the occasional contradiction.] He smiled lopsidedly. [Those are technical legal terms, of course.]
“Like the laying out of weapons that Usantra Wandek mentioned?” I asked.
[The Slisst Protocols are filled with such expressions,] Minnario said. [They came from the ancient Filiaelian mode of honor-satisfaction via combat, and retain much of the same form and language. That’s why the overseers are called guardlaws instead of judges. They don’t so much rule on the case as watch what Chinzro Hchchu and I do and award the verdict on the basis of the strength and validity of our arguments.]
“Like martial-arts referees awarding points,” I said, nodding. “Not so different from the way a lot of Earth courts work, actually. Can I assume the Protocols won’t degenerate at some point into actual armed combat?”
Minnario laughed, a sort of pleasant rippling-brook babble that I’d heard before only in recordings. It sounded even more cheerful in person. [Be of confidence,] he assured me. [Filiaelian society is far beyond such primitive behavior.]
“Glad to hear it,” I said. “So tell me more about the scholar’s report. Starting with how I managed to get saddled with six murders.”
[You didn’t commit all the murders?] Minnario asked. [I’m your attorney, you know—you can tell me the truth without fear of bias or betrayal.]
“The truth is that I didn’t commit any murders,” I told him firmly. “I may—may—have killed one of the Fillies in a firefight, but I’m not even sure about that.”
“Which they started in the pursuit of criminal activities,” Bayta added.
Minnario made a sort of hissing sound. [Incredible,] he said. [Santra-class Filiaelians.]
“Evil comes in all shapes and sizes these days,” I said. “And as I say, even that one killing is questionable. I was in the middle of a bunch of cops at the time and all of us were trying very hard to get to the santras before they got us. You’d have to do ballistic and residue tests on all our weapons to figure out who shot whom, and I’m not sure the New Tigris cops even bothered.”