Part 82

Marcus was sitting up in his cot, in his solitary cell, he didn't want to sleep. He couldn't sleep, not knowing if his family was safe. He heard some footsteps and he looked up at the door. One of the guards, a mountain gorilla like him, appeared in the window with a smirk. More guards joined him and Marcus stood up. He frowned when he saw they didn't follow him. A glance at the cot told him he really was asleep. Was this a dream?

A deep growl filled the room and the guards stopped, looking around. A white mist suddenly shot out from behind Marcus and the guards fled, screaming with terror.

His sleeping form faded and he turned around, confused. The white mist coagulated in front of the small window looking out at the moon. Slowly, it took the shape of a white wolf in a fine, blue suit wearing his favorite tie.

"They won't bother you again," he promised.

The gorilla in the orange jumpsuit eyed the wolf. "What's going on? What are you doing here?"

"That should be obvious. They drugged your supper so you wouldn't be able to fight back," Crystal explained.

Marcus shook his head. "Why? And why'd you…"

"I suspect they still hold a grudge over your criminal days," Crystal shrugged. "And Porsha shouldn't lose another father."

The other man grunted and sat on the cot. "Thank you. But shouldn't you be watching over her?"

"She asked me to protect you," he admitted. "She and Suki and… the girl cat…" he snapped his fingers as he tried to remember her name.

"Nooshy?" Marcus asked.

"That's her! They're very worried about you. They were right to be," he growled at the door.

"I don't understand… I thought you'd be… you know where," the gorilla stammered. "Why are you protecting me?"

Crystal went to the door and looked out the window. "You know, I expected that myself. I was not a good person when I died. I was a monster. Greedy and self-centered. Even when I had everything anyone could ever want, it wasn't enough and it wasn't until it was too late that I knew what I really wanted. My daughter. Only my daughter. To watch her grow up, graduate high school and college, walk her down the aisle. And I threw all of it away with one wicked act."

Marcus sighed. "We all make mistakes. Some are just worse than others. She's alright. She's healing slowly. She still holds a lot of guilt over that night but she's slowly figuring out that it wasn't her fault." They both grew quiet when they heard keys jingling. The door opened and another guard looked inside, scratching his head with confusion before shrugging and leaving. "Good thing I'm asleep or they'd try and find a way to blame me for this."

"Talk to Grisham tomorrow morning and tell him what happened. He'll know what to do," Crystal promised. "I must go. Last thing, thank you for giving Suki what I couldn't. She was so loyal to me and I didn't appreciate it until it was too late." He looked at the floor. He looked at the window. "I'll never be far but I must go. Talk to Grisham."

The wolf began to fade and Marcus opened his eyes to find himself staring at the ceiling. He looked at his half eaten tray of dinner. He sniffed it and carefully hid it under his bunk. He thought it had tasted funny but assumed it was just because it was jailhouse food. Logic said it was just a dream but it didn't feel like a dream.

A look out the window told him that daylight was coming. He looked at his watch. 7am. He went to the door and called out. "Oy! I need to call my lawyer!"

The guard came down and opened the door. "Come on…"

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When Grisham arrived, he was shown back to Marcus' cell. "I got your hearing for tomorrow morning."

Marcus kept his voice low. "We have to do this quickly." He gave him the tray. "A group of guards tried to attack me last night, while I tried to sleep. They had drugged my food so I couldn't fight back."

Grisham nodded, the zebra's eyes lighting up with flame. "They did what?" He growled. "Don't worry. Just leave it with me." He sniffed the tray. "Yep, there's definitely something in whatever that mystery meat is." He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a box of zipper bags. He carefully gathered samples of each part of the meal and put them away. "Just sit tight. Don't eat anything else they bring you. I have a friend who can tell me what's in this and I'll subpoena the camera footage from last night. They might even have to let the parole violation go after this. And when I'm done, you're going to be a rich gorilla."

The gorilla nodded. "Of course not, not a crumb," he promised.

"Just sit tight. Don't eat anything else they bring you. I have a friend who can tell me what's in this and I'll subpoena the camera footage from last night. They might have to let the parole violation go after this. And when I'm done, you're going to be a rich gorilla."

Marcus chuckled. "I'm not interested in money. I just want to get out of here and go home to my family."

The lawyer nodded. "I understand. I'm going to make sure you get everything you deserve for this. That's my job. Just leave it all to me." The zebra put his hat on and left.

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Mr. Grisham took a cab to an independent facility on the upper east side. There, an enterprising young hippo female, with black hair tied up into pigtails and a spiked collar around her neck, was tending to a hydroponic garden. "Hey Gail!"

"Mr. Grisham, I wasn't expecting to see you today," she greeted him.

The zebra smiled and held out a white cup with a red lid and red accordion straw. "I brought you something."

She bounced. "Oh, thank you!" She took the highly-caffeinated beverage and sipped. "Oh yeah, I needed that." She leaned back against her stainless steel island countertop. "So, what can I do for you?"

He pulled the bags out of his case and put them on the table. "Without telling you why, I need you to analyze the contents of these bags for any substances whatsoever."

She smiled. "Oh, that's easy. Let me just fire up Major Mass Spec. And you can't tell me what I'm looking for?"

Grisham shook his head. "You know I like results uncontaminated by preconceived notions. I suspect there is something in this food. I need you to tell me what."

Gail proceeded to take samples of all three bags and put them into her machine. She hit a few buttons then stood back to wait.

"Grisham, what are you doing here?" Another voice announced as Inspector Vaughn came in.

The zebra just shrugged. "Nothing much. Just kicking back." He sighed. "I'm confused, V. You hated Crystal. I'd have thought you'd would throw Mr. Green a party, if you thought he had anything to do with this."

Vaughn growled. "Death is too easy for that monster. He killed my brother and he deserved to rot in jail."

Grisham sighed. "You never could prove anything and your brother got drunk and caused the accident that killed his wife. And nearly both him and his 2 year old daughter. And then he proceeded to claim Crystal had caused the accident to avoid being held accountable."

"My brother would not drink and drive. He was smarter than that!" Vaughn shouted.

"But he did. He blew a .23! He was wasted! And while that certainly wouldn't give Crystal the right to kill him, assuming he did, he is dead!" Grisham reached out to him. "He can't hurt anyone ever again. And you're punishing not just Mr. Green. You're punishing his family. His wife, his kids. He just had twins! You're punishing his daughters and his oldest son, all of whom were hurt by Crystal. I know you're angry about your brother but you can't punish innocent people over it or you will become the man you hate." He stood up straight as the machine began to beep. "That was fast, what do we have, Gail?"

Gail looked at her computer monitor and her mouth dropped. "Rohypnol! Enough to immobilize a giant gorilla! Like the size of King Kong.

Vaughn frowned. "What's going on?" He joined Grisham in reading over her shoulder. The hippo glared at both of them and they stepped back.

"Someone drugged Mr. Green last. They put it in his food. He only got through about half," the zebra explained. "It had to have been someone in the kitchen and only the guards are allowed near the food there."

"But why! We have all the evidence to put him away for life. Why do this?" Vaughn asked.

"Because you have nothing. The testimony you got from your informant was obtained by harassing Mr. Crystal's attaché. He would have said anything to get Mrs. Noodleman to leave him alone. He even said he saw him jump," Grisham said. "Your informant was also rather sick in the head. She tried to kill her own son on multiple occasions. You have nothing credible. Let this go, Vaughn. You have nothing to gain from this and everything to lose. I'm already going after the city for this. Don't make me come after you too. Thanks, Gail, you're the best." He held up a hoof, waving goodbye as he left.

AN: Leaving it here for now. I need time to consider the next move. Please review. Next, I'll be updating A Royal Production while ideas for this percolate. Please read and review that one too if you haven't.