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“And if I’m convinced that Bobby is guilty, I’ll act on it. But until then I don’t want to kill him and find out later that he was innocent. Do you?”
“It won’t be legal if I do it. It’ll just be murder,” Duke said. I couldn’t read the expression on his face, but it wasn’t happiness.
“Technically, if the named marshal is present, then it’s all legal,” I said. I looked at Duke as I spoke, watching his reaction.
Duke shook his head. “That can’t be right.” He was a little pale around the gills.
“It’s not what the lawmakers meant when they wrote up the execution-warrant system, but it’s how it’s been interpreted in court over the years,” I said.
“See, in court, which means it’s not legal for me to do it.”
Newman, Olaf, and I all shook our heads. “It’s got court precedents so long and so accepted that it won’t be a problem,” I said.
Duke looked at all of us. Whatever he saw on our faces didn’t reassure him. “That doesn’t seem right.”
“See, Duke, you don’t want to shoot someone you know either,” Newman said.
“It’s not my job to do it.”
“It’s my job to kill dangerous supernaturals, not to kill innocent ones that have been framed using the law as a weapon,” Newman said.
“Let’s call the judge and see if Newman can get an extension on the deadline,” Livingston said.
“And if I can’t?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Livingston said.
“Is the shapeshifter a close friend of yours, Newman?” Olaf asked.
“Not really,” Newman said.
Olaf looked at him, shaking his head. “Then why do you care about him?”
“Wouldn’t it bother you if you had to kill someone you believed was innocent?” Newman asked.
“No,” Olaf said.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t care if you believe me.”
“Newman, you have to make the call to the judge to get the ball rolling,” I said, trying to derail the conversation. It was going to go somewhere creepy with Olaf involved. I was kind of done with his creepiness for tonight.
“Have you lost your taste for killing?” Olaf asked Newman.
“I’ll kill people if I have to, but I won’t let someone use me to do their murder.”
“So, you object to them using you,” Olaf said.
“Yes. Wouldn’t you?”
Olaf took a sip of coffee and then nodded. “I would.”
“Then let’s see if we can buy ourselves enough time to figure out who’s framing Bobby,” I said.
“We aren’t a hundred percent sure that anyone is framing him,” Livingston said.
“Fine. Time to figure out if someone is framing Bobby.”
