Chapter Ten

Honey Badgers are fierce as can be.

They’ll arrest anyone they can see.

Whether criminal rats,

Or felonious cats.

I don’t think I’d like one chasing me.

The FBI Forensics Lab had just delivered several copies of each tape to Agent Badger and they set them up to show to Captain Ford, when he arrived. The alterations were pretty amateurish, dropping most of the Professor’s words and actions and making Octavius out to be the aggressor. Clearly, the Phox Firm had no compunction about trying to frame the Great Bear. Speaking of bears, the Grizzly knocked on the Special Agent’s door and after shaking paws all around, sat down on his haunches in front of her desk.”

“OK, what do you have to show me.”

“First off,” said Bruce, “We’d rather keep confidential how we obtained this information. If it becomes necessary to use it in pursuit of the case, we can negotiate it at that time. Now, you’ve seen the tape of the meeting sent to you by the law firm.”

“Right! Octavius Bear comes across as the primary antagonist.”

“Well” said the Badger, “we’d like to disabuse you of that opinion. Albeit, there was clearly no love lost between the two of them. Here is the original tape of the meeting.”

They watched as the action unfolded, leaving no doubt that the Muskox made a violent attempt to harm Octavius.

“Well,” said the Grizzly, “That puts a different spin on things, but it only adds more fuel to the fire as far as motive is concerned. The Kodiak was assaulted and fought back. After he was hustled out of the room, he may have let his temper build up even further and decided to take things into his own paws.”

“OK, let’s hold that thought for the moment. What I want to know is why The Phoxes created the phony version of the tape. We believe they were trying to frame Octavius and shift the blame away from the true killer.”

“So, you think one or more of the lawyers is the killer?’

“We’re not sure but it certainly raises a cloud of suspicion. By the way, has the coroner come up with a time of death?”

“He’s still working on it. The Muskox was already dead when he was dumped in the river. He did not drown.”

“That sets off a number of questions. Where and when was he killed? By whom? It would have taken a lot of strength to kill him off and then use some kind of carrier to transport his body from his office to the river. It would be damned difficult to make that trip without someone noticing. So far, no one has reported seeing anything like that. We’ve been making inquiries all along the Winter Garden and riverside.”

“Maybe he wasn’t dead yet. More likely, he went to the river on his own power and was fatally attacked there by person or persons unknown. His body was found floating near the cruise ship dock.”

“Why would he go to the river?”

“To meet his killer. A secret get together? There was no sign of a struggle in his office. According to his secretary/office manager, he was alive and in a terrible mood when they closed down for the night. He stayed on alone, but we don’t know for how long.”

“I can’t imagine him meeting with Octavius.”

“Probably not, but at this stage, we can’t discount any possibility.”

“Well, where do we go from here?”

“For openers,” said Captain Ford, “I want answers from the law firm about the major discrepancies in these two tapes. Fabricating false evidence in a murder investigation can be a felony and those guys know it. I want the identity of the culprit or culprits and I want to know if it was done with the partners’ knowledge. That would make them co-conspirators. Meanwhile, Octavius is still an ‘Animal of Interest.’ Thanks for your help.”

“Inspector Wallaroo, you have no official standing in this case, but I welcome your assistance. You have enough history with US criminal procedure to know when you’re crossing a line. For the time being, I’ll look the other way on how the original tape was discovered.”

“Agent Badger, please keep in touch. I’ll let you know the coroner’s report. What you do with it is your business.”

After he left, Bruce looked at Honey Badger and said, “I guess we couldn’t have expected much more. There’s more to this than a spontaneous free-for-all between the Professor and Ocko. The idea that the Muskox was meeting his future killer at the riverside has set my nose to tickling.”

“Me, too. I think the Professor had another set of irons on the fire and it did him in. I guess your crew is heading back to Cincinnati. Let’s set up a conference call tomorrow after you’ve all had a chance to digest and cross pollinate.”

“Speaking of digestion, do you want to join us for dinner?

“Thanks, but I think there are things you’re going to discuss that I don’t want to know about. Talk to you tomorrow.”