“CARMICHAEL TRIED TO kill himself,” Leduc said.
“The live-in caretaker for the Marchands, that Carmichael?” I asked.
He nodded.
Livingston said, “He was found at a local motel just a few minutes ago. Looks like that’s where he’s been hiding since the murder.”
“Is he going to make it?” Rico asked.
“The doctors don’t know yet.”
Duke asked, “Did he leave a note about why?”
“He did, typed on the computer in the room. It’s a confession.”
“Confession to what?” I asked.
“You didn’t mention the note before,” Newman said.
“I was getting to it, but Duke wanted the marshals here for it.”
“Newman signed the warrant over to Blake, so it’s her case now, and she doesn’t go much of anywhere without the other two,” Leduc said.
“I thought the execution warrant would be moot by now, but okay,” Livingston said. “The note was on his computer. I’ll hit the highlights. He stole the bagh nakha for the Babingtons. They promised him part of the money from selling the jewels off it. He didn’t know they meant to hurt anyone with it, and he’s sorry about what happened to Ray Marchand.”
“If he’d come forward with the information, it could have saved Bobby’s life,” Newman said.
“Maybe he thought it would implicate him in the murder,” Rico said.
“I can see him stealing something small and not knowing how much it’s worth, but I thought better of Carmichael than to let Bobby be executed if he had knowledge that could save him.” Duke shook his head and looked suddenly older and exhausted again, as if he’d learned one thing too many about human behavior.
“Maybe Muriel threatened to lie and say that it was all Carmichael’s idea,” Rico said.
“You think he’d really let Bobby die rather than risk coming forward?” Duke said.
“I don’t want to believe it, Duke, but it looks like that’s what he did,” Newman said.
Duke took his hat off and wiped a hand over his face like he was trying to use the air to wash it. “It was easier to believe that Bobby lost control of the beast inside him and accidentally killed Ray than to believe this kind of cold-blooded shit.”
“Sometimes it’s easier if they’re real monsters instead of your family and friends,” I said.
Duke looked at me and almost smiled, but then his expression turned sad to match the look in his eyes. “Amen to that. I think we’ve got enough reasonable doubt to get that warrant of yours vacated or changed.”
“I’ve never actually had a warrant where it turned out to be humans only, so I’m not sure how this works. I think I need a judge to vacate it officially before I can walk away.”
“I’ll call him now,” Duke said. He moved away, pushing numbers on his phone. It was nice to have someone on our side who was so intimate with the local judges.
“Is this the end of the case?” Olaf asked.
“If the warrant is vacated by the judge, then yes,” I said.
He took a big breath in and let it out slowly. “If we are not going to hunt together, then I am not sure why I am here.”
“If the warrant is vacated, then we can all go home,” Edward said. He smiled as he spoke.
When we’d first met, he lived for the hunt and the kill. Now he still enjoyed it, but he lived for his family, too. He, like me, had people he missed when he was away from home now. We had lives that we actually enjoyed. Watching Olaf’s reaction reminded me that he had no one. If you kill everyone you’ve been intimate with, there isn’t a lot to build on relationship-wise, I guess.
Duke came back to us with the phone still at his ear. He spoke his side of the conversation out loud for us. “Dill, are you seriously telling me that even though I’m assuring you that we have a murder weapon and suspects with a motive for the murder and for framing Bobby Marchand, that the warrant of execution is still live?”
He listened to the other side of the conversation for a few minutes and then said, “You have to be joking, Dill. You can’t add more to the time limit for the warrant? Dill, I don’t care what the legalese says. You can’t be all right with having one of the marshals execute an innocent man just because there’s not enough time to get a confession!”
He hung up the phone and then made a gesture like he was thinking about throwing it across the yard. “This is the most god-awful, messed-up fucking thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Are you seriously telling us that Bobby is still going to be executed when the time runs out?” Newman asked.
“Dill, Judge Metcalf, has got every law clerk and lawyer he can find researching a way out of the warrant, but it turns out there’s no legal precedent for it, and Dill has never liked to rock the boat.”
Livingston said, “This isn’t rocking the boat. This is legal murder.”
“How do you think I feel?” I asked. “The warrant is in my name now, so if any executing has to happen, I’m the one who’s supposed to do it.”
Newman stared at me, looking shocked. “You can’t mean that.”
“Legally, I’ll have no choice.”
“You can’t mean that you would really kill Bobby when you know he’s innocent of any wrongdoing,” he said.
“She’ll sign the warrant over to Otto or me if it comes to that,” Edward said.
Newman looked at him. “Could you do it?”
“I could,” Olaf said.
Newman just stared up at him. “I hope you don’t mean that.”
Leduc said, “Dill said if our suspects confess to the crime, then he’ll work with us on a stay of execution until they can figure out a legal way to make the warrant of execution null.”
“The warrants are worded loosely,” Edward said, “so we can use them to wipe out all the vampires in a lair and their human servants, or an entire pack of werewolves, not just the individual that did the killing.”
“Which helps us how?” I asked.
“If we treat the Babingtons like human servants, then the warrant covers them,” Edward said.
Everyone in the huddle of police officers except for Olaf and me stared at him as if he’d sprouted a second head with fangs and one eye in the middle of its forehead.
“You can’t execute humans as if they were supernatural,” Livingston said.
“But Muriel and Todd don’t know that,” I said.
Livingston frowned at me, but Duke smiled. “You going to try to scare Muriel into talking without a lawyer?”
“No, I’m going to try to guilt Todd Babington into talking without a lawyer, and if guilt doesn’t do it, then I’ll try to scare him.”
“We have the murder weapon hidden in their house. We have Carmichael’s suicide note implicating them. It’s enough to charge them,” Duke said.
“Can they be charged like it’s a regular murder and still be covered under the warrant of execution?” Newman asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said, and looked at everyone in our little group.
“Don’t look at me,” Rico said.
But it wasn’t just Deputy Rico. None of us knew.
“Let’s not charge them with murder, then, not until we’ve used the warrant to get a confession,” Edward said.
“How can you be sure that we’ll get a confession out of either of them?” Livingston asked.
“If you stay out of our way and let us do our jobs, we’ll get a confession,” Edward said.
“What do you mean, stay out of your way?” Duke asked.
“He means that under the warrant system we have total discretion on the level of . . . vigor with which we act,” I said.
“What does that mean, vigor and act?” Duke asked.
“Violence,” Olaf said.
“Yes, that is what I mean,” Edward said.
“We can’t let you hurt Muriel and Todd,” Duke protested.
“Do you want us to have to kill Bobby?” I asked.
“You know I don’t.”
“Then let us do one of the things we do best,” I said.
“Which is what?” Rico asked.
“Be scary.”
“I won’t let you abuse prisoners on my watch,” Duke said.
“Not even to save Bobby’s life?” I asked.
Duke shook his head. “If I let you abuse Muriel and Todd, then I’m no better than they are.”
“You still don’t understand what we are,” Edward said.
“You’re United States Marshals,” Livingston said.
“We are, but we’re with the preternatural branch.”
“It means you hunt monsters,” Rico said.
“It means we kill monsters,” Edward corrected.
“We’re executioners,” I said.
“You can’t kill Muriel and Todd in custody,” Duke said.
“Technically the warrant would allow it,” Edward said.
“No,” Duke said.
“No,” Livingston said.
“This isn’t why I became a marshal,” Newman said.
“We have complete discretion on how we complete the letter of the law on a warrant,” I said.
“Like I said, you are not killing them,” Duke said.
“Them dead may not save Bobby. Them alive to confess will,” I said.
“I don’t think Muriel is going to break,” Duke said.
“Everyone breaks eventually, Sheriff,” Edward said.
“Do I really have to say out loud that you can’t torture anyone under my care?”
“You can say whatever you want, but legally we can use the level of force we deem necessary to complete our task,” Edward said.
“Do you normally torture your prisoners before you kill them?” Livingston said.
“No,” I said.
“Yes,” Olaf said.
“It depends,” Edward said.
“You guys are fucking creepy. You know that?” Duke said.
The three of us nodded. We knew.