Chapter XVI
Luke Van Deign and Evelyn Van Holland had been brought up by elves with similar principles. Their families had each been strong in the community. They had held the values that had kept the elves strong for generations. Somehow, though, Evelyn had become a maverick. It was true that her intentions were good. Even Luke could see through his conservative haze enough to know that industrialization had done its fair share of damage to the planet. Even elf magic could not compete with the filth that had been spewed into the air and dumped into the seas during the early days of the twentieth century. The regulations that Evelyn and her ilk had fought for and won were important for the generations to come. But, this...this alliance with the dwarf...It was more than he could bear. She was so impulsive. He didn’t even think she realized the consequences of what she was doing. This triad of elf, human, and dwarf could cause such an upheaval in society that there was no telling what kind of violence could result. Luke had spent most of the night and most of the morning thinking about how to stop her. Certainly, there would be no talking her out of it. Once Evelyn made up her mind about something, there was little that could change it.
It was almost eleven o’clock and he was still mulling it over when his intercom buzzed. His secretary informed him that the Inspector General of the Judiciary Board was there to see him. Luke went cold.
“Show him in, please.”
Luke’s secretary was a tiny man with a balding head and one lazy eye. Luke liked him because he was sharp as a tack without ever showing a bit of arrogance. He speculated that the man’s obvious physical imperfections had left him too damaged to recognize how brilliant he was. The Inspector General, on the other hand, was tall, even for an elf, with strong defined facial features, and golden hair that hung lazily about his shoulders. Unlike most elves, he was stout of build, with well defined, but not bulging muscles on his arms and chest. He wore a shining suit of silk that was tailored to accent the highlights of his physique. When he smiled, his face glowed.
“Good morning, Luke,” he said, striding past Luke’s secretary without any regard. The man retreated quietly, closing the door behind him.
Luke leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I can’t, for one minute, imagine why you’re here, David.”
David Van Pulse and Luke Van Deign went back very far. They had competed against each other in almost everything during their school days, and David had almost always come out the victor. Though Luke had come away with the ultimate prize, the memory still left a bitter taste in his mouth.
David slipped himself gracefully into the chair opposite Luke’s and sat with a smile on his face. The two elves stared at each other, one smiling, the other scowling, until the Inspector General said, “I need a favor.”
“Please,” Luke offered. “Go fuck yourself.”
David’s smile never faltered as he asked, “Is that any way to treat your superior?”
“I don’t work for you, David.”
“I wasn’t talking about work.”
Luke’s teeth clenched inside his mouth. He was sure that his anger was visible even though he wished it weren’t so. He wondered how he could feel so confident when arguing with Evelyn, but so ill at ease with David Van Pulse.
“I’m going to request that Travis Anton’s case be turned over to you,” David said.
“I wish you wouldn’t.”
“You’re the best prosecutor in the city,” David added, without so much as a pause. “Your conviction rate is astounding. I’d like to see Anton tried, convicted, and executed within a few weeks.”
Luke stood. “Are you out of your mind?”
Looking up at him, David’s face took on an expression of smug calmness. “Luke, he murdered an elf.”
“So he did,” Luke agreed. “But the elf was high on acid and a danger to the public. Frankly, I’ll be surprised if Anton even gets life. If he’d been defending another human, he’d be out of jail already.”
“Has our sad society really come down to that?” David asked, shaking his head.
Luke sat down, thinking about the truth of the situation and the things he’d said to Evelyn. “It has,” he said.
The two sat in contemplation for a time, silently commiserating with one another. Luke was loath to think that he and David Van Pulse shared a point of view. David Van Pulse, on the other hand, saw it as an advantage to, once again, gain the advantage over his old friend.
“What do you think of Evelyn’s new friend?” Van Pulse asked.
Luke looked up from his desk and into David’s eyes. There was ice in that stare. “This is not a discussion I’m likely to have with you.”
“No, I guess not,” David said, resigned. “It’s just that dwarves are such creatures of tradition and their tradition is steeped in their very warped sense of honor. I wonder what Owen Keefe would think of Evelyn if her husband was the instrument that sent his rescuer to the chair?”
The fury that escalated inside of Luke was something that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. In fact, he could trace that feeling right back to his college days and its source right back to the elf sitting across from him. As always though, in these types of situations, David had played Luke well. He’d recognized the conflict between Luke and Evelyn just by understanding the situation and the two elves involved. He’d pushed all of the right buttons and constructed himself an enraged Luke Van Deign. All that rage needed was a target.
“I know you hate me, Luke, although I don’t know why. We both know that, in the final phase, you bested me in a way that made all of my other victories seem insignificant by comparison. I’m asking you to see past our history and do something for elves everywhere.”
Luke relaxed a bit. Maybe he bought into David’s mollification. Maybe he just felt like he’d been given more of a foothold in the conversation. Still, the emotion drained away and his brain began to function.
“Why is it so important that Anton face an execution?” he asked. “And why so quickly?”
“Right now Troy Van Walls is the bad guy. You said it yourself. He was on acid and rampaging through the city killing dwarves everywhere. The defense will argue that it was only a matter of time before he killed a human or, goodness forbid, and elf.”
“That’s speculation,” Luke said.
David grimaced. “You and I both know that once something’s said in court, the jury can’t unhear it. In six months or a year, all of the outrage will be gone and, like you said, Anton will get twenty years. If that.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“It’s precedent,” David shouted, as if he was suddenly infuriated with a student who was being deliberately obtuse instead of the most accomplished prosecutor in the field. “They will have driven a spike into the foundation of society. Anton needs to be tried now. He needs to be found guilty and sentenced to death. We, as elves, have a duty to our kinsmen to make sure that the rest of this bloody world knows who’s in charge.”
Luke was quiet for a few moments. He wasn’t as much moved by David’s words as he was by his demeanor. In all the time he’d know the Inspector General, he’d never once seen him get so emotional. He was right, of course. It wasn’t the job of the police to police the elves. That was up to the Judiciary Board. Just by going after Van Walls, Anton had exceeded his authority. Luke could argue that without contest. That it led to the shooting death of an elf should be enough to mandate a life sentence. An execution would be more difficult but not out of reach.
Van Pulse smiled. “I’ll talk to the Attorney General.”
Sad and excited at the same time, Luke nodded.