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Tuesday, June 9th, 2015

Raenne pulled into the tiny parking lot in front of Byrom Elementary, coming to a stop in one of the two empty visitor's spots. Classes had officially started about twenty minutes ago, and she figured now would be the perfect time to drop in and get the suspension paperwork.

Last night she'd found the video that Officer Hoffman had mentioned and downloaded a copy of it to the family computer, then transferred it onto her phone, just to rub the stupid cow's face in it.

"Lesson not to attack other students", my furry ass, Raenne thought to herself. Alex had never bullied, harassed, or attacked anyone else. Ever. At least as far as she knew. She and David had taught their cub not to do that to anyone else from an early age.

The tall tigress walked up to the school, walking past the beige-painted cement pillars that supported the arched covering over the front walkway. Once she reached the main entrance, she pulled the door opened and walked in, across the ventilated grating and over to the main office. She stepped in, walking up to the counter where the visitor's list was and picking up a pen to sign her name.

The bird behind the counter, a cute girl with spotted black and white feathers atop her head and bright yellow feathers running down her throat, looked up. "Hello. Can I help you?", the secretary asked.

"Yes, my name's Raenne Andreyev," the tigress replied. "I'm here to pick up my daughter's suspension paperwork and any schoolwork or paperwork that shi may need to do. If the principal happens to be in today, I'd like to speak with her for a moment as well regarding the suspension."

"Certainly, Miss... umm... How do you spell your last name?", the meadowlark asked.

Raenne held the clipboard with the visitor's list out, a fake smile on her face.

"Oh," the bird said, taking the clipboard and reading it. "Got it. Give me a moment to see if the principal is in, and then I'll get the paperwork."

Raenne tapped her claws on the counter as she leaned against it, waiting. The bird was quick about her business at least, hopping up and walking over to the principal's office and poking her head in.

The mutter of conversation reached her, but she didn't even care enough to try to figure out what the bird was saying. A second later she walked back over. "The principal's just wrapping up some paperwork. Her office is right there," the bird said, pointing. "Go on in. I'll print out the suspension form while you're talking."

"Thanks," Raenne said, even though she didn't feel very thankful at all. Still, it didn't hurt to be polite. Her beef was with the principal, not the secretary. Not wasting any time, she walked over to the principal's office and stepped in, closing the door behind her.

"Mrs. Andreyev," the bison said, motioning to one of the two chairs sitting in front of her desk.

"Mrs. Sihásapa," the tigress replied, sitting in the nearest chair, and pulling her phone out of her pocket. "I just wanted to say I was sadly disappointed with your careless investigation into the events that occurred yesterday and your hasty presumption of guilt on behalf of my daughter. Matter of fact," the tigress said, leaning forward, "the way you approached the investigation almost makes me believe that there was some sort of conspiracy at work. A deliberate attempt to cover up the truth and give my daughter a bad record while you're at it."

"Mrs. Andreyev, we did no such thing. There was no video footage on the security system of the event, and the other students we asked who were near where the altercation took place did not see the beginning of the alter-"

"I find that very difficult to believe," the tigress interrupted, unlocking her phone and pressing play on the video that she had already pulled up. "Especially since there are at least a dozen other students playing soccer on the field here when it started."

The volume on her phone was turned almost to max, and the sound of students laughing and yelling came out loud and clear as the tigress held the phone up, turning it so both of them could watch.

"And as you can see, my daughter just sat down on the grass. If you pay attention, you'll notice that hir crutches are still there on the ground exactly where shi left them when we see hir again. Yes, see? And... oh, see those three children standing around hir..."

Raenne trailed off as the altercation was caught loud and clear, starting with "Would you look at that, the faggot hasn't got his little rich bitch with him."

Having already watched it a half-dozen times, Raenne had no need to watch it again herself. Instead, she turned and watched the principal's reaction as the drama unfolded. When her daughter asked "Who the heck are you, and why are you picking on me?", she reached up and tapped the screen, pausing it.

"Certainly sounds like my daughter didn't know them when this started. Let's see if she assaults them with those crutches like your 'official story' says she did," Raenne said, starting the video again. Another minute passed, peppered with comments like "Nothing like a good game of smear the queer."

In the end one of the teachers came flying in, tackling the deer and dog that were kicking and stomping Alex. The video continued for another few seconds, then Raenne paused it again, taking her phone down and pushing it into her pocket.

"Well, it would appear that we were indeed hasty in giving your daughter a suspension," the bison said slowly, turning to her computer. "I'll have the suspension removed, and amend your daughter's record."

"Thank you," the tigress said, standing up. "Though... I wonder... You said there's no security footage. Is that because no cameras cover that area, or because you deleted it? That_was_ a pretty impressive tackle that wolf made."

The bison said nothing, glancing up at the tigress for a moment, before looking back at her computer and clicking a few more times. "The suspension has been removed, Mrs. Andreyev. If you don't mind, I have a lot of paperwork to do, thanks mostly to you. Good day."

Raenne gave a half smile, nodding her head, then turned and stepped out of the office, closing the door behind her. Then she walked back over to the bird behind the counter, who turned and held up the promised paperwork, pink slip and all.

"Sorry about your daughter receiving a suspension, Mrs. Andreyev," the secretary said, handing the paperwork over.

"No problem," the tigress replied with a smile. "It's all taken care of. I just needed this for my records. I'll be back with a copy of Alex's medical paperwork and a doctor's note when shi's released from the ICU."

"ICU... Oh no, is she okay? Is that from yesterday?", the secretary asked, concerned.

"Shi's recovering. Shi needed surgery to fix multiple rib fractures and a punctured lung. Hopefully shi won't have any further complications. Actually, I'm heading back to the hospital right now to check on hir," the tigress said, stepping away from the counter.

"I hope she recovers quickly," the meadowlark said, watching as the tigress stepped out of the office, and a few seconds later out of the main entrance.

Back inside the office, the principal was busy talking on the phone. "Just deactivate the feed from the south field camera and wipe all the records from it... Yes, I know it's a lot of work, Tim. Just make it look like the feed was never recording in the first place..."

=^.^=

Raenne knocked on the door to the ICU room, and when there wasn't any answer forthcoming, she pushed the door open. Alex was clearly unconscious, but the display next to the bed showed a strong, steady heartbeat.

The older tigress stepped in and closed the door, then set the extra change of clothes and the McDonald's breakfast she'd brought on a chair. After walking over to the bed, she laid one paw on Alex's head, and bent down to give the cub a kiss. When Alex didn't stir, she went back over to the chair and sat down, figuring she'd let her daughter rest, and pulled out her phone to waste time surfing the internet.

Just when Raenne was starting to get a bit bored, the phone began to buzz in her hands. The phone number was local, so she answered it. "Raenne speaking."

"Hello Mrs. Andreyev. I'm Richard Franklin, with the Chase, Franklin, and Young law firm. Your husband indicated we should contact you instead, regarding the ongoing lawsuit that the Stouffer's have against the Tigard-Tualatin School District. Do you have a few minutes?", the cardinal asked on the other end of the line.

"I do, though I'd prefer to discuss legal issues in person if at all possible," the tigress said. "Would it be possible to meet with you sometime today?" she asked.

"Umm... Certainly. I was planning on taking a short break around three this afternoon to get a coffee, but I can meet with you instead. Do you have the address for our offices?"

"Yes. The office building next to the Marriot Hotel in the commons. If you'd like I can get coffee or lattes for each of us on the way over. Starbucks or Dutch Bros.?"

"Dutch brothers is good. They have a fantastic caramel latte."

"Done then. I'll drop in with a caramel latte from Dutch Bros. at three."

"I look forward to it, Mrs. Andreyev," the lawyer said. "Have a good day."

"You as well," the tigress replied, then hung up and leaned back against the chair with a sigh, going back to looking up the cost of medical procedures.

The cost of Alex's surgery wasn't exactly small, though they did have insurance. When she'd tried to estimate the total cost of the ambulance ride, surgery, anesthesia, repairing Alex's cast, pain medications, and the cost of staying in the ICU, the total was astronomical. She wondered if the lawyer she'd talked to would be willing to handle a case against the parents of the bullies who'd assaulted Alex as well, to recoup some of the medical costs.

"Mommy?"

Alex's voice jerked Raenne out of her reverie, and the tigress stood up and walked over to the side of the bed.

"Good morning, love," she said, resting her paw on Alex's head. "Feeling okay?"

"Hurts," Alex whispered, with a pained expression. "Hungry, too."

"Yeah, I'll bet it does, love. I'll get the nurse to see if we can't get you some pain meds, and see if we can't help you sit up for breakfast. Kay?"

"Kay," Alex said, closing hir eyes again.

Raenne bent over and gave her daughter a quick kiss, then stood back up and walked over to the door. Pulling it open and peering out, she caught the eye of one of the nurses sitting at the monitoring station.

"Yes?" the fruit bat in scrubs asked.

"My daughter just woke up. Was wondering if it'd be possible to get hir some more pain meds and if we can get the bed upright so shi can eat something for breakfast."

"Certainly," the nurse said, standing up and walking over. A minute later the upper half of the bed had been raised and Raenne had pulled out the breakfast tray she'd picked up at McDonalds on the way over here from the elementary school.

Alex gingerly picked up the fork, then tried to move hir other arm and winced.

"Here, I'll get it," raenne said, taking the fork from Alex's paw and leaning over and picking up the plastic knife as well. Alex sat quietly as hir mom spread the butter over the hotcakes and poured some syrup over them as well, then went to work cutting everything into bite-sized pieces.

"Thanks," Alex said, waiting. Once she was done cutting up hir breakfast, Alex picked the fork back up. Shi'd not eaten McDonald's breakfast food before, but it wasn't bad. It didn't compare to mom and dad's french toast though.

=^.^=

Raenne walked into the tall building with a cardboard cup holder in hand, walking down the ornately-decorated hallway until she found the directory listing. Suite 304: Chase, Franklin, and Young Law Firm. A few feet past the directory was an elevator.

Thirty seconds later, the tigress stepped out onto the third floor. It could have been a mirror image of the first floor, except that there was a window down the hall where there had been a glass doorway on the first floor.

The entrance to suite 304 was identical to the other doorways in the hallway, except for the gold-leaf lettering on the glass that read "Chase, Franklin, and Young". Raenne used her free hand to turn the knob and pushed the door open.

Unlike the hallway, which had been decorated with mostly black, white, and modern... the inside of the law firm's office was very conservative, with dark emerald carpet and wall-paper, and black furniture. Half of the walls were obscured by bookshelves, packed with heavy looking leather-bound books.

Across the room, in front of a pair of windows, was a heavy-looking desk with a pair of leather-upholstered chairs in front of it, and a badger in a black suit sitting behind it, tapping away at a keyboard and staring at the monitor to one side.

When Raenne stepped in, the badger looked over at her, then stood up and adjusted his red tie while walking around the desk with one hand out. "Mrs. Andreyev. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Stanley Chase," he said in a crisp oxford accent.

Raenne smiled, taking his paw and giving it a firm shake. "Pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Chase. I spoke with Mr. Franklin this morning and he said it would be okay to drop by around this time to discuss matters. I wish he'd mentioned you would be here as well... I'd have picked up an extra latte or two," she said, glancing at the tray in her other hand.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I don't drink caffeine past lunch if I can avoid it. Keeps me from sleeping at night. Richard's office is right over here," he said, leading the tigress to one of the side doors and pushing it open.

Richard's office was much like the main room, identical carpeting and furniture, though there was a small hutch in one corner that had several bottles of expensive liquor and some fine crystal glasses.

The cardinal behind the desk stood up as the door opened. "Ah, Mrs. Andreyev. Come in, come in," he said, adjusting his suit jacket and stepping around the desk to shake her paw just as the badger had.

"I'm Richard Franklin, the senior partner here. It's good to finally meet you, though I wish it were in happier circumstances. Here, have a seat," he said, motioning to the chair. "Thanks, Stan."

Raenne sat down on one of three leather chairs sitting in front of the desk, turning slightly as she heard the click of the door behind her as the badger closed the door, leaving the two of them alone.

"I don't know if Terrence mentioned it, but we both went to the same fraternity. We're practically family. He's mentioned your family several times now; he thinks that meeting your daughter is one of the best things that's ever happened to Elizabeth," the cardinal said as he sat back down behind the desk. The tigress set the beverage tray down on the his desk and took the drinks out, setting one closer to him while he finished seating himself.

"So... I know that there was a fight and Alexandrea wound up at the hospital with some broken ribs, possible lung injury as well. What exactly happened?", the lawyer asked, getting right down to business. After a moment he reached out and picked up the coffee that the tigress had set in front of him. "Thanks, by the way."

"You're welcome," Raenne said, picking up her own coffee and taking a sip before explaining what had happened the previous week with the goat and badger cubs harassing her daughter, then explaining what had happened yesterday, including the medical details. Once she was done, she held out her phone, which had the video of the incident and started playing it for him.

Richard was silent as Raenne explained, then watched the video. From the way his nares were twitching, the tigress knew he was angry. To be honest, watching that video had made her angry too. Once the video was finished, the cardinal leaned back with a deep sigh.

"I'm so sorry... poor cub. Nobody should have to suffer like that. Is Alexandrea doing okay?", he asked.

"At the moment, yes. So far shi's showing no signs of any complications, so the surgery was a success, and they've got hir on antibiotics to ensure shi doesn't come down with pneumonia as well."

"Good, good... So I don't know how much Terrence explained, but he's got ongoing litigation with the Tigard-Tualatin School District after what happened to their maid, Charlotte. Mostly it's a lawsuit to encourage the school district to take accusations of harassment and bullying more seriously and do something to prevent escalations. He indicated that you and your husband would be interested in joining that litigation. Is that correct?"

Raenne nodded. "Yes. He called my husband yesterday about it, and spoke to me in a bit more detail around lunch today. I'm fairly well acquainted with the case at this point, and wholeheartedly approve. However, I do have one question for you."

The cardinal gave a quick nod. "Yes, go on."

"The medical bills for my daughter's surgery are, quite frankly, well beyond what we can afford without draining most of our savings. I know the litigation against the school district has nothing to do with recovering medical costs... but is there a way to do that?"

"Ah, yes. There_is_. However, not against the school district. Since the injury wasn't the direct result of the school's negligence, they have immunity. However," the lawyer explained, taking a sip of caramel latte before continuing. "We could file a civil suit against Alexandrea's attackers to cover the cost of medical care as well as pain and suffering."

"So, we could file a civil suit in addition to the case we've opened with the police department?", Raenne asked.

"Exactly. The Stouffers did that for Charlotte, against her assailant. If the criminal case is successful, either by pleading guilty or by a guilty verdict, it makes the civil case much, much easier as well. Would you like to do the same?"

"Yes," the tigress replied.

"Excellent. In that case, here's our standard procedure for a case like this. Since we'll be filing the civil suit against three parties..." the lawyer started explaining, pulling some paperwork from one of the desk drawers.

Raenne leaned forward, paying close attention as the cardinal began laying the outline of how the civil case would go.

=^.^=

"Well, Mr. Andreyev, I have to admit, I didn't expect your daughter to recover quite so quickly. Then again, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised: Dr. Tawfeek is one of the top surgeons here," the fruit bat in green scrubs said, pushing a wheelchair into the room.

Alex had just finished getting dressed with hir father's help, and was near tears with how much hir side hurt. But the last thing shi wanted to do was stay another minute in the stupid hospital. Shi eyed the wheelchair with a combination of relief and anxiety; shi hoped sitting down in it wouldn't be too painful.

"Thanks, Douglas," David said, helping his daughter sit down on it. "I've gotta admit, I'm rather surprised that the hospital actually sells wheelchairs."

"Well, people need them often enough, and they don't take up too much space when they're folded. Oh, do you know how to fold this thing up?" the nurse asked.

"Yeah, I've had to use wheelchairs before," the tiger replied as his daughter settled in, wincing.

"Excellent," the fruit bat said, taking a moment to kneel in front of the wheelchair. "It was nice to meet you, Alex. I wish all our patients were as easy to take care of as you were. If you start having problems breathing, let your parents know immediately. You take care of yourself, and try to stay in bed as much as possible for the next two weeks, okay?"

"I will, Doug. Promise," Alex said, nodding to him.

"Good," the bat said, standing back up and moving out of the way. "Get well soon, Alex. Have a good evening, both of you."

"You too," both of the tigers said as David pushed his daughter out of the ICU.

=^.^=

Wednesday, June 10th, 2015

The last day of school was only a half day, but it seemed to drag on and on. After they'd been handed back their test results and gone over the tougher questions, there was really nothing left to do. Mrs. Eaglantine gave them all free reign to do whatever they wanted to do (more or less) as long as they all stayed in the classroom.

Some of the kids were playing Uno, others were playing checkers and other games. Most of them were playing games on their phones or handhelds. Elizabeth had neither a phone or handheld, and without Alex there, she felt more alone than ever. Alex never had any problems making friends, it seemed, but Elizabeth had no such skill.

The little stoat-hybrid had wandered around the room, asking if she could play with some of the other cubs, but the answers were always variations of the same: "Sorry, we've got enough players." In the end, Elizabeth went and sat in the small vestibule that led from the classroom to the playground outside, staring at the rain falling outside.

=^.^=

Approximately an hour after school let out, David arrived, pulling into the half-empty parking lot. He felt a bit bad that he'd called and scheduled an appointment with Mrs. Eaglantine earlier; no doubt she'd been looking forward to going home after the very last day of school.

Still, there was no way around it; Alex had missed four tests from Tuesday and another test on Monday because of being in the hospital. After he'd put the car in park and gotten out he walked into the school, stopping in the office briefly to sign the visitor's list. The secretary, a bird with speckled black and white feathers atop her head and a yellow-feathered throat, nodded at him. "Can I help you?"

"I'm just here to see Mrs. Eaglantine," he said as he finished signing the visitor's list.

"Oh, Mr. Andreyev. I should have guessed," she said, nodding at him. "I hope that Alexandrea is doing okay."

"Shi is. So far, anyway," he replied, dropping the pen and waving to the bird as he turned around to walked out of the office. "Catch you later."

Walking through the empty elementary school was a very strange experience. At least he had no troubles finding Mrs. Eaglantine's room. Once there, he knocked on the doorframe. The bald eagle sitting at the desk on the far side of the room looked up. "Ah, Mr. Andreyev. Come in. How is Alex doing?"

"Shi's doing well enough," the white tiger said, walking into the room and making his way past the absurdly tiny chairs and tables. "The surgery was a success: the doctor had to use some titanium plates to secure hir ribs, then sealed the puncture in hir lung and reinflated it. Right now shi's at home, sleeping. Shi's pretty heavily doped up though with pain meds."

"Ouch," the teacher said, wincing visibly. "I wish I'd been outside to keep an eye on hir. I wasn't on the recess roster though."

David stopped at the side of the desk, leaning against it. "So, I know Alex had a few other tests to take that shi missed. Is there any chance that shi can make those up?"

The bald eagle ran the tip of her tongue along the edge of her beak. "Yes, there is, but the system is going to lock down data entry for this semester on friday evening. So if shi wants to take any makeup exams, it'll have to be by then. However, Alex is doing very well in hir classes. Even with a zero on the exams, she'd still be sitting at a 3.2 GPA. If shi does well, shi'd probably be sitting around a 3.7."

"So shi'd go from an A- to a B by not taking them. Is there any way to simply have the tests not count against hir grade?", he asked.

The bald eagle shook her head. "The system's configured so that if I have an assignment or test, every student must have a score or a zero. I can't add or remove assignments for individual students. Sorry."

"No, I don't blame you... you didn't write the software you need to use for grade-keeping, and you certainly didn't kick Alex in the ribs. Though I do feel like someone should have been paying closer attention to hir, especially with a broken leg and the events that happened last week."

Mrs. Eaglantine nodded. "If I'd been outside, I would have been watching hir. But as I said, I wasn't on the recess roster. I let the principal know, but that's really all I could do."

David sighed. "Okay then. Can I have Alex come in on Friday to take those exams? It'll take at least 24 hours for the vicodin to work it's way out of hir system. Until then, shi'd have a hard time figuring out 2+2, much less doing fractions."

"I can come in on Friday, then," the bald eagle said. "The school's technically closed on Friday, but I can unlock the front doors. I'll meet you at the front entrance at 8 A.M. sharp. Does that work?"

"Yes, ma'am. Either me or my wife will come drop hir off, and shi can just call us when shi's done."

"Sounds like a plan then," the bald eagle said, holding out one scaled hand. The white tiger gave her a firm shake and and pushed himself away from the desk and turned around to head back through the nearly empty elementary school.

=^.^=

"David?"

The white tiger turned his head to the side. After having Alex sleeping in bed with them for the past week or so, it felt strangely empty with only himself and his wife. Alex was in her own bed, where shi'd spent most of hir time since getting home from the hospital.

After shi got back from school on Friday, he was going to put hir back on the vicodin they'd gotten from the pharmacy; NSAIDs seemed to do nothing for the amount of pain the poor cub was in. He'd actually resorted to giving hir half a dose of benadryl and melatonin to knock hir out a few hours ago.

Realizing that he was musing, he shook his head. "Yes, love?"

"I'm really worried, for Alex," the tigress next to him said, still staring up at the ceiling.

"We've got hir on an O2 monitor and antibiotics, and we live less than two minutes from the hospital. Alex will be fine," he replied.

Raenne turned to look at him. "I meant next year. And the year after that. Cubs are cruel; you know that."

"Yes," he said with a deep sigh. "I do. Though there's been a pretty big anti-bullying push lately, and hopefully this lawsuit Terrence has cooked up will help further protect hir."

Raenne frowned. "All it takes is one second while a teacher's back is turned for a kid to get knifed, and Alex has made enemies who have already demonstrated that they're willing to seriously hurt hir, if not kill hir. Do you really want to take that chance?"

The white tiger's teeth clenched. He hadn't thought of it that way, but it was true. There might be more 'friends' of the three who'd attacked Alex earlier that thought the same way. He'd never imagined that something like this would happen in the sleepy Portland suburb... beatings and knifings were what happened between inner-city gangs, not small suburban elementary schools.

"No," he replied, "I don't."

"I don't either," the tigress said, looking back up at the ceiling. "If something like that happened to Alex, I don't know if I'd be able to simply leave it to the police... and If Alex died because of it, I wouldn't."

A shiver ran up David's spine and he immediately thought of the locked gun-cases under the bed. "Raenne..."

His wife didn't respond, rolling over and pulling the covers up. He knew that this conversation was over, and there was no point in arguing. There had to be something he could do though. There was no way he could protect their cub, not when shi was at school, and he certainly didn't trust the teachers to do so.

No, the only way to keep hir safe would be to take hir out of school altogether. Homeschooling had potential, but he knew Raenne valued the socialization that cubs got at school; it provided them with exposure to different perspectives and worldviews. So did he, for that matter.

The only other option, then, was moving to another school district altogether. Something came back to him, what one of the doctors had said when Alex was born... about the prevalence of gender-assignment surgeries in the pacific northwest, and how it was very possible that shi'd be bullied or worse.

For all the forward-thinking liberal sentiment in the pacific northwest, there was a surprisingly deep-seated culture of intolerance dating back to the time when Oregon had been a KKK stronghold in the 1920s and 30s. Interspecies couples still got dirty looks out here, and sometimes even got attacked.

If he could get a job out in one of the other more liberal, educated states, moving was definitely a viable alternative. California was too expensive though. So was Washington. New England had some potential, but there was some serious anti-herm sentiment out there too. He mentally started ticking off states, until he remembered Colorado.

Colorado was surprisingly liberal and had a good school system, and there were some small towns outside of Denver and Colorado Springs that were probably inexpensive to live in. They had mountains too, which Alex would love. The snowboarding up in the rockies was considered to be some of the best in the world.

The only real problem was that Alex wouldn't have any friends out there. More specifically, shi wouldn't have Elizabeth.

=^.^=

Thursday, June 11th, 2015

"Hey James. Got another batch for you," a dark-colored finch said, walking in the office doorway with a stack of manilla envelopes in one hand. He set the stack of envelopes atop the district attorney's inbox pile, and turned around and walked back out, adjusting the cuffs of his dress shirt.

"Thanks, Kurt," the sea lion sitting behind the desk said, not really meaning it. It was nearing the end of the week, and all he really wanted to do was go home, watch some TV, do a few dozen laps in his swimming pool and maybe have some grilled salmon and a glass of pinot noir. Greg fixed some of the best grilled salmon that James had ever tasted.

James wondered where the deer had learned to cook salmon, since it seemed that Greg preferred salads more than anything else. Once he realized his attention was drifting, the sea lion jerked his mind back on task... it had tended to wander since he'd started dating the handsome stag with the texan drawl.

The sea lion sighed and closed the folder in front of him. There were too many inconsistencies in both the husband and wife's stories; nothing but a he-said she-said. He wrote "Conflicting stories. Too little evidence." on the stack of sticky notes next to him, peeled the topmost one off and stuck it to the front of the folder, then picked the folder up and set it on the rejects pile.

After taking a breath, he reached out and lifted the stack of envelopes in his inbox, pulling out the folder on the bottom. He lifted the prongs and pulled the flap open, then spilled the contents out onto his desk. Surprisingly, a CD came out with it. Hmm... Video footage or audio meant this one might actually go somewhere.

He set the envelope off to one side and flipped open the manilla folder, quickly skimming the incident report, then set it aside and started skimming the witness testimonies. After a moment he glanced back over at the incident report, confirming the reporting officer's name. He'd seen Hoffman's work before, and had to admit it was pretty damn solid.

Skipping the rest of it, he flipped immediately to the summary at the end; If Hoffman thought there was a case, then there was a case. Paying attention, James began reading the summary. As he'd expected from Hoffman, it was clear and concise. It clearly outlined Hoffman's timeline of investigation, listing suspects and witnesses and identifying them by number, and also referencing the attached forms and the video files on the CD. The sea lion frowned when he read the conclusion, along with the accompanying recommendation which was definitely_not_ standard protocol:

Conclusion: Suspect 1, 2, and 3 performed unprovoked (possibly premeditated) assault against Suspect 4, in retaliation for Suspect 1's significant other being incarcerated (See case #5426) after earlier incident involving Suspect 4. Suspect 4 sustained serious bodily harm requiring immediate life-saving surgery.

Recommend Obstruction of Justice charges against suspects 1, 2, and 3. Recommend Assault II or Assault III charges against Suspect 1, 2, and 3. Recommend Federal Hate Crime charges against Suspect 3, possibly Suspect 1 and 2.

Eyes narrowing, both at the list of charges and at the fact that an police officer had recommended specific charges, the sea lion picked up the CD and stuck it into the laptop sitting to one side. After it had loaded, he clicked the video labelled "Witness 8 - Original Video of Incident". As the the video continued to play, the district attorney's expression went from bleak to grim... and angry.