Chapter 8

Half an hour later, members of the jury, all the humans in the gallery had left. Only Aaron Farrow, Sendrhea, Verdis, Šhedrhen, and the whistling dragons remained, standing at Farrow’s table.

She introduced her mate and daughter and their whistling dragons. Farrow just nodded, looking somewhat concerned, as if his mind were still on the trial.

“Clever,” he said a moment later. “I would even say brilliant.” He swiped his hand across his thinning black hair.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “There was nothing clever, nothing brilliant about it. She attacked me, I defended myself. Simple. Judge Kingsley was right in not charging me.”

“So whenever a Tereskàdians kill someone, they just walk away.”

“Don’t you get it, Mr. Farrow? In order for a Tereskàdian to kill anyone they would have to be attacked. In our society if we are attacked we defend ourselves. We have every right to do so. ‘Right’ might be the wrong word. Let’s say it’s our nature ... instinct, if you will.”

“That might be the way it is on your world, not ours.”

“It doesn’t change just because we are now living on another planet. The government has decreed...”

He waved the statement away. “I don’t think it’s right. Anyone who commits murder should stand trial.”

“So you’re saying if someone breaks into your home, brandishing a knife, stabs you ... in the ribs, but you still manage to subdue your attacker and kill him, you should stand trial for murder.”

“Not murder, Sendrhea. Yes, it’s self defense, but I still killed someone, so I should pay for what I did.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“I have a sense of right and wrong,” he said. “I know when I kill someone, I’ve done something wrong.”

“I know that too. Do you think I rejoice when someone attacks me, and I have to defend myself? And how do I do that? With my claws. You have to remember that my mind, and your mind are not the same.”

Šhedrhen tugged at her mother’s arm. “Are we going home soon, Mama?”

“Soon.”

“Do you think Lana didn’t know about the poison in your claws?” Farrow asked.

“She knew, didn’t she?”

“All this ... the accusation, the arrest, the trial, she had it all planned. You were the unfortunate ... alien caught in the middle of this.”

“What was she thinking?”

“I knew her far longer than you, Sendrhea. I’ve been with the family for the last twenty years and...” He cut her off before she could utter a word, looked around to see if anyone was still in the courtroom. When he leaned closer she detected the strong odor of sweat and cologne. She took a step back. “What I’m going to tell you cannot leave this courtroom. I want you to agree to this. My career could be in jeopardy if I tell you this but ... She’s dead, and her father doesn’t give a damn about her so...” He shrugged. “I doubt he’ll even show up for the funeral.”

“I’m not sure.”

“Agree?” He glanced at her mate and cub.

“All right, I agree.” Hesitation vanished, replaced by curiosity.

“Lana was born into a successful upper-middle class family. Her father owned a prosperous hardware chain, and she had two older sisters, both successful in the business world. Lana was four ... five years younger than the middle sister, and she told me she felt like an outsider, like she didn’t even belong there. Her father wanted her to go to college and study business administration so she could follow in his footsteps, but she didn’t meet his expectations.”Is this going somewhere? Fharezhan asked.Sh. I want to hear what he has to say.

Farrow chuckled. “Meet? She didn’t even come close. And then she started going out with this young man who had dropped out of school, and he got her pregnant. Her father found out, threatened to cut her out of his will if she didn’t get an abortion. She told me she loved this ... Kyle, I think that was his name, and she was going to keep the baby. Trouble was, the baby never came to term, so I guess her father got his wish in a roundabout way. As for Kyle, he didn’t stick around, found someone else, and took off for parts unknown.”

“What does all this have to do with me?”

“Don’t you get it? When she didn’t abort, before she had her miscarriage, her father kept hounding her, and hounding her, telling her she’d never amount to anything, she’d never ben in the same league as her sisters ... she would spend her life in the gutter blah blah blah.”

“What about her mother?”

“Her mother died six years ago. Suicide. Lana told me her mother was driven to kill herself because of her father ... Lana’s father. After her mother’s death she didn’t talk to her father anymore, and the arguments widened the gap further. As far as she was concerned he was dead, just like her mother.”

“I guess that’s why he hesitated when she told the court her father would see an attorney about a lawsuit.”

“Lies, all lies.” He straightened his papers, pushed them into a gaping briefcase.

“The sisters?”

“The oldest is now CEO of her father’s firm right here in Westover, and the middle sister is a branch manager in Chicago. They think their sister is the black sheep of the family, getting pregnant, miscarrying ... Not much love there.”

Fharezhan sat beside her as she scratched the top of his head where his ears would have been if whistling dragons had ears. The whistling dragon stretched his wings, purred.