It would be a miracle if the gray-furred Cantrell Rand walked after his first encounter with the Ascensores. The thief writhed against the vice grip of a wartime Fleetline and a crumbling wall, desperate to flee, but failing to do so. Staring him down from the vintage sedan’s wheel was the judge, jury, and executioner of this open-air proceeding.
He was a tall, lean black wolf, the spitting image of a Western lawman with the Winchester to match. He wore a cream-colored cowboy hat, a black button-up, midnight-blue jeans, and suede boots. Hopping onto the car’s scorching hood, the darksome hound sat down, laid his rifle across his thighs and shoved his left foot into the gray’s gut.
“Name’s Leonard Godred, son.” The drawl of his ebony baritone bordered on soothing. “Fess up to them thefts, and you might just live to see another day, give or take the year we’s ready to beat out ya.”
“Well,” Rand answered, snidely. “Whether I do or don’t, music has to stop sometime, don’ it?”
Godred shook his head. “It don’t if it don’t have to. Hell, if you didn’t leave us a victim to nurse back to health, you coulda gotten off scot-free.” The lawman dug his bootheel in, the thief cursing up a storm. “Just a simple statement.” he asked politely. “Then we rough you up and leave the rest to you. Give you a chance to get right with God and maybe make something of yourself. Slay some game rather than wolven life.”
“Fuck off you black sonofabitch.” the gray seethed. “The fuck I need your salvation for? The fucksit gonna get me, huh!?”
A firm kick sent his stomach churning.
“That’s my clutching leg, son,” Godred callously remarked. “I could kick right through you and into the got-damn wall, but I don’t plan on dirtying my boots with your bullshit. I just want to know if we got the right hound. And all roads lead to you.”
Rand’s eyes went feral with rage, a snarl splitting his muzzle. All was met by Godred’s unyielding calm. “It ain’t justice if the wrong man gets it for the other guy’s crimes, so give it to us straight.”
He squirmed and squirmed, desperate to get away, but the lawman’s Chevy was a steadfast beast, unwavering in her grip on the thief’s legs. Between her and the rifle in his lap, Rand finally realized there was no escaping this time. With nothing to lose, drew breath to speak. “I–”
“Hey Leo!” barked a red wolf from the back seat. “Just got radioed from Saffton. Turns out the old man did it himself. He hid the stolen goods under the floorboards. Neighbors said he and the lady were always brawling about something.”
Godred was perplexed at first, before piecing the news into his private jigsaw. “Loot’s just a coverup then.” he murmured. He turned his attention to the fellow officer. “They all dead-sure?”
“Yessir!”
“Tell ‘em to put the fucker down!” bellowed the black wolf. “Bastard who kills his family ain’t worth keeping on Earth.”
Godred dropped his leg and stood up, now faced with a bewildered Rand.
“Family?” the gray asked cautiously. “He didn’t, y’know, kids too, did he?”
“Alfie King’s woman was six months in,” Godred sighed. “Hadn’t given birth yet. When he killed her, he killed their babe.”
It was then that the lawman finally found a shred of nobility in his former perp.
“You were gonna let me walk on THAT!?” roared Rand.
The accusation was met with the lawman’s piercing glower. “I was gonna see if you’d cop to it at all. Thieves like you make for pretty easy scapegoats it seems. Our apologies. Unless you’d like to come clean with anything else on your mind.”
Whether broken by strain, stress, or the perplexing courtesy of his captor, something told Rand it was the time. The gray thief took another deep breath, and told all. “Whatcha do to a man who has already sold what he stole? Ain’t ever killed, just stole.”
The black lawman strolled up to the thief, and rested an arm on his shoulder. “The way we Ascensores work, you pay off your debt with a little hard work, usually for the cats you wronged.”
“That’s a…mighty long list. Sir.” The formality stumbled off Rand’s lips to the black wolf’s amusement.
“Tell us the towns and we’ll rig up your community service.” Godred smiled. “Back Betsy off him, Judd!”
Sure enough, the white wolf riding shotgun slid behind the wheel and Rand felt the weight come off his legs. He had one last question before piling into the back of Godred’s ride. “Why didn’t you just kill me on the spot?”
He didn’t get his answer until the black wolf was back behind the wheel of his machine. “Look around at my compadres.” he started. “Manslaughter up front, thieves in the back. And we pay for it by doing everything we can to stop all this senseless wrong-doing. Paying and praying. Y’know whatcha don’t see?”
The gray thief shook his head.
“Four dead hounds. Mercy’s a rare beast, but when she blesses you, you give back. After you done your time, and if you do it right, maybe you’ll make five.”