Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,218

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,”