Liz Gionelli/Four Suits

Thankfully, dad wasn’t the only one who thought Catherine wasn’t a murderer, as they had more than a few character witnesses that agreed Catherine took on more abuse than they could without cracking, but there was a problem.

“And when was it that Ms. Piec—”

“Dr.” The witness corrected, “Dr. Piec.”

“Of course, thank you. When was it that Dr. Piec began avoiding Mr. Eisel?”

“Objection: Leading—”

“Overruled.”

Shit.

“A few months ago,” the witness admitted.

“Did Dr. Piec ever explain why she avoided him?”

“Well, she never actually said she was avoiding him. She just told him she was busy when he asked her to dinner, and offered for senior members to lead presentations in her stead.”

“So was it expected when she went to have a meeting with him after months of avoiding him?”

“It was a bit strange, but I was busy trying to get out for the day, so I didn’t really think about it.”

“No further questions,” the lawyer said, “The prosecution would like to bring Catherine Piec to the stand.”

Liz watched her client carefully. Her fists were clenched enough to look white, but she nodded when Liz looked for a response.

“Okay.”

Spade’s radio crackled.

“Someone got to Eisel.” Club said, “Grab someone pliable, and I’ll give them authorization, over.”

“Wait, someone killed him?” Heart asked, “On our heist?”

“Man had enemies,” Diamond said, “Don’t worry about them being pliable, I can manage that.”

Spade watched the crowd, looking for the hostage of least resistance.

“Small problem:” Heart said, “You know our security assistance? I just found two of them unconscious.”

What? Diamond didn’t bother with the radio this time.

“Guess we’ve got a Mcclain on our hands,” Spade said.

“Club,” Diamond ordered, “Look for who hasn’t clocked out. Go through that list against Spade and Heart’s hostages so we know who’s left.”

“Catherine Piec,” Club answered immediately, “She just left her meeting with Eisel, but I didn’t see her on the way in.”

“Piec?” Diamond asked.

“Something special about that name?” Spade asked. They didn’t usually keep secrets.

“No,” Diamond said, “Nothing at all.”

“Sounded real convincing there.”

She wasn’t going to change her answer.

“Should I grab someone pliable or no?” Heart asked.

“Grab ‘em,” Diamond said, “I’ll meet you there.”

Spade watched the captives, then looked at the security that had been manipulated to help them. Wherever their Mcclain, Catherine Piec, was, she probably didn’t want to hurt the security as much as she wanted to stop the Suits.

“You two, do a perimeter sweep, Make sure nothing suspicious is going on.”

Spade let the other security look intimidating as he searched the other way of where they went, grabbing with Telekinesis every time he saw movement.

You’ll need to be quicker than that, Stranger, a voice in his head warned him.

“Songbird?”

He ran to where his mind pulled him, finding the woman in white herself.

“This isn’t your usual haunt,” he noted.

“I was visiting family.”

She had her staff out, which meant this conversation probably wouldn’t go well.

“What are you here for?” she asked.

“Would you believe me if I said I was also here with family?” he offered.

“Your sister doesn’t count.”

All the Suits were calling each other sister and brother, but that probably didn’t count either.

“What do the Four Suits want from Eiselcorp, Spade?”

He didn’t think she knew about the group. They weren’t especially hidden, but that didn’t mean they had a public reputation.

“How’d you know about the Suits?”

“I have some friends in the Court of Thieves. They don’t like you guys.”

Every time he talked to her, things were little more interesting.

She collapsed her staff.

“What are you here for?” she asked again.

“Some research materials or something—I don’t get the details, I just open doors.”

She sighed.

“I really don’t want to help Eisel, but I don’t think I can trust you, either.”

“You’re trying to stop us?”

“I’m going to stop the Four Suits. Does that have to include you?”

He grabbed his walkie-talkie.

“Unless Catherine Piec has a taste for white skirts, she’s not our Mcclain.”

“What does that—”

He lost the rest of Diamond’s message as Nightingale smashed the radio with her staff. He jumped back.

“I don’t want to fight you,” he insisted.

“But I can’t leave you conscious.”

He pulled the staff out of her hands and threw it behind him.

She reached for his face, but he grabbed her arm before she could manage it.

“I’ve learned a bit si—”

He dodged her other fist as she wrestled free.

“Only a bit,” she acknowledged, grabbing his arm to slam him into the wall.

The pain stunned him enough that she had both hands on his temples before he could react.

“Till next time, Stranger.”

Everything went black.

“Now, Ms. Piec, why did you visit Henry Eisel that evening?”

“I went up there to resign.”

“Why would you go all the way to the CEO’s office just to resign?”

“Because all previous attempts said they couldn’t approve my resignation because I was hired by someone above them.”

“You were hired directly by Henry Eisel?”

“Yes.”

“How much were you paid?”

“Objection: Relevance?”

“I am establishing the relationship between the witness and the deceased.”

“Overruled,” the judge declared. None of these arguments went Liz’s way.

“$180,000 a year,” Catherine revealed.

Liz had to keep her eyes from bulging. Who the hell got paid that much?

Catherine, apparently.

“Well above the national average for someone in your position. Well above the salary of some CEOs.”

“Objection: Comparison to CEOs is too vague and broad—”

“Sustained.”

“What I mean to ask, Ms. Piec, is why would you be paid that much?”

“When you pay someone above competitive level, they can’t leave without losing a limb,” she cited, “And I won’t be in a hurry to lose another one of those. At least that’s what he said when I asked him.”

The jury gasped.

“Are you missing a limb, Ms. Piec.”

“Objection: Relevance?”

The judge focused on the prosecution.

“It relates to motive.”

No, no no no no no no. They weren’t going to ask things that could jeopardize the company. Why would they—

“Overruled.”

Liz looked over at Rodney Eisel, sitting behind the prosecution. Such filial piety, dedicated to convicting an innocent. He had to have been the one to direct them to push at this. Otherwise they wouldn’t have risked reputation like that. Why did Rodney need her convicted?

Catherine removed her glove, revealing the obviously metallic material. She wasn’t going to tell them she mutated unless she was directly asked about it.

“I have had a prosthetic arm, leg, and eye since I was eight-years-old.”

“And how did you gain access to these prosthetics? They seem too enhanced for your late mother to afford.”

“Henry Eisel offered them free of charge.”

“Did you need them?”

“I don’t know,” Catherine admitted.

“Do you prefer them over real limbs.”

Catherine looked at her right side, then her left.

“No.”

“Do you resent Henry Eisel for this?”

“It’s not absent from my list of reasons to resent him.”

Fuck.

“Of course not. Would you be willing to share anything else on that list.”

“I would need that question to be more specific.”

“Of course.”

What the fuck did they have up their sleeve? Liz started looking through everything sent to her. Did an intern screw her over? Did a paralegal?

“Do you think Henry Eisel killed your parents?”

“Yes,” Catherine admitted. Liz was trying to hold up five fingers to get her to stop, but she kept going.

“And you had no desire to avenge them?”

“I had no recourse. There wasn’t any evidence.”

“You had one recourse. You’ve said as much.”

“What?”

“The Prosecution would like to submit into evidence exhibit H: a recording of the defendant threatening the deceased.”

The judge accepted it.

“You killed my family,” Catherine said, higher pitched, and more aggressive, but unmistakably her, “So I’ll kill you.”

Fuck.

“If you could do that, Ms. Piec, then you already would have.”

“I have other business to handle first.”

The recording stopped abruptly.

“That wasn’t me,” Catherine revealed. Given her honesty thus far, this would be a stupid place to lie, professionally speaking.

“Defense requests a recess, Your Honor,” Liz begged.

“Selene,” Eisel said once the doors were closed, “You should work harder on your pseudonyms.”

“It’s been a long time Mr. Eisel.”

“Seriously, another goddess and your mother’s maiden name. It’s like you want to be found out.”

“Are you going to press the panic button?”

“I have no reason to panic,” Eisel said, “I have the daughter of an old friend here to visit me. How have you been, Selene? I haven’t seen you since your mother’s funeral.”

“Don’t mention my mother.”

Eisel smiled.

“Still bitter, are we? You act like it’s your right—”

“My family has been the record-keeper for—”

“Your mother’s family, and you weren’t taught to follow her footsteps. I already kept records, and I’ve brought more value to the organization than you ever could. Really, you should hold it against your mother for not having a better kid.”

This was exactly why she hated him.

“I told you not to mention my mother.”

He locked eyes with her, and she flinched.

“I knew there was nothing to worry about. Dick Walters can’t kill for himself, so how could he raise a killer?”

“You forget something,” Club said, “Daddy wasn’t really around. Mom was the one who raised me.”

She pulled out her gun.

Pete joined them in the private room. Magdalena Eisel closed the door behind all of them.

“Did you just lie on the fucking stand?” Mags asked, “You’re as good—”

“Mags,” Catherine said, “Please leave me with my legal council.”

“C’m—”

“Pete stays.”

Magdalena scowled, but left the room.

“She makes a good point. What the fuck? Why lie now?”

“It was Mandie,” Pete guessed, “Wasn’t it?”

Catherine nodded.

“Your sister threatened Henry Eisel?”

“There should be video proving it wasn’t me. That was an incredibly limited recording.”

“Wasn’t Mandie there?” Pete asked, “I saw—” he shut up once Catherine gave a look.

“No,” Liz began to hover, “Is that why dad accepted the case? Because Electron was there?”

“The recording is incomplete,” Catherine insisted, “You heard how abruptly it ended, and started for that matter.”

“I can try to get it thrown out, but the judge has been siding with the prosecution, mostly. First I want you to carefully explain whatever it was you kept from me in the privacy of my office.”

“Mandie’s a better suspect,” Pete said instead.

“What?” both women asked.

“She was there, she’s threatened Eisel, she has no financial dependence on him thanks to Shepherd, and she was a professional fighter.”

“She wouldn’t use a gun,” Catherine countered.

“I’m not saying she did it, but any evidence against you becomes reasonable doubt if she’s involved, right?”

Use a smokescreen to regroup and come up with a better defensive strategy. Pete would have made an alright lawyer if he hadn’t gotten those xenology books as a kid. Liz would have to remember to throw a law book at any kids he and Catherine might have.

“Not to mention Rodney might drop it if she’s a possible target,” Catherine said, “Assuming he still holds a torch.”

Rodney Eisel had a thing for Catherine’s sister?

“Wouldn’t bet on it,” Pete said.

“Even if he drops it, this is a state matter.”

“But they would lose any resources Eisel’s lawyers are bringing to bear,” Catherine said, contemplating something, “If she gets put on trial. Would you defend her?”

“Of course,” Liz said, “If you’re off the hook, you’ll definitely be family by that point. Hell, dad might defend her himself.”

Catherine breathed out slowly.

“I can produce the full recording,” she said, “I just need to be close enough to a video player.”

“On the stand?” Liz said.

“Technopath.”

“And you want that on the record?”

“If I’m going to put my sister on the line for murder, I may as well be considered for accessory.”

Eisel’s lawyers may have just fucked up their own case beyond repair.

“Time to be an Orca,” she muttered.