Case File MO67

Witness Recording #34

Marshal: Please state your name for the voice recorder.

Witness: Victor Freestone.

Marshal: Thank you. Now-

Witness: I’ve come to this meeting out of respect for your assistance on the 16th, and for the New Marshal Initiative as as whole. But under the 1872 ruling on Italiano v. Italiano, and subsequently Public Law 43-7, you are not empowered to interfere with unusual phenomena outside of the realm of Confederate wizardy without express permission from two of the three NMI directors.

Witness: Without that authorization, this restriction can be overridden only if I present an active threat, and I have only caused harm in self-defense. Therefore, I will only answer questions pertaining to Duke Morrison, Rosalee Campbell or one of the other enchanted members of the troupe.

Witness: I am specifying this now before any processes or rituals are used to induce truth from me.

[silence]

Marshal: You are well-informed.

Witness: I have to be. I’m serving as a doctor, as you know.

Marshal: Without a doctorate, as I understand.

Marshal: And in your expert legal opinion, would I be able to ask about Briar Williams?

Witness: I had a frog, Anak, who unfortunately did not survive Morrison’s homunculus. He latched onto Benton’s face when he was trying to strangle me, saving my life. Self-defense.

Marshal: And that would have led to his current mental state?

Witness: Oxygen deprivation is known to cause brain damage, which can lead to memory loss, memory distortions, and severe shifts in personality. And as I understand, he’s far happier now than he was before he met me.

Witness: Again, with all due respect, I believe you’re reaching outside of the limits of your purview and I am enforcing my rights as a citizen to ensure you don’t overstep your boundaries.

[silence]

Marshal: I am only pursuing this line of inquiry for the safety of this town and America as a whole.

Witness: I heard what happened with Campbell. Very satisfying, as one of her targets, but evidence that you’re willing to bend the truth to accomplish your goals, noble as they may be. I am not convinced.

[silence]

Marshal: Understood. For what it’s worth, thank you for your assistance as well. I understand that Morrison’s personal homunculi were trained killers. I am glad that my team only had to capture one instead of two.

Witness: Of course. You are among the best that our government have to offer, and I would have had a much harder time if you hadn’t shown up. I pray for your fortune on your next hunts. Will that be all?

Marshal: For now, yes.

Witness: Then goodbye for now.

[retreating steps]

Marshal: [muffled] Italiano v Italiano. So that’s why we got that restriction. I wonder if I can get a copy of that legal case?

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Case File MO67

Witness Recording #35

Marshal: Please state your name for the voice recorder.

Witness: Uh. Lamentations Bean, pastor of the only church in Henshaw, father of four.

Witness: Am I in trouble, Marshal?

Marshal: I see no reason why you would be.

[silence]

Witness: Because

Witness: I didn’t

Witness: ‘Render onto Caesar’. I let an issue of morals interfere with my civic duty. I should have told Roger about Benton immediately.

Marshal: The new and improved Briar Williams is cooperating freely with us, after defeating two minstrels and five homunculi with his bare hands. Your actions were not ideal, but they did save lives, and I believe you did in fact save Williams’s soul.

Witness: [sigh] Then I am not entirely useless just yet. Still, I’ve never seen Roger so peeved at me. I feel I’ve been quite the nuisance as of late.

Marshal: He did mention your vendetta with Victor Freestone over a woman named…Elle?

[thump]

Witness: Now see here, I am not crazy!

Marshal: I didn’t say that.

Witness: You were going to. Every time someone from the government hears about her, I nearly end up in an asylum.

Marshal: I do not have the authority to send anybody to an asylum, if that helps.

[silence]

Witness: It. Does.

Marshal: And I would like to hear your theories, if only to try and understand what I have already heard.

[silence]

Witness: [muffled] Listen to me closely. Victor is in the pocket of a cunning and deadly woman from the antediluvian era, possibly from Eden itself.

Witness: She has killed hundreds if not thousands, men and women and children.

Witness: She believes that the United States is a decadent and hypocritical country of pale-faced lords, and if it wasn’t for the slaves and the American Indians, she’d burn it to the ground.

Marshal: Mayor Macy said she’s dead.

Witness: She said that death wouldn’t stop her. I believe her.

Marshal: I see. Was she immune to bullets, by any chance?

Witness: …No. She was not. She shrugged off harm more easily than most, but she was never immune. Even an angel can be wrestled to the ground.

Witness: She simply couldn’t be stopped by death. Her flesh wouldn’t die. Roger can account to that.

Marshal: Speaking from personal experi-

Witness: I. Plead. The. Fifth.

Witness: I am not proud of what I did to stop her and what I did to keep her dead, but that is my burden to bear. Alone.

Marshal: Understood. And how is she linked to Victor Freestone?

[silence]

Witness: I don’t have any proof yet. But I know. And when I find it, I’m chasing him out of this town one way or-

Marshal: Think carefully. Is there anyone who might share a link to both of them? Someone who arrived or left as they did, someone who shared an interest, anything?

[silence]

Witness: Dr. Birch came to town only two weeks before Elle…left. And he set up Freestone to take his place, as some vague favor to a colleague from the South.

Marshal: That’s a start. I can’t pursue this officially, but I find the mystery he presents to be…concerning. I won’t leave it unwatched.

Witness: Bless you. I had my doubts about the NMI; separation of church and state and all. But you’re the first person to actually listen to me. I appreciate that.

Witness: Fair warning. I only got as far as I did because she was fond of me, once at least. If she realizes she’s being investigated, she won’t hesitate to kill you.

Marshal: I live on borrowed time, and if I fall, there will be others to replace me. Whatever it takes to safeguard America.

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Case File MO67

Witness Recording #36

Marshal: Please state your name for the voice recorder.

Witness: Damnit, Lewis, you know who I am.

Marshal: Please, Mayor Macy, this is part of protocol and I am

Witness: A walking stone with emotions to match, by Jove. I need a person right now. I need a fellow soldier, a fellow cripple. I need someone who can understand me right now. So will you give me Sergeant Lewis Goodman for a damn second?

[silence]

[shuffling noise, crumbling stone]

???: Captain Macy, you did well.

Witness: Five casualties in my town, Lewis.

???: And it could have been far more. You got us the information we needed to resolve the situation cleanly. You convinced the minstrels to stand down. You shot the puppeteer without hurting the hostage he took.

Witness: I should have realized the damn wizards were hiding here from the start. Spent too much time trying to track down Briar. I had to be told by my own daughter.

???: She trusted that you’d protect the town and you came through. I’ve seen what happens when local authorities fail. This could have been so much worse; they’re still sifting for personal effects in the ashes of Dallas.

[silence]

Witness: Fine, I’ll accept your damn praise. The wizard situation is taken care of, right?

[shuffling noise, crumbling stone]

Marshal: Marvin is still on the run, but all other members of the circus have been accounted for. Walstead can confirm.

Witness: Ginchy.

Witness: So.

Witness: If that’s the case, then you’d want to talk about young Victor then.

Marshal: And your daughter. And the testimony of the pastor, which he swears you can corroborate, and that of Briar Williams.

[silence]

Witness: Freestone’s not a normal doctor, but he is a good doctor. I vouched for him personally; I know he’s a good doctor.

Marshal: If it was just abnormality, it wouldn’t be an issue. The problem is that nobody understands what he’s doing. Nothing in our archives matches with what happened to Briar Williams. Even the wizards seem mystified. He is an enigma, and a powerful one at that.

Witness: An enigma who’s done nothing but provide healing for the town and fistfight a cowboy wizard.

Marshal: And break a man’s mind.

Witness: To keep him from choking him.

[silence]

Marshal: I can tell you’re trying to protect-

Witness: Damn you, she’s happy! She’s been miserable here for the past five years and now she’s running around with curiosity and wonder in her eyes.

Witness: Do you have any idea how long I’ve been trying to give her something she can put her mind to?

Witness: Now she has something here that she can keep. Now she might actually come back after she gets accepted in Stephens or whatever school she gets into.

Witness: I

Witness: I need this. She needs this.

Marshal: And Pastor Bean’s concerns?

[silence]

Witness: My best friend is a very, very paranoid man. I know the woman he’s afraid of. She earned every bit of fear that he aims at her. But there’s no firm link between Freestone and that woman.

[silence]

Marshal: I’ve been looking into a lead. There was a freelance agent who fed the Union the secrets of Confederate wizards. His actual name was never recorded but he went by Prince Remus. The Lily-White League scried a connection between him and Freestone; there were rumors that Remus could steal the thought out of a man’s head.

Marshal: Information on Prince Remus is scarce, and there’s a mysterious lack of documentation for Victor Freestone, but I can place Prince Remus in Louisiana around the time when Victor would have been born.

Marshal: Do you wonder who Victor’s parents were? Who his mother was?

Witness: Lewis,

Marshal: Marshal.

Witness: Lament’s Elle is dead. She died before Victor would have been born. I saw it happen.

Marshal: Briar Williams was dead until a few weeks ago.

[silence]

Marshal: Regardless if Lamentations is right, we need to understand what Freestone’s doing. What if he’s using your daughter? What if he’s rewriting her brain to suit his needs?

Witness: I…no, damn you, that’d be impossible. If he was that good, he’d have rewritten Briar’s mind and sent him back to the circus without raising suspicion.

Marshal: True. You watch her very closely; you’d notice any changes in her behavior. Are you watching all your constituents that closely?

[silence]

Witness: I get it. You’re just trying to keep the town safe; so is Lament in his own way. But…I know my daughter. If I take her away from Freestone, she’ll hold a grudge against me forever.

Witness: Force me to step down if you need to. I won’t stand in the way of public good. But I can’t take this away from her myself.

Marshal: Then you’ll be glad that I don’t suggest removing her from Freestone. He clearly trusts her with some details of his operation. If we can convince her to share those details with us, then we’ll know what we need to know.

Witness: Using my daughter as a spy? Good god, man.

Marshal: You keep insisting that Victor Freestone does not pose a threat to Henshaw: a benign tumor. If you’re right, she won’t be in any danger and she’ll get to keep enjoying the benefits of working with the man.

Marshal: All we’d need to do is earn her trust. Walstead’s been getting along nicely with her, as I understand, since the homunculus swarm. But she’ll need local support for that.

[silence]

Witness: Damn you.

Witness: If there’s any official inquiry into this, it happened without my permission. I’d rather my daughter think me a fool than another old man trying to deny her.

Marshal: Thank you, Captain.

[silence]

Witness: So was it worth it?

Marshal: I used to spend days hurting too much to move. My bedsores had bedsores. This is better.

Witness: It still aches every time I have to get this damn socket drained. Might as well be poking myself in my actual eye.

Witness: But after that, I get to hug my wife and children. Do you ever regret not having that?

Marshal: I was courting a woman before the war. Her town was hit by Bragg and his blasphemy. She was frozen in fear because all she could see was her own prophesied deaths. She starved before I could see her again.

[silence]

Witness: Maybe I’m where I need to be.

Marshal: I think we’re both where we need to be.

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