I sat in my office with Grinkle and Tulip across from me. I steepled my fingers and thought furiously, my mind racing like a galloping horse. “Ok, we need to look into any charities that help out changeling minors. We need records on any donations that Grizzlebats might have been donating to this last year.”

I pulled out a notepad and pencil and began scribbling down everything I could in a list of what we needed to accomplish. “Grinkle, what would you charge for your services in finding out a list of all the changeling charities we can find?”

Grindlestones smiled at me with his sharp teeth, “The yawn of an exhausted man. Preferably yours.”

“Done, get us that information as soon as possible. Tulip, I’m going to need your judge contact to write us up a warrant for information involving Grizzlebats. I’m going to need to get this together before closing statements so I can present it to the court. We need to get on this ASAP. I’m going to be looking into more of Grizzlebats’s background. There might be something I can use to pry some information out of him. He is going to be lying through his teeth on that stand.” I couldn’t help it this time as my mind revved up I pulled out a cigarette and as I went to light it Tulip’s warm hand placed itself on mine.

“Please, wait until I’m out of the room. I hate the smell,” Her eyes were soft and with a gentle hint of worry for me.

I put it away and looked back at the list. “Ok, tomorrow is going to be bringing Mr. Tinglepots to the stand. I’m pretty sure that he is going to be eviscerated by Bloodgorger about the under the table deals. I need to meet with him and see what other dirt that might be brought up in all this. I’ve asked for any skeletons in his closet but this might have to be more forceful.”

I grimaced at the thought of interrogating the gnome. I had to prepare him though. Show him again what he was in for while dealing with my opponent. I wrote down a list of all potential questions that might surface about things that could be incriminating.

I tore the paper and handed the slips to Tulip and Grinkle as they left the room to do what I asked. I picked up the phone and rang Mr. Tinglepots’s hotel room. I had him staying nearby for this very trial. After a few rings it picked up.

“Ravvin Tinglepots, who is this?” Came the surly voice of the man who roped me into all of this.

“It’s John. We need to meet and prepare you for tomorrow. I’ve gotten a better feel for my opposing lawyer and I think he is going to treat you much differently than I warned you about. Can you come to my office? I’ll expense your fare to the trial if I have to.” I stated as I continued writing question after question.

“I’ll be there soon,” Came the terse reply from Mr. Tingelpots said.

I started to clean up and make my office a stark cold place. Something that would make him uncomfortable. I put away almost everything in file boxes and tucked them away. The receptionist gave me a wide confused look. I merely waved at him and continued on my way.

Soon enough I was ready, my office stark, empty, foreboding and unwelcoming. I couldn’t wait any longer and lit up my cigarette and took a deep drag. Blowing out a ring of smoke my intercom lit up. “Your client has arrived sir.”

I channeled magic into the device and spoke up, “Send him to my office.”

As he walked in I studied him another time. Assessing his state now that he had spent so much time away from his wife, someone he was usually inseparable from.

Orchard Tinglepots was an elderly gnome. With a short ring of close cropped hair around his bald plate. His eyes lacked the luster that they did when he was with his wife. Heavy bags hung under his eyes as he looked at me. I could see a few days' growth of facial hair on his cheeks, however it seemed his chin never grew its own hair remaining bald as his head.

He had lost a lot of weight through the last few weeks, his clothes hanging off his bones loosely and without showing the vigor he had in his rage when I first met him. Orchard’s posture is what gave him away the most. He slouched his arms hanging loosely.

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Sitting on the edge of my desk I motioned to the chair across from me. Slinking over like a kicked dog he crawled onto the chair and turned to face me with a face full of determination. I pulled my chair in front of him and took a seat. I leaned back and steepled my fingers as I looked at him.

“Are you ready, Orchard?” I asked as I assessed him my mind running away with what I would do when we were done.

“I am, John.” He stated as he straightened his back and put on the stony expression I had drilled into him.

“What is your name?” I began, it was time to grill him.

“Orchard Tinglepots.” Voice flat, no inflection of emotions.

“How long did you own the grocery store in Springtrove?”

“Forty-Eight years. Plus a few months.” Orchard looked at me, his eyes relaxing.

“When did you employ the illegal kobolds that worked at your store?” It was time to cut into the skeletons in his closet. This trial would pull his name through the mud in public and I couldn’t protect him from it. Bloodgorger would call him to the stand if I didn’t.

Taking a deep breath he put steel in his spine and raised his chin, “I hired the kobolds while they were undergoing their citizenship process. Which, twenty years ago, was still legal.”

“Yet you paid them far below the average wage for new employees, forcing them to work extraordinarily long hours. If you were helping them become citizens, why make them work for so little?” I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees.

“It was during the great recession. I couldn’t afford to pay them much while giving the town the lowest prices I could to keep people from starving.” The defense I schooled him in. Defending the false skeletons that might be dragged out of him.

“As the recession ended you still hadn’t raised the wages of the kobolds, and actively worked against them when they attempted to unionize ending their contracts. Leaving them without the means to support their families.” I took a deep breath, there was no defense to this. “What made you do this?”

Orchard looked at me, refusing to fidget in his seat. “I had taken a great amount of loss during the recession. I was bleeding money and couldn’t afford to raise their wages. When they attempted to unionize I had to measure whether I could afford them to win or get a few members of my family their first jobs. It was the financial decision to save my family.”

“Even at the cost of the loyal kobolds that had worked for you?” I pushed as he almost flinched.

“I had to do that for my family.” He stiffened his spine.

“Sounds like your a greedy man Mr. Tinglepots. Is that why you took payments under the table? Cutting out the middleman of the city, preventing taxes going to the people?”

He began to stutter, “I-I, it was a very lucrative offer. I could retire with my wife off the gold he was giving us.”

I shook my head, “No Orchard, this is the point you deflect this question on why Grizzlebats would even think about paying you under the table. Put the blame on him.”

Orchard sighed, his body deflating, “You changed how it was worded when we went over this.”

“My opponent might not even use these words, you have to be ready for anything. Now let’s go over this again.” I took a deep breath returning to my seriousness, “Sounds like you are a greedy man. Is that why you took payments under the table?”

This time Orchard stiffened his spine, “I didn’t ask for the payment. I gave him a fair price, and he chose to undercut it and give me the difference in gold. Tax free. It was his idea to do this.”

“Why didn’t you get the gold appraised properly when you received it?” It was time to undermine his judgment.

“It was properly stamped by the bank already showing a high percent of purity. I didn’t have cause to doubt it. Grizzlebats assured me that it was all proper.” I could see that he was hardening himself, doing his best to sound professional. “Is it time that you’ll ask why it wasn’t as pure as promised?” He asked.

I pinched my nose as I took a drag of my cigarette. “I’ll be asking that. Bloodgorger will undermine my point.” Blowing out a stream of smoke I took a deep breath. “Back to the topic. I think the real reason you didn’t go to the bank right away? You wanted to hide it. Keep that money a secret so you wouldn’t have to pay your taxes.” I leaned back and crossed my arms, closing off my posture.

“Do you think your client is so untrustworthy that I should have?” Came the retort I had prepared him with. I smiled in response.

I took a deep drag of my cig and closed my eyes thinking of where my opponent might go next. I covered the illegal workers, the unfair wages, being paid under the table. What else was there that could be used against him? “Why is there no record of you donating any proceeds or goods to the needy in Springtrove?”

Orchard froze at that, I hadn’t prepped him at all and had kept it in my back pocket just to disarm him when he felt he was free of the hard questions. “U-u-um, I just, I mean, what does that have to do with this?”

“Greed, that is your weakness isn’t it? You’re here today to take more than your fair share from Grizzlebats. You’re here just to line your pockets even more. Admit it, you’re just a greedy man taking advantage of my client.” It was the final stab I could predict. A true undermining of his integrity.

He floundered and I put out my cigarette and watched passively as he struggled for words. His face went red with rage, sadness, shame, and acceptance. “I just want my store back…”

I closed my eyes, afraid of this. “If this comes up Orchard. You must straighten your back, take a deep steadying breath and say, ‘I just want justice to be served.’”

Orchard deflated and lost all the momentum I had let him build up. “That feels like a lie. I don’t even want more money again. I just want to get rid of the dirty gold and get my store back. Maybe reach out to family and teach them to run it and keep it in the family.”

I leaned forward and squeezed his shoulder. “We will get there. Trust me and remember, we are here for justice, not just ourselves.”