//------------------------------// // Chapter 48 // Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces // by Halira //------------------------------// Number was a little surprised as she was led back to the Broken Ones' office. She was even more surprised when she saw Tonya sitting in a chair as she walked in. The dirty little traitor was staring down at the floor. She turned to the two Broken Ones and kept her eyes away from Tonya. "I said I wouldn't answer any questions until my lawyer arrived." Tattered walked up to her and gave her an appraising look. "Tonya made a serious claim that could impact how you are dealt with. I was seeing if you would corroborate what she says in any way." "Oh! Is the little bitch trying to ease her conscious? Let's hear what she has to say. I can't say I'll confirm or deny anything, but I want to hear this, it should be rich," Number sneered as she turned towards the pegasus. Tonya chewed on her lip. "I'm sorry for getting you into this Number. You'd never have done this without me forcing you to." Number raised an eyebrow at the pegasus. "You don't even know what you did, traitor." "I used mind magic to force you to kill him," Tonya said in a low voice. Number's eyebrows shot up and she stopped and gaped. "What're you talking about? I wasn't intending to kill him. What happened was self defense." Tonya's brow furrowed in confusion. Of course it did. She had no clue what she had actually done. Number wanted to scream at her what she had actually done. She could almost wish that Tonya had mind controlled her into doing murder. "I don't understand. I thought you were mad at me for having used my powers on you," Tonya said in confusion. "What do you think happened that night?" Tattered demanded. She needed a cigarette. Every time she saw Tonya she got madder than Sunset Blessing at her worst. Tonya sat back in her seat and looked at the two Broken Ones. They looked to her expectantly. Tattered looked at Melissa. "There's an option on that computer for voice recording. Can you find it?" Melissa looked startled and started working on the computer. "Sure, give me one sec. Here it is. Let me check to make sure it's working." Melissa clicked something with the mouse. "Testing, testing. One-two-three. Someone say something for the computer." "Tonya is a bitch," Number said crisply. Melissa clicked two more things. "Testing, testing. One-two-three. Someone say something for the computer. Tonya is a bitch." Came the clear recording from the computer. Tonya grimaced. "Thanks for that. I just love hearing that repeated over and over again." "Just making sure we have a good recording device," Tattered replied. "Now, if you wish to tell us what happened that night from your point of view we'll be happy to take your statement now. I will not ask questions until the end. Melissa, start recording." This should be interesting. Time to see how much the little traitor was going to blab. Tonya looked over at Melissa then looked back down. "A...person...who was angry with Swift Strike spoke with me the night of Phobia's rape. After that I went to Number Crunch and discussed the matter with her." Great, I'm sure they can't guess who you're person was. Number thought sarcastically. "I met Number Crunch in town hall and we talked for a while," Tonya continued. "Number was really hesitant about doing anything to Swift Strike. She wanted to leave him for the authorities to take care of. She said that if the person wanted Swift Strike dead then she wasn't going to be involved with it." True enough. Number thought to herself. So far no actual lies out of the little traitor. That didn't bode well for how things would go though. Tonya would do her no favors with the full truth--even if Tonya didn't know everything. "I have mind magic, and I used it to pressure her into being involved. She was much more resistant to it than most ponies," Tonya continued. Number's eyebrows rose at this, but she kept her mouth shut. Tonya continued. "A sign that I've used my magic on ponies is typically they get a little lightheaded or fuzzy in the head right after I've hit them with it. I'm sure I saw Number Crunch feeling those effects." Number remembered that. She remembered the feeling of lightheadedness essentially, the feeling like she couldn't think straight. Up until now she hadn't really thought about it at all. Those things could have been explained away as stress or something. It had been a very stressful night. Tonya continued. "Number Crunch used her magic to loosen the screws of the vent in the room that Swift Strike was being held in. He managed to escape out the vent and we followed him as he tried to flee town on foot through the woods." Now Tonya was implicating her in helping a prisoner escape custody. It was true, but it was a crime that they hadn't known about before. Even if she was able to convince them this really was self defense she now had another crime hanging over her head. The little traitor just kept on betraying. "When we were deep in the woods I confronted him while Number sat in hiding," Tonya continued. "I questioned him about why he did what he did, and I used my magic to try to draw honest answers out of him. He fired back saying that Phobia deserved it, and a lot of other nonsense. It was clear he was irredeemable at that point. I left at that point and let Number finish him off. That's what happened." Number grit her teeth. What Tonya had gotten out of him was not good enough to justify murder. The little pegasus honestly thought that Number would kill a pony based on that little bit that he said? He was disturbed for sure, but not to the point that he shouldn't have been killed over it. Just as she had thought; Tonya still didn't know what she was guilty of doing. Tonya's mind magic might have impacted the whole jailbreak thing, but that was the extent of it. The traitor still didn't know exactly what had happened. Tattered walked over to Tonya. "And you certify that this statement you just made is true, made under no duress?" "I do," Tonya answered. Well, it was as true as Tonya understood it. Couldn't yell at her for that. "And who was this person that put you up to arranging this whole thing to happen? Was it Rosetta Stone? Sunset Blessing? Tom Gilmore? Phobia Remedy? They all had motive and you were near all of them that night," Tattered questioned. Tonya leveled a steely gaze at Tattered. "I'm not answering that question." Tonya might have already given it away, but had to credit her for trying to be loyal to at least one pony. "What time at night did this all happened?" Tattered questioned. "I don't remember. It was late, maybe around midnight," Tonya replied. "And where did you go after you left the scene of the crime?" Tattered asked. "I went flying around for a while and went home," Tonya answered. "How long is a while?" Tattered kept on. "Not sure...an hour? Why does it even matter?" Tonya asked in return. "Just getting all the details together," Tattered explained. "And do you remember where you confronted Swift Strike?" "Yes," Tonya said in a low voice. "And are you willing to show us that place if asked to do so?" Tattered asked. Tonya bowed her head low and cupped her forelegs around it. "Yes." "Good," Tattered said. "I have no more questions for you at the moment except one. Do you have a lawyer or need to have one appointed for you?" "I don't have a lawyer, and I don't want one," Tonya said as she raised her eyes back up. Get a lawyer you stupid little pegasus! Number thought so loud she was surprised no pony heard it. She needed Tonya's case to go a certain way to help with her own, and that wasn't happening if Tonya didn't have a lawyer. Much as she wanted Tonya to suffer for what she had done she needed Tonya to be found innocent. This wasn't about escaping punishment. There was far too much that needed to be done in town to make sure everything went right or there could be disaster. Number was the only one who actually had the financial know how to get those things done. She couldn't do those things sitting in a maximum security jail cell. If she didn't have to worry about that she wouldn't even be bothering with a lawyer of her own. She'd take her punishment as she deserved if it wasn't so important she be free to work. Tattered turned back to her again. "Number Crunch, do you wish to confirm, deny, or add anything to what Ms. Middleton has said here after having heard it?" Number looked the night pony in the eyes. "I'm not answering that or any other questions until my lawyer gets here in the morning." Tattered nodded and turned back to Melissa. "You can stop and save that recording, Melissa. We're going to listen to the whole thing through. Tonya will confirm that's unaltered in any way. Then we're going to make a written transcript of it and have Tonya read over it and confirm that is what she gave as a statement by signature." Number waited impatiently as they listened to the entire statement again. This wasn't her first rodeo with this kind of thing. The fact that the Broken Ones were handling this part as well as they were was a bit of a shock, even if they weren't doing everything correctly. Tattered Wing had definitely done some research. She had done this several times as a human, though no convictions had ever come from them, and this wasn't the least professional interrogation she'd ever experienced. This wouldn't go well for her though. At the very least she expected a conviction for helping a suspect escape custody this time around, if not a full murder charge. She might escape the murder charge, but there was possibility of reasonable doubt being established. Especially if Tonya led them to the body tonight--or what was left of it anyway. She had really done a number on it in her panic after the fact. She'd been so stupid that night. She should have just gone to Baker and explained what had happened. Instead she went home and cried like a foal. She was just so muddled in the head that night and not thinking straight, then questions about the fact she hadn't gone to the authorities right away became something that would be damning to her. The town, soon to be city needed her, she couldn't risk prison. She looked at Tonya. No matter what any jury decided, she wanted to see the look on Tonya's face when the pegasus finally learned what she had actually done.