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Sitting in an interrogation room, Karen did just as she was said she would; not saying a word to the police, who, despite being told that by the vixen that she had nothing to say, kept trying to convince her to talk about what had gone down that night. She was unflappable, showing no emotion, no signs that she was guilty of anything.

There was a knock on the door. One of the deputies, a coyote, opened the door and in walked Gerald Kurtz, the husband of Sophia, Arthur's sister. Gerald worked as a criminal defense attorney and Karen had used her one call to contact him. Even at such a late hour, the squirrel had managed to get out of bed and put a decent suit on. He set his briefcase down on the table in the room and opened it.

"Could I have some time with my client?" asked Gerald politely.

The two deputies left the room, leaving Gerald and Karen alone. Karen hugged her brother-in-law as she finally broke down crying. "How's Arthur?"

"He's regained consciousness, but it looks like he's got a broken jaw and some missing teeth. They couldn't be sure, but he might have a concussion. Pretty sure he's going to be in the hospital for a at least a few days while they run some more tests to determine the full extent of his injuries."

Karen wiped her face with the sleeve of her shirt, still overwhelmed by everything that had happened. She couldn't get the image of Arthur lying there, beaten to a pulp, bleeding and in pain. The vivid picture she had of pulling the hammer back on the revolver before Troy turned around, pointing the shotgun at her. The blast from the gun was still making her ears ring. She wasn't sorry at all for what she had done to Troy at all. Not because she wanted revenge, but because she wanted to stop him from killing Arthur and her. She had no doubts whatsoever that the wolf intended such a fate for them.

"Karen," said Gerald. "I need you to tell my everything that happened."

"I was just sleeping in my chair in the office, when I heard an explosion. I got up and heard yelling and knew that it was Arthur and my ex-boyfriend Troy fighting."

"What was the explosion from?" the squirrel asked her.

"A shotgun. I didn't notice until later, but Troy fired at Arthur, but Arthur had his paws on the barrel, so it missed him but shot out our bedroom window."

"Then what happened?" he inquired.

"When I knew they were fighting, I pulled Arthur's gun out of the desk drawer, checked to see that it was loaded and ran into the bedroom. It was awful. Troy had Arthur on the floor and was hitting him in the face with the butt of that shotgun. I pulled the hammer back on the pistol and Troy turned around, looking at me. He said, 'there you are, you little slut' and he started to turn the shotgun on me. I took aim and fired at him. I only shot once and it must have killed him right away because when he fell, I had to roll him off of Arthur. He didn't move, didn't make a sound. I looked just once, but could see that his eyes were already glassy. That's when I tried to take care of Arthur. He spit some blood and a couple of teeth out. I got my phone and called 911 to get an ambulance."

"Did you tell the police anything at all?" asked Gerald.

"Nothing," said Karen, shaking her head. "I remembered what Arthur told me, never to talk to them if they think you're guilty of something. All I said was I have nothing to say, and then they told me that I had to come her to the station with them. That's when I asked for a lawyer."

"From what you've told me, you did everything right, but . . ."

"Yes?" said Karen.

"But you never know how these things will turn out, Karen. I wish I could tell you with one hundred percent certainty that you won't get in any trouble, but I'd be lying. The police are going to have to do a thorough investigation of the scene and fill out their reports. They'll send that to the district attorney who'll make the determination on whether or not to charge you with anything."

"Charge me?" she said, aghast at the idea. "But I didn't do anything wrong."

"I believe you," said Gerald, trying to calm her down. "But like I said, you can never be one hundred percent certain with a case like this. It was a home invasion, and you were acting in self defense and the defense of Arthur, they'll take that into consideration."

"I noticed a bunch of police cars down by the liquor store when the cops brought me in. What happened there?"

"From what I hear," said Gerald. "Looks like there was a robbery homicide that took place there--owner of the place was the one killed."

"Wouldn't surprise me if Troy had something to do with it," said Karen.

"Oh?" said Gerald. "Why's that?"

"It was the same liquor store where Troy was caught shoplifting. I heard that the owner kept him there by pointing a shotgun at him. Troy never had a shotgun the whole time we were together, so I bet he found a gun somewhere and killed the owner out of revenge, and to get his paws on money and that shotgun he was using to beat Arthur with."

"That's a very interesting hypothesis," mused Gerald. "I'd imagine that there will be video footage of the murder."

"It'll probably turn up missing," said Karen, crying again. "Troy's uncle is the sheriff, and I've heard all sorts of rumors that he's got his paws of lots of shady things around the county."

"I've heard them too," said Gerald.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Karen, taking a tissue that Gerald gave her.

"I'm going to go out there and tell the police that you wish to make a formal statement about what happened. Don't worry, I won't give it to them until I've had a chance to read it over and give it my approval. My guess is they'll let you go, but warn you not to leave town."

"Can I go see Arthur after that?" she asked.

"Yes, but you won't be able to go back home. You're house is still a crime scene--not that you committed the crime, that would be Troy's doing, but you can stay with Sophia and I tonight, okay?"

"Okay," said the vixen, sniffling.

Gerald patted her paw, reassuring her that everything was going to work out for the best. Leaving the room, he expected to see deputies standing outside the room, but they weren't insight. Hesitant to leave Karen unattended for too long, he went out to the main area of the building and saw what was going on.

Several of the deputy sheriffs were being pushed up against the wall and read their rights by State Police officers, who had swarmed the building along with several beasts dressed in black suits and black ties. Sheriff Rovenstine, got out of his office, screaming and yelling at them.

"What the hell is going on here? My nephew was just killed and now you're arresting my deputies. I want an explanation, now!"

The beasts in black suits surrounded the sheriff, a large polar bear, possibly the one in charge flashed a badge before the wolf. "FBI, Sheriff Rovenstine, I'm Special Agent Johnson. I need you to place your hands on your head and come with me."

"What for," said

The polar bear didn't bother to reason with him. Two more polar bears grabbed the wolf and pinned him to the floor, cuffing him. Special Agent Johnson gave the reason for their visit as the sheriff was brought to his feet. "Sheriff Amos Rovenstine, you're under arrest for drug trafficking, official misconduct, intimidating a federal witness, bribery, and other charges that we'll explain to you on the way to a federal holding cell."

Spitting, kicking and screaming, Amos tried to break free from the FBI agents, but it was to no avail. Gerald was completely flabbergasted by what he had just witnessed. Every single deputy sheriff had been marched out of the building in cuffs. The squirrel ran over to one of the state troopers who remained in the building.

"What's going on here?" asked Gerald.

"Who are you, sir?" asked the state trooper.

"My name's Gerald Kurtz. I'm a defense attorney."

"Well, Mr. Kurtz. I can't go into too many details, but we just conducted a joint raid with the FBI on the country sheriff's office and are taking over this department."

"And all their investigations too?"

"Yes, sir," said the state trooper.

"Do me a favor," said Gerald. "Make sure that you get the video footage from that liquor store murder that happened earlier."

"Oh?" said the trooper. "Something significant about that?

"It might prove my client had every reason to fear for her life," said Gerald. "Excuse me, would you?"

The squirrel ran back into the interrogation room. Karen thought that Gerald had gone insane from the look on his face.

"Gerald, what's going on?"

"You'll never believe it," he said, still jittery. "The sheriff and all his deputies were just arrested by the state police and FBI."

"What?" she said, her mouth hanging open. "What for?"

"I saw it all. The FBI agent said Rovenstine was being charged with drug trafficking, bribery, and a bunch of other stuff."

"So, what's that mean for me?" asked the vixen.

"It means that the state police are taking over all the investigations here. I told one of the troopers about looking for the video from the liquor store. Karen, if that footage is still there and shows Troy killing the owner, there's not a snowball's chance in hell that they're going to charge you with anything."

"Really?" said Karen, hopeful he was right. "How's that work exactly?"

"Think about it, even though you didn't know what Troy had done until after he was dead, ti shows that he was easily capable of killing you and Arthur. No district attorney will want to charge you then. It would be a losing case for sure."

"I hope you're right, Gerald," she said, hoping that Troy's corrupt uncle or one of his deputies hadn't destroyed any video evidence at the liquor store.It was going to be a long night.

Karen was still at the police station when morning came. Tired, miserable and wanting to see her injured husband, she could at least take solace in the fact that Gerald had staid with her in the interrogation room the entire time, comforting her, encouraging her not to adopt a pessimistic view of what might happen next. The vixen had written a statement with her own paw, explaining what had taken place in her home and why she felt she had no other choice but to use deadly force on Troy Rovenstine. Still, with everything going on, none of the state police had come to deal with them yet. Gerald yawned, wishing that they would just hurry up.

"I'm still nervous," said Karen, rubbing her bloodshot eyes.

"Just stay calm," said Gerald. "It's been a busy night and they'll get to us eventually--just takes time is all."

"I just want to go see Arthur," said the vixen. Gerald had been constantly updating her with texts he was getting on his phone. Sophia had gone to the hospital to keep track of Arthur's condition. Karen was relieved to hear that he was conscious but in a great deal of pain from being beaten with a shotgun. She knew that he just wanted to be next to her, to see her face and feel her warm, soft fur against his.

The door to the interrogation room opened and in walked Special Agent Johnson, a state trooper, and an assistant district attorney, a squirrel who shook paws with Gerald.

"Hi Dave," said Gerald. "What's going on?"

Dave, the assistant district attorney sat down at the table with the other two beasts. Special Agent Johnson was the first to speak up. "Mr. Kurtz, we've been keeping this precinct under surveillance for some time now, after we received credible evidence that there was corrupt activity taking place at the highest level of authority."

Karen opened her mouth to speak, but Gerald put a paw to his own mouth, indicating that she should remain silent. "What did you find out about the liquor store murder?" asked Gerald.

The state trooper, a hyena, had a video tape in his paws. "We were able to seize the tape that showed the late Troy Rovenstine killing the deceased. There was clearly no justifiable reason for his actions. He put a bullet in his forehead, emptied the register, grabbed the owner's shotgun and took several bottles of liquor from the store before leaving."

Karen breathed a sigh of relief, but not complete relief, she wanted to hear that she wasn't being charged with any crime. Special Agent Johnson spoke up. "In addition to this, we had put a bug in the sheriff's office only a week ago. Again, I can't get into the specifics of how we accomplished that, but we heard an audio conversation just half an hour before Mr. Rovenstine killed the liquor store owner."

"What was said?" asked Gerald.

"The late Mr. Rovenstine requested that his uncle look up the address of you and your husband, Mrs. Krieger. The sheriff complied with the request and gave his nephew that information."

The state trooper hyena spoke up. "We also found that the lock on your front door had been picked using a credit card, indicating that Troy Rovenstine had entered your residence unlawfully. We ran a serial number check on the shotgun that was found near him, it was indeed the liquor store owner's."

"So, what are you going to do with my client, Dave?" asked Gerald.

"Based on all the evidence we've gathered, I have no intention of charging Mrs. Krieger with anything. As far as I'm concerned, she acted in defense of her home, her life and her husband's life."

Gerald put the written statement in his briefcase as Karen broke down crying. "Are we free to go then?"

"Yes," said Dave. "Go see your husband, Mrs. Krieger."

"Thank you," she manged to say

"Come on," said Gerald. "Let's go see Arthur."

At the hospital, Karen was horrified when she first saw Arthur. Lying on a bed, the squirrel's face was taped up from the battering he head endured. Because of the injuries, they had kept him on a morphine drip, but he was still lucid enough to recognize Karen when she entered the room, sitting down next to him.

"Hi, honey," she said, taking hold of his paw.

He nodded his head ever so slightly. Because of his broken jaw, he was in too much pain to respond verbally and would not be able to clearly enunciate words for some time.

"Troy's uncle got arrested for corruption," she said, rubbing his arm. "It was the state police and the FBI that raided the station when I was there with Gerald. It turns out Troy killed a liquor store owner just before he broke into the house."

Arthur, though still silent, had a look of complete shock in his eyes. He knew from what Karen had told him that Troy's uncle was a shady character, but to hear that the sheriff of their county was being charged with both state and federal crimes was astounding. He blinked at his wife.

"They ruled what I did to be justifiable," said Karen. "I . . . I didn't want to kill Troy--just wanted him out of our lives, but he didn't give me any other choice. I'm just glad I still have the greatest guy in the world as my husband. You're everything to me, Arthur."

The squirrel took hold of his wife's paw, and they sat there together, happy that they still had each other, and that with Karen expecting, they would have a new life to take care of.