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Feels good to post another part of this series. Thanks for all of the encouragement for Nationals! Overall, out guys got eighth in the nation! We were so stoked. Anyways, read and enjoy this next part and let me know what you think.

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Twenty-five years with the possibility of parole.

Was I happy with the sentence that that panther got? No, but to be honest, even if he got life or the death penalty, I still wouldn't have been happy about it. That panther took away from me more than just some cuts and bruises. He took a sense of security from me. Sometimes I would dream about that alleyway and wake up in the middle of the night with cold sweat all around my body. He took away a lot from Mike, still in a coma, unsure if or when he will wake up. Through all of the bad that happened, there was a light in this "Pandora's Box". That light was an otter. An otter that helped me cope with my troubles recovering and was always at my side.

I was walking out of my composition class. I felt bad every time I went to that class because that was one that Mike also had. Call it foolish, but a lot of times, I hoped that I would walk into that class and see Mike waving me over to sit next to him, but each time, I saw an empty desk. Moments like this were times that I wish I could talk to Kyle or even John, but they were both in classes so I headed over to the coffee shop. It was always nice to go in there. The smell of the entire place was pleasant and it was a good place to get some work done.

I walked in and ordered a coffee. Once I got it, I added a couple of sugar packets and some creamers, found a small vacant table and sat down.

I pulled out my laptop and started to get some work done on my paper. It helped to get my mind off of everything going on. I worked for about fifteen minutes when I heard a sound from the other side of my laptop.

I looked up, and saw an orange vixen standing there with a slight smile. She didn't say anything and it was starting to get a little awkward so I broke the silence, "Uh, hey."

"Hi," she said, "sorry to bother you, but are you Allen?"

I knew where this was going, "Yeah, in the fur."

She gave a slight squeak with excitement, "I read about you in the paper."

Yes, the entire incident caught the attention of the news media around town. I didn't like all of the publicity, and I only gave a short interview with one of the journalists from the newspaper. The news on television gave a report about it, and apparently news had spread across the state and a little further. It wasn't some big headline newsbreak, but it was mentioned to some degree. Luckily, not a lot of people recognized me from it, but occasionally I'd run into someone, or they would run into me, and want to talk to me kind of like this vixen was.

"You were, like, so brave," she said.

Great. She's one of those 'like' girls.

"Thanks," I gave a polite smile as I closed my laptop.

"I'm Katie by the way," she stuck out he paw and I shook paws with her. She then set her own coffee and croissant on the table. "I saw that you were by yourself, so I wanted to give you some company." I didn't know what to say to that, so I didn't. She continued, "Are you, like, single?"

I was shocked at how forward she was. She wasn't discrete about flirting with me. Don't get me wrong, she was good looking, but being gay, I had no interest. I didn't want to be rude so I answered, "No."

What I expected was that she would stop flirting with me, but she seemed to increase her flirtatious behavior. "What's your girlfriend's name?"

"Well uh," I said unsure of how to answer this, but she didn't give me anytime to answer.

"Oh I get it," she answered, "you're having some relationship problems with your girl, cause you're like a local celebrity and she's jealous from all of the attention you're getting from other girls."

Wrong.

"Something like that," I answered starting to find this conversation a little humorous. I took a one of the last sips of my coffee and when I looked back at Katie, she had a sly look and a smile across her muzzle.

"If you need to someone the help you with your relationship problems, I'm willing to offer my expertise." The way she said 'expertise' I almost laughed out loud because the way she said it wasn't sexy at all, I'm sure she meant it to be sexy, but it just sounded stupid.

"Thanks," I said once I regained my composure, "but not tonight."

"Hard to get," she said, "I like that. If you ever change your mind-" she put her paw in her shirt right between her breasts and pulled out a piece of paper and slid it across the table. I put my paw on it as she got up to go. "Tonight, while I'm in the shower, I'll think of you." She walked next to me and kissed the side of my muzzle, winked at me, and left. My eyes were wide open at this I looked at the paper and saw a phone number on it. I pondered whether or not to tell Kyle about this. It's not like I wanted her to do it. I figured that he would understand what happened.

I put my laptop away and got up to got back to my room. On my way out, I threw my cup away in the trash along with the paper that Katie gave me.

--x--

"She said WHAT!" Kyle said as he was laughing at the other end of the line.

I laughed as well, "I did not see that coming. I couldn't think of anything to say, but after that, she handed me her number before leaving."

"Well since we started dating, I thought that I wouldn't have to worry about you and girls," laughed Kyle, "but I guess a gay guy can be a ladykiller."

"It's not my fault," I said, "she came onto me."

"You salty dog, I guess I need to keep you on a leash from now on," Kyle said.

"I wouldn't mind that"

"I'm not doubting it and I'd like to see where this leads to, but I got to get some studying before my test tomorrow. You want to come with me to my house tomorrow night?"

"Of course I would," I answered.

"Sweet, love you!"

"Love you too Kyle!"

I closed my phone and looked at the clock. It read five past two in the afternoon. I always enjoyed the days where my classes were done early. I felt that I should at least get some more work done on my paper. I wrote only a paragraph when my phone went off.

"Of course" I said to myself as I looked at the caller ID.

It showed a number that I did not recognize. I opened my phone and put it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Mr. Sampson," it was Detective Bosh. His voice was unmistakable, "It's Detective Bosh."

"Hey Detective, is there something you need?" I asked wondering why he needed to call me. The trial was over, so I never thought that I would hear from him again.

"Uh, actually yes." Bosh's voice seemed different, it seemed uncertain. "Do you think that you could stop by the station this afternoon?"

"I guess I could," I answered, "I'm done with classes for today. What time should I come over?"

"As soon as you can," Bosh said, "It's about the case, I need to, uh, run a few things over with you."

"Isn't the trial over?"

"Yes it is, but I'll explain what I need when you get here."

"Should I tell Kyle to come too?"

"No," Bosh's responsive was abrupt, "It would be better if he didn't know about this."

"Why though?"

"I'll explain it when you get here."

"Okay, I'll take the bus over there."

"Good. I'll, uh, I'll see you when you get here."

He hung up right after saying this. I had no idea what this was all about, but I was sure that Bosh wouldn't have called me if it weren't important. I trusted him.

--x--

I hopped on a bus and sat for the eight-minute ride to the stop downtown. I got off of the bus and made my way to the station. There was nothing special to it, it was an old building and the inside seemed a little poorly lit. People were walking back and forth.

I wasn't sure where I needed to go but I saw Bosh waiting for me.

"Mr. Sampson, glad you could come," he said taking my paw and shaking it, "follow me."

Bosh led me into his office. The room's only source of light was a florescent light right in the middle of the ceiling and it let off a slight buzz when turned on. He had a wooden desk accompanied with a leather chair. The desk was cluttered with paperwork from what I presumed were different cases the papers covered most of the nameplate on the front of the desk that showed Bosh's name. Bosh took of his suit jacket and put it on the back of the chair and took a seat.

"Please Mr. Sampson," Bosh gestured to a chair by the door, "have a seat and close the door."

I walked over to the door and closed it before grabbing the chair that had a cushion on the back and pulled it right in front of the desk and took my seat.

"Mr. Sampson," Bosh started.

"Just call me Allen" I interceded.

"Okay Allen," Bosh brought his left hoof to his muzzle and his right arm crossed across this torso as thought about how to start. "I should not be doing this right now, but I feel as though I have no other choice."

This made me feel a little more worried that I was before. It felt like going to the principal's office in school when you know you did something wrong and have backed into a corner. Except this time, I had no idea where this was going.

"Allen, I have worked a lot of mugging cases in my career," Bosh started, "and I have dealt with a lot of people like Mr. Henin, but there are things about this case that do not follow the trend that others do."

At this point, I had no idea where Bosh was going with this. "What are talking about?" I asked.

"Well, first of all, Mr. Henin and the bear carried weapons with them; the weapons being the gun and the knife. When a mugging happens, the criminals either bring out the weapons at first as a scare tactic, but they never used the weapons until later. That part alone is not what is troubling me, what I do not understand is why they chose Mr. Grey. Normally, when guys are going to mug and rob a victim, the victim usually shows something worth taking or wears expensive clothing or other items that show the impression of having money. Kyle though, was not wearing anything that gave off the impression of personal wealth. Another reason for muggers to target a victim is that the muggers felt disrespected, or that some other confrontation happened between them. Mr. Henin said in trial that he had never seen Kyle before the incident."

"Where are you going with this? Why did you bring me here?" I asked because I didn't believe I came just to hear a lecture on criminal behavior.

"Let me show you." Bosh said and then turned his computer monitor so that it faced me. Bosh clicked on a file and opened it. It resembled the video that he showed to the court during the trial. The difference was that it was a different angle.

Bosh started the video and it showed Kyle walking by himself through downtown. I got a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach seeing Kyle before he got mugged. After a moment the video showed the panther and the bear walking after them in a bit of a hurried pace.

"Now, look at this," Bosh said while pointing at a lioness wearing a very nice outfit accompanied by a brand name purse. She walked past the panther and bear. The panther turned as she walked past but the bear put his paw on the panther shoulder and pushed him onward. Bosh paused the video.

"Did you notice that?" he asked.

I did. "The bear and panther didn't try to rob her even though she showed that she had a lot of money and she was by herself," I said.

"Exactly, this was no random mugging, it was premeditated." Bosh said as he stood up straight. "I wish that I could have noticed this before the trial, but now that Mr. Henin is incarcerated, it serves no purpose."

"So I came here just to show me this?" I was starting to get a little agitated about this. "And why didn't you want Kyle to come?"

"Because I think that there is more to Kyle than meets the eye." Bosh said. "There has to be a reason that Kyle was targeted by these two. I checked back to see if Kyle had some sort of history with the law or anything that could make sense of this, but I could not find anything. His record is cleaned. Not so much as a parking ticket."

"So he's a good citizen," I blurted, raising my voice a little.

"No, it's not that I could not find anything about any trouble with the law, I could not find anything about his past."

"What?," I rose up myself, "You couldn't find anything about Kyle's past?"

"Well, I mean, I found the basic things like a birth certificate and other surface information that everyone has, but there is nothing about him growing up here. Nothing about him in the newspapers, I tried to get copies of his high school's yearbook, but he only shows up in them in his junior and senior year. When I questioned the school staff, they said that he was not present for pictures for the other years. Same situation with his younger brother."

I sat back down in my chair. There had to be some sort of misunderstanding to this. Although all of this was odd, there were logical explanations to all of these. There was no need to worry about this.

I shook my head and said softly, "No, this is all so stupid." I make eye contact with Bosh, "You know, I glad for all that you have done, but how could you be so stupid to think that Kyle had something to do with it. It's not his fault!" My voice raised on his own.

"Look," Bosh kept the same demeanor, "I understand that you and Kyle have a, uh, special connection-"

"Oh! Because he's my boyfriend, I must be clouded in my judgment of him."

"Mr. Sampson," he stood up and his voice became for forceful, "You know me better than that. The fact that you two are together has nothing to do with anything." He paused and his face relaxed a little and took his seat again. "Maybe I am seeing this the wrong way. There's no way of knowing now. All right Mr. Sampson, you may leave. I'm sorry to put you through this."

Without another word, I turned around and walked towards the door. At about eight feet from the door when it burst open and a sheep rushed in.

"Detective Bosh!" she said in a hurried and panting tone as though she just ran a mile to get here, "It's Henin sir - he's in the hospital - beaten up pretty bad - says he needs to speak with you immediately." She said this in between breaths.

Bosh stood and threw on his jacket. He rushed out of the door and I followed after him keeping up with his fast pace.

"You shouldn't be coming along," Bosh said without looking at me.

"Too bad," I answered, "you brought me here to find out more of what happened with Kyle and coming with you."

"Fine" was all Bosh said as we rounded a corner.

We walked out of the station and to his car. I climbed into the passenger seat as Bosh started up the car and sped out towards the hospital.

--x--

We got there in record time and entered the lobby that I became all too familiar with. We made our way to one of the ladies at the front desk and Bosh showed his badge.

"I need to see Mr. Henin"

"He's in room 312 up a couple of floors, but I have to warn you-"

We didn't hear the warning because we took off towards the room as soon as she said it. Bosh moved down the hallway as though no one was there. Hospital staff and other visitors got out of his way and I followed right behind him.

Outside of room 312 was an officer. Bosh showed his badge again to the officer.

"What exactly happened here?" Bosh asked.

"He got the shit beaten out of him by four other inmates. The guards got there just in time. If they had been any later, then that panther would be dead" the officer answered.

"How is he now?"

"He's stable right now"

"Okay, I'll need the room to ask him some questions"

"I'm not allowed to do that"

"If anyone has a problem with it, tell them to talk to me." Bosh said as he started walking to the room.

The officer stepped aside as he allowed Bosh into the room and I followed until a paw grabbed my and pulled me back.

The officer was the owner of the paw. "Sir, you are not allowed in there without authorization."

"I'm his authorization," Bosh said to the officer. The officer nodded and let go of my shirt and I walked in.

The panther, Mr. Henin, looked worse than he did in the alleyway. He had cuts and bruises all over that were bandaged up. His paws were cuffed to the sides of the hospital bed.

Bosh grabbed a chair and slid it across the floor until it was at the side of the bed. He brushed off his jacket and sat down in a very casual way. I hesitantly walked behind Bosh, but remained standing. The panther looked over at Bosh slowly. His movements showed that he was very weak and sore.

"Rough day?" asked Bosh with a bit of a smirk like it was a simple conversation between himself and a friend.

The panther didn't respond immediately, he just looked at Bosh, then his eyes darted to me before he spoke, "Why the fuck did you bring him?"

"Don't worry about Mr. Henin," said Bosh, "right now, I'm a little curious as to why you needed to see me so badly."

"I need to get outa here." The panther said.

"Out of the hospital?" Bosh asked, "I'm sorry but I cannot help you with that, I work to enforce the law." Bosh put emphases on the 'enforce.'

"No," said the panther before wincing at the pain from his injuries, "I wanna move to another jail."

"So what you're saying is," Bosh started leaning closer to the panther, "is that you want me, the one who put your ass behind bars, to help you out because you can't fight other inmates? This is a waste of my time." Bosh stood up as if to go.

"Wait!" the panther said. This stopped Bosh. For a split second, I saw that he looked helpless. Bosh must have seen it too. "I was attacked because I didn't finish my goddamn job. They found me and sent a couple of people to do what I should've done to that piece-of-shit otter."

I stepped forward toward the panther, but Bosh stopped me and spoke to the panther, "What job were you suppose to do?"

"Me and that dumbass bear were told to jump and kill this otter. We were told that we would get a lot of money out of it if we did it. It should have gone smoothly, after we roughed him up, I wanted to just shoot the fucker and be done with it but the bear wanted to keep beating him."

"You were going to kill him!" I shouted, "For money?"

"For that much, yeah I was," the panther looked me in the eye, "I would have finished him off for less."

I gritted my teeth and my paws formed fists and I wanted to beat the living shit out of him.

"Stay calm," Bosh said to me putting his arm in front of me, it didn't help, but I resisted going towards the panther. Bosh continued looking at the panther, "Mr. Henin, is that when Mr. Sampson here and Mr. Simmons came along?"

"Yeah" the panther said.

"You said that you were sent there. Who do you mean by 'they'?" Bosh asked.

The panther fell silent.

"Who the fuck sent you?" I yelled. I needed answers and the panther knew it. Bosh lost his patience as well and walked up to the panther and with a hoof, he pressed down on one of the bandages.

The panther yelled out in pain as Bosh continued pressing down with added pressure for each passing moment. "You better start talking Mr. Henin" Bosh said it in a way that would have made Jack Bauer proud, "or else you'll be sent back to the same group that tried to kill you before."

"I don't fucking know!" the panther yelled. "There were three of them led by this one guy."

"You got to do better than that," Bosh said finding a new bandage and adding pressure.

"AGH!" yelled the panther in pain. He brought his paws up to the extent of how high the pawcuffs could reach as though trying to break out of them with no success. Then he yelled, "THAT OTTER BOY!"

Bosh released the pressure he had on the panther, "Who?" he asked.

"That otter boy that was attacked," the panther said breathing heavily from the interrogation technique, "It was-"

"What about Kyle?" I asked getting right next to the bed.

Still in pain the panther looked into my eyes, "The one that sent us to kill the otter," he paused, "It was his father."