Gavin laughed as Hazel shivered outside their newest crime scene, a one bed room, one floor home. She looked ridiculous layered in jackets, "Look at the poor wittle Californian." She looked so pitiful shivering in the barely cold 46-degree weather. "Aren't we lucky…that Cult sure is busy."
"I'm okay, it's just the cold," she whimpered her teeth chattering. She sneezed into her elbow. Her human coworkers in San Francisco did not prepare her for this type of weather. It was far too cold, and she couldn't believe Connor would just rub his shoulders every so often. Her knees bumped into each other as she shivered. Hank sighed, the red nosed young woman insisted on coming with them. He knew she'd just take a cab, if he didn't bring her along.
"Hazel go back to the car where it's warm," suggested Hank. The last thing he needed was for her simulated illness to get worse. "Hazel," Hank's annoyed parent voice kicking in.
"No, I'm fine. I'll get used to the cold," Hazel answered she smiled at him through her shivering frame. Hank sighed, she was certainly eager to please. "I'll be okay Lieutenant Anderson." Her smile disappeared as she sneeze into her arm again.
"Let's get you inside," Hank answered walking through the digital crime tape to the small one bedroom house. He went up the stairs to the light brown wooden door. Looking down Hank noticed "Jesus Welcomes You," on the doormat, he stepped over it as he entered another pristine home. Connor and Hazel noted the behavior replicating it perfectly as they entered. Gavin haphazardly stepped over the mat, but not with the same attention to detail. Hazel shivered rubbing her gloved hands. Lt. Anderson was correct, the house was nice and warm, a perfect compliment to how she was feeling.
"Another perfect crime scene," Gavin groaned, "these guys don't fuck around." He walked around the house looking at the paintings of Jesus on the living room wall. "She was certainly devout." Glancing around, there was religious paraphernalia everywhere, Crosses, Rosemary beads, bibles, paintings, framed psalms. Every inch of the home displayed the woman's proud faith in Jesus Christ.
"What do we know about her?" Hank asked observing a light brown couch in the living room. Every pillow had a psalm stitched into it and was perfectly placed so every word was visible.
Hazel responded, "Her name is Mary Johnson, age 72, she was widowed about 10 years ago. She is a prominent member of the Second Baptist Church, spending most of her days at the church providing assistance however she can. She has four children and twelve grandchildren. The pastor became concerned after she hadn't arrived at the children's choir early this past Sunday morning and asked for a welfare check every day until reporting her missing this morning." Gavin let out a loud laugh. Hazel's mouth dropped, her head snapped towards Gavin. "How is any of this funny to you?"
"It's not, you just sound like a fucking Android!" Gavin laughed. Hazel stiffened and her hands began to sweat. "Good impression of the tin can you got there." Her back crumbled as she cycled through statements to distance herself from her Android self. Hazel decided to stay quiet. She walked through the home, observing all the religious decorations. It gave her a queasy feeling in her stomach. There was a cross in the doorway and psalms embroidered in cloth and hung on the wall. Her sweaty hands trembled nervously. Hazel closed her eyes trying to get her nervous emotions to quell.
"You okay?" Connor asked. Hazel jumped opening her eyes. Glancing up, she saw Connor's concerned eyes. She removed her gloves stuffing them into her largest coat pocket. Her hands were making her gloves soggy. "Are you okay?" he soothed again. She weakly smiled at Connor before shifting her eyes away.
"It's okay…it may be a surprise to you…but I'm one of those atheists, so I feel a tiny bit uncomfortable," Hazel answered. All of that was hard for her to understand. Why would humans put another human on insane pedestal especially one that they have never met personally?
"An atheist? You're black, you can't be an atheist," Gavin called out from across the home. Hazel cringed closing her eyes again. Connor's hands twitched looking up from Hazel and at Gavin. Connor opened his mouth only to find Hazel already defending herself.
"I am…shouldn't we be investigating?" Hazel answered. She quickly walked away from Connor and into the master bedroom. An Ostrich Fern frond was laid neatly on the bed. Her shoulders dropped, she was hoping that it wouldn't be there. Entering the bathroom Hazel notice a few small droplets of blood near the drain. Androids wouldn't have missed that but humans would. Her anxiety rose, at Mrs. Johnson age she would no longer be menstruating. Mary Johnson was most likely deceased. Looking out the bathroom door, she didn't see Gavin, Hank or Connor. Quickly she placed her fingers on top of the dried droplet before placing it at her mouth. She licked the blood swallowing gently. It was Mary Johnson's and the sample was four days old. That would have been Saturday…three days before she was reported missing. She examined the tub looking for anymore blood or clues…nothing.
Checking again that the coast was clear, she removed a tissue from her pocket wiping all remaining blood remnants from her fingers. She stuffed the tissue back into her pocket. Connor entered the room examining the bedroom.
"There's a frond on the bed!" he called out to Hank. Carefully Connor checked under the bed, it was free of dust or any item that could have rolled under there, it was perfect, just the way the Cult liked things. Hazel watched as Hank entered the room from the bathroom door. She decided to process the blood again, there was someone else's DNA there.
"Shit," Hank grumbled as he walked around. Hazel stood uncharacteristically still in the bathroom. "Hey…" Hank called out to her. She was staring off into space blinking every so often. "Hazel!"
"There's blood in the bathroom tub…I thought it was just Mrs. Johnson's…but there seems to be at least three others," Hazel communicated wirelessly with Connor.
"Family?" Connor asked. Hank approached the woman, she must have been processing, but it was getting a little unnerving. Hank waved his hand in front of her eyes, nothing. Her eyes were fixated in front of her. Hank called her name, but it didn't break her out of her trance.
"No…they're not family…not with her at least…" Hazel answered.
"Hazel…you're worrying Hank," Connor replied. Hazel came to life jumping at how close Hank was to her.
"Shit! Don't do that!" Hank snapped. "You're gonna give me a heart attack." Hank's hand was on his chest as it rose and fell quickly.
"Sorry, I just got lost in thought," she answered sheepishly.
"Okay just be careful about getting 'lost in thought' around Gavin okay?" Hank ordered.
"Yes Lieutenant," Hazel answered. She stepped out of the bathroom allowing Hank and Connor to go in.
"There's blood in the tub," Connor noted. Hazel left the room walking to the back of the house. Mary Johnson's body had to be somewhere; it wasn't in the living room like it should have been. What about the others…who were they? Hazel noticed a flight of stairs heading down a dark corridor, probably a basement. Looking behind her Gavin was entering the kitchen and she could hear Hank and Connor discussing the blood samples. The other samples belong to two teens and toddler: Lily Scholl, 16, Warren Aaron, also 17, and Addie Aaron, 19 months. Hazel held her breath as she descended down into the darkness…it got colder with every step she took; Mary Johnson hadn't completely her basement. It was like a freezer down there. She felt along the wall finding a light switch. Closing her eyes she flipped the switch, seeing the red of her eyelids. Slowly she opened her eyes seeing four bodies sprawled out on the floor. The young 17-year-old boy was African-American, lied closet to Hazel, his legs bound together with duct tape. The Cult hadn't finished positioning their bodies. The deceased victims in San Francisco had their duct tape removed. He was lying face up between the legs of Mary Johnson who was lying face up between Lily's legs and Lily was lying between Addie's. Lily was a young white girl, her face stared up at the ceiling with a terrified expression on her face. She had died afraid. Addie was Lily and Warren's child. Four innocent people killed for no reason. The four individual had their arms positioned above their heads and curved slightly to resemble that of a fern.
Hazel's hands shook as they covered her mouth. She had seen this before in San Francisco but never with a child. The bodies were almost in perfect condition, the cold basement had slowed down the decomposition process. She approached the bodies, observing the other expressions on the other victims. The victims eyes were cold and glassy. Hazel felt her eyes begin to water, no she was a detective, she shouldn't be crying, but the warm tears flowed down her cold cheeks. Hazel looked around looking for a note, a reason why the cult would take four lives this way.
"Lieu…tenant," she cried out above her normal speaking volume. It wasn't loud enough for anyone to hear her and she knew it. It was just so hard the scene was so disturbing. She had to be strong; she had to figure this out for their sake. "LIEUTENANT!" she hollered. She didn't hear anything from upstairs. "LIEUTENANT" she screamed again, still nothing. Was the basement sound proof? She ran to the stairs. "LIEUTENANT ANDERSON!"
"You found something?" Hank called out.
"I found Mary Johnson and three others! F-Four homicides," she called back. Hank, Connor and Gavin quickly appeared at the top of the stairs. As Hank descended down the stairs, the first thing he noticed was Hazel's tear-filled eyes.
"Are you alright?!" Hank asked quickly descending down the stairs. Carefully he placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Yeah," she whispered a shaky hand wiping the tears out of her eyes.
"It's okay to cry," Hank soothed rubbing her shoulders. He peered over her shoulders seeing the bodies. The deceased toddler brought back difficult memories of Cole. Damn…why did they get the call so late? Why didn't they do anything more than look through the windows.
"No it's not, you're a detective Hazel, start acting like one!" Gavin barked. "You won't last long if you act this weak."
"Gavin!" Hank growled. Hazel rubbed the tears away giving a solemn nod, in some senses Gavin was right. "No don't nod, you're hu-man…it's alright to cry." Hank cringed, he wished he phrased that better, but there was nothing he could do right now with Gavin around. "Go upstairs, we'll handle things from here." Hank brought the numb woman to the staircase pushing her up the first few steps before her body took control taking her upstairs. "What do you have Connor?"
"I can only gather that they had their wrists slashes in the Master Bathroom upstairs and their bodies were taken one by one, starting with the toddler downstairs before being position down here. It doesn't look like they struggled. There is some bruising on the wrists, they were likely tied up before their wrists were slashed. It seems like they died four days ago," Connor answered. "I'm going to go upstairs and check on Hazel." Connor didn't wait for Hank's approval as he quickly proceeded upstairs.
"You're no fucking help then. There's a knife missing in the kitchen, most likely the murder weapon," Gavin answered. "Thought they only like blacks," Gavin peered over at Lily, a young white girl, "guess we have to be concerned now huh Hank?"
"Gavin", Hank let out a frustrated sigh, "Now isn't the time. We have families to contact. Call the coroner."
