The loud automobiles of Mega City one were deafening in the late afternoon. The smoggy air clouded the sky, with the sun starting it's descent. It was still light out, but sunset wasn't far off either. Anderson kept her cruise speed. It was such a slow day. It was busy of course but also slow as far as the severity of the crime she responded to. There were a few assaults, which ended in arrests. Others were parking violations, and some graffiti artists sent to juve-cube. It was nothing she couldn't handle. That was the problem. She was looking for something bigger. Everything that was "intense'' was quickly scooped up by male judges in an instant. Ever since the whole Peach Trees incident, she was praised as a hero. Everybody congratulated her for such a job well done. Many were impressed, but she didn't see it that way at all.
That whole incident had made big news, and was extremely infamous throughout the city. It had corrupt judges, drugs, murder, and a case solved. Every news reporters dream come true. Ever since then, everything else seemed small. It felt like everybody was expecting her to be this legendary cop, but she felt like she would never live up to such a degree ever again. How could she follow up after that?! After it happened the chief judge assured her that it was completely normal to feel that way after "a big one." Especially since it was her first case. Still after two years she envisioned the job would pick up and be more lively. That's probably why Dredd told her after she left to be an independent judge that it wasn't all gun fights and car chases.
Anderson was listening to control for anything nearby. So far all the reports listed were far off in the distance across the city. By the time she would get there, the criminals would be long gone. Anything close that she offered to take was immediately shut down by a judge that was much "closer" than she was. Though she knew what they meant by closer.
"Respond to the Geisha Bank. We have a casualty. Foul play suspected." She wasn't too far off at all. Just a few blocks.
Finally something that she could get behind. She got contact with control. "Anderson to Control, I've got Geisha Bank." She was thankful that nobody was calling for this one. Everybody probably exhausted themselves by taking calls. She sped off a little too anxiously.
When she arrived, citizens were looking at the bank, desperately trying to see what was happening. A few pointing their phones toward the bank. She activated crowd control on her bike to keep interference to a minimum. She made her way through the crowd, but saw somebody had cordoned off the crime scene. She stepped over the tape seeing the last person she would've expected.
"Nice to see you again, Rookie." Dredd said deeply in his throat. Before Anderson could ask why he didn't respond to control he rang in. "Dredd to Control providing back-up at Geisha Bank."
"Copy that."
She rolled her tongue in her cheek. She walked into the lobby. "I didn't ask for back-up." She said, looking up at him. She could sense that turning him down would be pointless. He seemed to be interested in this call.
He walked at a hasty pace. "Correct, but this is the fifth reported casualty at a large bank. I've responded to two of the previous four, and they were extremely similar." The pair walked toward the deeper areas of the building. "If this one matches the others, we'll know that this is a pattern. Patterns often mean there's a serial killer."
So much for having this one to herself. Anderson followed till they met up with the Bank manager. The round short freckle faced lady was obviously a bit hysterical. They asked the woman her name and what had happened. She trembled as she explained. "I was going to the vault to retrieve some valuables. When I entered, there was a man laying on the floor of the vault!" She held her hands over her eyes.
They walked into the vault. When they approached, it seemed the body was laid down, not fallen over. Dredd looked closely, and the body matched the others. A middle aged man, slightly overweight, with no credits on his person at all. Dredd gave a slight glance to the lady. "You haven't entered the vault at all?" She shook her head. "Has anybody else?" She shook her head once more. He turned him over. He was blue in the face, with swollen lips, and his eyes were red. "Rookie. What do you think?"
She corrected him. "Please Judge Anderson if you don't mind, sir." She sighed. "I'm assuming a robbery gone wrong?" She looked. "He opened the vault, walked in, it closed behind him, and he suffocated in the vault."
"That's wrong." A tall stiff looking man said. He had a gray suit on, and a pink handkerchief in his pocket. "We got footage of the incident, and… well you might wanna look at this." He led them toward the security room, and played the footage. The man started the footage from the last time the vault was open to the manager opening the vault. He went through the footage, and slowed it to her walking up, opening the vault and jolting backwards running away from the vault. "Nobody went in, and nobody came out."
Dredd took note of it. "I've seen this before. In the other instances something from the vault was missing. Once we get the body to the lab, we recommend you count the inventory of credits. I guarantee some are missing." He held his arm up. "Dredd to Control, I have one body for the lab. Requesting identification of the body as well."
"Copy that."
When he called for the lab, Anderson was confused. "You don't think this is suffocation?"
He shook his head. "No." He moved quickly out of the bank. "The other victims had bruising on their neck. I'm certain this one will have bruising within hours." He stated, not giving her a glance. It was clear he still saw her as a rookie. "So what do you make of it after seeing the footage."
The body laid at her feet, and she stared blankly at it thinking of the only explanation she could. "Bugging the system. Suspects hacked the cameras to avoid being caught."
"Likely." Was all he said.
After a few minutes paramedics retrieved the body for examination. They lifted it up onto the cot and covered it up to keep out of public view. Anderson sighed as they were carrying it to the hall of justice for an autopsy. As they carried it she listened to Dredd's thoughts. He was thinking about the dead man's arm that faced them. A deep burn mark was present on the arm. As it passed them she focused. It was in the shape of a curled up fox outline. It was made by branding. That was something to look into.
Dredd knew that she saw the brand. "That mark wasn't on the others. That's new."
They left the scene, and reopened the bank taking down the tape. Once the crime scene was cleared, they sped off toward the hall of justice. This would take up whatever time that was left of their shift.
Anderson wrote down a report. She listed every person involved. The man found in the bank vault, his condition, and would fill in more later when he was properly identified, and writing out an amount concerning the credits that somehow vanished. As far as the missing credits, as of yet there was no report of missing credits, but Dredd was probably right, as usual. She was almost done, and made extra sure to include the curled up minimalistic fox shaped insignia branded onto his arm. It would likely be scanned through the database for a matching tattoo of current prisoners. Her day was officially over in five minutes. She decided to stay put in her seat till then. No point in getting back on the bike.
Dredd came over with two cups of synthi-caf, and placed one on the table in front of her. "We'll be taking care of this case together." He said making sure she knew she would be seeing him around more. She assumed that with the brand he would be making progress on who was robbing these banks. The man brought the cup to his mouth taking a gulp of the drink. He wanted to ask her if she wanted him to walk her to the sector houses. It rattled in his mind. She could sense it. She picked up the cup and nodded. "Kind offer. I accept."
He watched her get up, then sighed standing up taking his own cup. She placed the report in a pan to turn in tomorrow. As they walked Anderson was just happy the day was over and she could chill out, and maybe get a meal in her stomach. Dredd however was thinking about the case. She could tell it was on his mind. Either it was his obsession with his job, or the fact that he was on this case longer. Either way he was certainly a distracted man.
He saw a few kids sitting at a bench on the curb. The sun was down, which made him attentive. He checked the time. "Don't be out after curfew." He growled. They all nodded in agreement. The one who seemed to be the authority figure signaled that they should clear out.
Anderson smirked. "Did I ever tell you that you're great with kids?"