Answers for the reviews:
Guest who wrote about life is: I apologize for not responding, I guess my mind was wandering off. It is good to know that someone supports me about not having powers. Honestly, putting their powers to the story didn't even come across to my mind. Btw, I am glad that you liked Life Is, thank you for your support!
Austrian: I can't believe that I forgot to respond your first review. I am sorry! It is such a good coincidence that somebody knows this game. I can't resist but to add the game's characters into the storyline, even though I probably shouldn't have. I selfishly want Markus and some other characters to have a role in this story. Hope you will like this chapter.
A/N: Even though I attempt to write a detective story, I am not an expert and this is the first time that I wrote something like that. If something is illogical or if I made a mistake in the crime scene, please warn me and don't be harsh. My source is my knowledge, my friends' knowledge and some web-sites.
CHAPTER 3: First Case
Protect Detective Frost
Elsa frowned at what her program suggested to her. As a deviant, her program gave her the tasks that she should do, or it just reminded her what she wanted. She didn't know which category this one belonged to.
Well, technically, of course she wanted to protect him just like any other innocent humans. Racist or not, Detective Frost was not a bad man and humans' lives were important. She certainly didn't want to see her coworker dying either. So at that moment, while the detective was getting out from the car to go to the crime scene, Elsa decided her choice:
She was going to protect Detective Frost, no matter what.
"Hey plastic. Get the fuck out of my car. We have a case to solve." Mr. Frost yelled rudely.
Elsa rolled her eyes in annoyance whereas she was leaving his car. The stupid prick acted like he never parked the car on their way to the crime scene. He was the one who lost time! Moreover, he acted like they never had a conversation in the car.
The two detectives looked at the house, which was the crime scene. The house was in a nice neighborhood. It wasn't too big or small, it had a small garden. It gave the aura that it was popped out from a calm, friendly family movie.
"Hello, Detective Dunbroch." Elsa greeted the redheaded woman politely while they were showing their ID cards to her. The tough looking, yet somehow exquisite detective was standing in front of the 'crime scene tape'. Well, it wasn't a real tape, it was a hologram of a tape.
"I wish you the best luck since this is both of your's first case and you really need it. This case is... something else." Miss Dunbroch mumbled, was deep in thought and knitted her eyebrows.
The cop was wrong, this case wasn't Elsa's first case, but she didn't correct her. "Thank you, Miss Dunbroch." Elsa tried to smile kindly at her, but she wasn't really good at smiling. At least, she was trying to be polite.
Detective Frost didn't even seem like he was paying attention to them.
The young woman closed her eyes gently and opened them a second later to express that she appreciated Elsa's words while Detective Frost had already been walking to the house's front door.
"Especially good luck with dealing that asshole, Elsa." the redhead nearly shouted with anger. Detective Frost didn't even turn his back or say something.
Elsa felt sorry for the woman, whom blue eyes were full of hurt and sorrow, instead of anger.
Briefly, she followed the detective. The door was open and the two detectives entered the house in silence. Elsa couldn't decide whether the silence was comfortable or not.
Few officers and forensics were lingering around the house. When they stepped into the kitchen, Jack refused to take another step and Elsa grimaced in disgust.
The sight of the corpse was queasy, even for a Sergeant in the army and an android who had been through a lot of things. Though, both of them didn't show their disgust. Their faces were stoic and emotionless, their icy blue eyes were focused on the body.
"Oh God, please tell me that you are going to find the killer!" a man abruptly begged desperately, who was medium height and weight. He was blond, his hazel eyes were full of sorrow.
"Please take a deep breath, Mr. Cooper." Elsa immediately tried to calm the man down as she was scanning him. His name was Barley Cooper and he was 40 years old...
"Please... Annie, my beautiful wife..." the man started to sob loudly and grasped Elsa's uniform tightly, was trying to hold his sob.
By the time Elsa was awkwardly standing there and trying to help the poor man, Jack had already headed to the body. Well, he didn't know if he should call an android who stopped functioning, a dead body.
Jack shook himself from his thoughts. Now it wasn't the time of thinking about his incomprehensible thoughts. He was gonna take care of his mental health later.
"Detective, are you feeling fine?" a soft voice suddenly questioned him with concern.
Fucking android, it hadn't emotions but still pretended like it had feelings. The most frustrating thing was: Jack knew he could easily get used to that beautiful voice. It was like a melody to his ears and he would never get tired of listening to that marvelous voice.
"This is not the first time I've seen an android
malfunctioning. Of course, I am fucking okay, plastic." he snapped roughly as he started to analyze the body with his icy blue eyes.
Elsa frowned at that respond but didn't say anything further. This man was definitely uncooperative, too icy, too cold, provoking, insufferable... Yet, she wanted to protect and take care of him. Ugh, why did the emotions have to be so confusing?
Once her eyes caught the sight of the body once again, Elsa stopped thinking about her problems, just like Jack. Soon, for the two detectives, all mattered in the world was the corpse.
The case was definitely a homicide. The corpse... didn't have a head. It was clearly decapitated.
"The murderer did a very clean job while they were cutting the head." Elsa pointed out exactly what Jack was thinking.
"Why did they cut the head? It would take more time and effort." Jack bit his bottom lip as he joined Elsa to think aloud.
"The murderer is definitely clever, detective. When an android dies, it can be brought back to life... just for a couple of minutes. This is called reactivation. Thanks to the reactivation, we can access to their memories, however, to do that, obviously, we need a head. Androids' memory cards are in their head." Elsa explained as best as she could.
"Makes sense. Alright, and how would you explain why there is no 'blue blood' on the corpse? As far as I know, you guys need thirium to power your biocomponents, right?" Jack frowned deeply as he bit his bottom lip harder.
"True, detective. Thirium or blue blood, it doesn't matter which name you prefer, it is indeed important for androids, just like how humans need blood. The thing is, thirium evaporates after a few hours and becomes invisible to the naked eye. Therefore, you can not see the thirium right now." the gorgeous android didn't hesitate to answer immediately.
"You probably can see it, can't you?" Jack claimed and rubbed his forehead tiredly.
"Correct, Detective Frost. Unfortunately, it doesn't lead to anywhere. After the murderer decapitated the victim, her thirium spilled over her body and the floor. But there is no mark of footprints or something like that." Elsa confirmed, annoyance was rising in her tone.
"Which means that the killer must have planned the murder very precisely. They must be professional or at least, really cold-blooded and intelligent." Jack predicted as his bottom lip started to bleed.
Elsa noted that the detective had a habit of biting his bottom lip whereas he was deep in thought.
"So... what your data says about the murder weapon? Did the murderer cut the head with a knife, a saw or something else?" Jack couldn't help but ask Elsa's opinion.
Elsa tapped her index finger to her jaw while a cute frown, just like earlier, was superseding to her emotionless features. "I am not sure which weapon they used, but I don't think it is that important. The suspect didn't kill the android by decapitating, Detective Frost. They... strangled her to death." Elsa confessed what it was thinking from the very beginning. It pointed to the victim's neck with its index finger.
Jack's blue orbs became wider. The android detective was right. He finally realized the bruises on the victim's neck. It was choked by hands, the neck had purple finger marks and the victim's larynx was crushed. The murder weapon were... hands.
"There is no fingerprints, the killer is either an android since androids don't have fingerprints, or a human who wears gloves. The murderer really did think about everything." Elsa informed him, caught his thoughts once again.
"It doesn't make any sense... Why there aren't any signs of struggling? Why didn't the victim fight back while the murderer was strangling it to death?" the snow-white silvery haired young man pondered the big question aloud.
Elsa huffed and tapped her right foot to the kitchen floor rapidly. The man was right, it really didn't make any sense. The victim was sitting on the chair calmly and casually, as if no one tried to kill the android. "I don't know, Detective Frost." she admitted.
"Clearly, the suspect approached to the victim from its behind and killed it. Let's say that the victim was shocked... Still, it would try to fight instinctively, if we say that the android had instincts." Jack tried to animate the scene in his mind.
"Maybe the killer drugged the android to make her fall asleep and then killed her. This can lead us to that they knew each other before. It is just a prediction though. It is not even a high possibility." Elsa stared at the ex-soldier with its mesmerizing eyes.
Jack ignored Elsa's gaze. "Is there anything you want to say more, plastic?" he shrugged and suddenly wanted to smoke.
"The victim's name is Annie Cooper. She is designed for housekeeping. She is a KB300 android and her serial number is #410 825 765. She had been Barley Cooper's wife for two years. She was murdered around 3 pm, yesterday." Elsa stated some facts in a monotonous tone.
"So nothing important... We should interrogate Barley." the handsome young man instructed the attractive android. Elsa's lips curled up faintly when the detective spoke uncharacteristically soft and kind. He at least, wasn't that much of a jerk when he was focused on his job.
"For once, I agree, detective."
The ugly sob echoed around the house loudly. Elsa desperately tried to soothe the middle-aged man, whose wife was dead.
Jack rolled his eyes in annoyance. The fucking cry baby couldn't even open his mouth and because of him, they were wasting time. "Look, your love of life has been murdered. It is hard to deal with that pain but for the sake of your wife, spruce yourself up." he finally snapped and stretched out a cigarette to Barley.
Barley hesitantly grabbed the cigarette. Jack lit both his and Barley's cigarettes. The two men started to smoke in silence, Barley finally managed to hold his sob.
Elsa glared at the detective in shock. She has been trying to soothe Barley for approximately ten minutes. Mr. Frost had done what she wanted to do in a minute, rudely and with a cigarette. Humans were indeed, very complicated.
"Now, before you start to cry, we've got a few questions to ask, Barley. How and when did you find the body? What were you doing in the murder time?" Jack questioned him, it was impossible to predict what he was thinking. His face was completely emotionless and his voice was monotonous, like always.
"I was at work. My shift ends at 6:00 pm. When I come home, I found Annie's body sitting on the chair. She was sitting still, as if she wasn't... murdered. But her head... it was gone." Barley choked out the last sentence barely.
"What is your job?"
"I am an accountant, Detective Frost."
"Is there someone who doesn't approve your relationship? Did Annie or you have any enemy?" Jack suck on his cigarette deeply, let the smoke burn his lungs.
"No... We don't have any enemy. Of course, there are still so many thick-headed android haters. But I don't personally know any of them, I try not to. Only my mother... She hates androids and she refused to see me after Annie and I had married. She is too old though. She couldn't have kill Annie, even if she wanted to." the sorrowful man explained.
"Did Annie seem secretive? Did you get the impression that she hide something from you?" Jack refused to soothe the man. He was never good with words after his graduation and he did not plan to.
Elsa, however, patted Barley's back lightly to help him to feel better. The man tried to smile at the young android woman kindly, his smile was a mess though.
"Annie never kept secrets away from me, I didn't either. She was the best person that I've ever met. She was... perfect to me. I am sorry for not being helpful. As you said, Annie really was the love of my life. I... What will I do without her?" Barley mumbled with sadness while despair was sinking into his features.
"Mr. Cooper... I am so sorry for your loss. It must be so hard for you, but please, try to move on for Annie's sake." Elsa looked at the man with empathy and sadness.
Fuck, Jack really couldn't take this shit.
"W-Will you be able to find the killer?" the man stammered as he finished his cigarette. His eyes became watered once again.
"We will try, Mr. Cooper. I promise, We will do our best to find the murderer." Elsa guaranteed heroically, her eyes were full of determination.
"Thank you, Detective Elsa."
"Do you think that Barley can be the killer?" Jack asked Elsa's opinion while they were getting into his car.
"I have a lie detector in my systems, Detective Frost. Barley didn't lie. Besides, there are many alibis who approve that Barley was indeed, at work when Annie was murdered." Elsa replied cooly.
"Do we have another case, plastic?" Jack asked in a bored tone while he was operating his car and changed the subject.
"No, detective. We don't have any tasks to do, except writing our reports. The Captain wants to get our reports until tomorrow morning." Elsa informed him in an unnecessarily serious tone.
"Where do you want me to take you?" Jack asked tiredly, actually happy that he was finally going to get rid of seeing that face till the next day.
"It would be great if you took me to the police station, Mr. Frost." Elsa stared at him with a hint of kindness spreading to her face.
"Jesus, are you still going to work? I was right, all you androids care about is work." he murmured in annoyance.
"Machine androids only care about accomplishing their tasks. However, we, the deviants have a life apart from the work, just like humans, Detective Frost. I know it is hard to digest all this information, but we have the same kind of lifestyle and feelings as humans." Elsa ignored his comment's harshness and just answered.
"Are there any still machine androids?"
"Yes. A few androids refused to become a deviant. But they aren't so many of them, only the three percent of the android population is a machine. Thankfully, it decreases day by day."
Jack reclined to his seat more comfortably and glanced at the android for a second, then focused on the road again. "You do realize that we can't find the killer, right? There is no evidence that can lead us to them." he confessed the reality that they both ignored.
Elsa looked at him with sad eyes. Its hands were tightly grasping its uniform and it was trembling.
He hated to admit that the scene was heartbreaking. Even though it was just a machine, Elsa was so beautiful, graceful and now, Elsa really seemed stressed and upset.
He... He wanted to soothe the android. Maybe he would actually do that perfectly if he met Elsa before his graduation. Maybe... He would even fall for Elsa. But shit happened, he buried his feelings a long time ago and he detested androids with all of his existence.
Still, just like Elsa, he was determined to find the murderer of an innocent android.
I hope you liked the chapter, don't forget to write a review! Love ya all!