Richard silently approached his counterpart and placed an energy bar on the desk. "You must be starving, detective," the android stated with some concern, "I know how much you enjoy s'more flavored foods," he placed a hand on his tired partner's shoulder, "I brought you this protein bar from the break room. Hopefully it will hold you over until I prepare dinner in the evening," RK900 smiled with kind eyes.
Gavin remained mute in his chair as he scanned the numerous open files on his terminal, his hand gingerly resting on his cheek.
Richard drew his brows together, worry dominating his features. "How're you feeling?" the android raised a brow, "I've been monitoring your vitals these few days and am very pleased with your recovery speed. No fever and no coughing," RK900 stated with a satisfied expression. "But I want to hear from you," he concluded.
Again, the brunet refused to speak as his eyes followed the overwhelming amount of text on the monitor.
Richard let out a small sigh, "Gavin," he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, "You've been staring at that screen all day."
"It's called working," the brunet sardonically retorted.
The machine looked to the computer only to see more archived records about the officer's former mentor. He arched his brows in sympathy before glancing back at Gavin. "Detective, it's been two days and we've yet to see this Julia that Reggie advised us to speak with," the android leaned against the desk, "The ball is only three days from now and all we've been doing is attempting to discern John's motives."
Gavin scoffed, offended by his partner's words. He turned his head to meet Richard's stare, "I'm not going anywhere until I figure out why the fuck John's doing this shit," he bitter stated, anger evident in tone.
"While I understand this is very difficult for you," Richard furrowed his brows, "I believe we're wasting time."
The officer's eyes rounded, startled by his partner's words. He shot a menacing look at the machine, "Fuck you," he got up from his chair and pressed a finger into the android's chest, "He was like a father to me," the detective let out a shaky breath as he tried to hold himself together. "H-he was like a father," Gavin reiterated, his hand beginning to quiver.
Richard shut his eyes momentarily as his partner's saddened cadence nearly caused his heart to implode. He then softly gripped the officer's hand, "I know, Gavin," the android expressed before pulling the detective into an embrace.
Gavin's eyes shot open, his partner's hug catching him off guard. He stood there for a few seconds, cheeks burning up before he lowered his lids and hesitantly brought his hands around the machine. The detective placed his head against Richard's broad chest, his heart pounding as a result of the android's gentle touches.
"I can't imagine how hard this is for you, Gavin," RK900 began, "I know you're hurting and I know emotional wounds as deep as this require time to heal," he stroked the back of the brunet's head. "But unfortunately, I don't think there is philosophical reasoning behind John's actions," he looked to his partner, "I truly do believe his anger simply festered and drove him to perform these horrid murders."
Gavin drew his brows together before letting out an elongated sigh. He pulled away from his counterpart, "As much as I fucking hate to admit it," he slowly shook his head, "I think so too, tin can," he expressed through narrowed eyes, "And I think that's why it hurts so goddamn much. It hurts because there's no justifiable reason behind all this bullshit."
Richard placed a hand on the detective's shoulder, "We should go pay Julia a visit," he suggested in a soft tone, "That way, we'll have the apparel necessary for the masquerade ball," he smiled, "Plus, it'll help get your mind off of all this," the android pointed out. "Then, we can devise various plans regarding detaining Sergeant Miller," RK900 proposed with determination, "We have the tickets, all that remains is obtaining the suits and finalizing a strategy."
Gavin looked to the ground, "Yeah," he nodded, "Yeah, you're right," he glanced up at the android with tired eyes. "Help me clean all this shit up," he pointed to the desk, "Then we'll head out."
As the pair began gathering all the files littering Gavin's workstation, the brunet noticed what looked like red paint on the handle of one of his drawers. "Hm?" he raised a brow, "The fuck is this?" the detective moved closer to the drawer.
Richard turned his head to look at the handle, "Dry paint?" he shot a perplexed look.
Gavin opened the drawer before his eyes widened in horror.
The android noticed the sheer terror on his counterpart's face. "Gavin?" he asked, LED changing to a concerned yellow.
"My gun," the brunet looked to his partner, "My spare gun's gone."
Richard's eyes snapped open as he analyzed the detective's statement.
"Wait, wait, no," Gavin shook his head, "No, no, no!" he began to panic as he realized the drawers below that he normally kept locked had been broken into.
RK900 watched, a sense of uneasiness surging through his circuits, as the brunet opened the lower drawers.
"No," Gavin arched his brows, a defeated expression shrouding his face. His broken-heartedness quickly transformed into hatred, "Fuck!" he yelled as he slammed his hands on his desk.
"Detective," Richard inched closer to his counterpart, "What's going on? What happened?" he asked as his eyes darted up and down Gavin's fretful features.
"They took it," Gavin bitterly expressed between heavy breaths, "Someone took my mother's locket." He brought a hand to rub his eyes, "Goddammit. That was all I had left of her."
RK900 dragged the corners of his mouth into a saddened frown. He placed a hand on the brunet's back, "We'll find it," he reassured, "I promise we'll find it."
The detective grit his teeth as rage brewed in the pit of his stomach. Just as he was about to lose it, an idea dawned upon him. Gavin immediately turned his head towards the other workstations, scanning the area for Hank. The older officer was walking down a nearby aisle with Connor by his side.
Gavin waved down the pair, "Hey!" he shouted, attracting the attention of some other cops in the process. "Hank!" the detective yelled.
The Lieutenant peered to his right to meet the brunet's gaze. He let out an annoyed sigh, preparing for the worst as he motioned Connor to wait near his desk. RK800 obliged and proceeded to walk towards Hank's workstation as the Lieutenant slowly approached Gavin and Richard, dragging his heels in the process. "What is it, Reed?" Hank folded his arms across his chest.
"Did you see anyone at my desk over the last two—maybe three days?" the brunet asked with a fearful undertone.
"How the hell would I know?" the older officer shrugged, "We have cameras for a reason, Gavin," Hank expressed in an unamused manner.
The detective looked to the floor, confusion riddling his features. He rubbed the back of his neck before making eye contact with his superior once more, "Was John here yesterday?"
"Oh yeah," Hank nodded, "He stopped by but only for a little bit," the Lieutenant confirmed.
Millions of thoughts flooded the brunet's brain, almost instantly causing a skull splitting headache.
"Uh," Hank furrowed his brows, "You alright?" he raised his upper lip.
Gavin's eyes shifted to the older officer, "I-I'm fine," he nodded before slowly sitting back down in his seat, utterly shell-shocked.
The Lieutenant looked to Richard before cocking his head to the side as if asking the android for guidance.
The machine simply shrugged his shoulders, unable to provide an answer.
Hank blinked a few times, completely puzzled but decided to let it go. "Alright, well, I'll be at my station if you need me," he stated before beginning to make his way back to his desk.
Richard watched the Lieutenant walk off before glancing at his frozen partner. The android let out a small sigh before leaning in closer to his colleague. "Detective," RK900 began, "Please talk to me," the machine urged, LED stabilizing at a worried yellow hue.
"I think he's trying to frame me, Richard," Gavin expressed in a heartbroken tone, "I think he's gonna try and pin all this on me," he looked at the android with tearful eyes.
RK900 arched his brows, "You may be right, Gavin," he agreed, "It pains me to say it but there's a very high probability that that's the case."
The detective wiped at his eyes in an attempt to stop his premature shedding of tears before turning his head to gaze at the paint-covered handle of the top drawer. "I can't believe I'm asking you to do this," the brunet cringed, "But can you analyze the paint just to be sure?" he pleaded the machine, "I know it's fucking stupid but…I…I just wanna be sure," he expressed with a hint of desperation.
Richard smiled, "Of course, detective." The android picked at the dry paint and placed a small piece in his mouth.
"Fuckin' ew," Gavin looked away.
"Hm," RK900 took a moment to stitch up an analysis, "Unfortunately your speculations were correct. It is in fact the same paint as the ones we've been finding at our crime scenes," he shot an empathetic glance at his partner.
Gavin shut his eyes and remained silent for over a minute.
Richard continued to gaze at his perturbed partner, unable to determine what to say to dissolve the tense situation.
"You know," the brunet sighed, "I wish I could say that I've grown numb to this sort of thing," he chuckled, "But no matter how many times I tell myself I won't let shit like this happen to me…," he shook his head before biting down on his lower lip. "I'm such a fucking idiot," he brought a hand to his forehead.
"You are not an idiot," Richard sternly stated, "Don't ever say that again," he demanded with fierce eyes.
Gavin's eyes rounded before looking to his counterpart.
"You are so important to me, Gavin," Richard drew his brows together, "So so important," he grazed the officer's reddened cheek. "That's why I will be at your side through and through, until the end," he promised his blushy partner.
Gavin swallowed hard as he tried to prevent a knot in his throat from forming. He arched his brows before looking to the ground, "Again with the sappy crap, huh?" he softly laughed before glancing at the android. "Come on," the detective said, "I wanna look at the cameras in the surveillance room," he slowly got up from his chair, "The more incriminating evidence we get of John, the better."
Richard's eyes followed the officer's movement before he pushed off of the desk and accompanied his partner with a smile.
"Okay, let's see, let's see," Gavin trailed off as he examined the monitors in the room.
Richard looked around to see that they were the only two officers in the small room. He turned his head to gaze at the screens as his partner rewound yesterday's footage of the main work area of DPD central.
"He had to have been here during the day if Hank saw him," the brunet stated as he observed the tapes along with the android.
The pair watched the monitors intently, focusing on any suspicious activity occurring near the detective's desk.
"What the fuck?" Gavin creased his brows, "Where the fuck is h—"
"He's tampered with the footage," Richard expressed with worry. "Look at the time stamp, detective," RK900 pointed to the upper right corner of the monitor, "It jumps from 1:06 to 1:34 pm," he squinted his eyes, "There! You can see the red paint suddenly appear."
Gavin had no words. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. The brunet was so caught up in emotional turmoil, he didn't know how to respond.
"Gavin," Richard glanced at his distressed partner, "Try not to worry. The paint alone is fairly robust evidence against John. Just try to—"
The officer looked at Richard with an expression the android hadn't seen before. It was that of devastation—of utter fear. "He's spelling the name of the bar he took me to when I graduated from the academy."
RK900 raised a brow in confusion, "I'm not sure I follow, Gavin."
"The words," the brunet stated, "The words left at the crime scenes," he looked to the ground, "He's using the first letter of every word to spell out Solaris."
Richard remained quiet as he tried to understand his counterpart's claim. "If what you say is true, then that would mean there are two more victims left…not just Kamski."
There was an excruciatingly long pause.
The android's LED changed to a stressed crimson as he continued to scan his mute partner.
Gavin turned his head to meet RK900's stare, "Richard," the brunet's hands began to tremble, "I don't think Kamski's his final target," he expressed in a terrified tone.
Richard lowered his lids as he came to understand his colleague insinuation.
"He's gonna come after us," Gavin let out a shaky breath, "My God he wants to fucking kill you and frame me for it," he brought a hand to his mouth as he almost keeled over.
Richard quickly caught his partner before the brunet had a chance to fall to his knees. "Surely you know I can hold my own, Gavin," the machine reassured, "I don't want you fearing over my life."
"How can you say that?" the detective knit his brows as concern dominated his features, "Y-you're…" he dug his nails into RK900's jacket, "You're the only one I have left, dammit."
Richard's eyes shot open before he felt the detective hug him tightly. His thirium pump fluttered as he felt the brunet press into him.
"You can't fucking die," Gavin demanded, "You not allowed to," he looked at Richard, hot tears streaming down his face, "You hear me, asshole?"
The android lowered his lids before bringing a hand to wipe away the brunet's tears. "I hear you, detective," he smiled, "I promise you, nothing will happen to me," he tucked hair behind his partner's ear, "Now please, let's go get those suits. Time is our greatest enemy."