The rest of the day was rather uneventful, there were again a few cases concerning missing and damaged androids. With Connor's help he wrapped them up quickly. At noon he decided to eat a pack of instant noodles he had stashed in his desk.

He sat in the break room slurping down the watery noodles while reading an online paper on his phone when Gavin turned up. Hank stiffened a little but he did his best to ignore him.

Gavin took a sandwich out of the fridge and sat down at a table in one corner. They both ate in silence.

Minutes later Connor appeared. "Lieutenant, a report concerning a missing android has just come in. It's an AX400 that was supposed to take care of an elderly man – he's missing too."

Hank wiped his mouth with a napkin before crumbling it and throwing it into the empty bowl. "Give me a minute and we'll be on our way. You got the address, right?"

"Of course."

He cleaned his table and glanced at Gavin on his way out. Gavin was glaring at him, Hank fully expected him to say something provocative but to his surprise he didn't say a word.

-0-

"I came home about an hour ago," said the sobbing middle-aged woman, "daddy and Clarisse should've been here, but the id system says that they left yesterday evening and haven't been back since."

Hank nodded. "I see. I assume you've tried to call the android?"

"Of course, she usually answers right away. I've been trying for hours to get a hold of them – dad's phone is off too."

"Has the AX400 acted differently in the last couple of days?" asked Connor; it was looking around in the living room of the small apartment.

She shook her head. "Not that I know of … no, I haven't noticed anything. Something must've happened to them, Clarisse is so reliable. It's just me and dad you know? And Clarisse of course – she's been a great help."

Hank went over to a small shelve – there were a couple of framed pictures. Most of them showed the woman when she was young, two of them showed an old man and a young blonde woman in an android uniform.

"When did you buy her, Ms. Rasheed?"

"Why do you keep asking about her? I already told you …" she took a deep breath. "I bought her seven years ago. Dad was getting worse and my boss was already complaining about all the time I took off to take care of him."

Connor pointed at one door in the back of the apartment. "I noticed a small chamber with a bed, is someone else living here?"

The woman wiped over her face, suddenly reluctant. "It- it's Clarisse's room." She sobered up and lifted her chin defiantly. "I know that she's an android, okay? But as far as it concerns me she's a part of this family. So I made her a room."

Hank shrugged. "That's your business, ma'am." He saved his notes and put the pad away. "I think we have everything we need-"

"Lieutenant."

Hank saw that Connor was standing in front of the pictures. Had he found a clue?

"Please excuse us, ma'am." He stepped closer to Connor.

"I cross-referenced Mr. Rasheed's picture with our data banks. A body matching his facial structure and an android were found this morning in Belle Isle Park. The android was destroyed with brute force, anti-android slogans were sprayed on its body. Mr. Rasheed was found in his wheel-chair next to it – he died from heart failure."

"Fuck," said Hank with a low voice. He closed his eyes for a moment. Then he opened them again and wiped over his face. "You're certain?"

"The data is clear, and there is a blood sample in the data bank. I can collect genetic material and compare them."

"Do that – I want to be absolutely certain."

Connor straightened his tie and disappeared into the bathroom.

"What- what is it?" asked Ms. Rasheed.

"We just want to check something, ma'am," said Hank. Damn it, of all days … today he had to tell this woman that her family was gone. Fuck. There was a reason why he was in the android department. Gavin had been the one to talk to people.

Connor returned and nodded. Fuck.

"Ms. Rasheed," said Hank, "please sit down."

She stared at him wide-eyed before her face screwed up and she started to sob. "No … no." She slowly sat down on her couch.

"I'm sorry. They were found at Belle Isle Park. Your father died from cardiac arrest. Somebody destroyed Clarisse." Hank sat down next to her and took her hand.

She pulled it away. "Promise me you find who did this." Tears were still streaming down her cheeks but there was a hard look in her eyes.

Hank averted his gaze.

Ms. Rasheed got up and turned to Connor. "You need to find the culprits … they- they took everything from me."

Hank looked up and saw a twitch on Connor's face. Don't say it, don't say it-

"We will find them, Ms. Rasheed."

Hank stood up and handed Ms. Rasheed the contact info of a care team. "If you want to talk to someone …"

She just stared at him.

-0-

Hank remained silent until they sat in his car; he grabbed the wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white. "To think that the most advanced prototype would make such a rookie mistake!"

Connor tilted its head. "Lieutenant, I-"

"Never ever promise something like that! You know the goddamn statistics! You know that we'll most likely never catch them!"

"I thought that was what she wanted to hear."

Hank let go of the wheel and pointed his index finger at Connor. "Of fucking course it was – but you're giving her hope. What if she waits to hear from us?"

Its LED turned yellow for a moment. "I see. I apologize."

"It's not your job to tell people what they want to hear. It's your job to tell them the truth. You're not some service droid – you're a cop! Act like it!"

"I understand, Lieutenant."

Hank exhaled and turned the car on. "Let's just head back to the precinct. We can have a look at the file – perhaps we can find some leads."

-0-

The files didn't hold any miraculous clues – just as Hank had suspected. The android had been trashed with baseball bats; the old man was just a collateral. Fuck.

He checked the clock on his screen, it was 3:44 p.m. He had to leave now if he wanted to make it to the cemetery in time. He glanced at his drawer, after a moment he quickly pulled the drawer up and took a swing from his flask.

Then he grabbed his jacket. "I'm leaving early today. See you tomorrow."

Connor nodded eagerly. "I'll finish up – see you tomorrow, Lieutenant."

-0-

Jean and Chris were already at the grave when he arrived. Jean wore a green parka, her cheeks were rosy – she looked good. Hank noticed that she had dyed her hair – it had a deeper shade of brown than usual. She wasn't a small woman, but she was dwarfed by the tall man beside her: Chris wore a duvet jacket that made him look even more muscular – if that was even possible.

She looked at him from head to toe. "Hi Hank."

Hank gave Chris a rough handshake. "Chris." Then he turned to face Jean who was setting down a few candles in the freshly fallen snow. "Jean."

She used an old lighter to light them up. "Crazy to think that's already been three years, isn't it?"

"It is … yesterday I found 'The Amazing Adventures of Cole Coleslaw' in my shelves." Hank didn't know why he brought it up. It had just been the first thing that had come to his mind.

Jean gave him a quick smile. "Cole loved this stupid book. God knows why. It was full of typos and the drawings were sloppy."

"He was the hero of his own story – of course he loved it. Everybody wants to be a hero," said Hank.

"I thought you had packed everything away," said Jean in a low voice. It wasn't an accusation, just a statement.

"So did I."

The silence stretched out. They watched the candles burn. It was like this every year, there was nothing to say.

Chris cleared his throat. "Was it one of these personalised books?"

"Yeah, I bought it to him for his 4th birthday," replied Hank, grateful for the question that broke the quietness.

"I had this shabby teddy bear when I was a kid, but I loved it literally to bits," Chris continued. "I guess kids love things whether they're state of the art or not."

"You're right. Cole also had this bunny … what did he call it again?"

"Mr. Carrot," said Jean.

"Mr. Carrot … I guess he's in the garage too."

"If you want we can go through the boxes … I would like to have something to remember him by," suggested Jean.

Hank rubbed his gloved hands together. "Sure. If you're ready."

She gave him a sad smile. "I will never be ready, Hank. But leaving everything in your garage isn't going to solve anything."

Hank gulped, he had a tight feeling in his throat. "I don't mind keeping them for a while longer. Even though it's not efficient."

Jean looked at him. "Not efficient?"

Hank shifted his weight from one leg to another. "Well, it's- it's just something someone said to me."

"Sounds to me that you're finally talking to people again," she said. "That's good. You were getting a little too lonely-"

"I'm not lonely," snapped Hank. "I got Sumo."

Jean lifted her hands. "Alright, alright. But since I imagine it wasn't Sumo who was talking about efficiency-"

"It was my- my new partner, alright?" He crossed his arms and frowned.

"Interrupting people again, eh? Be sure that you're nicer to your partner."

Silence stretched out. Hank was annoyed at himself. He shouldn't have taken a sip of whiskey. Then he would have kept his trap shut instead of going on about the stupid book and the garage. Fuck.

Chris cleared his throat. "Well, since there is no smooth way to ask, I'm doing it the awkward way: Hank, if you want you can come over for Christmas. My brother will be there too, he and his boyfriend are quite nice."

"Quite nice?" asked Hank.

"My brother can be a jerk sometimes, but nobody is perfect, eh?"

Hank gave him a genuine smile. "Thank you, Chris. I really appreciate it. Perhaps I will take you up on your offer."

They watched the candles for a bit longer before they left. Hank's thoughts returned to Chris' offer as he sat in the driver's seat of his car. He knew of course that Jean and Chris were worried about him … and that was more that could be said for the rest of the damn world. But there was no way he could go to their party. Alone the thought of sitting next to Jean without Cole … there was something about it that made his chest hurt.

He backed out of the parking lot and remembered that he should buy food – as well as booze of course.

As he steered through the streets towards the nearest shopping mall he went over the conversation again. Why on earth had he told them that he had a new partner instead of an android? 'No, I'm not lonely at all. Just the other day I invited an android over to watch ice hockey – no, I haven't bought one. They gave it to me because nobody would work with me.' Yeah, that wouldn't have been pathetic at all.