WARNING:
Darker chapter with mentions of suicide and rape. If these themes are something that you're uncomfortable with reading about or are mentally unavailable to read such dark scenarios at this time, please skip to the very bottom of the chapter for a "TL;DR" without all of the gruesome and unsettling details to negatively affect you. Thank you for reading!
It was a warm spring day that had enticed thousands of people out of their homes and into the city to escape the cold lull that winter had left behind. While a majority of people enjoyed wandering about the busy shopping plazas, roaming the many green parks all around Detroit or began strolling through the local zoo, a few people had elected to leave the city entirely for a few precious days. Since there was a lull in criminal activity and he had enough vacation days saved up to have a nice relaxing weekend away, Hank packed up Cole and Sumo to spend some time together at the preferred rented cabin along the lake. It was finally warm enough to take Cole stargazing with his telescope he got two Christmases prior, and Hank wanted to spend more time with his young son.
As a result of the impromptu vacation Connor had been left at the house to fend for himself and watch the property. The quietness and isolation of the house had been refreshing for the deviant to experience. He was finally able to be himself and do as he pleased without needing to worry about someone seeing him behaving more as a deviant than as a machine.
Connor laid over the length of the couch and listened to music playing on Hank's record player as he danced his coin back and forth between his hands in a graceful motion. The deviant found solace in music and would often play songs inside his own mind that other people could not hear, but being able to hear the music through large speakers and feel the bass radiating through his body made the melodies a tangible experience. Hearing and feeling the lyrics telling somber stories gave the deviant a strange sense of kinship in knowing that he wasn't the only one who felt out of place, powerless or alone in the entire world.
"Humans know how it feels to be ostracized, ignored and neglected, and how devastating it can be to one's mental health. And yet they won't acknowledge their role in making another person feel as if their very existence is a mistake that needs to be corrected and prevent such negative interactions from taking place."
Contemplating the illogic of human behavior and ideas only made Connor feel as if his time in the Anderson household was coming to an end. He'd have to leave the house and go find his place among his people eventually, and it seemed as if the chance to disappear without anyone noticing or having the chance to stop him was at that very moment. Connor was alone, Hank and Cole were over an hour away, and no one would even notice that he had vanished until after Hank and Cole returned home in two days.
Just as Connor was beginning to contemplate leaving the house and going in search of other deviants to band together and hide away from the city, two firm knocks on the front door pulled him out of his thoughts and back into reality. Sitting upright on the couch Connor cybernetically lowered the volume of the music on the record player before turning it off entirely. It seemed that Connor wasn't going to have the entire day entirely by himself after all.
The deviant put on his machine facade as he approached the front door and opened it wide to speak to the familiar person who had arrived at the house unexpectedly that afternoon. "How can I help you, Detective Reed?"
"Hey, 'Tinman', uh, I need your help on a case." Gavin admitted as he gave Connor a rather stern glance and ran his hand anxiously along the back of his neck. The tension in his posture, bloodshot hue of his eyes and the potent coffee aroma clinging to his clothing all pointed to Gavin working hard on a case while making very little progress. "I remember how great you were at solving that fake double-homicide case a couple years back and revealed it as a murder-suicide, and I know you've helped the Lieutenant with android cases not too long ago. I could use that help myself. You know, if it's okay to ask."
"You're... asking me for my help?" Such a notion left Connor thoroughly puzzled. In the alternate timeline Gavin never once asked for Connor's help before, and in general, no one asked him for anything in the current timeline - he was always being ordered about. "Wouldn't Captain Fowler object to such a request?"
"I already cleared it with Fowler since I've been stuck on my investigation for three days. At least hear me out before declining."
"Very well." Connor stepped back and allowed Gavin to enter the house. "I will attempt to assist you if it's possible."
"Right, cool. That's fair."
Gavin walked into the house and quickly brought Connor up to speed on the case that he was trying to close for the past three days. An elderly man with a great family fortune had been found dead in his bed with his wrists slit and a suicide note left beside the bed in what appeared to be the man's handwriting. What should've been an easy open and shut case of a tragic suicide became complicated when two copies of the man's will were brought forward to the police as evidence, and the two wills conflicted with each other in regard to who was to receive the inheritance left behind by the man after his death.
In the first will that had been discovered, the man had left his entire fortune - his estate, his business, his stocks and his investments - to his estranged daughter while leaving a comparatively small amount of money to his son. The daughter was heartbroken and informed the police that she had been given the will six weeks prior when her father was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, and that the family attorney was able to vouch for its authenticity.
The second will had bequeathed everything to the son while leaving the daughter with absolutely nothing. The son claimed that he had received the will two days prior in the mail, and that the same family attorney would vouch for the will's authenticity. In contrast to his sister, the son seemed more relieved than sad about the whole affair. The young man was a successful businessman like his father and was more than happy to cooperate with the police on the investigation.
The two wills written in the identical handwriting that also matched the suicide note, and they had the same witness and notary confirming the two documents had been written by the deceased's hand, were as compelling as they were confusing. It was difficult to determine which will was the correct will to be legally upheld.
To make matters all the more tense and complicated, the way the man's body had been discovered and how his body presented made it difficult to determine if the suicide was also authentic or if it had been staged. All of the details surrounding the death were very difficult to properly isolate and analyze, and as a result Gavin felt as if he was stuck trying to solve a puzzle without all of the proper pieces gathered together.
"The coroner's report came back with some strange details on top of everything that happened." Gavin confirmed as he hoped that Connor would be able to help him sort through the mess and finally figure out what happened that strange night. "Our dead guy had traces of the usual stuff that you'd expect from someone dying of cancer in his system, pain stuff mostly, but he also had a substantial amount of a potent sedative in his system too."
"To ingest a sedative before a suicide attempt is often used as a means of a person keeping calm when they inflict pain of themself, but for someone who is attempting to end their lives through exsanguination, they would want to avoid a sedative to ensure that they bleed out quicker with an elevated heartbeat and higher blood pressure." The attentive deviant noted as he processed everything Gavin had relayed. "That does seem to be unusual for this case."
"That's what I've been sayin', but Fowler thinks I'm looking for zebras instead of horses when I heard some hoofbeats." Gavin confirmed as he felt validated after hearing Connor agree with him. "I know that the vic's death wasn't as cut and dry as it seems to be. I wish that I had someone to back me up on this, but with the Lieutenant out of town and no one else interested in what I have to say, it's like I'm at a dead end."
"I agree that there's more to the investigation than what Captain Fowler is willing to confirm."
"You're the only one, too."
"This should be investigated further." Connor noted as he gave Gavin a nod of approval. "The victim should have their body reexamined by the coroner to look for any signs of physical trauma that cannot be connected to the suicide or the victim's cancer."
"Are you going to help me or what? I need someone who can do all that shit in the field and can do it without a bias in their assessment." Anxiously Gavin watched Connor's body language closely out of instinct as a detective, and out of a strange sense of intrigue instilled in him after learning more about androids through Abby and by generally interacting with androids from time to time. "Time might be a factor in whether or not I can close this case."
Connor could hear the sincerity in Gavin's voice as the previously abrasive detective pleaded for help without being condescending or rude in the process. "I will assist you with your investigation."
"Gr-Great! Thanks!" Gavin immediately perked up and let out a big sigh as soon as Connor agreed to help him out with the investigation. "Okay, let's head out to the mansion and check out the scene before Ben's team clears the mansion and we lose the chance to check out the place in person."
"Very well." Connor looked down at himself and decided it'd be best to trade his plain black t-shirt for his usual uniform for the sake of professionalism. "I'll be with you in just a moment, then we'll investigate the scene and give it a second look."
The extravagant mansion that had belonged to the deceased victim at the heart of the active case was located on a large expanse of lush green property on the far side of the city. The mansion itself had been cordoned off by the police with holographic lines and drones to ensure that the crime scene wasn't tampered with by anyone who might try to either destroy evidence or steal anything from the mansion itself for personal gain. With an active police presence in the area to ensure that the crime scene was left uncontaminated and unaltered by potential suspects attempting to hide their tracks, the investigating detectives should be able to uncover the truth and finally close the case properly.
As Gavin and Connor approached the mansion while walking side by side, one of the android officers posted as a guard attempted to stop Connor from entering the mansion despite Gavin's presence. The moment the android tried to prevent Connor from doing what he was there to do, Gavin interrupted the android and made it clear that Connor was there to work and not just watch over the place.
"Nope, none of that." Gavin snarked as he showed the android his badge and motioned to Connor beside him casually. "He's with me, and he has the same level of clearance that I do. No one is to get in his way."
Connor fought to mask his emotional response at being treated as a colleague and even being referred to as "he" had been a very unexpected and welcome change compared to what he had been subjected to in the past. It was strangely reassuring to be seen as a living being in the eyes of anyone but knowing Gavin's history of anti-android bigotry and having him vouch for any android seemed entirely foreign in concept.
"The vic's body was found in the master bedroom on the third floor in the East wing." The somewhat abrasive detective led the way through the large double door entryway of the mansion and proceeded to cross the expansion foyer to get to the long staircase that wound itself upward to the second and third floor landings of the staggering mansion. "Coroner had to take him and put him on ice before he started to decay, but there's plenty of photos and holographic images recreating the scene from the exact moment the police and medics showed up."
Silently Connor accompanied Gavin up the stairs and into the master bedroom. The odd side-eyes from the members of Ben's C.S.I. team documenting the scene and isolating odd samples for analysis on the ground floor didn't bother the deviant detective in the slightest. Being ignored and having people see right through him as if he wasn't even in the room is what hurt.
Being loved or hated were at least emotional reactions that confirmed some type of recognition. Indifference and ignorance were such nothing responses that it made Connor feel as if he was just that, nothing.
The smell of the dried blood in the master bedroom was potent to Connor's enhanced senses. He could find his way to the room where the man's body had been found without Gavin leading the way thanks to his keen observational skills. Unwilling to step out of line or say anything without good cause, Connor just followed after Gavin and reached the master bedroom to examine the scene of the potential suicide in person.
"Like I said before, the vic was found in his bed by his android butler three mornings ago. There was a razor blade found next to the bed alongside all of the guy's meds and a bottle of overpriced cognac." Motioning to the large bed Gavin let Connor take the lead and give the bed and surrounding area a thorough scan before making any further assessment regarding the case at hand. "Ben took the pills to be analyzed by people who know how to properly identify all that shit, and I have a list of everything, the amount of everything and the potency of everything prescribed to the rich geezer right here."
"All right. I can use that." Casually Connor began strolling around the bedroom and scanned the contents of the room while Gavin pulled his small notebook from his shirt's breast pocket and found the listed prescription drugs. "The victim lived in this mansion alone, save for his android butler, correct?"
"Yeah. 'Jeeves' is down in the kitchen standing perfectly still like he's a prop in a movie or some shit."
"There are five sets of unique shoeprints embedded in the carpet fibers that are four days old." Connor noted as he scanned the carpet and isolated the prints. Cybernetically Connor began uploading the information to Hank's terminal at the precinct knowing that Gavin would be able to pull the files for himself later on. "One set of prints matches the house slippers beside the bed, which confirms that our victim had four people in his bedroom in the past ninety-six hours that do not belong to the police, paramedics or coroner."
"All right. So our victim, Mr. Charles Benton, was a seventy-four year old widower with one daughter and one son." Gavin began listing off the details on the victim while Connor scoured the room in search of clues and details relevant to the investigation. "The wife, Jennifer Benton, died about fifteen years ago from ovarian cancer, and only after the wife died did their daughter, age forty-six Carol Benton, decide to reconnect with her family after running off at age fifteen."
"Why did Carol Benton cut ties with her family?" Connor asked as he scanned the bedding wear Charles had been found three days prior. There was a lot of dried blood on the formerly dark gray sheets that had soaked through to the mattress beneath, all indicative of someone bleeding to death in the bed. "That seems unusual and tragic for someone to stay away from their own family for thirty-one years."
"Don't know, didn't ask since her return to her dad's life didn't seem relevant to the case." Continuing on Gavin gave Connor some additional details to use as the deviant checked the room for evidence, traces, and the small details that the other detectives couldn't see. "Let's see, the vic's son, Maxwell Benton age thirty, was seemingly the golden child who was always a part of his parents' lives."
Connor froze for a moment as he contemplated all of the provided details before taking a look at Gavin's notebook for himself. "Interesting..."
"Find something good, 'Tinman'?"
"Perhaps." Keeping the details to himself for a moment Connor decided to work on his theory in private. "I need more details before I can say anything conclusive."
"Aside from the shoeprints, what else have you found?"
"The blood stains in the bed match that of Charles Benton according to the coroner's report that I was able to cybernetically download from the precinct."
"Uh, okay, that I had already figured out for myself." Gavin had to resist the urge to scoff as he listened to Connor relaying details that were rather obvious. "Anything else that can help us confirm or deny that this was a suicide or not?"
Pressing his fingertip to the dried blood stain for a moment Connor was able to pull up enough of a sample to test against his tongue. Ignoring the way Gavin quickly grimaced and looked away at the test, Connor ran the scan and performed a drug test on the blood itself. "The amount of sedative in the victim's blood does not match the behavior of someone who wanted to die by exsanguination."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Charles Benton had a prescription for a powerful sleeping medication with explicit instructions to never ingest said medication with alcohol or exceed the prescribed dosage." Connor explained casually as he finished the analysis and returned his focus to the shoeprints in the carpeting. "He has four times the recommended dosage in his blood at the time of his death, as well as a blood alcohol level of .10 according to the blood sample I had just taken."
"Meaning... what?" Gavin was becoming impatient as he waited for Connor to figure out the mess on his behalf after three days of dead-ends. "What do the drugs and alcohol have to do with anything? Rich old fuckers like to party in private all the time."
"By the evidence provided, I can confirm that Charles Benton did not commit suicide. He was murdered."
"Wait, you're sure? How's that?"
Connor lifted his palm and created a holographic image of the victim's slit wrists for Gavin to view again after he finished comparing his analysis to that of the coroner downtown. "Charles Benton would've been far too groggy, unstable and delirious to hold the razor to his wrist and cut so deeply and cleanly to effectively attempt suicide, let alone do it twice since both wrists were slit, with no sign of the razor being wobbly from a shaking, weak and drunken hand."
"Son of a bitch. The razor lines were too perfect, and I missed it." Rubbing his hand over his chin Gavin sighed and proceeded to pull his phone from his pocket to contact Captain Fowler and let him know of the recent discovery. "Now we need to figure out who did it and why. Got any guesses?"
"I'm currently working on it." Connor noted as he continued his assessment of the bedroom. "The other sets of shoeprints belong to four other people. One set I can confirm belongs to the butler; the type of shoes, the lack of external wear and tear, and the frequency of the shoeprints along the entire expanse of the room indicate someone who repeatedly wandered about this room on a daily basis for numerous years. The butler would be the only person who'd step all over the carpeting since it meant he was cleaning the room on a regular basis."
"So we got two of the five prints identified - our victim and the butler. Any idea about the other three prints?"
"One set of shoeprints belongs to a male who had walked about the room nearly as much as the butler, which indicates someone trusted who'd check in on Charles throughout the day. The style of shoes are of a high-end business style, which indicates someone wearing expensive shoes that are designed more to impress other people than for comfort."
"Maxwell Benton fits that description." Gavin had met the smarmy businessman before and wasn't impressed by his overpriced clothing. "What else?"
"Another set of shoeprints belong to another male according to the design." Motioning to the corner of the room Connor helped Gavin understand what he was currently theorizing. "The shoeprints lead to the large desk and chair in the corner, which means that whoever had visited had been here for business as opposed to pleasure."
"The guy's personal attorney, William Greene, seems like he'd fit that particular description as well."
"The final set of prints belong to a female. They are low heeled shoes that seem to be designed for both fashion and comfort, and they were walking all around the bed as if frequently visiting Charles while he was bedridden or needed assistance with getting in and out of the bed."
"And that matches the daughter. Great, we now got four suspects to rule out."
"Four?" Arching his brow Connor gave Gavin an intrigued look as he tried to understand why the detective had decided only four of the five suspects were relevant and worth looking into. "Who have you eliminated?"
"The butler. There's no way the android killed Charles, staged the room and then went back to cleaning the place up, preparing the dead man's breakfast, then played dumb!" Shrugging his shoulders a little Gavin gave Connor an almost casual response as he took more notes. "I know some androids can have weird glitches and quirks that make them seem more conscious than they are, but they still aren't human. Humans are killers, androids are just... I don't know. Minding their own business and just doing whatever."
Impressed with Gavin's insight Connor agreed with the man's decision. "That is a logical deduction."
"Damn right. I have my moments every now and then."
"There were two wills given to the police for authentication." Connor recounted as he tried to find a motivation behind the murder and why it was staged as a suicide in such a cold manner. "The same lawyer had notarized both wills and did so without decreeing one of the two wills as outdated and subsequently invalid. Why?"
"Good question. Tina is talking to the lawyer right now." Gavin confirmed as he held his phone to his ear and brought Captain Fowler up to speed on what was happening at the mansion at the moment. "According to him, he only witnessed and notarized the will that the daughter had turned in first."
"Interesting. Where did the second will come from?"
"The son said it showed up in the mail a couple days ago, after his dad croaked."
"Convenient timing."
"Yeah, and that type of timing usually reeks of bullshit." After giving Captain Fowler another update over the phone Gavin decided it was time to return to the precinct and speak to the victim's adult children again. "Come on, 'Tinman'. We're going to go and find us a killer."
The Central Precinct was unusually quiet as the primary case of interest at the moment currently revolved around Charles Benton and his mysterious dual wills. There wasn't anything more serious happening in the city for once, and as a result many of the officers and detectives had begun contemplating the strange mystery behind the billionaire found dead under suspicious circumstances by his own butler. The story and the case itself were too enthralling to be ignored by anyone with a curious bone in their body, and everyone who had even the smallest aspiration of becoming a skilled detective had brought in everyone seeking some experience or some type of validation for their efforts.
Tina had finished speaking with William Greene and the personal attorney confirmed that the will that Carol had presented was the final will and testament as dictated and signed by Charles Benton himself shortly after his terminal diagnosis. William was able to also confirm that the second will had wording and handwriting identical to his own, but he did not write, notarize or sign the second will in any form.
Chris had interviewed both Carol and Maxwell separately in regard to their relationship with their now late father, and both children seemed to be playing up the role as loving, devoted children in some aspect. There were key details regarding their behavior toward their late mother and each other however, that seemed to indicate long standing strife and friction in the Benton family.
After comparing all of the notes provided by his interviewing officers, Gavin's personal notes from the crime scene and Ben's assessment as the lead investigator at the scene, Captain Fowler was eager to put the provided pieces together and solve the puzzle at last. The commanding officer was sitting in his office speaking with Gavin and Connor as the two relayed more information after returning to the precinct.
"The lawyer confirms that the daughter's will is correct and authentic." Captain Fowler noted as he placed the will down on his desk as it remained secured in an evidence bag to avoid any potential damage or tampering. "And that the son's will is suspicious at best. Thoughts?"
"All I can think is that the son's trying to use his business know-how to steal away the family fortune from his big sister." Gavin remarked dryly as he sat in the chair opposite of Captain Fowler with utter exhaustion in his gaze. He was ready to close the case and head for home. "Thing is, why? This guy already has his own fortune, so why weasel the money from his sister, and why would he ice his old man? I just know that there's more that little snake than meets the eye."
"You're sure it's the son who's responsible for this?"
"Positive."
"Beyond the obvious, why else would you suspect Maxwell Benton of murder?"
"I wish I could give you some physical evidence, Cap', but..."
"Gut instincts never hold up in a court of law." Sighing to himself Captain Fowler leaned back and gave his young detective a somewhat annoyed voice to listen to as they bounced ideas off of each other. "You need to get that through your head. You're a good detective and you're almost ready to handle these things without me needing to double-check your work, but until you can learn to separate your emotions from your work, you won't make much progress."
Connor disagreed with Captain Fowler's assessment since he had seen how more often than not a good detective's gut instinct was more accurate than any evidence could be, in spite of being intangible. It wasn't right to dismiss Gavin's instincts single because he couldn't physically present them in a court of law.
"If I may," speaking up at last Connor decided to give Captain Fowler his own opinion on the case at hand. "I believe Detective Reed is correct in his assessment regarding Maxwell Benton as the prime suspect and killer."
"I don't need to hear a machine-"
"I'm not merely a machine, I am a prototype detective that was asked to assist Detective Reed in his investigation. While my words may not be spoken with a human tongue, they are still crucial to handling this investigation and need to be heard." Snapping for a moment Connor made it clear he wasn't going to be dismissed so easily despite his minor role in the precinct. "The relationship between Maxwell, Carol and Charles is far more complicated than either sibling has willingly admitted."
Captain Fowler gave Connor an aggravated glare but didn't try to silence the android a second time. "All right, fine. What's so complicated about this family?"
"Carol Benton left her parents, Charles and Jennifer Benton, when she was fifteen years old." Using cybernetic links Connor brought up crucial details that he had uncovered through his own investigation through personal files and records for the Captain to view for himself on his terminal screen. "The timing behind Carol's disappearance aligns with the birth of Maxwell Benton."
"Teens rebel all the time, especially when a younger sibling enters the picture." The seasoned Captain didn't find the details to be of any interest whatsoever. "It's not uncommon for teenagers to run off and live their own life for a few years, then return to the nest after living with regrets and wanting to make up for lost time."
"They are not siblings."
Both Captain Fowler and Gavin gave Connor stunned looks as they were now thoroughly interested in what Connor was saying. It was Gavin who broke the tense silence as he was dying to hear the newly uncovered details. "Said fuckin' what now?"
"Carol and Maxwell Benton aren't siblings." Repeating himself Connor sent his collected information to Captain Fowler's terminal screen. "They are mother and son. Carol gave birth to Maxwell when she was fifteen years old after being sexually assaulted and impregnated at age fourteen."
"Holy shit..."
Captain Fowler was now very interested and began looking for any police reports or medical records regarding the incident at hand. "Wait, fourteen years old? Any teenagers giving birth would have-"
"It was a home birth." Connor continued on as he brought up additional details and made it clear that he wasn't making any mistakes. "The Benton family doctor, Dr. Andrew Reuben, claimed to have delivered Maxwell at the mansion when Jennifer Benton supposedly went into labor. Jennifer was falsely put on the birth certificate as Maxwell's mother, and Dr. Reuben falsified the other medical records to hide the fact that the prestigious Benton family's only daughter had unwillingly become a teenage mother."
Gavin was starting to see red and wanted to know whose idea it was to pull off such an egregious lie to undoutbedly keep up social appearances. "Who the fuck is Maxwell's father? Don't tell me it was incest and that the old fucker raped his own daughter!"
"It was not incest," Connor confirmed as he uploaded the old family doctor's medical records as well as Dr. Reuben's obituary to explain why the doctor wasn't being dragged in for questioning in that moment. "but it was rape. Carol had been drugged and raped when she was fourteen years old when Charles had hosted an extravagant business party at his office building. The man responsible, Calvin Swanton, was a wealthy businessman attempting to sign a contract with Charles Benton as a business merger and was caught by Charles in the act."
"What happened to the sick rapist?"
"After Charles Benton successfully assaulted Calvin by punching him repeatedly, knocking out several teeth and rupturing Calvin's left eye, Charles sabotaged and then destroyed Calvin's business. Shortly thereafter, Calvin was killed when his personal plane ran out of fuel mid-flight and crashed in the Rocky Mountains four months after the rape had occured."
"Good." Gavin loathed people who abused children in any form. "At least there's some kind of justice for Carol. Sick fucker crashed, burned and suffered while dying alone on top of an icy mountain."
Captain Fowler now had an idea of what was happening and decided that Connor's investigation held some merit. "Okay, with all that new evidence in hand, we can begin painting a pretty clear picture of what had happened. Charles and Jennifer Benton hid Carol's rape and pregnancy, then decided to keep the baby and raise him as their own son to hide it even further."
Gavin nodded and followed up with the next logical step in what had happened afterward. "So, Carol, pissed that her parents not only didn't press charges against her rapist but chose to raise the rapist's child alongside her as their own second child, decided to leave and cut her family off. Only after her mother died did Carol decide to go back home and get some form of closure, and that's when she saw her own son - Maxwell - the same age that she had been when she gave birth to him, and then decided to stick around."
"Charles wanted to make amends with Carol after being apart for so long, and Maxwell didn't like that his 'big sister' was now being acknowledged again since that meant he was no longer getting the entire family fortune just to himself."
"Since Maxwell followed in his fath- grandfather's footsteps to become a businessman, he must've learned a thing or two about manipulating people and the law." The case now seemed tragically simple to figure out now that they had all the evidence to work with. "He must've also learned how to forge contracts and wills to get ahead through cutthroat practices."
"And Maxwell must've been told the truth about his mother when Charles decided to amend his will." Captain Fowler saw no flaws in Connor's assessment despite being unwilling to admit it. "He wanted to make sure Carol was well taken care of after failing her as a parent when she was a teenager, and since Maxwell is already successful, Charles didn't feel as if his grandson needed any major inheritance."
Connor spoke up again as he offered up one final piece of evidence for Captain Fowler and Gavin to consider. "The android butler, Horatio, bore witness to many arguments between Charles, Carol and Maxwell in the past two months when the will was being discussed. Horatio's memories have been uploaded to your terminal for you to review, Captain Fowler."
Without looking at the screen Captain Fowler prompted Connor to keep speaking. "Give me the summary of the arguments from those memories. What happened?"
"Maxwell denied that Carol was his mother, claimed that it was unfair to lose out on the family fortune because his estranged sister came back into the family, and accused Charles of playing favorites." After a thorough review of the memories Connor was able to confirm that Maxwell was the one that the police needed to be looking at. "Maxwell also then asked for Horatio to illegally dictate a new will imitating the lawyer's handwriting, and to have it mailed to Maxwell the night before Charles had perished."
"Where was Maxwell during Charles's final night alive?"
"At the mansion." Connor noted with a keen attention to detail. "He had told Horatio that he was going to visit with Charles and to not disturb either of them during the night, then explicitly told Horatio to not disturb Charles until morning. It was then Horatio discovered that Charles had apparently committed suicide during the previous night."
The evidence was almost too good to be true. "And how do you know all that for certain?"
"Logically speaking, Gavin had rightfully ruled out Horatio as a suspect due to Horatio being an android who had no emotional or personal motivations to harm or kill anyone. And due to Horatio being seen as a mindless machine, no one spoke to him or asked him what he had witnessed leading up to Charles's death. I, however, am actively and remotely speaking with Horatio on a cybernetic level and chronicling his statement to be added to the collected evidence."
"Can you prove that Maxwell killed Charles and didn't just... assist with the suicide? It's not uncommon for loved ones to mercy kill someone already on death's door."
"Aside from the level of sedatives and alcohol in Charle's system making it impossible for him to have the proper strength and coordination to slit both of his wrists, there will be no sign of fingerprints on the handle of the straight razor that was used to slice Charles's wrists. The lack of fingerprints is from Maxwell wiping his prints off of the razor after he finished the deed."
"And had Charles cut his own wrists we'd find only his hand and fingerprints on the razor." Captain Fowler had to agree with Connor's overall investigation and knew that he was right. "He wouldn't have wiped his own prints off the razor if he had committed suicide since there was no need to hide who touched the razor last."
"However, you'll find Maxwell's fingerprints on the bottles of prescription medicine and the glass decanter of cognac beside the bed. He had no reason to touch the medication since Horatio had been assigned to give Charles his medicine on a strict time schedule, and he would've known that his father was not permitted to drink alcohol with said medication. He had given his father the drink and undoubtedly put sedatives in the drink to ensure Charles would've been too weak to fight back if he knew what Maxwell as going to do to him."
"Damn it. Okay, I'll go and talk to Maxwell myself and try to get him to crack." Rising to his feet Captain Fowler his hands to his hips then patted Gavin's shoulder as he passed by the young detective still sitting in his chair. "Good work, Reed. We can finally close this damn case."
At those words Connor felt as if his entire existence had been erased from history. He had been the one to find and deduce the motivation behind the murder, identified the culprit and uncovered the means of murder, as well as finding the evidence necessary to convict the killer after three days of Gavin being stuck during his investigation, and yet Captain Fowler gave full credit to Gavin without so much as a passing 'thanks' or a gracious acknowledgement.
With no reason to remain in the precinct Connor decided it was time to return to Hank's house and resume lingering in dark isolation. There was no way that he'd ever been seen as anything but a heartless machine until well after the Revolution's success in the following year. Why bother going anywhere or doing anything else?
Head down but shoulders back, Connor opened the door to the private office and began crossing the bullpen to take his leave of the precinct. Before he even made it past Hank's desk to reach the other side of the bullpen, he heard loud shouting and stopped when he realized that it was Maxwell Benton refusing to cooperate with Captain Fowler's simple request to go and have a discussion in an interrogation room. The young man was shouting in Captain Fowler's face, screaming about his rights supposedly being infringed upon, and then demanded a lawyer before doing anything else.
"No, I will NOT be going into that damn room without MY lawyer present at all times!" Maxwell shouted as Tina tried to lead Carol away from the commotion and to a quieter part of the precinct. Looking around for anyone to back him up, Maxwell laid his eyes on Carol - his own mother - and began verbally assaulting her next. "You did this, didn't you?! You bitch! You fucking bitch!"
"Max, please..." Carol was terrified of her own son and was trying to hide behind Tina in trembling fear. "You sound just like him."
"Who? Who do I sound like?"
"Your... father." Struggling to speak Carol managed to finally get her words out in a shaking voice. "You real father."
"Charles WAS my father! You're just a lying whore trying to-"
"Enough." Connor put himself between Carol and Maxwell to stop the man from attacking his mother. "Cooperate with Captain Fowler."
"And who the fuck do you think you are telling me what to do?!" Maxwell tried to get in Connor's face as Tina swiftly led Carol away from the chaos and into another room to get some safe distance between herself and her enraged and possibly homicidal son. "Get back and let me-"
"No. You will cooperate with the police, and you will only speak with your lawyer after you've gone to interrogation as you've been told."
"You're going to give me some damn respect, you piece of-"
"Respect is earned, not given." Connor replied bluntly as he put his hand against Maxwell's chest to hold him back. "I suggest that you stop speaking until your lawyer arrives. The evidence against you is substantial."
"Evidence against... You're NOT going to prove anything about anyone!"
"I don't have to do so. The evidence will speak for itself." The clever knew that he could bluff the arrogant man in front of many official witnesses if he just pushed Maxwell a little harder. "Fingerprints, shoeprints and family records don't lie."
"Family rec- You bastard! You BASTARD!" In a flash of rage Maxwell began throwing things off the nearby desks, smashing random items on the ground and turning his ire toward Connor as the nearby android security guards attempted to restrain Maxwell before he did anything more destructive. It was unfortunate that the androids didn't move until after they were ordered to move. "That's NONE of your business!"
Maxwell took hold of a large pen sitting on the nearest desk and proceeded to use it like a knife and stab Connor in the side of his neck in absolute fury. Blue blood spurted from around the pen as it jutted out from Connor's neck and pierced through his plastimetal frame and penetrated the large ascending Thirial line running up the side of Connor's neck.
"GET HIM IN CUFFS!" Captain Fowler shouted as Connor staggered backward and dropped to his knees as he pressed his hand to his bleeding wound to try and stop the severe bleeding and his blue L.E.D. flashed to an alarming red. "Don't let him grab anything else!"
Connor was bombarded with warnings and alarms inside his own mind as the stab wound continued bleed heavily around his fingers. The gush of Thirium flowing into the damaged line caused the pen to loosen and then fall away from the wound giving the Thirium the chance to flow out of the stab wound without any obstruction to slow it down.
"Whoa!" Gavin had seen what happened through the transparent wall of Captain Fowler's private office and went rushing into the bullpen the second that he saw Maxwell stab Connor in the neck. "What the fuck?!"
As the deviant fell to his side in a limp heap due to sudden and extreme blood loss, Connor quickly preconstructed his options after being so grotesquely damaged but declined every option that manifested in his eyes. It was strange to admit, but Connor suddenly decided that he didn't want to do anything to slow his blood loss or repair the damage that he had just sustained.
In his mind, the most logical solution seemed to be just laying on the floor and accepting his apparent fate. Lowering his hand from the bleeding wound Connor stopped applying pressure to the gushing damage and allowed himself to slip into emergency low power mode without any resistance.
It had been a sporadic blur of energy, motion and near panic as the unusual case was finally closed and the murder of Charles Benton had been solved. While Maxwell had been restrained, read his rights and secured in an interrogation room until his personal attorney finally arrived to try to salvage what was left of his good name, a certain abrasive detective took the initiative in assisting another certain deviant detective after he had been attacked by Maxwell in the bullpen. The other officers and detectives were more concerned with keeping Maxwell away from Carol after seeing how violent the man could behave, and no one thought to contact tech or anyone else to assist Connor after he had been attacked.
A full day passed before the deviant detective showed any signs of recovery, and in that time Gavin refused to sleep as he stared at Connor laid out over his couch in the dimly lit livingroom of the modestly furnished apartment. Gavin was clutching his mug of now lukewarm coffee as if it was a literal lifeline as he watched Connor carefully and waited for the deviant to open his eyes and return to the land of the conscious.
"Staring doesn't help." Abby lamented as she joined Gavin in the livingroom and wrapped her arms around his arm before resting her temple against his shoulder. "I had to learn that the hard way. It just dries out your eyes and gives you a massive headache."
"I just can't believe how fast he went down."
"What do you mean?"
"Connor had managed to take down four armed men all by himself, no weapon at all, and saved a young woman from being abducted at the tail end of last year." Gavin stated somberly as finally put his mug down and turned to look at Abby as he rubbed his palm over his tired eyes. "Some rich punk with a taste for money and blood stabs him with a damn pen and... Boom! He goes down and starts bleeding like a stuck pig."
"Android aren't indestructible. They never have been, never will be." The technician-in-training confirmed as she rubbed Gavin's shoulder before walking over to where Connor was laying to check on the thick bandages around the deviant's damaged neck. She had managed to repair the line, repair the plastimetal frame and then wrap up Connor's damaged artificial skin without too much trouble despite her inexperience. "He's lucky, you know?"
"Yeah, I know. Stab wounds are no joke!"
"While that's true, I wasn't referring to Connor being stabbed."
"Oh." Walking over to his massive armchair Gavin dropped down and let out a heavy sigh of fatigue as his feet thanked him for sitting down at last. "What did you mean then?"
"I was talking about someone actually choosing to help him instead of ignoring him. He wouldn't still be active right now if you hadn't helped him."
Humbly Gavin tried to downplay his efforts and remain modest. "I just didn't want the Lieutenant to get pissed at me for, you know, getting Connor damaged."
"Nice try." Abby's smirk confirmed that she already knew Connor too well to be fooled by such a passive and indifferent response. "You're too empathetic to fool me."
Gavin couldn't bring himself to argue with Abby or deny that she was right. He had been seeing Abby for several months and their relationship was impressively steady in comparison to Gavin's previous few relationships. The last thing he wanted to do was lie to her or do anything that'd give her a reason to break things off with Gavin if she thought that he was being suspicious or dishonest.
"What's really on your mind?" Lightly Abby lifted up the bandages around Connor's neck and made sure that the wound was healing well and didn't require any further technical assistance to make a full recovery. "You have that look in your eyes again."
Rubbing his palm over his tired eyes Gavin pressed his face into his hand and leaned against the back of the recliner where he was sitting. "What look?"
"The one you get whenever you deal with people who were abused or abusing themselves while you're on the clock. You always look so sad, like a little kitten stranded on the side of a road."
"Oh, please don't put homeless kittens in my mind! Anything but that."
"Then what's up?"
"This is going to sound crazy, but I think Connor didn't want to... save himself."
Laughing a little Abby gave Gavin a truly skeptical look as she replaced the bandages and then lifted up the android's eyelids one at a time to check the functionality of his ocular relay units. "What? What in the world are you talking about?"
"I'm- I swear that I actually saw him intentionally lower his hand away from his neck." Gavin mimicked the movements he had seen by pressing his palm to his own neck as he explained everything to Abby and he opened his bloodshot eyes again. "It was like he just decided that he didn't even want to try to stop himself from bleeding out or something."
"That's... unusual." Carefully Abby pressed the back of her hand to Connor's cheek and made sure that he wasn't overheating as he healed. "It's possible that he simply lost the strength to put pressure on his own wound after losing so much Thirium so quickly."
"Maybe. But from where I was standing, it looked like he- Hey!" Looking over at Connor again Gavin leaned forward and pointed at the deviant as if Abby wasn't aware of Connor laying on the couch right in front her. "His light's not red anymore and I saw his eyelids move! I think he's waking up."
Abby looked down at the deviant's face and watched as Connor's brown irises slowly returned as the damaged detective finally rebooted. Seeing him awake and his yellow L.E.D. flickering in a calm blue again was enough to make Abby feel all the more confident in her abilities as an aspiring technician. "Welcome back. You're going to make a full recovery, and I'm not going to flunk out of technician's school. Which is great, because I don't want that money to go to waste and I don't want to kill my patients before I'm even officially a technician."
"...Abby." Whispering the woman's name rather sluggishly Connor instantly recognized Abby but had no memory of as to when she became involved in the bizarre case at the precinct. "What're you... Where am I?"
"Crashing on Gavin's couch for now. You've been out of it for just over a day, and you're going to be just fine as long as you cooperate with me and rest properly instead of trying to push yourself to be back on your feet before you're ready."
"You assisted me?"
"Yup. And so did Gavin." She nodded at Gavin as the aforementioned man got to his feet and walked around the back of the couch and looked down at Connor with marked relief in his eyes. "You owe him, by the way."
"My life?"
"No, just a proper thanks and a freebie consult if he needs your help again in the future." Abby lightly combed her fingers through Connor's thick hair and noticed that the android seemed to flinch away from her touch before leaning back in. That was a reaction that she only witnessed as an E.M.S. while helping victims of physical abuse. "I put some extra Thirium for you in the kitchen. Drink it when you're ready, and don't even think of heading back to Hank's house until your Thirium reserve is back to full."
"I will do so."
"Good. And now that you're awake and you're coherent, I can head back to Chicago and start my next shift tomorrow without needing to call in a few minutes late."
"You're leaving?"
"I have to. With any luck I'll be able to move to Detroit in a few more months, find a nice apartment and then work at a nearby fire station to pay for my remaining school and graduate this fall without any worries."
"You could just move in here."
"One step at a time, hotshot." Politely declining the offer Abby clearly wanted to take things nice and slow. "Let me get used to this new city before we do anything drastic. I like to keep aware of my surroundings just in case I need to make a run for the hills."
"Okay, yeah. We'll take things one day at a time." Gavin sighed as he reached out his hand and took Abby's hand for a moment. "Need a ride?"
"Nah, my little car still has enough pep to get me back to Chicago. Next time I'm going to use a rental though."
Connor watched as Abby and Gavin walked together to the apartment door and shared a small kiss. Seeing their romance spark and their relationship blossom made the deviant believe that there were somethings that time and fate could never change. One of those things of course was love.
"I'll call you tomorrow on my lunch break." Abby promised as she gave Gavin another kiss and squeezed his hands again. "And if anything happens to Connor, just text me and I'll respond as soon as I can. Okay?"
"I got it, babe."
"Knew you would. I love you."
"Love you too."
"Damn right you do. I'm a treasure!"
Gavin just smiled as Abby stepped out of his apartment and toward the elevator. "You're getting a spare key to my apartment next time you're in town! I promise!"
From where he was laying Connor could sense only respect and affection being shown between the two humans and was envious. He pined for just a friendly interaction with any human adult, and he wondered how long it'd take for him to have such a connection after the Revolution.
"The woman is something special." Gavin muttered to himself as he closed the door and locked it up for the evening. As he walked back into his livingroom Gavin noticed Connor struggling to push himself upright with one arm to get more comfortable quickly moved in to help him. "Take it easy, 'Tinman'. You heard Abby, you have to take things slow and not push yourself."
"I'm all right." Even with Gavin's hand supporting his shoulder Connor was still visibly weak and sore. "I'm stable."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you're not hurtin' like Hell right now. I'll get you some of that Thirium."
Before Connor even had the chance to try to refuse the offer Gavin was in the adjacent kitchen and pulling one of the provided Thirium bottles from the countertop to hand over to him to drink. It was strange to have Gavin treating him better than Hank was, and it was even stranger knowing that Gavin genuinely cared about him enough to make sure he recovered after being stabbed.
"Abby said you should drink this stuff until your reserve is completely full." Gavin stated almost curtly as he handed over the bottle and dropped onto the vacant cushion beside Connor. He was tired, wanted to get lost in some television and not think about work for a while. "Wish I could recover from that kind of trauma by sitting on my ass and drinking some good stuff like that. Hell of a lot better than physical therapy and worrying about pain meds."
"There is more to an android's recovery than merely becoming idle and consuming Thirium, but I understand what you're referring to."
"Yeah." Casually Gavin turned on the television and began looking for something mind numbing to watch. "Can I ask you something?"
"Yes." Connor began drinking his Thirium slowly to ensure that he didn't aggravate the healing damage to his neck in the process. "What do you wish to know?"
"When you got stabbed by that psycho in the bullpen, did you stop putting pressure to your wound because you lost consciousness or because that little demon in your head told you to stop?"
Such a question drew utter confusion from Connor as his brow knitted together to display the same confusion. "...'Demon'?"
"Yeah. That little voice inside your head that tells you that you don't matter or that you should just give up. I know that you know what I'm talking about, I saw you lower your hand on purpose before you blacked out."
"...My personal demon isn't a voice inside my head, Detective." Finishing off the bottle of Thirium had managed to restore some of Connor's strength and energy, but not all of it. "It's a more physical presence than that."
"You're talking about Hank, aren't ya'?"
Quietly Connor put aside the bottle and hesitated in answering the simple question. "It doesn't matter."
"Sure it does, otherwise you wouldn't- Look, you're not alone. I've had to deal with some personal demons too." Gavin sank down against the couch cushion behind himself and crossed his arms over his chest. "Take my advice: Don't listen to them and do the opposite of whatever they say. They never have anything worth listening to anyway."
"...Noted."
"Cool. And if you get hurt like that again, don't just give up and think you'll be better off dead. There's only one way to know that for certain and there's no coming back if you make that particular choice to find out."
"Also noted."
"And, uh, if the Lieutenant pisses ya' off and you want to get away from him, just stop by for a few hours." It seemed that Gavin was trying to become a form of support to someone else that he seemed to relate to in some way. "I know what it's like to live under the same roof of someone who drives you up the wall and makes you feel like shit. Don't get me wrong, I respect Hank and think of him as a good mentor, but I've noticed that he doesn't exactly treat you how you should be treated."
Connor couldn't believe what he was hearing. Once again, Gavin was on his side and speaking to him with genuine respect. "How... should he treat me?"
"A hell of a lot better. You saved Cole's life a couple of times, you've taken care of Cole ever since you were taken into Hank's house, and you even helped Hank after he had been shot!" Gavin wasn't thrilled with how Hankw as treating Connor after everything Connor had done. "I mean, everyone at the precinct helped him out too, but you really took care of him and helped him when other people couldn't. He should at least thank you ever now and then, you know?"
"...Yes, I know."
"Don't let people push you around and shit like that." The detective urged as he settled on a baseball game to tide him over and help him fall asleep. "You also should've been thanked by Fowler for what you did yesterday. You need all the credit for closing the case, not me."
"No. You deserve the credit as well. You're the one who didn't blindly accept the case at face value and allow Maxwell Benton to get away with murder."
"Yeah, but if you hadn't come in with your special android eyes and scanner and all that other stuff I just can't do, then it wouldn't have mattered."
"Not true. You would've continued to investigate the case until you uncovered the truth." Connor offered Gavin some encouragement and a positive affirmation as well after everything they experienced during that one case. "You should continue to trust your gut instincts despite what Captain Fowler says. You develop those instincts from experience, which means your instincts are valid."
"Thanks for the bode of confidence there. Nice to know I'm not crazy for pegging that Maxwell asshole as the venomous little snake he is."
With a breathy sigh Gavin settled in on the couch, stared at the baseball game for a moment then noted the time on his phone. It was late in the afternoon and the detective was starving after spending the previous night and morning watching over Connor as he slept. Deciding on a little take-out Gavin placed his order with his favorite delivery app and kicked his feet up on the coffee table in front of him.
"I'm ordering some Mexican tonight. Need any more Thirium?"
"No, I have enough. Thank you."
"All right. Then you just sit there, heal, and tomorrow I'll drop you off back at Hank's house before Hank and Cole even notice you were gone. Sound good?"
"Yes, actually." Being in a place where he wasn't being ordered about or expected to keep house was a refreshing change of pace. The only thing missing was some music, but Connor could play some songs inside his own mind without bothering Gavin the process. "That does sound good."
-next chapter-
TL;DR: Connor works with Gavin to solve a case that was seemingly a suicide, turns out it was a murder. The murderer attacks Connor after being busted, and Gavin takes Connor back to his apartment to recover with Abby's help. Gavin and Connor have a civil night talking and learn that it's possible to become friends after learning that Connor is just as vulnerable to dark thoughts of destruction as any other human.