Chapter Twelve

Geraldo took a long drag as he stared down at the corpse. The body of a man lay on a bed of broken glass, his arms and legs twisted in odd directions. White bone poked through the man’s gray dress pants, which were now stained dark with the pooling blood.

Slowly Geraldo exhaled as he looked up at the super complex. The building towered over him, reaching as high as the New City.

“Is this complex all apartments?” He asked a cadet who was assisting the crime tech.

The cadet was young, her hair was stuffed under her dark green cap. ‘Taurus’ was spelled across it in bold black lettering. Wisps of red hair peaked from the side of the cap.

“Mostly. Top five levels are a mall, inaccessible from the apartments.”

“Typical.” Geraldo took another drag as he looked back at the body. The victim looked young, and as far as he could tell he was gen perfect. “Anyone get to the body?”

“No, sir.” The Cadet shook her head. “I was here when it happened. I have been with the body the whole time.”

Geraldo raised an eyebrow. “You called it in?”

“Yes, sir. This was my first week on field training.”

“Hell of a way to start off field training.” Geraldo chuckled. “Tell me what you saw.”

“I didn’t see it happen,” she admitted, looking down at her feet, “just heard the glass falling and then a thud. People started yelling.”

Geraldo followed her eyes down to the body, “First time seeing a corpse?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Don’t call me that.” He warned her. “Geraldo is fine, detective if you must.”

“Yes,” the Cadet hesitated, “Detective.”

Geraldo sighed and shook his head. There was something that always bothered him about greenhorns. They were always either cocky as hell, in need of a fist in their face, or they were timid and by the book, which coincidentally, also made Geraldo want to knock their teeth in.

He dismissed his sentiment with a sigh. “Where were you standing when it happened?”

“Right over there.” The Cadet pointed to a street corner. “I was told to patrol and report. When I heard the sounds, people were trying to get to the body. I ordered them away and called it in.”

“Were you armed?”

“Only with non-lethal, sir. I mean, Detective.”

“Holding back a mob with taser and pepper spray is a ballsy move.” Geraldo commended her. He wondered what must have been going through her mind at the time. This part of the Lower City she was patrolling wasn’t particularly dangerous, but still dangerous enough.

“Thank you.”

Geraldo knelt down by the body.

“Move his head to the side.” Geraldo told her. He watched as the Cadet slowly turned the man’s head slightly so he could get a look at his only visible implant. The brain dock was badly damaged.

“Have we found what apartment he jumped from yet?” He asked her.

“You think he jumped?” The Cadet responded.

“Just a hunch. Look at how his legs are bent.” Geraldo gestured at the man’s twisted and ruined legs, “I’m guessing he landed on his feet. And the glass is under him. Meaning it was broken and fell before he did.”

“Do you think he jumped from the mall?”

“No. Those windows are tempered glass, and they are alarmed. If one were broken, we’d know about it.”

Geraldo turned to the tech, a portly man by the name of Charlies. “Make sure you keep the Upper City detectives away from this. He died in the Lower City, which makes it our case.”

“I’ll do what I can.” Charlies nodded.

“I’m guessing this man jumped from one of the higher floors.” The tech added. “Judging by the trauma.”

Geraldo pulled out his terminal and called the local channel the officers were using. “All officers. This is Detective Montes. Start your search from the top floors and work your way down.”

“Think it was suicide?” The redhead asked.

“Too early to know. Could be murder, maybe not.”

Geraldo flicked his cigarette off into the side of the road before he knelt down to examine the body.

“Here.” Charlies handed him a pair of latex gloves.

Geraldo slid them on quickly and effortlessly, clearly very used to it.

“May I?” He asked Charlies before he touched the body.

The tech nodded and moved over. Geraldo examined the damaged brain dock.

“Chuck, do you think you can access the dock’s port from here, or do you think we will need to have the geek squad look it over back at the station?”

Charlies frowned as he looked the hardware over.

“I think we should be able to do it here. The casing is cracked, but the auxiliary port looks like it’s in good condition. We can give it a try, worst thing that happens is we let the technicians at the stations deal with it.”

“Do it.”

“Sophy,” Charlies said to the redhead, “Could you please grab my tech bag from the car, and the laptop?”

“Sure thing.” The Cadet said as she hurried away.

“Sophy? You two seem to be off to a good start if you are on a first name basis.”

Charlies looked up at him, his eyes narrowing and his mouth puckering in a sour look.

“She’s young enough to be my daughter, Geraldo. Poor kid was rattled when I got here. And I’m married, if you haven’t forgotten.”

“How could I forget, Tera is a lovely woman. We shorthanded today?” Geraldo asked. “You usually have what’s his name, the young kid with you.”

“Derek?”

“Yeah,” Geraldo sighed, “that’s what I said, what’s his name.”

“You didn’t hear?” Charlies asked as he took the laptop from Sophy. “It was in this morning’s briefing, and in the morning emails.”

“I have been pretty busy, Chuck. Lots of people killing each other down here.”

“I’ve noticed.” Charlies pushed a plug into the dead man’s auxiliary port. The plug made an audible click when it slid into place. “Heard you and Detective Fohern found a chop doc?”

“Sort of. It was a surrogate. Bastard got away, but not before Fohern ripped the Doc’s surrogate apart.”

Charlies began to type away at his laptop, his fingers dancing over the keys.

“Never would have guessed you and Fohern would be partnering up.”

“Neither did I, but the kid’s not half bad once you get to know her.”

“She might be our boss soon.”

“We’ll see.” Geraldo waved the concern away. “Anyway, what about this morning’s briefing?”

“Someone broke into Taurus.”

Geraldo raised a bushy eyebrow “The station?”

“No, the AI.”

“No shit?”

“That’s what I was told. Anyways, I’m inside his head. What do you want to know?” Charlies turned his laptop around so Geraldo could see the screen.

“I want to know what was the last recording saved, and stop it if it hasn’t been uploaded yet. I also want to see what his security recorder last captured.”

“You think he had a security recorder?”

“I do, he’s wearing a Govanni suit, his watch looks expensive.” Geraldo raised the man’s left hand and pointed at the cracked gold watch. “Someone dressed this nice is going to have a security recorder, especially if he is running around down here.”

Charlies typed away before his face lit up and he smiled.

“You’re right. Got the last five minutes of video, hasn’t uploaded to the security firm yet, but the audio log has, so it’s missing. If you need it then you’ll have to get a subpoena.”

“I know how it works.”

“Of course, sorry. Here.” Charlies hit play on the video.

The video showed what the dead man had last seen. A small apartment, with better than expected furniture. A woman sat on a couch, she was crying, saying something to the dead man, no; She was begging him. Geraldo caught a glimpse of a pistol in his hands, as he animatedly argued with the woman.

Geraldo noticed Sophy trying to peek around the two of them to look at the screen. He moved over and motioned her to join them. “If you plan on making detective someday, you may as well start learning from the best.”

“Thank you.” She said as she crouched down next to them.

The scene on the computer played out. The woman begging and the dead man seemed to become more upset the way his hands jerked around. Suddenly he raised the weapon and shot the woman. There was a moment as the man just stared at her, before rushing forward and taking her face in his hands.

He shook her and tried to cover the gushing wound in her chest, but she did not respond. He picked up the pistol and backed away, holding up his shaking hands. Slowly he turned and raised the weapon once more and fired it. The apartment window shattered outward.

Slowly he approached the open window. He looked back once at the dead woman before he jumped. The video showed the pavement rushing up to meet him before it cut to black.

“Whelp.” Geraldo said as he stood up and pulled out another cigarette and placed it between his lips. “Case closed.”

“That’s it?” Sophy demanded.

“Clearly a murder suicide.” Geraldo mumbled as he lit his cigarette.

“What about the woman?”

“The officers will find her and alert her next of kin.”

“But why did he kill her,” Sophy stammered as she pointed down at the dead man, “why did he jump?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. It’s not our job to find out the why, just the how. The audio will be released to this man’s next of kin, if they can afford it. If they want to know why, then they can figure it out.” Geraldo started to turn away but paused when he saw the desperation in the young woman’s face.

“People die all the time down here, kid. Junkies OD, brain hackers burn out, prostitutes get strangled. The list is endless. It will drive you mad if you try to figure out what was in each and every one of their heads before they did what they did. Best you can do is just follow the facts. Leave it for a judge to figure out the rest. You get me?”

Sophy nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think so.” The desperation in her eyes had faded, replaced by jaded understanding.

“Good. Go help the rest of the officers with the sweep of the building. Maybe there is something in the apartment that can put your mind at ease.”

“Yes, sir.” Sophy snapped a salute.

“Don’t do that.” Geraldo growled. He hated how cadets followed every stupid protocol. Their decorum was obnoxious.

Sophy dropped the salute slowly, hesitating for a moment, before she turned away and followed Geraldo’s orders.

“You really know how to pick a kid up, Geraldo.” Charlies huffed as he struggled to get to his feet.

Geraldo offered to help, but the old man shook his head. A sheen of sweat had appeared over his beet red face.

“You are getting too old for field work, Chuck.”

“And fat.” The old man shot him a sideways look. “Don’t forget that. God knows my wife hasn’t.”

“We all have gotten soft in the middle.” Geraldo assured him. “Comes with the job.” Geraldo thought back to a better time, when he had a full head of hair, and the tenacity of the young cadet he had just ran off.

“I’m surprised you are down here, Geraldo.” Charlies waddled towards his cruiser, not waiting for the younger detective to follow. “Chief said it was mandatory for everyone to be at the briefing.”

“Right.” Geraldo snapped his fingers. “The break in.”

“Chief told me to send your crippled ass to her the moment I saw you. Guess you haven’t been getting her calls and pages.”

“Oh, I have.” Geraldo smiled. “Just been ignoring them.”

“Pissing off the boss is not the best way to get that promotion.” Charlies warned. “Go to the office, tell her you were in the tunnels talking to some rats.”

“Think she will buy that?”

“You better hope so. She is in a foul mood. Could put you behind a desk, or worse, on a couch. With no pay.” Charlies added as he slammed the trunk of his cruiser, and gave Geraldo a stern look.

“The body boys will be here for superman over there.” Charlies tipped his head towards the dead body. “Don’t waste any more time, detective. I mean that. You worked too damn hard for this, don’t go fucking it up now.”

Geraldo shook his head. He hated the briefings. They were always the same pointless corporate propaganda, information that anyone with half a brain should know. But he mostly hated them because of the contempt his fellow officers showed him.

There were only a handful of deviants employed by Taurus, and only he had made detective. He was hired well before the Able Work for Able Bodies initiative. It was a point of pride from him, something he had dreamt of since he was blind child listening to audiobooks in the perpetual darkness of his childhood. It was everything he had ever wanted; minus the corporate bullshit.

Geraldo walked with Chuck to the front of his car. “I will go right now.”

Charlies scooted into the small cruiser. “I mean it, Geraldo.” He warned before he slammed his door.

Geraldo watched as the cruiser drove off. The cooling fans of the vehicle kicked up trash and debris as it pulled out of sight.