The next few chapters will have POV jumps so watch out. Also the italics is meant to be read is a sarcastic tone. Let me know of any errors or comments you have. Thanks again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Nibble

Date: Sep, 8, 2597

Emma and Mitzy were taken aback. “How in the world did we miss someone killing so many people?!” “Yeah, there is no way the system didn’t pick up that pattern!”

“Well for a start, these are the first to definitely be murdered. Everyone before either died by accidents or naturally.” Ted replied a little annoyed that the girls jumped to conclusions.

“Oh, still though, how has this not become an issue? Surely this should have raised a flag somewhere.”

Emma was at a loss. How could something so obvious go unnoticed?

“Simple, since they were all deemed accidents the system handled everything and considering this is a city of almost 10 million, 13 people aren’t even a blip on the radar. They may be more important, but most of the investors are old and no amount of medical services will save them forever. Given that fact though, it gets even more interesting.” Ted waited for a moment to build the suspense.

“Of all the investors that died, not a single one has died the same way. Neither have they died in the same location or time. There isn’t a single pattern to be found amongst any of the investors other than their connection through the businesses.”

Mitzy threw Ted a questioning glance. “So you think there is something going on?”

Ted shrugged, “Maybe, it just seems weird though. It just seems too clean, too perfectly chaotic. Maybe I’m just getting old.”

Another coincidence. This was becoming a broken record regarding this case. Every twist, every rock overturned, everywhere there were coincidences. Emma was becoming sick of it.

“Okay, well our top candidates for motive were crime of passion or someone targeting the investors. I think we should talk to the remaining investors and get an idea of what’s going on. Maybe someone took hostile takeover too literally.” Emma asked Mitzy to get her thoughts as she seemed deep in thought.

After a few seconds Mitzy replied. “I agree with that approach. Without any connections it will be difficult to get motive out of the deaths themselves. We should talk to the investors and let them know to be on the lookout. Maybe we can get lucky.”

The partners downloaded the contact info for all the investors and their replacements and began the exhaustive task of calling each next of kin or friends to get an idea of each. Then they proceeded to talk to their coworkers and the investors who were left.

All seemed genuinely surprised at the mention that someone was killing them off. A few seemed nervous but Emma couldn’t tell exactly why they were nervous. She still needed more details and it was just too early to start jumping the gun.

The next day they finally finished talking with all the necessary people and finally got back to Rhonda’s office to get the holo-data. Emma was going to check it before she left to make sure it didn’t happen again. When the two entered the Tech. department office they found a downtrodden looking woman sitting on top of her desk, her forehead in her right hand rubbing her temples.

Emma immediately recognized Rhonda and briskly walked over to her anxious that her attitude regarded the holo-data. “Hey Rhonda, what has got you so down today?”

Rhonda looked up and noticed who it was. She then stood up and walked around to her chair behind the desk. Her normally hooded gray eyes looked even more sunk in as it was obvious she had missed some sleep. The silky white hair she normally kept looking like a pennant in the wind showed signs of split ends and was generally out of order. The white skin she was so fond of seemed more ghostly today and her clothes were wrinkled and disorderly.

“Your little request kept me up all night talking with both my guys and the engineering department. After you demanded I make a replacement I took the liberty of reviewing the copy before handing it over to you. At first I thought someone messed up again and went back to pull the files myself. Then I thought maybe the raw data was mixed up so I called engineering. They say no problem. I say it’s still wrong. They call me a liar. We then argue for 3 hours until they get fed up and go check it themselves.”

“Then they say maybe the cameras got out of time. Takes them another 3 hours to come back and say that’s not it. They then say maybe it’s a software bug. They call another department. They argue with that department. 3 hours later those guys go check it out. They come back and say that’s not it. Now we are all out of ideas. I have no idea how but as far as we can tell there is absolutely nothing wrong with the holo-data.” Emma could hear the disdain and exhaustion in Rhonda’s voice. She was defeated.

“Well as with everything in this case the more we look for answers, the more questions we come across.” Emma could only agree with Mitzy on this one.

“Thanks for looking into it. Sorry for making you lose a night, I’ll buy you your favorite takeout tonight.” This was the least Emma could do since Rhonda essentially wasted her entire evening and had nothing to show for it.

Mitzy looked back at Emma and shrugged. “I guess we have some work to do. Think we have enough to make this mesh door of a case float?”

Emma decided she was going to have to write her thoughts down. There were too many questions and thoughts to keep straight.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 12:00am Sep 12,2597

Late in the evening a lone man types away at a set of screens in an unlit room. The sharp glow of the monitors cast harsh shadows across the man and the room behind him. Banks of computers and equipment hummed in the background giving an almost natural sound to the mechanized brain that finished requests soundlessly. Suddenly he sat up as some information of great interest had surfaced. Someone had copied all the info regarding the investors. He was starting to worry if he was ever going to catch his proverbial fish.

“Now that they have a taste, let’s chum the waters some more. Then we shall see what kind of fish we caught.”

He began the next phase of his plan.