Tick Tock Part Three - Dock

Liver and Kidneys

Another week passed before Fowler finally agreed that Reed could return to active duty and get out of the station. Mainly because he was becoming insufferable. Dr Marr had cleared him to get back to work. She'd gone over things with him multiple times and listened to his constant complaints and frustrations. He felt like a caged animal. He needed to be out actually doing something! Since he was working with Nines, Fowler wasn't too worried about anything happening. The average thug on the street wasn't carrying anything that would damage an RK900, so it should be no more dangerous than usual. He had, however, insisted on a few precautions. They would work the day shift exclusively for the next few weeks, which Reed couldn't complain about. They would also be expected to wear bulletproof vests under their regular clothes. Reed could live with that, and Nines was disinclined to argue the point. A vest wouldn't stop anything that could damage his hardware, but if it made Fowler more comfortable, then so be it.

During that time, Stan's case had stalled somewhat and Reed hadn't heard much else. He'd met Elijah's fancy lawyer at the hospital and taken him up to Stan's bedside, where Connie had been sitting and fussing. Reed had been relieved to see her, finally. They hadn't had a proper catch up yet. He kept his story simple. He wasn't involved in the case directly, but his friends in the department had confirmed there was no direct evidence linking Stan to anything. So long as they followed the advice of the lawyer, they'd be fine. Connie had been grateful, confessing that Detective Yates had scared her into thinking Stan was in a lot more trouble than he actually was. Upon hearing this, the lawyer handed over his card. His name was Mr John Bowers, and any further contact with Stan was to be directly through him. Stan was not to be interviewed without him present.

Reed didn't have to see him to know that Yates would be seething. Gang members could rarely afford lawyers of Bowers' calibre, at least not the really low down members. They'd generally get state lawyers. The type who could be reasoned with and bought off on occasion. Mr Bowers was working for a lot more than Yates could afford, and he knew it. Besides knowing that Yates would be pissed, he didn't have a clue what was going on. For Stan's security, and his own, he'd stayed out of it. He'd noticed Nines head into Fowler's office more than once, but Fowler hadn't asked him anything directly. Why would he? He was just Stan's guardian, and he hadn't been near any of the evidence or even asked about the case files.

It wasn't like he'd had time to worry about Yates' business anyway. He'd checked into multiple cold cases over the past week, given advice to about eleven different officers, and now he was out on his first homicide in what felt like months. A human homicide for a change. He wondered why he was there at first, but once Nines' LED flashed yellow while looking around the scene, he assumed there was more to it. He shivered as he crouched beside the still open body. The apartment had been vacant for some time, but other people were still living in the building. The only reason it had been called in was because a neighbour had complained about the smell. That smell had sent the responding officer outside retching as soon as he'd opened the door.

Besides the puddle of sticky blood drying into the carpet, the place was pretty tidy and sort of clean. Whoever previously lived there had clearly cleaned up when they'd moved out. There were no furnishings, which pointed to a few things. The perp probably knew the place was vacant. They'd clearly brought their own tools for the job and taken them away afterwards. They hadn't cleaned the floor because they'd known it was unlikely the body would be found for at least a few days. Apartments in that area weren't exactly sought after. The block was pretty run down, and full of folks who minded their own business. So they were probably familiar with the community...

"You know what killed her?" Reed's voice was slightly muffled by the blue mask he was wearing. It didn't really do anything to block the smell, but it was probably better than nothing. It had been a while since he'd worked a human homicide, and the mask thing wasn't something he'd missed. Nines, being an android, didn't need a mask. His silvery eyes were sharp and clinical as he looked over the body. He gave no reaction to the state of decay, and Reed tried his best to match that indifference. It was fucking hard though. He couldn't help but look at the open cavity in her torso and wince. It reminded him a little too much of Edward Morgan. How he'd been sliced open. The way the knife had twisted and-Phck! Don't think about it!