Tick Tock Part Three - Dock

A Pleasant Distraction

Gavin had barely gotten through the door when his phone rang. He dropped his keys beside Aaron's sculpture with a small smile before heading upstairs, pulling his phone from his jacket as he went. It was Nines. That means he's not home yet at least...He accepted the call as he headed up to his bedroom. He wanted to tuck the present away in the bottom of his wardrobe. There was a rucksack inside that he knew Nines wouldn't look in. He wasn't the type to snoop.

"Hey, Nines." He kept his bags held out in front as he walked so they didn't scrape the wall or rustle too much. He had a few bags from the clothing stores and Nines' present. The other end was silent as it usually was when Nines or Connor called. He was speaking directly into Nines' head, so there was no background noise. It was a little weird sometimes, especially if Nines said he was somewhere busy, like a mall or supermarket.

"Gavin! Where are you?" Gavin frowned a little at the demanding tone as he headed into his bedroom and dropped the bags on his bed before taking the paper bag with Nines' present inside and heading to the wardrobe. It was unusual for Nines to sound so stressed. Am I in some sort of trouble?

"I'm at the penthouse. I just got back from town. Did something happen while I was out?" he asked as he crouched and stuffed the bag in his rucksack, doing his best to be quiet. He finally set the stuffed bag down and fiddled to make it seem less full. It was about as good as it was going to get, so he stood and closed the wardrobe. Nines let out a small sigh on the other end, which was strange considering the line was inside his head. It was stranger that he hadn't just checked the GPS or the tracker on his phone. Did something happen to freak him out?

"Not exactly, but Connor and I did discover some...unsettling evidence." Gavin hummed for him to continue as he crossed to the bags of clothes he'd bought. He knew Nines had been helping Connor with the VB case, so the only thing he could think of was that they'd gotten a new lead on the shooter. "When forensics extracted the bullets from VB, they were slightly warped from the impacts, however Connor and I were able to reconstruct the casings, along with the engravings. Both bullets had a G etched into the outer casing, leading us to believe VB was killed by the Hickory Killer." Gavin stopped dead, part way through rummaging in a bag. What the phck?

"What possible reason would the Hickory Killer have to go after VB?" Was this really what his life was going to be like from now on? He hadn't forgotten the Hickory Killer was out there, but he hadn't imagined in a million years that he'd turn up out of the blue and interfere in one of his other active cases. The question is why? Why this case? Why VB? Nines seemed a little hesitant with his own thoughts, as if he could sense his growing stress. Gavin looked down at his watch. Of course, Nines could sense his stress. He pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly.

"We already know that the Hickory Killer has possessive tendencies. VB is not the first assailant to be killed for attempting to harm you." He couldn't argue with. He'd literally watched him slowly and methodically pull out Morgan's intestines as payback for touching what was his. It was a change in technique though. VB's death had been distant. Impersonal and quick. Was it a timing thing? Was it because he couldn't get to VB directly? Why bother? We already had VB in custody, ready to stand trial! Having said that, the Hickory Killer had gotten his android to kill the PC200 that had tried to rape him at New Year, too. Is it because he's an android or because he wasn't the one doing the killing?

"Do you think it was him, or did he send his pet android again?" Gavin asked as he sat on the edge of his bed, all thoughts of unpacking forgotten. His hand automatically found Fuzzball and tugged the stuffed toy onto his lap to finger the fur slowly. His leg was bouncing already as his thoughts returned to the warehouse. The hard table beneath his frozen limbs. Morgan's desperate whimpers. The slosh of blood. Weak cries of agony. Leather clad fingers stroking his cheek. I didn't come for you today...Gavin shivered as he squeezed Fuzzball's arm.