Devil in Detroit | Detroit: Become Human

𝐈. STOLEN LIFE

CHAPTER ONE

DETROIT, MICHIGAN

( November 6th, 2038 )

ASRA WAS ALWAYS CONSIDERED TO be more of a morning person than his father was, and this was apparent in the way Asra often left the house and arrived at work an hour before Hank even woke up, coffee in hand and headphones in his ears. But today was not like any other day—Asra had spent the night awake until the early hours of the morning, worriedly chewing his nails as he waited for Hank to come home so he could get some answers, only for Hank to stumble through the door and crash on the couch soon after arriving home, muttering something about talking in the morning.

Morning turned into almost noon, and now Asra's hands were shaking from the amount of coffee in his system—four cups in just two hours—and he was persistently bothering Hank to open up about what had happened last night as the two walked through the doors of the Detroit Police Department.

"Az, I said I'd talk to you about it later after I've gotten lunch," Hank insisted. "Now, did you do what I asked?"

Asra rolled his eyes, pulling out his phone and opening his notes app. "Yeah."

"So what's the case?"

Never taking his eyes off his phone, Asra spoke, "Nicolette Vanburey; murdered. Single mother of two, Austin Vanburey and Ari Collins, née Vanburey. Twins. The kids got a restraining order against their mom for physical and sexual abuse, emotional trauma, and harassment when they both turned twenty; Nicolette was convicted for three years before being released on bail, paid by her dying father. The victim bought an android to help out around the house, but it's safe to say that the android was subject to her cruelty." He finally looked up, grinning. "Shot her in the head before running away. She's been dead for three weeks and has only been found recently."

He stopped walking and spoke, "Lieutenant, we have a case!"

Hank rolled his eyes, stopping himself and turning to give Asra a disturbed look. "No need to be so grim about someone's death, kid," he said sarcastically.

Asra shrugged. "Horrible people get what they deserve, Lieutenant. Now Austin and Ari can live their lives knowing their mother isn't out there anymore."

After a moment, Hank sighed. "Stop calling me that, first of all. Tell me more about the kids, then. How do we know it wasn't them who set the android up?"

"Austin is married to Julian Pines, an accountant; they live in New York with their three daughters, Avery, Ariana, and Alicia, and son, Jonathan. At the estimated time of the murder, Austin and Julian were picking up their children from school and we confirmed this with the children's teacher, an android, who was more than happy to give us the footage from her memory. Ari is currently living in California with her husband, Issac Collins, an artist. She was at one of her husband's art shows and there's camera footage of her at the time of her mother's death, and before the event, she was at a business meeting in England," he explained taking his coat from the back of his chair and shrugging it on.

"Humph. Seems suspicious that we have both of them on tape," Hank grumbled. "Grab a coffee, kid. We have a long day ahead of us."

Asra stepped into line with Hank as they walked again, hands resting behind his back. "Now will you tell me what happened last night? You went out to a bar and then called and said there was a crime scene and that I had to keep my ears open for any case to do with androids. Did someone die last night?" Hank grunted in reply, the closest thing Asra would get to a yes. He sighed, shaking his head. "Jesus. How many murders have there been?" he asked as they stopped at Hank's desk.