I AM (Connor X OC) - DBH

Chapter 93 - Good Cop

The next morning, I put my police badge in my pocket ready for the coming day. Nick and I still had the Red Ice serial killer to search for, and we were no closer than we were weeks ago. No new murders either, hurting our claim he was escalating. Then again, he just might not strike again for months, and we'll lose our chance. All we have is a profile, at best. 

On the bright side, I was happy. Nick and I had spent quality time together beyond just our ruining his neighbor's morning. The day included whims from hot chocolate to helping Nick contract someone to rebuild his garage. I feel like...I'm ready. I'm ready to live with Connor. I walked outside and saw Nick standing calmly on the street curb waiting for his taxi. 

"Do I even really need a new manual car? Everyone only uses self-driving anyway," Nick answered.

"They sell manual cars still?" I questioned. 

"Used ones. It's illegal to manufacture cars that are manual now. The best car I can find is from 2024," Nick explained. "Why do ask me questions when you're a cerebral supercomputer with the ability to look up anything?"

"Laziness," I answered. 

"Jesus," Nick sighed. The cab pulled up and off to the precinct we were. Arriving early in the morning to the precinct is always a little surreal. All the cops are out on patrol and all the detectives haven't arrived yet. Nick is a little tense not arriving early to work, as he wants to get a headstart. Nick absolutely didn't notice that when Gavin and he started dating, and when they took a break, Gavin started showing up early too. I wonder if now that they're back together, Gavin will be here early again. 

Nick and I walked into the precinct, being greeted by patrolmen. I sat down at my desk and immediately opened up our absolutely gigantic case file on the killer. 

"Maybe..." Nick began, staring at the top of the files. "We should hand it off to homicide? Can really two narcotics detectives handle a serial killer as crazy as this? If we're not careful, it'll get handed off to the feds."

"I'm positive we can handle this. We just need to figure it out.  We have three suspects from the club. Tyler Faulkner, Noel Windsor, and Asher Kam. Could you bring up their files, if there are any?"

"They'll at least have DMV records, I hope," Nick said, putting one knee on his chair as he logged onto his computer. 

"Tyler Faulkner. He's...33? Feels a bit old for our suspect."

"Anything else on him?" I asked. 

"Nothing more than speeding tickets. I'll check Noel now," Nick said. "He's 19. Sneaking into a club underage isn't exactly a murder."

"Also out of our age range," I mumbled.

"And...Asher Kam. Asher Kam is 24. He meets our age range. But...no other records. No car, no license, no criminal record."

"So...he doesn't exist," I responded.

"Yeah," Nick mumbled. "I'm running his social security."

"Let me guess. No jobs or taxes or anything."

"You're right."

"So Asher Kam is just an alias for someone...someone we need to find."

"Clearly. Or we could work backward and find the next victim."

"Too many choices," I explained. "We'd have to watch the whole club. Odds are he bounces between bars too, so we'd have to have eyes on every single gay club in Detroit."

"You're right," Nick sighed, and Nick began to do some research. I turned to my right and saw Gavin walk in. We made eye contact, I realized he was carrying Nick's dog child, Kyle. He put his finger up to his lips as if to shush me.

"Any ideas, Bolts?" Nick asked, turning to me. 

"My best idea would be waiting..." I answered.

"Waiting until a next victim. God, we'll be lucky if the Feds don't catch on," Nick mumbled. Gavin snuck up behind Nick and began to speak a little loudly. 

"Guess who did so well in training they got out early?" Gavin announced. 

"My special boy!" Nick yelled turning around, grabbing Kyle from Gavin. Gavin smiled proudly. 

"Your special boy!" Gavin yelled back. Nick held Kyle close to him and sat on the edge of his desk.

"I have a question for you, homicide boy," Nick began.

"Don't call me that," Gavin interrupted.

"What do we do if we have a case, dangerously close to being handed over to the feds, but we know what we're dealing with better than they ever could...homicide boy?" Nick asked.

"That's a terrible pet name. And I guess you're talking about this Red Ice killer that Hank and Robocop have been going on about?"

"To be fair, Robocop is a terrible pet name," I responded. Gavin shot me a glance.

"Yes. We're talking about that Red Ice killer," Nick answered.

"You need to keep the Feds off the trail. They can't really get the case unless there's a danger to the country as a whole. Which they will claim if there are too many murders. So...keep them from knowing they're the same M.O," Gavin responded.

"We're mostly paper trail anyway. Won't that help?" Nick asked.

"No. I mean...for a little while but trust me, they already know. Unless of course...you can get into the national system, and edit a case or two," Gavin smirked.

"Have you really done that before?" Nick asked.

"They gave me an android patrolman one day. I used him to the highest potential. One of my homicides was going cold, but the Feds were hot on my ass. Got them off real quick, and still solved my case," Gavin shrugged.

"What you're saying is that I need to hack into the national codex system in order to prevent the Feds from realizing several of the cases are connected," I answered.

"Bingo," Gavin exclaimed. 

"Gavin, there's no way Charlotte and I could do that," Nick responded.

"It's for the greater good. You said yourself you know the case better than they ever could. If anything, wait until you know they really are right on your ass, and then do it," Gavin shrugged.

"I know I play good cop too much, but honestly, you play bad cop too much," Nick flirted.

Gavin chuckled, almost melting right into Nick's arms.

"But seriously. I can't do that. Not yet at least," Nick admitted quietly. "Between Charlotte and I today, maybe we can have some breakthrough on tracking down this Asher Kam guy anyway."

"Let me know if you need any help," Gavin nodded. Nick sighed, sitting down properly in his chair, and placing Kyle firmly in his lap.

Nick looked at me, and we both went onto our computers attempting to do research on Asher Kam.