"That is all the evidence I have collected so far Detective Luna," the investigator android is telling me. "I think we will find in the end that my theory is correct. The perpetrator is either someone who works for the Bethany Birdsong Management Company or is a residence of this complex."
"I'm not so sure," I said while looking around the apartment to get a feel for the way Mister Malone lived. "Our victim here was a very reclusive guy. He worked from home, had all his supplies delivered, didn't talk to his neighbors, and by all accounts never ventured passed the complex's courtyard."
The bot, right on my tail as I walked around almost sounded surprised when he stated, "So you did read the case files sent to your handheld."
I stopped in the kitchen and opened up a few cabinets before saying, "Yeah, part of it. But I still rather hear someone or something tell me the evidence instead of reading a report where my mind might wander and I miss something important. Or have my brain cluttered up from a neural-net download of all the thousands of minor facts you bots like to come up with."
"That was one of my calculated assessments of you Detective. It is just another sign that humans are fallible and it is proven by their low percentage rate of success." the AI responded. "I also would like to point out the fact that being a recluse is more common today then anytime in human history."
I turn around slowly after it stopped talking. The bot was so close to me that it appeared to be hovering over me in triumph.
So I lean in a little bit so its programming has it back away from me. I then say to it, "Looking through his kitchen here, I noticed that all his eating utensils are for only one person. There is one fork, one knife, one spoon, and only one plate. In the bathroom he has two washcloths and three towels. Just enough so he doesn't have to use his washing machine everyday. In his bedroom closet there is only one suit with no matching pants. Which I assume he wore when he had a mandatory visual meeting with clients or his employer. From skimming through the case file, his boss has stated that the contract Mr. Malone signed says that he will never be asked to come out of his apartment to meet clients, for any reason will he be obligated to go into the office, or will anyone ever come over to his apartment for anything work related."
I walk back to the crime scene, looking at a bot taking measurements of every drop of blood and testing each to make sure they are all Malone's. Then I add, "He was 55 years old. In the prime of his young life. With no friends or a companion. I read that until he was 23 years old, he was an outgoing, reckless young kid just like most humans are at that age. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason that you can find, he became a recluse. You can't find a phone call, an email, text message, a neural-net message, a post, blog, podcast, or anything on social media to show why the sudden behavior change. Yet he knew his killer because he let them into his apartment. There wasn't a struggle inside his apartment or commotion outside his door before he let his killer in. Everyone living or working here has an alibi. All the cameras in the complex failed at the same time. All the cameras outside on the street record nothing unusual. But, we have a dead body. And the great, all powerful OZ of a robot can't see what is happening here, right in front of him. So it tries to intimidate me because I am only a human being." I smile at it, then say, "I think there is a lot more evidence here than meets the android's visual receptors!"
This is,
I Couldn't Sleep So I Wrote This At Midnight
Jim Hauenstein
And,
“All great beginnings start in the dark, when the moon greets you to a new day at midnight.”
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