"Murder In Soho" Part Four

    "What other evidence do you have?" I ask the investigator bot. "Anything on the cameras?"

    It immediately responds to me with, "Mister Malone signed a waiver with the Bethany Birdsong Management Company not to have security surveillance inside his apartment. He wrote down on the reason why section of the document, I am a very private person."

   I like interrupting androids so I said flatly, "One of those paranoid types."

   The bot, never taking his eyes off of me, ascertains after less then a second that I have finished being rude and continues. "The cameras in the hallways, elevators, and entrance way all malfunctioned at the same time." Without taking a breath, because it doesn't have to, the bot interrupts me before I can do it to it by saying, "No street cams, car cams, or business cameras found anything unusual. I have personally watch every recording in a ten mile radius. So naturally, I thought that either our suspect works for Birdsong Management or lives here in the apartments complex."

   The bot gave me an opening by stopping briefly, very briefly, but calculated quickly enough that I had nothing to say and continued. "All employees and tenants internet activity, apartments, and alibis have been searched, scanned, and confirmed. Nothing out of the ordinary so far but no one has been taken off the suspect list."

    I could tell the investigator bot could see I was anxious to contribute something for the voice recordings going back to headquarters, so it left me another opening.

    "What about a bio signature from someone other than Malone?" I asked. "Someone else's fingerprints, lipstick on a glass, sneeze droplets, a strand of hair, or maybe some dead skin?"

    "When all body functions ceased to exist, the wall health monitor reported to authorities of the medical emergency. When the AI medical techs entered the apartment they found the wall air purifier on turbo. Everything was clean of all bio signatures. Both the killer's and Mister Malone's. The only evidence left by the killer is the blood splatter. By that I deduced the perpetrator was 5 foot 11 inches, left handed, and wore an 8 and a half size tennis shoe. With the small amount of evidence I've gathered so far, I haven't been able to tell if our suspect is a male or female."

    "Could someone have programed a killer bot to come in here to do the job?" I asked.

    "Unlikely," It said. "Our cameras would have seen a unauthorized AI walking the streets completely off the grid. Which in itself is illegal. A rouge AI could have worn tennis shoes and pretended to be left handed to make us think it was an act by a human being. But thirty-two stab wounds indicates to me premeditated murder when an AI surely would have made only one knife wound to either the brain or heart."

    I was looking down at the pattern of the blood when I realized the bot wasn't speaking. I look up, seeing it staring blankly at me.

    It took me a couple of seconds to figure out what it was doing and a couple of more seconds to come up with the obvious question. "So why didn't the health monitor report in when Malone's body was being traumatized?" Holding up a finger so the bot doesn't begin talking again. I wait up to three more seconds for dramatic effect then say, "Because, whomever our suspect is, they are a master black hat hacker!"

    "It would seem so," replied the investigator bot.

    If I did know myself any better, and I think I know myself pretty well, I would be worried that I was starting to actually like this bot. And that can't happen. I made a personal choice long ago to be annoying to non-feeling automatons. People all over the world have taken to these bots as if they are their pets. Even worse, their friends. I can't let that happen to me. I have a reputation to live up to.

    "Okay Tin Man, what else do you got?"

   This is,

Remember,

I Am Going To Write This Story Every 2 To 3 Days Because I Have A Lot Going On At Home Right Now

Jim Hauenstein

And

"And remember my sentimental friend that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others."

- L. Frank Baum -

 

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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