Braddock (working title) Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Shortly before noon Braddock came out of his office. “Lawrence, let’s go, school’s in session,” he called out, while he was heading across the outer office for the elevators.

“That’s funny I thought it had started hours ago, when I arrived here,” she muttered under her breath, quickly following him across the room, stretching her long legs to catch up to him. The elevator doors were starting to close as she slipped past them, joining him in the elevator.

“So, how much do you know about Cerebond?”

Jerry looked at him and took a deep breath, while trying to remember what she knew about Cerebond. “Cerebond, not as much as I should, that’s certain. It’s an addictive hallucinogenic that renders the user susceptible to subliminal suggestions. It showed up as the new designer drug on the street market about
five or six months ago. It’s considered a high end drug, and only for those that can afford it, so its use has been limited. And no one has been able to get close to its source, there’s not even the barest hint of where it comes from.”

Braddock waited a moment, to be certain she was done. “I’m impressed, not many people know even that much about Cerebond. It’s something they don’t want to know about.”

“I try to do my homework.”

“Did your homework also include the fact that there have been eight unexplained deaths related to Cerebond in the past six months?”

“No, it didn’t.”

“Well there have been.” The elevator stopped and the doors opened onto the parking level. “My assigned hover-car is over this way,” Braddock said leading the way. “To be more precise, eight murders, some of which can be considered assassinations, can all be traced back to Cerebond.”

“Why do you think some of them were assassinations?”

They had just reached the hover-car and were entering it. Braddock sat down inside the car and watched Jerry as she climbed in and secured the other door. Slowly he programmed their destination into the navicom so the city’s core computer could choose the fastest route for this time of day.

“They were high ranking officials, or people in other positions of power. All of whom have now been replaced by people whose policies and opinions are contrary to their predecessors and the global government’s.”

The car began to move, slowly at first, then almost without any noticeable change in the feel of the vehicle they were speeding along the computer’s chosen route.

“So you think some one’s establishing a power base to over throw the current government?”

“Possibly, remember that Cerebond is a trans-dermal microchip that can be programmed. It was originally designed to repair neurological damage by bonding with the cerebral cortex and reordering and regulating the neural synapses to resemble those of a healthy brain. If that programming can be altered a person can
be programmed to do anything.”

Jerry was about to ask for more information when it occurred to her that she was being tested. “Is there anyway to trace these assassinations?”

“None.”

“I see, so our best bet would be to trace Cerebond back to its source, and hope it leads us to the person responsible for these murders.”

“You catch on fast. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. Not quite what I was expecting from a socialite turned civil servant.”

“After discovering I wasn’t what you expected in the first place you should have known better.”

“True, but I’ll admit even when I thought you were a man; your background was the one drawback I had about taking you on.”

The hover-car arrived at its destination just as Jerry opened her mouth. The car had barely stopped and Braddock was opening the door and jumping out. “Here we are, let’s go,” he called to Jerry as he left.

Once out of the car Braddock’s attitude and behavior changed. He was no longer the concerned senior partner trying to find out what his partner knew. He was now the Chief Inspector, concerned with organizing and overseeing the on-site investigation into what had happened here.

Jerry took in the scene and suddenly felt like a backwoods hick visiting her cousins in the city. She’d been at murder scenes before, but never ones like this, with so much activity. There were so many people and security drones on the street in front of and the grounds all around the brownstone style house. Quickly she moved to follow Braddock over to the sweep team leader; she got there just as the man began to make his report to Braddock.

“Not much to go on Chief. The securcams in the public areas outside the house don’t show a damn thing,” the man began. “The owners had a small dinner party last night, and their guests spent the night. When they went to check on them a short time ago they found him dead.”

“Who’s the victim this time Kendall?”

“Chief Justice Kamarov Sir,” Kendall hesitated, “He was with his mistress.”

“And?”

“And she was found unconscious. When she came to she was hysterical and could barely remember the diner party, never mind anything that happened afterwords. The odd thing is that according to the Cummings’ she wasn’t intoxicated in anyway when she and Justice Kamarov turned in for the night.”

“Thanks Kendall. Now do me a favor and keep these ghouls away,” he said, starting for the house. “What do you think, do we have any suspects?” Braddock called over his shoulder to her as they went.

Jerry was about to answer when she saw someone standing in the doorway at the top of the stairs they were climbing and changed her mind. Her answer to Braddock’s question could wait; she didn’t feel this should be discussed openly.

“Well inspector what do you intend to about this? How could this have happened? Who is responsible?” the man asked coming down the stairs to meet them half way and latching onto Braddock the moment he met him.

“I don’t know Mr. Cummings, I’ve only just arrived,” Braddock answered as they reached the top step. “Now if you’ll allow my partner and I to do our jobs I’m sure we’ll be able to answer all of your questions satisfactorily.”

“What do you mean do your jobs? I thought that was what all these other people where all ready doing?” Cummings accused.

Jerry stood back and studied the man carefully. He was about the same age as Braddock, maybe a bit younger, and had the appearance of being the rather high strung type. She hated dealing with those types of people, even at her best, and that certainly wasn’t today.

“They are, however this is only the preliminary investigation. Based on these findings we’ll determine if further investigation is necessary,” Braddock answered Cummings’ using his best diplomatic tone.

While Jerry waited, half listening to the exchange between the two men, team leader Kendall climbed the stairs and approached her.

“S'cuse me ma’am, are you Chief Braddock’s new partner?” he asked.

“Yes I am, Jerry Lawrence, and you’re Mr. Kendall, correct?”

“Yes'm, but everyone just calls me Kendall. Anyhow there’s something I think you should see ma’am.”

“All right Kendall, lead on. By the way you can call me Jerry or Lawrence, whichever you prefer. Ma’am makes me want to look for my mother.”

“Whatever you want ma’…” Kendall began, stopping and correcting himself, “Lawrence, it’s this way.” He turned and led the way back down the stairs towards the alley that ran alongside the house.

As Jerry went down the alley she noted the placement of the doors, windows and securcams along the walls. Based on what she was seeing, there was no way for someone to enter the house without being seen by at least two of the five securcams that covered the alley.

“Here, take a look at this,” Kendall indicated one of the windows towards the back of the house. “This one opens up into the room the body was found in.”

Jerry took one look at the ladder under the window and climbed up it. Carefully she examined the window, which appeared to have been forced from the outside. This was odd considering at least three of the securcams would have picked up anyone there, and the fact that the external security system on the house was almost impossible to bypass.

“Kendall do you have a nightstick with you?”

“Of course, they’re still standard issue for sweep team members, even they aren’t much use anymore other than looks,” he answered handing it up to her.

“Thanks,” she took the nightstick, checking it. It was a wooden one. She suspected that it might have a steel rod inside it, but that didn’t matter, it wasn’t exposed. Slowly she reached up with it and gently touched the window. They were surrounded by the sudden scream of the alarm, as the faint flash of a stun field being activated rippled across the window.

The team members inside looked up at the window briefly. Even though they didn’t recognize her, they recognized her I.D. badge and had the alarm shut off.

Jerry got down and moved the ladder to check out the cameras. When she was done she went back to Kendall. He had been patiently waiting for her to finish. “We have the surveillance records from these cameras, correct?”

Kendall nodded.

“Good, I want a man and a couple of drones stationed here, and they’re not to let anyone in or out without permission from Chief Braddock or myself,” she said, looking directly at Kendall, trying to gauge his response.

“Understood Inspector,” was his only response as he nodded and took out his comm-unit to order up the personnel needed.
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Braddock watched Lawrence leaving with Kendall and made a mental note to talk to her later. Right now Mr. Cummings needed his attention, luckily not all of it.

“Further investigation, this is ridiculous. A good friend of mine dies while under my roof and you have to investigate it?” he exclaimed.

“Yes Mr. Cummings, it is my job. As I’ve already reminded you of once,” Braddock replied, trying to remain calm. “Now if you and your wife will please wait inside, perhaps in the living room…” he continued, guiding Cummings back into the house. As they went through the entryway the alarm sounded.

“Now what’s going on?” Cummings whined, the stress taking its toll on him.

“My people are just checking the security field, that’s all Mr. Cummings.”

“Oh, my wife’s upstairs, lying down. This was more than she could deal with,” Cummings said, turning back to Braddock.

“Upstairs?” Braddock queried.

“Yes, where Marc…Justice Kamarov…was found was a guest apartment we have on the ground floor. I believe it was what used to be the servants quarters in an original brownstone house. When the city was rebuilt and the new designs were drawn up the space was converted to a guest apartment, it was more private for everyone,” Cummings explained.

“Especially when the woman with you isn’t your wife,” Braddock stated. Cummings gave him a wary look. “Please Mr. Cummings, we are neither of us children, nor is the woman in the apartment’s sitting room Mrs. Kamarov. I’ve met her, and believe me there is no comparison,” he finished point blank, ignoring Cummings look.

“I see, perhaps I should check on my wife,” Cummings said sheepishly.

“That would be wise sir. I’ll send the med techs up when they arrive. They can check both you and your wife out, then you’ll be transported back to the Bureau with my team.”

“All right Chief Inspector. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get out of your way.”

“Of course Mr. Cummings and I’ll get back to work.” Braddock headed down the hallway towards the guest apartment in the back of the house. The sweep team technician in charge inside had just finished briefing him on what they’d found inside when his comm-unit sounded. He left the technician and went back out into the hallway to hear what was being said better.
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Jerry stopped by the window again on her way out of the alley. As she started to leave she kicked something with her left foot. Looking down she saw something round and shiny lying on the ground in front of her. Upon kneeling down to take a closer look at it she realized that it was an antique coin, lying face up.

"Why would some one have a coin with them, everyone used credit bars now? Coins were useless." She reached into one of the pockets on her pants and pulled out a small plastic container and a pair of pick ups.

She was about to pick up the coin when she realized that she hadn’t documented its location. Quickly she took her digilink off her belt and took its picture, recording the GPS location of the coin at the same time, before proceeding. After the coin was secured in the container she the opportunity to look at it more closely, noticing a Cerebond patch stuck on the back of it. Standing up she put the container in her pocket and went in search of Kendall. She found him nearby, closing off the alleyway as ordered.

“Kendall, has the lab team arrived yet?”

“No.”

“Let me know when they do. I want this alley gone over from top to bottom.”

Kendall nodded.

“Also does Chief Braddock have anyone he prefers for electronic work?”

“Yes, Lab Chief Dusseau, it’s his specialty. Why?” Kendall answered awkwardly.

“Thanks Kendall, I just need some one good to check out that security field on the window,” she responded, only telling him half the truth, as she left to join Braddock. She had a pretty good idea where he was, but there was one thing she to take care of first. Stopping at the foot of the front steps she pulled out her comm-unit.
“Lawrence to dispatch.”

“Dispatch here, go ahead inspector,” the female voice responded matter-of-factly.

“Chief Braddock wants Lab Chief Dusseau included in the tech team coming out here. He needs a couple of securcams pulled and replaced. They appear to have been tampered with.”

“Understood, we have your location; specify camera locations on the site.”

“In the alley courtyard next to the house on the southwest side, camera positions three, five, and seven,” Jerry answered impatiently.

“Okay, we have them. He’ll be there with the lab team, once we’ve confirmed the order.”

“Understood, Lawrence out,” Jerry finished, shutting off the unit and heading up the stairs to find Braddock double time. She wasn’t sure what he might do if they called for the confirmation before he knew what she had discovered.
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“Braddock here, go ahead,” he said, turning the unit on.

“Dispatch here Chief, inspector Lawrence just called in your request for Lab Chief Dusseau to join the tech team and remove and replace three securcams, bringing the old ones in for examination. We need your confirmation of that request Sir, before sending the team out.”

As the dispatch officer finished speaking Braddock looked up and saw Jerry coming down the hallway. The look on her face was unreadable, but for some reason Braddock felt she was daring him not to confirm the request.

“That’s right dispatch. I need Dusseau and the tech team out here ASAP,” he answered curtly.

“Understood Sir, dispatch out.”

Braddock slowly shut the comm-unit off, returned it to his belt and then looked up at Jerry. She had stopped about fifteen feet away from him.

“Let’s go inspector, in here,” Braddock ordered just as curtly, indicating the door to the kitchen, and walking through. “All right inspector, talk to me,” he said leaning back against the cabinets. “I want to know why I just authorized the replacement of three securcams.”

“Kendall just showed me the alley alongside the house. There are five securcams in it and the window to the victim’s room is in plain sight of three of them, constantly.”

“So?”

“So, that window appears to have been forced from the outside, and the security field on it is still active.”

“The alarm I heard?”

“Yes.”

“One problem, the window could’ve been damaged prior to this.”

“Not likely. With a house like this maintenance droids go over it several times between sunset and sunrise, repairing any damage they find. The window would’ve been repaired before dawn. I checked the house system records and maintenance was suspended at the same time the call was made to us, and yet the drone hadn’t made its rounds yet. Also the exterior security fields haven’t been deactivated since six-thirty last night, when the Cummings guests arrived, and they were immediately reactivated.”

“I see,” Braddock said thoughtfully. “This means we have roughly an eight hour period during which the window was damaged.”

“That’s right Sir, and the records from the securcams show no activity what so ever in the alleyway until we arrived.”

“You think they were tampered with?”

“Something has been, but I’m not sure what.”

“Perhaps the pressure on the window wasn’t enough to set the alarm off?”

“No, I checked that. When you heard the alarm earlier I had barely touched it with Kendall’s nightstick and it went off.”

“That sensitive?”

“Uh-huh, and there was an active stun field as well.”

“It sounds like we’re dealing with a technical genius here.”

“No, two at least,” Jerry corrected him unconsciously.

“Why two or more?” Braddock asked, curious as to what her response would be.

“Because Cerebond, the securcams and the house systems require different types of expertise; the securcams and house systems are computer tech and Cerebond is medical micro tech.”

“Really and what makes you think Cerebond is involved in this case?”

“Well for one, the conversation we had in the car on the way here,” Jerry replied, while reaching into the pocket she’d placed the container with the coin in, “And this for another.” She handed him the container to examine.

“Well I’ll be; where'd you get this?”

“I found it out in the alley, it has been documented.”

“So what makes you think that Cerebond is medical micro tech?”

“I’m not sure, but it seems logical considering what little I know about it,” Jerry answered, puzzled because she honestly didn’t know why she’d said that.

“All right, you’ve given me sufficient reasons to have the cameras checked. Now let’s see how you do with the actual crime scene.”

“Have you seen it yet?” she asked, hesitantly.

“No, I was just going in when dispatch called. Shall we?” he answered her, indicating the door and that they should leave.

When they entered the room Braddock watched Jerry carefully. She was shocked, the room was a disaster. Across from them was the window she’d examined from the outside. Just to their left, near the door, was the victim. Huddled in the corner farthest from him was his mistress. Something about her caught Jerry’s eye and she crossed to her. Braddock let her go and decided to see about the body.

“What have you got Doc?”

“Not much Braddock. Near as I can tell right now he was killed by this.” Doc was holding up a small spray syringe in an evidence container. “Neat and clean, but I’ll know more once I get him back to the morgue and do a full autopsy.”

“Right, put a rush on it please Doc. Once the media gets a hold of this they’ll want all the answers we have and then some.”

“You got it Chief.”

Braddock turned and spotted Jerry talking to the woman in the corner and he started towards them as his comm-unit beeped.

“Go ahead.”

“Kendall here Sir, the tech team has arrived.”

“Good, sort them out Kendall.”

“One thing Sir, Inspector Lawrence left orders that no one goes into the alleyway without you or she present Sir.”

“Understood, one of us will be right out.” Braddock glanced over at Jerry in the corner before deciding she was the best person to deal with the woman, and headed the door. He wanted to see the alley for himself and was curious to see if he came to the same conclusions.
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Jerry was too caught up with trying to calm the hysterical woman down to notice that Braddock had left. “It’s all right, it’s over, I’m not going to hurt you,” she murmured softly as she approached, holding out an unfolded blanket.

The woman didn’t notice her. She just sat there, hugging her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth, shivering the whole time. One thing was certain, the woman was in shock, she kept whispering to herself. “No, no, no, go away, leave me alone.” Slowly the woman looked up at Jerry nervously, but she didn’t say anything more.

Jerry gently wrapped the blanket around the woman and held her in her arms, gently rocking her, matching her motion. “Shh, it’ll be all right, no one’s going to harm you. We’re all here to help you. I’m not going to leave you until you’re safe and sound,” she continued murmuring to the woman the entire time.