Tick Tock Part One - Hickory

House of Horrors

Things were quiet for a week. Suspiciously quiet. Hank and Connor were almost running interference. They never gave him a straight answer when he asked about the child android case. His inbox never had more than three new cases each day, and the ones he was working on were progressing slower than ever. It was like the work had dried up. If he didn't know better, he'd say he was about to be fired, only his sessions with Dr Marr were still going ahead as usual.

She'd heard about the episode at Cyberlife Tower. Phcking Connor! He still hadn't forgiven him for that one. Dr Marr had been trying to pry the details out of him for days. She'd tried catching him off guard, talking about his meeting with Simon one minute and then asking about his role in the dream the next. So far, she'd managed to figure out that Connor had been in it, and the child android. The child android was what she'd pressed him on the most. Later, she brought up Chloe. He didn't understand why until she pointed out how easily he'd spoken to her, like a normal person. He couldn't really justify that one. Chloe was just a really good social model. She was convincing. Authentic.

Sometimes, she asked about Jack, pressing him on the reason he still kept his desk untouched, why he refused to work with anyone else, and why he hadn't contacted Sandy and Kitty in years. She knew Jack had been in the dream, but he'd refused to speak about it. When she'd started pressing him for more details about their relationship, he'd almost blushed. She was hitting far too close to a place he'd always refused to show to anyone, especially Jack himself. Some things were private. Embarrassing, pointless, and private.

The session had already put him in a bad mood when he entered the bullpen to look at his files, debating how badly he needed another coffee. He was surprised to find an envelope on his desk. It wasn't a normal one either. It was thick and expensive, with an unfamiliar logo embossed on the stiff paper. He sat with a heavy sigh, tugging out the fine paper to read through it. The more he read, the more he frowned. It was clearly from some fancy private lawyer. He didn't understand it though. There must be some sort of mistake. He'd been summoned to the will reading of one Alexander Elias Hamilton. It would take place at an unfamiliar address somewhere just outside Detroit. It must be a mistake...but the letter was addressed to him by both name and title. The problem was that he was sure he'd never met anyone called Hamilton. The will reading was in three days' time, on a Sunday. Makes sense. Everyone will be off work that day.

"Detective Reed, you have a case," Miller announced as he walked over. Both Hank and Connor looked up almost pensively. So they have been stealing cases...Fuckers! Miller waited by his desk, ready to go. Reed nodded as he set the letter aside and got to his feet, letting him explain more on the way. It was at an old mansion just outside of town, one of those creepy places with a mass of space around it. The entire front of the old house had been cordoned off outside the main gates. "It was a bunch of kids who found him," Miller reported as they stepped through the holographic tape.

"Thought I was working on android cases," Reed murmured as the smell hit him. Miller put on a mask. It didn't help at all, but he liked to pretend that it did. Reed was made of more resilient stuff, apparently. He waved aside the mask, able to handle the smell even after all this time working exclusively with androids. That was the good thing about androids. No matter how long they were left inactive, they didn't smell. He tugged on a pair of blue gloves and crouched beside the stained grass and bird pecked bones. Body's been out here for a long time...A really long time...

"About that..." Miller trailed off, nodding towards the back door of the creepy-looking house. Reed stood from his crouched position and headed up into the house. "I haven't seen it myself, but I'm told it's quite a horror show..." Reed huffed in amusement as he took in Miller's apprehension. He was pretty good at reading him now, since they'd worked on a few cases together. Apparently, haunted houses weren't his thing. He looks like he's going to shit himself already.