Dickory

Encrypted

"Agent Perkins?" Reed greeted questioningly as he watched him stride into the bullpen, Colin trailing behind as usual. He nodded to Colin in greeting. It had been a few days since he'd seen him last. Colin nodded back, apparently on edge about something as he flicked his anxious gaze to Perkins before looking at the floor evasively. Not a body then. He's not usually this nervous about that...Reed tried to get a read on Perkins. He looked a little annoyed, though not at Reed directly. "Do you want to go somewhere quieter?" Perkins nodded and allowed him to lead the way to the interrogation rooms. None of them were surprised as a fourth set of footsteps joined them. It went without saying that Nines would follow wherever Reed went.

"I didn't want to bother you with this...We'd hoped to review the footage without getting you involved unnecessarily," Perkins began, not missing the way Reed's body stiffened at the phrasing. If they didn't want to involve him, then that meant it was connected to the real Hickory Killer. To that shop. To Aaron. Reed felt the hand on the back of his neck and leaned into it gratefully. "Let's sit," Perkins suggested, not wanting to risk Reed having a panic attack on his feet and falling. Reed didn't argue as Nines guided him into a chair and sat beside him.

"What-uh...what footage?" Gavin asked with a nervous blink as he swallowed the lump in his throat. There had been no cameras in the shop. It was such an old place that even the electricity had been turned off. Did that sicko plant cameras to record everything? Was he watching when I...

"Mr Hughes' memory core. We had forensics copy what they could and send it to us," Perkins confessed in his usual business tone, not missing the way Gavin's jaw tightened in distaste. Someone had copied Aaron's memories? Like a fucking public folder? Someone had taken a piece of Aaron and copied it onto a USB? He took a breath, fisting his hands beneath the table. He thought androids had rights to protect them from shit like that, but it's a federal case. They have more authority when it comes to bypassing things like that. Gavin tried not to glare too much. They hadn't done it maliciously. They'd done it to help. Aaron would probably have wanted to help.

"You received no prior consent for such a violation," Nines stated sharply, voicing the resentment and violation that Gavin couldn't as his LED span red once and settled on amber. Colin's gaze had dropped to the table evasively. As an android, he should understand Nines' indignation at their rights being swept aside like this. In a normal case, this would mean that anything found would be inadmissible in court. It's a little more difficult to prove though, since Aaron is dead and his only form of relative is...Oh shit...Gavin realised as his wide green eyes flicked up.

"You were expecting me to consent to it," he blurted in shock, watching Perkins' greyish eyes sharpen as he acknowledged that he'd been caught. "If you hadn't found anything, you wouldn't have told me, but if Aaron had something in his memories you were planning on bringing me a backdated consent form, weren't you?" His tone was bitter and accusing as he folded his arms. The worst part was that he couldn't say with any certainty whether he would have agreed to sign it. Hell, Perkins may even have used some sort of leverage to make him sign it. Threatened his job somehow, kept him locked up for a while with constant convincing. Gavin pushed out of his chair with a frustrated hiss and paced to the door and back restlessly. He didn't know what to do with the resentment building in his chest.

"Detective Reed, you know how big this case is and how many people have died...Would you really let the opportunity pass us by over something as vague as consent?" Perkins asked in a level tone. This was a side of his job that he wasn't so fond of. Some parts were black and white. The rest were varying shades of grey. Learning to walk the lines and knowing when to push was part of it. It was one of the things that rubbed people the wrong way regarding the FBI. People thought they didn't care about things like rights, but it was more complex. Perkins had to know when to put the many over the few, and in this case, it had felt like the right choice.