The Last Case

Chapter 3

When Greyson opened the door to his office, the first thing that caught my eye was the tall, gorgeous, woman half sitting on the front edge of his desk. She had long, thick, black hair that was done in an old fashioned parted wave. Her eyes were green, intense, but also very cold. She was wearing makeup, lipstick, blush, eyeliner, and eye shadow. There was a black char mark on her neck spreading out from behind her hair. She was wearing a well-tailored suit jacket, smooth collarless shirt, and a knee length pencil skirt. She wasn’t wearing shoes. I wondered if she’d lost them somewhere between the scene of the crime and the evidence room. Her arms hung limply at her sides and she didn’t react to us walking into the office. It was only then that I realized she wasn’t leaning, and she wasn’t staring at us. She was off.

The nandroid, a model that the family had designated as Lucy, was surprising to say the least. I’m not sure what I was expecting when Greyson told me about the android nanny. Most of the androids I’ve seen have been pretty clearly robots. They are all brushed metal, false looking skin covering certain parts to make them more friendly looking, and more importantly completely unattractive depending, I guess, on what you’re into. I had the sense that if Lucy was turned on and walking around, I might not even be able to tell she was an android.

I had been so taken by the sight of the robot that I didn’t notice the older gentleman standing just behind her. The man had the dark complexion and features of Indian decent, possibly Pakistani. He was leaning over Greyson’s desk, fiddling with a large datapad that was plugged into the back of Lucy’s neck. He was dressed casually and neat, but his look of manic concentration made him seem disturbed and completely stressed out.

Another man was seated in one of the low guest chairs across from Greyson’s desk. This was a lawyer if I’d ever seen one. He was in a perfectly tailored suit, black as night, and impeccably neat. He had a fake looking tan and when he smiled, chemically whitened teeth gleamed behind his lips. He stood up and extended his hand to us.

“Captain Greyson,” he said. Greyson shook his hand firmly. “Cal Overhan. I’m general counsel for Mako Robotics. Pleased to meet you. This is our technician Mr. Rajagopal.”

I watched in silence as the lawyer and Greyson exchanged pleasantries. I was more interested in the other man in the room. There was something about Mr. Rajagopal that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. He was wearing jeans and a plain buttoned down shirt, but his shoes looked expensive. Like, several hundreds of dollars expensive. Leather for sure, imported from Earth probably. His fingers, working on the datapad as they were, were professionally manicured. He looked up from his work and spotted me staring at him.

“We need to move this along,” said Cal. “My client has a request of your inspector here.”

I looked over at the lawyer. “Why don’t you let him ask me then?”

“My client requires complete privacy, so any interactions you have with him will be through me.”

I smiled at the man. “Fine. What does your client want?”

“He would like to have Lucy accompany you on your investigation.”

This was unexpected. I didn’t really know how to feel about it. I didn’t like working with a partner in general, and I’d never known an android to work with people in this sort of capacity. They were usually left to complete the menial tasks that humans didn’t want to do.

“With all due respect Mr. Overhan,” I said. “I’m not interested in having a defective android looking over my shoulder. The next few hours will be critical and I can’t afford to be looking out for this thing.”

“It isn’t defective,” said the man behind Lucy. He put down his datapad and walked around the desk.

“Considering it was supposed to be protecting and watching a child, and was easily disabled, I’d have to beg to differ.”