10 Minute Tales

Feb 17 (Untimed)

Queenson was half-asleep by the time he made it home, and collapsed on the bed, surrendering to sleep as he hit the pillow. Alyssa, however, was still hard at work, combing through the log she had discovered earlier. There was no reference to the details of the patient, no name to research, no address to visit. She sighed to herself.

"Ugh... Sentinel, I'm guessing I'm not allowed to view the doctor's patient list from that week?"

"Correct. Doing so would violate the privacy of the patients."

"Even though one of them could be the culprit?"

"Unfortunately, yes." she sighed.

"Hey, Alyssa!" a voice called out. She looked up. It seemed to be one of the junior detectives.

"Yeah?"

"You were with that Saivom case, right?"

"Yes, I'm still looking into it..."

"Prints came back, we have an I.D."

"Oh?" she sat up a little, intrigued.

"Yeah, here." he handed over a simple sheet. She looked at them. It contained the fingerprints of an augmented arm - each appeared to be smooth and featureless, but had a microscopic serial number on a random fingertip unique to the augmentation. This set, however...

"Hey, where's that I.D.?" Alyssa asked. The worker looked over.

"What, it's not there?"

"No, none of these prints have it..." she looked them over again. "Aug arms resist acid, right?"

"Yeah, think they're meant to. Wonder why that one doesn't have anything..."

"It's because somebody knew what was going to happen. Somebody planned this guy's murder." she frowned. "And they were able to bypass Sentinel to do it."

"No logs are present to suggest a likely suspect." Sentinel warned, somehow sounding more serious than before. "I will run a diagnosis on all augmented limbs to attempt to discern possible suspects. I shall contact you should I find a suitable match."

"Good, thanks." she smiled briefly, but soon had her mind focused on the task. "What about Queenson? Did he come back yet?"

"I have not been able to maintain a consistent watch on his status, but he is currently resting after this venture. I am sure he shall return once he has recovered his energy."

"Alright, keep an eye on him, okay?"

"As you wish." Alyssa tapped away at a display, writing scores of information, lost in thought. She was getting nowhere, and yet she felt as though she was close...