Disgustingly Appetizing

Chapter 12: Tick Tock goes the Clock

Richard placed a cup of freshly brewed coffee next to a drowsy Gavin who was resting his head on the desk. "Your coffee, detective," the machine expressed with a hushed tone. The brunette remained still, eyes closed as his back slowly expanded and contracted with each quiet breath. The android's expression changed to one of pity as he watched his tired counterpart sleep. RK900 let out a small sigh as he leaned in and placed a hand on his partner's back. "Gavin," he rubbed the brunette's shoulder blade, "I brought you the coffee you requested," he whispered with kind eyes.

The detective grumbled as he drew his brows together, eliciting sounds of annoyance. "You know," the android began, "You don't have to work yourself to death," he glanced at the brunette who was slowly trying to open his eyes. "Mh," Gavin groggily got up from his resting position, "Yeah, I do," he mumbled, rubbing at his eye. The machine straightened back up as he took a step back to allow his partner room to stretch. "This is the seventh night in a row you've slept at the station, detective," Richard expressed with concern, "Don't you think it'd be best for you to take a small break from this case?"

"No," Gavin took a sip of his coffee before scooting his chair closer to the terminal, "It's gonna be Wednesday in..." he looked at his watch, "thirteen minutes and we're no closer to figuring out who this fuckin' bastard is," the detective sighed as he brought a hand to his forehead. "And to make matters worse, Fowler'll be back Thursday morning from his business trip," Gavin shook his head out of frustration, "What do I tell him? That I don't know jack shit about this guy?"

"That's not necessarily true," Richard explained, glancing at his agitated partner, "We've managed to obtain some knowledge about the suspect." Gavin scoffed, "Oh, that he's a buff, white dude who hates androids?" he dismissed with a hand, "That's nothing to go on." RK900 brought a hand to his chin, "We also know that he's likely unemployed, seeing as most of the crimes he's responsible for were committed during the daytime." The brunette stared at his partner, "Still doesn't tell us shit," he tilted his head to the ceiling, "He uses a crowbar, paints some stupid-ass word on the wall near the body and then fucks right off."

"I agree that this man is proving to be quite troublesome to identify but I know we'll be able to find him," Richard gazed at the brunette with an optimistic smile. "As a side note detective, I do appreciate you taking the time to bathe regularly despite all your time here at the station," the android stated in an attempt to lighten the mood. Gavin groaned as he slumped in his chair, "Knock it off," he warned in a peeved cadence, "It's been a fuckin' week and we're as clueless as we were back then." The android approached his colleague and leaned against the desk, "Not true," he pointed to the isolated files on the terminal, "We know that this man is indeed a serial killer," his finger trailed down the list of cases, "We also know he's targeting men and women who support android rights." Richard looked to the brunette, "More importantly, it seems he's going up a hierarchical chain, with each case progressively targeting more significant individuals."

"Significant individuals?" Gavin cocked a brow, "The fuck does that mean?" he tapped on the desk. "What I mean, is he's trying to destroy the lives of people who either work, worked or work in relation to Cyberlife," the android gestured, "Our suspect isn't targeting random humans who have grown fond of androids," Richard went on, "He's targeting humans who had something to do with their production and civil rights—people who have made headlines in recent years," he turned towards the detective, "Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"So what, you're sayin' the dude's a CyberLife employee?" Gavin shrugged, "We went over this already," he exhaled, "We don't have enough information about the guy to make any sort of accusations." The shorter of the two ran his hands through his hair, stopping at the back of his neck, "We're going around in circles," he bit his lower lip, "We've been through a total of four cases revolving around this jackass and we haven't seen him slip up once." RK900 leaned closer to the computer, "What I find most perplexing are the words our suspect leaves on the walls of the crime," he sifted through the files, "So far we have the words, 'Swine,' 'Omnipresence,' 'Larceny,' and 'Arrogance,'" Richard knit his brows, "These words have no correlation to the crimes committed so why is he—"