“You know something,” Laith attempted again for the fifth time. “Tell me who Invidia is. Tell me something to help me find Cassia’s killer. Don’t you want justice for your wife?”

Still, Aster Lockwood remained tight-lipped, silent since the moment Laith had asked about Invidia, and unwilling to speak to him anymore. There wasn’t much else he’d be able to ply out of him for now. Unwilling to let him go, given that he obviously knew something he wasn’t telling, Laith decided to keep Aster Lockwood where he was for the moment, at least while he healed. The guards would be stationed outside, so there was no chance of him slipping away and running off. Not that he’d make it very far, but Laith didn’t want to take any chances. When he was ready to leave the hospital, he’d be taken to the Heliopolis Police Department’s HQ in the Official Quarter, where he would stay until the investigation was completed.

As he stepped back into the hall and gave his orders to the guards stationed there, he remembered that thought he’d had earlier – that idea of retroactive detection. Could PATET do something like that? Was it safe for him to ask Haize about it without drawing her deeper into what seemed to be a potentially dangerous conspiracy within the PATET HQ?

He decided against it. “PATET,” he said aloud, his Slate in hand. “Pull up the identifying fingerprints taken from Aster Lockwood at the Central Hospital and run them against the fingerprints on the murder weapon found at the crime scene.” That should settle it.

There was a moment of silence before PATET’s response came. Laith stared down at his screen, fully unprepared for the response that came:

Fingerprint matching failed. Source CGH-001 cannot be located for analysis.

He’d expected for the fingerprints to not match. Heck, he’d have been surprised but happy if they had matched. But this – he hadn’t even thought this was an option.

Source CGH-001. The CGH-001 was an evidence tag that referred to the murder weapon at the scene of the murder. What PATET was trying to tell him was that this particular piece of evidence could not be located. Which was ridiculous, because it had been documented, recorded, and uploaded to PATET’s databases at the crime scene itself. Laith had been there while the forensic investigators had done their jobs. PATET had run a search against those fingerprints on the hilt of the knife.

So, something was very wrong here.

He’d always believed that PATET was a helpful presence in Heliopolis. It facilitated everything, automated many processes, and actively took care of important systems that helped the city run. Everything from water management to energy efficiency to banking and financial institutions. Heck, even schools used the system to manage their students' records, grade reports, and administrative information. Everyone - every single person in Heliopolis - relied on PATET to do its job and not make mistakes.

“Try again,” Laith ordered, and his frown only grew deeper as the same message was returned:

Fingerprint matching failed. Source CGH-001 cannot be located for analysis.

“Where is CGH-001?” Laith demanded.

Source CGH-001 cannot be located.

“Show me the logs pertaining to the use of CGH-001.”

A brief moment passed, and then the entire log was presented before him, a long list of dates, times, and explanations. PATET had even included the knife’s life prior to the murder, mentioning the manufacturer, the date it was purchased by Aster Lockwood, and more. This was not relevant to him at the moment, and he scrolled through quickly, trying to find the information he needed.

CGH-001 uploaded to PATET EVIBASE by Forensic Analyst Florenz Jardin.

CGH-001 analyzed by PATET IDREC, b.r. Forensic Analyst Florenz Jardin, for matching fingerprint.

CGH-001 analyzed by PATET IDREC, b.r. Forensic Analyst Florenz Jardin, for matching fingerprint.

CGH-001 analyzed by PATET IDREC, b.r. Forensic Analyst Florenz Jardin, for matching fingerprint.

It seemed quite normal, given the situation. Those three analyses must have been Jardin’s attempts at re-analyzing the fingerprints to check and see if PATET had simply glitched out on them or if PATET’s response was a reliable one. It was the last couple of log entries that bothered him, though. Dated just that morning, they read:

CGH-001 relocated to PATET EVIBASE Archives.

CGH-001 selected for Expedited Elimination.

CGH-001 eliminated at INCFAC 11.

Laith’s stomach squeezed with anxiety as he realized what it meant. The evidence was gone. It had been destroyed. Incinerated. It couldn’t be accessed or analyzed anymore. It didn’t exist anymore.

Someone had gotten rid of it.

☀️ ☀️ ☀️

His most important piece of evidence. Gone. In the space of a couple of hours, it had been transferred to the archives, put away, labeled TBI – To Be Incinerated – and destroyed. Turned into little more than ash at the bottom of an incinerator somewhere in the bowels of the Heliopolis Police Department’s main building. The same building where his office was located. Destroyed right under everyone’s noses.

All while he’d been sleeping, then having breakfast, then speaking to Aster Lockwood in his hospital room.

Laith’s mind swirled with possible explanations – possible suspects – possible threats. All of it led him back to PATET HQ, to Audra Haize’s words, to that hidden log and Berch and everything else he’d learned about. Did Specialists really have that much power? Could they truly control everything – manipulate information, erase and destroy evidence? Evidently, they could. And, just as evidently, there was someone who was doing that very thing, and nobody seemed the wiser. Maybe it's more than one person.

Almost immediately, Laith contacted Captain Fox.

“Detective,” she greeted him flatly. “Tell me you’ve found our killer.”

“Not yet,” Laith replied quickly, “but I have more information about… what we were discussing. About PATET.” For some reason that felt ridiculous to put into words, Laith didn't want to spell out the purpose of his call for PATET to detect. If someone was out there, manipulating it, they might be listening to know if anyone was onto them. Couldn't they?

There was a hesitation before Captain Fox responded, her tone more cautious, her voice lowered slightly. “I told you to stay out of that, Detective. It’s not your case. I’ve already gotten a team working on it – unofficially, I might add, so they’re going dangerously out of their way to check this out for us.”

“Well, I just found out that my evidence was destroyed,” Laith told her, checking over his shoulder self-consciously. “The knife that had those big, perfect, beautiful prints from our murderer? The one lodged into Cassa Grove’s back? It’s been incinerated. The fingerprints that were lifted from it have been erased. And I didn’t give the order. I’m guessing you didn’t, either. In fact, nobody gave the order, according to the logs, which isn't possible, is it?”

Captain Fox hissed out a string of swear words best not repeated, and Laith rubbed his brow, glancing around to make sure he was alone as he made his way back into Warda’s office. “That was the only solid evidence we had for this case, Detective. You sure you didn’t make a mistake?”

“I don’t make mistakes that big,” Laith replied impatiently, then took a breath to steady himself. “Listen, I’m telling you – there’s something going on here, and it’s got to do with this case. Someone doesn’t want this person identified. Someone’s messing with the evidence and the information. Surveillance footage has been erased, fingerprints are left unidentifiable, Invidia’s identity is completely protected, evidence is destroyed, and I have a hunch that something’s up with Aster Lockwood’s identity, too. There are only so many coincidences and glitches we can allow ourselves, Captain. Someone’s using PATET to cover their tracks.”

Back in Warda’s office, Laith took a seat on her comfortable sofa while Captain Fox considered what he’d told her. He hoped, for her sake, that the team she’d put together – the identities of whom she wouldn’t share with him – were taking this seriously.

“Alright, Laith, I’ll make sure the team looks into that as well,” Captain Fox said. “In the meantime, where are you at with the case?”

“Nowhere good,” Laith replied with a sigh, “but I’m getting closer. Aster Lockwood knows something. He’s keeping information from me. I’ll find out what it is.”

“I’m trusting you with this, Laith,” Fox said. “Let me know when you learn anything new. In the meantime, we keep Aster Lockwood as the main suspect. He'll be apprehended as soon as he's ready to leave the hospital, unless a more likely suspect comes along. His Slate placed him there at the time of his wife’s murder. It’s still the closest lead we have.”

Laith agreed that Aster Lockwood was the closest lead they had. Only, he thought it might be for a very different reason.