Calisto drove to Inch City’s Palu district police station, which was a 20 minute drive away. Lusso remembered the Felicity City Police department as a monolithic skyscraper. Lusso remembered when he first stood at the base of the Felicity City Police Department. The closer you came to the monolithic skyscraper, the more you felt small and insignificant. It imposed itself over the city like a thug trying to intimidate someone into coughing up money. Compared to it, the police station was a midget. The station was just two stories, and the steel nanotube alloy plates reinforcing the station were originally coated with straw colored paint. But the continual exposure to exhaust and nanoparticulate air waste left the building riddled with soot black spots that resembled mold. Calisto drove the car into the underground parking lot. Calisto killed the engine, looked into the back mirror, and said, “Get out.”
Lusso and Ding stepped out of the car. Calisto pulled out two pairs of Corpsitech patented POWER CUFFS from her pockets and looked expectantly at Lusso and Ding.
Lusso said, “I thought we weren’t under arrest.”
“Technically you're not. It’s protocol. Could’ve cuffed you earlier, but I didn’t want to make a big deal.”
Lusso raised his eyebrows and stretched his wrists out. The cuffs clicked over his wrists, and began to hum with electricity, activating an anti-lockpick function. Ding watched Lusso and followed suit. Lusso and Ding walked into the elevator with Kimi and Calisto, arriving at the first floor of the station. In the after hours of the day, the police station was mostly empty. Calisto led Lusso into a room, and closed the door behind her. Lusso assumed Ding was in a different room, perhaps with Kimi.
There was a small table in the middle of the room, with chairs on either side. Lusso sat down across from Calisto and rested his cuffed hands on the table. A weak light hung from the ceiling. Outside the small halo that encompassed the table and chairs, there was only shadow. He remembered being on the outside of this same kind of room a couple years back. Now he was inside it. The repertoire would almost always be the same. They’d talk to you about something innocuous to soften you up, then they would ease into the subject matter, trying to put a noose around your neck without you knowing.
“How do you feel about your line of work?”
“It’s hard. But it pays alright.”
“Do you feel that there are jobs that pay more than yours, but are easier?”
“Yeah. A couple. Mostly office jobs.”
“Do you think JGE employees have it easier than janitors?”
“I’d think so.”
“Did you meet Jin Isman before you caught him eavesdropping?”
So she knew. Lusso guessed Ding had been the idiot to tell her that they’d met Jin before the concert happened.
“Yes.”
“What was your impression of him?”
“He was high. On the job.”
“In our line of work, we have trends in crime that we notice and document. Sometimes, crime happens because of resentment. Just like when one child resents another child at school because they are better than them at schoolwork.”
“Yeah?”
“Sometimes, resentment grows so deep within people that when it’s released, it comes out through violence.”
“I wouldn’t kill someone because I was jealous they had it easier than me.”
“Who do you suspect of killing him?”
“I suspect he killed himself. Unintentionally, with drugs.”
“We looked through the contents of the deceased’s pockets. There was a phone. Did you use it?”
Lusso cursed himself for not using gloves when looking through Jin’s pockets.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lusso felt a drop of sweat trickle down his back. He took a deep breath.
“I don’t think you’ll believe me.”
“So you refuse to answer the question?”
“No. I’ll explain. I was trying to call any relatives that he had to let them know of the situation.”
“The police could have handled that.”
“I wasn’t thinking very clearly. He died right in front of me.”
“You seem composed enough now.”
“Does it look that way? Maybe you’re being too assuming. About me, ”
“Did you end up contacting any relatives?”
“He had no contacts on his phone. Nothing at all. I was just trying to be nice, alright?”
“Lusso. If you come clean, things might turn out better for you.”
“Oh my God. Do you think I killed a guy just to look through his phone? I didn’t have anything to do with this. Nothing.”
Calisto’s eyes narrowed. She searched Lusso’s eyes as if she was looking through a microscope at bacteria. Someone knocked on the door. Kimi peeked in. She looked confused.
Kimi said, “Autopsy reports are out.”
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Calisto stood up, and walked out.
Lusso exhaled softly. He hoped Ding was holding up okay. He thought back to Jin Isman’s dead body laying on the concrete floor and the shelf. The blood flowing onto the floor soundlessly, the glazed eyes, the stiffening limbs, the acrid smell of piss. It picked at a different memory in the back of his brain. Lusso shook his head, like a dog shaking off water, to forget.
Calisto walked back in with a tablet, presumably containing the results.
Lusso said, “What’s the news? Am I free?”
Calisto said, “Not yet.”
There was yet another knock on the door. Calisto turned back, with an annoyed expression on her face. An older man with brown, leathery skin, and black sunglasses opened the door. His badge read Cham Desmonds.
Calisto said, “Sir. I’m in the middle of —“
Cham waved his hand. He said, “I know you’re in the middle of something important. I would only interrupt because I have something more important to say.”
Cham pointed to Lusso. “You and your friend. Get out.”
Lusso said, “Thank you, sir.”
Cham left the room. Calisto continued to stare at the opened door.
Lusso said, “Drug overdose, wasn’t it?”
Calisto faced Lusso and said, “No. Extreme brain damage.”
“From drugs?”
“No. Some kind of implosion.”
“Implosion?”
“Yes. Now leave.”
Lusso left the room and waited for Ding. Lusso knit his brows together, trying to understand why someone’s brain would implode. Cham and Calisto were in intense conversation, just out of earshot. Kimi arrived with Ding.
Lusso said, “You know what they’re talking about?”
Kimi said, “Calisto told me she’d explain it to me later. But even without being told anything, I can tell. There’s something weird going on.”
“Why?”
“The security cameras were all fed a loop. Normally we’d be able to tell exactly what went on, but this time, there’s … nothing.”
Lusso felt the hairs on his back stand up. Jin’s brain had imploded, and the security cameras left nothing. Lusso’s mind sped this way and that as he tried to piece together the puzzle. He tried to make conclusion after conclusion, to rule out the one possibility he didn’t want to consider. But it was clear as day. Jin Isman had been murdered. He left the station in a hurry with Ding. He wanted to escape this place as soon as possible. Lusso and Ding climbed down the steps of the station, and walked briskly towards the direction of the main street to call a taxi.
“Hey. You. Psst.”
Lusso turned around.
“Yeah, you.”
A man in a dull maroon baseball cap stood with his hands deep in his pockets behind Lusso and Ding. The brim was pulled so low Lusso couldn’t see his eyes. He had a hooked nose like an eagle’s beak, and his jowls and mustache reminded Lusso of a walrus. His smile was crooked, like he knew something that everybody else didn’t. Lusso felt as if the night had gotten darker, the shadows cast by the streetlights had gotten longer, and the distant sounds of occasional traffic sounded further away.
He said, “I’m a … how do you say this. Yes. A relative of Jin Isman. I have some questions.”
Lusso’s feet were rooted in place. Ding grabbed Lusso’s arm.
“I-I-I don’t know anything. Who’s Jin Isman?”
The man sighed.
“Let’s not make this difficult.”
“I was in there because I was caught for pickpocketing.”
“Mr. JGE janitor. I know practically everything there is to know. I just need to confirm—”
Lusso took off running with Ding. Lusso felt like he was in the middle of a bad dream. He was running, but no matter how quickly he pumped his legs, he felt like he was getting nowhere. Lusso heard an electric hum, and something fell on the ground behind him with a short, pronounced scream. He looked. Ding was crumpled on the pavement, writhing in pain. He met eyes with Lusso for a split second. His eyes were filled with terror, like an animal caught in a trap. Lusso looked forward, and kept running. He was almost near the main street, when he heard another hum and felt a bolt of lightning travel from his right calf to the rest of his body. Lusso’s legs gave way and he rolled forward like a ball for another meter.
Lusso croaked out a tortured “Aghhh…”
Lusso heard the crunching of sneakers on pavement get closer and closer. Lusso tried to pull himself up with his arms, but they wouldn’t listen and flapped around on the pavement like penguin flippers. The man crouched in front of Lusso’s face. Lusso finally got a look at the man’s eyes. The whites of his eyes were barely visible. Most of his eyes were taken up by his irises, which were black holes, devoid of light. Lusso felt as if he was staring into a bottomless abyss.
“I’ll ask again. What were you doing with Jin Isman?”
Lusso wheezed out an answer. “He was suspicious. He ran away. So I chased.”
“What was he doing?”
“I was in a room during after-hours, when everyone should have been gone. He was listening in on our conversation.”
“Our?”
“Me. Some other janitors.”
“How did he die?”
“He was bleeding out from every hole in his face. I didn’t do shit. I swear. The autopsy! They said it was an implosion in the brain.”
“That was easy, wasn’t it?”
The man stood up, and began to walk away. He turned back, as if remembering something.
He said, “You’re smart enough not to talk about this, right?”
Lusso nodded.
The man disappeared as he rounded the corner on the main street.
Lusso let his head rest on the pavement. He wanted to close his eyes and fall asleep, but he remembered Micky back at the concert hall. She would kill him if he didn’t get back fast enough. Lusso sat upright and watched Ding walk unsteadily towards him. Ding’s eyebrows were knitted, and he was pouting.
“Ding. I was going to try to call the police. I wasn’t running away. I swear. At least we’re alive, right? Haha!”
Ding didn’t respond.
“Ding, I’ll make it up to you, for real. I’d buy you an expansion pack for one of your games, but I’m practically broke. A fire flavored Keli Energy on me. Your favorite. How about that?”
Lusso stood up and put an arm over Ding’s shoulders as they hobbled over to the main street.
After a taxi ride and a visit to a nearby convenience store, Lusso and Ding made it back to the concert hall, with a plastic bag full of energy drinks and coffee. Lusso put his phone up to his ear.
“Yeah, we’re at the main entrance. You’ll find us?”
Micky appeared from around a corner, looking relieved.
“So, how much did you get done?”
“A little bit. Spent most of the time figuring out how to work a new machine they gave us. It’s a helluva weird thing.”
Micky took a can of coffee from the bag, opened it, and downed it all in one go.
“You two don’t look that great. Something happen?”
Lusso told Micky about the events that had transpired at the police station, and the texts on Jin’s phone. Micky let out a sigh.
“At least you guys made it back. Let’s just focus on the job from now on. Avoid Ria Jun. She’s trouble.”
Lusso said, “She doesn't seem too bad.”
“You think that ‘cause she’s pretty, and you’re a guy. Might not be that great of a person considering how much weird shenanigans are happening around her. Karma and all that.”
“You believe in karma?”
“It makes sense. If you’re an asshole to other people, bad things happen to you.”
Lusso took a swig of his energy drink, and pointed at Micky, drink in hand.
Lusso said, “I could explain to you why you’re wrong, but it would give you an existential crisis, so I’ll spare you. Let’s get to work.”