Beep Beep Beep
Three repeated beeps continued to ring through the early dawn air, waking the occupant of the room. A low groan followed as the device's owner rose from her pillows' comfty embrace.
Her messy blonde hair spilled over her shoulders. A long yawn, she failed to stifle, floated free from her mouth. Her nose scrunched up as the scent of her morning breath filled her nostrils.
Shooting out of her bed, her hand flew toward her phone, attempting to grab it, only to knock it onto the floor with a loud thud.
"Shit," she cursed as she crouched down, her panic rising as she desperately searched for cracks. A sigh of relief left her lips upon noticing nothing. This time, gripping her phone tightly, she walked off towards the attached bathroom.
Klik—fsshhh.
A few minutes later, the shower turned off, klik—cut, as the door to the bathroom opened. Water droplets slid down her skin, still warmed with a faint rosy tint from the shower.
Warm light caught along her figure, outlining the gentle curves and angles of her frame, as she made her way across the room.
She pulled her dresser, the drawer opening with a muted shhk as the wood slid against itself. Her hands reached in, grabbing her outfit for the day: a crisp white long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black slacks.
Once she was dressed, she made her way out of her room and down the hall; the floor creaked softly underfoot, only a tad louder as she stepped down the stairs.
Morning rays filtered through the translucent curtains, illuminating the sparsely furnished living room. Her feet carried her through the room, stopping in front of a picture frame.
A man and woman dressed in wedding attire smiled at the camera, their hands resting warmly over her stomach.
Without a word, she tipped the frame forward until the smiling couple disappeared. Her feet moved swiftly, taking her away without a moment's hesitation into the kitchen.
She opened a cupboard with a soft creak, pulling down a mug before opening another and retrieving a bag of grounded coffee.
The coffee machine roared to life as she put in the ground coffee. While that was going on, she grabbed one of the pans hanging over her sink. Setting it on the burner, she then walked over to the fridge and began to pull out the ingredients to cook a simple breakfast.
As she got further into the cooking process, she began to hum a sweet, melodic tune, one similar to what mother would lull their child to sleep with. Unbeknownst to her, a silent figure watched from behind, their eyes holding a trace of sorrow.
Once she had finished making breakfast, the figure finally made its presence known. "Good morning, sweetheart."
"Ah!" She shouted as her body jumped with fright. Turning around, she faced the individual, "Oh my god, Mom!?"
Setting the pan down, she quickly wiped her hands on a rag before walking over to her mother and grabbing her hands tightly. "What are you doing here? Why didn't you call me? I would've come and picked you up."
Her mother smiled gently. "It's fine," She said, waving her hand. "I know my visit was a bit sudden. I just came to check in on you. I know you're always busy with work, and just wanted to make sure you were taking care of your health."
Her mother looked past her toward the plate of food sitting on the island, "Though it seems you're handling yourself just fine. But you live in such a large house by yourself, don't you think it's time to…"
"Argh, not this again, Mom." She groaned loudly, throwing her arms up in the air, as she walked back to the other side of the island. "I've told you I'm not interested in looking for another relationship."
Her mother's sigh was soft, her shoulders falling as she tilted her head, a quiet expression of concern shaped by years of gentle instinct. "Patty"
"I know you may not want to, but you have to–" Patty raised her finger, stopping her as her phone rang.
Picking up her phone, her expression changed as she read the message. Taking off her apron, she rushed to the door, grabbing her keys and badge. Turning back to her mother, she spoke with urgency. "Sorry, Mom, something came. You can have what I cooked. I'll be back later."
With that, the door slammed behind her, the sound of her car zooming off following seconds later.
***
Patty lifted the forensic tarp, a wave of nausea washing over her as the acrid stench of decay hit her senses. She quickly turned her head away, her face twisting in disgust.
"I know, right?" the CSI said, glancing up from her tablet, her pencil still scratching across the screen. "Reminds me of mi abuela's bacalao. That woman could cook anything, but the moment she touched salted cod? Dios… it always smelled like something crawled out of the grave."
Shaking her head, Patty set the tarp down before standing. She quickly dusted her gloves off and carefully stepped over to the CSI. "Have we identified the victim yet?"
"Yes, we have." Maria swiped to the left on her tablet, pulling up an image before leaning over to show her. "Preliminary investigation reveals him to be Robert Burtinham."
"His vehicle is parked right over there at Dirty Dan's, where we were able to find his wallet lying just outside it."
"Dirty Dan's? Isn't that right around the corner? How'd he end up here?" She raised an eyebrow in bewilderment.
"That's the weird part, there are no clear signs of a struggle—nothing here, nothing at his vehicle. Placement of the body seems to suggest he just… dropped dead." Maria said, pointing towards the white tape of how he was found.
"Did you notice anything on his body?"
"Yeah, let me show you." Maria crouches beside the body, tapping her pen against the puncture marks. "See these? Small entry points, clustered—looks like insect stings. There's swelling around each one, plus diffuse edema across the face and hands."
She scrolls her tablet. "No discoloration suggesting lividity issues or trauma, but the hives along the neckline are pretty noticeable. Could be histamine-related… anaphylaxis maybe, but that's M.E. territory."
She gestures toward the floor. "Found a dead bee under the victim's right arm, so that might line up. I'll bag it."
A final tap of her pen."And look—no EpiPen anywhere on the body. If he had an allergy, he didn't treat it."
Patty surveyed the crime scene, noticing the cameras mounted on the walls and the angles from which the victim would be visible from the street. "Do we have any eyewitnesses or any recording from these cameras?"
"Yeah, Jerry went to ask for the recordings. As for eyewitnesses, we have two over there." Maria said, pointing over by the patrol cars.
Patty nodded, "Ok, thanks, I'll go ask."
"Oh yeah, just be careful of Miss Sambony, she'll really talk your ears off." Patty nodded before continuing to walk over to question them.
"And if she asks if I'm interested in her grandson, tell her no, thank you," Maria yelled out.
"Hello, Mrs. Anderson?" Patty asked, offering a small, reassuring smile as she held out her badge. "Hi, I'm Detective Patrica Winters. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? You're not in any trouble. I just want to understand what happened."
Mrs Anderson swallowed and nodded again.
"Alright," Patty continued softly, "can you tell me, in your own words, what you saw? Start wherever feels natural."
Mrs Anderson took a shaky breath and began talking. Patty listened without interrupting, letting her finish before asking, "About what time was that?"
"Around six thirty-ish," Mrs Anderson responded with a bit of uncertainty in her voice.
"And where were you standing when you first noticed him?"
"I was standing right over there in front of barnels."
"Did you see anyone with him? Or anyone walk by just before?"
"No." She shook her head.
"Did he look distressed at all—holding his throat, stumbling, anything like that?"
"Not from what I could see."
"Did you notice anything flying around him? Bees, wasps… anything unusual?"
"I did see a weird glint before he…" She said her voice choked on the words.
"I see…" Patty nodded, swiftly writing down her answers.
"Thank you," Patty said finally, offering her card. "You've helped more than you know. If anything else comes to mind later, even something small, just give me a call."
Walking away, her eyes drifted to the notepad in her hands, a soft sigh slipping from her lips. "Let's hope the others have something a bit more impactful."
***
Back at the station, Patty sat at her desk, her hands busy as she flipped through folders of evidence with her left hand while writing notes down with her right. Her mind, looking for any symbolism of a connection between the gathered evidence.
"No, not this," she mumbled, closing a folder before moving it out of the way.
"Hey Patty," Another detective greeted, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey Jerry," she greeted, placing her pencil down, she turned to him. "Did you find anything out?"
His lips tightened into a thin line as he shook his head. "Sorry, all I have is a recording of a call he was having with his boss. The other cameras were down for a scheduled update."
"Damn," she muttered, clicking her tongue. "Guess we'll have to look at this from another angle. Do we know who his boss is? And can we get in contact?"
"I'll get a lock on that and update you soon." He said, turning around to walk back to his desk.
"Alright, thanks." Patty nodded.
As he was heading back, a bright smile from Maria caught his attention. "Oh, hey, Jerry," She greeted. He returned with a short nod as they passed each other.
"Patty," Maria called out.
"Maria, what's up?"
"Ok, so get this, Robert Burtinham worked for a company called Transcendental Arms, they're a private arms company." She said, showing his employee profile on her tablet.
"A private arms company…" Patty said slowly, her mind racing to find a connection. "Maria, do you have the phone call recording Jerry brought in?"
"Uh, yeah, it's in my lab, I can go get it." She said, slightly confused, pointing over her shoulder.
"Could you?"
"Yeah, sure thing," Maria said before running to her lab. Returning a minute later with a laptop. "Alright, here you go."
"Thanks," taking the laptop from her, Patty played the recording at 2x speed to get to where she wanted it.
"So what are you looking for?" Maria asked, looking over Patty's shoulder.
"Transcendental Arms, being a private arms company, means they have tons of dealings with militaristic companies around the world."
"Meaning they would have tons of enemies within the industry." Maria finished.
"Correct, and Jerry said he was having a call with his boss, and from the looks and sounds of it, not a very pleasant one. I just need a lead of some sort, be it the name of a rival company, jaded employer, or whatnot." Patty said as she slowed down the recording on the phone call.
"But how can we be sure—"
"Wait, wait," Patty said, cutting her off, before repeating what she heard. "Doomsday apocalypse fanatic."
"What?"
"He said Doomsday apocalypse fanatic." She repeated.
"What does that mean?"
"If we assume they're talking about a competitor, then only one person comes to mind, Riven Damocles, the owner of Exodus enterprises. It's commonly known that his business is split into branches representing the horsemen of the apocalypse."
"Now that you mention it, Aegis something announced a new product, something about bees, I only remember due to my brother having an interest."
"Aegis defense system, the branch that represents war. Alright. Maria continue to look into this. I'll be back." Patty leaped from her seat, the fabric of her coat swirling around her as she swiftly donned it.
"Huh, where are you going?" Maria shouted, grabbing hold of Patty's arm.
Shoving her arm off, Patty calmly answered. "I'm going to bring him in for questioning."
"What!" Maria shook her head, her expression a mixture of frustration. "You can't do that; we don't have enough evidence to tie him to the case, just a connection."
"It'll be fine, if he truly is a Damocles, he'll come in to answer questions without a hassle," With a mischievous smirk dancing on her lips, Patty waved playfully as she sauntered out of the station.
***
And so there she stood, in the lobby of Exodus Enterprises, next to the main desk, waiting to be sent up. And thanks to her keen sense of hearing, she realized she couldn't have chosen a worse time to show up.
Riven Damocles was here with his daughters, or supposed daughters, as some of the rumors go. Still, if there was one thing that was a fact about his relationship with the two was that he truly cared and would do anything for them.
Her interrupting his time with them might not be taken well, even what she was about to do next, but "Consequences be damn," she murmured.
"Ahem, excuse me, Detective?" The front desk worker called out.
"Oh, yes," Patty responded, turning to the lady at the desk.
"The founder will meet you now, if you would follow me," she said, beckoning her forward.
As Patty followed her through the lobby, she could feel the piercing stares all around her, the quiet murmurs questioning her motives and scorning her presence within the company.
"I guess law enforcement isn't very welcome around here," she mumbled under her breath.
The lady leading her glanced back at her for a second before responding, "Oh yeah, there was a moment back in the company's early days when an officer found trouble with one of our younger workers due to how he was dressed. Most of us come from less fortunate backgrounds, so…"
"I'm sorry to hear that." Patty's gaze dipped down, feeling even worse about what she was about to do.
"Don't be, but anyway, here we are," she said as she stopped in front of Riven's office.
"Thank you for your help."
The lady smiled, "Just doing my job," before she turned on her heel, making her way back to the front desk, leaving Patty alone.
Patty let out a heavy sigh as she raised her fist to the door. "Alright, let's do this."
Knock Knock