Cloudless Night in Neon WInter

"First things first." Alyx muttered as the elevator door opened. "We need to figure out who was at work and where they were yesterday morning."

"Shouldn't we figure out the time of death first?" Cole asked. Alyx pulled on one of her sleeves absentmindedly. "I like to do it this way." She looked at Cole like she was finished explaining, before sighing and continuing. "It keeps me from being prejudiced against certain suspects. After we figure out all of our suspects, we can go back to the crime scene."

Cole frowned in understanding, there was some sense in what Alyx said. Maybe an overeager accusation would keep them from noticing something suspicious from a different person.

"See if you can get the employee list of this department." After she spoke, Alyx moved towards one of the walls and began kicking it gently. Cole blinked in surprise and sent a quick message to Mirai. It felt weird calling her Mirai, but after seeing her face, it was hard to only think of her as the manager.

A response quickly appeared before Cole. /Resource Management Employees: Hopkins, Sally. Supervisor. Jenkins, Jake. Assistant Supervisor. Casper, Sivil. Organizer. Hardy, Jam. Resources. Chekov, Sara. Baseline Worker. Daniels, Sinje. Baseline Worker. Ansar, Jan. Cleaner./

"There are seven employees on the list… well six now I guess." Cole's words petered out. Alyx tapped her nose with two fingers repeatedly. "Now how do we configure our approach?"

Cole did not answer the obviously rhetorical question. Instead, he marveled at the intense focus that Alyx displayed, without changing the neutral expression on her face. "Whatever, let's just shoot straight." Alyx beckoned Cole forward. "Motivation is key. To pull this off our killer must have been highly motivated by something. I doubt that killing Jenkins would net anyone more money from the company, so we will need to figure out a different motivation."

The pair turned the corner and headed to the first door. Alyx frowned as it did not open, not even in response to her loud knocking. She looked at Cole pointedly.

After another quick message to Mirai, Cole said. "We are supposed to meet with Jan. His entrance is down the hall. He can let us into each office." Alyx pursed her lips thoughtfully, causing Cole to quickly add. "Jan can't lock the offices. He has to clean while they are present and the only one that can lock the door is the employee or a higher up."

Alyx nodded. The door had been firmly locked when Cole showed up, something that Jan could apparently not do because of some sort of system, put in place in Resource Management.

Jan's door was significantly more modern than the rest of the doors on the floor. It didn't have a doorknob and slid open when Alyx rapped on it. 

Jan's office was more of a storage room for all sorts of tools that were neatly stacked on shelves. There was a small desk in the corner, but due to the pile of different things on its surface, it seemed like it was never used as more than another shelf. In the corner, Cole and Alyx could see Jan fiddling with some sort of contraption, as they walked in.

Jan turned and offered a genuine smile. "Cole, how are you doing?" Cole forced a smile and replied. "Good thank you." As if Cole could feel good with his current job constantly reminding him of Mr. Jenkins' slumped form.

"I'm Alyx. Cole was informed that you could help us get into the offices on this floor." Jan brushed himself off and shook Alyx' outstretched hand with a broad smile. "It's a pleasure to meet one as beautiful as yourself." 

Alyx did not react to Jan's words. If Cole had said the line, it would definitely have been creepy, but somehow Jan was able to offer the words as a friendly compliment that held no ulterior motives. Cole looked at Alyx, was she beautiful? The smile from the night before flashed in his mind, quickly washed away by Alyx's dull eyes as she motioned for Jan to lead the way.

"Let's meet Sally Hopkins first." Jan walked towards one of the doors without questioning anything. He looked incredibly calm, as if he didn't care what they were doing, or maybe he thought that the company would not send them without good reason. Surprisingly, Alyx was the one to break the silence. "How often do you see your coworkers?" 

"Every other day." Jan replied. "I enter half of the offices to clean each day. Asides from then, I don't see them ever." Cole shuddered as they walked past Mr. Jenkins door, the orange net of light still encasing his door.

"Today I was going to clean Jake's, but it seems I can't." Jan chuckled. Cole frowned, but kept quiet, it seemed that Jan did not understand the seriousness of the situation, and Cole would not be the one to tell him.

"Here we are. Do you want me to ping Ms. Hopkins?" Cole noted that Jan did not call Ms. Hopkins by her first name like he did with Mr. Jenkins. Was that due to Ms. Hopkins being higher on the food chain than Mr. Jenkins?

"No need. If you can open it without alerting her. I would appreciate it." Alyx had a calculating glint in her eyes. 

"Alright, but be warned that you will surprise a lot of people if you do that. All the offices are soundproofed and since they are locked people don't expect visitors." Alyx did not bother to respond to Jan, so he shrugged and clicked his keycard above the door handle.

"The door won't lock again unless Ms. Hopkins wants it to. It's part of the system to check if I am ever in the offices when I am not supposed to be in there. If the door is unlocked, Jan was in there asking to be fired." Jan laughed and walked away.

"Let me do the talking." Alyx said to Cole as she pushed the door open. Cole was about to respond when he got a message. /Share your feed. I will oversee and let you know if Alyx ever goes too far./ Cole tapped his left eyelid, and his vision flickered for a second as Mirai connected to his sight.

"Can I help you?" As soon as the door opened, Sally Hopkins rose from behind her desk and glared at the pair, with an imperious gaze. It seemed that she had noticed the door unlock and was ready to greet her guests.

Sally Hopkins was a short woman with brown curls cascading down her back. She wore the usual uniform, but somehow managed to make it look as if she was wearing a full suit. Her pants were immaculately ironed and the perfect length to cover her socks, but allow her polished shoes to be fully visible. Her shirt was just as well taken care of, with the pockets neatly flattened in a way that made them look like accents to the clothing, rather than functional pieces that had been jammed onto the garment.

Her shirt was stretched enough to show off a well cared for physique. There were hints of firm muscles that only served to enhance the softness of other areas. Her skin was a bronze olive tone that, combined with her posture, gave her the look of a proud ruler. She had no jewelry or visible tattoos, as if she scoffed at people who would mark their bodies in such ways. Her face had stellar proportions, and was thin enough to highlight her cheekbones without appearing gaunt. Her face wore slight makeup that enhanced her natural appeal, marred only by the sharp lines that she drew her face into. Her eyes were a piercing blue, staring into Cole's soul as he looked at her intense scowl.

"Yes you can. Jake Jenkins has been murdered." Alyx spoke only after she had carefully closed the door behind her. The scowl did not disappear, but Cole swore he saw a hint of something flash in the woman's piercing gaze.

"How unfortunate." Her face slowly shifted to a look of sadness. Her voice held little sympathy as she spoke, and Cole wondered what it would take to actually make her morose.

"I am in charge of the investigation. That is Cole, he is the company liaison." Alyx spoke again as if reading off of a script for the most boring ad ever. "How should we address you?"

"You can call Ms. Hopkins. I am the supervisor of Resource Management." Her chin lifted arrogantly as she presented her title.

"Ms. Hopkins, please walk us through where you were yesterday, starting from when you arrived."

"That's easy. I arrived at 4:28 am and was in my office the entire day." Alyx titled her head to the side. "You didn't leave once, not even to eat or go to the restroom?"

"No, I don't like unnecessary interruptions. You can check the logs of when my door was opened. Exactly at 4:28 am, 12:13 pm when the cleaner came in, 12:41 pm when the cleaner left, and 8:05 pm when I left work."

"Thank you." Alyx said. Cole looked around the office, there was no other door for a bathroom. DId Ms. Hopkins never go? 

"Can you please tell me what you are working on at the moment." Cole was jolted away from wondering if Ms. Hopkins was a robot {there was no sign of any food in the room) by Mirai. 

"She cannot." Ms. Hopkins, who had inflated with importance, glared at Cole and closed her mouth. Alyx nodded her head slightly, not the least bit perturbed.

"Please tell me about your relationship with Mr. Jenkins and your impressions on him." Ms. Hopkins seemed less enthused about the question. "He is… was a subordinate that needed a lot of attention. He was ambitious, always pushing for more, but he usually managed to get his work done."

It seemed to Cole that Ms. Hopkins did not like Mr. Jenkins very much as she emphasized his ambition and her need to micromanage him. Though Cole would have bet that Ms. Hopkins felt like she needed to micromanage everyone.

Alyx rapidly tapped her left leg as she stood in silence. "Thank you Ms. Hopkins, that is enough for now, we will leave you to get your work done." Cole thought there were many unanswered questions for Ms. Hopkins as he followed Alyx out of the door. It closed with a faint thump, and almost instantly there was a click. Ms. Hopkins had not waited a second to lock her door.