"Wow," Hank commented, "I don't think this place has changed since I was a kid."

Connor turned to his partner, surprised by his partner's words. "Even though this is currently a crime scene?"

"Some people would consider an American Coney Dog to be a crime against nature," teased Detective Collins. "I'm a Lafayette man myself."

Hank rolled his eyes at the older man's comment. "Apparently some arguments never change, either. What do we got?"

Collins led the lieutenant past the cluster of tables that had been hastily pushed aside and stopped Hank and Connor in front of the body. "Our android victim's name is Jane Eyre," announced Collins.

Hank couldn't help but notice exactly where the body had been discovered. "This is a pretty high traffic area. How long ago was she found?"

"She was first noticed about an hour ago," Collins replied. "But no one remembers seeing her enter the restaurant. She could have been brought in during the down time for the night shift. The staff only noticed her…condition…when the owner came over to try and ask her to leave."

Hank nodded. The lieutenant forced down the knot in his stomach as the most obvious question presented itself. "Connor, is she…does she…"

Connor quickly scanned the android victim and shook his head. "The central processing unit is intact."

Hank forcefully let out the breath that he didn't realize that he had been holding. "Thank God…" he sighed, clearly relieved.

That relief was going to be short lived. "However," Connor declared, "The thirium pump is missing."

Hank didn't like where the evidence seemed to be leading his partner. "And that pump…?"

"Has been 'replaced'," Connor replied. "In the same manner as our other victim."

"Shit," Hank spat out bitterly.

"I'm going to go have a chat with the owner, see if our victim had any connection to the restaurant," declared Collins. When Hank glared back at the detective, the older man relented the unspoken point. "And then I'll go down the block and see if she had any connection to Lafayette."

"Thanks, Ben," said Hank. As Collins left the lieutenant and android to continue their examination of the victim, Hank closed ranks in order to quietly speak to his partner. "Connor, d'you know if she…"

Connor shook his head. "I don't have access to that information. Sorry." He scanned the victim's body in more detail, and his attention caught on a piece of trace evidence near the victim's feet. The android continued his scan across the floor of the crime scene.

Hank noticed the change in his partner's demeanor. "What is it?"

Connor stood up and slowly walked in the direction that the evidence was leading him. "There's a trail of human blood here. Just trace amounts. But it's relatively fresh."

Hank fell in step behind his partner, letting the android weave through the maze of techs that were collecting other evidence. He grabbed the attention of the first tech that they passed. "Scan this area for human blood residue."

"Yes, lieutenant," the tech replied automatically, accepting the order.

Connor followed the blood trail through the brightly colored dining area and into the kitchen. The trail ended at the stove in front of a large stock pot.

A wave of nausea hit Hank full force as he watched Connor 'taste' the contents of the stock pot. "Oh God," the lieutenant exclaimed, "that's the chili, isn't it?"

"'Fraid so, Hank," said Connor. The android sunk his hand into the pot, covering his suit in chili past his elbow. "The blood trail ends here…but there were also…cotton…fibers…"

Hank watched, fascinated, as his partner pull a chili-covered glove out of the stock pot. "Is that…?"

Connor nodded, turning the glove to carefully study every side of the object. "It's a heavy duty cotton work glove," he explained, "with traces of both human blood and thirium on it."

"So our killer probably wore that glove as he was working on the bodies."

"Correct," agreed Connor. "However, What I fail to understand is why the killer would think that a pot of chili is a good place to dispose of such a glove."

"Clearly you've never eaten a Coney dog," said Hank.

Connor stared at his partner, clearly confused by the offhand comment. "Hank, there is simply not enough acid in this chili…"

Hank waved off his partner. "Can you check the blood DNA against that CyberLife ancestry database?"

The android nodded briefly, then froze in place as he scanned the glove and performed a more detailed analysis of the evidence that the scan provided. "There are two different sets of human DNA on the glove."

"Two sets?" Hank asked, excited by the prospect of a potential lead.

"Correct," replied Connor. "However, the DNA typings did not return a match in either case."

Hank's face fell. "That also means that we don't have a connection to our other case.

"Except for the M.O.," Connor agreed. A forensic tech approached carefully with an open evidence bag. Connor dropped the glove into the bag and moved to a nearby sink to rinse the chili off of his arm.

"And all that tells us is that we're working with a killer that really hates androids," added Hank. "What about our android victim?"

Connor quickly ran a background check. "Ms. Eyre is listed in a police report from a year ago. Her owner, at the time, reported her missing."

"So she was a deviant for a while."

"Almost since the beginning," agreed Connor. "She was probably on the Jericho…"

Hank frowned as his partner's voice trailed off. Not wanting to let the android dwell on what was clearly a painful memory, the lieutenant brought their focus back to the case at hand. "Any records of her recent activity? Employment?"

Connor shook his head. "A lot of the survivors never registered with the government, though. She could have found a job off the books after the evacuation."

"Yeah," said Hank. "Still…if she was on the Jericho back then, that means…"

"Markus might have known her," Connor added, quickly catching on to his partner's train of thought.

"Sounds like we need to take a trip back to the mansion," declared Hank.

#

Markus stood in the gap between the living room and the automatic doors to his office, greeting Hank and Connor as they entered. "Welcome! Is this about Jane Eyre?"

Hank frowned at the question, and turned to his partner for the potential answer. "Did you…"

When Connor shook his head, Markus frowned at both his friend and Connor's human partner. "You mean you don't know?" Hank and Connor both shook their heads, so Markus turned his attention to the nearby television. "Screen on," he commanded the device. "Replay the last five minutes."

An on-location reporter came up on the screen. "This is Joss Douglas, Channel 9 News. We are outside of the American Coney Island, where it appears the Hybrid Killer has struck again. An android by the name of Jane Eyre was found in the restaurant's main dining room…"

"Hybrid killer?" Connor repeated as Markus shut off the screen.

"That was quick," added Hank. Markus nodded.

"We think Jane Eyre might have been on the Jericho," Connor declared.

Markus nodded again. "She was," he agreed. "I didn't know her well, but I recognized the name as soon as I heard it.

"Did you know her?" asked Hank.

"No, sorry," Markus replied, shaking his head. "I met her when she first came on the ship after her awakening, but after that I remember her keeping pretty much to herself. I think that Josh might have been the one to bring her on board, though."

The automatic doors separated to allow Josh to enter the room. The android only briefly acknowledged the presence of the two cops before addressing his friend and leader. "You wanted to see me, Markus?"

"Do you remember an android named Jane Eyre?" Markus asked Josh.

Josh nodded. "Of course," he replied. "I gave her the key to find the Jericho after she ran away from her owner."

"We are here investigating her murder," Connor declared. "We believe that she was killed by the person responsible for the deaths of Leona Branch and Timothy Davis."

"My God," exclaimed Josh.

"Have you spoken to her recently?" asked Hank.

"About six months ago," Josh replied. He turned to Markus, asking his leader for permission without speaking the words. When Markus nodded his consent, Josh explained, "I conducted her interview when she volunteered to become an Ally assistant."

Hank's eyes went wide at the title. "She was an assistant? To who?"

"Craig Richards," Markus replied. "He sabotaged the recyclers at Camp 8 so that they couldn't destroy any of our people. When his 'crime' was discovered the nation got him a pardon and we made him an Ally."

Hank sighed, knowing that the one connection that all four victims had was just too obvious and important to ignore. "Markus…" he began.

Markus cut Hank off, answering Hank's question before he had a chance to phrase it. "I fully understand what that means, Lieutenant. Two assistants and one of our Allies have been murdered. And the only possible way to connect those three victims together is sitting in my head."

"Where were you on October 7th, Markus?" asked Hank.

Markus' brow furrowed. "October…7th…" The android leader's face paled. "I…I can't remember."

Josh gawked at his friend and leader. "Markus, why…"

Hank turned to his partner and expert on all things 'android'. "I thought that you guys recorded everything?"

"I have only ever met one android with a memory gap," Connor explained to Hank. "The gap filled in when I probed his memory." He turned to Markus. "May I?"

Markus offered his hand and removed his skin without hesitation. "Please."

Connor removed the skin from his hand to facilitate the connection and grabbed Markus' hand, searching the other android's memory for the date in question. Once he discovered the memory, Connor's face fell. "Markus Manfred," he declared, "you are under arrest for the murders of Leona Branch…"

Josh's mouth dropped open in shock. "Connor, there must be some mistake…"

"What did you see?" Hank asked his partner, talking over Josh's protest.

"I saw Markus using a jigsaw," Connor replied. "To cut open Leona Branch's skull." He turned back to Markus and re-started the arrest from the beginning. "Markus Manfred, you are under arrest for the murders of Leona Branch and Timothy Davis…"

#

A/N: I grew up just north of Detroit and went to high school in the real Ferndale…so I did have a few bones to pick with some of the 'details' of the game. My two biggest pet peeves in the game are as follows: 1) the Jericho could never have been docked in Ferndale without requiring a massive construction project to bring a canal to the very small, landlocked suburb. And if the government had paid for such a project, the Jericho sure as hell wouldn't have been left to rot there.

And 2) It always bugged me that Hank's favorite meal was a burger from a food truck. Any old-school Detroiter on a path to culinary self-destruction would practically live at a Coney Island: Detroit's equivalent to the local diner. A Coney Island's signature dish is the Coney dog: a local variety of chili dog that consists of a hot dog, raw chopped onions, yellow mustard and a meat-only 'chili' that I could pretty much guarantee is the single biggest cause of ulcers in the state of Michigan. Coney Island chili, while delicious, produces such a nasty case of indigestion that the 'drink pairing' for a coney dog is the strongest ginger soda you can possibly find (think ginger beer, not ginger ale — Detroit has its own local brand, Vernors).

The American - Lafayette comments at the beginning of this chapter are a reference to long-standing feud between two Coney Island restaurants in Downtown Detroit. The original owners of the two restaurants are brothers from the same family. They opened American first — and then had a massive falling out. One of the brothers left American, went two doors down from the Coney Island…and opened Lafayette Coney Island. The two restaurants are now as iconic to Detroiters as Pat's and Gino's Cheese Steaks are to the people of Philadelphia. If you eat at American, you don't eat at Lafayette (and vice versa.)

And as for for the end of this chapter...comments welcome!