Chapter 1 - Missing pieces
by @AdamWC

Eleanor Cooper, Missing Persons, Homicide, Detective, scrolled across the door display. She smiled inwardly as she palmed it open. The folding metal moved smoothly out of her way. It had taken five years, but she finally had her own office. Her space that couldn't just be taken over by anyone who thought it was open just because she wasn't sitting in the cubical. Thanks to cloud services and the frown campaign against paper, office space became debatable, even spacious. Many businesses had gone paperless before the campaign, but it still took decades for paper file for be removed from the office space. Crucial for the claustrophobic individuals, who wanted an open workspace away from home. As the bulky filing cabinets went this way, opening vast amounts of space. Besides VR and AR set, letting everyone use their favorite monitor size along with whatever visual surrounding they like. Meant offices could keep the unfinished look, freeing the funds to the maintenance of the building. Though Eleanor knew the money went straight into the pockets of the higher-ups. It bugged her, but the systems were maintained and functional, so she bided her time.

In law enforcement, official case evidence was sometimes printed out, or copied to an external hard drive, then locked in an automatic filing storage vault in the basement. Most of which simply remained untouched long after the trial. In a handful of cases, the evidence saved in this way except a criminal in prison when his or her relatives thought they would change what was in the system and get their child out of the system. They would join the person they'd tried to free. Those the opposite was also true a case involving a small-time crook had been blown out of proportion when a murderer with a background in computer science shifted evidence to the crooks file and nearly got off with a lighter sentence. If can wasn't so confident in the script, he wrote to doctor the document he might have succeeded in his ruses.

The system itself sorted criminals, found possible plots, then tasked detectives to verify connections. It was more like a game of clue, than 'real' detective work her instructors loved to remind her. Pieces that might be connected, brought together display for a person with the probability proudly listed along side it. Judged by the detective on call, then lawyers, and so on. It couldn’t stop crimes yet, and there were eggheads working in that direction. But all crimes committed were solved with a high accuracy, to the point wrongful executions were hardly ever heard of. Though Eleanor thought that punishment did not do justice to the victims. it was too easy on the murderer. Who even if they pleaded and display sympity had to know the relief of death. If she had her way they'd be sent to be lab rats. So they could truly repent for their crimes.

The most ingenious and organized crimes were done by some high-level governments figurehead and companies, those who would benefit from the scum that Eleanor had seen in training. A privately she'd studied was high on her list of people she'd like to have placed in the Dimensional Reality program where she'd heard they could speed up time for the individual using it. She though the man would be the prefect person to test out the bugs on. It would even be a mercy compared to the hell he'd given a half dozen kids. But it wasn't worth her humanity to force that on any individual.

***

Eleanor sat at her desk, basking in the glory of her new position. She promised herself she’d be the best, and now she could prove it. She logged into the computer, officially claiming it as her assistant. A message popped up, reminding her that all files on the laptop were automatically sent to the cloud servers and that only the data mark important would be sent to physical storage.

Eleanor skimmed the message, noting insignificant but useless changes to the language and accepting the terms. Then she moved to the Chase portal to discover what she was assigned or could choose to join. The screen flashed, the case “001-MHD-QM-E12H-59032z,” she froze as files opened on her computer. Someone had found four missing persons, and twelve died. Eleanor shivered. She both wanted the case and didn’t. It was a high-profile case, but she had little experience managing a case. She’d have to check up on this before she got into it. Putting the analysis of the victims aside, for now, she sent a message to Emerson. “Check case selection, Hi E. I think there may be a problem with the distribution of cases. Please double-check it, case number: 001-MHD-QM-E12H-59032z.”

As she waited for a reply, she scanned over the victim files. All had gone missing about six months to a year ago. Evenly divided between males and females, with only small portions of their bodies remaining. Found on near Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, the first piece found by a fisherman and his son.

Eleanor’s computer chimed as Emerson’s reply landed on her cue. “Hi El, received your message. Everything checks out here. Guess is you’ll be on the case until you and the system comes up with connections? Its normal first-time detectives are always set to start investigations, then bring results to seasoned detectives. Don't you know that already? It’s not like anyone would hide the procedure.”

Eleanor huffed, then sat back thinking, yes, she'd been told the procedure and expected to do initial analysis on the crime scene. But twelve homicides should have gone straight to the experienced detectives, not her. She typed, “Thanks for checking. I’ll ask my supervisor for confirmation.”

Moments later, Emerson sent, “Got it. Are we still on for the celebration of your promotion?”

“Yes, see you then., I may be a little late, so keep our parents occupied.”

“Will do.”

Eleanor locked her computer and stretched, steeled herself, then went to find Tom. Thomas Grassmann, known for being a hard-ass most of the time, but there when you needed him. Eleanor’s commanding officer and had her deepest respect. Requiring every ‘T’ crossed and ‘I’ dotted before pressing charges. Saved many of his hardest cases in which the criminal actually had a brain. She knocked on his office door getting a brisk ‘Come in.’ Looking up from his primitive computer screen, Eleanor noticed Tom's custom hooded eyes. Giving him an air of sleepiness that did a decent job of hiding precisely how observant he was.

“Hello Elean, I didn’t think I’d see you so soon.” Tom’s surprise turns to intense speculation as he registers something about Eleanor. “What’s the problem?”

Eleanor snapped to attention as she closed the door behind herself. “I’m here due to the magnitude of the case I’ve been given.”

“Explain.”

“Case, 001-MHD-QM-E12H-59032z, all victims are believed to be dead, four of which were persons of interest in minor crimes. Only pieces of their bodies were found along the coast.” Elean sighed, “I’m not committing anything to memory, merely to be pulled off.”

Tom’s eyes were fixed to his screen, the frown deepening as he read what little detail there was in Eleanor’s case. Refocusing his gaze on Eleanor, he nodded, “I agree, this should be going to more people than just you.” Tom leans back, lost in thought, putting Elean on edge. “Looks like the scrappers are just about done. Okay, here’s the plan. For now, start the investigation, understanding that you will be taken off as a lead soon. I’ll start asking about and find out why you got the case and not a seasoned detective. Probably something to do with your scores at the academy, but still.”

“Okay, I’ll start in the VR scene, then move onto the medical reports as they come in.”

Leaning forward, his eyes lighting with determination, “Sound, constructive, I know. I don’t have to say this, but be sure to put your best foot forward. We might be better at the cooperation today than in the past, but that’s only due to tech. Remember, management doesn’t care how we get our jobs done as long as the case is solid.” Eleanor nodded in understanding, letting her boss continue, “I will look into this, but time is not our friend. You may want me to take it off your plate, but I need time and this must move forward. Plan to be taken off or demoted on this case, but get it started. Thanks for bring this up. I'll try to give you a soft landing, but don't count on it.”  

Nodding again, Eleanor turned and stomped out, not quite in a tantrum but close. The first assignment I’m given and I will get none of the correct. This can’t be happening to me. Reaching her office again took a break and settled her mind. Bring up a tourist version of Oak Bluffs, and allow the view to clear the frustration. She need to get down to the sense in a little while, but the tech's would be producing the initial screening for another two hours at less, so she had time. Elean walked through the virtual landscape, marking off a few places she have a tech review deeply before moving on. Once complete, she took the VR set off for the AR set that made her look like a bug, and strolled to a waiting cruiser.

As she considered the preliminary data she thought she was why the AI would choose her. Mualings were almost unheard of, and so far there were no matches to any known animal, add to the fact that too much of the victims were missing. There has to be more to this, and maybe she'd never had a chance to be the led. The thought burned. As the car moved between the high level of traffic in Boston.

***

Eleanor stepped from the car, taking in a deep breath then following the icon floating in space made her way over to the lead tech, Carlos Oliveira. She'd met the man at her corranation using his avatar to talk with the dozen or so that had chosen to attand vercially. Elean was undesided of the reason he'd not come to the party.