Cloudless Night in Neon WInter

The first thing most people would notice about Sinje Daniels was her length. She was taller than Cole, who considered himself blessed in the height category. She had beady intelligent eyes that scrutinized Alyx as she sat down, before roaming over to Cole. Her hair was a mess, long brown strands twisted in every direction. Noticing Cole's stare, Sinje reached up and attempted to pat down her unruly hair; it sprang back up with defiant force.

Sinje shrugged her bony shoulders. In some ways she was the antithesis of Sara Chekov. Where Sara had inviting curves, Sinje had sharp angles, and where Sara had emotive innocence, Sinje had focused determination. Her uniform was not as ruffled as Sara's, but it seemed a size or two too large, sagging off of her body in some places.

Sinje's office was the same as Sara's in nearly every way. The only distinction was that it was not as well lit. It had a faintly orange light that gave Sinje an almost heavenly look as it reflected off of her dark skin. Without that slightly golden light, Cole wondered if he would have focused on her messy appearance, but with it he could not help admiring the lanky woman.

"I suppose you know why we are here?" Alyx leaned back in the chair, looking away from Sinje. "Yes, Jake has been killed." Sinje did not beat around the bush. or use any words to soften what had occurred. Cole wondered if Sara had really told her about the murder. What if she had just warned Sinje that there were visitors in the department?

Cole cleared his head of such thoughts, the whole reason they were questioning the suspects before inspecting the crime scene was to keep from entering the investigation with prejudice.

"Please walk us through what you did yesterday?" Cole looked at Alyx. Of course she was not struggling with her thoughts, she just looked tired of asking the same old questions.

"I arrived at 5:59 am, I assume you don't want to know about my morning routine?" Sinje looked at Alyx. Alyx hesitated before shaking her head, she didn't want to bother with the extra story.

"I would say that I didn't leave my office until around 2:13 pm, when I had a meeting with Sara." Alyx stopped looking at the ceiling to observe Sinje. "You didn't leave at all in between those times?"

"The logs will show that I was here the whole time. I was a bit too engrossed in work, and I forgot to eat yesterday." Cole shuddered, he couldn't imagine skipping a meal.

"I was just making sure." Alyx's words were defensive, but her plain tone betrayed the sentiment as an act. "And what time did you leave?" Sinje promptly responded. "6:01 pm."

Cole decided to ask a question. "You weren't engrossed in your work anymore?" Cole faltered at the end of his sentence, expecting someone to pounce on him, and ask who he thought he was proposing a query. No one batted an eye.

"Nope. Work usually gets much less interesting in the afternoons. It stops being about testing theories and more about following instructions."

Sinje's explanation of her job was slightly different from how Sara described it, and Cole wondered if that was due to personal perception, or an actual difference in duties.

"Can you tell me what you thought about Jake?" Alyx bulled on with her line of questioning.

"Um.." Sinje shrank back from a question for the first time. "He was a good boss." Alyx smirked slightly. "More than that please."

"He was good at giving directions, a good conversationalist… a good man. Is that what you want to hear?" Sinje's voice rose in exasperation. "Yes." Alyx answered. "Were you scheduled to meet him yesterday?" 

"No." Sinje was defiant. "Are you sure?" Alyx prodded. Cole wondered what she was getting at. "No." Sinje remained defensive. "Ok." Alyx gave up her needling quickly and got to her feet. "Thank you Sinje, we might come back later."

Cole followed Alyx out of the room wanting to ask her about that particular line of questioning. As the door closed, Cole realized he and Alyx had never introduced themselves, hopefully Sara had done it for them.

"Two more on the list." Alyx muttered to herself. "We can talk about our findings in my office later. Do not discuss them here." Noticing Cole's anguished gaze, Alyx shut him down quickly.

The next office that Jan opened for them belonged to Sivil Casper, the man whose job title was simply Organizer. Sivil looked as if he was carved out of marble. His features were firmly defined and his face was impassive. His clothes were not perfectly ironed, like Ms. Hopkins', but they fit him well, and his shirt was carefully tucked into his pants. Even his haircut followed the statuesque image, as his coiffed silver hair remained firmly in one position, even as he tilted his head. HIs eyes were soft green, and they fit into his defined features spectacularly, as if his sculptor had agonized over making his facial proportions perfect. Even his skin conjured imagery of statues; it was pale and slightly gray, with barely any hints of life below it.

Cole glanced at Alyx to see how she reacted to the man before them. Alyx was as nonplussed as ever, the sculpted figure before her meant nothing more than another person to question.

"I suppose you are here about Jake's death?" Sivil's voice had a slight rasp to it, as if the statue had just been granted vocal cords and was not entirely used to them.

"My name is Alyx, and this is the company observer Cole." Alyx introduced herself as if Sivil had not spoken. "My name is Sivil." He seemed slightly put off that Alyx had simply introduced herself. "Tell me Sivil, why do you think Jake Jenkins is dead?"

Sivil smiled triumphantly, now a statue of a victorious hero returned from defeating a monster. "Well I didn't see Jake at all yesterday, and his office is locked off with an enforcement grade lockdown lattice. I would be surprised if no one else thought the same."

Sivil did not seem entirely concerned that one of his coworkers was dead, rather he wanted to be correct. 

"A simple enough deduction." Alyx muttered absentmindedly. Sivil's smile dropped. "Do you want my opinion on the matter?"

"I would prefer you to answer my questions, but go ahead." Alyx responded as if she was humoring a small child trying to teach her about the responsibilities of adulthood.

"Jam Hardy would be my guess." Either Sivil didn't notice the nuance of Alyx's response, or he didn't care as he proudly presented his theory. "Jam knows all of our schedules like the back of his hand, and he didn't like that Jake interacted with Sinje and Sara more than him."

Even to Cole, Sivil's motive for Jam seemed weak, and Alyx essentially ignored Sivil's words as she began her interrogation. "Run me through your day yesterday."

"You think it might be me." Sivil smirked. "I was in my office by 6:07 am. I left at 11:00am to use the restroom, and again at 1:00 to eat lunch." 

Cole noticed that Sivil's start time was exact, but his other times were rounded, meaning they were likely not spot on. Was punctuality key in Resource Management? Even Sara, who did not remember her day perfectly, had known she would be late. 

"At 3:30 pm I went to the bathroom again, and at 6:00 I went home." Sivil finished rattling off his times. "I don't think that will be of much help to you. Oh I also left my office at 2:00 to speak to Hardy briefly."

"Can you tell me about your role in Resource Management?" Alyx ignored the derision in Sivil's words. Mirai did not take notice of the question, so Cole remained silent, even though he had needed to step in with Sara.

"I am the organizer, I keep everything organized." Sivil spoke slowly as if explaining himself to a toddler. Cole quickly understood why Mirai had not thought to butt in, she had known Sivil would not give a straight answer.

"Do you know if Jenkins was married? What about his living situation? Any close family nearby?" Alyx spewed out a few questions unhurriedly.

Sivil's eyes lit up, as if he thought that none of his coworkers could answer the questions.

"Yes he is married, I never met the wife, but I doubt she is a looker. He owns half a house in the elevated district. I think his parents are dead, but he helps pay for his in-laws' residence." Sivil recited the information like he was giving a report to a general, and he looked expectantly at Alyx when he was finished.

He would get no praise from Alyx, and Cole stored away the fact that Sivil seemed to close down when he received no words of recognition.

"We will be seeing you later. I guess we are going to talk to the killer Jam Hardy." Alyx's eyebrows rose slightly as she turned to leave the room.

"You are going to talk to Hardy next? Don't let the bastard charm you, he is definitely guilty." Sivil stopped moping, long enough to bitterly speak ill of his colleague.

Cole wondered what Jam was like to warrant such a reaction.