Conversation · Alice

"One moment..." You can hear her shuffling through some papers.

"Can you please describe the body -- age, sex, cause of death?"

"An unidentified middle-aged man. Height 170-175 cm, dark hair, medium build. Looks like he slipped, fell through a hole in the boardwalk and hit his head against the metal bench."

"We suspect he might have been inebriated when he fell -- there were bottles all around him, and traces of vomit on his shirt."

"Any signs of violence?"

"There might be a sequence killer on the loose."

"A sequence killer." You can hear her stop typing. "Are you suggesting that this might be connected to the case you're working on?"

"No, we're not," the lieutenant rushes in to say. "There is no evidence to suggest that this man was connected to the lynching -- or that we're dealing with a sequence killer here."

"It looked like a simple accident to me, Alice. No field autopsy necessary."

"No field autopsy necessary..." she repeats.

You can hear her quickly typing in the background.

"What about his belongings? Did you examine his clothes?"

"He was wearing boots, trousers and an old leather jacket with a bright blue lining. I found a library card from his pockets."

"Any information on the library card?"

"It's from Central Jamrock Public Library. It belongs to someone named Billie Méjean."

"Good, you have a lead."

"Do you and Lieutenant Kitsuragi want to take the case or should I assign it to someone else?"

"We're taking the case."

"I have assigned the case to Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi. Please follow up on this library lead to identify the man. We'll send someone to take the body to the morgue."

"That's all for now. Thank you for reporting in. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Assign it to someone else, Alice -- we've got enough on our plate."

"Great, I'll give it to your colleagues. You don't have to worry about the case anymore, we'll send our officers to take away the body."

"That's all for now. Thank you for reporting in. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Please assign it to someone else."

"I haven't examined it yet."

You can hear her sigh audibly on the other side.

So unprofessional of you... Pity!

"Yes."

"I see." Silence. "This is something you should discuss with the Lieutenant Kitsuragi, as you're sharing the case."

"No."

"No? It's some other sequence killer?" Silence. "I see."

"What about his belongings? Did you examine his clothes?" She goes on as if nothing happened.

"Actually, scratch that -- there is no sequence killer, I just made it up."

"You just made it up?" Silence. "I see."

"No, seems like it was an accident."

"Someone might have... pushed him?"

"Did you perform a field autopsy?"

"No, it's still just a theory."

"It looked like an accident to me, Alice," the lieutenant rushes in to say. "But that's for the guys in processing to confirm."

"An unidentified middle-aged man. Looks like he slipped, fell through a hole in the boardwalk and hit his head against the metal bench."

"The man was about 173 cm tall, stout, with dark hair and a moustache. We suspect he might have been inebriated when he slipped -- there were bottles all around him, and traces of vomit on his shirt."