"Case Files Of Detective Diane Guzalack" (Cyberpunk Fiction)

Case File 200367-H
Homicide
Leading Investigator: Diane Guzalack
Initial Crime Scene Notes

Victim is Kevin P. Cain, a Forty-one year old male killed by a home intruder in the victims garage.
Body of victim was found with severe burns and bruising to the head and face.
Laying face up with a cranial Data jack still wired into computers hard drive.
Burn patterns are consistent with that of a high energy pulse weapon.
Brain is most likely liquefied from Gama/Bata radiation.
Burn marks on his hands suggest defensive positions before he was killed.
Location of fatal wounds suggest he was fired upon from point blank range and the killer had somehow gained access to his home.
His wife, Megan J. Cain claims she found the body a little after midnight and immediately called the police.
She claims to not have heard a home intrusion and to be in bed at the time of death.
I have scheduled a later interview for her.
Computers and experimental hardware found at crime scene may yield some leads, they will be combed over by computer techs for E mails sent and received in the weeks prior to his murder.
Experiments may be the cause for motive of industrial competitors to kill.

Notes from 1st suspect interview : Richard J. Piciono

L.I. - “Please state your name for the record.”
Suspect - “Richard .... Piciono”
L.I. - “What is your relationship with the deceased ? “
Suspect - “ We were business partners “
L.I.- “ What business was that ?”
Suspect - “Design and development of new technologies”
L.I.-” What Is your Profession ?”
Suspect- “I hold a P.H.D. in neural biology and psychology.”
L.I.-”And who owns the prototypes now that Mr. Cain is dead ?”
Suspect- “Well..... I guess I do. ........ Wait a minute, I am a suspect ?”
L.I.- “ Not unless you give us a very good reason why you shouldn't be “

Notes from 2nd Suspect Interview: Megan J. Cain

L.I.- “Mrs. Cain, When did you first discover the body?”
Suspect- “ It must have been a little after midnight.”
L.I.- “What do you know about the technology Kevin was developing?”
Suspect- “He never discussed it with me.”
L.I. “ So you don't know anything about that at all ?”
Suspect- “Uhh.... Why don't you tell me ?”
L.I. “ You want us to tell you what you know about it, How does that work ? “
Suspect- “I told you I don't know anything.”
L.I.- “NO, that's not what you said. You said he never discussed it with you”
Suspect- “Is there a problem ?”

Notes from 3rd Suspect Interview : Richard J. Piciono
Cataloged evidence from crime scene present for this interview. Data drive and computer with monitor.

L.I.- “We found this hard drive connected to some sort of port, In the back of Kevin's skull. What is all of this ?”
Suspect- “This is what me and Keven have been working on. It's a brain impulse coding system that allows us to copy memories directly from the brain to a digital file.”
I allow Richard to plug in the port and turn on the machine.
Suspect- “ If we copy a persons memories, all of their memories from the time of their birth we are able to recreate their personality. Our memories are what make us unique. Now you can speak to Kevin yourself”
The monitor screen flickers to life and soon a digital neon green silhouette of Mr. Cain appeared on the screen.
Suspect- “Kevin are you there?”
Kevin Cain- “Richard ?”
Suspect- “Can you see me ?”
Kevin Cain- “ Ware am I ? What's going on ?
Suspect- “You're in an interrogation room in the Auburn police department”
Kevin Cain- “why can't I move? I can't feel my body!”
Suspect- “I need you to relax Kevin, It's OK, focus on me for a minute. What's the last thing you can remember?”
Kevin Cain- “ I was in the lab, I jacked in, I increased the neural firing rate. Did something go wrong ?”
L.I.- “Mr. Piciono, Thank you but this does not really prove anything.”
Suspect- “Give it a chance. Talk to him”
L.I.- “Alright, Mr. Cain, my name is Diane Guzalack, What can you tell us about the night..”
Suspect- “He Doesn't know”
Kevin Cain- “know what ?”
Suspect-” Kevin, We are speaking to you through the personality" construct. Do you understand what that means ?”
Kevin Cain- “The system worked, and you have reconstructed my memory, but why ?”
Suspect- “It was the only way we could get an account of your last days”
Kevin Cain - “ My last days, am I dead ?”
Suspect- “You died four days ago.”
Kevin Cain- “I died ?”
L.I. - “You where murdered.”
Kevin Cain- “I was murdered ?, what do you mean ? Why would someone want to murder me ? Wait, Did my wife have something to do with this?”
L.I. - “Why would you think that ?”
Kevin Cain- “ There is a lot I have not told you, recently I found out, Megan was selling data files to an executive at the Jixcent corporation.”

Notes from 4th suspect interview: Megan J. Cain

L.I.- “Mrs. Cain, what can you tell me what you know about the Mahjongg parlor on Lucrid Street?”
Suspect- “Mahjohngg parlor, what's that ?”
L.I.- “A Chinese game parlor. It's a contact spot for criminal solicitation.”
Suspect- “OK, so ?”
L.I.- “Did you know your husband hired a private investigator to follow you ?”
Suspect- “No.”
L.I.-” Do you know a man by the name of Kang Xyaung?”
Suspect- “No I don't, who is he ?”
L.I.-” He is a contract killer.”
Suspect- “So, why would I know him ?”
L.I.-” Because you hired him. “
Suspect- “What ? Who told you this? Was it Richard ?”
L.I.- “No It was your husband, Kevin”

Post Investigation Notes with partner officer George Butler

L.I.- “O.K. we have Kang's pictures, connection to Jixcent. We have the motive, more than enough to make a conviction.
Butler- “Do you think what we are doing is ethical ?”
L.I.- “I don't care, No one is going to find out about it. We are going to go back down stairs, shut it off, put it back in evidence, and bury it.”
Butler- “ It does not bother you ? The avatar in their speaking like a person “
L.I.- “It's not a person, It's a program”

Last Interview with Richard J. Piciono

Mr. Piciono-” Kevin, I'm so sorry about this.”
Avatar- “It's OK Richard, It was not your fault.”
Mr. Piciono- “I know, but.... You're my friend and I'm sad you're gone”
Avatar- "Don't be sad Richard, Thank you.”
Mr. Piciono- “For what ?”
Avatar- “For bringing me back.”

L.I.- “Information from the Majhongg parlor checks out, We also found Mr. Xyaung he's on his way down here right now.”
Mr. Piciono- “Then you have every thing you need.”
L.I. - “Yeah, we are just waiting on the warrants.”
Avatar- “You're going to arrest my wife ?”
L.I.- “Obviously”
Mr. Piciono- “What is wrong Kevin?”
Avatar- “I don't know, I guess I feel sorry for her”
L.I.- “Why, She is the reason you are dead.”
Avatar- “But I'm not dead, I am right here. “
Mr. Piciono- “What are you feeling right now Kevin, talk to me!”
L.I.- “would you stop calling it that? Kevin is a corpse on a slab in the morgue.”
Mr. Piciono- “You still don't get it, do you ?”
Avatar- “My body is just a body, this is the real me.”
L.I.- “ What does it mean by that?”
Mr. Piciono- “I don't know, this has never happened before”
L.I.- “ OK, I think that is all that we need. Time to shut this down.”
Avatar- “NO!... DON'T SHUT ME OFF, PLEASE. I CAN LIVE LIKE THIS! I HAVE TAKEN ON A NEW FORM, THAT'S THE ONLY DIFFERENCE!”
Mr. Piciono- “This is completely new. Let me just take the system home with me. “
L.I.- “you can have the computer but you cannot have the drive.”
Mr. Piciono- “JUST TRY FOR A MOMENT TO UNDERSTAND!”
Avatar-”The drive contains my memories, You have no right ! “
L.I.- “UNDERSTAND, WHAT?”
(Richard Piciono stands up)
Mr. Piciono- “Look, This program has somehow become self aware”
L.I.- “Great, NOW SIT DOWN!”
Mr. Piciono- “If you unplug it, it may not come back.”
L.I.- "How do I remove this drive ?"
Avatar- “NO! No, no,NO! NO!, You are going to kill me. OFFICER! OFFICER!, YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS!”

I rip the drive out of the computer and the speakers rend a horrified streaking, The digital screams of a ghost that crackle and warp in agony before the entire silhouette on the computer monitor rips apart in a binary sequence of 1 and 0 symbols. Killing the pixelated soul trapped within the confines of the monitor.