Detective Tom Daniels fixed his partner with a weary look. "Ok, so he was at the scene. That's all we've got. He has no indentification, he's not talking, and his fingerprints aren't in the system. We've got nothing. We can only hold him for twenty-four hours. If we can't get something on him, he walks." He crushed his paper coffee cup and tossed it with disgust. "What the hell are we gonna do, Bill?"
Detective Williams chewed his lip and swiveled his chair to look out the window. He spoke with his back turned. "The only thing we can do. We interrogate the hell out of him. We've got nothing else to go on. He was there. He either did it, or he knows something. If he was set up, then we find that out." He turned back around. "They want this thing put away fast. Let's get him in the room now."
The two men were weary. It had been a rough month. Crime was up. Way up. Now they had a brutal murder to solve, and the only thing they had was a man with no name who was found unconcious at the scene of the crime with the vitims blood on him. Worse, he wasn't talking. It was going to be a long day. And possibly a long night. They headed for the holding cell.
He seemed non-plussed as they marched him to the interrogation room. They put him in a chair and Bill moved to a corner, letting Tom take the first round.
"What's your name, sport?" He affected a casual manner.
The prisoner stared straight ahead and said nothing. The thousand yard stare wasn't going down well with Tom. He leaned across the table, planting his palms. "I'm gonna ask you just one more time, what's your name?"
The man looked up as if he had just noticed his interrogator for the first time. "I aren't know" he said.
"You aren't know. Do you speak english? do you mean, I don't know?"
The prisoner looked thoughtful. "I don't know."
Tom took a deep breath. "You don't know if you speak English, or you don't know your name?"
More thoughtfulness. "I don't know my name to you."
Tom gave Bill a look. Bill shrugged his shoulders. "Look, you're gonna tell us what happened in that warehouse one way or another. Would you like to do this the hard way?"
The prisoner looked confused, closed his eyes for a moment and then spoke. "I not meant to be. I must soon back go."
Tom walked around behind and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. Bill moved to the table and got in his face. "Listen, asshole, we're not playing with you! Tell us why you killed that guy!"
The prisoner seemed confused by the goings on and said nothing. Tom brought his elbow down hard between the prisoner's shoulder blades, but he did not react. Bill slapped him hard and screamed "Tell us what happened or this is gonna get really ugly really fast!"
The prisoner stared into space. "There is having an error. This can not to continue."
Bill made to punch the prisoner in the face, but Tom grabbed his arm. "Listen, tough guy, we've got all night. You're not going anywhere, you got that? We'll pin this murder on you one way or another if you don't come clean."
The prisoner blinked at him and said nothing. His blank look was getting on their nerves, they'd never had an interrogation go this way. Bill grabbed a chair and was about to swing it, but Tom pulled him aside. He whispered in Bill's ear and they went outside.
Tom tried to calm his partner down. "He's messing with us. We can break him, you know we can."
Back in the room, Theronix took his hidden communication device out and placed it in his ear. He contacted his ship. "Do you have my coordinates?"
"Yes, we are locked on. Shall we bring you back?"
"Yes. There has been a problem. I arrived at the scene of a crime, there was a body. I was rendered unconcious and the authorities took me into custody. Their language is difficult to mimic properly. My outer form is correct, and the clothing passed inspection, but they seem to know something is not right. We will have to make another attempt at a later time. Bring me in now."
"If we abort the mission now we may have to wait several units to return, the planet positions are not..."
Theronix cut in. "I repeat, I am being held in custody, this form is compromised. We can try again with a different body. Return me to the ship now."
A bright flash of green light and the interrogation room was empty.
"Look, let's go back in and i'll take another shot at him. I've got an idea, just stand back and let me give it a try."
Bill looked dubious, took out the key and unlocked the door, and they went back in. They stood there blinking in incomprehension. It was impossible. The door was locked. There were no windows. They looked at each other.
"What the..." Tom was at a loss for words.
Bill was not. "This can't be happening. Was there anyone else in the hall? Somebody had to have opened the door."
"You had the key, Bill." Tom didn't know what else to say. His mind was reeling.
They slumped into the chairs and stared at each other.
"How in the hell are we gonna explain this?"
Tom shook his head slowly, then covered his face with his hands and propped his elbows on the table. "I think i'm gonna retire."
