Free The Immorality Clause by Brian Parker

Should I be worried that the murderer will come after me since I’m a witness?”
    “No. There’s no reason to think that. As of right now, the killer has an almost perfect crime on their hands. I don’t think they’d risk getting caught coming after you—especially since you didn’t see anything and I think they know that.”
    I pulled an old-fashioned paper business card from my pocket and handed it to her. “Here’s my contact information. I’m confident that you’re perfectly safe, but if you need anything or if you remember any additional information, don’t hesitate to call me.”
    She looked at the card and then placed it on the table. “That’s it, then?”
    I stood. “Yeah, I believe so. Like I said, I’ve asked everything that I planned to ask.”
    “Let me walk you out.” she said as she unfolded herself from the couch.
    When we got to the door, I had to crouch and tie my shoe, giving me a glimpse of Paxton’s manicured toes, which, of course, matched her blue hair and fingernails.
    “I mean it, Paxton,” I said when I completed tying the broken Oxford. “If you feel unsafe, call me. I can have a black and white here in a few minutes.”
    She placed a hand on my elbow. “Thank you, Zach. I appreciate it.”
    “Alright. I’ll be in touch, ma’am.”
    I waited in the hallway until Paxton shut her door and I heard her lock it behind me.
    Wouldn’t you know it, I had to push the elevator’s down button myself.

 
    FIVE: SATURDAY
    Andi downloaded the address for Wolfe’s hobby shop into the Jeep’s computer and I set the truck’s speed at a responsible fifteen miles an hour over the posted limit. Normally, the city maintained a strict policy to stop anyone traveling more than six miles an hour faster, but I flipped on the unmarked police vehicle transponder to send out a signal to the watchful patrol cars that I was on official business. Sometimes being a cop had its advantages.
    The trip to Leonidas took forty minutes in the Saturday afternoon traffic, so I tried to catch a catnap on the way, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t shut down my mind long enough to fall asleep. How were these murders so different, yet so similar? The linear order of them and the complete lack of usable evidence certainly made me believe that they were related. Given what I’d seen so far, if it was the same killer, the murders were getting worse. What could possibly be more brutal than ripping someone’s organs out while they were still alive?
    Unfortunately, after twelve years on the force and ten of those in homicide, my mind could imagine some horrendous ways to die.
    “This is it, boss,” Andi’s voice interrupted my dark thoughts.
    “Hmm?”
    “The Jeep arrived at Mr. Wolfe’s hobby shop three minutes ago, Zach. I checked the heart rate sensors and you didn’t appear to be sleeping.”
    “Checked the— Dammit, Andi, I was just thinking. I’m okay, leave me alone.”
    Andi’s AI program had grown exponentially over the years, but there were times when she didn’t understand human expressions, and that they often had multiple meanings in English. Her silence told me that now was one of those times. “Andi, I didn’t mean for you to stop communicating with me. I meant…” I thought how to explain it to a computer. “I meant that I’m fine and you don’t need to keep checking up on me.”
    “On the contrary, Zach. You are an overworked and overstressed thirty-four year old male who drinks more bourbon than the daily recommended usage. You get an average of four hours and twenty-four minutes sleep at night, while you should get a minimum of six. The toilet’s urine monitor told me that you are in the beginning stages of kidney damage, and—”
    “Goddammit, Andi. How many times have I told you to stop talking to the apartment’s toilet?”
    She paused. “One thousand, four hundred and nineteen. However, the city mandates that the toilet records are maintained—”
    “Add another one