Doctor Mid-Nite

“Those were the days.” #JSA

@H0URMAN "Yes. I solved it on my own. Happy Valentine's Day."

“Wait… weren’t we working on a case?” @PieterCross

@H0URMAN "Let me talk to him."

@PieterCross "An elderly man, Columbo!" Hourman folded his arms tighter. "Didn't see anything useful."

Deep in the city, 02:13 The body hangs from a rusted crane, turning slowly in the night breeze. Coal dust drifts off it. The Midnight Doctor stands below, his goggles whirring gently as he studies the scene. "Corneal burns," he says. "Same chemical signature as the others.-

@H0URMAN Pieter turns his head slightly toward him. "You said there was a witness."

@PieterCross Reluctantly accepted.

@H0URMAN "Look, if we force him to adjust too soon, he changes his pattern. You know this. Then we lose what little consistency we have."

@PieterCross A beat passes. His foot taps once, anxious energy burning off.

@H0URMAN The Midnight Doctor stands. "He isn't making mistakes."

@PieterCross "We should release something!" Hourman snapped, stepping forward. "Public pressure shakes loose mistakes!"

@H0URMAN "I think he wants time."

@PieterCross "Wait, you think he wants attention?"

@H0URMAN "Nothing specific," he replies. "Not yet."

@PieterCross Hourman nodded, looking at the doorway. "We tell the media something tonight?"

@H0URMAN "I assume he's counting on it." Finally touches the victim's wrist. The skin temperature differential is noted. The collapse point of tissue stiffness is consistent with the previous two cases. No hesitation marks. No irregular angles. "Time of death four hours," Pieter says.

@PieterCross "He knows you'll read him."

@H0URMAN "A technician," he answers. "Doesn't matter which field. This is someone who understands how to shut down a person without leaving signs."

@PieterCross Hourman leaned forward. "A doctor?"

@H0URMAN - the hall, water pipes settling, Rick's heartbeat sitting slightly above resting. The scan finishes. "No sedatives," he says. "Same clean neuro-block. Quick. Precise."

@H0URMAN "He's selecting," he corrects. "He's not opportunistic, he's consistent." Mid-Nite doesn't reach toward the body yet. He waits for the goggles to finish processing. In the quiet, the sound-map of the room updates with a faint whir, registering the hum of a vending machine down -

@H0URMAN There's a body on the floor. Male. Early thirties. No struggle. No bruising. No defensive wounds. The Midnight Doctor kneels. His goggles chirp once while they scan for trace chemicals. He doesn't speak for a while. Finally, quietly, he says, "Same as the others."

@PieterCross Hourman sat on the edge of a table, arms crossed, jaw set. He watched Doctor Mid-Nite.

@H0URMAN - proximity, and movement into structured input. Everything comes in as crisp grayscale contours and thermal outlines, updated every fraction of a second.

@H0URMAN The next day..... The room is a community rec center office in the city, after hours. Fluorescent bulbs flicker. The Midnight Doctor stands still just inside the doorway, letting his goggles process the environment. To him light is meaningless, but the goggles translate heat, -

@H0URMAN Pieter doesn't answer yet. He is considering every possibility, including ones he does not want to speak aloud. When he does finally speak, its quiet. "He knew my name."

@PieterCross Hourman stepped forward, studying his old friend. "Well?"

@H0URMAN The voice continues, "You won't find me by looking at them. Look at yourself. Start there." The line goes dead. The Midnight Doctor lowers the phone slowly.

@PieterCross Hourman turned, immediately alert.

@H0URMAN As they step into the hallway, Mid-Nite's phone buzzes. Unknown number. He answers. A man's voice, calm and steady, "You're looking in the wrong place, Doctor Cross." Pieter stops walking.

@PieterCross Rick looked at the stillness of the place. "A condition."

@H0URMAN "Then what does it feel like?"

@PieterCross Hourman took photographs for recordkeeping. The room felt wrong. "This doesn't feel like a killer."

@H0URMAN The crime scene (third victim's apartment)....... The apartment is small, lived-in, nothing remarkable. Pieter moves methodically, scanning surfaces.

@PieterCross "We'll get there," Hourman said.

@H0URMAN "I don't know."

@PieterCross Rick breathes out slowly. "You think it’s a person?"