The protagonist is a detective reviewing a case file that doesn't add up. The suspect, a man named Robert who has been in a coma for three months, is the only person who could have committed the crime. their partner, Detective Kim, thinks they're losing their mind.
The evidence pointed to someone who couldn't possibly have done it.
While the detective was inspecting the body, he spilled his coffee on the crime scene.
The spilled synth-coffee immediately began to react, dissolving a faint, almost invisible trace of neural gel from the floor.
Before he could inspect, his supervisor saw the sloppy work and took him off the case.
As his supervisor lectured, her boot inadvertently scuffed the dissolving gel, revealing a faint, almost glowing circuit pattern beneath the floor.
Suddenly that circuit brightens up and dissolved the supervisor.