Page 384 of Good Boys Don’t Bite

“I noticed.”

“First time.”

“I know.”

“Technically—”

“Stop.”

“Fine.”

Silence. Then Elliot whispered:

“I like it.”

Ronan’s chest tightened.

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

Ronan looked at him. No golden-boy performance. No manipulation that he could detect. Just happiness. A little. That was dangerous too. Ronan nudged his shoulder.

“Boyfriend.”

Elliot smiled at the ground. There. Twenty-one years old. College student. Embarrassed because the guy he loved called him his boyfriend. Ronan hated how easy it was to forget the other part. Maybe he didn’t need to forget it. Maybe holding both was the whole fucking point now. His temporary phone rang. Detective Vance. Of course. Romance survived approximately forty seconds. Ronan answered.

“What?”

“Charming.”

“You caught me at a bad time.”

“You exist in a permanent bad time.”

Elliot almost laughed. “What do you want?” “We finished clearing the marine sciences facility.” Ronan straightened. Elliot noticed immediately. “And?” “Saint wasn’t inside.” “We gathered.” “There was remote access to the flood controls.” “From where?” “Unknown.” Ronan closed his eyes. “Fantastic.” “System routed through multiple networks.” Elliot leaned closer. Ronan switched to speaker. Vance continued. “We recovered audio equipment, cameras, and a small amount of physical evidence.” “What kind?” Elliot asked. “Hair. Fibers. Partial footwear impressions.” “Anything useful?” “Testing takes time.” Elliot looked unimpressed. Vance heard it somehow. “There’s more.” Ronan sighed. “Of course.” “The voice used over the speaker wasn’t live.” Silence. Ronan stared at the phone. “What?” Elliot’s expression changed. Vance continued. “Pre-recorded segments stitched through software.” Ronan looked at Elliot. “But Saint responded to us.” “Yes.” “In real time.” “Yes.” “So how?” “A language model.” Ronan froze. Elliot looked equally disturbed. Vance continued. “Someone trained a voice system to deliver prepared responses based on incoming audio.” Ronan’s stomach turned. “So Saint wasn’t there.” “Possibly never was.”

Elliot stepped away. That hit him differently. Ronan understood why. Saint had sounded present. Watching. Reacting. Choosing words. Maybe some of it had been automation. Maybe not.

“How much?” Elliot asked.

“We don’t know.”

He laughed without humor.

“Great.”

Vance continued.

“The responses were too context-specific to be fully pre-scripted. Someone was likely monitoring remotely and selecting or generating responses.”

Ronan looked toward the hospital doors. Crowds moved. Cars passed. Saint could be anywhere.

“Location?”

“No.”

“Then what did you actually learn?”