A body of no evidence?

As I closed my van's sliding door, I thought to myself “it is just going to be another day Han.”
I was wrong.
On October 3rd year 2000 something, my life on the streets of Caddy Jane Bay changed forever.

The moment started when I heard someone approach me from behind …
I looked quickly in my van's passenger side view mirror, but I was blinded by the sunlight reflecting from a walking aid.
“Your hair looks more curly and golden against the Autumn sun hun.” One of the ladies said before I put on sunglasses and covered my hair with a hood.
“Thank-you Chelsey, and good afternoon ladies.”
“This afternoon will not be good until you show us your muscles.”
“Yeah, let us see them handsome guns!”
“Did I not just show you them recently Lindsey?”

After my eyes recovered from the blinding sunlight, an unusual sight caught my eye.
Chelsey and Lindsey noticed it too.
“What is wrong hun?”
I pointed towards the back alley behind Plo Pharmacy. “Why is there a line up behind that dumpster?”
“The troublesome Mr. Breene pulled a body out of that dumpster earlier this morning.”
“A BODY!?”
“Well, all those perverts in line think it is a sex doll ...”

Chelsey and Lindsey start to lecture me on “pervertism”, but I ignored them and continued to speed walk towards the dumpster.
With the fluorescent green dumpster in sight, I attempted to take off my sunglasses for a closer look.
A bystander tried to close line me.
I shuffled briefly with the man before we both raised our fists, and prepared to fight.
“Get back in line big guy, it is my turn to make love with the beautiful gift from the department store heavens.” He said.
Witnesses in front of the line began to chant “Fight, fight, fight ...”
Meanwhile bystanders at the back of the line questioned “What is going on? What is the hold up?”
Mr. Breene broke us up with a grin on his face.Bookmark here

“No need to fight. I found this sex doll for everyone to enjoy ... at the right price.”
I rested my sunglasses on my forehead before saying “That might not be a real sex toy, but I am a real Detective.”
“Sure you are, and I am an undercover millionaire.”
I flashed my badge briefly before Mr. Breene and people at the front of the line.
“RUN! He really is a cop!”

Like gecko lizards, the crowd dispersed faster than I could say “I need insurance!”
“Rookie mistake I guess. I should have came prepared with lizard bait.” I sighed to myself then huffed back to the dumpster.
At least, I finally had a chance to kneel down and have a closer look at the lifeless body on the ground.
The body was anatomically correct, and had the curves, eyes, hair and lips of a beautiful woman.
Her fair skin was hairless and flawless with one exception: there were visible seams on the outside of her naked arms and thighs.
The body also had a hint of silicone smell despite being pulled out of a dumpster this morning.
The look was too perfect to be human. Yet, when I touched her soft hands, opened her mouth, and looked into her vibrant blue eyes, it seemed like there was once life in this body.

“Is this the body of a hyper-realistic mannequin or a real person?” I questioned in my mind.
“GAAHH!!” I yelled towards the sky.
What am supposed to do with this?
Do I treat this as a homicide or missing person or missing thing case?
Should I take fingerprints?
...
Not sure how long I stayed there thinking ...
I must have subconsciously called my colleagues, and yellow taped the area.
A cloud of smoke polluted the space behind me.
Despite the eye patch and serious look on her face, there was something sexy about the way she posed while exhaling smoke from her puffy lips.
Her natural beauty was further accentuated by a police blazer, form fitting pencil skirt and heels.
“What are you looking at?” the smoker scolds.
“Sorry Chief McDurham!”

A man whose face was concealed by a large camera jokingly answered: “Hey, I am just doing my job here.”
Chief responded by covering the man's camera lens with her black gloved left hand.
“This is a crime scene, and not a Playboy Magazine photo shoot Dan. Your job is to bring this body back to the coroner's lab. Now, go get your stretcher, and give me your jacket Detective Han.”
Chief grabbed my sports jacket, and used it to cover the naked body.
“Sorry Chief, so this is officially a homicide?”
“I do not care if this is the body of an android, sex doll or real person, disposing it this way was a crime.”
“How do you properly dispose a love doll?” Dan blurted as he returned empty handed.
“Where is your stretcher Dan?”

“Kelvin thought this was a mannequin, and left with the stretcher and van already. I paged him to come back.”
“Damnit, I do not have time to wait. I meet with the press in 15 minutes.”
“So that is why you came ...”
“Shut-up Dan. This neighbourhood has given law enforcement enough bad publicity already. So I want this area cleared and re-opened before I meet the press. Now, help me carry this body into Detective Han's van.”
“What!? I do not want this creepy thing in my van.” I exclaim while lifting the body carefully.

Chief closed the eye lids on the face of the body with one hand while supporting the neck and head with her other hand.
“There, is it less creepy now?”
“Not really?”
In the process, Chief noticed something odd around the neck and pulled on it.
“Unfortunately, an order is an order.”

After I reluctantly helped Chief and Dan lay the body on the bed in my van, I asked Chief an important question.
“I noticed you pulled on a flap around the neck earlier. Does the skin come off?”
“No, it appears to be glued on.”
“Let me try...”
Dan immediately stopped me “Wait, if you out muscle the glue, it could damage what is underneath this beautiful skin and completely ruin any chance of identifying this body ... assuming there once was a living person underneath of course.”
“Dan is correct Detective Han.”
“Ok, but does logo on the back side of this flap of skin look familiar to you?”
“Looks alien to me.”
“Ah I did not notice it before Detective Han ... here ...”
Chief handed me a business card and started walking away.
I looked closely at the card.
The company name was Allure Salon Cosplay and the logo matched the one on the flap.

Chief paused and said “I do not have time to explain, but go there if you would like to investigate. There is definitely someone or thing underneath this body's skin. Consider this your big break from undercover street duty ... Do not mess up!” She continued with her back turned towards me.
“Ooo pressure ...” Dan said mockingly.

I ignored Dan and ran after Chief.
“Wait Chief, since the body is my van, may I take it to Allure Salon Cosplay first? Perhaps someone there can help us remove the skin ...”
“Ok, but bring the body back to the coroners at 7 AM tomorrow.”
“Yes Chief, I will set my alarm watch.”

I walked back to my van slowly with a confused smile.
Chief faced the press behind me.
Although I was happy to finally take on a 'real serious' case, I was not sure if I wanted this one.
I was more accustomed to patrolling streets, breaking up drug induced knife fights, and recovering petty stolen items. Those were my duties for the past 8 months.
Yet with this body, how was I supposed to investigate when it was covered in a second skin like material?
What if the cosplay place could not remove it?
Was I setting myself up for failure?
...

“Woah big guy ... you phased out the same way we found you a few hours ago.”
“Dan! What are you doing in my van?”
“How else am I supposed to get back to the lab?”
“I thought you paged Kelvin?”
“Kelvin never responded.”
“Hitch a ride with the Chief then. I work alone ...”
“LONER!” Dan yelled as I ditched him and sped off.

The real reason I left Dan behind was because the onsite investigation could get too dangerous for a loud mouth coroner.
According to the address on Allure Salon Cosplay's business card, the store was located in the commercial district of North Caddy Jane Bay.
The area was lively in the morning, but a scary place after all the businesses closed at night.
“Eep, what was that noise?” I gasped and safely pulled over.
“Did I forget to lock the back door again?”

I exited my van and realized it was just the wind ruffling leaves around me, or was it?
“Ooops, why do I always laugh about my own farts?”
The sound was gas from my empty stomach!
I missed dinner, but duty calls. So I pulled out a cigarette sized box of Sugar Cane cookies. I always had a box on me. The cookies reminded me of my Grandparent's cookies.

As I munched on the finger sized cookies, I enjoyed the colours, sights and smells of Autumn at night.
The air did not smell like rotting maple leaves or farts though. There was no mistaking the distinctive scent of freshly baked Sugar Cane cookies.
How could my tiny box of cookies be so pungent?
I jumped back into my van, opened the driver's side window and immediately drove to where the scent lingered the most.
This led me to an unmarked building.

Coincidentally, the unmarked building's address matched Allure Salon Cosplay's.
Could my day get any stranger? Where did Chief get this business card? Why did she have it in her blazer pocket all along?
My sugar fueled brain reminded me not to rush in unprepared this time.
So I searched for more information on Allure Salon Cosplay from my work laptop in my van first.

A video advertisement loaded on the screen.
In the video, a person, who's face was cut off by the top of the screen was seen slowly putting on skin suit like an article of clothing.
They started by carefully putting on a top which covered the neck, chest and arms tightly.
The person then smoothly slid on a separate skin over the feet, legs and thighs.

Before the person pulled on skin hand gloves with realistic nails, the person overlapped and smoothed the area where the chest and leg skin pieces met along the waistline.
Finally, the person pulled on a full head mask. Unlike other masks, this one has a hole in the back, so the person could pull out their real hair and blend it in with the hair pinned to the mask.Bookmark here

The person tied the blended elbow length white hair into a pony-tail.
When camera lens zoomed in on where the lips of the mask met the person's real lips, a deep but sexy feminine voice said ...
Anyone can wear skin suits, but how will it look on you? At Allure Salon Cosplay, we produce the highest quality custom and comfortably breathable tybrane skins just for you. So you can conquer your cosplay bullies, and have the happy ending from your fantasies.Bookmark here