Free Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series by Austin Dragon Page A

the natural and synthetic rainbow. Yesterday when he came to see me, he was in greens; today, it was powder blue.
    He led me to his huge ivory desk, exquisite in every possible way.
    The female VP had already moved a third chair to the front of the executive desk next to the two other men who were already seated. I recognized them as soon as I was led into the office. Fat Nat of Joe Blows Smoking Emporium was the bigger man. I wasn't a smoker myself, but if you were part of the classic hover-car restoration or racing scene, you would have set foot in his place. Fat Nat was not fat at all, but I guess Musclebound Nat didn't sound so good. With him was one of his buddies, who I had also seen before, Mr. G Plus, but you called him G. He actually was fat, and had the man-boobs to match. The men stood.
    "Fat Nat," I said as I shook his hand. "Mr. G." I shook his hand.
    We all took our seats.
    "I've seen you before," Fat Nat said.
    "Yeah," I answered. "Been to Joe Blows quite a few times. I'm into the hover-car restoration scene and I've done some racing, just for kicks."
    Fat Nat nodded with satisfaction.
    "Cruz, did you have a chance to read the news?" Run-Time asked.
    I leaned forward in my chair. "Easy Chair Charlie is dead?"
    "Shot dead by cops," G said. "Well, shot dead in a shoot-out with cops."
    Fat Nat looked at Run-Time. "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but what can a hover-car hobbyist and some-time sky-racer help us with? We need someone serious on this."
    I chose not to be offended. "I may not be as serious as a heart attack, but I've been known to exhibit my share of seriousness."
    "Cruz, here, can check around for us," Run-Time defended.
    "Why can't it be one of your guys?" Fat Nat asked.
    "For the exact same reason you don't want one of your guys involved," Run-Time answered. "None of us can have our names directly connected."
    G added, "We need a fall-guy to give us plausible deniability ."
    "It's not like that," Run-Time interjected. "We need a trusted third-party to poke around discreetly."
    "Poke around can mean a lot of things," Fat Nat said. "I still don't know why him?"
    "Easy Chair Charlie, a mad gunman?" I looked at the men. "Impossible. Easy Chair Charlie was no gun-toting street gangster. He was a numbers guy. I heard he also got into the acquisition business, too, but nothing hardcore criminal. And a shoot-out with police? Impossible. He wasn't stupid or crazy."
    "You seem very sure of that," Run-Time said.
    "I knew him."
    Fat Nat and G glanced at each other.
    I answered the question before they could even ask. "I was a client of his." I looked at Fat Nat. "You're in the classic smoking business; I'm in the classic hover-car business. Sometimes you have to be able to get things that aren't available on the local legit market or through regular channels. Someone like Easy Chair Charlie was the guy to get those things for you." I could see Fat Nat nod. "He got me a few hard-to-find and semi-technically-illegal things for my vehicle. Again, nothing hardcore criminal. He was an operator, not a mad gunman. He also was a family man."
    G nodded and started pointing as if my words were hanging in the air. "Exactly," he said. "A family man. He would never do such a thing."
    "But he did," I said. "Or that's what the papers said happened, because that's what the police say happened. What do you say happened?"
    I didn't know quite what to make of these two men staring at me without answering a simple question.
    "Am I missing something?" I turned to Run-Time. "You want to hire me to poke around to do what? What is it that you're saying happened that's different from what the papers and the cops are saying?"
    "It's nothing mysterious," Run-Time replied calmly. "If he did do what they said, completely contradictory to his nature and good sense, then why? That's what we want you to find out. That's all."
    Run-Time placed an envelope on the top of his desk.
    "Kick around for a few days and see what you come up with,"