Addict
by Matt Doyle
Spotlighting this first in a series book - LOOK AT THIS COVER!
Continue below for information about the book, the author and then read an excerpt.
Publisher: NineStar Press
Publish Date: May 8, 2017
Series: The Cassie Tam Files #1
Genres: GLBT, Sci-Fi, Crime Noir
When PI
Cassie Tam is hired to investigate the death of a local virtual reality junkie,
she thinks it will be easy money. In New Hopeland, VR junkies die every day,
and the local PD already declared it an accidental overdose on synthetic
stimulants. But the more she digs, the more that things don’t add up.
To make
things even more complicated, her client, the deceased’s sister Lori, is a Tech
Shifter - someone who uses a metal exoskeleton to roleplay as an animal – and
Cassie has always been wary of that community. That wouldn’t be a problem if
Lori wasn’t fast becoming the first person she’s been genuinely attracted to
since splitting with her ex.
Easy money, huh?
Yeah, right.
Matt
Doyle lives in the South East of England and shares his home with a wide
variety of people and animals, as well as a fine selection of teas. He has
spent his life chasing dreams, a habit which has seen him gain success in a
great number of fields. To date, this has included spending ten years as a
professional wrestler, completing a range of cosplay projects, and publishing
multiple works of fiction.
These
days, Matt can be found working on far too many novels at once, running his pop
culture website, and plotting and planning what other things he’ll be doing to
take up what little free time he has.
Excerpt
I ALWAYS DID like
Venetian blinds. There’s something quaint about them in a retro-tacky kinda
way. Plus, they’re pretty useful for sneaking a peek out the front of the
building if I feel the need. That’s something that you just can’t do with the
solid, immovable metal slats that come as a standard in buildings these days.
That said, a thick sheet of steel is gonna offer you a damn sight more security
than thin, bendable vinyl, so I keep mine installed. Just in case.
Another round of knocking rattles the front door, louder this time
than the one that woke me.
The clock says 23:47, and the unfamiliar low-end car out front
screams “Don’t notice me, I’m not worth your time,” which makes for the perfect
combo to stir up the paranoia that the evening’s beer and horror-film session
left behind. This is my own fault. My adverts are pretty descriptive in terms
of telling what I do: lost pets, cheating partners, theft, protection,
retrieval of people and items, other odds and sods that the city’s finest won’t
touch…I’ve got ways to deal with it all. That’s right, I’m a real odd-job gal.
The one thing that I don’t put in there are business hours. The way I see it,
even the missing pet cases usually leave me wandering the streets at half-past
reasonable, so what’s the point in asking people to call between certain hours?
More knocking, followed this time by the squeak of my letter box
and a voice. “Hello? Cassandra Tam?”
It’s funny, really. For all the tech advances that the world has
made, no one has been able to improve upon the simple open-and-shut letter box.
I stumble my way through the dark and wave dismissively at the frosted glass.
The light switch and the keypad for the door lock are conveniently placed right
next to each other on the wall to the right of the door, so welcoming my
apparent guest is a nice, easy affair. The lock clicks a moment after the
lights flood the room, and I pull the door open.
“Cassie,” I say, turning and skulking my way back into the room.
“Or Caz. Drop the Tam.”
I hear a sniff behind me, and the lady from the letter box asks,
“Are you drunk?”
“If I pass out in the next five minutes, then yes,” I reply, turning
the kettle on. I’d left it full, ready for the morning, but I guess this is
close enough. “Take a seat at the table. Would you prefer tea or coffee? I’d
offer beer, but since I reek of it, I guess I must’ve finished it.”
Footsteps creep unapologetically across the room, and a chair
squeaks on the floor. Good. If you can’t deal with a snarky response to
something, don’t say it all, and if you can deal with it, then as far as
I’m concerned you don’t need to apologise.
“Coffee,” the lady says. “So, do you always see potential clients
in your underwear, or is it just my lucky day?” Her voice has a slightly
playful edge to it, but with a sarcastic kick to round it off.
The business portion of my apartment comprises entirely of a small
open-plan room separating my kitchen from my living room. And by open plan, I
mean an allotted space that encroaches on both territories but is conveniently
large enough to house what I need. Or, in other words, a table, four chairs,
and nothing else. Since filing went near entirely digital, filing cabinets have
pretty much become obsolete, so the two that I found dumped outside the
building when I bought the place currently live in my bedroom, and contain a
mix of quick access work stuff and personal files I’d rather not have floating
on the net. Most things, though, I store electronically, the same as everything
else.
I rarely use the business table to eat, read, or any of that junk,
so until this evening it’s been entirely empty for a good few weeks. The lady
sitting there now is studying me, I can see, and probably wondering if this was
a mistake. Whatever she may have expected, a Chinese-Canadian gal of average
height in a cami top and a loose pair of sleep shorts most likely wasn’t it.
For what it’s worth, though, I’m studying her just the same. She’s a
lithe-looking thing, dressed in a casual pair of jeans and a plain black fitted
top under a leather jacket. If the metal plugs running down her shaven head
like a shiny, rubber-tipped Mohawk weren’t a giveaway for what she is, the
light scarring punctuating the outer edges of her pale blue eyes certainly
would be. She’s a Tech Shifter, and like most of her ilk, she looks like a punk
rocker gone cyborg.
“Only when people come calling near midnight,” I say, crossing my
arms. “And what about you? Do you have to work to rile people up, or is it just
a talent?” I spot her wince and can’t quite contain the smile that fights its
way up to my lips. I can’t really afford to lose another client, though, so I
throw in another dismissive wave and add, “Don’t worry about it. It’s late, and
I’m grumpy. Milk and sugar?”
She nods. “Two sugars, lots of milk, thanks.”
I finish making the drinks and plonk myself into the chair
opposite my guest. “So how about we start with a name?”
“Lori. Lori Redwood. And I’m sorry about calling so late, it’s
just that I didn’t really know when would be best, and I figured that you
probably wouldn’t be busy this time of night.”
“And whatever problem you have has been eating away at you, so you
wanted to sort it as soon, eh?”
Lori nods and takes a gulp of her coffee. “Something like that.”
I tilt my head, and rest my elbows on the table, letting my chin
fall into my clasped hands. “I’m guessing this isn’t a missing pet case?”
“No. Do you read the morning news sites?”
“I browse. Why?”
“Did you see any of the articles about Edward Redwood? They would
have been late last week.”
I close my eyes and cast my mind back to the things I’d read over
the last couple of days. The name is familiar, and not just because of the
articles, but I can’t place where from.
“Virtual Junkie, died of an accidental overdose of synthesised
stimulants?” I try.
Lori nods again. “He was my brother. It wasn’t an accidental OD,
though.”
I sigh. “I’m sorry for your loss, but he was an Addict, right?
That’s what the press said. He wouldn’t be the first VJ Addict to OD, and he
won’t be the last.”
“You don’t understand. Yes, Eddie was an Addict, but he couldn’t
have overdosed himself, because he never used stimulants. He used to make a
really big deal out of how he preferred the experience pure, because he didn’t
want to mess up his chances of becoming a Pro.”
I shake my head sadly. “Miss Redwood…”
“Lori, please,” she cuts in.
“Lori, then. Let me give you a history lesson. Many years ago,
some bright spark realised society had become so reliant on electronic tools
that most jobs carried out by big businesses could be done virtually. As things
advanced, they built a whole virtual world where people could work, and
gradually, the staff who pulled the long shifts became reliant on the feel of
being in the place. Meanwhile, out in the real world, regular people accessed
the virtual world to communicate with the staff, and to play games, and they
too became reliant on the feel of the place. And so, two types of Junkie were
born; the Pros, supported by their bosses, and the Addicts, who were no
different to the drug users of the twentieth century. Now don’t get me wrong,
I’m not judging anyone here, but Addicts don’t become Pros. Both types of VJ
get unhealthily hooked, but the Addicts don’t have the support to keep it in
check. They all end up on the stimulants eventually.”
“Not Eddie,” she insists. “He had a contract lined up. All he had
to do was pass the entrance test, and he’d transition to Pro.”
“Now that’s a first. Who with?”
“I don’t know. That’s part of the problem.”
I narrow my eyes. “Lori, why exactly did you come to me?”
“Because the police won’t reopen the case. They said there’s no
evidence that anyone else was in the room at all when he died. If I can just
figure out who he was negotiating with, then that would be something.”
“So, what? You want me to find out who your brother was supposedly
going to be hired by?”
“Yes.”
“And then what?”
“I find out how he ended up OD-ing on something that he wouldn’t
touch, and why.”
I down my coffee and lean back in my chair, crossing my arms
again. “You think that he was murdered, don’t you? By someone in whatever
company he was supposedly talking to.”
“Yes,” she replies vehemently, then shrinks back a little and
adds, “I don’t know. Maybe. It’s the only thing that makes sense, right?”
“No, it’s not. What makes the most sense is that your brother was
no different from any other VJ Addict, and he just hid his usage from you.
Let’s say for one moment we can even entertain the idea that a Pro company were
willing to hire an Addict. That isn’t even close to a strong enough link to
start crying murder. Honestly, Lori, I get it, but you’re reaching here. You’re
trying to grasp onto anything that can make this all easier for you, and that’s
fine. But trust me on this. No amount of grasping at nothing ever changes
anything.”
Lori has clearly been fighting back the tears, and my little
speech just pushed her over the edge. She wipes her eyes on her sleeve and gets
to her feet, keeping her head hung low.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she says, and turns back towards the
door. “I’ll see myself out.”
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“Home.”
“Why?”
“To look up some more names. You’ve made your position quite
clear.”
“I never said that I wouldn’t take the case. I just wanted you to
understand how unlikely your scenario is.”
Lori stops in her tracks and looks back at me. “You’ll do it?” she
asks, her voice a conflicted mess of desperation and disbelief.
“If there’s something to be found, then I’ll find it.”
“I…thank you. Thank you.”
“Yeah, well, don’t thank me yet,” I reply, getting to my feet. I
walk back to the kitchen, slide open one of the drawers, and pull out a small
metal disc about one inch thick, and five inches in diameter. I throw it to
Lori, and she whips her arm out, snatching it from the air. She turns it over
in her hand, studying the glass top. “You seen one of those before?”
Lori shakes her head.
“It’s a standard Case Tool, at least for me. Take it with you, and
when you get home, tap the screen three times quickly. It’ll load a bunch of
files for you to complete. Don’t worry, it comes with a holo-keypad, so you
won’t need to hook it up to anything. I prefer to keep things connected to my
server, and mine alone when I can help it. Take your time, answer the questions
with as much detail as possible, and tap to send them back to me. Before it’ll
send ’em, it’ll ask you to enter your details to transfer the deposit for the
case.”
“Okay,” she nods. “How much am I looking at?”
“Aside from being a potential murder case, this is gonna prevent
me from taking on any other work for the duration, so I’m not gonna be working
cheap. The deposit’s five thou. If I find nothing, that’ll be it, but if
something turns up, I’ll expect the same again on completion. That cool?”
“Yes. Absolutely. Thank you.”
“Not
a problem. Now get yourself home so that I can get some sleep.”