Brain Games (Rich Weed Book 3) by Alex P. Berg

Author:Alex P. Berg
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Batdog Press
Published: 2016-10-12T06:00:00+00:00

17

I blinked slowly. Perhaps I still hadn’t fully woken up. Either that or I was still dreaming and it would only be a matter of time before Kriggler transformed into a hideous, multi-tentacled beast with a thoroughly unintimidating door chime scream. “Come again?”

“The cops were a little stunned when I called them,” said Dirk. “To be fair, I was too when I found him. Emaciated. Disheveled. And the smell? Well, I don’t want to bring it back to mind. And it wasn’t just him. It was all that food on his counters and floor, spoiled beyond belief.”

My ears perked. “So he’d been dead for a while, then?”

“At least three weeks, I’d say,” said Kriggler. “Could be more. I’m no coroner, but there appeared to be about a month’s worth of pizza on his counter, so take that how you will. Anyway, when the police arrived they questioned me thoroughly, seeing as I’d been the one to call it in. They were pretty tight lipped about everything, but I could tell something was off, and I’m not talking about the smell. More like they’d seen something similar and not that long ago. I overheard one of them mention another private eye, and then they dropped your name. Weed. I asked about you, of course, but I probably shouldn’t have. The officer who name-dropped you got a good glaring from her supervisor, and I didn’t get anything more. They kicked me out after taking note of my investigator’s license and telling me not to wander off, if you catch my drift.”

“Where did you find Hari?” I asked. “His body, I mean?”

“In his apartment,” said Kriggler. “A place called the Chesapeake Arms. Real run down joint. Small apartments, packed in tight. Not a lot of attention paid to ambience, if you catch my drift. A gamer haven. From what Sanika told me, I knew he’d retreated into that world to get away, but I didn’t realize how far he’d fallen.”

I wasn’t surprised. “I was looking for a more specific answer, as in where within his apartment. In a gaming chair? Still plugged in?”

“That’s right.”

“A Princess Gaming unit?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably. They’re the company he had a subscription to, I think, and they’re the main gaming company on Cetie, right?”

I nodded, stroking my chin.

“You want to share with me what you know?” said Kriggler. “As I said, the cops weren’t terribly forthcoming, but I take it from the look on your face and the questions you’re firing my way that you’ve been through a similar experience.”

“Strikingly similar.”

I gave him a brief run down, from Helena’s appearance and hire of me to track down her estranged son to our investigation into Lars and the discovery of his death all the way through our online foray into his virtual existence. As I wrapped up my tale, I heard the puff of the front door. Carl stood there with a pair of reusable bags in his hands, one overflowing with leafy beet greens and the other sagging under the weight of assorted groceries.

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