I noticed a problem almost immediately. Cameras and ID scanners covered the entrance to Timpton Tower. Most of the tech looked kind of old, but it would still put a dent in my entry plans. I spent a couple hours casing the place and taking note of the cameras and their angles.

Of course, I didn't just stare at it like a slag. Casing the joint in an obvious manner might put me into a quick and very uncomfortable interaction with a Blue Crusade Squire. Instead, I sat across the street at a cafe, losing a chunk of my remaining Rayn. Oh, the woes of being poor. At least the food was somewhat decent. Small mercies and all that.

How to do this… I could probably nick an ID during rush hour… as for the cameras… maybe a hat and sunglasses would do? It was a time-honored classic. There were a few other good options, but my empty wallet strikes again. Just great…

Still, I should definitely run back home and grab a hat and sunglasses. It didn't look like they had actual security guards, so as long as I kept my head down it should be fine.

Should wasn't exactly reassuring though… Maybe I could use Blackout here? According to Nael, it'd make me completely invisible to the security systems here. This would be a good first attempt at the device, and the repercussions for it failing weren't terrible.

Oh! I could totally go buy some fireworks too and set them off in the building. Surely that would count as mischief, right? Am I really a genius? Wouldn't do much for me distraction wise, but- oh wait, Carone wanted this discrete. Ugh… besides, didn't exactly have the money for that.

Probably best I wait till tomorrow for this regardless. Crowds of slags will be moving about early, and that could offer quite a few opportunities. I could go ahead and test Blackout tonight just to make sure, though. I should really know the extent of my own tech.

— — —

Early the next day, when people were going to work, I approached Timpton Tower. I tried to blend in best I could, constantly on the move with my eyes peeled. Passing patrols of Squires were as attention-grabbing as the people leaving Timpton Tower

After waiting around for about ten minutes, a perfect opportunity arose. A rather young-looking guy rushed out of the building with an untied tie around his neck. He haphazardly threw his ID into his pocket, the lanyard still sticking out.

I walked toward him and activated Lethargic Presence and Hidden Hands. I shifted just before he rushed past me. Distracted by his tie, he was too slow to react. My shoulder slammed into his, knocking me to the side. The moment of impact, I fished out his ID.

"Whatch where you're going, punk." Other than an icy glare, he kept moving with the usual slack-faced look of corpos. He was completely unaware of the ID dangling from my slightly blurry hand.

Normally, I wouldn't do such a thing. That guy was obviously super distracted by running late for work. Distracted marks? They were the one of few exceptions to the bump and pull method.

After that came the easy part. I tucked my hair into my Slashers hat and stuck a pair of sunglasses on my face to cover my eyes. I casually approached the building and swiped the ID through the scanner. It flashed green and let me through.

I moved for the stairs, completely skipping the elevator. Didn't need a camera tracking my exact movements, and staircases rarely had cameras from my limited experience. I moved up to the eighth floor and stopped to catch my breath. I slipped a pair of thick gloves on to hide my fingerprints.

I flicked on Blackout with a mental tug on my cybernetics. The Neural System Interface implant at my neck read my brain's input, automatically starting up the Phantom's special feature. It immediately started to feel warm in my eye socket. Not painful, but noticeably uncomfortable. And warming as the moments passed.

I already got the key from Carone, so the door's lock didn't bother me. The door handle was pristine though. Probably not a B&E? I'd expect a bit of scratching on the lock otherwise. The eye was starting to burn though, so I pushed into the door without much pause.

As soon as I entered, I disabled the Blackout augment. I rubbed slightly at my burning eye. The heat was dissipating, but it was still a bit uncomfortable. I'd have to put some eyedrops or something in them when I got back home. No way Blackout was supposed to do that right? Might be a major flaw in Advent's design.

I rubbed my eye and checked the door handle again. It was wiped clean. I crouched down, giving it a sniff. Bleach? Must be from whoever alerted Carone his client was dead. I hope they didn't mess with anything. It'd be hard enough to figure out what happened as is, let alone if the scene was contaminated.

I turned away- Oh… guess this was it. Laying on the floor of the living room was a dead man. Maybe- maybe fifty? I was bad with age. A pool of crimson spread out from around his still form.

Neon lights shining from the windows partly illuminated the scene in roving fields of red and blue, as if the blood stained the entire room. I let out a silent sigh and moved a bit closer, suppressing a gag as the scent hit me.

His face had twisted into an eternal look of surprise, and his empty eyes stared wide like they were still trying to figure out what was happening. It was hard to look at. It was better than one twisted in agony or despair, at least. It looked like he died quickly, without much suffering.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The suppressed gag finally broke through. The corpse reeked. When people died, their bowels lost full control on top of the rotting scent, making a combination that was hard to stand near.

I backed up a few steps and eyed him. He was in a state of half-dress, with only his pants on. Several bullet wounds scattered about his bare chest. Small caliber, maybe? Looked to be a similar size to my Sidewinder. Probably some kind of pistol? I wasn't forensicy enough to tell what kind though.

I stretched out a hand and hesitantly lifted his wrist. There was tan line there, and yet nothing. Maybe he died in a robbery gone south? Or east, I should say. Wouldn't be too surprising for someone from East End to come rob the place… but the door handle wasn't broken? Unless the thief was an expert lock pick, the robbery angle didn't feel right.

Hmm… Something tingled at the back of my head. The corpse- there was something about it that just felt… off. I looked around, checking him out for a good long while. What was it?

He had some cybernetic enhancements here and there. Couldn't tell what most of them were, but he definitely had an artificially created sixpack. Nothing for combat, definitely. Looked more like some kind of processor on the side of his head? Maybe for office work.

Oh! That's it. I check his wounds once more. I'd seen enough corpses with bullet wounds in my life. All of them had gushed quite a bit of blood. And yet? The bullet wounds for this guy were almost completely bare of the stuff. Just pale skin with little trickles. Only his heart had what should've been a normal blood flow.

But why? Did someone… shoot him after he was dead? That's the only thing that would make sense to me. Again though, why? Hmm… If I were a murderer, why would I shoot an already dead guy? Maybe to try and cover up the actual cause of death?

I inspected the wounds more thoroughly, crouching down beside the corpse. One of the injuries, the one right over his heart, looked slightly wider than the others. A larger caliber? No- the wound wasn't clean enough for a gunshot. Maybe a knife?

So someone shot the guy to cover up a stabbing? Why would a robber go out of their way to do something like that? And it didn't really make much sense in the first place. The robber theory worked with his watch, but the rest of it? So confusing.

Assuming he was stabbed first, right, why didn't he try to defend himself? I'd expect some wounds on his hands or arms at least, but the stabbing looked entirely uncontested. The killer would've had to get close… someone he knew? That made more sense than the B&E theory.

I took a picture of the wounds, the corpse, and the door handle. So far, they were my clues. With that taken care of, I looked around the rest of the apartment. In just a glance, I spotted several valuable-looking items just laying around. Definitely a robbery then.

The disappearing watch was even weirder then. Might be around here somewhere? The guy could've just gotten out of the shower when he was stabbed. He was only half dressed, so that idea wasn't too far out there.

I moved down a hall into his bedroom, finding the rest of the man's clothes scattered about the place. He had a neat clothes hamper though… maybe a lover? A lover that stabbed him? I dug around the area a bit more, finding quite a few… items that I didn't want to even get close to.

In a desk setup inside the bedroom, I found a bunch of magic stuff, I think. Crystals, wands, and bird feathers mostly. Looked like a bunch of gimmick items, though I wasn't all that versed in magic.

Okay, new working theory. Lover comes over. They do the deed, or maybe just get half undressed. Guy leaves bed. Lover kills him. Probably not premeditated since it was done with a knife. Realizing they just killed an exec, the lover shoots the body to hide the stab wound? Pretty brutal… Oh! Then the lover steals the watch to make it look like a robbery?

Or this was all just a red herring and he was assassinated by a corporate rival. Yep, never can tell in this damn city. Corporate assassinations and setups were almost as common as normal murders.

I looked around a bit more, finding a number of books on street magic and Adepts. More importantly, I found his phone sitting on the nightstand. Password locked. That being said, facial recognition was a common thing these days sooo…

I searched through the phone with my face covered, checking the recent messages. Most of them were work-related. Some were wondering where the guy, Davis apparently, was. I ignored most of them until I found something promising.

It was a short message between Davis and some chick named Paris. They were talking about meeting up two nights ago, so maybe she was the killer? Probably would've been about the time he died. She had access to the apartment that night too, and the means to get close enough to shank the guy if she was his lover. But why?

I passed through the messages and checked the recent pictures. A rather awkward selfie of Davis and a flatbacker- no, based on her chrome, she was probably a doll. Paris maybe? It was dated at the same time they were supposed to meet up. Hmm…

I snooped around a bit more, finding a firearm permit for Davis. What a slag. Who even follows gun laws these days? He probably spent more money getting a permit than actually buying a gun. Anyway, the important thing to note was the gun fired small caliber rounds; a Tornado Arms Gale-17. It was a holdout weapon through and through, probably only good against people in cloth.

I snapped a picture of the rest of the evidence, including Paris, and did one more sweep of the place. A knife from an otherwise perfectly organized kitchen was missing. The murder weapon perhaps? Oh, and no watch anywhere. Whoever zeroed Davis probably took it.

I looked up Paris and Doll as keywords on the net. Almost immediately, I got a dozen hits. Then it was as simple as cutting out everyone till I found the Paris I was looking for. Of course, the doll sites had pictures considering looks were the main selling point for such a profession.

And who says you need to be a Netrunner to investigate shit? Easy. You're so smart, Shiro! Oh thank you, me, it comes naturally. Ah ha ha! Shiro, you could become the best investigator in the city! Oh, well, let's not go that far… subtle touch was more my speed… am I lonely?

According to the site I found, Lynn "Paris" Parker was a relatively new worker at Build-A-Doll Inc. as a, well, doll. Obviously. I looked around a bit more, seeing that she wasn't 'on call'. Probably didn't show up to work. I would go into hiding if I did such a sloppy job at cleaning up a crime scene too. Good for her to escape such a life-

Wait! I need to actually find her to get paid… Damnit! Okay, okay, if I was a doll and I needed to lay low for a while where would I go? Not to the pimp. That was just asking to get sold off to Scavs or something… Family, maybe? Friends? Run away to the dunes?

Hmm… I needed better tools. I couldn't very well just track someone down considering the size of this city… I could access the Crusade records and see if there were any Lynn Parkers recorded. But I didn't have that program on my phone, and getting one from a runner would cost money…

Davis was dead, so surely he wouldn't mind a couple of his belongings disappearing, right? I mean, it was for a good cause! To find his murderer! Or at least that's what I told myself. I moved around snagging a few easier to carry valuables and a data slate. He'd understand.

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