Prelude:
I had been feeling out of sorts
for a while. Couldn't quite put
my finger on the problem, but it
had started to affect my work.
So much has changed for me in the
past year. First, there was the
death of Schanke and Captain Cohen
in a bombed plane crash, then there
was the realization that Janette
had left town without a word to
me. At that point, I had wanted
to leave town myself. I probably
should have, but I stayed anyway,
mainly because of Natalie. My leaving
would have hurt her, and just because
I was hurting, didn't mean I should
do that to the only person left
who cared about me.
1. I've been working on autopilot
for quite some time now. Trying
to adjust to having a new partner
and having to deal with some very
intense cases lately, have left
me pretty burned out in a way.
I was getting to the point where
I didn't really care about my job
or the people around me for that
matter. I could tell that Tracy
was upset with me about something
as I was driving us to a crime
scene, but my mind had drifted
and I didn't hear much of anything
she was spouting off about. When
we arrived at the crime scene of
a murdered, young game designer
named R. H. Lowe, my inattentiveness
was still showing. Both Captain
Reese and Natalie noticed that,
whereas my body was present, my
mind was a million light-years
away.
2. Later, while going over the
ballistics report with Nat back
at the coroner's office, the discussion
turned towards my overall lack
of interest in my work. I admitted
to being bored with my job as a
cop and told her that usually when
I got bored with a certain lifestyle,
I simply moved on. I could tell
she didn't even want to think about
that alternative. Instead, she
suggested that I do one of two
things, either find something else
to fill the void or live with it.
Captain Reese called me into his
office when I got back to the precinct
and voiced his disappointment over
my work and attitude. He felt that
I needed time off to take stock
of the situation, before my partner
began to feel that she needed to
watch her own back. I took offense
to that remark and told him that
my partners could rely on me. The
captain pointed out that cops are
human and that we sometimes loose
focus, but luckily, I still had
time to do something about it before
it was too late.
3. The diversion that I seemed
to so desperately need, came in
the form of a virtual reality game.
Tracy introduced me to Linda Fulford,
a detective from Computer Ops.
She had been playing around with
the remote gaming gear that the
murder victim had been using at
the time of his death. Linda gave
me the special, wired goggles and
gloves and showed me how to operate
them. I was instantly floored by
the images inside the eyepiece.
A sexy, young woman appeared to
be walking right up to me. She
spoke seductively, asking me if
I came to play.
4. It was an interactive vampire
game. When the vampire host of
the game reached a hand out to
me, sensors in the gloves actually
allowed me to feel her touch. I
was amazed at how real she appeared
to be and it was easy to forget
that she was only part of a game.
When I heard Tracy calling my name,
I finally forced myself to turn
it off. Both Tracy and Linda wore
a very amused look on their faces,
and they weren't completely successful
in keeping away the giggles. I
had to laugh along with them in
order to hide my embarrassment
at being so mesmerized by a computerized
toy.
5. The laughter died quickly as
something else caught our attention.
The business partner of the murdered
man had just been brought in for
questioning. I was surprised to
see that she had the same face
as the female vampire used in the
game. Her name was Rita Scott,
and while questioning her about
her partner's death, I got the
strong sense that I was talking
to a killer. Even though I knew
instinctively that Rita was the
one who murdered her partner, I
had no way of proving it. She had
a fairly decent alibi which showed
that she was performing an online
interview from her office when
the murder took place.
