AfterNet 01 - Good Cop Dead Cop

partner, who is disembodied, is Alex Munroe. He’s right next to me. You are right next to me, aren’t you?”
    “Standing by,” Munroe said.
    “Wow, a dead cop. I mean, you know, disembodied. I’ve got a couple of disembodied friends, but a … disembodied cop. Wow. So he’s talking to you right now?” She nodded and tapped the ear buds she wore.
    “If I got some speakers, could I hear too?”
    “Oh let him,” Munroe said. She nodded again. The young man got up and took a small pair of speakers that were attached to one of the Macs and brought it to the table. Yamaguchi took her terminal from the armband and showed him where to plug in the speakers. She also removed her ear buds.
    “So he can hear me now?”
    “I can hear you,” Munroe’s digitized voice said. Even Yamaguchi felt a little surprised. She was used to Munroe being a little voice in her ear.
    “Awesome. Now, what was it you wanted?”
    “Whether you remember an event in this building on the 11th. And your name, if you don’t mind.”
    “Oh, sure, Sean McCracken, but everyone just calls me ‘Crackers.’”
    “Sounds appropriate,” Munroe said. “Oh crap, you just heard that, didn’t you?”
    The man smiled very widely and nodded enthusiastically. “That’s OK. That’s what everyone thinks. Now the 11th. Yeah, right, that was the ‘Stiffs for Jesus’ party. Sorry, that’s what we called it,” he said, shrugging. “But we didn’t do any work for them. Just opened the door for ’em.”
    She asked, “You opened the door?”
    “Uh huh, the owner of the building gave us a key to the space downstairs. We often let people in to see the place, to see whether they want to rent it. And sometimes we open up the place before a rave.”
    “So who did you see?” Munroe asked.
    “A really hot girl.”
    “Any better description?” Yamaguchi prompted. She had taken out her notepad and was poised to write.
    “My age, late 20s, long, straight, blonde hair, parted in the middle, green eyes, left handed, maybe 5 feet 7.”
    “A retired beekeeper who walks with a limp,” Munroe said.
    “What?” McCracken said.
    “Ignore him. How do you know all this?” Yamaguchi said.
    “Because she’s the girl of my dreams, except for the left handed thing; I never knew she’d be left handed.”
    “And you know this because?”
    “Because she touched me once on my right shoulder while she was talking to me.”
    “And her name?” Munroe asked.
    “One of the guys with her called her Peggy. I forgot to ask her last name because I was too busy looking at her.”
    “Why did you call them ‘Stiffs for Jesus’?” Yamaguchi asked.
    “Because we checked them out when we left for the day. We told them how to lock up when they were ready to leave.”
    “Tell ’em ’bout the crucifix!” one of the young men working at a desk told them. Yamaguchi couldn’t tell which one because they both still had their backs to them.
    “Just getting to that, Randy,” McCracken said. “There was a big crucifix in the room. We’ve seen crucifixes before, but they’re usually upside down and drip blood. Joke. Naw, this was your standard white Jesus on the cross, with some Bible verses printed on posters.”
    “Like what?” she asked.
    “Sorry, don’t remember.”
    Randy spoke again. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. John 3:16.”
    “Dude, you know the Bible?”
    “Broncos games,” Randy answered back. It was the closer man, Yamaguchi realized, the preppy looking one.
    “Broncos games?” Yamaguchi asked, then sneezed and dabbed at her nose with the wad of tissues in her hand.
    “It’s a common verse you see at sporting events. I told you you should watch sports,” said Munroe.
    “Anything else you noticed?” asked Yamaguchi.
    “No, sorry,” McCracken said.
    “Randy, you remember anything else?” Yamaguchi asked.
    “Sorry,” he said.
    “OK, thanks, Sean. I guess that’s it. Here’s my card if you remember something or see the girl of your dreams again. Uh, do you mind letting us take a look downstairs?”
    “No problem let me get the keys.”
    After he left, she noticed a door that was marked restroom. “Randy, OK if I use the restroom?” she asked.
    “Sure,” he said, still without looking away from his computer. She removed a few items from her belt and went to the restroom. McCracken returned after a few minutes.
    “Where’d she go?”
    “She went to the bathroom,” Munroe’s voice said