“Unless it’s black or gray market.”

“If you were to run a probability, I’d bet it’s going to be high the vic would spot a knockoff. Even a dupe would have to be the real deal to get by him, if you’re asking me. Not to say they don’t have the reals off the grid, but what’s the point of going that way when it’s no crime to buy the real through proper sources? Less risky that way. We’ll go take a look at her.”

He led the way out and through to Evidence. He coded in, pressed his thumb to the plate.

Feeney, Captain Ryan, is cleared.

He opened the door to an organized pirate’s cave of electronics. Comps, ’links, screens, com and surveillance devices, all labeled, stood and sat on towering shelves. The droids were well represented as well-mechanical-looking household and yard droids, cheap mini-droids, and a number of the human replicas lined up like suspects.

Eve studied the victim’s choice of house droid. “That outfit wasn’t designed for fighting.”

“Slave-girl version, episode six. But she handles herself. Girl’s a rebel and holds her own. Helped kick the Empire’s ass.”

“Jesus, Feeney. It’s a droid-a replication of a fictional character from a space opera.”

“I’m just saying,” he muttered. “This model’s top of the line. She’s designed to exactly replicate the character physically, and she has top flight programming capabilities.”

“Did he play with it?”

“Now it’s my turn. Jesus, Dallas.”

“Not that way. Ick. Gaming. Did he use it in the games?”

“She’s programmed to participate. She’d interface with the game program, upload the scenario, the rules. She’d be a tough opponent.”

Didn’t look so tough in that outfit, Eve thought, but she’d take Feeney’s word.

“It could handle a sword?” Eve asked.

“Damn right.”

But Eve shook her head. “The vic was taller, considerably. Blow came from an upward angle, slicing down. It could’ve been standing on something, or it took the higher ground.”

“If she or one like her was programmed to do this, they’ll end up scrapping her. Damn shame. She’s a real beauty.”

She started to point out, again, it was a machine, but remembered who she was talking to. “Run it, and I’ll do the search on the model.”

“I’ll run her myself. I’ll put Callendar on analysis for the repeat scenarios and players.”

“Appreciate it. I’ll be in the field, at U-Play.”

“Hell of a place,” Feeney commented. “Too bad about the boy. He had a good thing going there.”

It didn’t surprise Eve to find the U-Play offices more subdued. The noise level remained high, but the bright, or slightly wild-eyed look of those who manned systems, cubes, offices, labs had been replaced by the solemn.

A great many wore black armbands along with their colorful attire, and she noted a great many who’d rushed around the day before weren’t in attendance today.

“Lieutenant.” Var came down the stairs from one of the upper levels. His shadowed eyes and unhealthy color showed signs of a hard, restless night. “Have you got any news?”

“We’re working some angles. You seem to be understaffed today.”

“After we… made the announcement, we gave everybody the option of staying home today. We talked about closing up, out of respect, for a couple days. But… we decided we’d all handle it better if we had the work. It’s not helping much.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Maybe it’s worse, I don’t know. Everything around here’s Bart. It’s like I’ll be working on something, and I’ll think of something I want to ask him or tell him. Then I remember I can’t. We talked to his parents. God. God. That was hard. That was horrible. We’re going to have a memorial here tomorrow afternoon, because… This is where he liked to be best. Do you think that’s right? I mean, it’s not a church or a bereavement center, but-”

“I think it’s right.”

“Okay. Well, we thought so, so… Okay.”

“Are Cill and Benny in today?”

“Yeah. Do you need to talk to them? I can-”

“I’ll get to that. Since you’re here, why don’t we talk first? How about your office?”

“I… sure.” He looked flustered at the idea of going solo, but led the way upstairs to one of the glass-walled rooms.

“Don’t you ever want some privacy?” she asked him.

“Um.” He glanced around, as if surprised.

“Never mind.” She scanned his office. Cluttered workstation, multiple comps and systems, plenty of toys, a barstool in the shape of a tentacled alien. “I’m not altogether clear on who does what around here. The four of you were partners, but you must have each had specific functions, duties, responsibilities.”

“Well, we all worked on development. Depending on who came up with the concept, we each took different stages.”

He took a seat, turned off his headset. “Benny’s primarily research, Cill’s the organizer and I guess you’d say the mom when it comes to the staff. I target the marketing. But we all overlap. It’s loose. We like it loose.”

“And Bart?”

“Development, sure. He could always take a concept and make it better. I guess you could say he had a better head for the business of the business. Accounts and clients and the money details. The profit margins, development costs, that kind of thing. We all got into it, but he could keep a lot of it up here.” He tapped his forehead. “And he was sort of the public face of U-Play.”

“He got most of the media attention.”

“He liked to get out there, mix and mingle, talk it up.” He let out a sigh, rubbed a hand over his short hair. “Benny, he gets jittery with that kind of attention. Cill gets self-conscious and uncomfortable.”

“And you?”

“I like the quiet.” He smiled. “You know, the behind-the-scenes stuff, the figuring out, the in-house stuff. Most people who do what we do aren’t so good with outside. Bart was better at it. Do you want, like, a soda or something?”

“No, I’m good. Who’ll be the public face now?”

“I… I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it. I guess we haven’t really thought about it.” He lowered his head, stared at his knees. “We have to get through today, and tomorrow, and the next.”

“Maybe you’ll bring in another partner.”

“No.” He said it quickly, firmly as his head jerked up again. “No, it’s ours. We’ll figure it out.”

“And your plans to launch Fantastical?”

“We’ll stick to the schedule. It was Bart’s baby.”

“I need that disc copy, Var.”

“We’re going to have it hand-delivered to Captain Feeney at EDD. It’s nearly ready. Um. We have papers that need to be signed. Confidentiality and all that.”

“Okay. Bart worked on the program quite a bit then. Testing it, playing various scenarios and levels.”

“Sure. We all did. It’s part of it.” His pleasant face turned earnest. “If we don’t have fun with it, why would anybody else? You really can’t market what you don’t believe in. Or you can’t do it really well.”

“Good point. So, did he have a favorite fantasy game, a scenario he liked to repeat?”

“He liked to mix it up. That’s the beauty of the game, or one of them. You can do whatever you want, depending on your mood.”

“Which ones did the two of you tend to play out?”

“Jeez, we’ve been at this for months now. A lot of them. Old West, Ancient Rome, Alternate Universe, Quests, Rescues, Gangsters, Wars. Name it, we probably played it at some point.”

“Who won?”

He laughed. “It was hard to beat Bart, but I got my share of points.” The laughter died. “It’s going to be weird, not having him in the holo. Not having him when we launch Fantastical.”

“I’m sure it will. Do you ever play with droids?”

“Droids?” Var blinked himself back. “Sure. We use them for testing, at different stages of development. Nobody keeps a secret like a droid. But in the final stages, it’s got to be human competition. We’re not selling to droids.”

“Sorry.” Cill stood in the doorway. “I saw you in here, Lieutenant. Is there anything… Is there news?”