Direct Evidence, page 35
“Well, maybe I’ll—wait, what?”
Chase smiled broadly.
“I’m back, Tate. I’m back and I’m your partner.”
There was something about this statement that made her nervous, and a little sad. Last time she’d been officially with the FBI, Floyd had been her partner. And then he had been Tate’s.
Now, he was in a coma.
“You’re lying.”
“Sure, but not about this.”
Tate sat upright.
“That’s amaz—“
He was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Tate started to get up, but Chase indicated for him to lay back down. Louisa knew that she was staying here, Chase had given her the room number just in case, but no one else had it.
And nobody at all knew that Tate was here.
Chase wanted to keep it that way.
She walked over to the door and peered through the peephole.
“What?” The word just fell out of her mouth, and she was suddenly incapable of generating any others.
Chase didn’t even think she could breathe.
“Who is it?” Tate, who had ignored her indication to stay in bed, asked.
Chase looked through the peephole again to make sure she hadn’t imagined it. And then she tried to take off VR goggles that she wasn’t wearing.
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.
“Chase?” Tate’s voice was dripping with concern now.
She cleared her throat.
“It’s Felix… Felix and Brad.”
“Who?”
Chase somehow managed to turn and stared at the man who was wearing only his boxers.
“Tate… it’s my son. My son and ex-husband.”
***
Floyd gasped and his eyes snapped open.
“Woah, big fella, no need to sit up.”
He saw a vision of Tony Metcalfe, grinning, showing off his busted teeth, and aiming a pistol at Chase.
“Chase!”
“She’s fine,” the voice replied. “She’s fine. You saved her, Floyd.”
Floyd breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t recognize the voice and he wanted to turn his head in the direction of the speaker, to find out who it was, but stopped.
Panic and pain filled his left side.
“Who—“
“Relax, you’re in the hospital—you’re going to be okay, Floyd. You saved Chase and you guys brought down Tony.”
“I can’t—I can’t see you,” Floyd said, panicking.
The man rose and slowly filled his field of view.
“Not much to look at, I’m afraid,” Jeremy Stitts said. “Just me.”
Floyd smiled and relaxed. He liked Stitts—he liked Stitts a lot.
“What are you doing here, Stitts?”
“I had to see you. After all, I have to approve before you join the club.”
“The… club?”
“Yeah,” Stitts said, pointing at Floyd’s bandaged chest. "The I got shot while working with Chase Adams Club.”
Floyd wanted to laugh but feared the inevitable pain that would come with it. He did, however, smile.
“Thanks for coming.”
Stitts took his hand and squeezed it.
“Wouldn’t miss it. But you should probably go back to sleep. You’re going to need your energy.”
“Yeah?” Floyd coughed dryly. Pain spread across his chest and now he squeezed Stitts’ hand. “For what?”
“Well, to keep up with your new partner, for starters. He has a bit of a limp, but his energy is unmatched.”
Floyd stared blankly at the man with the perfect hair.
“New… new partner? I’m sorry, S-Stitts, I don’t r-r-really—“
“Yeah, spoiler alert, it’s me. I just got approval from the FBI—me and you, two wounded Agents are going to form our own team. We’re going to be investigating cold cases together. So, rest up, my man, I want to get started yesterday.”
Choo-Choo, Floyd thought, his smile returning. Choo-Choo.
END
Author’s Note
It’s been a while since we’ve ventured into Chase’s world, and it feels fantastic to finally be back. This was, by far, one of the most complicated books I’ve ever written. It’s also been one of the most rewarding. Timely, too, given the recent explosion of AI tools available on the Internet.
The concept of reality has always been a fascinating one to me. The truth, as I attempted to explain it in this book, is that everything we experience is interpreted by our brains. There is no one true experience, therefore, there can never be one true reality. Everyone’s experience is slightly different, influenced by their specific biology and psychology. I explored these constructs in Direct Evidence (even the title is a play on this) with the obvious Chase Adams-esque background of mayhem and murder and a little sex tossed in because, well, because it’s Chase.
Do I think that we live in a simulation? Maybe. Actually, I’ll go with probably.
But as Chase so eloquently put it, “I mean, what does it matter? Simulation or no simulation, I can’t do anything about it. I’m still stuck here, living by their rules. No resets, no do-overs.”
No one’s going to write these books for me. At least not yet, anyway.
A couple of brief notes before I go: one, thank you for your patience with this book. As I mentioned, in addition to being complicated, and it is also the longest I’ve ever written. I hope it was worth the wait. Two, I have previous mentioned in the backs of other books that Tainted Blood is up next in the Chase series after Direct Evidence. I’m pretty sure that is going to change. Tainted Blood will come out, but it will most likely be the twelfth and not the eleventh book. The next book will be Filthy Secrets and should be out soon. I promise not to make you wait as long for this one as you did Direct Evidence.
Thanks again for all your support and if you have a moment, please leave this book a review and a rating.
You keep reading, I’ll keep writing.
Best,
Pat
Montreal, 2023
Other Books by Patrick Logan
Detective Damien Drake
Butterfly Kisses
Cause of Death
Download Murder
Skeleton King
Human Traffic
Drug Lord: Part I
Drug Lord: Part II
Prized Fight
Almost Infamous
Straw Man
Dangerous Company
Happy Face
Chase Adams FBI Thrillers
Frozen Stiff
Shadow Suspect
Drawing Dead
Amber Alert
Georgina’s Story
Dirty Money
Devil’s Den
Painted Ladies
Adverse Effects
Already Dead
Direct Evidence
Filthy Secrets
Tainted Blood
Dr. Beckett Campbell, Medical Examiner
Bitter End
Organ Donor
Injecting Faith
Surgical Precision
Do Not Resuscitate
Extracting Evil
Residence Evil (AKA Beckett’s First Kill)
Tommy Wilde Thrillers
One Wilde Night
Two Wilde Weeks
Three Wilde Months
Four Wilde Families
Penelope June Thrillers
Dying to Breathe
Dying to Speak
Veronica Shade Thrillers
The Color of Murder
The Scent of Murder
The Sound of Murder
The Touch of Murder
The Taste of Murder
Want to support your favorite characters? DRAKE, CHASE, and BECKETT now have MERCH! Get everything from sweatshirts to mugs at: https://authorpatricklogan.live/merch
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents in this book are either entirely imaginary or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or of places, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © Patrick Logan 2023
Interior design: © Patrick Logan 2023
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, cannot be reproduced, scanned, or disseminated in any print or electronic form.
First Edition: June 2023
Patrick Logan, Direct Evidence
