A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

By N. M. Cedeño

Pete Lincoln, a private detective out of place and time because of a fifteen-year coma, is struggling to stay solvent. When Mara Kalleigh walks through his door, he doubts she really needs his services. However, his low account balance and her determination convince him to take her case. Pete has barely begun to investigate whether Ms. Kalleigh is being followed or if she is merely paranoid, when she is violently murdered. With his client dead and his services paid for in advance, Pete jumps into solving her murder and stumbles into the newest kind of prejudice. In a world where even the most intimate acts are visible to everyone and where everyone knows everyone else’s business, who could have killed Mara Kalleigh and walked away unseen?

Originally published in the June 2012 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact and edited by Stanley Schmidt, this sociological science fiction murder mystery is set in a future where privacy no longer exists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: N. M. Cedeño
• Release date: Jun 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311510266

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A Cinco Balas Book

A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

By N. M. Cedeño

Copyright 2012 Noreen M. Cedeño

First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, June 2012 issue.

Published by Cinco Balas Books, 2014.

All of the characters and events in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to any persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Acknowledgements

I’d like to thank Stanley Schmidt for selecting this story for original publication in Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Thank you to my second readers, Laurel and David Clements and Deborah Dillon, for commenting on the many drafts that this story went through before it was ready for publication. Finally, thanks to my husband Italo for his technical expertise and graphic design.

A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

The hardest thing to adjust to in my second life was using a public restroom. Walking by one and seeing someone going about his business through a clear wall is disconcerting enough. Being the person using the facilities and watching strangers pass is nearly impossible. I’ve gotten used to seeing the neighbors bathe and perform unmentionable personal grooming. I’m glad that clothing is still considered necessary to protect one from the elements here in