"Oh, little bit of this, little bit of that," Kovacs says, shrugging. "I was doing a little bit of detective work recently. Trying to solve some rich prick's murder. Blew his brains out and then hired me to figure out if he killed himself or if someone killed him."

There was a lot of information in not so many words there, Kovacs knew. He was curious as to which part Ricki would pick up on first and what, if anything, he'd question.

"Before that..." He trails off and shrugs again. "Doing a little mercenary work for those that paid the most. I made my own hours and didn't have to wear a fucking uniform. Always made my hips look too big."