Private investigator Ian visits his friend unannounced, only to discover the man lying in bed, not asleep but dead. Ian resolves to find out how his friend died and, if he was murdered, to bring the killer to justice. But the details of the case are bizarre: the door of the condo unit is locked and the only other occupant is a bodybuilder, Horst, found sitting on the living room couch, half asleep or drugged. Ian calls 911 and the cops, when video footage showing no one entered or left the condo around the time of death, fixate on Horst as the most likely suspect. Ian is convinced Horst is innocent and offers his services to help the police solve the mystery of his friend’s death. But the situation is complicated, not only by the self-contradictory nature of the physical evidence, but by the fact that Ian increasingly finds himself drawn to Horst. Worse, the lead police detective shows increasing signs of interest in Ian himself. Love and death become strangely intertwined, their resolution not easily discovered. Is Horst as innocent as Ian believes? Can Ian help solve the locked-room mystery?

Bliss

“Well,” I said, giving her a wink, “you just stick with him and I’m sure you’ll learn a lot.” Then, leaning towards her, I added in an undertone, “And, don’t worry, this sort of thing—it passes.”


She dimpled in response and glanced briefly at her partner—while hestared at me with suppressed outrage—and mouthed the words: I hope so


I heard the bathroom door open, so I excused myself and met Horst, who was standing in the hallway, wearing a bathrobe, open at the chest. The sight of him like that, and with exposed muscular calves and bare feet, was breathtakingly erotic—which acted as something of a restorative for me.


He nodded, though his face hardened. When he turned away to go to his room, I heard Detective Solomon call from behind me in an authoritative voice.


“Excuse me, sir!Could you please come into the living room?”


Chapter 6