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

Much of my annoyance was directed towards myself. The detective had been arrogant and hostile, but at the same time seemed to have been asking for my help, and perhaps almost willing to ask me to join the case. And in return I had set him off, andmyself.Damn!


The result was that now I both wanted and didn’twant to help in the investigation. I wanted to help find out what had happened to my friend and, because of the emotional residue from yesterday, I wanted Detective Solomon to fail in this case. The man fairly radiated desperation, which of course made him more arrogant, and notin an attractive way.


Except for the fact—the annoyingfact—that part of me wasa little attracted.


What now? Well, I coulddo some work on my own. On the other hand, I knew from firsthand experience that a pissed-off cop can come up with all sortsof ways to make things hard for a private investigator.


Chapter 10