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

I shook my head and said, “Why don’t we have a chat in the living room?”


When we were both seated in the living room, with fresh coffees, broaching the topic was still not easy.


“Is there a problem?” Horst asked at last.


I nodded. “I’m trying to figure out how to begin.”


Horst stared at me, then gave a sudden bark of laughter.


He shook his head. “It’s just something Quentin used to say, when someone had trouble like that.”


“He said—let me see. He said, ‘Start at the beginning, continue to the end, then stop.’ It was a quote, he said. Something about the King of Hearts.”


I chuckled and nodded. “It’s from Alice in Wonderland. That was one of Quentin’s favorite books.” I sighed and nodded. Okay, I told myself, follow Quentin’s advice, man! It’s the least you can do.


I studied Horst, and felt the flutter in my stomach again. He was just so beautiful, inside and out. I didn’t want to hurt him.


Chapter 22