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

Horst was still out. I had just got myself a beer from the fridge when my phone rang. It was from Sam. When I answered it, he said in an unexpectedly solemn voice, “Hi, Ian.”


“Oh. Okay. Um, what can I do for you?”


“Uh, could I come up? I’m outside the building now.”


I let him into the building, then sat down on the couch, wondering what was wrong.8: Trio in Trouble


“What’s up?” I said when I had opened the door and ushered him inside.


When I had closed the door, I looked at him in surprise. He seemed a totally different man from when I had left him just two hours earlier. I took his coat and he followed me into the living room.


“Have a seat,” I said, adding, “Beer?”


When I had handed him the beer, he held it in a distracted manner, looking at nothing. I sat down and sipped my own beer, looking him over. When his eyes finally met mine, he gave a weak smile.


Chapter 30