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 wondered whether the comma between the letters was deliberate, or just a squiggle, that the word was simply: no


I took it into the kitchen, placed it on the table, and got my fingerprint kit. Applying the dust, I took a picture with my phone of the partial fingerprint that emerged. There was only the one. On the other side the print was smudged away.


I got out a piece of wax paper from a drawer, folded it, and placed the Post-it in between. Then I put the whole thing into my wallet.


I returned to examine the four cylinders again. One of the four was different, in that it was the only one on which the seal was broken. The gauge on the top of this cylinder registered zero, and when I turned the valve, there was no hissing sound.


Chapter 34