Kindle Edition
Amazon
Category:
Action/Thriller
Publisher: Non Sequitur Publishing
ISBN-10: 0991791223
Type: Fiction
Pages: 392
Copyright: August 29, 2015
ISBN-13: 9780991791224
Price: $3.90 (eBook)
Aa homicide detective on medical leave after a mental breakdown stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens the entire human race. But can he find someone to buy his story before it's too late?
A year ago, after a mental breakdown, homicide detective Frank Langer was placed on medical leave from the squad he was once hand-picked to lead. So when he shows up one day with a wild story about a conspiracy to kidnap children, his former colleagues pat him on the back and tell him to go home.
When he digs deeper into the mystery and finally connects the pieces, the answer is more deadly than he ever imagined. But can he find someone to buy his story before it's too late?
Excerpt
It was Friday afternoon. Dinner was at 5:30. At 5:35 Frank Langer pulled up in front of his sister Janet’s house in the suburbs. At 5:40 he stood fidgeting in front of her door. At 5:42 he finally rang the door-bell. A few seconds later he was turning to leave when the door opened.
“Frank! It’s so good to see you!” It was Janet’s voice. “I was afraid you wouldn’t show.”
Frank turned back and attempted a smile. “Hi, Sis. Long time no see.”
After a quick hug from Janet he stepped across the threshold and the door slammed shut behind him. It was hard to breathe; the air was thicker than outside, like the house had been pressurized. He tugged on his tie, trying to get his breath. Janet took his coat and he plodded after her down the hallway to the living room.
He glanced over at the couch and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Seated where he’d expected to find Janet’s husband Chuck was a woman. She smiled and brushed back a lock of impec-cably coiffed hair. Her skin was as smooth and immobile as a de-partment store mannequin, and the colour of her eyelids matched her purple dress exactly.
He turned, hunting for an escape route, but his sister was blocking the hallway.
“Gloria,” Janet said. “This is my brother, Frank. Frank, this is my friend Gloria Hanon. Gloria works with me at Garland Cosmetics.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Gloria rose and presented her hand.
“Hi,” Frank said, shaking the tips of her fingers.
Janet headed for the kitchen. “I’ve got to check on the roast,” she said. “You two get acquainted.”
Frank excused himself and followed her.
“What the hell is this!” he whispered when they were out of hear-ing. “You said dinner.”
“Don’t be mad, Frank. She’s just a friend. She’s lonely, like you…”
“I’m not lonely.”
“Sheila’s been gone for six months. You’ve got to move on – get out there – start a new life. Gloria’s a single mother and…”
“You’re setting me up with a single mother!”
“Please don’t call it ‘setting you up’ – I’m just introducing you, that’s all.”
“What did you tell her about me? Did you happen to mention that I’m a loony?”
“You’re not a loony, Frank. I wish you wouldn’t say things like that. I told her the truth – that you were on stress leave from the force.”
“For a year?”
She turned away and grabbed a dish towel off a rack by the stove. “What happened to you would be enough to drive anybody a little crazy. Then Sheila leaves you. You just need time, that’s all.”
“Why didn’t you say anything about this before?”
Janet stared at the tiles on the kitchen floor.
“You knew I wouldn’t come, right?”
“Sometimes you have to help people help themselves,” she said to the tiles. She turned back and looked up at him. “I should have told you. But please stay. You don’t ever have to see Gloria again if you don’t want to. Just relax and we’ll have a nice time together.”
Frank glared down at his sister. She was trying to help him, as she always had.
“Okay,” he finally said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Forget about it. Let’s eat.”
There were four of them at the table: Janet across from Chuck, Frank across from Gloria.
"So how've you been doing?" said Chuck, digging into his mashed potatoes. "Any luck getting back with the squad?"
Chuck winced as Janet kicked him under the table. "Well, what do you want me to talk about?" he said.
"It's okay," Frank said to Janet.
He turned to Chuck. "I’m not thinking about that right now. But who knows? Maybe I'll make it back there someday."
"Gloria’s District Sales Manager at Garland,” said Janet. “We’ve been through some brutal marketing campaigns over the years."
“That’s very interesting,” Frank said. He wanted a smoke.
Janet and Gloria talked about work. The pressure from before in-tensified, as if he was sliding underwater. The lights in the room start-ed to buzz and flicker. Gloria’s voice became muffled then faded away completely. He stared at her, hypnotized by the bare curve of neck connecting her head to her shoulders, and the movement of her silent lips. He laid down his knife and fork.
“Frank,” he heard somewhere far in the distance, and began to surface. He shook his head to clear it.
“Frank?” It was Janet. He scanned around the table. The others were staring at him. His clenched fists were trembling on the place mat in front of him.
“Frank, are you alright?” Janet said.
“I’m fine,” he said, feeling himself blush.
All through dinner Gloria chattered on about her baby, Ralphie – how cute Ralphie was, how he was moving his head already, the lov-able sounds he made. Frank half expected her to start in about how adorable Ralphie's upchucks or bowel movements were.
The meal was pleasant enough. He’d forgotten what a good cook Janet was, especially when it came to their mother’s favourites – comfort food from his childhood. He and Gloria had nothing in common, but once you got past her paint job and annoyingly nasal voice, she wasn’t so bad. It was sad, because he could see that at heart she was a good person who deserved love, but he knew that she would never get that love from him. Anyway, he wasn’t even close to being ready for a relationship.
To Frank’s relief, they had no sooner finished an after-dinner drink when Gloria checked her watch. “My, it’s almost seven-thirty already. I’m sorry, but I have to be going.”
“Oh, what a shame,” Janet said.
Frank did his level best to look disappointed.
“Ralphie likes to be home and in bed by eight o’clock,” Gloria continued. “He’s very particular.”
As if in response to her statement, an ear-splitting wail erupted be-hind the door of the spare room.
“Oh, Frank, you haven’t seen Gloria’s baby!” Janet said. “Here, come with us.”
Frank followed Gloria into the room. Janet stood in the doorway. A baby carrier rested on the bed. Frank moved next to the carrier and peered inside.
Ralphie had been screaming a few seconds ago, but now showed not the slightest hint of distress. It was as though he’d literally been calling for his mother, and now that she’d come there was no longer a need.
The child’s face shone like yellow wax in the halo of the table lamp. His eyes, strangely alert, scanned Frank up and down as if compiling a record for future reference. The eyes glowed with an inner fire, like those of a cat sizing up its prey.
“How old is he?” Frank asked.
“Three months,” Gloria answered.
“He seems very precocious.”
Her eyes opened wide. “Oh, yes! He surprises me every day with the clever things he does. I think he might be one of those ‘gifted’ children they talk about. The doctor said it’s too early to tell, but a mother knows…”
“And see there?” she said, pointing at Ralphie’s open mouth.
Frank bent down and followed her finger.
“Teeth,” he said, half to himself. He could clearly make out the tiny stubs like white flower buds emerging from the top gum.
“That’s very unusual,” she said. “See – he’s special in so many ways.”
For some reason he couldn’t explain, the baby made Frank nerv-ous.
“Well, that’s a beautiful baby you’ve got there,” he said, straight-ening up.
“Thank you, Frank,” Gloria said. “I sure think so.”
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