Read Online DARK CITY a gripping detective mystery by CHRISTOPHER M. COLAVITO - Free Book Online
Authors: CHRISTOPHER M. COLAVITO
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standing in a doll house, a facsimile built to describe what life must be like.
Lane's musings were interrupted as a heavy groan filled the air, echoing off the empty walls. His first thought was not to rush towards the sound to see what was happening, it was to note that he found himself in what he might well consider the worst place possible to commit a violent murder. The thought came and went in a flash, and Lane, once again clear-headed, took off in pursuit.
An eerie sense of deja vu struck Lane as he turned into the room. Detective Knox lay on the floor, in the same spot where George Hobbes had lain the previous night. It was as though he had stepped back in time, and he stood, frozen in the moment, until Knox's voice rose above the silence.
“Get over here and help me up.”
Lane did as he was told, raising his partner like a sunken ship from the floor. The effort involved in both tasks seemed monumental, Lane thought, as he struggled to lift Knox.
“What happened?”
“I found something under the desk, and when I got down to take a look at what it was, my back went out.”
“Oh, that's all.”
“What do you mean that's all?”
“I wasn't going to say anything, but when I walked in, I thought I was looking at another dead body.”
“Very funny. Trust me, if I were dead, I would have taken someone with me. Probably you.”
“So what did you find?”
Knox opened his hand, revealing a small sliver of black plastic. They both knew this could be the key they had been searching for.
“This was hidden so well, there has to be something useful on it.”
“How did we miss it before?”
“There was a hidden panel built into the bottom of the desk. Just looking at it, you'd never know it was there. I felt an edge when I ran my hand across it. It was dumb luck.”
“The best kind.”
“Yeah. Let's see what we've got.”
The detectives were happy to leave once again, not merely to escape the specter of death that hung in the air, but because they could feel hope growing inside them for the first time. Every puzzle has a solution, Knox would frequently say, and they may have just stumbled upon theirs.
Lane kept a computer in the car, part of his pressing need to be over-prepared for any emergency. Knox would give him a hard time about it, but was glad to have a partner who at least tried to carry his own weight. Plus, Knox thought, it saved him the trouble of having to plan for every occasion by himself, freeing his mind for more important matters.
Lane took the drive and inserted it. They waited, breath held, for the flashing lights to reveal their splendor to them. The screen shifted, but instead of taking them on the first step towards solving the case, it provided yet another obstacle. Given what he had experienced in his brief encounters with the Hobbes family, Knox couldn't blame George for encrypting whatever information the drive possessed. He wouldn't have trusted those people with anything of value either.
“That's just our rotten luck.”
“Relax, kid. We'll send it over to the tech guys, and I'm sure they'll be able to break the encryption in no time.”
“But that means more waiting.”
“I know it's frustrating, but at least now we're waiting for a clue to be deciphered, not to magically fall from the sky.”
“It's not a whole lot better.”
“It's something, and it means we might finally get a little momentum moving in the right direction.”
Chapter 11
Walking Shells
The furious buzz had left the precinct, the drones circling around the desks having returned to their natural state. It was understandable that, in a setting that saw so much death and depravity, normalcy would return in short order. Veterans of the trade would not be moved to a frenzy for long before their regulators kicked in, lowering them to the base standard on which they operated. It was better for them, in the long run, to divorce themselves as much as possible from their work. If they didn't,
Lane's musings were interrupted as a heavy groan filled the air, echoing off the empty walls. His first thought was not to rush towards the sound to see what was happening, it was to note that he found himself in what he might well consider the worst place possible to commit a violent murder. The thought came and went in a flash, and Lane, once again clear-headed, took off in pursuit.
An eerie sense of deja vu struck Lane as he turned into the room. Detective Knox lay on the floor, in the same spot where George Hobbes had lain the previous night. It was as though he had stepped back in time, and he stood, frozen in the moment, until Knox's voice rose above the silence.
“Get over here and help me up.”
Lane did as he was told, raising his partner like a sunken ship from the floor. The effort involved in both tasks seemed monumental, Lane thought, as he struggled to lift Knox.
“What happened?”
“I found something under the desk, and when I got down to take a look at what it was, my back went out.”
“Oh, that's all.”
“What do you mean that's all?”
“I wasn't going to say anything, but when I walked in, I thought I was looking at another dead body.”
“Very funny. Trust me, if I were dead, I would have taken someone with me. Probably you.”
“So what did you find?”
Knox opened his hand, revealing a small sliver of black plastic. They both knew this could be the key they had been searching for.
“This was hidden so well, there has to be something useful on it.”
“How did we miss it before?”
“There was a hidden panel built into the bottom of the desk. Just looking at it, you'd never know it was there. I felt an edge when I ran my hand across it. It was dumb luck.”
“The best kind.”
“Yeah. Let's see what we've got.”
The detectives were happy to leave once again, not merely to escape the specter of death that hung in the air, but because they could feel hope growing inside them for the first time. Every puzzle has a solution, Knox would frequently say, and they may have just stumbled upon theirs.
Lane kept a computer in the car, part of his pressing need to be over-prepared for any emergency. Knox would give him a hard time about it, but was glad to have a partner who at least tried to carry his own weight. Plus, Knox thought, it saved him the trouble of having to plan for every occasion by himself, freeing his mind for more important matters.
Lane took the drive and inserted it. They waited, breath held, for the flashing lights to reveal their splendor to them. The screen shifted, but instead of taking them on the first step towards solving the case, it provided yet another obstacle. Given what he had experienced in his brief encounters with the Hobbes family, Knox couldn't blame George for encrypting whatever information the drive possessed. He wouldn't have trusted those people with anything of value either.
“That's just our rotten luck.”
“Relax, kid. We'll send it over to the tech guys, and I'm sure they'll be able to break the encryption in no time.”
“But that means more waiting.”
“I know it's frustrating, but at least now we're waiting for a clue to be deciphered, not to magically fall from the sky.”
“It's not a whole lot better.”
“It's something, and it means we might finally get a little momentum moving in the right direction.”
Chapter 11
Walking Shells
The furious buzz had left the precinct, the drones circling around the desks having returned to their natural state. It was understandable that, in a setting that saw so much death and depravity, normalcy would return in short order. Veterans of the trade would not be moved to a frenzy for long before their regulators kicked in, lowering them to the base standard on which they operated. It was better for them, in the long run, to divorce themselves as much as possible from their work. If they didn't,
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