Ochre Idyls

Shoes off, pants still on, he lay on the bed. The rooming house's climate controls kicked in. His body tired, his mind would not stop. This assignment was like no other. Did who he is have somet ...

He had the feeling he was staring down a mountain. A herculean task of discovery with just the tip showing. His intel had been wrong, or lacking. A case relies on the strength of its investigat ...

Lady luck sure knows her tramps.

There's no such thing as no lead. There's always a lead. Second guess yourself if you have to.

Join us. The two words stood out. Part of something larger. He mentioned change. Vigilantes? Sec ...

The pause gave just enough time and he knew it. He reached for his pistol, a blink in time, to see nothing. Silence. No residual trace of heat or moisture.

Curious. He'd had a lock on him. It w ...

The front door creaked. The floorboards creaked. The dusty light stayed close to curtainless windows.

Join us, a voice called out. Change isn't a ...

The citrus farm was a once thriving operation. He took the train, with a stop just a half mile from the old place. He touched the back of his head. The wound was sticky. Left standing among the ...

Knowing who but not where, the android detective cross-referenced all locations associated with the perpetrator on a map. Two stood out. One in plain sight, the other on the outskirts of town. Pl ...

The light flashed. Slivery ribbons at first, then so bright he fought to keep his eyes closed. The heat in his neck did a slow rise to his brain flushing into the mother of all headaches, throbb ...

He's too late. She lies supine on the bed, bruised around the throat, eyes wide open and fixed with terror. An ice bucket has fallen to the floor contents mostly unmelted. In his periphery, an a ...

He followed the clues to the top of the grand staircase. Each article of clothing strewn haphazardly along the way. The hall to the left held a trail of more incriminating evidence, meant not to ...

The hint of a tear sparkled.

Charmed, I'm sure.

Ha! Charmed you are!

Sirena's charms always held fast and tight, and this was no exception. The balloon buffoon before her ...

You weren't happy to see him.

No, not especially.

But you let him in and he stayed how long?

About a week.

And when you weren't together, ...

Paper hearts lace fragile chains.

A left on Wilshire and down Main. He didn't need the GPS to picture it in his head. He'd mapped practically the entire city in his head. He could tune into this stream at will, marking buildings ...

The sky overhead looked bruised, swollen. A storm was coming, but the air was still, pressure rising. The front door's girth was unimpressive compared to the foyer's opulence. He seldom got to s ...