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The electric chainsaw bit heavily into the maple. The human size trunk of a tree was being whittled down by a man who worked more out of anger than for the love of art. The air was thick with saw dust and ozone as the dark man continued to whack at the tree trunk making a humanoid shape with an arm raised. The dark man had taken off his shirt and his glistening body was covered in sweat which made him also covered in saw dust and wood chips. His back was unmarked by either scar or natural blemish. His muscles were heavy and thick with every time he moved. He cut heavily into the wood making the electric motor in the saw whine in protest.

Dark Mateus had tried to call, his love Rachel. When her answering machine kicked in he heard the bad news. She had changed the message to tell anyone who called she would be in Europe for a few days, and to leave a message. DM was mad. He was mad at Rachel for leaving him, just when he got back. He was mad at the world for letting things happen the way they did. Most of all he was mad at Pierce McKullen for kidnapping him, dragging him to Washington DC, and then being forced to spend almost a week away from his love in Las Vegas. DM cleared his thoughts to finish off his wooden sculpture.

The dark man stepped back in his workshop to look at what he had done. It was something that made him think about why he had become an agent of General Ethan Sanders. It was the reason why he had left Europe. It was the reason why his whole life he had done what he did. Standing, with arm held high, was the statue of liberty made of maple wood. DM still wanted to stain the statue, and give it a good coat so it wouldn’t crack or warp. He would either give the statue to a school, or sell it and give the money to some charity. The only thing DM did was pay fifty dollars for the wood, hull it up to his apartment, and spend an hour cutting it to shape. Chainsaw carving was something he had learned when chainsaws were first invented.

The bright sun wasn’t even at its highest point and already it was sixty degrees in Chicago, and for New Year’s Day that was amazing. DM knew that he should enjoy one of the last warm days in Chicago before winter hit. In Chicago winter hit like a hammer blow, hard and fast. Yet this was his home, and he loved the way weather would change, and could never be controlled. Weather was the one thing that neither he nor anyone else could ever control, nor that’s yet another reason why he stayed in the windy city.

The dark man went and took a quick shower to wash off the wood chips and sweat. It was an hour before noon, and already his stomach was grumbling, and DM cursed himself. When the dark man was just a boy beggar sometimes he would go days without food, but now only after a few hours he was hungry again. Dressed in black pants, black shirt, a black jacket, and black shoes the dark man left his apartment.

Around the corner, and across the street was a gas station with a convenience store. The dark man knew who ran the store, his best friend Dave Tate. Ever since Dave was born the dark man had known him. Dave, as a newborn baby had accidentally vomited on the dark man while they were both on the L, the elevated train in Chicago. Dave’s parents apologized, and that broke the ice. Eventually DM went from babysitting Dave to playing basketball, to just being friends. Dave was now thirty-eight years old, and constantly gave the dark man a ripping on how young he looked, and his relations with a younger woman.

The convenience store had overpriced food, drink, and toilet paper, but people were paying for the convenience of someplace so close to them. When you need toilet paper, you don’t care how much it costs. Dave was behind the counter ringing up a sale of over priced food and gasoline when the dark man walked in.

Dave was a bit portly with a beer belly hanging out over his belt. His skin was pale for as bright as the sun was. His brown hair was cut short, but didn’t hide his balding spot on the top of his head anymore. He had a beard around his lips and on his chin, but was trimmed and shaved so it didn’t grow up the sides of his friendly face. He had on a white tee-shirt proclaiming the Indianapolis Indians a triple-A baseball team, blue jeans, and a smile.

Dave turned to see his friend come in, and his smile widened. “Well look who came back from sin city. Don’t tell me, you met up with Rachel there and are now hitched.”

DM was taken aback. “How did you know I was in Vegas?”

“Pierce McKullen told me,” Dave said like it was nothing important. He rang up a sale and then turned back to the dark man. “The guy came around after I noticed you were missing, and told me you were there hiding out for a little while. He told me that, and that your name is now John Doe, but I’ll always think of you as Dark Mateus. Rachel took it hard, but she understood.”

“Rachel knows, ah man, and here I thought that it was supposed to be secret. Was she mad?”

“Yes,” Dave said the word with a full motion of his body. “She knew you planned on proposing to her, and was hoping that it was going to be sometime before New Year’s, but then you skipped town. Then Rachel had to leave. She was not happy.” DM was silent for a while thinking. “So do you still have the ring or are you married to a showgirl?”

“I didn’t marry anyone,” DM said. The dark man gave an abridged version of what he did in Las Vegas. He did leave out a few details like exactly who he was working for, and their names. DM also left out the name Soon Qi, and the nuclear weapons. It was just past noon by the time he finished.

“So this Gloria person gave you her phone number and e-mail address. I’d say that’s about as serious as you can get,” Dave gave him a little needle. “That and she sounds like she’s just about your age.”

“Shut up. I love Rachel.”

“Hey you can love a lot of people. You can also have a little concubine on the side if Rachel doesn’t satisfy you,” Dave said giving DM a verbal jab. “You can afford both for their entire lives.”

“Thank you but I’m never with another woman as long as I am married. That’s my rule and I stick by it. I also want to stick a knife into Pierce McKullen’s chest.” DM remembered he was angry with the man who told his friends where he was, so they would not to worry, and sending him a photo of his love Rachel.

“If you want to do that here’s his address,” Dave said pulling out his wallet. He removed a slip of paper and handed it over. Written in blue pen was the name Pierce McKullen, an address, a phone number, and an e-mail address.

“I think I’ll go say hello,” DM said slipping the paper in his pocket.

“Hey go easy on the guy.” Dave called out.

“Why?”

“He’s just doing what he thought was right, and you can relate to that.” Dave said knowing DM’s own philosophy.

The address was for a small street that was more an ally that ran between two rows of businesses. The back of a night club, close to the university, was red brick, and flat with windows high up on what would have been the third floor. The solid painted black metal door only had a plaque indicating the building number, and then there were two mail slots to the side of the door for two different apartments. A button for an intercom was black on the metal face, and the dark man pressed it.

“Yes?” A male voice came through the intercom. It was clearly not Pierce McKullen’s voice.

“Hello my name is,” DM had to check himself before saying, “John Doe. Is Pierce McKullen around?”

“What is the nature of your visit?” The male voice was gruff and sounded like the man just woke up.

“I would like to talk with him. I’m the person he kidnapped and took to Washington recently.”

There was mild laughter from the metal face. “Oh you, sure come on up.” The door buzzed.

DM quickly pulled on the metal doorknob, and opened the door. There was a large electromagnet on the doorframe, which would have kept the door shut no matter what. Beyond the door was a tall steep set of wooden stairs leading up to the third floor. DM went up them, and found the steps were an odd size so his legs hurt when he made it to the top. The hall was lined with tan wallpaper above the waist line, and wood paneling below. The floors were slightly uneven wooden slats. There were two doorways on the right, and one on the left. If they had doors they were open now. From the far right door out staggered a man holding a steaming coffee cup.

The man who greeted DM was clearly not Pierce McKullen. The man had an even layer of fat on his body. His hair was reduced to a ring of brown hair around the outside edge of his skull just above the ear line. He had on wire rimmed glasses pressed close to his small brown eyes. His face was distinctly close enough that the man could have been Pierce’s father. “John Doe, man Ethan really needs to work on his names.”

DM shook his head. Did everyone know General Sanders by his first name, or for that matter that the dark man worked for him? “I would like to please talk with your son.”

The man smiled a private smile at this comment. “That’s going to be a little hard since I don’t have a son. Pierce is my nephew. I’m Bob McKullen.”

DM processed this information, and his mind was thinking of the possibilities of what it meant. “I would like to speak with Pierce, if I may?”

“Sure he’s on the roof. I’ll show you the way. I’d be there myself, but I have to get these liquor orders in today.” Bob led to the end of the hallway towards the blinding sunlight from the window at the end. At the window the hall took a sharp left and there were two stairs, one going up, and one going down. “Just go on up, I think Pierce was expecting you.”

“Thank you,” DM said and went up the wooden stairs. The metal door to the roof had the same electromagnetic lock on it, and a button on the side to shut it off. What passed as a roof for the nightclub was a large expanse of gravel on tarmac. Just beyond the door were three folding lawn chairs, where two were occupied. One had a boy of about twelve with dark black skin, and short black hair. He was punching away at a hand held video game trying to move his electronic figure across the screen. The other chair had Pierce McKullen in it, who at the time, was reading a newspaper.

Pierce heard the door open and looked over to see who it was. He was dressed in a black tee-shirt, blue jeans, and had on a pair of thick leather hiking boots. “Well if it isn’t Dark Mateus or should I call you John Doe from now on?”

“This is the immortal guy who can control people with his voice?” The little boy said. “Cool.” The boy jumped out of the chair, his video game forgotten. The boy was dressed in a blood red shirt with a bio-hazard symbol on it, and poorly fitting jeans. “Make me the smartest person alive.”

DM looked down at the young man. “It doesn’t work like that.” DM looked up at Pierce. “Who’s your little friend?”

“Oh forgive me,” Pierce said not getting up from his chair. “Bart Mac this is John Doe or Dark Mateus take your pick, and vice versa.”

“So make me do something weird,” Bart begged. He was an eager little man.

DM looked to Pierce for help. “Just do it or he’ll be begging the whole time you’re here,” Pierce said.

“Okay.” The dark man was thinking of something so the black child would not pester him for the rest of the day. “Bart for the next hour whenever you speak your sentences the words will be in backwards order.”

“Me kidding be to got you’ve,” Bart said. Bart’s eyes went wide when he realized what he had just said. “Cool so is this.” Bart was smiling.

“So other than messing with my girlfriend’s brother to what do I owe your visit on your first day back in Chicago?” Pierce asked putting down his paper, but keeping his finger in place.

The dark man walked over to the folding lawn chair, and sat down. The back could be adjusted and it had a leg rest, so it was quite comfortable, and that was not what DM wanted. “I’m mad at you.”

“Would that be the kidnapping or the keeping you from proposing to Rachel?” Pierce asked. He looked up to see DM’s reaction and added more information. “Dave told me.”

Pierce had answered the question before DM could ask it, and that made him even madder. “I guess I just need to unload.”

“No what you need is a friend.” Pierce said.

“Mom call to going I’m.” Bart said running to the door. Bart slipped a sliver of metal between the doorjamb and pulled open the door.

“What are you talking about?” DM asked Pierce now that they were alone.

“Think about it,” Pierce said. “You have a friend who is normal, and in touch with the real world, Dave. You have a friend who you love, and is your sexual partner, Rachel. Now you need a person who is your friend in the world of the bizarre, and that is me.”

“You think you live in the world of the bizarre?” DM asked skeptical.

“Obviously you’ve never checked out my web-site. I’m a licensed private investigator, and for some reason all the strange stuff happens to me. I’ve had very few normal cases that didn’t involve time travelers, aliens, or people with special abilities, yourself included.”

DM shook his head trying to put this all together. “And Ethan sometimes has odd jobs for you to do.”

“Ethan would love for me to shuck my aspirations of becoming a chemical engineer and go to work for him full-time, but I won’t. I don’t want to go chasing after bad guys my whole life, and I don’t want to solve mysteries when I’m old and gray. This private investigator shtick is only for when I’m in college, to pay the bills.”

“So how did you get involved with this private investigating thing?” DM asked relaxing against his will.

“I’m too observant,” Pierce said without hesitation. “Do you want to know my life’s story? It’s short.”

“You haven’t lived for seven hundred twenty-eight years, so I would expect it to be short.” DM laughed a little, and so did Pierce. “Go ahead, Rachel is out of town, and I don’t have much to do.”

“Okay my mother is a witch,” Pierce began.

“That’s not nice to say about your mother,” DM said.

“No really she’s a witch, like she prays to Gia and all that. She lives up in Canada, where sometime about twenty-one years ago she did it with some man, who promptly abandoned her, and made me. When I was six my mom developed ovarian cancer, and had to have her ovaries removed, but in Canada that could take years so she came down to visit her brother in Chicago and have the surgery. Well there were complications, and it took longer, and cost more than expected, so my mom left me with my uncle Bob. A few years past and I was going to public school here, and when my mom said she could afford to have me back, it was decided I should stay in Chicago because I needed a positive male roll model. I don’t know who that roll model is, but I’m still here.”

Pierce stopped talking. “That’s it?” DM asked.

“Well not totally,” Pierce responded. “I mean if you want to hear how I found I had special powers at age twelve, I’m not going to tell you about them. If you want to know how I fell in love with Kelly when she moved into the apartment across the hallway, I’m not going to tell you about that. I also have no intention of telling you about the investigation cases I’ve worked on, you can look at my web-site about the ones that the clients cleared for publication. Otherwise not much happened in my life.”

DM took this all it. Pierce’s life was eventful, and anyone could tell that, but he was guarded. “You want a normal life, but with your special powers you can’t have one,” DM said understanding.

“That’s about it. I refuse to use my powers if I can use my brain.” Pierce went back to reading his newspaper.

DM smiled. That was not about it, and they both knew it. “So if you’re such a great investigator where has Rachel gone to?”

“France,” Pierce said pausing only to take a breath.

It may have taken one breath for Pierce to say it, but it took many breaths before DM could respond. “She’s in France, right now?”

“Well where in France I can’t tell you, but her ticket was for Paris, France,” Pierce said. “I knew you’d be by, and when I talked with Rachel she told me she was going to France, but she’ll be back in two days from now.”

DM let out a sigh. Two days without the woman he loved was going to rip him apart inside. “I should be mad at you, but I’m not, for some reason.”

The door to the roof opened with a crash sticking open and onto the roof came two people. One was a tall black woman being trailed by Bart. She had long black hair, which fell strait down her back and shined in the sunlight. Her skin was the color of milk chocolate, and was only marred by two small scars on her face above her right eyebrow and just before her left ear. Her dark black eyes spoke of intelligence and experience. Her fingers were long and nimble, but her nails were short and unpainted. She had on a long sleeve red shirt that clung to her skin, and tight blue jeans that reached all the way down to her black boots. Her body was a perfect shape for a model with her breasts large enough to be the first thing on her front, and her rear being shapely enough to be noticeable to all who glanced at her. Other than the fact she was frowning she could have been beautiful.

“Will you kill him?” The woman said to Pierce pointing to Bart.

“Am I as much as this enjoying isn’t Kelly believe can’t I,” Bart said still in his backwards talk.

“God I thought he was annoying before, but this is worse,” Kelly said complaining to Pierce.

Pierce laughed. “Kelly Mac this is John Doe, or Dark Mateus. Which name do you prefer?”

DM stood up, in the presence of a lady, and shook her hand. “Please call me whatever you prefer.”

“Copout,” Kelly said shaking his hand. “Oh you’re the guy who can control people with his voice. You’re the one who made Bart talk like that.”

“Sorry I just wanted to teach him a lesson,” DM said.

“That’s Bart for you,” Pierce said. “When you think he’ll act one way, he acts another. You think he’d be terrified by the prospect of death, and yet he rages head on into it.”

“Here’s your Game Boy,” Kelly said scooping up and tossing the video game to Bart. “Why don’t you go bug Trevor across the street?”

“Okay,” Bart said and ran for the still open door.

Kelly shook her head at the young adult. “How the hell do we have the same mother?” She turned to Pierce and smiled at him. Anyone could tell these two were in love with each other just by the looks they gave one another. “I just wanted to let you know I’m done with your temporal device, and put it back in its holder.”

“Thanks,” Pierce said. He padded the chair next to him for her to sit down.

“Sorry,” Kelly declined, “I have to e-mail the program off to the prof before the end of the day. I’m just lucky he’s letting me turn it in late. I don’t have any plans for tonight, think about that.” Kelly walked back to the door to the roof swaying her hips more than needed. At the door she turned and blew him a kiss, and then shut the door.

“Okay I can see how you could fall in love with a woman like that,” DM said still looking at the door Kelly left by.

“I don’t think I could live without her,” Pierce said.

“She knows about your special powers?” DM asked the question which was on his mind.

“She helped me remove the ruined mattress, and bring in the new one. Kelly helps me out all the time cases, she’s my technical support, and I don’t like it when she’s in harms way. Yet when she helps me it takes time away from our college studies, she’s the same grade level as me, so sometimes we have to use magic to catch up.”

“Magic?” DM asked surprised.

“Yeah, I don’t like using it, but I know about it. I know about as much about magic as I do about technology, and that’s a lot. Kelly used what I call my temporal device to finish a computer program that was due before the semester ended, but she was helping me out with one of my cases, you.”

“What’s your temporal device?” DM asked.

“Oh it looks like an egg timer that speeds up time in a localized area that you can adjust the size for. As you can expect the smaller the area the faster the time can change. To encompass the area of a person and a laptop computer you’d get one minute of real time is equal to one hour of temporal time. I can do my entire homework load in the time it takes for the local news to give the sports report. You should know about magic, isn’t that how you got your powers?”

DM paused before speaking. Never had he talked about what he could do so candidly. “I have no idea how I got my powers. I never understood magic, and never tried. I’m more of just a magic sponge. I don’t know how it works, but I use it.”

Pierce frowned at this confession. “That’s rather unenlightened.”

“Hey I never asked for this magic to infuse my body, but it did. You never asked to have your powers, but you have them.” DM stopped his speech and looked at the young man. The two appeared to be the same age, but were older than they looked. “So what are your powers?” DM sat back in the chair and relaxed in the unnaturally warm weather.

Just then the door to the roof opened. Frank walked onto the roof like he knew what he was doing. “Well this is an unlikely sight.” Frank smiled at them. He had on a thick tan jacket, opened to show a buttoned up forest green shirt. His tan khaki pants were thick and heavy. Frank was ready for winter, but it wasn’t in Chicago just yet. “Here I just left his city and now I have to come back. That’s justice for you.”

Pierce smiled at the man. “What can I do for you Frank?”

“Ethan sent me to request your services.” Frank said pulling out a palm pilot.

“Right, I didn’t think this was a social call.” Pierce smiled putting his paper down. “So what does Ethan want?”

“A multimillionaire from here in Chicago has gone missing, and we would like you to find him. His name is Craig Kasson. Have you heard of him?” Frank asked.

“No, tell me about him,” Pierce said in a mocking tone.

Frank glanced over at DM. “I think he knows all about this guy.”

“Humor him,” DM said with a smile and not his powers.

Frank referred back to palm pilot for the information he was telling. “Okay Craig made much of his money from plastic molding machines, and door knob locks. I know an unlikely pair, but he made many millions that way. He’s currently worth over one hundred fifty million dollars. He was suppose to host a Democrat fund raising dinner on New Year’s eve, but he didn’t show up. Ethan would like you to help us find him.” Frank finished and closed down his mini computer and sat down on the third lawn chair.

“You’re missing a few details.” Pierce said. DM turned away as his smile went wide. “First off Kasson is worth one hundred seventy-one million dollars and one hundred of that is in stocks and bonds. He’s been missing since December twenty-ninth. Neither his first or second wife has heard from him. His best friend Jay Westgate let Kasson use his boat since it’s been warm out, and there’s no ice on the lake, yet. That was the last anyone has heard of him. The ship is fitted with a G.P.S. tracking system, and stopped transmitting since two days before New Year’s Eve.”

“You could have saved me the trouble,” Frank said unhappy.

“I could have but I wanted to know if you knew something I didn’t,” Pierce said unconcerned. “Jay called me the day after his boat went missing asking me to find it, and that led me to Kasson. Besides I’m waiting for a phone call about where the last place the G.P.S. was transmitting. I have a feeling it will be in the middle of Lake Michigan.”

“So what happens if it is?” DM asked.

“I’ll rent a boat and dive down in hopes of finding the boat.” Pierce was just lying back absorbing the sun’s rays.

DM didn’t speak at first. He didn’t really want to be roped into Pierce’s case, but it was something to do. “I have a boat.” Frank and Pierce both looked at him to see if he was serious. “It’s in a storage shed right now, but it could be in the water in an hour.”

Frank and Pierce looked at each other. “If you’re offering to help out would you please let us use your boat?” Pierce asked.

“You’re not using my boat without me.” DM said without realizing what he just said. “I mean I wouldn’t mind if you used my boat as long as I was the one piloting it.”

Pierce smiled. The young man felt the pull of interest from the dark man. “You were the captain of a boat for a while weren’t you?”

“Well captain or pirate, take your pick.” DM couldn’t help but smile. “Trust me I won’t go invading anyone else’s boat on this trip.”

“You were a pirate?” Frank asked interested.

“For a few years,” The dark man remembered back all those centuries ago. “Trading took me farther and farther west and to the north, and eventually I found myself in what is now Europe. Well I picked the worst time to go there, because I don’t care how humorous you may think the inquisition was, it wasn’t. I was branded a witch as soon as I set foot in Germany. After being killed there a dozen times I eventually made a run for it, but that took me to Spain, and it was worse there. The only place that didn’t want to kill me was England. So in return for not killing me, again, I was the captain of the HMS Hound’s Teeth. We robbed and plundered any Spanish or for that matter any ship that wasn’t from or going to England. Those were good times.”

There was a long pause before anyone spoke. “So what happened?” Pierce asked.

“I was given a command I couldn’t follow.” The dark man soured. “I was told to plunder and sink any ship that was outside the designated English shipping lanes. The royalty didn’t want their colonies trading with anyone other than British companies. That and the king taxed the hell out of anything coming into England at the time. I felt that America had the right to trade with anyone they wanted to, and I couldn’t follow such a command. I sailed to America, got off my ship, and never looked back. From that day forward I was an American, and proud of it, even if the country seems to have gone to pot in the past century.”

Pierce opened his mouth to say something but his cellular phone chirped on his hip. He reached down and talked into it quickly and quietly so neither Frank nor DM could hear what he was saying. Pierce pulled out a notepad and wrote down a series of numbers, said something else, and punched off his phone. “I have a location of the last known whereabouts of the ship Kasson was on. Mr. Doe if you would please phone ahead and have them place your boat into the water for use to use?”

DM pulled up his satellite phone. “Okay if I can remember how to use this thing.”

“You want me to show you?” Frank asked. DM shrugged him off and dialed for the storage shed that held his boat. They said it would be about an hour before they could get it into the water. DM thanked them and pressed the wrong buttons to hang up, and Frank had to show him the right way.

Pierce stood up and the two other men followed the young detective down into the nightclub again. Pierce walked into what could have been any apartment. There was a kitchen, a living room, two rooms, one bathroom. Pierce’s room was small and cramp. A storage bed was pushed against the back wall, taking up the entire wall. Shelves hung above the bed filled with books and knickknacks. One desk was at the head of the bed filled with thick college text books. The other desk was next to the only window in the room, and had a computer sitting on it. The corner had a standing cabinet.

Pierce opened the cabinet, and what cloths were in there were out shined by all the other items. There were glowing balls and cubes. There were flat metal disks that didn’t look like they belonged on Earth. An entire shelf had all manner of different guns of different shapes, sizes, color, and designs that may or may not have been made on Earth. Ancient looking books and scrolls were stacked on the base. If ever someone was looking for a magic box, Pierce McKullen had one. Hanging up next to a silver body suit was a black rubber wetsuit that Pierce pulled out. From the back of the cabinet Pierce pulled out an air tank for underwater breathing, a mask, and a pair of flippers.

“Oh good I still have air in this thing.” Pierce seemed happy about this fact as he looked at the gauge on the yellow cylinder.

“Um, I too have a wet suit and air tank on my boat.” DM said hesitatingly.

“Really, well if you want to join me at the bottom of the lake I’ll take all the help I can get.” Pierce said. He went to his bed and pulled open one of the drawers underneath. From in the drawer he pulled out a yellow box with an LCD display on it. Pierce flipped a switch and looked at the readout pop up. He then pulled from the drawer a digital camera. He put the digital camera into a plastic zip-lock bag, and sucked all the air out of the bag before sealing it closed. From the shelf above the bed he pulled down a long back metal flashlight. He went over to the desk with all the books on it and opened a drawer. From inside he came out with three nylon pouches, long and thin, with loops on one side so they could be attached to a person’s belt. “My throwing knives,” He explained to DM.

“I thought that this was just a look and see trip?”

“Well half the time I do a fact finding mission I end up fighting for my very life in fact. I carry these just because they’re so handy.” Pierce proceeded to put two on his belt, and pushed one down the side of his boot. He pulled a gray hooded sweatshirt off a hook on his wall; it was the same one DM had seen him wear in Washington. Pierce swung it around, almost hitting Frank with it, and put it on like a cape. “Okay I’m ready to go.”

“I guess we could take my rental.” Frank said.

No one argued until they saw Frank’s very small rental car. The trunk barely fit the air tank, wet suit, and gear. Pierce refused to be crammed in the back, so DM had to squeeze into the very small back seats. When Pierce put the front seat back up it pushed against DM’s legs so much he had to sit sideways. By the time Frank’s rental got rolling they found out that with all the windows the car was unbelievably hot, and the air-conditioner didn’t work.

“So what else do you know about this Craig Kasson?” The dark man asked from the back seat twisted sideways.

“I know that he made both wives sign prenuptial agreements, so when Kasson divorced his first wife she got almost nothing.” Pierce called back shouting over the wind from the open windows. “He did have a daughter by his first wife, and has been paying child support ever since he divorced ten years ago.”

“How old is his daughter now?” DM asked.

“She’s in her late teens from what I could learn, but as for an exact age I’m not sure. No one seems to have her full name. He married his second wife a year ago. She’s a very bad author of very bad children’s books, and they don’t sell well. I think she married him because she knew he would finance her books.”

“If his current wife signed a prenuptial agreement then she won’t get any money if she divorces him, but what if he dies? Did he make a will?” Frank asked keeping his eyes on the road.

“He made a will alright, but it was still for his first wife. I couldn’t make the people in his office tell me who handles Kasson’s affairs. At the county clerk’s office I was told I can’t get a look at his first will without a court order.”

“So how did you know that the will was still with his first wife?” DM asked.

“His office did tell me that he didn’t make any changes to his first will until after a year of marriage, and that still held true for the second one. That told me that if Kasson did make any changes to his will it was recent, or it hasn’t happened yet.” Pierce was getting horse from shouting over the wind, and the car was becoming almost cold with the windows open.

“If I can convince Kasson’s office to tell you who handle his affairs would it help?” DM asked.

“Immensely,” Pierce shouted.

By that time they were in sight of the lake. The dark man directed Frank to where his boat was kept and they watched as a grubby looking man steered it next to the dock. The dark man thanked him, and stepped onto his boat. “Gentlemen I welcome you aboard the Dark Shadow. I give you permission to come aboard.”

Pierce eyed the boat with interest. Frank didn’t seem to care and just jumped onto the moving deck. The boat was thirty feet long with a white fiberglass hull. There was a cabin with a door that led down into the boat and a platform where a person could steer on top. The boat was sleek and looked like a regular pleasure craft if ever there was one.

Pierce stepped lightly onto the craft carrying his gear with him. “I don’t suppose this thing has G.P.S. tracking?”

“Sorry the most this boat has is a compass.” DM said almost proud of the fact.

“Okay first thing’s first would you mind making the people at Kasson’s office tell me who handled his affairs?” Pierce asked pulling out his phone.

“Not at all,” DM said smiling. This was feeling good investigating and he enjoyed helping people out with his powers. Pierce pressed a few buttons on his phone, referring to his notepad, and then handed the phone to DM.

“Hello?” A male voice came through the earpiece of the cellular phone.

“Please tell me your name.” The dark man was using his powers now. Pierce and Frank stepped well back so they would not be affected by the call.

“Henry Jones.” The male voice said.

“Well Henry you are going to answer any and all questions posed to you by the person who is about to speak to you on this call.” DM handed the phone over to Pierce.

“Henry my man, this is Pierce McKullen, first off I need to ask you why you’ve been such a prick to me?” Pierce said into the phone. He walked to the bow of the ship so Frank and DM couldn’t hear what he said.

With the engine already running DM piloted the craft out of the water of the dock. So many people were out in their boats enjoying the sun and the warmth on one of the few days everyone seemed to be free from work. There were women sunbathing in bikinis on the deck of a ship. Other ships had men with fishing polls hung over the water. Children were laughing and slapping the water as they swam around. It was so odd to have such a warm day to start off the New Year no one doubted that it would be a great year.

“Am I dense?” Pierce said snapping shut his phone.

“I don’t know you well enough to answer that.” DM said.

“I do.” Frank said. “Yes, you can be dense at times. Why?”

“It seems that Henry didn’t like me because I wasn’t responding to him hitting on me.” Pierce looked uneasy about this. “He said he liked the sound of my voice, and wouldn’t mind seeing my lips in person.” Pierce gave a shudder of fear, even if it was just an act. “That man disturbs me!”

“I could make you like Henry.” DM said. He turned the wheel to avoid a small row boat. “I could make you love Henry with each and every breath he takes.”

“Thank you no.” Pierce said quickly. “I’m in love with Kelly, and I know you can change my mind about that, but I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t.”

“Oh well, to each his own,” DM said going back to taking the boat out of the dock area. “So which way do I go now?”

Pierce pulled out the yellow box he brought with him. He scanned the read out and then referred back to his note pad. “Head east about a mile, and then turn north for about half a mile, and we should be close enough to start searching. Our dear Henry did tell me some interesting things. First off the law firm that drew up Craig Kasson’s wills was the same one that had a fire last week. The last I hear that fire was still arson, but the important thing is the will Kasson made up for his second wife went up in flames, before it could be filed, so he had to make a new will. That means the old will is still in play. Kelly’s working on getting the address of Kasson’s first wife. As for Kasson’s daughter, it seems she had her sweet-sixteen birthday almost two years ago. She’s due for her eighteenth birthday next week. That’s not the end of it. Kasson has been paying his ex-wife child support since the divorce, but the payments end as soon as the kid is eighteen. I think we have our first suspect, the ex-wife.”

“It seems rather cut and dry.” DM said keeping the craft on course. “The ex-wife didn’t want to loose her golden goose. She makes it so she is the only person who gets the money in the event of his death. I don’t know about you, but one hundred seventy-one million dollars can make people do some dumb stuff, like hire a hit man.”

Everyone was silent, no one needed to say that what they knew so far made the ex-wife sound dam good. That is if Kasson was at the bottom of the lake. Frank pulled out his palm pilot and was connected to the internet checking out the current information. “I have some bad news. It seems this warm weather is about to end. There is a cold front moving in tonight. It is suppose to be at the freezing mark by midnight and well below freezing by morning. According to long range forecast, it will not even get above freezing at all in the next seven days. It’s now or never gentlemen. If we don’t find something at the bottom of the lake today we don’t get another chance until spring.”

Pierce took all this in and turned to DM. “No pressure.”

“None,” DM said completely deadpan.

“Okay head north now.” Pierce said. DM did as ordered and left Frank to pilot it the rest of the way. By the time they were close enough to the spot indicated Pierce and DM both had their wet suits on. The ship slowed to a stop, and it sat in the gentle bouncing of the waves. “We have about three hours of sunlight left.”

DM checked his air tank before strapping it to his back. “So how much air do you have?”

“About an hour’s worth. You?” Pierce smiled as he slung his own air tank on to his back.

“About two hours.” DM said also doing the routine with the goggles. He pulled out his goggles and spit into them smearing around the lenses.

“I don’t care how often I’ve seen that I still find it disgusting.” Frank said from the deck of the ship.

“You’ll be fine up here on your own?” DM asked Frank. After all they were becoming friends.

“As long as you bring back something worthwhile, sure I’ll be fine.” Frank smiled.

Pierce pressed something into DM’s hand. “Here take this.”

The dark man held up a small plastic box with a metal strip on one side. DM pressed down on the metal strip and the box emitted a sharp click. “What’s this for?”

Pierce took the mouth piece from his lips to speak. “If you’re in trouble click that twice quickly. If you’ve found something click it three times quickly. Click once if you want a repeat. I’ll do the same.” Pierce picked up his flashlight, and tipped himself over, backwards, into the murky depths of Lake Michigan.

The dark man pulled his own flashlight, a yellow plastic underwater light, out of the cabin. DM gave quick thumbs up to Frank, who returned the gesture, and he too followed Pierce’s example on the other side of the boat. The water was warmer than ice, but not by much. The silt, dirt, and mud made the water thick with a brownish darkness. The light DM had would only make it about five feet before being consumed by the darkness. He felt his body sink in the fresh water, and something alive moved away from his descending feet. The bottom was closer than expected, and DM’s flippers landed on the uneven lake bottom with a spin jerking stop.

DM panned his light around the ground and found nothing, so he set off for his left. There wasn’t any direction in the lake. The sun was blotted out. The only way the dark man could tell the direction up was by the way his bubbles went and the dirt had settled. Three sharp clicks came from somewhere in the lake, and DM remembered that was the signal that Pierce had found something. DM clicked his once for a repeat and heard three clicks behind him.

With flippers, a wetsuit, and little else to slow him down the dark man made very good time reaching where Pierce was. It also meant that the bow of the ship almost impaled him because he was so fast, and couldn’t see far. The ship wasn’t as large as DM had expected, but it was big enough that only someone with money could afford it. The whole craft had landed at a forty-five degree angle resting on the bottom of the lake. The hull was white fiberglass. There was wood trim on the enclosed cabin, and inside DM could just make out drapes on the windows. Three clicks were again sounded from the stern, and the dark man made his way along the side of the boat to the back.

What the dark man first saw was the torn away fiberglass. Then the charred remains could be seen of melted and burned hull. A flash of light took the dark man by surprise until he realized that it was just Pierce using his digital camera to take a picture. DM came over to Pierce to see the large hole in the back of the boat. Pierce was focusing on a small purple paint scrape just below the blackened hole. Pierce saw the dark man, and pulled his flashlight so his light could illuminate the paint better. Pierce snapped off a few more shots and gave DM the ‘okay’ signal with his hand.

Pierce swam off to the bow of the boat and left DM to look on his own. The dark man figured that if Kasson was even on the boat that he would be in the cabin. A nasty thought that Kasson had sunk the boat, on the eve of winter coming, in order to fake his own death. The dark man was still thinking about that when he saw the cabin door was partly open, and there was something on the other side of the glass. The dark man tried to swallow, but with the mouth piece in it was a bit difficult.

The door was wood with brass hinges and tan colored drapes making it so whatever was on the other side of the door could not be clearly seen. Keeping the light back DM pushed open the door with his other hand. Most sailors ask for a burial at sea, but if they saw Craig Kasson at that moment, most would rethink that choice. The cold water had turned his skin to a waxy white. He was a bit overweight, and the water had made him bloat up so he looked even bigger. He had on a tan short sleeve polo shirt, and brown khaki pants, and both were stretched like they were about to burst. What was most disturbing was the arrow sticking out of his chest.

DM groped for his clicker, and almost dropped it into the murky lake, but caught it, and quickly pressed the metal strip three times. DM was breathing hard, but couldn’t stop himself. He’d seen bodies that had been in water before. He’d seen men with arrows sticking out of their chests. The combination of the two was something that in the seven hundred and a quarter years of his life the dark man had never seen before. A single click came from just a few feet in front of him, and DM clicked his own clicker three quick times.

The darkness before the dark man turned a light shade of brown, and then Pierce McKullen appeared. DM pointed at the bloated corpse, and Pierce leaned over to see through the door. Instantly Pierce pulled up his camera and snapped off a few pictures. The arrow in question was aluminum, colored purple with some writing on it. The fletch was made of solid plastic, slightly curved so the arrow would spin, and professionally installed in the arrow itself. Pierce turned the bloated body over and out his back was the tip of the arrow. The tip was one smooth long spike, like the tip of a nail, and molded seamlessly into the shaft of the arrow. Pierce took many photos from many angles, at a distance, and close up.

Pierce checked his air gauge and looked over at the dark man. Pierce gave the ‘I’m going up’ signal and slowly moved his legs so he did rise in the water. The dark man gave one quick look over the body for anything else, and when he felt the bile start to come up, he thought he should go up. Long ago DM took his scuba training, and knew that a normal person shouldn’t ascend any faster than his slowest bubble. The dark man followed this rule, but by the time he broke the surface of the water Pierce already had his wetsuit off.

The air was noticeably cooler than it had been when the pair had went into the water. A line of clouds was off to the west, and they had already covered the sun. Winter was coming to Chicago. “Let’s get back before the weather hits.” DM said as soon as the mouthpiece was out.

“Aye, aye captain,” Frank said like he wasn’t use to taking orders. Frank started the engines, and started the boat turning around. “So what did you find?”

“We found the boat.” Pierce said over the engine noise. “Jay Westgate will be happy to hear that he can now claim his boat to the insurance company as at the bottom of the ocean.”

“Stop fucking with me McKullen and spit it out.” Frank said. “Is Kasson down there or not?”

“He is,” DM said pulling off his flippers, “With an arrow through his heart.”

“Shit.” Frank swore in a quiet voice. “So much for the idea he’s still alive.”

“That’s not all.” Pierce said. “There was an enormous hole in the back of the boat. I took a sample.” He raised a small plastic bag with a piece of the fiberglass hull, still sitting in the water. “I can test this to figure out what kinds of explosives were used.”

“I can give it to the FBI and have the results in two days.” Frank said. He sounded like that was the end of the discussion.

Pierce said. “I can use the gas chromatography mass spectrometry unit at the university and have the results by morning.” He had a smug look on his face. He knew his was the better idea.

“Shit.” Frank swore again in a whisper. “Fine we’ll go to the university, and then where?”

“I need to visit an old friend. She knows more about arrows than I do. On top of that there’s a purple paint scrape on the boat.” Pierce said.

The dark man peeled off the wet suit, and truly feeling how cold it was getting. “Weren’t you just suppose to find the boat?”

“Yes.” Pierce said not admitting anything. “But now that I did I have something else to look into. Do you still want to stick around?”

The dark man had to think for a moment on that question. “Well in for a penny in for a pound.”

“That’s the spirit.” Pierce said. “The spirit of what, I have no idea, but it is spirit.”

The boat dock was packed with many people who were waiting to return their boats. The shed that DM had his boat stored at had a long line of people waiting their turn. There were boats of all different sizes and shapes, and every person looked like they wanted to be next in line. The women who had been in bikinis were now dressed in every item of clothing they had, and had beach towels wrapped around their bodies.

Pierce had a scowl on his face at the prospect of the lost time. “I’ll be back.” He shouted out to his two companions. The dark man gave the government man a questioning look, and Frank returned the look. Pierce took a running leap of the bow of DM’s boat. He flew through the air above the cold water, and landed on the edge of a nearby boat. Just as the people on the boat became aware of their uninvited guest Pierce jumped again to another boat. It was like watching a bouncing ball as Pierce leapt from boat to boat until the young man had reached the dock. Acting like he had just crossed the street Pierce straightened his gray hooded sweatshirt and walked off to one of the offices on the dock.

“That man is going to die a very early death.” Dark Mateus said dead serious.

“Pierce rarely does anything that he isn’t sure he can handle.” Frank said. “If he ever bets you on something Pierce already knows what’s going to happen, so don’t take the bet. I learned that the hard way.”

“How hard?”

“Fifty bucks hard,” Frank said with a distant look in his eyes remembering the event. “They’re letting you go first.”

DM looked around to see that a gray haired old man was letting the dark man go first. Thirty minutes later the dark man was signing the form to put his boat back in the storage shed. Frank had his arms full of Pierce’s gear and a less then happy look on his face. The air had turned a brisk temperature, and had already fallen below forty-five degrees out, there was a sharp wind taking the warmth from the city. The two men came out of the dock to find Pierce waiting for them. He had a smile on his face.

“Here.” Frank dumped Pierce’s gear on him.

Pierce held on the best he could to the air tank, wet suit, goggles, flippers, flashlight, and digital camera. “Thanks Frank.” Pierce said trying to keep hold. DM caught the air tank before it could hit the ground. Pierce rearranged his stuff in his arm.

“I’ll just carry this.” DM said holding the air tank.

“Thanks.” Pierce said. “For that I’ll share what I know with you, and not Frank.” Frank was standing right next to DM. “That purple paint smear we saw belongs to a row boat rental place up the way. I asked them how many people rented boats on December twenty-ninth, and they said that all fifty boats were rented out. Still that makes only fifty people who could have left that pain smear on Westgate’s boat.”

They set out for Frank’s car by the time Pierce had finished with what he had found out. “That’s provided the paint was transferred by whoever blew a hole in the ship.” DM pointed this out, accenting the notion by pointing at Pierce with the air tank.

“I thought of that.” Pierce said. “Westgate keeps his boat at a professional dry dock, and they check out the exterior of the boat each time it is brought in or goes out. That paint was not there when Kasson took it out. That means unless someone was sloppy with the inspection, Kasson had someone run into him, or God was being very cruel, whoever left that pain smear also left the explosives.” They were at the car again. “I call shotgun!”

DM was squeezed into the back again, and was just as unhappy. “Shouldn’t we go to the police with this information?” The dark man was falling back into the idea of setting it up so other people would deal with the problem.

“We could, but we have two things they don’t.” Pierce said into the back. The heater in the car was on, but the cold weather was getting in through the thin windows.

“Do I dare ask what those two things are?” Frank said driving around a bird in the middle of the road.

Pierce smiled at Frank’s little joke. “We have an immortal man who can control people with his voice, and we don’t have any set procedure. We can follow any path the investigation takes us.”

The word investigation stuck in DM’s mind. It was the same word that his old friend Thrust used, all the time. It was amazing how much Pierce was like Thrust, but they were different. Thrust hated the water. He also didn’t act so smug when he knew something others didn’t. Thrust would also never have relations with a black woman. Thrust was brought up to think black people were less than human, and although life changed that view, he still didn’t like the idea of a black woman and a white man being together.

“As soon as I have a lead to who killed Kasson I will turn everything over to the homicide detectives I know. Promise,” Pierce acted serious though his humorous smile.

The sun was gone behind thick black clouds. The temperature had dropped to just above freezing. There was a feeling in the air, rain was coming. People were leaving their spring jackets behind and getting out their thick coats. Frank had his winter coat on, but Pierce and DM didn’t have anything warmer than their jackets. The walk to the laboratory on the university campus was a stroll for Frank, but a slow run for the other two.

“This jacket is great for warmth.” Pierce said referring to his gray hooded sweatshirt. “It can keep me warm down until it gets to the freezing mark, but wind goes right through it.”

“You need a nylon liner in that thing.” DM said trying to keep what warmth he had in his body.

“I have one.” Pierce said pulling his hood up. “I just don’t have it now, and I knew it was going to get cold. I can either have a thermal lining in, or a nylon lining, but not both. In here.”

The building was brick on the outside, but on the inside was all drywall. The young detective pulled out a ring of keys, picked one, and unlocked the door. Pierce didn’t even look around before he headed for the basement. The basement smelled of stale air, and old pizza. The floor was linoleum, and the walls had a coat of yellow paint that must have been there before the building was even designed. Pierce stopped at a single nondescript wooden door, and used a key to open the door. The lab was a long narrow room. The florescent lights above made everything have a white look to it. There were two long old metal tables with many different types of equipment and old computers sitting on them. There were test-tubes and chemicals on the table all the way in the back.

Pierce stopped off at a single machine that looked newer than anything else in the room. Pierce leaned over the machine and turned it on from behind, and an internal motor started to hum, and clicked on the computer attached. From his pocket he pulled out the digital camera, still in the bag, and fished around under the computer for a USB cable. He silently hooked up his camera to the computer and downloaded the photos onto the computer. Frank leaned over to see the pictures of the boat, the hole in the boat, and Kasson with the arrow sticking out of his chest. Pierce selected a few of the better photos and printed them off on a printer on the other side of the room. He then disconnected his camera, and wiped the photos from the computer.

From his pocket Pierce pulled out the water filled bag with the small piece of boat on it. He walked all the way to the back of the room to the table with the test-tubes and chemicals. Pierce pulled out the piece of boat. He pulled, out from under the table, a disposable test-tube, and dropped the boat chunk into the tube. Pierce pulled a squeeze bottle, labeled ‘DI WATER’ and shot some of the water into the tube.

“He seems to really know what he’s doing, doesn’t he.” DM said to Frank.

Frank smiled. “Pierce is in his element when he’s doing chemistry. That’s why he’ll never become a full time detective. He loves playing with chemicals too much.”

“Excuse me.” Pierce said. He was standing before the two men holding a needle filled with liquid. Pierce dipped and pulled between the two men. Pierce put the needle into the top of the machine he had turned on. Leaving the needle on the top of the machine Pierce clicked on the computer and pulled up a program. He tapped away at the keys and clicked with the mouse. The machine hummed even more. Pierce leaned over the machine with his hands on the needle. He was looking at the computer screen, and when a single small box turned from red to green Pierce injected the needle into the machine.

“And now we wait. This thing will take a few hours, and in that time I want to visit Queen.” Pierce said. Pierce walked over and picked up the printed out photographs.

“Who’s Queen?” DM asked.

Pierce smiled wide at this, but his lips were closed, and he wasn’t going to speak. “Do we really have to see her?” Frank asked.

“Unless you know someone else local who knows everything there is to know about arrows, then yes we have visit Queen.” Pierce said leaving the lab.

The two others had to leave the lab too, and the machine kept humming away. “Will someone tell me who this Queen person is?” DM asked as they left the building. No one could talk on the way to the car. The rain was coming down hard and fast. Everyone was wet in seconds, and cold in less time. The wind was blowing harder than ever and the rain seemed to be blowing sideways right into the three men’s faces. No matter which way they walked it seemed the rain wanted to splash in their faces.

The heater in the car was on full, as were the window wipers, and the headlights. “Okay I’m cold, wet, and miserable.” Frank said trying to see in the rain. “The last thing I want to do is put up with Queen.”

“Better now than later.” Pierce said.

“Why?” DM asked.

Pierce turned around to the scrunched up dark man. Pierce smiled at him before speaking. “Her full name is Christen Alice Queen, but she likes to be known as the Snow Queen. She found a way to absorb ambient and make it cold enough the natural moisture in the air turns to frost or snow. She became a super villain for a while, but she’s changing her ways. Cold weather always makes her want to go back to her old ways, and snow makes her, well wild.”

“Wild?” DM cocked an eyebrow.

Frank cut in. “She’s a sexually repressed woman, and snow makes her horny. I’m just glad I have my gun.”

Pierce couldn’t hold in his laugh. “She really likes Frank.”

“My wife doesn’t know about that, and I have no intention of telling her. If Queen says my wife will never know, back me up saying my wife tortures me until I tell her everything.” Frank said. He swerved, narrowly missing a driver on the wrong side of the road.

“So she knows about arrows?” DM asked.

“One of the ways she would freeze a place, say a bank, was to shoot an arrow into the building. Attached to the arrow would be her heat absorbing device. While everyone was freezing she would walk in and take the money.” Frank explained.

“She’s an expert archer, and would have gone for the Olympics if she didn’t have a record.” Pierce sat back in his chair. “Anymore she is a security consultant for companies who want to protect against people with special powers.”

“Like us.” DM said. Pierce said nothing.

Everyone was in a tense silence until they reached a small ranch style house just outside the city line. It looked like they kind of house a couple just starting out would buy. The house had a black roof, white vinyl siding, and black faux shutters. There was a black compact car parked in the concrete driveway next to the house. The drapes in the house were illuminated by strong lights, and it looked warm an inviting.

The three of them got out of the car and huddled under the small pointless awning and the one yard by one yard concrete stoop in front of the screen door which was in front of the wooden front door. Pierce pressed the button for the doorbell and inside soft chimes could be heard.

“Oh my God!” A female voice said through the door. Locks and chains were undone quickly and the front door opened.

The woman was breathtakingly beautiful. It was like a child’s doll had come to life and was breathing before the three men. She had blond hair that was rarely found in nature. Her eyes were a blue that even the sky couldn’t compare to. Her breasts were large, and were certainly not natural. Her waist was thin to the point one would think she had on a corset. Her legs were long, and to the point she was over six feet tall. With a body like she had, seeing her in pink sweat pants and a large yellow sweatshirt proclaiming ‘I am so great’ was completely out of character.

“Frank and Pierce, well I’m always up for a little three way, if you two are involved. And you brought a friend. I hope he likes to watch because two men at a time is my limit.” Her voice was deep and smooth, and would have sounded good on a coffee commercial. “But look you’re all wet. Let’s get out of the cold, out of those wet cloths, and into my bed.”

Pierce smiled. He walked past her into her house. “Oh Queen you always know what to say to make me warm all over, or did I just pee my pants?” She laughed throwing back her golden hair.

“Queen,” Frank said in a greeting. He also stepped into the inviting house.

“Frank I don’t suppose you went and got a divorce from your wife?” Queen asked laying her hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry no she’s still my wife.” Frank said.

“I know a good hit man who’ll solve that problem for under five hundred.” Queen offered.

“No thank you I think I’ll stay with my wife for now.” Frank said shrugging off his winter coat.

DM walked into the house. It was unusually warm inside, with a spice smell in the air, and that made it seem even more inviting. The living room was nothing more than a couch, an entertainment center with TV, and a rather sophisticated computer in the corner next to a bookshelf. The kitchen was next to the living room with only the carpet ending and linoleum staring to give any separation. There was a bedroom, bathroom, and utility room on the left of the door. Everywhere there were little knickknacks, pictures, dried flowers, and candles giving the house a home feeling.

“And you are?” Queen asked extending her hand.

“Dark Mateus,” DM said. Frank shot him a harsh look. The dark man had to remember that his name was different now, but at the moment it didn’t matter. “I’m working with Pierce and Frank.”

“Working?” Queen seemed shocked by the word. “So you guys aren’t here to do some horizontal humping on the bed. Damn and it’s getting so cold out I wouldn’t mind heating things up.” She came over and put her arms on Frank’s shoulders. “Do you feel a little cold Frank? You want me to warm you up? It’s supposed to start snowing tonight.”

Frank ducked out from under Queen’s hands. Was he just afraid that a beautiful woman like Queen might just be interested in a simple man like Frank? “We’re here because Pierce wanted you to take a look at some photos of an ongoing investigation.”

“Oh well it was worth a try.” Queen said to Frank. She turned to Pierce with a wide smile. “I don’t suppose this investigation has anything to do with leather, chains, and handcuffs?”

“Arrows,” Pierce said holding up the printed digital photos.

“Oh.” Queen took the photos from Pierce’s hand and turned around to look at them. She flipped the whole stack turning one or another to get a better view. “This is just one arrow.” Queen said to Pierce. “You lied to me.”

“I also lied to you when I said I was just a normal investigator.” Pierce said with a smile. Queen returned the smile. “So what can you tell me about the single arrow?”

Queen strode over to her computer and quickly connected to the internet. She went to her favorites and pulled up an on-line catalog for archery equipment. Queen scrolled down and in seconds there was a digital picture of the same arrow that was sticking out of Kasson. She turned around to explain. “This is a Buster brand Sure Flight long range arrow with a fused tip.”

“Are they rare?” Frank asked looking at the screen.

“They’re illegal.” Queen said smiling. She had the air of victory around her. “These are the Black Rhino of the archery world. That sharp pointed tip goes right through any body armor like a knife. That’s why they are illegal in the US. Whoever did this wanted the long range, so depending on how good they are it could have been shot from as far away as three hundred yards.”

Pierce butted in with a question. “Where would we find such a magnificent archer?”

“Right in front of you,” Queen said with sexual overtones. “Or if you want in the bedroom.”

“Queen!” Pierce said snapping her back to the real world.

“The only place to practice around here at that long of range is a range to the south on Pine Tree Road. I’ll get the address.” Queen got up and went to the phone book in the kitchen. “I would like something in return for my services.”

“As long as it involves our cloths staying on our bodies, okay,” Frank said.

Queen looked up with a smile and gave a long lingering look at Frank’s body. Her eyes scanned up and down his body and then rested on his eyes. “I can use my imagination. No, what I wanted was any idea how I can detect a person how can turn his body into a mist or steam and come through ventilation systems?”

No one spoke for a moment. “You could try an electrostatic screen.” DM spoke up. Everyone looked at him, including Queen with new respect. “If this person’s mist form conducts electricity it will make a small static electric charge on a screen in the ventilation system. All you would need is a volt meter hooked up to look for an increase in electric charge.”

Everyone was quiet for a while just looking at the dark man. “Your friend is smart.” Queen said like a little child talking about a teacher. “That might just work if I have a fine enough screen. Thanks, um what was your name again?”

“Dark Mateus,” DM said. Frank again gave him a look of dislike.

Frank moved over to the dark man and whispered his say. “Your name is John Doe.”

“No it’s not.” DM said. Frank shook his head and gave the dark man his personal space.

“Here it is.” Queen said scribbling down something on a post-it pad. She walked over to the trio with the paper sticking to one finger. “Who wants it?” Pierce snatched the paper from her finger.

“Thanks Queen.” Frank said heading for the door.

“Do you want to stick around for a cup of coffee?” Queen asked Frank, “Maybe a bottle of vodka, and a warm bed to sleep in, or not sleep in?”

“That’s a little much.” Pierce said to Queen.

She pouted. “Well if you must leave at least enjoy the snow. I love how it falls in the street lights. Too bad the ground’s too warm for it to stick.”

“Wait a week.” Pierce said. He snatched up his photos and headed for the door.

“Thank you very much for your help.” DM said.

“Any time,” Queen said giving DM a long lingering look. “Are you a local boy?”

“Yes and no.” DM said catching on. Give the woman half an answer and let her make up the rest. Frank opened the door and a cold blast of air hit the four of them at the door. The three men ran for the car in the pelting cold rain. Queen stood at the open door breathing in the cold air and letting it out in a string of steam from her mouth. She waved at them as they pulled out of her driveway.

The night was full upon the city. Everything was black and wet giving it a shine like glass. Only a few cars were on the roads making the rain visible in their headlights. The rain was starting to freeze in the air so when it hit the windscreen small crystals of ice were visible. Winter was in Chicago.

“I’m done for tonight.” Frank said driving. “I’m tired, I’m wet, I’m cold, and I’m hungry. We’ll meet at Pierce’s place tomorrow morning, check out that GC-MS, and then go tell the cops.”

“You don’t want to do this on our own?” Pierce asked sounding hurt.

“I do, but we should let them know so they can go down, get the body, and perform the autopsy. We’ll still be in the investigation, but we’ll let them take the credit while we are in control.” Frank said.

“Fine, but I want you to know that I’m not happy about this.” Pierce said looking out the window. The rain was lightening up to a fine cold mist of wet snowflakes.

“I don’t care if you are happy, the fact is you don’t have the facilities to do an autopsy, but the local police do.” Frank said. He eased into a turn and hydroplaned a little.

“So why wait until tomorrow?” DM asked.

“Because I’m tired,” Frank said. “I’ve been flying around all week, and I’m sick of this town. All I want is a full night’s sleep. I’ll pick you two up at Pierce’s place at nine tomorrow.” Frank turned another corner and was at Pierce’s place. “Now get out so I can go get something with alcohol in it.”

Pierce and DM got out of the car, in that order, and were instantly in the wet cold. Frank’s tires spun as he tried to gain instant speed on the wet roads. The detective and immortal looked at each other. “You think he’s going to call his wife?” Pierce asked.

“Call her what?” DM said as a deadpan joke.

“See you.” Pierce said going into the nightclub.

DM alone in the dark wet street finally felt the cold air around him. He hiked his jacket up and walked off to his car. He drove slowly and carefully through the dark, nearly deserted, streets and took the long way back to his apartment. The dark man left his dripping jacket on the coat hook by the door. He kicked off his wet shoes and put them before the refrigerator. He looked around his deserted home feeling quiet lonely, but something else. He liked the detective work, but felt left out of the investigation. It was clearly McKullen’s case looking for who killed Craig Kasson, but it was fun looking around and trying to figure out what happened.

The dark man went to his wood work room and began sweeping up. It was quiet work, and the dark man didn’t want quiet. While getting the sawdust out of the corner DM got his phone and called Dave.

“Hey Dave,” DM said.

“Dark, what’s up?” Dave asked. There were sounds of electronic gunfire in the background.

“I just got back from a long day.” DM said.

“Tell me about it.” To Dave asking someone to tell him about something meant he wanted to know the whole story. DM told his friend from start to finish about visiting Pierce McKullen, going out on a boat, finding the dead man, visiting Queen, and what he was probably doing the next day.

“I think the high point for me was meeting Queen.” DM said.

“She sounds hot, and no ring either.” Dave said.

“I didn’t notice one.”

“Did you get her phone number?”

“Sorry, no, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find out. Why?”

“Well one call to her, and she might want to meet your best friend, me.” Dave said. DM could hear his smile.

“I suppose you’d like this phone call to include the suggestion she really enjoy your company?” DM tempted his friend.

“That and have an overpowering urge to wear latex. I like latex.”

This made the dark man laugh. He’d heard it before from his friend. “So what are you doing for the rest of the night?” DM asked.

“Just killing people,” Dave said meaning he was playing his video game, “How about yourself?”

“I’m just going to make a few doughnuts and then go to bed. I figure that when I meet up with Pierce and Frank tomorrow they would like some home made, and free food.”

“Hey bring a few around to me tomorrow. I have to come in early and train a new employee. It should take about two hours.” Dave said. His convenience store turned over employees all the time, and he had the training down to a science.

“I’ll think about it.” DM said. He swept the last bit of saw dust into a dust pan and dumped it into a waste bin.

“Damn, I just died.” Dave said.

“I’ll let you kill people in peace.” DM said.

“Later bud.” Dave said.

“Later.” DM replied. The dark man put his phone back to where it was. He was near enough to his front windows to see the sign across the street. Rachel was out there, somewhere, and soon enough she would be in his arms. He missed her so much he hurt. Every single time DM married or with a woman he ended up married it felt like that.

A knock came from the door. This snapped DM out of his trance and he looked at his front door. There was hope in his heart. Could it be that Rachel had come back early, and was waiting for him at his front door. Would it be when he looked through the peephole he would see two enormous breasts. Could it be?

It was Pierce McKullen. The dark man was disappointed beyond words. His round head was smiling and his brown eyes were glowing.

“Want to see the ex-wife?” Pierce asked as soon as DM had opened the door.

It took DM a moment to figure out what McKullen had just said. Shaking his head DM said the only thing he could. “What?”

Pierce stepped into the apartment, and DM closed the door behind him. “I just got done talking with Jay Westgate, and he said that now he wants me to find out who killed Craig Kasson. I finally got hold of the ex-wife, and she agreed to talk with me. I wondered if you wanted to come with.”

“When?” DM asked.

“Now,” Pierce said it like there was nothing out of the ordinary.

“You do know I just got back from Vegas, right?” DM asked.

“Sure, and now that you’re here, and have no one else . . . I mean nothing else to do why not come with me?” Pierce intentionally made the mistake. This was to let the dark man know that Rachel was still not around. “Look I know that you’re enjoying yourself, now all I’m asking is that you become a more active participant in the investigation. You know wipe away a few cobwebs and oil some gears, and revise a few old skills.”

DM was trying to decide and wanted to buy some time. “Give me something else.”

“The explosive used was homemade plastic explosives.” Pierce said.

“How do you know that?”

“The GC-MS showed a high percentage of chlorine mixed in, so that means it was homemade plastic explosives. C-4 is the standard plastic explosives, Symtex has higher sulfur content, and homemade has higher chlorine content.” Pierce said like a person stating the facts before a class of students.

“I thought you said that gas thing was going to take a few hours.” DM said. He leaned down and checked his shoes, they were still wet.

“I did, and I lied. The GC-MS was done about two minuets after I started it. You didn’t notice how I got you two out so quickly? You see Frank is a great guy, but sometimes doesn’t understand the difference between the truth, and what’s good for the country. If the explosive was C-4 that would mean the government is somehow connected, and Frank would have shut out the local cops, and maybe even me. Now that we know it was homemade I have no problem letting Frank know too.”

DM went into his closet and pulled out a thicker coat, and fished around for his boots. “Okay so how did you get the ex-wife to talk with us?” DM found the boots and pulled them out.

“I e-mailed her the photos of her dead former husband.” Pierce said. “She said she’d talk to me as soon as I could get to her place. I figured you’d want to join me.”

DM stood up on his boots and laced them up. “I don’t suppose this has anything to do with the fact I can make her tell the truth?”

“That’s only a handy thing to have around if needed.” Pierce said, “Much like my own abilities.”

DM stood up and was ready to go. “You’re still not going to tell me what those are, are you.”

“Not on your life.” Pierce said. “We’ll take your car. Don’t forget a notepad and pen.”

Pierce directed DM through the dark deserted streets. DM couldn’t help but get a little jab in. “How are you going to be able to leave this behind?”

“Leave what behind?” Pierce asked completely confused.

“You have all this mystery and investigation, and then you’ll go into a lab where you don’t see sunlight for hours on end?” DM said. The snow was coming down and the wipers on the car were at their slowest speed. Little spots of white went zipping over the windscreen and up over the car without even touching the black.

“Oh being in the lab is like a less dangerous version of an investigation, and with far fewer humans. Take a left here.” Pierce said.

“Oh really I can’t believe you would enjoy that more than this.” DM said.

“There’s more to life than my enjoyment.” Pierce said quietly, and more to himself. “Kelly and I are in love, and we want to marry, but not until after college. Well when that happens I have no intention of keeping up this life threatening crap. The most dangerous think I’ll be working with will be chemicals that could turn into deadly gas, and that I can predict, so I won’t have to worry too much about that.”

“I can’t believe it.” DM said.

“Believe it, Kelly means too much to me. That’s why I like it much better when she stays safe at home, and not out in the dangerous situations I find myself in.” Pierce said dead serious. “She was hurt, bad, once, and I gave up the mystery life style for a while. Take a right here. Well one thing led to another, and Kelly forced me to take care of a problem. I can’t tell you what it was, but she threatened me.”

DM was smiling thinking of what that meant. “Okay you know I have to ask what that means.”

“She told me that if I didn’t take care of the problem she would, and that would have meant she would have been hurt more that before.” Pierce said without humor. “You’re centuries old, why are women so stubborn?”

“Pal I have been trying to figure that out since I was ten years old and in the seven hundred eighteen years since I have not come up with an answer. You should have been around during the nineteen sixties. That’s when women really became stubborn.”

Pierce snorted at that. “I think it’s that big house up the way.”

“Which one?” DM asked. The street was a long quiet street with four and five story houses on either side with lawns in front larger than football fields. Most of the houses were white, with a few red brick, and just as many had fountains sitting close to the front entrances. Every house had an eight foot stone or brick wall separating the property from the sidewalk and the street.

“I think it’s that one with the tall black metal gate. Yeah that’s the one.” Pierce said.

“Okay got it.” DM said pulling up to the speaker box on the brick wall near the gate. He pressed the red button just below the speaker.

“Yes?” A male voice said clear as a bell through the slotted box.

“Dark Mateus and Pierce McKullen to see. . .” DM looked over at Pierce.

“Tara Loar.” Pierce said realizing DM had never heard what the ex-wife’s name was.

“Tara Loar.” DM said quickly. Even before he spoke the entire name the front gate buzzed and was slowly opening. “That’s right we were expected.”

“I was expected, but company is good to have along.” Pierce said. “You ready with that voice of yours. We may need answers she might not want to give, or if she is guilty and tries to make a run for it we’ll need to stop her without hurting her.”

DM pulled slowly into the grounds, and the gate closed behind. The black car glided on the wet road up to the house, and DM stopped at the brightly lit white house. The grand red door opened noiselessly. The two detectives got out of the car and were greeted by a butler.

“Pierce McKullen and Dark Mateus to see the lady of the house,” DM said to the butler.

“Please come with me, and try not to drip on the floor.” The butler said. He was short with a bald head, and eyes set close together. He was even wearing a butler’s uniform. He seemed so slight that holding a grain of rice would have made him lean over.

The pair was led into a room that might have been a library, if the books looked too valuable to touch. There was a couch and overstuffed chairs in a circle around a low table all white. A fireplace was set into the wall with many windows, but there wasn’t a fire going, and wouldn’t be for a while, and definitely not for two detectives.

“Please wait for Mistress Loar here.” The butler didn’t give them a second glance when he left.

“All this can be yours if you sell your soul.” Pierce said and smiled afterwards.

“Stop that.” DM said. “I could have this if I want to tell every burglar in the world, ‘hello I have money please rob me.’ I don’t see any alarms or even cameras around.”

“That is because I have faith in my fellow man.” A female voice said behind the two detectives.

Neither man jumped, but both hearts skipped a beat. The voice was powerful, and deep, and when they turned the voice matched the woman. She wasn’t tall, but stood and walked like she could dominate any person if she chose to do so. Her body was formed like a business woman, flat chest, slim waist, wide hips, and long legs. She didn’t have on the usual business outfit, but a casual blouse and slacks that are something a person with money would wear when trying to be leisurely. Her hair was blond, but had a few strands of gray hair mixed in, which only complimented her look. Her cheek bones were high, and her jaw defined giving a handsome look to her early forty year old face.

“Miss Loar.” Pierce said as a way of greeting. “I am Pierce McKullen and this is my partner Dark Mateus.”

Tara Loar shook hands with the dark man and looked him up and down. “I must say you both are younger than I had expected.” She offered a seat and they all sat down so they could see each other without turning.

“That does not make us any less competent investigators.” Pierce said. He pulled out a note pad.

Tara sniffed a little before she spoke. “I can’t believe Craig is really dead. When you e-mailed me those pictures I thought they were a cruel joke.”

“I can assure you Miss Loar they were real. I was the one who found your former husband.” DM said.

“That is the only reason why I agreed to this meeting.” Tara said. “I expect the police will become involved?”

“Yes we plan on going to them in the morning.” Pierce said. “For now I have a few questions for you.” Pierce gave DM a sideways look.

The dark man knew what McKullen wanted. It was one of the main reasons why Pierce wanted him along. “Tara Loar please answer all questions we pose to you with the complete truth.” The dark man said using his power. If Tara would try to resist she did not give any indication as she looked at the dark man.

“So ask away.” Tara said.

“When was the last time you knew your husband was alive?” Pierce asked.

Tara took one breathe and thought back. “I believe it was December twenty-ninth, two days before New Year’s Eve. He called about our daughter’s birthday party on January ninth. She’s turning eighteen and he really wanted to give her something special, a brand new car. I kept telling him that there was no need, but he kept insisting. I won’t say we ended on an argument, but he said he was still going to get her a car.” Tara was almost crying. She was sniffling, and her eyes were filled with tears that had yet to flow.

“I don’t mean to upset you Miss Loar, but why didn’t your former husband use your own boat?” DM asked.

Tara sniffed and composed herself. “The boat is in dry-dock right now. He took it out of the water in October, and even thou it was warm it was easier to use Jay’s boat. Craig always liked to take his boat out onto the lake with our daughter. She is great when it comes to piloting a boat.”

“So you didn’t know he was going out on the lake?” DM asked.

“No he didn’t say where he was. I was out on the golf course myself. You can check with my club.” Tara said.

“Then you realize we consider you a suspect?” Pierce asked quite bluntly.

“Of course you suspect me, I would.” Tara said with a smile that looked like a shark. “After all my former husband’s will giving me everything was still in effect when he died. I heard about his new will, with that gold digger of a new wife of his, burned up in a fire. So everything still goes to me.”

The dark man looked around and asked. “It doesn’t look like you need it, do you?”

“No.” Tara said flatly. “I didn’t when I married Craig, and I don’t now. After all that’s why I signed that prenuptial agreement without hesitation. That and I love him, sorry loved him.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you make your money?” Pierce asked.

Tara smiled, it was after all a question she got a lot, and enjoyed answering. “I started up a trucking company, and bought out many others. I basically became big quickly, and consolidated to pay off creditors, and start making money in less than five years. I guess that’s why Craig and I made such a great pair. We worked hard for our money, and were devilishly clever doing it.”

There was a pause in the questioning. Pierce wrote down notes in his pad, and DM was thinking. The dark man spoke first. “Why did you get a divorce then?”

Tara hesitated before speaking. The dark man’s command made her speak the truth, even if she didn’t want to, and wouldn’t have otherwise. “If you’ve ever been in love with a person you’ll believe anything they tell you. When Craig told me he broke it off with a girlfriend, for me, I believed him without question. It wasn’t until years later he confessed something to me. Just before we were to be married he made love to the woman, and she became pregnant.”

“What was this woman’s name?” Pierce asked.

“Mary-Ann Silver.” Tara said with a biting tone to her voice. “She gave Craig something I never could, a son. When Lana was born it was a difficult birth, and it left me with the inability to have anymore children. I guess that’s why Craig gave Lana so much attention. She was his only legitimate child.”

“What was the name of his illegitimate child?” Pierce asked.

“I don’t know.” Tara said. “I didn’t want to know. He was born three weeks before Lana if that helps.”

“It might.” Pierce said.

“Is Lana here now?” DM asked.

“No she went out to the paintball range for a day of fun, and won’t be back until late. She has to go back to school Monday, so she wanted one day of fun at the range, one day to recover, one day with me, and then one day to get ready for school.” Tara said sounding proud of her daughter.

“Your daughter likes paintball wars?” Pierce asked.

“Oh yes that’s her favorite sport.” Tara smiled as she talked. “The first time she heard about it was when she went bird watching and was caught in the middle of one. After that she couldn’t get enough of them. I think she was thirteen at the time. Oh some days she’d come back with huge green, purple, or blue bruises all over her body, but she’s wear them like a badge of courage. Every chance she gets she’s out at the paintball range trying to hit her friends before they hit her.” Tara laughed as she spoke. “Lana wants to become a psychiatrist, and she says it is so she can do better at paintball wars. Really she feels she can help people with mental problems.”

DM thought for a moment. “Did she ever seem interested in archery?”

This took Tara back for a moment. “No not really. Lana said she could only shoot an animal with a camera, and humans with a paintball, but never bows and arrows. She is sort of dating someone who is interested in archery, but she says that’s his game.”

DM and Pierce sat up hearing this. “What do you mean she’s sort of dating a guy?” Pierce asked.

“Well she doesn’t want to get involved with someone so soon before college starts. So she hangs out with him less than other boyfriends she’s had. I’ve never met him, but I think Lana is grown up enough to know a good guy from a bad guy. She’s probably with him right now. He practices at the archery range right next to the Pine Tree Paintball course.”

For the second time the dark man and the young detective sat even straighter. “Pine Tree Paintball course is the name of the course, and the street it is on?” DM asked.

“Yes, is that important?” Tara asked a question of her own.

“And that paintball course is right next to a very long archery range?” Pierce asked.

“Yes, I had to pick up Lana once or twice from the course, and you can see the signs for the archery range.” Tara was sensing that she just said something important. Then she realized what it was. “You think that someone from the archery range killed Craig?”

“It’s a possibility.” Pierce said. He looked at DM and asked. “Can you think of any more questions?”

The dark man turned to Tara and asked. “May we see Lana’s room?”

Tara hesitated for a long moment. “If it will help you find out who killed Craig I’ll do anything. Follow me.” Tara stood up, gracefully, and walked out. The two men walked quickly to catch up. Tara waved to the butler. “It’s alright, I’ve got them.”

Pierce whispered to DM. “Do you feel like a dog?”

“Thank you very much for doing this Miss Loar.” DM said to the back of the woman.

At the foot of the stairs she stopped and turned and looked at the two gentlemen. “I’m doing this for Craig and Lana. We were separated for three years before we finalized the divorce. We still loved each other, but we had different lives. I want to know who killed Craig, and you two are going to do it for me.” She walked up the stairs without giving the two a second glance.

“I feel used.” DM said sarcastically.

“Of course you’re being used.” Tara said without turning. It might have been a joke in any other setting, but in a multi-million dollar house it made both men feel uneasy. Tara reached the top of the stairs and walked down a short hallway to a door. The door looked like any other white painted door in the house. Tara only hesitated for a moment before turning the brass knob and opening the door.

The room wasn’t dark or full of satanic symbols like DM was expecting. It was like two worlds living in the same space. One part of the room was white and pink, like the bed, the makeup mirror, or the wallpaper. The other part of the room was almost like a war zone. The closet was filled with not only pink outfits, but also camouflage jumpsuits and other outfits. The TV, VCR, and DVD player was in the corner, and with the mix of drama and love story movies was a mix of war movies and strategy films.

Pierce was looking at the pictures around the mirror. DM was looking at the videos. “What are you looking for?” Tara asked.

“Something,” Pierce replied.

“Anything,” DM said.

The two were working in unison as they searched. The closet was empty of any archery equipment, but did have several cameras, and paintball equipment. The videos were all professionally made, and none were homemade. Pierce checked under the bed and pulled out two cardboard storage boxes. DM went through one, and found many old school papers, and under them magazines that made Tara blush.

“I didn’t think she had any magazines with those kinds of pictures in them.” Tara said. The naked men in the magazine would make any mother blush.

“Who’s this?” Pierce asked holding up a photo.

“That’s one of Lana’s old boyfriends.” Tara said. She said the same about other men in other photos Pierce held up. “That’s one I’ve never seen before.” Tara said about one of the last photos Pierce held up.

Pierce turned the photo over and saw that the photo was developed one month before. The woman in the photo looked so much like Tara she had to be Lana. She had dirty blond hair, pulled back in a pigtail, and wore no makeup. Her blue eyes and thin lips were on a teenage guy who looked embarrassed to be either kissed or photographed. He had short brown hair, and light brown eyes. His face was long, and his nose was small. She was blushing in the picture, and his mouth was open to show straight teeth only slightly stained yellow. Both teenagers were in forest green jackets, and Lana’s had a splatter of yellow paint on the shoulder.

“You’ve never seen this guy before?” Pierce asked again.

“No, that may be her new man. I wonder why she never showed that to me.” Tara wondered.

“May we borrow this photograph then?” Pierce asked.

“Sure be my guest.” Tara said.

DM and Pierce put things back in the boxes. “We’ll need to speak with your daughter.” DM said.

“Okay.” Tara said reluctantly. “Tomorrow be here in the morning, say eleven?”

“That will be fine.” DM said for the both of them.

“I’ll let Lana know as soon as she gets home. She probably went to the coffee shop across the street from the paintball course with her friends after trying to kill each other.” Tara said.

She led the men out of her daughter’s room, and down the stairs. The butler opened the door for them, and a cold blast of air covered them with goose bumps. Tara looked tired and older than she had been. Her former husband was dead, everything points to her, and her daughter may be dating the guy who did it. “Please find out who killed Craig.” Tara pleaded one last time.

“We’ll do our best.” Pierce said.

DM nodded his head and glanced around one last time. “It might be a good idea to get security for your home.” DM said. He used his powers on the last five words, and Tara nodded her head.

“I think I will see about getting a security system put in.” Tara said with a slight smile.

The snow was slight now, and there wasn’t even the hint of wind. Small crystals of frozen water melted as soon as they landed on the pair getting into the black car. The dark man started the engine and they slowly pulled away from the house. The gate opened slowly when they approached, and the black car smoothly pulled onto the street.

“So what do you think?” Pierce asked.

“I don’t think that Tara did it.” DM said flatly. “She didn’t need the money, and she loved her former husband, so I think that rules her out.”

“Agreed, so what about the daughter?” Pierce asked.

“I honestly don’t think she did it either, at least not personally.” DM said. “It’s possible she piloted the rowboat while her boyfriend shot her father. Tara did say she knew boats.”

“True, but I didn’t get the feeling she would want anyone to kill he father.” Pierce said. “Pull into this gas station I want to get something to eat. I haven’t had anything since breakfast.”

“It’s true that with money you can get just about anything and that includes arrows that are illegal in the United States.” DM said as he guided into the gas station.

“You don’t need to be wealthy to get illegal things. You just have it sent down to Mexico where there are people who then mail it up here without it going through security checks.” Pierce said. He unbuckled his seatbelt. “You want anything?”

“I’ll go in with you.” DM said getting out with Pierce. The overhang from the pumps made it to where they had parked, so the only thing landing on them was the harsh florescent light. “You know what I don’t get?” DM said as he leaned on the top of his black car.

He didn’t get to finish his statement. From the left side of his chest poking through his black coat was a sharp point. Pierce and the dark man looked down at it for a moment to understand that an arrow had just been shot into DM’s chest. The tip was almost clean of blood until it dripped down the purple shaft.

“Ah shit,” DM said realizing he was just mortally wounded. “I liked this coat.”

Pierce was already down in the safety of the car. DM’s vision was already starting to go black, and he could feel himself becoming light headed. He swallowed and tasted blood. “Preserve the fingerprints.” He was able to choke out before his vision went completely black and he was gone.

The first think the dark man was conscious of, other than the darkness, was the cold flat table he was on. It could only have been metal. He flexed his fingers, and a low groan left his throat when he tried to breath. It was tough, and there was something solid in his lungs, blood. He coughed and felt the mass dislodge a little, and the taste of copper filled his mouth covering up the taste of bad breath. He coughed again and the mass moved up his throat, and instinctually he swallowed the mass into his reawakening stomach. He felt his breathing become easier and he opened his eyes.

Pierce McKullen was over him holding a scalpel. There was a disappointed grin on his face. “Stay dead, I want to see what you’re made of.”

DM swallowed to wet his throat so he could speak. “This is the exact same scene from one hundred fifty years ago, but you’re not a beautiful woman.” The dark man raised an arm and pointed at Pierce.

“I’m going to act offended by that.” Pierce said putting the scalpel back.

The dark man let his mind feel his body, and found no unusual pains so he tried to sit up. He wobbled for a little, and Pierce made no move to help him. DM fell back onto the table. He knew he wasn’t completely healed yet. “Where am I?”

“The morgue,” Pierce said flatly. DM opened his eye to give Pierce an ugly stare. “What?” Pierce asked offended, “its right next to the forensics lab. I figured that while they were checking out the arrow you should lay down. What better place than an autopsy table.” Pierce turned around a pulled something off a table. “By the way, you’re dead.” He held up a death certificate.

DM closed his eyes and sat up again. This time he didn’t wobble as much and made his eyes focus on the paper. “John Doe, ha that’s rich, maybe now I can go back to using Dark Mateus as my name?”

DM looked around him. The morgue was dead silent. No one was about, and only half the lights were on. One wall was nothing more than a long table with sinks spaces out, and large wooden cabinets above. There were six autopsy tables made of stainless steel with raised edges and large lights over top, and three were occupied with sheet covered human forms. The dark man had a sheet of his own, but it was pushed down to his legs. His black coat was gone, but his black shirt remained with a large hole above the heart and saturated with dried blood. He could feel his black pants and his boots still on his person.

“How long have I been out?” DM asked.

“About four and one half hours, give or take five minutes.” Pierce said.

DM groaned as he lay back on the cold metal table. “So it’s not quite morning.”

“Not yet.” Pierce said. “Now that you’re alive, again, what do you need?”

“Water, and protein, meat preferably,” DM said.

“I’ll be right back. This place has the best vending machines.” Pierce said. He pulled the white sheet over DM’s body and covered his face.

DM listened as Pierce left the room and the white sheet gently fell over his face. DM mused at the fact that he had another death certificate to add to his collection. He was now legally dead six times. The dark man was happy that at least this time they hadn’t drained out his blood and filled him with preservatives. He shuddered at that thought, for that was a real painful time coming back to life.

The sound of the door opening snapped DM back from his reminiscing. He let out a single groan of dislike of moving, but he was needed. Pierce must have gotten to the vending machines quickly. At least dying he didn’t have to worry about a night’s sleep, being dead usually took care of that. DM sat up and pulled the sheet down from his face.

“OH GOD! AH SHIT! AH SHIT! OH GOD!” It wasn’t Pierce.

This man was an Asian looking man with graying hair at the temples. He was a rather small man, less than five feet five inches in height. His white lab coat almost reached his ankles, and extended well beyond his wrists so he rolled them back. He had black rimmed reading glasses perched on his nose, but were about to fall off. He was bent over another autopsy table in shock and fear. He was breathing heavy and looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

“I’m sorry.” DM apologized. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Scare me!” The man yelled. “I wasn’t scared. I was living nightmare terrified!” His breathing was slowing down, but he was angry because he was startled.

Pierce came in with two bottles of water, beef jerky, and sandwiches in his hands. He had a grin on his face that he knew what happened. “Dr. Goldman this is Dark Mateus, the man I told you would come back to life.” Pierce dumped the food on DM’s lap.

“He was dead!” Dr. Goldman yelled at Pierce. “He had to be dead, no heartbeat, no breathing, no brain activity, and oh yeah a hole in his heart. He was dead.” Dr. Goldman was getting less angry.

The dark man smiled at this. “Hey I was a coroner once.” DM said and both eyes looked at him. “This was years ago, but when I died and came back to life my assistant made me sign my own death certificate.”

Dr. Goldman shook his head and looked over at Pierce. “You get the strangest cases. Now get out of my morgue before I kill you and have to keep you.” DM gathered up the food and made it out the door behind Pierce. Pierce led the way to a windowless room with many tables and vending machines. The tables were cheep plastic, and the chairs were molded orange fiberglass.

DM took a seat and dug into his food. Pierce looked over the vending machines and bought a can of highly carbonated caffeinated beverage. He sat down across from DM as he sunk his teeth into a roast beef sandwich. “Well while you were playing dead I’ve been busy.”

DM didn’t say anything, but looked up at Pierce. Pierce continued. “Mary-Ann Silver did have a boy. Daniel Henry Silver was born on December twenty-second a healthy six pounds one ounce.”

Pierce stopped talking and looked pleased with his search. DM on the other hand was not impressed. “That’s it?”

Pierce looked annoyed. “Okay I took a cat nap, give me a break. Besides I also kind of had to tell Frank about what we did after we parted. He isn’t happy. He was even less happy that I woke him up. I think he misses his wife. I also sort of had to let homicide in on what we’ve been up to. A friend of mine is coming in early, and he’s not happy either.”

“You just enjoy pissing people off don’t you?” DM said opening a water bottle and washing away the bad taste in his mouth. “So where does this Daniel Sliver live?”

“No idea, I haven’t gotten that far yet.” Pierce said. “Besides I want to find out if the fingerprints on the arrow match up to anyone. I don’t want to go chasing after an innocent man.” There was a brief pause before Pierce started talking again. “So what is it like being dead?”

DM couldn’t help but smile. It was a question that he had faced more times than he cared to count. “It is nothing, all death is for me is darkness. Of course I come back to life so death for me might be different than for other people.”

Pierce laughed, burped, and laughed more. “So do you always come back to life so quickly?”

“Oh no not nearly as quickly, some times I stay dead for half a year, but that usually only happens when I’m burned to ashes.” DM said. “When I get my head cut off it takes about three months to regain consciousness. With a little hole in the heart four and a half hours is typical.”

The dark man ripped off part of the beef jerky with his teeth and chewed. “Say does that name Daniel Sliver match anyone who rented a row boat?”

“No I already checked that.” Pierce said. “Now all I can do is wait for detective Green to show up.”

“Pierce McKullen!” An angry voice yelled out. The man in question had short cropped dark blond hair, and small beady brown eyes. His nose was crooked from having it broken and improperly set. He was tall, over six feet, and his broad shoulders made him look like a former football player. He walked like a determined man who was out to kill whoever sideswiped his car. He had on a long thick navy blue coat, and his shoes were the leather kind that looked nice, but were easier on the feet for extended walking.

“Hi Green.” Pierce said happy.

“Don’t ‘Hi Green’ me you little prick. I get a wake up call at four o’clock in the morning from YOU! I come to find out that you have not only found Craig Kasson, but that you found he was dead, shot through the heart with an arrow, at the bottom of the lake, in a boat that wasn’t even his.” Green had to take a breath before he could yell at Pierce more. He could have been angry, but his face wasn’t red and he wasn’t spitting when he talked. “Then I’m told that you brought in a body, but don’t worry about that, who was shot with the exact same type of arrow after you got done talking with Tara Loar. Did I miss anything?”

Pierce blinked a few times. “The boat was sunk with home made plastic explosives. The arrows are illegal in the US. We believe that the person who killed Kasson is either Lana, Tara Loar’s daughter, her boyfriend, or Kasson’s illegitimate child. The body I brought in his him.” Pierce was pointing at DM.

Green turned his brown eyes to DM who looked guilty without reason. “You don’t look dead.”

“Dark Mateus,” DM said standing and extending a hand. “I can be killed, but I come back to life a few hours later.”

“Cute,” Green replied less than impressed. The detective turned back to Pierce. “What are you just sitting around for?” Green asked.

“The forensics unit will not tell me whose fingerprints were on the arrow that killed Mateus without you present.” Pierce said. This was an unwritten rule. Pierce could give something to the forensics lab for them to work on, but they would only give the results to a formal detective, but Pierce could be present.

“Fine let’s go.” Green said stomping off down the hall.

Pierce and DM caught up as the three of them walked through the double doors to the forensics lab. There were two long tables with black tops to them, and sinks at their ends. The tables were cluttered with different pieces of equipment, but all with the theme of trying to make a box of pale white plastic. Along the back wall were cabinets ranging from no larger than a shoe box to twice the size of a full grown man. Stuck in one corner was a photographing table with positioning lights pointed down at a blank white surface, and in the wall next to the table was a large black plastic cylinder that led to the darkroom. In the far corner were five different computers all set up ready to be used, but only one was being used at the moment.

The man using the computer could have passes as a high school principal. He had a kind friendly face that always seemed to smile and make his whole head seem round. His hair was a combed over thin mop of gray hair. The glasses on his face were thick enough to be used as bulletproof windscreens. He heard detective Green before, so was prepared with the results.

“There you are Howard.” The laboratory technician said to detective Green. His voice had a waver in it like he was going to go into some kind of spasm at any moment. “I have the results from that arrow you gave me.” No one batted an eye that the tech was talking like Green was already on the case. The tech pulled up a computer file. “The fingerprint doesn’t match anyone in our criminal database. Is there some other database you would like me to check?”

“Can you check the child identification database?” Pierce asked even though the tech’s eyes were firmly fixed on detective Green.

“I’ll try, but understand that the two usable prints I lifted off the arrow are from a full grown person. These child prints need to be expanded to fit, and sometimes the computer misses the right one.” The tech said.

“Try this name first.” Pierce said. “Daniel Henry Silver.”

The tech punched a few buttons on his computer. “There’s no such person, anything else?”

Green looked over at Pierce with a questioning glance. “That’s all I’ve got for now,” Pierce said with a shrug.

Green patted the shoulder of the tech. “Let me know if you find anything.”

“I did find something else on the arrow. There was a small fiber stuck to the nock. It is some kind of synthetic black fiber, but I’ll need to run a few more tests. If you bring me the bow then I’ll be able to match the string to the arrow. I also checked that piece of the boat you brought in, and found that you were correct in saying homemade plastic explosives were used. This is so unique that if you bring me another sample I will be able to say for certain that the two are the same.” The tech was looking at the computer screen searching through fingerprints faster than the eye could see.

“Thanks keep me informed,” Green said turning to leave.

“I also looked over the digital photos you gave me. I would have to recommend that the man in the boat was shot first with the arrow, and then the boat was sunk,” The tech said without turning around.

“Thank you.” Green said. He was about to turn and leave when he asked. “Is that all?”

“That is all I know.” The tech said in his wavering voice.

Green walked off without looking behind him to see if DM and Pierce were following. The dark man saw from where Pierce had learned how to be an ass, and quite possibly who the male roll model was. Green took the pair back to his office at the police precinct. His office wasn’t large, but also wasn’t small, with many windows divided by wood all around so anyone could look in. His desk was a large scared scratched wooden table. Behind him were file cabinets and on a separate table sat a computer in power saver mode.

Green walked around the desk. He tossed his coat on top of a file cabinet, and he dropped in his chair. It squeaked as he leaned back. With his eyes closed and his hands behind his head. “Talk,” Was all he said to Pierce. Pierce talked, and told him all about what he had done in his investigation. Pierce talked about finding the boat, and even gave credit to DM for finding the body. He talked about learning what kind of arrow was used. Pierce told Green about the interview with Tara Loar in great detail.

When Pierce finished the precinct was picking up with more people coming in, and the sun was making the artificial light seem unnecessary. Green sat up in his chair, with another loud squeak. Howard Green gave Pierce McKullen a disappointed look. “You annoying prick.”

Pierce was unfazed by this. “Kelly doesn’t think my prick is annoying.”

“You couldn’t wrap up this investigation before involving me. You’re making me work. You’re an ass.” Green sat up and pressed a key on the computer’s keyboard. “So what was that bastard child of Kasson’s?”

“Daniel Henry Silver.” Pierce said.

Green pulled up a program and typed the name in. “If he’s alive he doesn’t have a driver’s license under that name. What was his mom’s name?”

“Mary-Ann P. Silver.” Pierce said.

Green again typed the name into the computer. “Oh hell here’s why there’s no kid by that name. This Mary-Ann P. Sliver married ten years ago to a Marvin B. Houcks, she changed her name. Let me try Daniel Henry Houcks.” Green did so though drowsy eyes. “Ha, here we are I even have an address.”

DM leaned over Green’s shoulder to look at the monitor. “That’s the same guy from the photograph.”

“It is?” Pierce was surprised. He pulled out the snapshot of Lana kissing her half brother. Pierce put the photograph next to the monitor for all to see.

“That’s her half brother? Now that’s just disturbing.” Green said.

“Is there any information on him?” DM asked.

“No but I do have an address.” Green said. “I have every intention of going there after two things. One that boat should be either raised by now, and I want to meet this Lana Loar. Come on we’ll take my car.”

DM complained he didn’t have a coat, so Green fished around in a closet until he came up with a spare officer’s winter jacket. The sleeves were too long, and the jacket didn’t even extend all the way to DM’s waist. It smelled of cigarettes, and it itched where it touched bare skin. DM was sorry he asked for one until he stepped out into the bitter cold with a biting wind.

Green’s car was more cramp than Frank’s rental, or maybe it was just the back seat, then it was only cramp for DM. Green pulled out his siren and flashing light, but in Chicago no one could move out of his way, so it took just as long getting to the lake with the siren as without. Green pulled up just in time to see a barge with Jay Westgate’s boat laying on it slowly move forward. The coroner was already there, but it wasn’t Dr. Goldman. The air was cold, the water from the lake made everything seem wet, the wind was always facing a person, and thus made things seem colder. There was snow in odd patches of the ground giving a hint of what was on the way. This made everyone particularly miserable.

“They worked quickly.” DM commented.

“There’s a large floating crane on a boat that can lift other boats such as this clean out of the water. It’s something the state bought a long time ago, but rents out from time to time so private citizens can use it.” Pierce said showing his depth of knowledge.

Green watched as the barge came forward. “As soon as Pierce gave me the GPS coordinates I called it in. They started right away before the lake froze over. I’ll let the forensics people work on the boat. I need to know who you talked to at the boat rental place.”

“Here’s my notepad.” Pierce said handing the book of paper over.

“I’ll get it later. For now I think it’s time we talked with Lana Loar.” Green replied walking off to the car with his hands in his pockets. The drive took over an hour, and it was ten minutes before eleven by the time Green pulled up at the Loar residents. Pierce had slept the whole way, but woke up just as the gates to the home were coming into view.

“Are we there yet?” Pierce asked opening his eyes.

“Shut up.” Green replied. He pulled up to the intercom at the gate, “Pierce McKullen, Dark Mateus, and homicide detective Howard Green to see the Loar family.” There was no response.

Pierce smiled. “You have to press the button first.” Green cursed and did as Pierce said, and then repeated himself. The gate opened.

“Why is it whenever we speak you seemed to add more people to your entourage?” Tara Loar said at the doorway. “Now get in before you let all the heat out.” She was in a navy blue business suit and her hair was done up so the gray didn’t even show.

The three men walked in and were escorted to the library where DM and Pierce had their previous interview. Waiting for them was Lana Loar. She was dressed in a brown blouse and blue jeans. She looked sad and depressed with her blond hair falling over her face half hiding her eyes. She looked up at the people who walked in and sobered up.

“Hello,” Lana said standing up.

“Hello,” Green said making introductions. Everyone sat down and Green started his interview. “Pierce McKullen has a photograph he’d like to show you.”

Pierce pulled out the snap shot and showed it to Lana. She smiled wide and giggled a little covering her face. “Oh my God I can’t believe you found that photo.”

“Who is that man in the photograph?” Pierce asked.

“That’s my half brother Danny.” Lana said. She said it like she was stating what day it was. The response was dramatic for her mother. Lana saw this and explained to her mother. “Just because you didn’t want anything to do with him doesn’t mean I didn’t.”

“I never told you.” Tara said to her daughter.

“Dad did, right after your divorce. I found him and we’ve been pals for years. I knew you didn’t like him so I never told you.” Lana said.

“So why are you kissing him in the picture?” DM asked confused.

Lana smiled at what had to be the joke. “Danny thinks he might be gay because he said he’d never been kissed, so I kissed him. One of the guys snapped the picture just as I kissed him on the cheek.”

The three detectives looked at each other trying to decide if what she was saying was the truth? “Lana Loar please tell the truth.” DM said using his power. “Do you know who killed your father?”

Lana looked away trying not to answer. She opened her mouth to speak then closed it. “Lana, honey, please for your father, do you know?” Tara asked.

Lana turned her gaze to her mother. Tears were in both their eyes, and Lana was trying to swallow. “I don’t know but I had an idea who.” Lana said.

“Is it your half brother?” Green asked. “Could he have shot Craig Kasson with an arrow?”

“No.” Lana said. “Danny knows about computers, but he couldn’t pull back a bow to save his life. I think it might have been Matt.”

There was a pause while everyone waited for Lana to elaborate. She didn’t. Pierce flipped through his notepad. “Could that be Mathew Bertok by any chance?” Pierce asked reading it right out of his notepad.

Lana looked at him with some shock. “Yes that’s his last name.”

“And he wouldn’t happen to practice with Buster brand Sure Flight long range arrow with a fused tip at the archery range near the paintball course, would he?” Dark Mateus asked.

“Yes the purple arrows with a long sharp point.” Lana said becoming worried.

“How do you know Mr. Bertok?” Green asked.

Lana conceded to the idea he might have killed her father. “Ah shit, he use to practice at the archery range and we hung out at the coffee shop. I liked the guy, but I told him that we couldn’t have anything together since I was going off to college at the end of the semester.” Lana swallowed remembering something. “Oh my God he said he’d find a way to make me love him.”

“Did he know that your mother got everything if your father died if the new will took effect?” Green asked.

Lana started to cry. “He knew Dad was making a new will for his new wife, and who was doing it. He knew that mom got everything in the old will. He even knew Dad would sometimes go boating using Jay’s boat. Oh God I killed Dad.” Tara leaned over and took her daughter in her arms. Tara was crying almost as much as her daughter.

Detective Green stood up and left to the doorway of the room. He pulled out his cellular phone and called out. In short time he came back to the party. “Okay Miss Loar you’ll need to come to the prescient and make a statement. The sooner you make that statement the sooner we can talk to Mathew Bertok.” What Green left out was the way he was going to talk to Bertok was by arresting him.

“Should I go now?” Lana asked her mother.

“I’ll drive.” Tara said helping her daughter.

It was a short drive, and her statement was short, and she named Mathew Bertok. Green filled out an arrest warrant and took it over to the court so it could be signed by a judge. Detective Green took two black and white cars out to the Bertok residence with Pierce and DM right behind.

“Just stay back.” Green said to his two shadows.

“Okay,” DM said.

“Like always,” Pierce said.

The three were just getting out of the car when something flew through the air. The arrow narrowly missed detective Green’s head. Someone swore and everyone ducked behind their cruisers. In seconds every officer had his or her firearm out pointed at the house the arrow came from. From a small opening in the wall of the house an arrow point poked out. The shaft was purple with a long slender point.

“Mathew Bertok, this is detective Howard Green. I have a warrant for your arrest. Toss out your weapon and come out with your hands up.” Green yelled out.

The response was an arrow being shot right where Green was behind the car. The arrow went through the roof of the car, shattered a window and stuck a finger’s width from Green’s chest just over his heart. Green flattened himself down to the ground for better protection.

“Shit this is the first standoff I’ve ever had with someone using a bow and arrows.” Green yelled.

“Did I mention those arrows can go right through Kevlar?” Pierce asked.

“You did mention something like that,” Green replied in a half yell.

“Do you have a megaphone?” DM asked.

“In the trunk, feel free to risk your life getting it.” Green said. “Oh right you can’t die.”

“Something like that,” DM said. Green maneuvered into the car and pulled the leaver for the trunk to pop open. DM smoothly and slowly moved to the trunk. The arrow from the small hole in the wall followed him. “Give me a distraction.”

Pierce took a chance and dove between two cars. The arrow moved quickly to the fast action from the college student, but didn’t fire. This gave the dark man enough time to dash into the trunk and pulled out the white plastic megaphone.

“What good will that do?” Green asked.

DM was about to respond as he powered up the magnifying device, but someone walked up. Lana Loar ripped the megaphone from DM’s grasp, and without ducking behind the car she put the device to her lips. “YOU DUMB SHIT!” She yelled through the megaphone making it squeal.

“Lana?” A man’s voice from the house responded.

“What the fuck are you doing? Did you really think that I wanted my father dead?” Lana yelled not as loud.

“Did her mother teach her those words?” Pierce asked the officer he was next to. The officer laughed.

“I did it for you?” The man in the house yelled out.

DM wanted this over. He ripped the megaphone from Lana’s grip and put it to his mouth. “Mathew Bertok lay down your weapon, come out with your hands up.” The dark man said using his power to make people obey.

The arrow disappeared into the home, and a few seconds later a man came out. He was large for a teenager with huge muscles under a green camouflage tee-shirt. He had blond hair cut into a crew cut, and sharp blue eyes. He came out of the house with his hands raised in the air, and every officer had their side arms pointed at him. They yelled for him to get to his knees, and put his hands behind his head, and he eventually did so. His eyes never left Lana. She was crying and Tara came up from behind and comforted her daughter.

“I did it for you.” Mathew said as he was being led to a patrol car and taken away.

“Shit.” Green said looking at the arrow in his car and sticking out the window. Pierce came up next to him looking at the arrow that almost killed him. “Now this is evidence, damn it, Marcy is going to kill me.”

Pierce looked over at the dark man and explained. “Marcy is his wife, and this is her car. Tough luck Green,” Pierce walked over to DM to talk with him. “You want to get back to the precinct and get your car?”

“I want out of this coat, it itches.” DM said.

“I’ll have a black and white take you back. Be sure to fill out all the paperwork.” Green said. Just then the crime scene unit pulled up in a big black fan. “Hey guys go in and look for a bow and arrows, and some plastic explosives.”

Pierce and DM were taken back by an officer who had an endless supply of dirty jokes. DM even learned a few he had never heard before. By they time they were at the large brick building all three were laughing with disgusted enjoyment. Pierce led the way up to Green’s office where he immediately went to a file cabinet and pulled out sheets of blank statement paper. Pierce opened Green’s desk drawers until he found pens, and handed one to DM. “Start your writing, now.” Pierce said.

As they were writing down everything that happened Frank showed up. He walked into Green’s office and sat down in the lone empty chair. He propped his feet up on the desk and took a relaxed state of being. Pierce looked up from the paper he was writing on at the government man. “You may continue writing.” Frank said waving his hand and looking away in a snubbing fashion.

“Oh thank you so much.” Pierce said getting back to his paper. DM couldn’t help but smile. He had already filled up two pages.

“No thank you, all I had to do was sit back and you solved the case all on your own.” Frank said.

“Oh, you’re mad at me.” Pierce said realizing what Frank was getting at.

“You leave a voice mail message telling me you went to the Loar residence and as a side note you decide to tell me John Doe was dead. You fail to meet me at your place at nine o’clock, so I come here, only to find out that you’ve already left to talk to the Loar family again.” Frank was either acting or was really feeling snubbed. “I come to find out the man who killed Kasson was in fact a love sick, and I do mean sick, young man in love with Lana Loar, and thought she would enjoy having her father killed.”

“Um, misunderstood cupid?” DM said with a huge grin on his face and Pierce giggled.

Pierce was still grinning when he spoke again to Frank. “Oh come on you didn’t have a bad time. You read the newspaper, and went to the firing range. As long as you didn’t put my picture on the target I’m not offended.”

“How do you know I read the newspaper and went to the firing range?” Frank asked as if he wanted to prove Pierce was a witch.

“The ink on your fingers comes from newspapers,” DM said trying to make it sound obvious to anyone, “And you smell of cordite.”

Frank scratched himself as he looked at the dark man. “Show off.” DM and Pierce both laughed. “Just finish your reports, and shut up.”

“In that order?” Pierce asked again and that made Frank move. He left the office. Pierce and DM were laughing.

An hour later the dark man finished his own report and evened the papers up by sliding them through his hands and letting them land on the table. He found a paperclip on the floor and connected them together. He tossed them on detective Green’s desk.

Pierce was still writing. “I should tell you there is some blood in your car.” He didn’t look up from the paper as he spoke.

“That’s to be expected with an arrow in my heart.” DM said.

“I’m glad to hear that, because you’re probably going to have to replace your back seat.” Pierce said again without looking up.

DM thought for a moment about this. “There was that much blood?”

Pierce finally looked up. He spread his arms wide, with the pen still in his fingers, in an innocent look. “Well after I cut off the back of the arrow, to save the fingerprints, there was a very steady stream of blood coming out of you. So when I put you on the back seat you kind of just kept bleeding. By the time I dragged you into the morgue the back seat was pretty much saturated with the blood. I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry.” DM said. “It’s not like you had a body bag to put me in.” DM left Pierce to finish his writing. In the hall Frank and detective Green were talking.

“Ah Dark come here.” Green said waving DM to come forward.

“I thought his name was John Doe.” Frank said.

“Haven’t you heard? John Doe is dead.” DM smiled. “Be sure to tell Ethan that.” This made Frank close his eyes and shake his head slowly in disgust.

“You’ve known Pierce for how long?” Green asked sarcastically and rhetorically. “Frank here has been telling me about you.”

“My devil may care attitude?” DM asked.

“No your ability to make people obey you.” Green said. “I was wondering why you wanted a megaphone, or got that guy to come out just the way you said. Can I get your number for when I have an argument with my wife?”

“Sure.” DM said. He pulled out the paper for the Golden Nugget casino and ripped off more of the paper and wrote the number down. Green took it reluctantly saying he was being sarcastic. DM got Green’s phone number, and Frank wrote his down too. By that time Pierce was done with his writing, and came out into the hall.

“I feel like Longfellow.” Pierce said. “Green it’s always a pleasure. Frank, I’ll send Ethan my bill.” Pierce turned to DM and pointed. “You, I need a ride home.”

“Duty calls.” DM said to the other men and followed Pierce out. To DM’s credit he didn’t cry when he saw in the afternoon light how much blood was all over the back seat. DM got in, and found he had to move the seat, and shot Pierce a piercing look. “You moved my seat.”

“You’re whining.” Pierce replied.

DM stared the engine and they were off. “Okay I have to admit that I enjoyed that.”

“I knew you would.” Pierce said.

DM hesitated before saying what was on his mind. “Don’t tell Ethan this.”

“As soon as I know what ‘this’ is I’ll decide that for myself.” Pierce said.

DM smiled. Pierce was out for himself only. “Do you think Ethan will offer me a fulltime position?”

“Yes.” Pierce said flatly and quickly. “Of course you’ll have to go through a few more cases to prove yourself, but this is a good start. Frank will tell Ethan about how well you did, and that will be a start.” Pierce was quiet, and before DM could say anything else Pierce asked a question. “Why would you want to work for Ethan fulltime? It’s not for the money.”

“No, you’re right. I have enough money.” DM said. “For the longest time I’ve been thinking about getting out of my current business.”

“Of making women sex slaves?” Pierce inquired.

“That’s only part of it. Usually I would see myself as a person who was trying to help humans get justice. When a person does something wrong I would come in and set things right again.” DM said trying to sound proud of his profession. “Lately I’ve noticed things are not like that. It’s more people who want to be evil to other people for no good reason, and the sex slave thing.”

“Yes don’t forget the sex,” Pierce said trying to joke. “While we’re talking about making people want to have sex, you’ve met Kelly.” DM laughed and Pierce laughed with him.

“I’ve changed my opinion of you,” DM said to Pierce.

“Dare I ask what your opinion of me was before you changed it?” Pierce asked.

“I thought you were an obnoxious asshole,” DM said, “but now I think you’re a likeable obnoxious asshole with good intentions.”

“My job here is done. I can now die in peace,” Pierce said with his head held high. A fearful expression filled his face. “Dear God what am I saying?” The pair laughed.

DM dropped Pierce off at his home. Pierce leaned in the car. “Just to let you know Rachel’s flight should touch down in about an hour.”

DM smiled at his new friend. “Thanks.” Pierce closed the door and DM drove off. As usual for a Friday evening the traffic was horrendous, and it took him an hour just to make it back to his apartment. He looked across the street at Rachel’s apartment. No lights were on, so DM had a chance to shower and shave first. By the time he was wiping his face clean he saw a familiar huge woman loaded down with bags scamper through the front door of her building. The dark man quickly dressed in black clothing and ran across the street.

He knocked on her door. “Go away.” Rachel called out. Her voice was surprisingly high pitched for such a large woman.

“I can’t do that.” DM said. “My heart keeps pulling me forward.” To make his point he slammed his body against the door to Rachel’s apartment. She opened it on the second body slam.

She was huge like someone had stretched out a regular sized woman into the six and one half feet tall brunet woman in the doorway. She still looked in ways a teenager even though she was in her middle twenties. Her brown hair had a shine making it look bronze. She still had on a blouse of white, but her huge breasts were stretching the buttons on it. She still had on the tasteful blood red skirt. She had on hoes, but was walking around her apartment barefoot. She had one earring on, and the other ear lobe free.

“Dark Mateus,” Rachel said smiling down at the foot shorter man.

“Rachel Dodd.” DM said with a curious nod of his head at the woman.

In the split second it takes for a heart to beat the two were in each other’s arms. DM kicked the door closed behind him as he held Rachel and they were kissing. His arms were all over her, and so were her arms.

“Are you tired?” DM asked between kissing her.

“Exhausted,” Rachel replied also taking a brief pause from her kissing to take a breath.

“Then,” Kiss. “I guess.” Kiss. “You’ll just.” Kiss. “Want to go to bed.” Kiss.

“Absolutely,” Rachel said sucking his face. Her hands made it under the neck of his shirt and pulled it off his head and his arms went with it. “I need something else in bed with me.”

DM expertly slipped the buttons free on her blouse. “And what pray tell would that be?” His arms were around her unhooking her enormous bra.

“I’d love.” Kiss. “To have a hot water bottle.” Kiss. “About ninety-eight point six would do.” Kiss.

Her breasts fell free of the support. They were smooth with small little hairs on her pink skin. He brushed his hands across them making Rachel shiver. She grabbed his wrists to pull them free from her breasts. “Enough foreplay,” Rachel said pulling him into the bedroom.

It was like they were burning away the past few days where they were apart. They connected in ways only two people in true love could. Sometimes he was on top, and sometimes she was, and sometimes neither. He nibbled her, and she licked him. To see such a small man with such a large woman could only be love.

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