Agent Emma Samuels pulled away from Ben Ashmore’s green-gray home in a complete stupor. ‘How could one person have that much put on him so fast and not be a complete vegetable. And what the heck was going on with all these events? How are they tied together as they...
The dull silver handcuffs were finally being unlocked and taken off Ben’s rather sore wrists after a long forty-eight hours of incarceration. Not that he noticed how long it had been. Too much had happened to him. He’d lost so much. His fiance. His friends. His...
INTERLUDE Hundreds of golden metallic bullet shells covered the warehouse floor where Agent Emma Samuels surveyed one of the many strange scenes she had witnessed or been called in to investigate today. A bank of ten computers surrounded a pole where power and...
The sky was an amazing deep expansive blue, but everything felt flat and lifeless. Like someone had adjusted the saturation until only dull muted colors existed in the world. Even the series of ambulances, police cars, and fire truck that rushed past Ben with lights...
The green and gold school colors of The University of San Francisco shown brightly in the morning sun and the banner they were displayed upon billowed in the morning breeze off the bay. Students were already hustling about on their way to class. Some were obviously...
The entryway to the Bremmen Brothers’ Funeral home was filled with flowers from a previous service the day before. Bright splashes of lavender orchids stood out among the peace lilies and other more conservative flowers. The older Bremmen brother, John, came out to...
Ben stared at the cream swirling in his dark brown cup of coffee. The hypnotic spiral was mesmerizing in the sleep-deprived, surreal stupor he found himself in at 6:30 in the morning. He had spent most of the night with his sister- and brother-in-law, Samantha and...
The morgue walls were a checkered tile pattern of a cold gray and pale sea-foam green. Terri lay on a gurney under a sheet, battered, bloody, broken, and ... gone. Ben’s phone rang several times before he lifted it up to answer. It was Steve. “Yeah. Ben,” his voice...
The sky outside of Ben’s broad view of the bay was a brilliant orange. Wisps of crimson and gold clouds reflected off the ocean reminding him of why he loved the sea so much. It reminded him how life constantly shifted, swirled, and flowed from moment to moment. Some...
Jerry lay face down on his keyboard in a pool of blood. His finger stuck on the delete key and the computer making an annoying ticking sound as the cursor flashed on the blank screen. The police and coroner had made their arrival at the small design company that...