Excerpt: Death & the Detective

July 1, Friday 7:30 am After his morning jog, Miles took a shower at his townhouse and sat on the porch with his coffee. He was looking forward to the daily bicycle ride of the women on the white bike. Sure enough, at 7:30 on the dot, she came peddling down his road. That’s when he recognized her. The woman from the hospital! Of course. That’s where he had seen her before. She was his Lady of the Bicycle. Emboldened by his discovery, he decided to call out to her this morning. When she was in hearing range, he leaned forward. “Hi there!” “Hi!” she shouted back. She had acknowledged his existence. He felt elated. This was already going much better than he had imagined. By then she was zooming past him. Still, he felt happy. The conversation had not been a total disaster. Whistling to himself, he returned inside and settled down at his desk to get to work on the Herle case. Eva White handed him another letter from Alephander Guiscard. The Magician had sent a new, identical invi