by Robert Brown
Mr. Tweed Vest hurried to the counter. “I’d like a Teavana Shaken Peach Citrus White Tea Infusion, please.”
“With a double order of estrogen,” Heinrich added.
The guy behind the counter glanced at him. Mr. Tweed Vest pretended not to hear.
Once he left, Heinrich stepped up. “A black coffee, please.”
“Milk and sugar?” asked the guy with the nose ring. Heinrich remembered that the people who worked there were called “baristas.” A fancy name for a crap job.
“I said a black coffee.”
“Any flavorings?”
Heinrich’s fists clenched.
“Black. Coffee.”
“What size?”
“Small.” He wanted to spend as little time as possible in this shithole.
“That’s one tall black coffee,” said Mr. Nose Ring, taking some time to find the unfamiliar buttons on his touchscreen.
“I said small.”
Mr. Nose Ring looked at Heinrich like he had a mental disorder. “Tall is small. It’s our smallest size.”
“Then why do you call it tall?”
Mr. Nose Ring clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes like the teenager he was.
Fucking hell, Heinrich fumed. Where’s Black Lives Matter when you need them? Aren’t they supposed to be picketing this place for flagrant display of white privilege or something?
Once he got his coffee, Heinrich looked around the too-bright, too-crowded, and too-clean interior for his potential client. The guy had said he was with a baby. That made him easy to spot.
Brixton Murphy sat in a corner, sipping some huge pink drink in a plastic cup. Strapped to his chest in a cloth sling was a sleeping baby who looked about a year old. The guy was in his early thirties. He wore Buddy Holly glasses and a black dress shirt and slacks. Like everybody else in this damn place, He was staring at his phone. Like most parents of small children, the guy looked tired.
Heinrich sat opposite him. “Mr. Murphy?” he asked.
“Ah, Mr. Muller, glad you could make it.” They shook hands. Heinrich hoped Brixton’s hand hadn’t been wiping the brat’s nose or anything.
“How can I help?” Best to cut to the chase. Heinrich didn’t want to spend any more time here than necessary.
Brixton’s face assumed a pained look that emphasized the circles under his eyes.
“It’s my wife. Casey left me and took one of our daughters.”
“Kidnapping is a police matter.”
Brixton gave a little shrug. “It’s not really kidnapping, and I don’t want the police involved.”
My clients never do, Heinrich thought. Out loud he said, “I think you need to explain better.”
Brixton shook his head. “Sorry, my mind’s been in a muddle. Everything’s happening so fast.”
“It’s all right. Take your time.”
“Zhe just up and left one day, taking our daughter Arizona with zir. That was a week ago. I found out only yesterday that zhe was in Amsterdam.”
Heinrich blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”
Murphy began repeating his statement. Heinrich stopped him.
“Who’s Zhe?” Heinrich asked.
“Oh, that’s Casey’s preferred pronoun.”
“Huh?”
“Casey is gender fluid. Zir preferred pronoun is zhe because zhe doesn’t adhere to any traditional gender definitions. At times zhe feels more like a woman, and at other times more like a man, but always somewhere in between.”
“But she gave birth to your kids. That makes her a woman.”
A flicker of annoyance crossed Murphy’s face. “Just because zhe has a uterus doesn’t mean zhe’s a woman.”
Heinrich laughed so hard, people at the other tables glanced over at him.
“If you’re going to be phobic, I can get another detective!” Murphy snapped.
That woke up the baby nestled in his sling. The kid started to cry.
“Aw crap, I’m sorry,” Heinrich said.
“Sadly, I’m used to it. But try to be a little more open-minded, OK?” Murphy said, stroking the baby’s head.
Actually, I was apologizing for waking up your kid, Heinrich thought.
“Shhh, it’s OK, Serenity,” Brixton whispered as he pulled out a milk bottle.
Heinrich waited as Murphy comforted the baby and gave her some milk. He suspected it was soy milk, judging from the disgusted look on her face and the fact that she spat up more of it than she swallowed. Poor kid.
Once she had quieted down, Heinrich said, “How about you tell me everything that happened.”
Murphy took a moment to collect his thoughts. “Casey and I had a happy marriage, or at least I thought so. We both make good money. I have a social media startup and zhe’s a professional dominatrix.”
Heinrich suppressed a chuckle. Murphy went on.
“I thought we were happy. Then one day zhe ups and disappears. Zhe took Arizona, our eight-year-old daughter, and moved to Amsterdam.”
“How do you know she’s there?”
“Zhe. Say zhe. One of our mutual friends told me. She also cleared out our bank account. Seventy thousand dollars. Our entire savings.”
“Ouch. Do you think she’s run off with someone?”
Murphy shook his head. “Zhe doesn’t need to. Casey and I have an open marriage.”
“So, you give yourselves permission to cheat on each other?” This guy was unbelievable.
“Don’t be so patriarchal. Limiting people to only one partner is what got the world into this mess.”
This is going to be a long case, Heinrich thought. “So, why Amsterdam?”
“Casey has always talked about setting up a dominatrix business in Europe. Zhe wants to live there but I need to be here in the city for my startup. Zhe has Irish citizenship thanks to zir grandparents. They were born in Dublin. That lets zir work anywhere in the European Union. Zhe always said it would be so easy. I never thought zhe’d do something like this, though.”
“Why take only one kid?”
The hipster stroked his child’s blonde hair. “Serenity is still small. Maybe Casey thought she’d slow zir down.”
“But your other daughter, Arizona, she’s only eight. Wouldn’t that cramp a dominatrix’s style?”
Murphy gave a helpless gesture. “I don’t know.”
Heinrich thought for a moment. He didn’t like this guy and his made-up words, and he didn’t feel like getting his freak of a wife back for him. However, a kid was involved. If Mommy was setting up shop in Amsterdam’s Red-Light District, who knew what could happen to the girl?
“All right, I’ll take your case. I charge $200 a day plus expenses, with no complaints about how I spend it.”
“Sure. Anything. You busted those Nazis, so you can’t be all bad.”
Heinrich nodded. That case with the neo-Nazis in Poland had made headlines and brought him a lot of business. It had also brought him a few anonymous death threats.
“You sure you can afford this?” Heinrich asked. “I thought your wife cleaned you out.”
“My dad is helping me out.”
Yeah, I bet he’s been doing that all your life.
“All right. I need all the information you got on your wife and daughter—a recent photo, passport number, that sort of thing—plus the contact details for the friend who told you they’re in Amsterdam.”
“All right.”
Heinrich got up to leave. There was only so much Starbucks he could take.
“I’ll be in touch. I’ll get her back for you.”
“Zir. Why can’t you say zir? Zhe’s not a woman.”
Heinrich grinned. “Then why do you call her your wife?”
He walked out of the coffee shop before Murphy could sputter out a response.
Other Books by Robert Brown
Deadly Illusions
Deadly Illusions is the debut book from Robert Brown. A thrilling ride through the streets of London in a crime thriller that’s simply magic!
Follow the suspense as it twists and turns in this highly rated debut book from an up and coming crime author
Cael Adler is a private detective with an eye for detail and a steady knack for solving complex cases. But when his dinner date with the stunning Kelly is interrupted, by the discovery of part of a murdered woman’s torso, he doesn’t at first realize that his skills will be tested to their limits.
Called to remote corner of Epping Forest by his friend and Metropolitan Police veteran Tyler Easton, Cael is shocked at what he finds. But worse follows, when it becomes apparent that the murder is just the beginning of something much bigger and that a pitiless serial killer is at large.
As the two men begin to unravel the horrific crimes they close in on the predator and his ruthless agenda. But all is not as it seems, and the case soon becomes more personal for Tyler, when his wife becomes the next target of the madman.
Lured to a theater on the pretext of attending a show, Samantha Easton comes face to face with the killer and it’s up to Cael and Tyler to stop him. But will they solve the clues fast enough to save her from a horrific end?
Click here to purchase Deadly Illusions
Purity Pursuit
Heinrich Muller is a private detective with a past he’d rather forget. When he is asked to investigate the murder of an antiques dealer with a history of dealing Nazi memorabilia it opens a case that is as personal as it is professional.
Muller’s investigations soon take him to Europe, where he chases down dealers in Nazi memorabilia and comes up against Europe’s far-right parties. He soon uncovers a plot to find the missing gold train. Teaming up with him is a beautiful Polish civil rights campaigner and a troubled teen boy Muller tries to pull away from the influence of a neo-Nazi militia.
Can Heinrich get to the bottom of this case or will he succumb to the overwhelming pressure?
Robert Browns second book is a master class in thrilling suspense that will sure to excite the fans of his first novel Deadly Illusions. If you love fast paced thrillers, then Purity Pursuit will not disappoint.
Click here to read more of Purity Pursuit
BEYOND THE WINDOW
Heinrich Muller is a New York Private Detective who has a long list of clients and a short fuse when it comes to the way the modern world works. His usual jobs involve finding missing people or catching out cheating partners, so when he is contacted by Brixton Murphy he sees something different.
Brixton’s wife Casey has fled to Amsterdam with their daughter, 8-year-old Arizona leaving her younger daughter at home, and now her business partner is found dead. It doesn’t look good, but Heinrich is soon on the case in the Dutch capital’s seedy red-light district. But there’s more to her situation than meets the eye.
This fast-paced thriller leads Heinrich into corners of the Dutch underworld where anything and everything goes and where even the innocence of childhood is held in contempt
Can he find Casey and Arizona before something terrible happens to them? Or is he already too late?
Robert Browns second book in the Heinrich Muller Series is a master class in thrilling suspense that will sure to excite the fans of his first book in the series “Purity Pursuit”. If you love fast paced thrillers, then Beyond the Window will not disappoint.
Click here to read more of Beyond the Window
