Detective D. Case Read Online Free PDF Page B

him in his office – after the phone call – he seemed
scared. Averted eyes, shaken-up voice, and he kept his distance very far.
Mostly, he gave me some folder regarding the case of McDermott’s
disappearance.”
              This
was news. Chief Advert was scared, of all people? Lincoln met the chief at the
police department whenever he was needed (which included the annual search of
McDermott’s apartment) and, in his opinion, if Big Hands appeared intimidating,
then Chief Advert was your beautiful nightmare to lavish in terror. The chief
would never back down from opposing forces, all officers knew that. Even the
governor respected Chief Advert's ideal efforts in keeping his authority in
effect. With that in mind it seemed like a parody of the great police chief
rather than reality.  A shadow of a former self, if you wish.
              Lincoln
was about to say something when D. began looking everywhere, most of the time
on the ceiling of the apartment. “Did you hear that, officers?”
              “I’m
not sure what you’re talking about, D.”
              “Up
here . . .” He pointed a wagering finger toward the ceiling. “It came from
another floor . . . is there a floor above here?”
              Officer
West shook his head. “As you probably read, McDermott lived in the penthouse.
There are no other floors.” He smirked. “Have you ever noticed the button on
the elevator?”
              D.
rubbed his face. Lincoln guessed he must have thought of this before. To change
the subject, Lincoln proposed the old detective search around the place. He
even gave him the Polaroid with the little boy in the school uniform that
seemed to belong to a sailor in the 40s.
              “When
was this taken?” he asked him. “Do you know?”
              “There’s
no date.”
              “Are
you certain about that?” D. mused. He flipped to the backside of the
photograph. “It says here in tiny print a month and a day: November 19th. Not
so sure of the year, but from the look of school uniform the boy is wearing, it
might be a long time since this was taken. It’s a shame people have abandoned
the time of the year.”
              Officer
Short giggled like a schoolgirl. “Have you been living under a rock or
something, detective?”
              D.
faced him. “What do you mean?”
              “You
say everybody abandoned the year. Who comes up with that kind of sense?”
              “Well,
from what I’ve recorded in the public’s response to the questions I’ve assigned,
none of them knew what year it is now. My mother had a similar problem and
couldn’t remember what year it was or when people decided to abandon the year
and only keep track of the month and day. I’m sure they keep the day of the
week, but I don’t know if they’ll keep it for long.”
              “Detective,”
Short said. “Do you realize right now it is 1978?”
              “No,
I haven’t.”
              Astonished,
Short told the others, “This is gonna be interesting. What’s next, the whole
sky has been under the dark for as long as you have lived?” The other officers
tried to keep themselves from exploding, but Lincoln noticed that D. noticed.
He kept his arms crosser than ever like they were taped to his armpits; his
eyes getting blacker, he said nothing.
              “Let’s
have a look around,” Lincoln proposed. “Maybe you can find something.”
              Big
Hands stood. “I’ll come too.” It sounded awkward to him, so he added, “Just in
case.”
              “We’ll
go together,” D. said.
              They
both followed Lincoln into the bathroom with glass everywhere. A shiny sink was
on their left; it was clean enough to see through it, brush your hair, and
clean your teeth. Same went with the toilet that had twenty buttons for