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Authors: P. A. Brown
Geography of Murder
Geography of Murder
by P. A. Brown
MLR Press, LLC
www.mlrpress.com
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Geography of Murder
by P. A. Brown
To Ann Hoyt, an encourager and an enabler. You rock,
"Do I believe in the milk of human kindness? I'm lactose
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Geography of Murder
by P. A. Brown
* * * *
Geography of Murder
by P. A. Brown
Geography of Murder
P.A. Brown
mlrpress
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Geography of Murder
by P. A. Brown
"In crime fiction writer P.A. Brown's universe, the Geography of Murder is a landscape strewn with suspense, police procedure, and—at the end of its final, breathless trajectory—romance. This is a book that will keep you tied up for quite a while."
Rick R. Reed, author of BASHED and IM
"As someone who has written over a dozen B&D novels, I know a good one when I read it. This is a good one. Read it!"
William Maltese, author of LOVE HURTS.
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Geography of Murder
by P. A. Brown
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright 2009 by P.A. Brown
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
Published by
MLR Press, LLC
3052 Gaines Waterport Rd.
Albion, NY 14411
Visit ManLoveRomance Press, LLC on the Internet: www.mlrpress.com
Cover Art by Deana C. Jamroz
Editing by Kris Jacen
Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN# 978-1-60820-055-9
First Edition 2009
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Geography of Murder
by P. A. Brown
Ann Hoyt, Susan Cook, Bob Zumwait, Joylene Butler,
Phylis Smith and V.L. Smith of Garretgroup for reading
the very raw draft of this book and offering invaluable
help on its growth.
To my editor Kris Jacen, J.P. Bowie, Deana for her great cover art and Laura Baumbach for taking me under her wing as one of her authors. And to AM Riley for her incredible graphics and book trailers. AJMorgan, Corky McGraw, and Nix Winter for their invaluable insights into the world of pleasure and pain and bondage.
To GaywritersandReaders and all their support and good times, and CrimeSceneWriters for getting the police and forensic stuff right.
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Geography of Murder
by P. A. Brown
To Ann Hoyt, an encourager and an enabler. You rock,
babe.
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Geography of Murder
by P. A. Brown
"Do I believe in the milk of human kindness? I'm
lactose intolerant."
Detective Alexander Spider, SBPD
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Geography of Murder
by P. A. Brown
I threw my arms over my face to block out the
brilliant light that flooded my eyes. I yelped at the
sharp burst of pain it brought on and sat up in bed.
"What the fuck—?"
Under me the bed rocked and rolled. Outside I could hear the high-pitched wail of a gull scream and the gentle, slap of water against fiberglass hull. I was on a boat. Whose? I rolled over to escape the relentless light and bumped up against warm flesh. Oh shit, what had I done this time? Another black out? My last memory was leaving the Vault near midnight. I could have sworn I was alone. Wait—hadn't some cute, hunky blond guy waylaid me in the parking lot? The guy beside me was definitely not the blond from last night.
I blinked and stared into his slack face, searching for a clue as to who he was and why I was in bed with him.
I blinked again. I tried to place the face. He was old. At least sixty. Wrinkled face. White mat of chest hair over a flabby paunch, tiny shrunken cock. Faded tats up and down his skinny chest and arms. A leather dog collar. Black leather harness strapped to his thin chest and nothing else. Not the type I usually slept with. Not the type I ever slept with. What would ever possess me to let a loser like this fuck me? I don't think anyone had that much money.
Then a flash of ice poured down my spine and lodged in my gut. The old man was dead.
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Geography of Murder
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I scrambled back, but didn't get very far before hands grabbed me under my armpits and hauled me off the bed. I squawked and tried to swing at my attacker who spun me around and threw me to the floor. One hand shoved my face into the teak deck, redolent of varnish and wood, the other one pinned my arms behind my back. Cold metal snicked around my wrists. What—? A knee landed on my kidney knocking the breath out of my lungs, stopping my protest.
Before I could refill my lungs I was jerked to my feet and found myself staring into a pair of cold gray eyes behind wire frame glasses. He had full lips and a lean, lightly freckled face below a harsh Marine cut. He was a redhead. The freckles didn't fit. They gave him a boyish quality that didn't go with his grimness. He was taller than me by several inches. He had a massive chest that would have split bricks.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"Detective Alexander Spider. SBPD. Who are you?"
I gaped at him. "What the hell kind of name is Spider?"
"My father's," he snapped.
I tugged at the handcuffs holding my arms behind my back. My shoulders ached from the unnatural position.
"Who is he?" Spider asked.
It took me about two seconds to realize he meant the body on the bed. I glanced over at the dead man but still didn't recognize him. Not enough to put a name to him. So how had I ended up in bed with him? And whose bed was it? Not mine.
I lived in a dump on Los Cerrados Street. I worked at the harbor, at Channel Charters taking tourists out to the Channel Islands for bird-watching trips. I had snuck a trick onto one of 12
Geography of Murder
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the boats more than once. It always impressed the cute twinks and guaranteed a hard fuck, but I hadn't done anything like that last night. Had I?
Spider pushed me around, forcing me to look down at the corpse.
He looked over my shoulder, toward the galley. I caught movement there and realized a second cop was busy photographing everything in sight, including me.
"Who is he?" The detective's voice broke through my confusion. I jerked around to look at him, thinking frantically.
I searched my memory for something, anything that would tell me who the dead guy was and why I was with him. As distasteful as the thought was I even took minute stock of my own body trying to detect any signs I'd been fucked by the guy. Nothing. I couldn't see any signs of sexual activity. So whoever the blond guy I thought I had been with, we hadn't done anything either. No half empty drinks. No used condoms. Thank God there were no lines of coke anywhere or those little glassine packs I get my beans and Oxy in. I could just imagine how that would go over with this law jockey.
He jerked my arm up. Shards of pain shot up my shoulders. "Who is he?" he shouted.
Finally I found my voice. I tried to shake him off, but his grip was like a steel band. "Let me go. I haven't done anything—"
"You always sleep with corpses?" He leaned in so close I could see the dark rims of his irises behind his glasses. His nostrils flared and he showed the tip of his teeth in a feral grin. "Who is he? Why did you kill him?"
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"Kill—I didn't kill anyone. And I don't know who he is."
"What are you doing here? You meet him here or did he bring you? Where'd he find you? Hades? Wildcat? The Vault?"
If I'd been thinking straight I might have wondered how he knew so much about the local bondage scene, but I was too confused, and face it, scared. I was in the middle of something I didn't understand, being grilled by a man who, it was fast becoming clear, wanted to pin this mess on me.
I glared at him, trying to look tough. "Why would I kill somebody I don't know?"
"We'll get to that. What is your name, sir?"
That threw me a bit. I'm not used to being called sir by too many people. Under normal circumstances I might have looked behind me to see if he meant someone else. Instead I opened my mouth to tell him to fuck off. He pulled at my aching arms again, stopping the words in my throat.
"Don't bother," he said. "What's your name? Or do I need to pat you down and find your ID myself?" His gaze slid down my skintight, pocket-less pants and bare chest and his mouth twisted in a grimace. "Guess that would be a waste of time.
One last time. Who are you? I want your name."
"Jason," I said. When that didn't satisfy him I added,
"Jason Aaron Zachary."
Another cop entered the cabin. Female this time. She ignored me.
"ME's here," she told Spider. "You ready for him?"
"Sure," he said. "Let's get this mutt out of here."
"This mutt isn't going anywhere without a lawyer," I said, bracing my feet as though I thought I could keep the two of 14
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them from moving me. It didn't help that Spider looked amused and totally unthreatened.
"Oh, don't worry. You'll get your phone call. You can make two or three for all I care."
"Am I under arrest?"
Spider looked genuinely puzzled at my obtuseness. "Yes,"
he said, then read me my rights off a card he pulled from a leather folder. When he asked if I understood, I numbly nodded yes.
I vacillated between apathy and terror. I darted glances at the body of the old man on the narrow bunk. It lay on top of a dark navy sheet, which I belatedly realized had darker spots smeared on it. I looked down at my latex-clad legs. Striped Parade pants was about all I had on. What the hell? I only wore my fetish gear on hot dates when I was enticed by someone with deep pockets. My shirt, socks and brand new Captoe boots had vanished at some point. My gaze fell to my crotch and saw the same dark spots. It was the red smear on my stomach that tipped me over. I stared at it in horror. I was covered in still wet blood. His? Mine? Dizziness swept through me. I swayed on my feet, hyperventilating. My stomach threatened to empty itself. Spider grabbed my shoulder and shoved my head down.
