Neon Blue (suspense) and This Shoal of Space (SF) by John Argo were the first two e-books ever published online for download, in the history of the world, 1996-7 in innovative weekly serial chapters. More info at the museum pages. If you enjoy this free read, which is offered in the spirit of the Golden Age of the World Wide Web, please consider buying a print or e-book edition as a way of thanking the author. A fine E-book is typically priced at the cost of a latte, yet offers many more hours of enjoyment than a cup of coffee. Thank you (John Argo).

About/Preface   Chapter 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18 
 19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40 
 41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61 

Late Sunday, the phone rang as Blue let herself into her hotel room. She ran to answer. "This is Tomasi. Humboldt, I have bad news."

"Oh?"

"Eddie Stosik is dead."

"No." Her body gave a startled jerk of disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Blue." He'd never called her that before. "I got the news from Chief Murphy this afternoon. It's probably going to be in all the morning newspapers. I wanted you to hear it from me personally." Overwhelmed by grief, she leaned forward and listened as he detailed what he knew. She reached absently for the tissues in her purse and blew her nose. She had a haunting picture of Innocenta and her children looking accusingly at the world, herself included for no rational reason. She listened to Tomasi's story about a mysterious Silverstone who had dropped in and out of Hamilton. "Miss Humboldt, I imagine you want to fly in for the funeral which is on Tuesday?" She did, and he directed: "I'll allocate some money. You take care of the booking."

"I will."

"Humboldt, I want to tell you again how impressed I am with your police work."

"Thanks."

She hardly heard the rest of what he said: "The FBI is running a check on all the Silverstones in the country known to their database for slasher attacks. It was a straight razor, in any case. Humboldt, it was a single firm, slashing cut from a straight razor, drawn toward the killer, who had to be standing directly in front of Eddie. He… he died fast. If he suffered, it was over in seconds."