The Amsterdam Chronicles: Def-Con City Trilogy Part 1

  Harry Ribb got home just after midnight. Ruby would not be there. She always left early Monday morning and stayed at her own apartment for the rest of the week. Lizzie would be fast asleep in her bed. He closed the door gently behind him and hung up his leather jacket with care in the hall, he did not want to wake her.

  That afternoon he sent her a text message and told her he would be home late. Lizzie stayed with him every couple of weeks from Friday until Wednesday. In the message he also said it might be a better idea if she went to stay with her mother. He quickly got a text back with only one word 'No'.

  Unlike many of his friends and colleagues who were divorced, his was not a painful process. She was happy to be rid of him and his police lifestyle, long unpredictable hours, and the danger.

  He was happy to be free from her continuous stress and arguments.

  There was always the chance Lizzie would take it badly and rebel during or after the divorce, but she seemed to be handling the whole situation pretty well.

  In the fridge he grabbed a bottle of Grolsch beer and was about to open it when he looked up at the small open window next to the oven in the kitchen. Below it the large window was closed but noticed he the latch was not in its usual locked position, pointing straight down, it was now positioned at two o'clock. Another half a centimeter to the left and it was open.

  In the coffee pot he noticed remnants of coffee, but when he made coffee early this morning he had rinsed the pot after Ruby had left to go to work. He hated coming home late in the day to the smell of stale coffee in the kitchen.

  Lizzie never made or drank coffee. On the sink, there was a glass with remnants of milk in the bottom. He put the bottle of Grolsch down and quickly headed for Lizzie's bedroom. When he opened the door, he found Lizzie in her bed. Ruby lay fully clothed on top of the blankets next to her; both fast asleep. Quietly, he walked into the room and leaned over them. There was no movement whatsoever. He leaned in closer. It was difficult to see if they were breathing or not. Suddenly Ruby turned and her arm fell over Lizzie, who then in turn cuddled up closer to Ruby. Ribb let out a sigh of relief, smiled and relaxed.

  Back in the kitchen he picked up his unopened bottle of beer, pressed the pedal on the rubbish bin, the lid shot open. He put the head of the bottle in the opener screwed to the wall, then pulled down. The familiar faint hiss - the bottle top dropped into the bin.

  Suddenly he felt an arm around his waist. He went tense and was about to aggressively swing around, smash his elbow into the face of the person behind him, but then he caught the odor of her perfume. Ruby had a distinctive sweet scent, with a hint of coconut.

  He relaxed. She came up close behind and kissed him gently on the left ear. All the tension, the stress and the madness of everything he had seen that day seemed to fade away and disappear.

  His nerves, that felt like highly strung steel wires on the verge of snapping relaxed and turned to soft velvet rubber.

  "I saw you on the news this evening," she whispered. Her breath brushed over his earlobe. "Riding on the back of a police motorbike up the Overtoom. Very macho."

  "All in the line of duty, I can assure you."

  She pulled him in closer. "Lizzie was scared," she whispered. "Things are not all right."

  Ribb turned in her arms. Hearing that from one of the most alternative women he had ever met in his life was saying something.

  She looked sleepily into his eyes. "What's going on," then planted a soft kiss on his lips, his heart melted. No woman had ever been this warm or tender towards him. A unique experience and one he never felt at this level before. Was this love? Was this how it actually felt? This was only for teenagers, right? How he could feel this way about a girl like Ruby at his age was as mysterious as the recent deaths.

  Those he knew they would eventually solve, but this?

  No chance.

  He poured Ruby a glass of red wine then they relaxed on the sofa in the living room. It was the first time Ruby spent the night while Lizzie was there.

  "Things are definitely changing," he said quietly, then took a mouthful of beer.

  "Are we in danger?" Ruby asked.

  "I don't think so. But keep all the windows shut at night, even small ones you don't think someone could use to get in."

  "Okay," she replied, sounding anxious.

  "Whoever it is seems only to operate at night."

  "So it's not a virus or something?"

  "No. It looks like he puts some chemical into drinks and that causes the body to fall apart."

  Ruby stared at the glass of wine in her hand. "Christ," she muttered, then put it down on the table in front of her.

  At that moment a very sleepy Lizzie came out of the bedroom and drifted over to them on the couch. She curled up next to Ruby, who wrapped her arms around her and pulled her in close. For the first time in a long time Harry Ribb felt he had a family and was loved. In the back of his mind he could not help think of the journalist from CNN, "Def-Con City, the end of life as we know it," she said.

  Chapter Twenty-Four