The Electrician's Code Read Free

I remember. I remember how happy we were together and I know I still love you. Where was that card?
    For their six year anniversary, his wife had been unconscious and hanging on for dear-life after getting in a car accident. He had got her a card and laid it by her side in the hospital but in the end, it went in the box with all the other cards she had received. She never read it. For their seventh, he bought her a card but ended up stuffing it in his sock drawer. Though she was making a fine physical recovery, she still couldn’t remember anything about her past and they were as good as strangers.
    He actually considered not getting her a card this year. Although they were talking now, and she had begun to display the same sweet personality she had when he fell in love, he just wasn’t sure she would appreciate the gesture.
    He took all three and stuffed them behind a random card.
    His mobile rang and he reached for it on his belt. It was his boss, Detective Chief Superintendent Deveau. “Good morning, sir.”
    “You sound chipper this morning, Blackwell.”
    “Thank you, sir.” He wasn’t chipper but he didn’t feel like correcting his boss so he let the matter drop. “I’m optimistic your call will take me from the last few days of doldrums to an exciting new case?”
    “You solve one really high-profile case and now you’re never satisfied. Yes, you will be happy to know that a man died for your enjoyment this morning.”
    “Wonderful,” he said ignoring his boss’s sarcasm and pulled a Biro from his coat pocket. It was true, a lot had changed since he solved his first homicide. And really, he had Sophia Evans to thank for it, even though she wanted no recognition.
    He hadn’t seen Sophia since the week after they arrested the man they were after, and although he knew where she lived and had her mobile number, he made no attempts to contact her. And to his knowledge, she hadn’t made any attempts either.
    One day she was in his life, the next, she disappeared. And he had to respect her wishes.
    “Would you like the address?” his boss asked, interrupting his thoughts.
    When Theo couldn’t find a piece of paper, he walked an aisle over and picked up a small notebook. “Can you repeat that, sir?”
    As he began to write down some instructions, an extra loud announcement blared over the speaker above his head. He heard nothing.
    “Where are you, Blackwell, the Underground?”
    “Actually, at a Tesco. Sorry, come again, what was the address?”
    “You’re shopping at eight in the morning? Doesn’t your mother do that for you?”
    “Looking for something, is all. I’ll be at the scene ASAP. Have they got the scene under control?”
    “Everyone has been dispatched. You’ll find this case interesting.”
    “Why?”
    “You’ll see.”

Chapter Four
    O n the path leading from a small house on Connell Road in Ealing, Queen of the Suburbs, laid a man in his bathrobe. The victim had his eyes opened and might have been mistaken for cloud watching if it wasn’t for the pool of blood beneath him. A gray steel walking frame and a neatly folded newspaper were at his feet. No, foot. The man only had one leg.
    The brick house that belonged to the deceased was two-story with large windows. It had a small yard out front. The lawn and hedges neatly trimmed. The white wooden fence, recently painted.
    Theo looked up and down the street. The crime scene was loud and hectic. A crowd had gathered behind the crime scene tape. Only a handful of uniform officers were there to keep control. Amateur photographers pushed the tape boundaries hoping to snap the best shot.
    Children ran to the first floor of their neighbor’s homes where they could get a view of the dead body, while mothers were doing all they could to keep their children away from the tape. A group of older men were huddled together debating whether this was the first of many attacks to come on the old men in the neighborhood and what was the world coming