Mountains of Dawn

He heaved a sigh of satisfaction, fetched a cup of fresh-perked coffee, and settled into an easy chair. He had just finished reading the first newspaper and had begun on the second when a knock on the door demanded his attention.

"Enter," he said. His gaze still scanned the newsprint.

"Hi," Paul Brennon said. "You busy?" He glanced into the pail. "Your fish don't look so good." Malcolm didn't respond, intent on the newspaper. "I can come back later, if you want."

"No, no…just reading something interesting here-a citizen's complaint. Unusual. Sorry, I was distracted." He turned to look at Paul as he closed the newspaper and slid it onto the coffee table. "You have something new on Tanya's case?" He looked a Paul. "What happened to you? Where's your usual jeans, your sweatshirt?"

"Oh," Paul said, with an attempt at nonchalance, "I thought I might dress up for a change, seeing as how we have such wealthy customers now."

"Ah, I see. We've always had wealthy customers, Paul…or are you referring to one particular wealthy woman?" Malcolm gave a short laugh. "Look at you! That shirt-looks like green silk, or is it blue?" He laughed harder. "And your pants-Levi originals, to go with your designer shirt." Malcolm circled Paul, chuckling.

"Since when do you know anything about fashion?" Paul said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"My brother Brian never stopped mocking my choice of clothes when I worked for the police. Now, since I founded the Invicta, my mother makes sure I have a few new items each season." He grinned at Paul, then ran to turn the water off in his fish tank, just in time. "It still doesn't shut Brian up, unfortunately. But he never shuts up anyway."

He returned to his desk. "Let's hear what you have. I want to compare the Miller and the Caldwell case, see how many matches we have there."

"Well, they tie together, but only peripherally. The explosive, Telgex 80/90, is the same for both cases. Traces of it were found in the Caldwell car, and one unit was found intact in Miller's car. Made in Norway, but probably from a subsidiary of the main manufacturer, a little company located in France."

"Anything new on the Caldwell case?" Malcolm picked up his pen and twiddled it rapidly between his index and middle fingers.

"Not much. Just a bit of a lead on the sports car. A couple of witnesses claim a shiny import was seen coming and going on the day of the accident."