Ghosts In the Heart. Michael J.D. Keller
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GHOSTS IN THE HEART
by: Michael Keller
Copyright 2012 Michael Keller,
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0712-8
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
To Nida always. To Talli who lit the fire, to Brendan whose ceaseless
encouragement fanned the flames, and to the Heroine for putting up with Brendan.
CHAPTER 1
SAN FRANCISCO, OCTOBER 2006
The lock clicked sharply and the door to the apartment swung open. Alexander Aneiren Mckenzie, Senior Lieutenant, of the San Francisco Police Department Major Crimes Division eased wearily into the entry way. “The Iceman Cometh.” The overused and trite jibe, coined by a department wit who had probably never seen the play, and employed by those other officers who resented his probing intellect and coldly aloof demeanor seemed appropriate. Another man returning home late on a Friday evening after a week of grindingly exhausting work might breathe a sigh of contentment. Another man might exhibit some semblance of relief, as the burdens of the profession eased away. Mckenzie did neither. He might live in this apartment, but he found no refuge there.
The rooms that lay before him exuded an aura of calculated austerity that matched his own. Others who lived alone, as Mckenzie did, often developed a fussy neatness - a compulsion to preserve all things in a proper order. His apartment extended far beyond that lifestyle. Even the most obsessive disciple of structured living usually left some visible evidence of human habitation. Mckenzie did not . Although he had occupied this apartment for nearly five years, there was no trace of him, no discernible sign of his existence. There was no physical evidence that any particular individual resided there. He was a wraith in his own existence.
There was, nevertheless, an undeniable elegance about the apartment. The photographer for Architectural Digest might have just stepped out. The feature could have been entitled “Minimalist Living in the City by the Bay.” From the polished hardwood floor in the foyer to the gleaming European kitchen/dining area, to the functioning fire place in the living room, the image of money well spent was unmistakable.
The outer wall in the living room was solid glass from floor to ceiling, providing a spectacular view of the city looking down Russia Street toward the water. Mckenzie, however, rarely glazed out at the twinkling lights and the distant silhouettes of ships crossing the bay. This evening he pulled the cord to close the curtains, thinking once more that he should sell the place. The monthly maintenance fees strained the limits of his salary. He was never entirely certain whether Marcus had left it to him in a belated attempt to heal years of a painfully strained relationship or as one last massive practical joke. The thought of pushing his estranged son to the edge of bankruptcy would have amused the elder Mckenzie.
Looking around the apartment, Alex could often hear his father’s nasal tone “If you had gone to law school the way I told you, you wouldn’t have any problem affording the place.” Yes Father, Alex thought, but then I might have ended up as an unprincipled, money grubby shyster like you. Even in death, the Mckenzies could not close the rift between them.
Walking out of the living room and down the hall toward the master bedroom, he loosened his red silk tie. Entering the bedroom, he removed the jacket to his carefully tailored blue pinstripe suit. Mckenzie did not believe that he was vain, but he did enjoy nice clothes. Wearing a suit crafted by one of San Francisco’s better tailors gave him a sense of quiet satisfaction.
Marcus’s voice was back in his head again. “If you had become a lawyer instead of a policeman, you wouldn’t have to wear a suit that’s three years old. Hell,” his father’s ghostly voice echoed through his consciousness. “If you hadn’t been passed over for Captain again, you could have afforded at least one new one.
Thank you Father, Alex thought. You know how much I appreciate your insights. He could hear Marcus shout angrily at the polished sarcasm. In his memories, Marcus was always angry.
As he carefully hung his jacket and tie in the closet before removing his shoulder holster and placing the pistol in the bureau drawer, Mckenzie caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. This had to be Marcus McKenzie’s last bitter jest. As he aged, Alex could see the resemblance to his father becoming ever more pronounced.
In his later years, Marcus had allowed the excesses of rich living to add flesh to what had once been a lithe body. The extra weight had probably contributed to the massive heart attack that ended his life at the comparatively young age of sixty-seven. Even then, father and son had shared the same flashing dark eyes, high cheekbones, and hawkishly aquiline noses.
With the fierce personal discipline that characterized every aspect of his life, Mckenzie, at
forty-eight, still maintained his physique through an exercise regime that left younger officers gasping in frustration when they tried to match him. Unfortunately, as the early streaks of gray broke the flow of his dark hair, and a spider web of wrinkles took shape around his eyes, he could see Marcus creeping up on him. The father he had battled for most of his adult life had found a peculiarly effective way to haunt him.
Smothering a sigh, Mckenzie turned and walked back down the hallway to the kitchen. He opened the cabinet nearest the refrigerator, removed the bottle of cognac, and filled the crystal snifter he kept beside the bottle. It was a stronger drink than he usually permitted himself but it was Friday. Even the Iceman could allow himself a little leeway on the weekend.
He sipped the tawny liquid, feeling the warmth flow down his throat as he replaced the bottle and closed the cabinet. With the kitchen restored to the same precise order, he moved to the adjoining living room and sat down in a leather arm chair. Punching the buttons, he turned on the television and the attached DVD player. The screen came to life as the opening notes of a lyrical piano solo announced the beginning of the Maurice Laviere score.
Leaning back in his chair, Alex took another sip of his cognac and closed his eyes. Sometimes he wondered whether bothering to turn on the television had become a needlessly superfluous act. In the deep recesses of his memory, he knew every word of dialogue, every note of the music, every scene in the film. Nevertheless, there was still nothing like watching it again and again and again.
On the screen, an open bowed vaparetto, the ubiquitous Venetian water bus, was working its way down the Grand Canal. As it swung around a broad curve, the camera panned briefly toward the crowd gathered at the fish market before turning back to the front. The Ponte di Rialto bridge filled the frame. For a moment the viewer could take in the matchless beauty of that ornate structure - the multiple curves of the intricately carved ballustrates and the high central archway that gave watercraft passage through the canal. The opening title, Holiday in Venice, was superimposed on the screen as the piano gained the romantically lush support of the full orchestra.
The credits rolled while the camera moved across the line of tourists gathered by the rail, waving at the approaching vaparetto. As the camera reached her, standing at the apex of the central arch, a breeze swept up the canal and her dark auburn hair billowed in the air. It seemed that God himself had gasped at the sight of her. Her delicate white skin provided a pristine setting for the sparkling blue eyes that glistened in the sunlight. At that moment, she recognized someone on the vaparetto as it was about to pass under the bridge. She laughed and waved. Anticipation and a touch of tender vulnerability all combined to illuminate her face.
Mckenzie pushed the pause button on the remote just as the credits displayed her name on the screen below her image, Mireille Marchand. Mckenzie took a sip of cognac and raised his