New World

By Ken Bissell

Garrison Richard thinks there might be something untoward about his cousin Noel's disappearance at Denver International Airport. When Aaron Williams's girlfriend Marguerite vanishes just weeks later, Garrison becomes sure of it. But with an unresponsive PD, and influential people from a faraway place trying to throw the investigation off-track, it seems like it'll be up to them to find their loved ones… and perhaps even find love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Shorts
• Release date: Mar 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781094407036

Ken Bissell

Ken Bissell is a hard-bitten detective who calls everyone “kid” and chain-smokes cigars. His eyes are constantly lit as if by sunlight peeking through a window shade. He has a bachelor’s degree in Pithiness from the School of Hard Knocks and a mean left hook you really gotta watch out for. At night, he enjoys eating macaroni and cheese.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Elle Duval, professor of engineering, made a strong first impression, so much so that Garrison Richard felt his eyes drawn as if by force from his phone to her visage the moment she walked into Rocky Mountain High, a pool bar so named before legalization. Elle cut a neat figure, in a tidy skirt suit the color of a caffe latte, little gold accents on her wrists and ears, a pair of low red pumps. Were she anyone else, she might look out of place in a bar like this. But Elle could shape her surroundings so that they demanded not that she fit in, but, rather, the reverse.

Garrison straightened his back and waved. She smiled genially and waved back, ordering herself a light-colored beer at the bar before approaching the table. He knew that by the time his line of questioning was over, he’d probably feel stupid. But Noel was missing, and Garrison had to explore every minor possibility to find him.

Elle plopped herself down across the table from him and tossed her jacket beside her. Hello, Garrison. I put my beer on your tab, since you said you’d buy, she said with a wink. I hope you don’t mind.

She had a slight accent, her plump lips forming sounds that were partly familiar to Garrison. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. But he smiled and shook his head, dark curls swaying around his face. No, no problem, I’m glad you did.

So let’s get to it, Elle said, her voice breathy and singsong. Your cousin goes missing as he’s coming to visit you. You are working a middle-management job for a cannabis tech company. You are cleared by the police, who are duly investigating his disappearance. And you call a professor of engineering for a beer — why?

Garrison blushed and swallowed. Yep, he was going to feel stupid by the end of this. He already did. Because they aren’t looking into the airport. They consider it a non-point. But people have questions about the airport, and I just wanted to get answers to those questions from someone who would know, he said. You worked on the design of the DIA, didn’t you?

I did, tangentially. I was an intern at the time, Elle said, smiling. Consider me the Illuminati.

Garrison laughed nervously. I know, it’s dumb.

Elle cocked her head from side to side as if to say Well, yes. A little. She was affable, funny. Garrison had been a little nervous to even contact her, in fact. She was ten years his senior, a brilliant and well-renowned professional whose TED Talks broke down civil engineering like it was basic arithmetic. She had a sort of swagger, an easy confidence, a way of talking that made you feel reassured, like you didn’t need to know more than what she had to say.

It didn’t hurt, of course, that she was beautiful, too, her blonde bob framing a face that could belong to a 1950s ingenue. Garrison was confident in his looks, but Elle had that je ne sais quoi that could make anyone uncertain.

"Well, I guess I’d like to know why it’s dumb, then. I just want to find Noel. It’s a big, complicated airport, and it seems like an easy place to go missing."

So you don’t know if he in fact went missing from DIA? Elle asked, folding her hands.

No, but it was the last place he was seen. He got his bags, he headed toward the exit, but there’s no footage of him actually leaving the airport, Garrison explained.

Mmm. Elle looked to the side for a moment, nodding, then opened her hands as if to offer him the world. Well, ask away, Garrison.

Garrison cleared his throat. The music in the bar was just loud enough that he could feel its vibrations on the back of his neck, and loud enough that he wanted to make sure that he’d be heard. Okay. Why were the tunnels built under the airport?

"Mostly for logistical purposes