'Madison Springs'

Chapter 1
The Lonely Road

The dusty, two-lane highway stretched lethargically out to the horizon. Bryan slouched behind the steering wheel, his middle-age paunch protruding from under a faded L&P T-shirt. A landscape of sheep-dotted pastures, neat farms and glittering lakes rolled past. To his left, the Southern Alps rose majestically, blue and craggy and heavy with snow. Clouds swept overhead like steam from a locomotive’s smokestack. Everything was calm and serene.

In retrospect, it definitely had been a mistake to attend Josh’s congratulations party. Sure, he had trained the kid himself, and it wasn’t Josh’s fault for being promoted ahead of him in the ranks, an event that had become depressingly familiar over his career. What he hadn’t expected was the station chief to announce that he was retiring, and that Josh will assume his position, meaning that the damn kid would become his direct supervisor. So he had lost control again, and fortunately for him, another officer had been swift enough to deflect the coffee mug he had flung violently at Josh’s head.

The next day, he had found himself sitting in a dimly lit office at district headquarters. Partially obscured under a skyscraper of paperwork and the remains of half-eaten sandwiches was a brass nameplate that read “Deputy Superintendent – Nikau Taiaroa”.

“Look, Bryan.” Nikau had said, looking gray and exasperated. “Nobody wants to press any charges. Even Josh himself wrote a long statement pleading that we forget the whole thing. We all know that you’re a competent detective and basically a good bloke. But that damn temper of yours…” Nikau paused and sighed. “Unfortunately, everyone at the station witnessed the incident. We can’t just pretend that nothing happened. So I’m going to have to put you on unpaid leave, effective immediately.”

Bryan had stared at his shoes sullenly while Nikau walked over and put his arm companionably around his shoulders. “Look mate, you were my first partner when I joined the force. I’ve been doing what I can to help you, but your boorish behavior and wild temper…” he trailed off and shook his head. “Maybe you’re just working too hard? Take this opportunity to go someplace relaxing and chill. And stay out of trouble please? While I try to figure out a way to not have to fire you?”

A road sign reading “Madison Springs – 117 kilometers” flashed past. Bryan tried twiddling the radio dial again, but all he could pick up was a crackling static. Usually, it was Aroha who brought along the music CDs. He never was very good with women, and his explosive temper certainly didn’t help, but Aroha was different. She genuinely cared about him in spite of his flaws, and liked to joke that his fieriness was folded into his decency and goodness like raspberry ribbons into ice cream. With great patience and earnestness, she had helped him fight what she called the “little demon” inside, with an endless trail of self-help books, therapy sessions and anger management classes. Then there was that evening where he had had one too many drinks, got into an argument, and then terrified her by smashing dinner plates and flinging her cat against the wall. She hadn’t let him close to her since.

Fortunately, Bryan’s brother had agreed to join him on the trip, and they were going to meet at the resort. They always had been tight as thieves, though he disliked his brother’s playful teasing, particularly about his lackluster career. Privately, he often wondered about his brother’s high-powered finance job, with its long hours, endless deadlines and demanding clients. Sometimes he felt that his brother’s firm was like a giant vampire squid, slowly draining away his vitality and reducing him to a mindless slave with no interests outside of work and no time even for dating. He rarely even smiled any more. After he was hospitalized from working 50 hours straight and collapsing in the office, Bryan had begged him to quit, but he had murmured something about “riding a tiger”. Perhaps it was the money that was addictive, it was really good, his brother had paid off Bryan’s entire home mortgage for his 40th birthday present, and there was a sizable family trust, just in case he “croaked at work”, his brother had said only half-jokingly.

Light rain started pelting on the windscreen as the sky turned a pewter grey. The road was empty for as far as Bryan could see, and the hypnotic swish-swish of the wipers gradually lulled him into a state of semi-mindlessness as the car trundled onward.