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Elijah Deville in Coasting to Death

J.R. Diestelkamp

Elijah Deville

  in

  Coasting to Death

  By: J.R. Diestelkamp

  Cover Art By: Adam Diestelkamp

  Copyright 2011 J.R. Diestelkamp

  This e–book is a work of fiction. All events, characters, places, firms, and institutions in this novel are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any similarity to any persons, living or dead, or to any actual events, firms and institutions is coincidental, or unintentional.

  **********

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1: "407 All the Way"

  Chapter 2: "A Colossal Accident"

  Chapter 3: "ETR is Going to Ruin Us"

  Chapter 4: "Consoling a Widow"

  Chapter 5: "You're Under Arrest..."

  Chapter 6: "Enter Elijah Deville"

  Chapter 7: "Tell Me the Whole Story from the Beginning"

  Chapter 8: "This is Going to Be Tough"

  Chapter 9: "Mrs. Audrey Taylor"

  Chapter 10: "Bail is Set At..."

  Chapter 11: "Faulty Inspections and Impregnable Computer Programs"

  Chapter 12: "100 Kilograms"

  Chapter 13: "Revelations"

  Chapter 14: "Bring It On"

  Chapter 15: "The Case for the Crown"

  Chapter 16: "Numbers and Investigations"

  Chapter 17: "I Rest My Case"

  Chapter 18: "I Think We've Got 'Em"

  Chapter 19: "What Goes Up..."

  Chapter 20: "Must Come Down"

  Chapter 21: "When Idle Words Come Back to Haunt You"

  Chapter 22: "Taking the 5th...Sort of"

  Chapter 23: "Closing Time"

  Chapter 24: "Waiting"

  Chapter 25: "We the Jury..."

  Other Novels in the Elijah Deville Mystery Series

  About the Author

  **********

  Acknowledgement

  I'd like to thank my cousin Adam for his amazing work on the cover art for the novel.

  Chapter 1

  407 All the Way

  It's Canada Day in Toronto! For many people it means a family barbeque, a day at the beach or a trip to the cottage. It means fun in the sun or walks in the park. It means a holiday from the hectic commutes and constant deadlines that have come to define the lives of the average worker in this great city.

  For Scott Taylor, Canada Day means none of these things, because to him, this holiday can be seen in only one way: dollars and cents. As a CEO of a major theme park in Toronto, this attitude is quite natural because after all, big holidays are a great opportunity to attract new visitors; and what better way to attract these new visitors, but with a new roller coaster. The unveiling of the 'Colossus' was to be a momentous occasion in the tenure of Taylor, one that had to go off without a hitch.

  With that being the case, it is no wonder that this particular morning in the Taylor's suburban Toronto home looked less like a serene holiday, and more like the chaotic mess that usually enveloped this family's everyday activities.

  "Dear, where's the mail?" yelled Scott up the stairs to his wife.

  "It's on the kitchen table!" Audrey yelled back as she ran past him, hair a mess, looking for her brush.

  "Have you seen my brush Scott?" she called back.

  "No, why should I have," Scott said as he rifled through two days worth of bills and ads.

  "Well maybe, after all, this long brown hair doesn't just comb itself," she said as she noticed from the landing that Scott was opening some bills. She paused, and then asked, "Hey, what are you doing?"

  "I'm looking through the mail. Even though it's July 1st, that doesn't mean it's a holiday for the debt collectors."

  "I've been away for 2 days and you haven't had the chance to look through the mail? Don't blame me if the bills aren't paid on time," she said, hand on her hip, with an annoyed look on her face.

  "You know I've been busy at work," he chirped back. "You also know that there have been some money issues at the park that I've been busy investigating. This has lent me little time to do anything thing else, like read the mail," he said, glaring back at her.

  Scott continued opening the mail, and after a few seconds, an annoyed Audrey returned to looking for her hair brush. He started with the letters that were obviously junk mail, and then moved onto the more depressing ones, the monthly bills. When he opened the 10 page bill for the 407 Express Toll Route, his already irritated attitude quickly changed. Scanning through the first few pages of the bill, he was amazed by how many times the road was used.