The Chronicles of Jason Vann: The Case of the Melted Fox
#1 of The Chronicles of Jason Vann
The first few pages of The Case of the Melted Fox - a book which could be yours in paperback!
Jason Vann, an anthropomorphised German Shepherd, is called in to investigate a grisly death in a smelting factory. It all seems too simple to be an accident, and from the employees' differing accounts to the mounting evidence, Jason slowly becomes more and more intrigued by the Case of the Melted Fox.
The Case of the Melted Fox is the first in a series of detective stories. I've started a project on Kickstarter to get it printed in paperback. If you're able to pledge, you'll receive a signed copy of the book once it's released. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy the following first few pages:
SAMPLE:
The stench of burnt flesh stung Jason's nose harder than the smell of white hot metal. The building seemed dilapidated. If not for the news vans and the many police cars the detective could have been in the middle of a ghost town. But, contrary to the impression given by the broken walls of Newman & Co, the factory had been in use for the past fifty-seven years. Today, though, it was closed down as a mark of respect. Today it was also the centre of a media circus.
The German Shepherd covered his nose.
He was only just peeling himself away from the sticky leather of his car seat and already gagging. He slammed his door shut and tried to focus on the cheap car air freshener hanging from the mirror. It didn't work. One more taste of the residue lingering in his nostrils and he knew he'd throw up. His paw wrapped around the scented foam, snapped the suspending cord and pushed it into his face. He closed his eyes and willed himself to concentrate.
"Strawberry." He tried to focus. "Artificial, not - even - remotely - realistic strawberry." The smell didn't do much for his gag reaction, but at least he couldn't smell the charred flesh anymore. Now he was greeted with the sickly strong aroma of a Magic Tree and only the thought of the smell remained. Jason Vann had seen many things in his time. He had smelled a good majority of unforgettable smells he'd rather forget. But this one seemed to stick with him.
A rhythmical tap on his windscreen caused him to open his eyes and look up.
Mindy's face, framed with autumnal red curls, was smiling at him. He didn't need to see through the mask she was wearing to catch the dark happiness in her eyes.
"Well, well," she said, a little muffled through the paper over her maw. "The watchdog finally finds something that gets to him."
Jason glared into her green eyes, his nose still covered by the strawberry-scented block. Unable to come up with a response in adequate time, he considered giving a mock smirk followed by a finger or two. Before he had time to get his paw in the correct shape to make the gesture, she lifted a paper mask up and indicated it was his.
"Ah-ah-ah," she warned. "Show me that paw, mister, and you won't get to wear this."
Had she known what he was thinking? Had Mindy simply worked by his side long enough to know what he'd do? Or was the air-freshener causing a hallucinatory effect?
Jason conceded the final option was possible, so threw the blood red object on the dashboard. He took in a large gulp of air, opened the door and climbed out of the car. He smiled sweetly at the leopard and glanced at the mask she was holding.
In the other paw, she held a small tin with a picture of a garlic clove on the lid. It was filled with a white paste. Jason glanced at the tin and shook his head.
"No rub?" she asked. "Very brave of you, considering you can smell it all the way out here."
Jason looked determinedly at the mask, clinging on to the final dregs of oxygen remaining in his lungs.
Mindy rolled her eyes. It looked as though she was enjoying the Alsatian's lack of oxygen before passing the mask to him.
He rushed to put it on and started to breathe again.
"And what's their excuse?" he asked, pointing to the unmasked news reporters. The reporters included an alligator who looked only too keen to see something gross to share with his television audience. "Surely they can smell it worse than anyone?"
"They get paid a lot," she shrugged. It wasn't much of a secret that Jason's payslip barely covered a boil-in-the-bag meal every night. As the news reporters always seemed glamorous it made sense that they earned more than the detective. Of course, it didn't help that the reporters were constantly being followed by a hair and make-up team.
"We catch the bad guys," Vann joked seriously. "Isn't that payment enough?"
His voice carried a slight irritation towards the feline but it wasn't because of anything she said. The smell still stood strong in his nose and refused to go away. Even the vomit, a lingering presence from those members of the coroners and the news crew who had found it too much to bear, couldn't penetrate the odour.
He smiled at her with his chocolate eyes and tilted his head.
When she returned the smile, he made his way for the source of the smell.
As he got closer to the heart of the incident, a fox falling into one of the red-hot smelting pots, Jason could feel his spine tingle all the way from his skull to the tip of his tail. The clean-up crew were currently working on another pile of fresh bile that an otter brought up. The otter (Andrew Moore from the news network which "brought youMoore") was sitting with his head between his knees and looking like someone trying hard not to throw up again. Jason couldn't help but suppress a smile at Andrew's puke-stained lips.
"I tried sneaking in..." he whimpered feebly. "Oh, God, the smell! I mean it's bad out here but..." His speech was interrupted with a gag and another hot geyser of sick.
Jason bit his lip to stop the smile from passing his mask.
"News Twenty-Four," the German Shepherd quipped. "Bringing you Moore and more." As the otter spat out another globule of yellow acid, Jason finished, "And even more."
Mindy grabbed hold of Jason's arm and pulled him away.
"Come on, Jase, let him be. I know he's a slimy arsehole, but--"
"'But he's a news reporter so what should I expect?'" Jason predicted.
She scolded him with a snort through her nose. Her eyes looked stiff. "But it really is bad in there," she corrected him.
The canine's smile started to fade beneath the seriousness of Mindy's eyes.
"Then let's see what we've got to deal with," he suggested.
A pair of officers stood outside the door like bouncers to a nightclub: The Smellin' Smelter. Jason's paw leant on the cold metal door and pushed it open. As it creaked, the two bouncers did their best to look as tough as possible. No masks for them and not even a hint of rub under their noses. But their eyes clearly watered as they suffered the stench.
A white sheet was on the ground, raised with the outline of a body underneath. A forensics expert, covered in paper overalls, pulled the sheet away to reveal the body to Jason.
The sight was truly horrific.
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I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it
-SpeakingWolf