The Key by Dustin Stevens
The Key by Dustin Stevens
English | 2025 | Mystery & Thriller
“Did you put this on my desk?” Folds of skin appeared around her eyes as she narrowed her gaze, focusing on the small object grasped between his middle and index fingers.
“What is it?”
“Key to a storage locker,” Sly replied. “U-Store Storage Facility, right down the road here.”
The afternoon began just like most others over the last eighteen months for Detective Mark Slydecker. Pick up his daughter from school, share a few tense words with his ex-wife, and then head back to the office for the remainder of his shift.
Rote routine in the wake of the divorce, uprooting him from his life in Nashville and transporting him to the other side of the state, working for the Sevier County Sheriff’s Department.
A new life replete with a daily list of unexpected challenges, none bigger than returning to the office to find a plain manilla envelope sitting on his desk. Inside, a key to a nearby storage facility containing a single item.
An album, detailing the handiwork of a killer who has already claimed five victims. Arranged chronologically, also included is a sixth page with today’s date neatly transcribed in the margin.
Flinging himself headlong into the investigation, the day ends not with an arrest, but with another blank page.
And then another.
Meticulously orchestrated murders, each revealing a small piece in a larger puzzle. A complete picture reaching further in time and distance than he ever thought possible…
