Elsewhere

by Dean Koontz

When the cigarette was half smoked, he realized that he no longer heard the sound of falling water. He couldn’t be sure how long ago the shower in the adjacent bathroom had been cranked off. That realization led to another of equal importance. If neither Ellen Esterhaus nor her husband was a smoker, firing up a cigarette had been a mistake. A sudden sense of jeopardy made him wonder if he might not be as clearheaded as he believed, which was when Philip Esterhaus came out of the bathroom. Falkirk had seen the chief before, more than once, but never when the man had been wearing so little. In only a pair of briefs, Esterhaus proved to be a more muscular and impressive specimen than he was in uniform, as if sculpted out of stone. “You look like a demigod,” Falkirk said, surprised to have made such a statement, though his compliment was sincere. The chief held a pistol.

Smoking and lots of pain meds not a good combo...chief has a gun hand bad too