Thanks for entering the first sentence contest. I really enjoyed your story and how well you capture the film-noire narration style; "but I knew better," "like he needed a good rest," "a hard nut to crack," "where criminals lurked in the dark," and several other expressions were all things I could hear in a crusty private-eye voice, despite being totally fandom-blind for this character. I lol'ed at the opening scene of the detectives trying to figure out what Kafka's case is, and instead only coming up with what it isn't - there's a humor and absurdity there that I think fits your first sentence of choice very well.

Perhaps it's because I'm fandom-blind, but the plot did get a little confusing to me towards the end. I don't really understand Elsa's past history with Cole or what she has to do with Kafka's case, and I'm not sure if it's because of backstory that I'm not aware of, or perhaps more intentional absurdity.