Detecting Lust: An Erotic Detective Novel (Sin Book 1) (12 page)

Seth looked up squinting his eyes, “You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.”

A black shadow appeared in the bedroom window on the north side of the house and then it jumped. “This motherfucker is not getting away!” Seth announced as he jumped out of the squad car. He supposed he
would
have to get involved after all.

Grabbing ahold of the door frame, using his arms like a sling shot, Seth took off.

“Ashley! Drive!” Seth yelled as he sprinted across the street. Just like a linebacker going in to sack the quarterback, Seth aimed in for the shadow, who was running as fast as he could.

As Seth closed in, the shadow dissipated and Caligula’s profile appeared in the moon light. Crossing into the next yard, Seth pumped his leg muscles, boosting his speed. Not even attempting to slow down he dropped his shoulder down and checked Caligula, launching him into the bushes. Ashley pulled up with the car, and watched as Seth’s body come to an instant holt while Caligula caught air and flew into the shrubs.

“You fuckin’ stupid ass…” Seth wasn’t even a tab bit winded, “And here I was actually going to be nice to you. You can fucking scratch that idea, you rejected fuckin’ douche bottle.”

Ashley pulled up with the headlights shining on Seth to give him light to maneuver.

“Come here you fuckin’ little piece of shit.” Seth reached down in the bushes, grabbed Caligula’s leg and drug him out. “Make me have to run after your dumbass.” Seth mumbled.

Caligula was out of breath and tried to struggle out of Seth’s tight grip around his ankle, “What the fuck man…” Caligula panted.

“Oh, shut the fuck up and hold still.” Seth flipped him over onto his stomach and dropped his knee into the back of Roman’s neck. “Roman Caligula, you’re under arrest for the rape of Jennifer Jewels.” Seth twisted Roman’s arm back and reached to the small of his back to grab his handcuffs out.

With Roman’s arm still in some kind of Judo wrist lock, Seth slapped his cuffs down hard on the boney part of his wrists.

“Aaaa. Ouch, you fucker, that fucking hurt.” Caligula cried. “I’m not under arrest… you’ve got nothing on me.”

“Didn’t I tell you to shut the fuck up?” Seth said, standing up and brushing his pants down.

With his foot Seth kicked Caligula, rolling him over onto his back, then leaned down and grabbed him by his shirt, which allowed him to sit up. Some of the members from the arrest teams ran over and shined their flashlight in Caligula’s face. Seth looked him up and down, taking note of a few scratches and scrapes on his face, neck and body.

“Ashley, call for EMS to the scene.” Seth looked up and nodded.

Seth turned back to the arrest team, “What’d y’all got?” Seth said, adjusting his vest and tie.

“Looks like someone was packing; getting ready to move out in the morning, sir.” One of the members of the arrest team reported.

“Aren’t you supposed to read me my rights or something.” Caligula looked up.

“First of all, your Miranda rights are there for your protection during questioning. Secondly, I haven’t asked you a fucking thing. And lastly, didn’t I tell you to shut the fuck up?” Seth said, placing his fingers in the neck lining of his vest.

A couple of the members of the arrest teams started chuckling. “The rest of the team is searching the house for some evidence. We’ll secure and locked down the house soon, sir.”

“Thanks guys, after EMS shows up and checks this guy out, I’ll debrief y’all at the station.”

* * *

E
MS finished evaluating
Caligula’s condition, and Ashley and Seth moved to stand in front of the squad car, drinking their now-cold coffee. Seth placed his coffee on the hood of the car. One of the emergency medical techs started walking his way.

“Whatcha got for me corp-man?” Seth said, reaching his hand out to shake hands.

“Good old Detective Lane, once a Marine, always a Marine I see…” The medical tech said while shaking Seth’s hand. “This guy’s good to go, just a few bumps and bruises, and some scratches… although, it does look like he caught a pretty good elbow right across the face.”

“Mmmhmm…” Seth made a noncommittal noise a took a sip of his coffee. “Or…it could’ve been a rock he landed on in the bushes.” He winked.

“Or it could’ve been a rock.” The medical tech chuckled and smiled.

“Thanks a lot guys, I appreciate your time.” The medical tech gave him a smile and walked away, starting to snap his gloves off and look for a place to dispose of them.

Seth looked over at the arrest teams, and with two fingers waved a few officers over. “You guys mind transporting senior douche bag back to the precinct?”

“Our pleasure Detective, catch ya back at the house.” One officer said.

“Ashley, let’s load up.” Seth motioned while getting back in the car.

* * *

S
eth looked
over at Ashley while they pulled out of the neighborhood. “Did you learn anything tonight?”

“Umm. Yeah. What did the officers mean by meet us back at the house?” Ashley asked.

“Oh that, the house refers to the precinct.” Seth replied.

“Why did you call the EMS guy a corpsman?”

Seth yawned and his eyes trailed to his watch.
Ugh, it’s going to be about 3:30 AM by the time we get back to the precinct.
“What? Corpsman? Oh. A corpsman is a doctor in the Marine Corps. Well, not so much a doctor but kind of, he’s a doctor that’s out in the field.”

“Oh ok…that makes sense.” Ashley gave Seth a pointed look, “Did you really drop your elbow in that guy’s face?”

“Ashley darlin’, I cannot confirm nor deny everything that took place tonight.” Seth tilted his head towards her and gave her a little wink. “And, there are just some things you don’t talk about.”

* * *

B
ack at the precinct
, Seth and Ashley walked through the front doors. Seth made eye contact with a leader of the arrest team who then motioned to Seth holding three fingers up, indicating that Caligula was in interrogation room number three. Seth returned with a head nod, indicating both a ‘thank you’ and then an ‘okay I got it.’ He never understood why women needed to talk about everything—men were able to communicate without any words.

“Alright, Ashley, our job isn’t done yet. I’m going to go and debrief the arrest teams. And even though it’s 3:30 in the morning, you get the honor of calling the Captain and letting him know we’ve got him in custody.” Seth said patting Ashley on the back.

Seth walked off to the conference room removing the velcro straps on his vest, mentally preparing for the interrogation.

S
eth sat
in his office playing on his cell phone when the front door opened and the Captain finally walked in. Ashley was standing by the coffee pot, so she figured she better grab another cup for the Captain. Seth shot off a quick text to Zee.

hey baby, we arrested the scum bag tonight. I’m safe and back at the precinct. Getting ready to interview him now. Hopefully I’ll be home soon. Love you.

“You about ready to get this show on the road? You’ve got to be beat by now.” The Captain said as he walked up to Seth’s office door.

Looking up, Seth dropped his phone on his desk. “Absolutely Capt… I’m ready.”

Ashley made her way over to stand next to the Captain, handing him his cup of coffee.

“Ahh, you’re a lifesaver…” The Captain took the cup, “You’re an awesome officer in my book, no matter what this ugly ass guy says about you.” The Captain said.

“He’s pretty fuckin’ hot in my book.” Ashley mumbled into her cup of coffee.

“Ashley, go with the Captain.” Seth said, walking off towards the interrogation rooms.

“Alright, come on let’s go.” The Captain said before taking a sip of his coffee.

“Where are we going?” Ashley looked up at the Captain.

“Come on, we’ll go to the video room and watch Lane in action.” The Captain motioned as he walked off. “You wanna know why Lane is so damn good? Some of the guys in here think it’s because of his ability to read people. Definitely not the kind of guy you want to play poker against.” The Captain opened the door to the video room motioning to Ashley, ladies first.

“Other people think it’s because of the way he finds clues and catches the assailants so damn fast. Nobody really knows how he does that. There are some of us that think Lane is one of the most brilliant ass interrogators around.” The Captain said sitting down in a chair turning on the video monitors.

“What do you think Captain?” Ashley asked.

“Me? I think it’s all of the above. The way he puts everything together, the way his brain works…” The Captain looked over at Ashley. “You really lucked out, for him to take you under his wing… consider yourself blessed to have a mentor like him.”

* * *

S
eth unlocked
the door to the interrogation room and yanked it open. Caligula was sitting there hunched over the table laying on one arm with his other arm still handcuffed to the wall. “Wake your ass up.” Seth’s commanding voice echoed the room.

Caligula’s eyes opened and he sat up and leaned back in his chair. “Have you been read your rights yet, smart ass?” Seth asked.

“Yeah yeah, a couple of times actually. And a couple more during the booking process.” Caligula said, wiping the sleep out of his eyes.

“Good, so do you understand those rights? Or do you want me to read them to you again?” Seth asked, slapping the case file down on the table while he lowered himself into a chair across the table from Caligula.

Seth picked up the case file and leaned back in the chair. Not saying a word, not even looking up at Caligula.

Over in the video room, the Captain looked over at Ashley.

“You wanna play a game?” The Captain said with a smile.

“A game? What kinda game?” Ashley smiled back.

“Over – under.”

“Over – under what?” Ashley asked.

“How long do you think its going to take Lane to get the confession? More or less than ten minutes?” The Captain asked.

Ashley studied the monitors, “Hmmm, I’m going to say more…this guy is kinda stubborn.”

The Captain was still smiling like he had a secret joke, “You’re on… my money’s on Lane…We’ll start …nnnnnow. I’ll bet you lunch.”

“I’m down with that.”

* * *

S
eth eyed up Caligula
, dropping the case file down on the table after the long awkward pause of silence. “Here the deal, Roman. You’re here because of the rape of Ms. Jennifer Jewels.”

Caligula broke the face-to-face contact and looked down at the floor between his knees.

Seth continued, “To be honest with you, I don’t really give a rat’s ass what you’ve got to say. We’ve got DNA from the rape kit. And we’ve got the known sample of DNA from you.” Caligula’s eyes snapped up at that comment and his faced showed a brief moment of panic before he was able to get it under control, focusing his face and eyes back to the floor.

Seth leaned his head down and tilted it, trying to make eye contact with him. “You tried, and you did a pretty damn good job at wiping down your fingerprints from the laundry room. But I was still able to find some of your prints that you forgot about.”

Seth wasn’t able to make eye contact with him, but he was hoping he was at least making him uncomfortable. “I also found a gas receipt that you left at the scene. The time and date stamp on the receipt will prove that you were there in the area… so basically, I’ve got your ass dead to rights.”

Seth leaned in a little closer, “Let me tell you what I know. I know that after driving clear across town, you had to get gas. You stopped off right down the street from Ms. Jewels’ apartment. You then went and sat in your car while it was parked at the basketball court. You sat there in your car, probably stroking yourself off, like the little creep you are.” Seth stared at his face, looking for some kind of validation. Caligula wasn’t falling for it right now. He sat stone faced and still.

“You then saw Ms. Jewels leave her apartment with some dirty laundry. After a while of not seeing her either return to her apartment or leave the building, you ran over to the building and opened the front door and crept your way down to the laundry room. Seeing how vulnerable she was down there, you decided to attack her from behind. And after you violated Ms. Jewels, like the little bitch you are, you returned to your car and watched as she went back to her apartment… hurt and crying.” Seth sat up straight in the chair. “Am I getting it?

“Once the police arrived, it was probably at that point you realized you left fingerprints all over the place. So, you sat there watching the police and waiting for them to leave. Right? My guess is that you’re such a sick little fucker that you masturbated while watching the police do their jobs.” Seth caught onto some micro-twitching in Roman’s face indicating he was right on the money.

“When everyone left and the place was clear, you then went back down to the laundry room and tried to wipe the place down, including your own prints before the crime scene techs got there.” Seth nodded his head up and down, in the yes motion.

Seth leaned back and crossed his legs and arms. “So, like I said before, I don’t really care what you’ve got to say. But, there is just one thing. Just something that I’m wondering about…why? Why drive all the way across town for this one girl? Why her?”

“Why? Why her?” Roman looked up, staring at the the case file. “You really wanna know?”

Seth looked at his face yet kept his body in view. He tilted his head a bit. Caligula continued to talk. “It was her hair. The way her hair flowed in the breeze when I first saw her. She oozed passion. The overmastering smell of her shampoo or body wash, the desire of wanting her. I came back a few times and watched her. The way her body moved. It gave me such an appetite for her.” He sounded like he was half in love with her. And maybe he was.

Seth looked up at the camera, like he was looking directly at Ashley. He stood up and grabbed the case file, tapping on the table to pack down all the pages inside.

* * *

“
S
o
… it looks like I won the bet. You’re buying me lunch but I’ll let you pick the place.” The Captain said patting Ashley on the shoulder.

“Wait, how did you win?” Ashley asked.

“He just told Lane The Why… the fact that he’s explaining the quote-on-quote why, is good enough for the States Attorneys’ to convict. That why… that
is
the admission. And that stupid fucker didn’t even know what hit him.” The Captain said leaning back in the chair, locking his hands behind his head.

Seth stood there towering over Caligula.
It’s a shame you get to go to jail instead of a pine box six feet below ground.
He turned and walked out of the room, locking the door behind him. The Captain and Ashley, a few doors down, walked out of the video room and the three of them met in the hall way.

“I don’t get it? Why did he do it?” Ashley was confused, looking at Seth.

Taking a deep breath, Seth directed his words to Ashley, “Darlin’, you really need to pick up a book once in a while. Didn’t you hear what he said? He used words like passion, overmastering, desire… he even threw in the word appetite.”

Ashley was still confused, and looked to the Captain for an answer as Seth turned around and started walking away.

He turned back briefly. “This was a crime of lust.” Seth said with derision in his voice before turning back around and yelling over his shoulder.

“Hey, Captain… I’m taking the rest of the day off.”

Seth stopped once more and turned back around to Ashley, “By the way… I told you by the end of this case, I would be the one saying thank you to you. Thank you Ashley, good job today.” He abruptly turned and walked away.