Detecting Lust: An Erotic Detective Novel (Sin Book 1) Page 7

  Let’s see, we can cross off any of these that are woman, and I’m guessing all of her teachers. So, professor blah blah … you’re out of here. Who the hell are these people? T.Bateman@, E.Jager@, R.Caligula@, J.Watson@, L.McAdam@, J.Marley@, W.Thorne@, well hell these could be anyone. I’ve got my work cut out for me.

  “Order up!” The cook yelled from behind the counter.

  “Thanks boss.” Seth yelled back and went to pick up his cheeseburger.

  Seth sat there eating his burger, mouth watering for the next bite, while intermittently crossing off names from the e-mail list, when his cell phone rang.

  “Hey Ashley, what’s up?” Seth said with what seemed like half of the burger in his mouth.

  “I got the information back from the credit card company, and I already looked up where his address is. And, uhhh… I’m not the expert here, but this actually might be a clue.” She said with some excitement.

  “Why, whatcha got?” Seth narrowed his eyes.

  “The address came back to 78 Southwinds Dr., which is clear on the other side of the city. Why would someone who lives and works on the other side of the city be at the location, on the time and date of the attack?” Ashley said.

  “Good question. We’ll just need to find a tie between this guy and our victim.” Seth mentioned. “Did you get a name to go along with the address?”

  “I did, his name is Mr. Caligula… a Roman Caligula.” She said.

  Seth coughed loudly and almost spit out his burger. “Wait… what?” Seth swallowed and grabbed his drink, trying not to choke.

  “What?” Ashley paused, “do you know him or something?”

  “Did you say his name is Roman Caligula?” Seth asked, still coughing.

  “Um, yeah, why?” Ashley again questioned.

  “Well then, that’s kinda fitting.” Seth was shaking his head while writing the name down in his notes.

  Seth explained, “The name Caligula goes all the way back to like the first century or something like that. Caligula was an Emperor of Rome, and he was a sexual terror. He was an absolute horror to the people and the senators of Rome in that time.”

  “I had no idea, I’ve never heard the name before.” Ashley said.

  Seth continued, “One of the more famous stories that I remember from back in the day when I was…” Seth paused, realizing he was about to get a bit personal. He started again.

  “At one of Caligula’s parties or dinners or something like that, he invited all the senators and council members. In the middle of the party, he took one of the senator’s wives back to his personal chambers and had his way with her. Afterwards when he was done, he returned to the party and bragged not only to the guests but also to the senator whose wife he enjoyed.”

  “Oh my god.” Ashley said. “This guy sounds like a real jerk.”

  “Oh he was, yeah, he was later assassinated by the council, the senators, and even some speculate his own family members had something to do with it.” Seth replied.

  Seth scarfed down the last bite of his burger in one quick inhale, and threw down some cash on the table to pay for his meal.

  “Ashley shoot me over a text with Caligula’s address.” Seth said still chewing.

  “Will do and on it already.” Ashley responded quickly.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Seth turned his key in the ignition in his unmarked squad car, pushing his foot down twice, revving the engine to hear the soothing roar that came from the exhaust. Seth felt the adrenaline of finally catching a break in this case. He pulled his GPS out from the center console and entered in the address, 78 Southwinds Dr. It was clear on the other side of the city, on the north end. What the fuck was this guy doing down here? It was a long ass drive and it would be mid-afternoon by the time he got there.

  While driving Seth glanced down at his notes. Description, hmm, typical white guy, no scars or scratches on his forearms or hands. Seeing how Zee and Jen are about the same height, and with the little sex-scapade that he had with Zee, Seth figured that the suspect had to be shorter than him. Jen thought he was about five–nine, and anything over six feet tall, his thighs would’ve been on fire like mine were. Seth was still racking his brain, having little flashback memories of details in his case file. His mind landed on the email list. Oh my fucking god, the fucking email list. It was right there in front of him. . . R.Caligula@. . . Roman motherfuckin’ Caligua. Well right there that’s how this motherfucker knew her.

  Seth grabbed his phone and called Ashley.

  He spoke before Ashley could even say the word hello, “Ashley it’s Seth, go to my computer and pull up the email list.”

  “I’m here in your office already, I’m at the computer. Pulling up the email list now. What am I looking for?”

  “Look on the list, there is an R.Caligula on that list. Open up the email and tell me what they were talking about.” Seth’s deep voice penetrated Ashley’s ears. Something about Seth’s voice commanding orders shot excitement down her spine.

  Ashley clenched her legs together, squeezing her thighs, trying to muffle the tingling from traveling to her pussy. Clearing her throat, she tried to hide a moan from exhaling with that breath. “I’ve got it right here.” She coughed to clear her throat again, “It appears there’s a series of emails back and forth. It looks like Jen was selling an inversion table. And Caligula was the one who bought.”

  “Thanks Ash, that’s what I needed to know.” Seth hung up the phone.

  Before putting the phone receiver down, Ashley closed her eyes, squeezed tight on the receiver, and took one more deep breath in.

  He pulled up across the street from the house and looked it over. It was a stereotypical house for the neighborhood. Half mowed yard, oil stains in the driveway. The oil stains were in the shape of a crescent moon, indicating that someone had changed the oil in their car and a little bit spilled out of the bucket. Trash littered the yard and was scattered in various places in the bushes. Clearly the house of a bachelor. Seth took a breath and gave himself a mental pep talk. Let’s go see what this fuck face has to say.

  As Seth got out of the car and walked toward the house, a man came out of the front door. He was sweaty, with a cigarette in one hand and a water bottle in the other. It would appear he was taking a break from mowing the grass.

  “Somethin’ I can help you with?” The guy asked.

  He made eye contact and gave the male a head nod in greeting, “Hi, hello there, I’m looking for a Mr. Roman Caligula.” Seth said adjusting his tie.

  “Yeah, that’s me.” Roman said.

  “Ah, hello, Mr. Caligula, I’m Detective Lane with the 41st precinct.” Seth reached out his hand to shake. “How are you today?”

  Roman just looked down at Seth’s hand, and took a puff of his cigarette. “Hmmm.” A slight shrewd head nod came from Roman.

  Seth heard the Captain’s voice in his head. 99.9% of what everyone says when you’re interviewing them doesn’t come from their mouths. Most of the time you’re going to get their admission and a confession from their body language alone. You just need to find that physical evidence that will convict them in court.

  Seth picked up on the subtle head nod, and watched his demeanor change in his face when getting hit with the information that a detective was standing in front of him.

  “I’m investigating an incident that took place over by the college a couple days ago.” Seth said bluntly.

  “And what does that have to do with me?” Roman said, exhaling smoking in Seth’s face. “I don’t live or work anywhere near that college.”

  “You know, that’s good point. You’re right, you don’t work or live near the college.” Seth said scratching his temple. “But you know what else? I don’t recall mentioning what college this event took place at. I’m sure you’re aware there’re many colleges in the city.”

  Roman took a half a step back, looking Seth up-and-down. With one last gulp, he squeezed the water bottle into his mouth then tossed the bo
ttle into the gutter area of the easement that ran between his property and the road.

  “Yeah, I don’t think I have time to talk to you.” Roman said back stepping towards the front door. “As matter of fact, why don’t you get the fuck off my property.”

  “Are you sure? This isn’t going to take long, I just have a few questions.” Seth replied with a smile.

  Roman chuckled, “Yeah, I’m fucking sure, and I’m pretty sure I just told you to fuck off.”

  That was an interesting response. “Alright then, Mr. Caligula, you have yourself a wonderful day.” Seth said still armed with the smile.

  Seth made his way back to his car. Sitting in the driver seat, he picked up his case file to jot down some notes. Caligula stormed out of the front door and jumped in his car, the reverse lights came on and he backed out of the driveway. With the license plate staring at Seth, he figured it couldn’t hurt and he scribbled down the license plate number as Roman sped off down the street.

  Glancing at the house as he started the car, Seth noticed the water bottle still sitting out in the open. He took a deep breath. What the hell, evidence is evidence. He looked around and saw that Roman was nowhere in sight. Reaching down between the seat and the door he pulled the trunk latch, then hopped out of the car. Grabbing a plastic evidence bag from the trunk, he walked back over to the easement and picked up the water bottle sealing it in a plastic evidence bag.

  Very very interesting. This guy was at least a douche bag. Seth just shook his head. He put money on this guy knowing something. At this point he put more money that this was his douche bag. At any rate, he had his fingerprints on this water bottle and he was going to see what the lab boys could do with it.

  Putting the car into drive and pulling off, Seth reached down and picked his phone up.

  “Ashley, I’m coming in hot.” Seth said.

  “Yes, yes you are.” Ashley whispered under her breath.

  “What?” Seth crinkled an eyebrow, “Stop being a dork, I’m coming in with some evidence. Are the lab boys still there?”

  “They literally just left.” Ashley was a bit embarrassed that she said that out loud.

  “Well call them back! I think this is our guy and I’ve got some evidence. I need them to analyze it, ASAP.” Seth said.

  That voice was going to be Ashley’s undoing, “Yes, Mmm-hmm, got it, yeah, on it sir.” Ashley fumbled around with her words.

  Seth hung up and laughed. Coming in hot…ha ha, that’s what she said… oh god, what am I in tenth grade again? I am 100% certain that girl’s got a crush on me now. Mmm-boy, I think I’d rather interview Ted Bundy then have that conversation with her. Seth shook his head. How did she not know that he was married? Seth looked down at his hand covering the steering wheel, looking over his ring finger, noticing the lack of ring on that hand. Oh that’s a good reason. I’ll have to change that.

  Chapter Sixteen

  He sped into the parking lot to the precinct, and pulled into the closest parking spot to the front doors. He threw the car into park, ripped the keys out of the ignition, and grabbed the evidence bag. As he walked into the precinct he looked down at his watch. He couldn’t fucking believe it was almost 8’clock. Zee was going to fucking kill him. Seth raced downstairs to the lab room.

  “Boys! Thanks for staying, thanks for being here so late.” Seth yelled out crashing the door open.

  “Hey hey, Lane!” The younger tall kid stood up and walked over towards Seth.

  “You know we live for this shit… whatcha got for us boss man?” The chubbier kid said, rubbing his eyes under his glasses.

  The taller one grabbed the evidence bag from Seth. “A water bottle, huh?”

  “See what you can pull off of this, and try to match these fingerprints to the ones I pulled off of the dryer.” Seth said patting the taller kid on the back.

  The chubbier one adjusted his glasses on his face, “You got it Lane, we’ll get this information back to you as fast as our non-updated machines will run.”

  “Thanks guys, work that magic of yours.” Seth yelled walking back upstairs.

  Seth made his way back to his office, and noticed Ashley still at his desk working away at the computer.

  “What are you still doing here?” Seth said loosening his tie.

  “Well, I, Umm, I worked the email list. I went through and eliminated everyone that was female as well as all of her professors. I also went through and scratched off all of her family members.” Ashley said.

  Seth loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. “Great, that actually takes a lot off my plate. Thank you for that.”

  “Speaking of plate, I know I kinda interrupted your lunch earlier, so, after you called and said you were on the way back here. I ran across the street and picked you up another burger from your spot before they closed.” Ashley picked up the to-go box and slid it across the desk.

  “Seriously?! This is wonderful. Wait, how did you know that I like this place? And how did you know what I order from here?” Seth opened the box and dove into the fries.

  “You know, I’m trying to get this whole detective thing down…” Ashley smiled, “I saw you go over there for lunch earlier today. Then I called you and told you about the credit card info. It didn’t look like you had enough time to eat. So when you called me and said that you were on your way back here, I ran over there and asked the guy what you normally order and I got it for you.”

  “Oh my god, this is amazing.” Seth took a quarter of the burger in one bite.

  Just as Seth returned from the bathroom, the phone rang.

  “Detective Lane’s office, how can I help you?” Ashley answered.

  Ashley’s eyes opened wide as she looked up at Seth, “Okay, yeah, I’ll let him know, thank you.”

  “That was the lab, they said you should come down. They’ve got something to show you.” Ashley said as she was hanging up the phone.

  “Did it sound like it was good news?” Seth asked.

  “They sounded a little excited.” Ashley said.

  “Awesome. I’m on the way.”

  “Whatcha got for me boys?” Seth said opening the door to the lab.

  “Oh you’re going to love us, boss man.” The chubby kid excitedly said.

  The tall skinny one spun around in his chair. “Oh yeah, you’re going to love this, sir!”

  “Because you were able to seal this bottle in the plastic evidence bag so fast, we were able to pull DNA.” The chubby kid said.

  “DNA?!” Seth’s ears perked up.

  “Yeah, DNA from the opening where he put his mouth up against it to drink out of. And well, you told us to work our magic. So we swabbed the area and ran a test, we then compared it to the sample from the rape kit.” The chubby kid said.

  “Go on?” Seth was starting to get a little excited. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through his body.

  The skinny kid stood up, “Well, while he was doing that, I pulled the fingerprints off the bottle. And right here on the seam of the wrapper I was able to pull a great print. So great that I was able to extract 32 points from it.”

  “32 points? What does that mean?” Seth asked.

  “You see, when we pull fingerprints, we’re lucky if we can get twelve points to match and compare. Some other things we look for are called loops, arches, and whorls. And it even goes deeper than that, we really try to focus on the central pocket loops, plain arches, and plain whorls. Like the print you got from the dryer, we were only able to pull 21 points off of that print.” The skinny kid explained, “Which is still considered to be a fantastic fingerprint.”

  Seth shook his head. Okay, I just learned way more about fingerprints than I ever wanted to know.

  “So you pulled 32 points what does that mean?” Seth asked again.

  “It means we are able to compare the 32 points of reference from the fingerprints off the water bottle to the 21 points of reference from the fingerprints on the dryer. And it came back as a one-h
undred percent match.” The skinny kid said.

  The chubby kid walked up, adjusting his glasses. “And I was able to speed up the incubation process for the DNA, and I compared it to the DNA from the hospital’s rape kit, and that also came back as a one-hundred percent match.”

  “So this is my guy?” Seth’s entire body raced with excitement and adrenaline.

  “Unless this guy was able to clone himself in the past twenty-four hours, I’d say so.” The chubby kid pushed his glasses tighter against his face, and hiccuped out the stereotypical star-trek nerd laugh.

  “Out-fuckin-standing. Thanks a lot guys.” Seth practically tripped over himself to run out of the lab and up the stairs.

  Chapter Seventeen

  At the top of the steps Seth yelled for Ashley.

  “Ashley, Captains office!”

  Seth made his way through the maze of cubicles to the Captain’s office.

  “Captain you busy?” Seth blurted out, knocking on the door at the same time.

  “What have you got Lane?” The Captain replied.

  “Cap… the lab boys just came back with the results from some of the evidence I brought in. We’ve got a one-hundred percent match!” Adrenaline was still pumping through Seth and his mind was racing at a mile a minute. His words were coming out a little fast and breathy but he didn’t care. This is how he got every time the evidence clicked together. Every time that he knew he was that much closer to taking a piece of shit off the streets. “This is my guy, I need an arrest and search warrant ASAP.”

  “Okay, tell me everything you know.” The Captain said.

  Seth explained what he had. “I found a gas receipt in the parking lot across the street from my victim’s residence. On a hunch, I had Ashley gather the information, and it came back to a Mr. Roman Caligula. Earlier today I drove out and spoke to him, and he was, well let’s just say he was a fucking jerk.”