by Mikey Lee
“Yeah. I was until Lane…” Ashley replied.
“How are you Ashley, my name is Arti. How excited are you to be working with Lane?” The chubby kid said, leaning back in his chair locking both hands behind his head.
“Oh, I’m very excited.” Ashley mumbled.
“So… tell me y’all got some goodies for us to work on.” Melvin said rubbing his hands together eyeing up the evidence bag in Ashley’s arms.
“Yup… Sure do… All kinds of goodies for you nerds.” Seth turned to walk out the door. “Y’all work that magic, guys.”
After making copies of the case file notes for Ashley, Seth looked over at her. Handing the copied notes to her, he took his cell phone out and looked down at the time.
“Go home… study up on the case. We’re going to have a long day tomorrow.” Seth said.
“I was thinking about the bullets you made for me today.” Ashley said.
“Rounds, they’re called rounds, darlin’.” Seth said, downing that last little bit of coffee out of the cup.
“I think I might go hit up the range and shoot a few rounds.” Ashley said.
“That sounds like a fantastic idea. Grab a box of normal rounds from the armory and put those down range first. Then use half of the rack that I made you and see what feels better.” Seth said, “I’m going home. Catch ya tomorrow.”
7
Seth drove home from the station with thoughts of his job and life running through his head. Man, I love my job… but it seems like I never actually get a full day to actually spend with Zee anymore. I can’t even remember the last time we’ve actually been out on an actual date. Ever since she opened up that yoga studio, she’s been working that butt off. Oh my God… that sweet little ass of hers, damn I love biting down, putting my dental records into her ass cheeks.
He saw the grocery store coming up on the right hand side of the road. Seth jolted into the right lane and pulled quickly into the parking lot. This is going to be perfect. I’ll make her a rockin’ fuckin’ dinner tonight. He glanced at the dashboard clock. I’ve got plenty of time before Zee’s going to be home. Oh this is going to be wonderful… I’ll make the very first dinner I ever cooked for her. Some good ol’ chicken breast, stuffed with mushrooms and spinach on a nice bed of white rice. I’m really fuckin’ glad she likes that too, because that’s about all I fucking know how to make. Well, other than my fucking awesome cheeseburgers…
The smell of sautéed mushrooms, garlic, and spinach engulfed Zee’s face when she walked in the front door.
“I recognize that smell.” Zee yelled into the kitchen.
“Hey bunches face. I made dinner tonight.” Seth said, pleased with himself. He’s been calling her that for so long he’s not even sure where the name came from, but it kind of stuck.
“I see this. What’s the occasion?” Zee said, wrapping her arms around Seth’s waist from behind.
“Occasion? There’s no special occasion, just that I love ya. Plus, I know you’ve been working your ass off lately.” Seth said, reaching back. He slid Zee’s head under his arm, leaned down and kissed her.
“Mmm,” Zee said, leaning into the kiss. “I thought you said you had a new case. I didn’t think you were going to be home anytime soon.” Zee said while pulling two plates out of the cabinet.
“Oh, I do have a new case, I’ve also got a new partner.”
“OH… a partner huh?” Zee said.
“Yeah, well, you remember I used that desk Sergeant to kind of help me out a bit on the last case. Welp, the Captain, I guess thought we worked well together and reassigned Officer Hart to help me out some more.” Seth grabbed the tongs and grabbed a chicken breast, placing it on one of the plates.
“Officer Hart, huh… sounds kinda cute.” Zee said.
Seth bust out with a slight chuckle, “Darlin’, you have no idea. Come on now, let’s eat. I’ve got something else planned for us tonight.”
“What? What else are we doing?” Zee said, very intrigued.
“Don’t worry about it baby… its a surprise.” Seth showed off the smile that hooked Zee from the beginning.
“Ohhh, it’s like that huh?” Zee’s tilted her lips into a little smirk of a response.
Saying nothing, Seth just grabbed the plates and took them to the dinning room, leading the way for Zee to follow.
While sitting there eating dinner, both Seth and Zee continued to chat about Zee’s day at the yoga studio. Seth followed with a bit of information on the new case. Seth looked down at his cell phone, checking the time.
“Oh holy hell… its 6:30.” Seth jumped up from the chair. “Come on, we’ve gotta go.”
“Where? What are we doing?” Zee asked.
“Surprise… remember?” Seth said, grabbing her hand and leading her out the door.
Seth escorted Zee to the front passenger seat of his unmarked squad car and opened it like the perfect gentleman that he is. Zee was still confused as to what the hell was happening. After getting in the driver’s seat and starting the car, he revved the engine, tossing the gear box into drive.
“Where are we going in such a rush?” Zee asked again.
“We’ve gotta get there before it happens.” Seth said, focusing hard on the road and traffic.
Zee looked at him shaking her head. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“Nope.” Seth focused on her face through his peripheral. Zee settled in to the drive, knowing she wasn’t going to get any more information out of him. When he set his mind to something, he stuck with it. Instead, she rested her head against the soft headrest and stared at the road, watching as the highway turned into a one-lane road and the light posts lining the road transitioned into thick trees.
Seth made the left turn into the regional state park and took the road leading up to the mountain top out look. Zee looked up above the tree line and noticed the sun relaxing just above the horizon, as if it were waiting on Seth to get to the top of mountain for him and Zee to enjoy the scene.
“Oh my God, you’re such a dork. You know that?” Zee smiled. “I get it now. You made me dinner. The dinner from our first date, the one that you cooked for me. And now we’re going to watch the sunset together.” Her stomach filled with butterflies. Her pulse beat in her chest letting her know exactly where in her body her heart was.
“I love you baby, I thought I would try to be cute tonight.” Seth said traversing the steep narrow road up to the top of the mountain.
“You know you really don’t need to try all that hard. You’ll always be cute to me baby.” Zee leaned back in the passenger seat, and thought for a second. “Wait… what did you do? What are you trying to make up for?”
Busting out in laughter, Seth turned to her, “Nothing, I didn’t do anything. I just kinda figured with that last case I had, and now this one, I’m not finding much time anymore to really enjoy your company and actually spend time with you.” He smiled.
God damn that smile, it lit his face up. Zee couldn’t help but think to herself how fucking gorgeous and thoughtful he was. That boy could get away with murder if he just smiled at the judge.
Seth pulled into a parking spot right off of the look out cliff. He rushed around to get the door for Zee. As he opened the door, she stepped out of the car and all at once Seth reached down and picked her up, carrying her in his arms as if he was carrying her across the threshold of their house after their wedding day. Lifting her body higher and tighter to his chest, she tilted her neck in and kissed him.
Seth wasn’t even worried about closing the door of the car, nor was he concerned about the other couples already on the platform. He walked over to the front of the car and sat down on the large rock that bordered the parking area. Now sitting with Zee still in his arms, he lowered her into his lap and snuggled her in. He turned to the side a bit, allowing for the fading sun light to shine through her hair and a halo appeared over her head in his eyes. No words between them, Zee sat in Seth’s lap and watched the sun t
ouch the curves of the earth. Seth didn’t even turn his head away. Instead, he watched the sun set from the reflection in her eyes. As the sun dipped further below the horizon, Zee’s pupils grew bigger and wider. So did her smile.
8
The morning sun light cracked through the blinds of the bedroom window and the TV on the wall across from the bed turned on, blaring the weather channel. Seth’s eyes were shut tight. He woke up, his arm is asleep from Zee’s head firmly placed in the pocket of his shoulder. He balled his fist tight and then opened his hand wide, attempting to get through the pins and needles of his left arm. When he opened his eyes he had to see through the strands of Zee’s hair draped over his face. His eye lashes brushed her hair, swiping single hairs across his cheeks and nose. Absolutely zero better way to wake up in the morning. The love of my life snuggled in close. My arm so far asleep I can barely move it with out the shooting pain of prickly needles rushing through. And a small puddle of drool on my chest. Man, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Using his right hand, he wiped the drool down the ripples of his stomach. I’m so fuckin’ happy I found that damn feature on the TV, fucking genius who ever came up with that idea. So much better than waking up to an annoying ass buzzing alarm. You wonder why people are so pissed off all the time, fucking alarm clocks sirens are the death of humanity.
Seth slid his now very awake body out from under Zee’s limp sleeping body, but he couldn’t help if his palms brushed up to cop a feel of her glorious breasts. He stumbled in the bathroom and turned on the shower. It always takes a good minute or two before the hot water came through the pipes. Seth blinked through the sleep still crusted in his eyes and checked himself out in the mirror. Looking good sir… looking good. He raised his chin, cocking it back and forth, admiring the five-o-clock shadow action going on. You know what? I’m kind of diggin it… I’m thinking I might rock out the scruff today.
In the shower the heat from the water steamed off his body. Water droplets traveled into the crevices of his defined body. As he placed his hands on the shower wall, soaking his face and head under the falling water, the dimples in the side of his butt poked out. The Greek gods couldn’t have even imagined such a beautiful body for a man. As a matter a fact, Seth was better than a Greek god in the sense that Greek mythology didn’t have anyone packing a full nine-and-a-half inch cock with the girth of a tuna can.
Now that the entire bathroom was fogged up from the steam of an extra long shower, Seth tip toed his way to the closet. Every morning his routine was the same, his only goal was to not wake up his number one most valuable possession. Softly closing the closet door before turning on the light, Seth fingered through the row of suits that hung there. His eyes, looked to the left causing half of the green hazel that surrounded the light brown eyes to hide in the corner of his eyes. Seth listened carefully to catch the temperature being announced on the TV. Fuck balls, ninety-five fucking degrees today. Not wearing black… that’s for fuck sake. Grey. Grey is a wonderful color today for a suit. Picking out the pink dress shirt, he moved over to the ties. Struggling to find a good tie to match, Seth rubbed his finger across his chin. Why the fuck not? I’m rockin’ out the scruffy face, I’m going all the way. No tie, no shave today is casual mother fuckin’ Tuesday.
“Hey, good morning Lane.” Ashley said, answering the phone.
“Back at ya. Hey, you remember that coffee shop where we interviewed our last victim Jenn? Meet me there in about five minutes. I’m on the way there now.” Seth said quickly.
Seth pulled his unmarked squad car in front of the coffee shop. No sign of Ashley yet, Seth walked inside the shop and ordered coffees for the both of them. As the order was filled, he headed outside to take over one of the little round tables outside. With the case file under his arm and a massive cup of coffee in each hand, Seth approached the table and saw Ashley rounding the corner.
“Ah, there you are.” Seth gently placed the cups down on the table taking control of the file with his free hand.
“You’re double fisting the coffee today, huh?” Ashley looked down at both of the cups.
“What?” Seth followed her eyes down at the cups. “No, you dork, one’s for you.”
“Oh…thanks. Why are we meeting here?” Ashley asked.
“Why not? I think better out here anyway.” Seth said.
Seth popped the lid off of his cup, a mushroom cloud of steam rising off the dark nectar of the morning gods. “Did you study up on the case at all?”
“Yeah, I looked over it. You had mentioned that you think it’s the taxi driver. At no time did Kathy indicate him at all. What makes you think it’s him?” Ashley questioned.
“I’m not thinking, and you’re right, at no time did she say that. But, if you remember, she doesn’t remember going home… all she remembers is getting in to the cab. And then the next morning she woke up on her couch in the living room.” Seth puckered his lips together and blew on his coffee.
Imagining those lips were coming coming closer to her face, she admired the new scruffy look. “So, what’s the plan of attack today?”
“Today, we go check out the cab company. Each cab has a tracking GPS, and a camera in the cabs. With that video camera, it’ll have the time and date stamp on the there. And that’s where we start with building our timeline. The GPS will show that the taxi driver was there at Kathy’s place long enough for the attack to happen.” Seth took a sip of his coffee.
“And then?” Ashely asked.
“And then… then we interview the driver and case closed.” Seth motioned to the squad car.
Ashley, with case files under her left arm, coffee in the same hand, opened the passenger side door. “Ok. So maybe we should go to the hotel to find out what cab company she used. Poke around a bit. Right?”
“Exactly! That’s why this is called an investigation. We can start with my connection at the hotel. We’ll go there first and see about getting the security camera footage from the other night. From there we’ll be able to see what cab it was that took Kathy home, license plate, cab company… the works.” Seth said, turning on the squad car, slapping the shifter down in to drive.
“You know someone that works security for the hotel? Just how many connections do you have in this city?” Ashley asked.
“Just a couple.” Seth said with a smile. “In this business you’re going to need to put yourself out there and gain trust with everyone.”
“How did you get the trust from a hotel security?” Ashley was interested to hear this one.
“I helped this guy out, once.” Seth said into his coffee cup. “I helped him, when his sister was attacked a few years back.”
9
Seth drove up to the valet booth in front of the hotel. Turning the car off and stepping out, he placed the squad car keys in his pocket. A fresh out of high school, pimple faced kid ran up. “I’m going to need the key’s sir.” His voice cracked like he was still going through puberty.
Seth, towering over the kid just fluffed his suit jacket, opening it just enough to show his badge. “No, you don’t. But, here, you can take care of this for me.” Seth handed the kid his now empty coffee cup and a twenty-dollar bill.
Ashley cracked a grin and grabbed her copy of the case file.
Seth, with Ashley following just behind over his right side, approached the front desk.
“Yes, can I help you, sir?” The girl behind the desk asked.
“I’m here to see Phil.” Seth said.
The girl’s eyes shot open, wondering what this was all about. “Yes, of course… one second.” She grabbed the phone, dialed a few numbers and whispered into the mic.
Seconds later the door to the left of the front counter flung open. Out steps Phil and Ashley’s eyes quickly ate him up. He was about 6’5” with a stocky build. Even though he was dressed in a suit, she could clearly see the muscles of his biceps against the fabric as he walked closer to them. His eyes were a piercing blue and his hair was a dirty-blonde color that was st
yled like he was about to step on the cover of one of the romance novels she loves to read. His face was all business with sharp, symmetrical lines, his lips pressed thin until he recognized Seth. Then his face broke into a smile. Ashley’s pulse sped up and her hands were suddenly clammy. The only thing she could think of was, good fuckin’ GOD! Does every sexy guy in this town all hang out together? The word “damnmmm” slips out of her mouth so quietly she hopes no one heard it.
“Phil, what’s up buddy?” Seth said reaching out his hand to meet Phil’s outstretched arm, which quickly turned in to the male greeting: a hug with two pats on the back.
“Detective-motha-fucking-Lane, sup brotha? What the hell brings you down here?” Phil said, happy to see him.
“I’m going need to cash in one of those favors, brotha.” Seth said, getting back to business.
“Oh… come on in, come on in to my office, lets chat.” Phil said, opening the door back up waving him in.
While walking in to the security office, Seth pointed back at Ashley. “Hey, Phil, I wanna introduce you to Officer Hart.”
“Hey there, Hart.” Phil said, shaking her hand. Turning his attention back over to Seth he asked, “Your new partner?” He pointed at her using his thumb.
“Not sure yet.” Seth chuckled and winked at Ashley, “She’s gonna have to prove herself.” Ashley rolled her eyes.
Shaking his head and laughing, Phil plopped down in his desk chair. “So, what can I do for the great Mr. Lane? And just so you know… you’re never going to run out of favors from me dude. Not after everything you did for me.”
“The short of it, I’ve got another victim…” Seth started to explain.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear this. Was she a guest here?” Phil asked.
“Not really, she was here for a party, then left the hotel in a cab. I just wanted to see if I can check out your CCTV from the other night and see if we can get the cab information, you know, company, tag number and what not.” Seth said leaning back in the chair.