To die in the sin
1273 Words
*Zac*
I wake up with a startle as a hand slap me in the face, realising I am on the floor of the trailer and a young blonde woman is sleeping on the couch. I sit up and blink, trying to remember last night.
“Morning”. She purrs as she stretches.
“Yup … that is what it is”. I say jumping to my feet, looking for some clothes.
She stretches again. “You got somewhere to be ?”
“Yeah I got this thing that I Uhm …”. I run a hand through my hair. “… Totally forgot about”. I grab the only pant-like thing I can find, my swim shorts. “Look there is some OJ in the fridge … No, do not drink the OJ in the fridge”.
She looks at me and I make a probably rather weird face, then I turn and hurry out the door, I need to get away.
I am always relieved when I get a call about a murder, and half an hour later I am standing in a hotel room.
“Oh, don’t you look f****d”. Astrid says with a grin as she walks in.
For a second my mind panics, like how does she know ? “What ?”
“You look like s**t”. She explains. “Have you slept at all ?”
“Yeah, a bit”. I mumble. “Lets go have a look at our stiff”.
She nods but then her eyes slip down to my legs. “Hey, what in the … Are those bathing shorts you are wearing ?”
“Well all my pants were stained and I didn’t want to look unprofessional”. I say with a tired smile, walking towards the door to the bedroom.
“Okay, you what’s unprofessional ?” She stops me. “It’s you blinding me with those hairy pasty-white legs”.
I nod. “Exactly, I need a little vitamin D”.
“Zac, are you gonna tell me that this right here …”. She indicates my outfit. “Is not even a little weird … even for you ?”
“This line of questioning is a little weird … and uncomfortable”. I walk past her and into the room.
She sighs and I hear her mumble. “Damn, it is gonna be that kind of day”.
“Okay so who is he, Jensen”. Astrid says to the young, but very effective, dark haired agent. I can’t help but wonder what her first name is, everyone always calls her by her last name, Jensen.
“Dan Rasmussen, 35 years old. Seems he had quite a party, Followed by an accidental overdose”.
The man who has been bent over the bed straightens. “Or not so accidental … the bluish skin and bloody foam around his mouth all say OD, but … check out the tourniquet”.
“It is on the outside of his arm”. Jensen says. “That means he had … help”.
Astrid points to the forensic. “By the way, Zac this is Di Caprio … Di Caprio, this is my new partner Zachary Lewis, from Texas”.
I look at him. “Di Caprio ... like the actor ? Any family connection ?”
The forensic rolls his eyes and Astrid giggles and says. “Di Caprio here wanted to be an actor, he went to acting school and everything and well his first name happens to be Leo ... So we all like to tease him a bit. No one remembers his real last name”.
“Ha ha so very funny”. Di Caprio grumbles.
“Well nice to meet you”. I say, moving to a chair where I spot some clothes, and start looking through it.
I fish something up with a knife I find on the table, not to touch it and Jensen instantly asks. “What do you have there, legs ?”
“A wedding ring that was stuffed in his pocket”. I make a motion with my hand, making it fly off the knife and through the air.
Jensen catches in her gloved hand. “Dan Rasmussen, you cheating bastard”.
“Well that means someone has been here with him and seen him alive”. Astrid says. “Let’s find that girlfriend, boyfriend, intern or call girl …”.
I look at my own wedding ring, Astrid’s voice kind of disappearing as I am hit by a flashback, me and the blonde arriving at the trailer, I am drunk, so drunk. I am pouring us drinks and she wraps her hand around my neck and starts kissing me.
It grew heated, I was trying to focus … I was seeing Madison … Yesterday was the second anniversary of her death.
“And make sure you call his …”. Astrid’s voice comes into existence again.
“His wife”. Jensen says. “Telling her that we have found her husband dead in a hotel room, stinking of another woman’s cheap perfume … I am on it”.
I pull a small bottle of tequila from my pocket and empty it into my mouth, I need something to get through the day.
“Is that what that smell is ?” Astrid says, leaning closer to the body. “It doesn’t seem to be coming from the body”.
Turning, I all but run out into the bathroom.
“Zac !” I hear Astrid call after me.
I lean on the sink, breathing hard, trying to steady myself, but another flashback hits me hard … clothes being torn off, my clothes … her clothes. Naked writing bodies.
When I walk out of the bathroom five minutes later Jensen and Astrid looks at me, and Astrid says. “Sinner”.
“Me ?” I say sheepishly, pointing to myself.
“No, him”. She says, pointing to the dead man on the bed. He is now on his stomach. Someone has carved the word sinner into his back.
*Astrid*
“If you are sick you should go home”. I tell Zac, as we walk into the office.
He shakes his head. “I am not sick”.
“You threw up”. I point out.
“Barely, it was more like a cleanse”. He says with a small shrug.
I half roll my eyes. “All that I am saying is that you are not yourself … and when you are yourself you are barely …”.
Looking around I realise Zac is gone. Then I see through the window to Lisbeth’s office, she is talking to a very important looking man in a suit, and I wonder if he was the one that made Zac run off.
“Jensen, what do we have ?” I ask as I spot her.
“The security footage of a van arriving and leaving the hotel's parking garage at a time that fits with our killer”. She says, looking at me.
That’s at least a great start. “Do we have a plate ?”
“Partial, and we are looking into it”. She says.
“Good enough for now”. I give her a nod. “Great work”.
- Writer
