Erotic Target Chapter 3

The torso was blood soaked. The face was slashed and bloodied, eyes closed. The hands had been propped up on the steering wheel.

The violent mix of emotions the crime scene wrought broiled up in Detective Luke Armstrong's gut. He fought to force them back down. An impassive eye was needed to do his job. And getting the job done was what he was good at. He closed cases.

But he could still never get used to it. Prolonged exposure to the after effects of violence and, at times, evil, had not numbed his insides as he sometimes wished it would.

The gruesome scene was in stark contrast to the manicured lawns up and down the block. Murders didn't occur in these peaceful neighborhoods. Kids rode their bikes to school and dinner was eaten around a table. Murder had no place here.

Luke knew this case would either be closed by morning or drag on forever, replaced by more urgent cases with greater chances of closing.

Luke moved away from the bloodied car to make way for the M.E. Officer Josh Mason approached him on the street.

"Detective. Pretty ugly, huh?"

"Josh. I'm glad you're here. You can assist me on this one. I think I'm gonna need it after the week I've had."

"Really? Thanks, Luke, I appreciate your confidence in me. And, let me say, we're all real sorry about what's happened with Helen. That was pretty cold of her, serving you at the station like that."

"Thanks. I'll tell the Lieutenant that you're with me for this. Now, what do we have so far?"

Josh read from his notepad as they approached the house. Uniformed officers were milling about on the front lawn. Luke scanned the area as they arrived at the front door and noticed a spattering of neighbors watching despite the late hour.

"Victim, Dylan Pogue, 32. Lacerations all over his body. The ME will have to get the total count. I would say the slit in his throat is what killed him, though. It's messy and angry.

"I was the first to respond followed by Officer Tiggs ten seconds later. Thankfully, he saw the body first. Vic is the boyfriend of Scarlett Redmond, 28, owner of the home."

Luke took a step back and took a good look at the house as if for the first time. His eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, she got the house from her parents when they took to the seas for their retirement. Anyway, she's a wreck. He just moved in today. Her friend, Lilly Hawn, 28, is also present and has been all day helping with the move. She's more lucid but pretty shaken, also.

"Vic left the house around twenty one hundred to pick up some dinner. After an hour they starting freaking and then noticed the car still here. They called 911 after they saw him at twenty two oh eight.

"Pretty simple, but no helpful details. Vic never made it beyond getting in the car as far as we can tell. There's no food in the car. Martinez and Gray are canvassing but no witnesses so far," Josh said.

"Yeah, this neighborhood would be pretty quiet that time of night. Maybe there was a lone dog walker or the like. Make sure the canvas checks for that. Okay. Let's go in. I'll interview the girlfriend first. You take care of the friend for a while," Luke said.

"Yes, sir."

"Cut it out, Josh. You know I don't need that sir crap. I've already aged a decade this week."

They went in and Luke surveyed the scene. There were a couple more uniforms in the living room. There were boxes everywhere confirming the just moved in story.

Near the corner of the room was an L-shaped couch. On it sat two hunched over young women. The short haired girl had her arm around the blonde. Her blonde hair covered her face but Luke could see the soft hiccups of her shoulders indicating she was crying or had just stopped.

Her body looked as if had been a punching bag though there wasn't a mark on her. Luke felt the urge to hug her protectively even though he had never met her before. The ferocity of the feeling, the need to hold her, disoriented him momentarily. When he came back to the present, both girls were looking up at him.

"Hi, I'm Detective Luke Armstrong. I'll need to ask you some more questions, if that's okay."

Luke locked eyes with Scarlett and was struck by her beauty. Even with her red-rimmed eyes and tear-streaked face, innocent beauty radiated from her delicate features, tugging at Luke's cock and heart. He knew this case was going to be a hard one for him.

He flipped open his notebook and looked at Lilly who was still protectively hugging Scarlett close.

"You must be…Lilly Hawn. May I ask you to go with Officer Mason for a moment while I ask Ms. Redmond some more questions?"

Lilly looked at Scarlett who silently nodded. Josh escorted Lilly to the back bedroom.

"Should I call you Ms. Red-"

"Scarlett's fine," she said waiving away the niceties.

Luke kneeled in front of her to get a good read on her face as he interviewed her. Unfortunately, this gave him prime viewing of her slight cleavage. He could see her hardened nipples through her shirt and bra. The open front door must have brought in the night's cool breeze. Luke felt fine, but knew from experience that meant a woman was bound to be cold.

"Do you need a blanket or jacket?" Luke asked as reached over her shoulder for the blanket on the top of the couch behind her. He didn't wait for an answer as he pulled it around her fragile frame. He smelled the fruity scent of her shampoo. He settled in front of her to ask his questions and had to remind himself to keep his eyes up.

"Can you walk me through tonight?"

Luke strove to be gentle with her. Regardless of his immediate physical reaction to her, she was clearly in a frail state and necessitated extra care. Her life had been broken apart--to what degree he was about to find out. But she would never be the same. And he would be an indelible shard in one of the worst memories of her life.

This part of the process wasn't pleasant. It never was. But this was the life he chosen almost two decades back. There was no turning back now, no matter that the job suffocated every other part of his life.

Scarlett grimaced as she inhaled.

"He moved in today. Did you know that? We were taking that step. He wanted us to get a place together. I didn't want to move so he came to me. And now he's dead."

Scarlett stared at Luke, her eyes searching, lost. Her tears overflowed again and new liquid trails were formed down her cheeks. Luke resisted the urge to wipe them away. If she had anything to do with her boyfriend's murder, she was doing a damn good job of hiding it.

"What happened today?" Luke prodded.

Coming out of her grief and recalling events she began, "He spent the night here last night. He did that a lot."

Scarlett's face conveyed her meaning. Luke acknowledged this with his own look that was designed to mask the excitement that sparked through his body at understanding that she had been fucked last night, like most nights.

"Go on."

"Lilly, my best friend," Scarlett motioned her head towards the back bedroom before continuing, "she met us at Dylan's to help load the moving truck. It went quick and we arrived here this afternoon. Then it got weird. "

"How do you mean, weird?"

"Levi, from next door, kinda freaked out about Derek's car being in front of his house. I don't think he meant anything by it. He was probably just having a hard day. He reminds me of some of my more troubled kids at school. They just need a little more love and discipline. Except he's grown."

"Levi lives next door?" Luke motioned to his left. Scarlett nodded.

"How long have you known him?"

"More than two years. He's edgy and tough but I've never seen him be violent. He certainly couldn't have done that," she said gesturing towards the door and bowing her head.

A bleeding heart. That's what she was. Great. She won't be much help of she doesn't think some confrontational punk next door had anything to do with that evidence of rage outside. Normally, this type of thing would annoy Luke. But he only noted it and moved on.

"Can you describe Levi freaking out about Derek's car? Walk me through that."

Scarlett's face scrunched up to think. Luke stifled a smile. Despite the job he was supposed to be doing, her innocence struck him again. She had such a girlish air making her not look anything near her twenty eight years. A bubble of pure sexual desire floated up in Luke's psyche and was popped just as quickly as it came.

Luke would maintain control around this woman. He had to.

"Please continue, Scarlett."

She shifted her legs and brought them up Indian style. Luke couldn't help but notice her easy flexibility. His mind wandered to her legs reaching mind-bending angles around his body as he pounded his cock deep inside her tiny body.

God this has to stop!

Luke's cock grew immediately. He shifted his weight on the floor in front of her. When that didn't give him relief, he sat beside her on the couch, angling his body towards hers as much as possible.

"He was angry. He stormed out of the house and demanded Dylan move his car. Dylan stayed in control. It didn't escalate."

She broke eye contact with him and made another futile attempt to control her emotions. Doing his best to come across as blank but compassionate, Luke waited.

"I remember Bill from across the street was watching. Lilly wanted to do something about Levi but I held her back. Then. I don't know. It was over. Honestly, I would have forgotten about it if …"

It looked like she might break down again. Instead she brought her anguished face back up with considerable effort.

Luke was struck by her obvious pain. That couldn't be faked. He didn't believe in his gut that she had anything to do with this. But gut feelings weren't evidence.

Scarlett continued, "After that Bill came over to introduce himself to Dylan. He was really nice. He offered to help us with the boxes. He told Dylan to watch out for Levi and then went back inside. That's it. We finished unloading the truck. We were hungry and I was too tired to cook. I wanted takeout. Why couldn't I have just made us dinner?"

The tears flowed with abandon now. Luke knew he wasn't going to get much more out of her tonight. A couple more questions and he would wrap this up.

"Do you know of anyone who might want to hurt your boyfriend?"

"No. No one. He was a great guy. Everyone loved him."

That was the standard response in the first stages of grief. Memories and details would soon float to the surface little by little.

"Anything out of the ordinary besides moving in with you? At his work, maybe?"

"I don't think so. I don't know his coworkers well. But he never seemed stressed or anything."

"That's all for now. I'll need you to get me his work information and to stay available. Do you have somewhere you can stay tonight?"

"Lilly's. I'll stay there," Scarlett said.

"Okay, Scarlett, wait here. I need to talk to Ms. Hawn. I won't be long."

Luke stood, feeling relief and sadness that the interview was over. She looked up at him with forlorn eyes. In the brief moment they held each other's gaze, Luke's professional armor turned to ash. Whatever this bizarre power was that she had over him, he was defenseless against it. He was lost in her eyes and beholden to her body.

This had to stop. Or he would have to turn the case over to someone else. That would piss off the Lieutenant and Luke would be left to stew over the remains of his failed marriage.

Mercifully, Scarlett looked down, freeing Luke from having to conjure up enough self control to willingly break their raw connection. He thought she felt something, too. But the girl did just lose her boyfriend. He put a hand on her shoulder and moved away quickly.

Luke reached the bedroom and had difficulty not envisioning Scarlett naked on the bed as he recalled what she said about Dylan sleeping over. Most nights, she said. Most nights she was getting fucked. He deleted the image from his mind.

He conducted a cursory interview with Ms. Hawn. She confirmed everything Scarlett had reported. Her emotion was palpable as well. However, Luke did wonder if that emotion had more to do with worry over Scarlett than grief over the victim.

"Thanks for your patience, Ms. Hawn. Ms. Redmond mentioned staying with you tonight. I can have a uniform drive you two there," said Luke.

"Yes. No. I mean, yes, she'll stay with me. No, my car is down the street."

Luke watched her return to her friend and wondered if she was the butchering type.