Free Quintic by V. P. Trick

better
than the morning’s brownish brew.
    Anyone
entering the office had to zigzag through the randomly distributed
desks to reach Bridget’s reception desk. It had been Bridget’s idea back in the early days to
position her desk far from the door. Although she never confirmed
it, Chris suspected it was so she could stare down
visitors.
    T he reception desk sure caught
Charles’s attention as he walked in. Its view, and Patricia
smiling, hand outstretched, looking very friendly as she was coming
over to greet him, stopped the rookie dead on his track. Once again
Chris was thankful of his office view: an officer was ogling his
new secretary.
    Patricia met up with Charles next
to his office door. Not quite in front of his door, though, so he
had to get up to join the party. The team hadn’t left for the
night. They were now looking Charles over with smug
interest. We’re a fucking
homicide squad, people, not a damn social club.
    “ Hello,
Charles, it’s nice to see you again. You look very dashing in that
suit. Much sharper than in the uniform you usually wear. Are those
little guns on your tie? I like the colour if not the pattern,”
Patricia complimented Charles. The damn woman liked ties, and she
innocently touched the rookie’s, making him blush. A fucking grown
man! Time to rescue the guy.
    “ Charles,
good to see you. Glad you took me up on my offer.” Chris had
suggested Charles dropped by . They were
to review the case together; Chris had a nagging feeling the
rookie’s old chief might not be up to the task. “Listen up, guys.
Charles’s the officer working the motel case I told you about. How
about taking five to help him out?” Help and test the rookie
simultaneously.
    T he team’s often tactless input
was a good way to learn what kind of cop Charles was. Chris had
learned his lesson with the quartet: better an average choice than
no choice at all or worse, a fucking quartet from hell. They
retreated to the conference room.
    As they were all taking seats and goofing around,
Patricia joined them. “Should I hold all calls, or is one of you
expecting an important call?”
    A repeat of
the morning’s meeting . No one asked for
coffee. Chris winked at her; he knew she knew what he was
thinking.
    She winked
back . “Does someone wants something from
the cafeteria?” His guys were wise enough to keep their mouths
shut. “How about you, Charles, would you like a coffee or
something?” She asked sweetly, brushing her hand slightly on the
rookie’s shoulder to catch the guy’s attention. No need to touch the guy. He hasn’t seen anything but you since he came
through the door, Pussycat .
    “ Yes, coffee
would be nice. Thank you.”
    “ Anyone
else?” Having proven her point, I’ll fetch coffee when and for whom
I damn want to , she smiled at the kid.
“Coming right up, Charles.” And out she went.
    “ OK,
Charles, why don’t you go over the case for the guys?” Chris had
briefed the team at the meeting that followed the murders, so they
already knew the general but not the particulars, and not what
Charles had found out since then. Which wasn’t much.
    “ Cause of
death looks to be strangulation. The medical examiner said he won’t
confirm it for now. Assuming strangulation, the weapon used on the
woman is a leather strap, and on the client a silky ribbon tie from
an undergarment. The ME found signs of trauma at the base of the
man’s skull.” A blow to the head. “No signs of trauma on the
woman.” Had the man resisted the killer? Why just one
blow?
    “You sure the stiff was the
whore’s john?” Ham.
    “ Body fluids
matched, ” Charles answered readily before
looking at Chris. Chris nodded with his chin, and the officer
pursued his review. “The woman had prior arrests. Beatrice,
profession prostitute.” If one considered prostitution as a
profession. “I haven’t located a pimp.”
    “ Possible
she changed trade.” LeRoy.
    “Yah right. And the motel was a
date?”