Hulk Chapter 7 #3
The interior was set up like a cottage that you could live in rather than a room filled with sunbathing chairs, towels, suntan lotion, and a walled-off bathroom.
It had a kitchen, living room, and bedroom combined into an ample open space.
There was a door off the back wall that I assumed led to a bathroom.
The decor was nautical, and the place was spotless as far as the eye could tell. Damn it, I knew it was too much to hope no one had cleaned it after that night.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s been cleaned. I hoped they’d forgotten, but I figured that was too good to be true. I don’t think we’ll find anything here, Celeste. I’m sorry. It’s gonna be a bust.” I wasn’t sure why I needed to apologize.
“You don’t know that. And if you’re right, it’s not your fault.
We knew this was a long shot. Come on, you start in the kitchen, and I’ll take the bedroom area.
Then, we’ll work our way to each other, cross over, and you take the bath and bedroom, while I’ll do the living room and kitchen.
Two sets of eyes going over it separately is better than one. ”
“Whatever you say.”
We worked in a comfortable silence. Every drawer and cabinet was opened, and every item inside was moved aside.
I had no clue what we were hoping to find, but it was something to do.
The whole concept of no stone left unturned.
It was a slow process because we had to make sure everything we moved was put back exactly as it had been.
I would occasionally glance at my watch to see where we stood, time-wise. We had been at it for a long time. I was almost ready to yell Switch. She was in the bathroom, and I had gone over the living area.
The police report that Wire had gotten his hands on detailed how Capri was found.
She was naked on the floor, between the couch and the bed.
CSI techs had drawn a diagram of the room, so I knew exactly where she was lying, even the position she was in.
The pool house had a hardwood floor with a large area rug underneath the living room furniture. Another area rug was under the bed.
“Hulk, I found something,” she said quietly.
She came out of the bathroom, holding up her hand. I had to get closer to see what it was. Clutched between her thumb and her pointer and index fingers were strands of blond hair. The hair was the same shade as Celeste’s.
“Where did you find that?” I asked. I hadn’t found a stray hair, a speck of dust, or a dust bunny.
“It was under the sink, beneath a stack of hand towels. Why would it be in there? Do you think Capri was in the bathroom during the time she can’t recall, and was in the cabinet searching for something?”
“I don’t know. It’s possible. Here, let’s put it in this bag so it’s protected,” I said, taking a plastic evidence bag from my pocket.
Wire had made sure we were prepared to gather evidence correctly.
Anything we found would be sent off to the Dark Patriots.
They had forensic labs that would run the tests.
She slipped the hairs inside, then sealed the bag. She put it in her pocket.
“Are you finished in there?” I asked.
“Yeah, we should switch.”
Things went faster, and within another hour, we were done. Heading outside to see how the others were doing, we saw both Cyclone and Wire coming our way.
“Did you find anything?” Cyclone asked.
“A few strands of hair that match the color of Celeste’s and Capri’s. It was tucked beneath a stack of hand towels by the bathroom sink. What about you guys?” I asked.
“These Seymours are kinky. I found a locked sex room. But other than that, nothing in the house. It was spotless, so it’s been cleaned since that night,” Wire replied.
“The pool house has been cleaned as well. How about you, Cyclone?” I asked.
“I found this in the bushes along the far side of the pool. Do you recognize this?” he asked Celeste as he held up his fist. Dangling from it was a delicate gold necklace with a tiny red stone. She gasped.
“That’s Capri’s. I got it for her sixteenth birthday. It’s her birthstone, ruby, for July.”
“Are you sure it’s hers?” Wire asked.
“It should have her initials, CRM, on the back of the ruby setting.”
“It’s hers. They’re there,” Cyclone verified moments later.
“Put it in an evidence bag. Celeste, I know you probably want to give it back to Capri, but we can’t. Not until we know if there’s any evidence on it. I’m sorry,” I told her.
“I understand. I’d rather make sure it doesn’t hold clues than destroy what might be our only lead. Is there anything else we should do?”
“I’d like to see both spots you found the necklace and the hairs at,” Wire chimed in to request.
We let Cyclone show his first. He was right. The ground was torn up more than the surrounding area. And not far from it was a side door that led out of the house.
“That door comes from a mudroom,” Wire said.
“If she was drugged in the house, then carried or forced outside, that door would be more logical than taking her out through their main front or back doors. She might’ve fought, or the culprit lost control of her here,” I speculated.
As I spoke, Wire was snapping photographs of the spot and the side exit. When he was finished, we went back to the pool house and showed Wire where she found the hairs. He crouched down and flashed a penlight underneath.
“Would you shut off the lights? I want to try something,” he muttered, taking a small spray bottle from inside his overalls.
Cyclone turned them off. Huddled in the relative darkness, we watched Wire spray the spot where the towels had been before he moved them, and then the outer cabinet door.
It glowed in a small section on the doors, but inside was the real surprise.
Another glow, this time in the form of four round spots.
The exact size and detail of the pads of your fingers. It was fingerprints!
Celeste gasped as the rest of us muttered. Wire snapped more photos, then put the towels back and closed the cabinet door. He took toilet paper and wiped the spray off the outer door.
“I think we’re done here. Let’s get the fuck out of here and back home. We need to get these to the Patriots ASAP. Now, let’s pray that these prints are in a system somewhere or there’s DNA other than Capri’s on the necklace,” our computer wizard said.
I guided Celeste to the van after locking up the pool house.
Wire had to stop and reactivate the security system he’d bypassed.
He left the cameras offline, as if they’d glitched and needed fixing.
The ride back to the compound was quiet.
We were all lost in our thoughts. But I did hold her hand on the ride, offering some kind of comfort. She clutched them tightly.