I drop Lumen off at work and the kids off at Sonja's and drive to the station, basking in the domesticity of my life. I smile to myself as I put on my shades and turn the radio up, mentally adding up all the ticks on my checklist of life. Sex life, after the last few days I've had, big tick. I never knew that I would feel like this about a woman after Lila and Rita. It's as though the passion and the intensity i had with Lila has somehow merged with the comfort and the familiarity of Rita. I make a quick assessment of how I feel physically, relaxed but with more energy. Great.
Home life? Another big tick, the only thing bringing any of my buzz down is the fact that the apartment is too small. Even if Cody and Astor go back to their grandparents' it still leaves Harrison, Lumen and I in that one bedroom apartment. Listen to yourself, Dexter, planning on her moving in. I glance in the rear view mirror and give myself a wink. Go Dexter.
"Don't get too complacent, Dex." Harry is smiling, I can hear it in his voice but he still has to bring me down. I glance to him and smirk. "I'll admit it's all good now and I'm happy for you. You're closer to Deb and closer to normal than I ever hoped you'd be. Well done, son." I tap my hand on the steering wheel to the music and some pretty girls in a convertible wave at me as they pass. I raise my hand and wave back. Miami loves me.
"I'm not complacent Harry, just enjoying the moment. It's a long time since I thought things were going this well and I intend to savour it." I see Harry nod from the corner of my eye.
"What about this Greco/DiMarco couple? That could be risky, Dex." I sigh; I'd scheduled thinking about that issue for later in the day. Right now I was enjoying my achy sex muscles and the feeling of things being right for once. The lights change in front of me to red and it's like some metaphor. I look at Harry, he's leaning on the window looking at me.
"I'm not, we're not," I correct myself, "rushing into anything with them. We're bowling tomorrow night so it'll be Wednesday at the earliest that we could go and meet them, if that's what we decide to do. Plenty of time to think."
"You're right son, just don't let Lumen's blood thirst make you rush into things you would normally be taking some time over, do you understand what I'm saying? She hasn't had your training, Dex."
"I know Harry, I'm the one training her." I turn the radio up louder and hum along to Bobby Darin's 'Mack the Knife'. When I glance to the passenger seat, Harry is gone.
I barely exit the elevator before I am washed back inside by the tide of the team called out to a crime scene.
"Ah! Dex!" Angel smiles and hands me a coffee. How did he know I was coming in? He sees my expression. "Astor texted Deb and Deb texted me." I shake my head and look mildly alarmed. This is like having GPS tracking; I'll have to talk to Astor about it. I sip my coffee; it's just how I like it so I don't bitch to Angel about the invasion of privacy. Coffee matters.
"So, where are we going?" I ask, tucking my shoulder bag across my hip as the elevator doors open and Deb leads the way across the station foyer.
"South Beach. There's been a murder at a nightclub." I look at my watch; it's nine in the morning. Quinn sees my face and nods.
"Yeah, they only found the body this morning. It was in the ladies' restroom, propped in a cubicle." I nod and look for Masuka.
"Isn't Vince coming?" I frown as I see Angel start to smirk.
"Vince found the body," Deb turns as she's walking, grinning from ear to ear.
"He found the body? In the ladies' restroom, this morning? What was he...? Do I want to know the answer to this?" Deb chuckles and turns back as she opens the door to the Miami heat.
"Bro, we all want to know." She grins and Quinn laughs.
"Drive with me, Dex," Angel says. I frown, usually I'd drive myself. "Come on, drive with me. We can talk," he says, smiling. Ah, talking. About Lumen, I presume. Right.
We pull out into traffic and Angel leans to the glove box and offers me some of the gum he finds in there. I shake my head.
"So, amigo, Deb says you had a big weekend, eh?" He grins and nods to me, winking. "Tienes suerte." Lucky me. I sigh and look out of the window but it's obvious this isn't going to get me off the hook. It's also not what normal men do; I've noticed this over the years. Normal men talk about their sex lives, usually in inflated terms but there's an element of sharing. I'm not comfortable with it, never have been. Rita mistook it for me being a gentleman. The truth is, I don't see the attraction, plus, they might share their own stories. The idea makes me shudder. Angel is waiting, tapping his hand on the door where he rests his elbow on the window and looking sideways at me, still grinning.
"Yeah, I, erm... met up with Lumen again on Saturday." I say, tone light and hoping this will be enough. Angel nods, still smiling and makes a noise to imply I should continue.
"She stayed over on Saturday night, right? So I take it there was much 'make up sex'?" He chuckles and looks at me. "You've got that 'tired but wired' look about you, Dexter. You been making up for lost time, amigo?" I raise my eyebrows and nod, not really sure what to say. And he's right; we have been making up for lost time. He laughs loudly and slaps me hard on the thigh, I wince.
"Ah! That is buenas noticias! I knew as soon as I saw you that you were much better for your lack of sleep! And tell me," he leans towards me even though we are the only people in the car. I glance warily to the back seat. "Is she as good as you remember? Or did the time apart ignite the spark?" He sits back, still laughing. I nod, because I don't know what else to do.
"Things are great, Angel. They're... great," I end, lamely, not really aware of what the correct response to his questions should be. He seems happy with my answers and he grins all the way to the crime scene and tells me about a girlfriend he had when he was in training whom he only saw one weekend out of four.
"By the fourth week, amigo, she was encendido!" he exclaims and mimes blowing out a fire on his hands. I laugh nervously.
"So, what was Vince doing at this club?" I nod towards the building as we pull up in the parking lot. Angel chews his gum and reverses into a space.
"Hey, I don't know, Dexter, but he was pretty shook up when Maria spoke to him this morning. I think he fell asleep and the cleaners found him when they did their morning round." He looks at me, now the engine is off and he raises his eyebrows. He's as confused as the rest of us.
It's a shaken and pale Vince Masuka who greets us in the doorway of the club. Like all places that come alive at night, during the day it has a sorry and seedy air. Vince is wearing a bright red and white print shirt and knee length shorts. Around his neck is a glow stick whistle on a fluorescent cord. Next to his sombre demeanour his attire just looks even more out of place.
"Dex, Angel, thank god." He looks at us and I'm reminded of that beagle pup that Rita helped to relocate, his expression is morose.
"What happened, Vince?" Angel puts his arm around the smaller man who visibly leans into the embrace. I pat him on the shoulder. He nods to himself.
"You guys are true friends, dudes. You know, your sister and Quinn just got here and they just tore me up about this." I can hear Deb still laughing inside the gloom of the club. We start to walk in the direction of her voice but Vince steers us away. "I can't go back in there guys. My clubbing days might just be over." I look at Angel who raises his eyebrows.
"You go, Dex, sounds like it might be your thing. I'll stay out here with Vince. Has someone taken your statement?" he says to the smaller guy, Vince shakes his head. I salute Angel and make for the doors.
The club has silver walls, some shiny with tacked on panelling which is a cheap way to copy the effect of mirrors and other walls just covered in silver paint. It looks dingy now but I can imagine, with the lights strobing and the darkness, it probably looks ok at night. Deb is waving to me from a doorway that has a pair of fluorescent breasts hanging above it. Without meaning to, I look for its male counterpart. Oh, there it is. Nice.
"Dex, over here! They haven't moved him because they wanted you to have a look. Masuka says the blood is interesting." I raise my eyebrows and jog over, internally complaining that I haven't got the right shoes for this beer sticky floor. She pushes open a cubicle and it's red in there.
The body is slumped up on the toilet seat, its legs dangling down as though it's using the facilities. The lid is down and the hands are on the knees. They guy was wearing long shorts and the same sort of print t-shirt that Vince is still wearing outside. The colours are the only difference, these are orange and white. There's not much else I can say about the man himself, because his entire head is missing.
"Wow." I nod to myself and Quinn is by my elbow.
"I know, right? Bizarre. What the fuck?" I shake my head, thinking.
"Well, he was married, or recently divorced." I point to where the ring of a wedding band is visible in a pale line on the guy's left hand. Quinn nods. "From the skin tone I'm guessing he was Asian? Maybe Japanese?" Quinn looks at his notes and nods again.
"Raymond Takahashi, recently divorced, moved to Miami a couple of months ago. No known enemies, no one really knew him." Quinn looks back at the corpse; I am putting down my bag out of the way of the blood and getting out my camera.
"They did it in here, the decapitating," I tell Quinn, as I flash off some shots and circle the body to get a view at the blood pattern on the cubicle wall. "Why didn't the blood get noticed? There would be lots of blood, the heart would have carried on pumping until the floor was covered, I'd say." I put down the camera against my chest and look at Quinn, not really seeing him. He narrows his eyes. I take some more pictures.
"Very sharp blade, long, maybe a sword? Six, seven slices to get the head clean off. Jesus, must be some sword. Most blades would be blunt by the time they got to the spine but this one kept going." I look at the cubicle. "Perpetrator must be small, well trained." Quinn frowns and I look at him, still not seeing him really, replaying events in my head. "No room in here to really swing. So short, sharp blows. But where is all the blood?" I step out of the cubicle, still photographing. Deb stands beside me.
"Oh wow. Oh wow." I can't help myself, this is exciting.
"What?" Quinn leans in and his ear takes up my next shot. I push him out of the way and kneel on the tiled floor, looking at the toilet seat.
"What the fuck is it, Dex? Stop being such a fucking geek and tell us before you just shoot your load all over the scene!" I look at Deb; she grins and waves to the cubicle. "Well, fucking hell Dexter, you just got more excited that I think I've ever seen you!"
"Not more excited than Lumen's seen him, though," Quinn sniggers and Deb nudges him and laughs. I sigh and stand up.
"Finished?" They are still laughing. I look at them until they shut up. Deb is still grinning. "It's down the toilet," I say finally, pointing with my lens.
"What?" Quinn looks at me like I've grown another head.
"The blood, when the victim was decapitated the toilet seat was open. The blood has gone down the pipes; it probably flushed the toilet anda couple of time with its volume of liquid." Quinn looks disgusted, Deb's mouth is open.
"So, whatever sick fuck did this opened the toilet seat before he cut off this poor fucker's head?"
"In essence." I nod.
"Then, when the blood had stopped flowing, they put the seat down and position him like this?" Deb gestures with her sunglasses, waving the arm in her hand. I nod. "Jesus. This town is seriously fucking crazy. Are you sure?" I look back at the cubicle. Now I see it, I see it clearly.
The toilet seat has very little blood dripping down the sides but the rim is bloody. The floor has splashes of blood but nothing consistent to a man this size bleeding to death all over it. There's also blood around a join in the pipe at the back of the toilet. I take a few shots. I notice Deb and Quinn still looking at me. I stand up and grimace, it seems appropriate. Deb relaxes a little but Quinn still watches me. What does he know? Not for the first time, this thought bothers me.
"Gang killing?" Deb is asking Quinn, as Angel comes in the room. He looks at the body, takes off his hat and shakes his head, his mouth crooked up in an expression of wonder.
"Madre de Dios!" he says, looking with one eye at the bloody mess. "Coño!" Deb nods.
"Yeah and Dex says they might have flushed the blood away! Fucking sick, fucking bastards!" She turns away and pulls Quinn with her. Angel looks at me and shudders. I nod.
"Vince thinks they meant it to be him." He says seriously. I feel my eyes widen.
"Vince? Who'd want to do this to Vince?" I gesture to the grotesque tableau in the cubicle. Angel purses his lips and shrugs, it's a peculiarly Latin expression. He sighs and takes my arm, leads me out of the club into the sunshine.
"Hey, I don't know, Dex, but he seems serious. Maybe you could talk to him?" I nod and I'm making my way over to where Vince is sitting on the hood of Deb's car when my phone buzzes in my pocket. It's Lumen.
"Hey you!" I smile as I answer the call.
"Hi, is it ok to call you? Are you busy?" I look around the parking lot, uniformed and plain clothes cops swarm about and the forensics van has just arrived. I shake my head.
"No, just a decapitation in a South Beach nightclub toilets." I hear her suck in a breath.
"Wow. Ugh. Kind of puts my morning to shame," she giggles. I smile.
"Why? What've you been up to? Finger painting? Walk to the park?"
"Well, we did do some finger painting today but that's not what I meant. Can you meet me for lunch later?" I look at my watch, it's already nearly lunch but there's a still lot for me to do here. I'm not going to finish for another couple of hours. Crime scenes don't wait while the blood guy gets a pork sandwich.
"Not really, we're going to be here another few hours but I could come after I get done? What time can you get off?"
"Oh, ok. Well, my shift finishes today at three; they owe me an afternoon because I opened on a Saturday a few weeks back when some of the moms needed emergency child care. Come to the apartment, I can change and tell you my news." News? Why does this make me feel uncomfortable?
"Oh, ok. What news Lumen? Don't I even get a clue?" She laughs.
"Ok, one of the girls here knows Tina DiMarco." Her voice sounds light but I can hear the tone and it's got an edge. I walk further away from the crowd of cops and my voice sounds sharp.
"Ok, you've not been talking about her have you? We need to be very careful about this, Lumen." I warn and, though I don't want to scold, I sound like Harry in the early days. There is a pause; she obviously hears that tone in my voice.
"No, no, I'm not that stupid, Dexter." She sounds annoyed, I sigh. Things were going so well.
"I didn't think you were stupid, I...I suppose I'm not used to this and I'm used to being in control of the hunt." I just say the words as they come into my head. Lumen sighs, I can feel her relaxing.
"Of course, I should have realised that. Look, I've done nothing to draw attention to us, I just overheard a conversation which might be useful and I wanted to tell you. I was excited." She sounds small now. I shake my head.
"I'm glad you called me, this is exciting. Look, save the details until I get there and I'll be as excited as you like, Ok?" She giggles and I smile.
"Is that a promise, Dexter Morgan?" she says flirtatiously, I laugh.
"It is, a cast iron promise, Ms Pierce." She laughs and hangs up. I grin as I walk back to the crime scene, thinking I might have to change my shoes before I go over there this afternoon.
Thanks for your continued support and reviews with this, some people STILl just add to story alerts and don't tell me why! It's very frustrating, so thank you if you take the time to talk to me, it's good to be sharing with you. So, the season cracks on, what do you think? Thanks to Lostie17 for Spanish help and VB for being a gem and a wicked beta! cx