by Mikey Lee
Seth sat down in the chair in front of the Captain’s desk. “He gave me a really bad vibe. While I was speaking with him, he discarded a water bottle on the ground. Once he left the scene, I collected the bottle in an evidence bag and brought it back to the lab boys.”
“Okay, all good so far, anything that a subject throws away is free game for us.” The Captain said.
Seth continued, “The lab boys tested the water bottle for not only fingerprints but they were able to get DNA as well. They then compared the fingerprints on the bottle to the fingerprints I pulled from the dryer at the crime scene. They also compared the DNA from the water bottle to the DNA on the rape kit from the hospital. And they both came back with a one-hundred percent match.”
“Great work, this all sounds great, I’ll get on the phone with the judge and inform him of what you’ve got. You get started on typing up that arrest and search warrant.” The Captain said leaning forward to pick up the phone.
Chapter Eighteen
With the arrest warrant signed by the judge and in hand, Seth glanced at his watch. It was already 11 o’clock. Where the fuck did this day go?! He picked up his phone from the corner of his desk to text Zee.
Zee baby, sorry about today. But I’ve found the scumbag, just got the warrant and I’m heading out now to arrest him. Call you later.
Ashley walked in with a massive cup of coffee. “Here you go.” She said with a yawn.
“Darlin’, you’re a life saver.” Seth said stifling his own contagious yawn, “so, you ready for this?”
“Ready for what?” Ashley replied.
“You’re coming with me tonight to arrest this guy.” Seth said seriously.
Ashley’s eyes opened wide. “Really?!”
“Yup, you’re going to ride with me. But you can’t go out in that uniform.” Seth looked her up and down. “I’ve got to get the arrest team together and briefed, why don’t you go change into your street clothes.” He paused slightly, “and Ash, don’t forget your badge and your gun.” Seth said while tapping his badge on his belt.
“Will do.” Ashley bolted out of the office and headed down to the precinct locker room.
Ashley returned just as Seth exited the the conference room with the arrest team. He made eye contact with her and motioned her to his office.
“I feel a bit under dressed with jeans and a polo while your rocking out your beautiful suit.” Ashley giggled.
“You look fine,” Seth said simply, opening the middle drawer to the filing cabinet. “You have your badge?”
Ashley pulled her polo up revealing a piercing on her belly button. “Right here.”
Seth removed two bullet proof vests from the cabinet. “Lets see if this fits you.” He put one of the vests over her head.
“I already have a vest. I didn’t know I needed one. I left it in my locker.” Ashley said.
Seth grimaced, “Those standard issued, station vests… no…not, those damn things. I don’t trust them to stop a pellet gun. This is one of my vests. This bad boy here will stop a cannon and it’s half the weight.” Seth adjusted the straps around her shoulders, “Have you ever served a warrant?”
“Umm, nope, I haven’t even arrested anyone yet. After my FTO time, I was assigned to the desk.” Ashley said. “I’ve only been on the streets for three months with Sargeant Jackson.”
Seth nodded his head, “Jackson. Was that your field training officer?”
“Yeah.” Ashley replied.
Reaching around her waist, he picked up the velcro straps and pulled them tight and strapped her into the vest. “There you go, how’s that feel?”
“Is this all that necessary?” Ashley asked.
“Better safe than sorry.” Seth said taking his suit jacket off and tossing the other vest over his head. “We can’t have you getting hurt out on your first arrest, now can we?”
Seth strapped the vest tightly around his chest and thumbed a manly pat on the front of the vest. “So, let me break this down for you.”
Seth unclipped his .45 caliber all black 1911 from his holster and removed the clip. He racked the slide back, discharging the chambered standard ball point round out. He reached in the drawer pulling out three more clips filled with hollow points, slapping one of the clips in his .45 and replacing the other two with the ones already on his belt holster. Releasing the slide release, he slammed a round into the chamber.
Ashley placed her hand on the pistol grip of her station issued standard .40 caliber glock. “Is that hand cannon standard issue?” Ashley asked.
“Nope, sure isn’t. But, then again, neither am I darlin’.” Seth winked.
“Here’s the deal, this is actually going to be pretty boring for you and I.” Seth explained. “The arrest teams are pros at this; these guys are on point. I’ve already briefed them as to who this guy is…and by the way, outstanding fucking work on all the research and investigating you did while here in the office.”
Ashley brightened up like a light, pleased to actually hear a compliment directed to her.
“Based off the driver’s license picture you pulled along with the address and everything else you were able to gather. The arrest teams are good to go.”
“Thank you, sir… Seth, its good to feel appreciated every once in a while.” Ashley blushed and smiled.
“So, you’re going to ride with me. We’ve got about an hour and half drive until we get there.” Seth said, going back to business.
The deep commanding voice with the words “you’re riding with me” shot into her brain and electrified her body.
“And I know you’ve had a long day, trust me, I know… but I’m going to need your A-game out there. Even though we’re really not going to be doing much.” Seth adjusted his tie, pulling it out a little from under the vest. “I’ll explain more in the car, but if we want to stop off and grab some coffee we need to get going.”
With their coffee in hand, Seth and Ashley drove out to Caligula’s house. Seth looked over at Ashley holding her coffee cup with both hands.
“Once we get there, we have to make sure that this guy is actually there. The arrest teams will be down the block waiting for our call.” Seth elaborated on the run down.
“That’s it?” Ashley asked.
“Well, yeah, kinda… we’re also going to be doing over watch. And if for some stupid fuckin’ strange ass reason we might have to do crowd control. But for the most part, yeah.” Seth said.
“We’re going to come in from the north side of the house, and the arrest teams will come in from the south. So basically the only side of the house that won’t be covered will be the north west corner. And that’s where we’ll set up.” Seth continued.
“Then what?” Ashley glanced over at Seth, gazing at his jaw line, imagining what it would taste like.
“Then what? Then we sit back and watch the teams go to work. Like I said before, these guys are pros and they’re really fast.” Seth looked up at the rear view mirror and pretended not to see Ashley looking at him. He knew this was going to turn into something he was going to have to deal with at some point, but not right now.
Seth turned the corner, making a right onto Southwinds Dr. and hit the lights, turning them off. Creeping up to the house slowly, he pulled across the street catty cornered from Caligula’s house. While putting the unmarked squad car into park, he looked towards the house and then around, 360 degrees, surveying the surrounding area.
“Is that it?” Ashley asked softly.
“Yup, and it looks like his car is there and there’s a TV on in what looks like a bedroom.” Seth matched her tone.
“Now what do we do?” Ashley asked.
“Now, we wait for the arrest teams to get in position.” Seth said still surveying the area.
After a small pause, “Lane…can I ask you a question?” Ashley took a sip out of the coffee she’s barely touched.
“Sure, what’s up?” Seth leaned back in the seat adjusting his vest.
“Why
me? Why did you ask me to help you, and why are you doing all of this for me? I mean not to sound…I really appreciate it. And all this is really going to boost my career. But why me?” Ashley picked at her fingernails.
Seth chuckled, “at first I did it just to piss Moore off.” His eyes were trained to the side mirror and he mentally took note of the car that just drove by.
“To be honest with you… I kept you around, and I asked the Captain for you because, well, you fuckin’ work. You don’t ask too many questions, you just do what your told.” Seth looked over at her. “You get shit done, and I don’t have time to fuck around with dumb ass questions from Moore.”
Ashley broke eye contact and trained her eyes back down at her coffee. “Thank you for all of this. I feel like I’ve done more police work these past couple days than the first six months on the force.”
“You remember the interview we had with Jen? When I called you into the office… that was for her. The victim, well you see, for a woman who was just violated like the way Jen was, it’s hard for her to open up and tell me…a guy, what happened.” Seth explained.
“Wow, ok, that makes sense. I didn’t actually think of that before.” Ashley said.
“Ninety-nine percent of this job is just reading people. Ten percent is playing the little fuck-fuck games and getting the run around.” Seth said as the radio queued up.
“Lane, this is A.T. We’re locked, cocked, and ready to rock, sir.” The radio roared to life.
Seth picked up the mic. “All set, we’re a go.”
With his elbow Seth nudged Ashley’s shoulder. “Pay attention and keep alert.”
Two black SUV’s without their lights on drove up to the house fast. Three officers stood on a platform from the passenger side. They must have been hanging on tightly, but from Seth’s perspective they were statues. The first SUV pulled into the yard facing the south east corner of the house and the second one pulled right up to the front door. There was no hiding at this point that they were there. The entire neighborhood would soon know. The driver of the first SUV jumped out, drew his side arm and covered the the south wall while the three officers hanging from the passenger side flew into motion and ran around to the back of the house. The driver of the second SUV copied the first driver and covered the front of the house, while the three officers attached to this vehicle lined up in a stick-formation to breach the front door. They were quickly and efficiently surrounding the house.
The police shows often had the Detectives on the case leading the way on these types of missions, but that wasn’t how it really happened. Seth was there. He was more than happy to be a part of the arrest, but he wasn’t going to get in the way of the arrest teams. Those guys knew what they were doing and were so well trained that they acted like one unit.
The sound of the back door getting kicked in signaled the front of the house team to kick in the front door. Screams of “POLICE, POLICE, search/arrest warrant!” echoed from the house. Ashley was mesmerized watching the arrest teams in action. The first man in the stick-formation booted the door open and took a step back, while the second and third men entered the house. The first officer then followed them in, making him the third man in the team. It all took place in what seemed like one swift motion, like a well choreographed play.
Seth looked up squinting his eyes, “You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.”
A black shadow appeared in the bedroom window on the north side of the house and then it jumped. “This motherfucker is not getting away!” Seth announced as he jumped out of the squad car. He supposed he would have to get involved after all.
Grabbing ahold of the door frame, using his arms like a sling shot, Seth took off.
“Ashley! Drive!” Seth yelled as he sprinted across the street. Just like a linebacker going in to sack the quarterback, Seth aimed in for the shadow, who was running as fast as he could.
As Seth closed in, the shadow dissipated and Caligula’s profile appeared in the moon light. Crossing into the next yard, Seth pumped his leg muscles, boosting his speed. Not even attempting to slow down he dropped his shoulder down and checked Caligula, launching him into the bushes. Ashley pulled up with the car, and watched as Seth’s body come to an instant holt while Caligula caught air and flew into the shrubs.
“You fuckin’ stupid ass…” Seth wasn’t even a tab bit winded, “And here I was actually going to be nice to you. You can fucking scratch that idea, you rejected fuckin’ douche bottle.”
Ashley pulled up with the headlights shining on Seth to give him light to maneuver.
“Come here you fuckin’ little piece of shit.” Seth reached down in the bushes, grabbed Caligula’s leg and drug him out. “Make me have to run after your dumbass.” Seth mumbled.
Caligula was out of breath and tried to struggle out of Seth’s tight grip around his ankle, “What the fuck man…” Caligula panted.
“Oh, shut the fuck up and hold still.” Seth flipped him over onto his stomach and dropped his knee into the back of Roman’s neck. “Roman Caligula, you’re under arrest for the rape of Jennifer Jewels.” Seth twisted Roman’s arm back and reached to the small of his back to grab his handcuffs out.
With Roman’s arm still in some kind of Judo wrist lock, Seth slapped his cuffs down hard on the boney part of his wrists.
“Aaaa. Ouch, you fucker, that fucking hurt.” Caligula cried. “I’m not under arrest… you’ve got nothing on me.”
“Didn’t I tell you to shut the fuck up?” Seth said, standing up and brushing his pants down.
With his foot Seth kicked Caligula, rolling him over onto his back, then leaned down and grabbed him by his shirt, which allowed him to sit up. Some of the members from the arrest teams ran over and shined their flashlight in Caligula’s face. Seth looked him up and down, taking note of a few scratches and scrapes on his face, neck and body.
“Ashley, call for EMS to the scene.” Seth looked up and nodded.
Seth turned back to the arrest team, “What’d y’all got?” Seth said, adjusting his vest and tie.
“Looks like someone was packing; getting ready to move out in the morning, sir.” One of the members of the arrest team reported.
“Aren’t you supposed to read me my rights or something.” Caligula looked up.
“First of all, your Miranda rights are there for your protection during questioning. Secondly, I haven’t asked you a fucking thing. And lastly, didn’t I tell you to shut the fuck up?” Seth said, placing his fingers in the neck lining of his vest.
A couple of the members of the arrest teams started chuckling. “The rest of the team is searching the house for some evidence. We’ll secure and locked down the house soon, sir.”
“Thanks guys, after EMS shows up and checks this guy out, I’ll debrief y’all at the station.”
EMS finished evaluating Caligula’s condition, and Ashley and Seth moved to stand in front of the squad car, drinking their now-cold coffee. Seth placed his coffee on the hood of the car. One of the emergency medical techs started walking his way.
“Whatcha got for me corp-man?” Seth said, reaching his hand out to shake hands.
“Good old Detective Lane, once a Marine, always a Marine I see…” The medical tech said while shaking Seth’s hand. “This guy’s good to go, just a few bumps and bruises, and some scratches… although, it does look like he caught a pretty good elbow right across the face.”
“Mmmhmm…” Seth made a noncommittal noise a took a sip of his coffee. “Or…it could’ve been a rock he landed on in the bushes.” He winked.
“Or it could’ve been a rock.” The medical tech chuckled and smiled.
“Thanks a lot guys, I appreciate your time.” The medical tech gave him a smile and walked away, starting to snap his gloves off and look for a place to dispose of them.
Seth looked over at the arrest teams, and with two fingers waved a few officers over. “You guys mind transporting senior douche bag back to the precinct?”
“Our p
leasure Detective, catch ya back at the house.” One officer said.
“Ashley, let’s load up.” Seth motioned while getting back in the car.
Seth looked over at Ashley while they pulled out of the neighborhood. “Did you learn anything tonight?”
“Umm. Yeah. What did the officers mean by meet us back at the house?” Ashley asked.
“Oh that, the house refers to the precinct.” Seth replied.
“Why did you call the EMS guy a corpsman?”
Seth yawned and his eyes trailed to his watch. Ugh, it’s going to be about 3:30 AM by the time we get back to the precinct. “What? Corpsman? Oh. A corpsman is a doctor in the Marine Corps. Well, not so much a doctor but kind of, he’s a doctor that’s out in the field.”
“Oh ok…that makes sense.” Ashley gave Seth a pointed look, “Did you really drop your elbow in that guy’s face?”
“Ashley darlin’, I cannot confirm nor deny everything that took place tonight.” Seth tilted his head towards her and gave her a little wink. “And, there are just some things you don’t talk about.”
Back at the precinct, Seth and Ashley walked through the front doors. Seth made eye contact with a leader of the arrest team who then motioned to Seth holding three fingers up, indicating that Caligula was in interrogation room number three. Seth returned with a head nod, indicating both a ‘thank you’ and then an ‘okay I got it.’ He never understood why women needed to talk about everything—men were able to communicate without any words.
“Alright, Ashley, our job isn’t done yet. I’m going to go and debrief the arrest teams. And even though it’s 3:30 in the morning, you get the honor of calling the Captain and letting him know we’ve got him in custody.” Seth said patting Ashley on the back.
