The Seven Deadly Sins: Demon of Pride

Evangeline raised her long legs and plopped them right in the middle of her office desk. The last case she worked on caused her a great deal of stress, only because it focused on the “abduction” of the mayor’s twelve year old daughter. She couldn’t believe the little brat ran away, and posted the ransom notes herself; smart kid, but her ignorance to the situation quickly caught up to her. The funny part is they didn’t even have to arrest the kid; he father was seeing red at the end of it all. They would have been too easy on her in a juvenile facility.

Knock knock knock

With her eyes closed she motioned for the individual to step into her office.
“Uh, ma’am,” her secretary, Lorna Lovegood, said timidly.
Opening her right eye, she put her feet back down on the floor, and straightened up.
“Hey, Lorna,” she said, trying to force a smile.
“Eva, I know you are tired,” she started, sitting in the chair place directly in front of the office desk, “But I really think you should see this,”
Raising an eye brow in question, Eva follows her young assistant out to the main room of the agency, and stared at the television screen mounted on the wall.

Reporter: We are now live from the West Angeles Cathedral as a crowd gathers in shock about what was discovered early this morning.
(The camera panned in on a man, eyes gouged out, kneeling in a pleading stance)
Reporter (continues): This man has yet to be identified, however to police department is on the case as we speak. Excuse me, Chief Davis; what are your plans in regards to this heinous act of violence.
Please don’t say it, Eva thought to herself, sipping on her coffee slowly.
Chief Rodney Davis: We have asked Chief Detective Brookes if she would be of assistance for this particular occurrence. However, we do understand that she just finished a very frustrating case. Either way, we know she will come through like she always does.

Eva ran her fingers along her brow; by the time she looked up, her entire office was staring at her.
“What?” She said, placing one hand on her hip, as the other was still holding her coffee.
And just like that, they all returned to work, muttering and mumbling about the case at hand. Eva retreated back to her office, and closed the door. Just a few minutes of privacy, she thought. That is all I ask!

The phone begins to ring, ruining the peace and quiet once again.

Line 2; it was Ashley Purdy, the team’s top Crime scene investigator.
“Eva Brookes, LA Detective Services…”
“You know who it is, smart ass,” he said to her, laughing.
“Yea, yea,” she smiled, relaxing once again.
“But hey, did you see that new broadcast this morning?” he asked.
“Lorna came in and retrieved me from my moment of peace,” she growled, a tad bit annoyed with the entire incident.
“Please tell me you didn’t bit her head off,” he jested, “We can’t afford you another assistant.”
“No, no; nothing like that. I just really wanted some peace and quiet, is all. But,” she paused, lighting a cigarette she snagged from her purse pocket, “Duty calls, right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ashley agreed, “I’ll spread the word to Fergie and Pitts if you cover tracking down Biersack and C.”
“Sounds good,” she said, exhaling the poisonous smoke into the air, “Meeting at my place to discuss tactics? Beer and cards at around, say, six tonight?”
“Wouldn’t miss it, chief,” he said, his voice giving away his smile.
“Alright, see you then,”

One day, she was going to be able to take a vacation from this place for a few days, even if it meant the city turning to ruin while she was away. She loved her job, and was aware she was good at it, but seriously doubted she was the best.
Los Angeles City thought so, anyway. Since she began with the firm five years prior to, she never ended up with a cold case; she even solved other cold cases in the area. She was that good.

Searching through the directory, she found CC’s extension, and dialed it into the office phone.
“Desk of Detective Coma,”
“So formal,” Eva said playfully.
“Well, hello Ms. Brookes,” he began, “you wouldn’t be calling me about the situation at West Angeles, would you,” she asked, sarcasm evident in his tone.
“Oh no, why would I ever be suggesting we do our jobs, Mr. Coma,” she laughed.
“So, have we got the over view yet?” he asked, typing sound echoing through the receiver.
“Not yet,” Eva replied, logging onto her email, “Chief Davis just sent me specifics, but no leads yet. Autopsy and tox screen are being done by Jinxx.”
“At least they will be thorough enough,” he stated, remembering when the police department tried to use their M.E.
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Eva rolled her eyes, plopping her feet back up on her desk, “We had to redo everything: finger prints, blood work, everything.”
“Well, I’m assuming business meeting at your place later, huh, E?” he asked
“Yes sir,” she chuckled, “You know me so well,”
“Alright chief, check ya later,”

As she hung up, she immediately searched for Andrew Biersack.
He was new; fresh out of the detective academy. Fresh meat, but very much potential. He reminded her of her first time with the company.Proud, not too cocky, but familiar with the line of works being conducted. That, and his ass looked great in black slacks; just an observation she may have made.

“Let’s see,” she mumbled to herself, flipping through the office directory.
Just as she found his extension, Andy poked his head in her office.
“Chief Brookes,” he said, clearing his throat shortly after.
Eva turned her head towards the door only to look at a 6’2, ivory skinned God; well, in her mind anyway. He had his usually tight black slacks on, leaving limited amounts to the imagination, and a tight white dress shirt. Black boot completed the look.
“Well, hello sunshine,” she said, smiling, “I was about to call you,”
“Yea, umm, I ran into Ashley on his way to the water cooler,” he thumbed into the direct of Purdy flirting away with the new intern with massive breasts and fake blonde hair.
“Yea, about him,” she shook her head, and rolled her eyes, snickering, “I wonder how he does it,”
“Does what, ma’am?”
“Oh, nothing Andrew,” she started, motioning for him to take a seat. “So you ran into Ash, and he directed you towards my office?”
“Yea,” he started, running his fingers through his hair, “He said you would be the one to talk to about this case.” He stared directly into my eyes
.
One thing most know about Eva: she didnt let people in easily. When her Gran passed away when she was sixteen, she shut out the world and everyone in it. Had very few friends, and even fewer romances.

But looking at this kid sitting in front of my desk was just a tease, she thought.God was getting back at me for giving Jamie Robertson blue balls by not sucking him off in the 10th grade, I was sure of it.

“Umm, chief,” he inquired, raising an eyebrow in question, “Where are we meeting to discuss orders and the like,”
“Oh, umm,” she put herself back together, and replied, “My place; if you need directions, Jake or Ashley can either give them to you, or you can just ride to my house with me.”
She winced at her own words. Eva, you idiot, she thought, He probably thinks you are stalker status already.
“I think I will catch a ride with you,” he said, and smiled.
“Wonderful,” she said, speech slightly shakey, “I will see you in my office at 5:30pm tonight then.”
“See you then, chief,”

Finally returning to normal, she called Ashley’s line.
“Eva, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I almost made an ass out of myself to your young friend about,” she paused, looking at the time on her watch, “oh… ten minutes ago.”
“Haha,” he laughed, “What, did you get caught staring at his crotch of something,”
“Just about,” she said, tugging at the collar of her dress shirt, “But, yea, I figured I would let you know, since you ARE closest to him.”
“No worries, babe, I won’t tell him anything,”
“Good,”

The afternoon passed uneventfully, randomly hearing about the murder that had taken place in the twilight hours of the morning. Evangeline had printed out overviews of the crime scene, persons of interest, and who discovered the man’s body. His identity was still unknown, but finger prints were taken, along with a cast of his teeth to verify with dental records.

Her phone rang, blinking line 4; it was Jinxx
“Yes, sir,” she said, picking up the receiver.
“We have an I.D. on the victim, E,”
“Wonderful,” she said, picking at her nails, “What do you have for me?”
“His name is Tyler Durrant; 34 year old male, middle class. He is a father of two, a four year old and a ten year old, and the husband of local fashion model, Leslie Durrant. He was on his way to work at his contracting company at 4:30 this morning, a witness said, when he was attacked and dragged in front of the cathedral steps.”
“Wow,” I said, pausing to let this since in, “You mean the man who helped rebuild most of the broken down slums in Los Angeles County?”
“Yes’m; whoever it was, really didn’t like what he was going in his personal life.”
“Could you fax the reports and the rest of the finding to my office, please?”
“Sure, E,” he replied, “Hey, Eva?”
“Yea?”
“I bought Cold Cock whiskey for tonight’s meeting,”
“You’re a dick,”
“Love you, too,” he jested, giggling like a school girl, “See you tonight.”

Eva sat back in disbelief; she had been friends with his family for years. Tyler was a upstanding person in society, with no known enemy known to date. She knew he could be a pompous bastard on occasion, but he loved his wife and kids and would do just about anything for them. It just didn’t add up; not in Eva’s mind.

Time ticked by slowly after the finding of who the victim was; Eva wrote up reports, while the rest of her crew prepared themselves for that night’s discussion. And by that, Ashley was studying card counting techniques, Jinxx ordered pizza to be delivered at her place no later than seven, Jake called different liquor stores, asking them to pull a few bottle of Jack Daniels off the shelf for him to pick up later, and CC wrote down different drinking games for when cards began to seem boring. The only one not sure of how that evening was going to go, was Andy.

He sat in his personal office space, half the size of Eva’s, and pondered what would go on at said meeting, and questioned why Ashley told him to make sure he wore boxers today. Clasping his hands together, he looked up at his office clock: it read 5:15pm.

Only 15 minutes left, he thought. I cannot wait to get this evening started.

He had heard about their famous “case meetings and discussions” from some of the office attendants, and knew work wasn’t the only thing discussed. He chuckled to himself, thinking that Eva’s was outnumbered 5 to 1.

Packing up this briefcase and closing down his computer, he made sure everything was in order as he left the office space. Turning to lock the door, he smiled at his name plate.

Andrew D. Biersack; Private Detective.

He headed down the hallway to Eva’s office, only to find the door shut. Knocking, he heard a startled squeak, followed by a small laugh.

“Sorry, Andy, I forgot what time it was,” she said, scurrying back over to her computer.
“It’s alright, E,” he said, flashing that devilish grin of his.
“Young man, you will give me a heart attack one day, smiling like that,” she said, head stuffed in her bottom left desk drawer.
Giggled at his chief of command, he watched her pull out two cartons of cigarettes, three bottles of Cinnamon whiskey, and a flask. Eye wide, he proceeded to see her stuff them in her work bag.
“Yea, yea,” she said, waving his confusion off, causing him to smirk
“Do you always store booze and cigarettes in your desk?”
“Yep,” she said, unscrewing the cap to the cinnamon whiskey not put in her bag yet, and took a swig. “Let’s go kiddo,”
She packed up everything, turned off the computer and lights, and grabbed her paper works. As soon as Andy was out of her office, she closed and locked the door.
“Shall we?” she asked, with a smile.
“Lead the way, boss lady,” Andy jested, only to receive a jab in the ribs in return.
“I’m only your boss at work,” she said, “Outside of that, Evangeline, E, or Eva is preferred.”
“Noted.”
Reaching my 2013 Mercedes SLK, she placed her belongings within it. Andy followed suit.
“Let’s get the party started,” she said, turning the ignition, “Now you are going to see how fun working for the BVB squad really is.”

Notes

First chapter done; this one is really fun for me to write. Please comment.