The Seven Deadly Sins: Demon of Pride

Lighting her cigarette as she started out of the parking lot, her thoughts were on Leslie and the kids. She wondered how they were holding up, but knew she shouldn’t call them until after the first part of the investigation was complete. She bit her lip, trying to focus on driving.

“You know,” Andrew began, “You are pretty cute when you bite your lip,”
Eva glanced over as the young 20-something leaned back in the passenger seat, lighting a cigarette of his own.
“How do you figure,” she asked, confused as to why he said something so random.
“Well, you see,” he puffed his slender white assassin, and exhaled, “Your eyes flash this brilliant shade of forest green as your teeth make contact with the very back of your lip,”
She looked over at him, shocked for all of ten seconds.
“You know,” he said, crossing his legs, “You are just a sexy person, Eva. Hope I haven’t crossed any line; only wanted you to know my opinion.”
“Uh,” she stuttered, “Thank… you.”
Her face got hot as a red coloration crept up her cheeks. Andy was highly amused, and now realized that his boss indeed has some weaknesses.
“Evangeline, relax,” he exclaimed finally, “You don’t need to be so tense around me, okay?”
She nodded, shaking off the rosy red hue she had pasted to her face.
“So, do you always try to get on your superior’s good side, Biersack?” she shot at him, composed yet again.
“Nope,” answer short, but to the point.
“Woo,” she said, sarcasm flowing out of her mouth, “I feel so special,”
Andy gave off a few seconds of nervous laughter, shaking his head.

Driving through the county of Los Angeles, Eva thought about where all she needed to stop before she got to the house. Smiling to herself she made up her mind: liquor store it is.

Pulling up to the ABC store a few blocks from her place, she double parked in front of the shop.
“What’s your poison, Biersack?”
“Rum,” he said, looking over at his boss fishing for he I.D.
“Two liters of rum, coming right up,” she said, winking in his general direction.
His face flushed, flattered at the attention but returned to normal within moments.
He watched as she made her way to the counter with Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum, and Bacardi. Her smile was genuine as she laughed with the clerk, and waved at him bye.

“You know everyone around here?” he asked once she got back into the car.
“Just about,” she said, starting her engine yet again, “Let’s just say, I’m a social butterfly.”
Andy’s mind kept floating back to why she was so flirty with everyone they were partnered up with, and wanted to ask about it; he just wasn’t sure how.
“You look like something’s on your mind,” Eva asked, turning down her street.
“Kind of,” he started, but hesitated, “I was just wondering why you are flirty with all of us,”
“What do you mean,” she said with a playful smirk.
“Well, you flirt with all of us; Ash, Jake, CC, Me, and sometimes Jinxx,” he stopped, and place his chin between his pointer finger and thumb, “Come to think of it, we are the only ones you are usually around.”
“I’m a shameless flirt, Biersack,” she began, “Those guys are my family though, especially Jinxx. He has had my back since I started here.”

She explained to Andy how she doesn’t mean anything by it. He seemed to understand better after he remembered she was the only female in the squad, plus the boss of it.
“Well,” she sighed, pulling into her driveway, “We are here.”
That sat in front of a large home, complete with 6 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, laundry room, billiard room, game station, and private pool/Jacuzzi in the back yard. Her front yard was fancily manicured, including a fountain in the middle.
“Believe it or not, it was a foreclosure,” Eva said, getting the bags out of the back seat, and popping the trunk to get the rest.

“Good find,” the bewildered man said, carefully getting out of the car, “How much is it a month, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“About $1250.00, minus bills.” She said, handing him the keys to open the front door.

Entering the house, Andy noticed the concert memorabilia on the wall, and the various types of art work scatter around the downstairs.

“How many concerts have you been to?”
“Enough to cover my wall with proof,” she said, giggling.
Eva made her way to the kitchen, and put the booze on the counter. Opening the freezer, she loaded the two bottles of rum into a compartment, and took three trays of ice out.

“Hey, Andy,” she asked, putting the trays on the island in the middle of the kitchen.
“Yes’m?”
“Can you go into my garage and grab the blue cooler next to the Harley,” she began, “and put the ice from these trays inside it? I would love if you could; I have to get out of these clothes.

Andy entered the garage, instantly finder the large blue cooler she mention. Finishing up his task, he sat down at the dining room table. Beginning to shuffle the random stack of cards that lay there, he smiled to himself. For once in his life, he could relax AND work at the same time.

The front door opened as Jinxx, Jake, CC, and Ashley came bounding in. Jake had three cases of Jack Daniels stacked one on top of the other, and immediately went into the living room to put them under the bar that, indeed, existed in her house. Jinxx place two bottled of Cold Cock Whiskey on the dining room table, checking the time for the pizza. Ashley and CC both took a seat opposite one another, and began a game of war with the cards Andy had just shuffled.

“So,” Jake said, finally sitting down as the end of the table to the left of Andy, “Where is E?”
“Changing, I think,”
“Oh God, please don’t tell me she’s planning something,” Ashley whined, dramatically pretending to collapse onto the table.
CC took off his hat, and smacked Ash with it, only getting a grunt in return.
“Ash, you know she always plans on strip poker…”
“Strip poker?” Andy asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Yea,” Ash said, tugging at a string of gum from his mouth, “Let’s just say, we have seen the boss lady ALMOST naked a few times. It makes her easier to work with, for some odd reason.”
“Ash, dude,” Jinxx said, taking the seat in front of Andy, “keep your dick in your pants, just for tonight. Like a big boy.”
“No promises, kimosabe,” he stated, sitting back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest.
“It is weird how long I have known you guys,” Andy said, “yet, here I am, working with ya’ll, and I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”
“Hey, I was the say way,” reassured CC.
“Okay, boys, are you ready to play?”
“Eva, where the hell have you been?” Ashley said, throwing his hands in the air.
“Changing,” she said, having gone from business attire to black skinny jeans, a low cut sweater, and classic Chucks.

Her auburn hair wasn’t put up in her usual bun, but flowing freely down her back. Andy took notice of this, as did the other men in the room.

“What?” she shout at them, “It is my fucking house, I will wear what the hell I want!”
“Anything you say, E,” Jake said, shuffling the card he had stolen back from CC and Ashley.

Ok, so before we start, Jinxx and I are going to go over the reports from today,” Eva began, almost forgetting she was at home.

“Alright,” Jinxx cleared his throat, and took a photo of a young looking man out of his brief case. “This is Tyler Durrant, private contractor from one of the largest firms here in LA. He was on his way to his office this morning at 4:30, and was attacked by a man wearing a grey, hooded jacket and black cargo pants. The witness who came forward with this information could not see his shoes. The witness also stated that when he dashed across the street to help the man, he saw he was dead, eyes removed, and put in a pleading, almost prayer-like position; almost like he was beginning for mercy.”

“Now, Durrant had a family. He was a 34 year old father of two, a four and a ten year old. His wife was also none other than Leslie Durrant, local fashion model. The Durrants have no known enemies to dat,” Eva stopped, and frowned, “This case doesn’t sit well with me; the fact he left children behind is depressing.”

“Ok, so may I add something?” Jake said, pulling out his lab test results
“Sure, Jakey,” Eva said, letting him take the floor.
“Ok, so his blood/alcohol level was 0.0, however, we go over here to this line,” he directed, pointing at the different blood tests, “and he tested positive for a severe reaction to latex. From what I understand, the police recovered a glove at the scene, correct? I mean, unless the glove I have isn’t part of the investigation.”

“No, no, that was found there,” Ashley said, mentioning how he had received picture of the site, and got the okay for the group to visit it in the morning.

“Good work so far, I think,” Eva said, a proud smile coming to her face. “Andy, you and CC will be staying the night here tonight. We will be heading to the site around 8:30 tomorrow morning, while Ashley will meet up there. We are to call Jake if we need evidence pick up, and call Jinxx if another body has been found.”
“Ok, cool,” Andy said, apparently reading too much into the impromptu sleep over.
“Dude, relax,” Ash said, putting his hand on Andy’s shoulder, “She has 4 spare bed rooms,”
“But I wasn’t worried about—“
“Right…” Ash smirked at the young detective, and snickered to himself.

“Enough, boys,” Eva said, as she placed shot glasses and whiskey onto the table. “Time to get this night started.”
The poker game had a rough start: Jake was in the lead, and only missing his shoes and one sock. Ashley’s shirt, socks, shoes, and belt were gone, along with his cocky demeanor. Jinxx, who disappeared for a short bit, was well into the booze, and only had his shirt and boxers on. CC, knowing that it was Eva’s house and Eva’s rules for poker, had removed his belt, shirt, hat, bandana, both shoes, socks, and fingerless gloves. Andy, new to the game at Eva’s, sat in his boxers and socks, wishing he had taking more lessons from his dad about card counting. And lastly, Eva, sat in her sweater, boy shorts, and socks.

“Okay,” Eva slurred, “The name of the game is strip Jakey of his dignity,” she hiccupped, giggling for a short period of time after.
“Yea, and his clothes,” Jinxx added, looking down at his attire, or lack thereof.
Andy, who had drunk about a half of a bottle of Rum by himself, just sat, staring at Eva’s thighs. Her being the only female in the room, and house, made her a target for his drunken wandering eye.
“Okay, gentlemen, lay down your hands,” Eva announced, proud she produced a straight.
CC, threw his cards, along with his pants and boxers, losing the game entirely. Jinxx, sighing to himself, followed suit, but only after he grabbed pillows off of the couch for him, CC, and anyone who happen to “lose the game”. Ashley finish the game with only his boxers and an extreme form of intoxication. Jake still had his clothes on, smiling about the flush he just laid down. Eva was left to her boy shorts, no bra, and socks.

And that left Andy, who lost as well, removing both his socks and boxers.

“So, I guess I win?” Jake asked, as the angered group of naked drunks threw their cards at him wildly.
“Ok, time to take a break,” Eva said, checking out a stretch mark on her hip, “Oh, and put back on our clothes, if you want.”
The boys watched with a hint of sadness as their boss put back on her clothes, and left the room to get another drink.

“Oh my god,” Andy slammed his head on the table, “I have never been so attracted to someone’s boobs in all my life!”
“Yep, and we play this game quite a bit,” Ash said, making the attempt to balance on one foot to put a leg through his leather pants but failing miserably.
“But seriously,” Andy exclaimed as he carefully put his boxers and pants on, not minding being shirtless, “how could none of you guys want to just cuddle up to those, and motorboat them.”
Jake, Jinxx, and CC giggled a bit, making Andy very confused.
“What?”
“Oh, Ashley has,” CC said, finally dressed again.
“Really?” Andy asked dryly, eyeing Ashley from across the table.
“Yep,” Ash said, finally dress himself, “And you can thank Kings for that.”
“Yep, the rule was every time Eva drew a car, Ash got to motorboat her,” Jake added, “It was his rule.”

The night ended shortly after, with Andy getting so wasted that he prances around the house like a gazelle, naked. Eva was amused by this, so she let it play out until he passed out on the bathroom floor. Ashley put some sleep shorts on him, and CC and Jake helped take him to bed. Jake, the most sober of the three, took Ashley and Jinxx back to their respective homes to sleep it off til they had to be either at the office, or the site.

Finally laying down in her bed, Eva felt asleep peacefully, only to dream about the killing that took place the morning previous.

She tossed and turned for the rest of the night, only to wake up to the sun and her alarm at 7 in the morning.

Notes

Crime scene investigation the next morning; I know, it's weird how I have it set up, but it will make sense as the story line continues.