A Dallas Suite

Chapter Two

There were two uniformed officers standing in front of a giant set of open double doors at the end of the hallway leading from the elevator. "Good morning, Officers. What are we working with?"

"Mornin' Detective. We were called in by the hotel. I guess one of the staff members found him inside. They walked by and saw the doors were open so they went in to make sure everything was okay. Found Mr. Diggs back in his bed, not conscious and not breathing," the older of the two answered. Of course I knew not conscious not breathing was cop talk for dead as you can be.

"And were you two the first on scene?"

"That'd be us. We went in, saw he was definitely dead. We searched the rest of the place and didn't find anyone inside."

"Great. And has anyone else been in the room besides you two?"

"Our Sergeant came in after us and two of the medics to pronounce him dead, but that's been it. Oh sorry, another detective's already in there. She said to not let anyone else in besides other detectives. She already has all the names of everyone who entered."

"Thanks gentleman. We'll get out of here as quick as we can so you're not standing here all morning," I replied as I patted the one I was speaking to on the shoulder and made my way through the doors..

I walked into the suite, which was considerably larger than my apartment. The main living area itself had to be at least 1,000 square feet. There was a full kitchen and dining room, all tied into a modern open floor plan. You could be cooking at the stove and be in view of your guests and the massive wall to wall television across the room. I looked down the hallway towards the back of the room and saw there were multiple doorways, probably leading into a series of elegant, giant bedrooms and luxurious bathrooms.

As usual, I tried to take in the initial scene without any biases I may later develop from learning information. The place was organized and well kept. If Diggs had been living here then he was still having house cleaning make their rounds every morning. It was stocked and decorated like a home, not a typical hotel room. That's what thousands of dollars a night gets you; a true home away from home. But one thing was out of place.

There were bottles of booze and an assortment of drugs lying all over the kitchen counter. They were organized in rows and piles to make a display fitting for a department store show room. Cocaine, a rainbow of pills, bottles of expensive liquor, even a few baggies of meth; it was an addicts dream. All neatly placed on top of a granite countertop worth the price of a gently used sedan.

I walked into the center of the room and looked down the hallway. One of the bedroom doors were open. Standing inside was Detective Hope Madison. Her rank was detective but she primarily was a crime scene investigator. She showed up and worked evidence at the scene. Then she'd help us solve cases using what she finds there and also any other piece of information there was to find online afterwards. She was a mastermind at what she did and someone I was thoroughly happy to have on our team. The fact that she was gorgeous and easy to talk to didn't hurt at all.

"Good morning, Hope. I'm glad crime always waits for a reasonable hour." She turned around as I started talking. Her long, black hair was pulled up into a messy bun. I could tell she wasn't wearing makeup, but she rarely does; her skin was annoyingly clear and perfect. Even before 6:00 AM she looked amazing. She gave me her famous light-up-the-entire-room smile, "Seeks! Yeah I love getting called at 4:30 after not getting out of the office until eight the night before."

I looked past her and examined the body on the bed. Diggs was lying face up, surrounded by a puddle of drying blood. His throat was slit straight across and there were at least five other stab wounds on his torso. The position he was lying, with his knees bent up and his legs twisted to the right, it didn't appear that he had been moved there. He was more than likely killed in the bed and left there to bleed out, not killed then moved to the bed. I also didn't see blood anywhere else in the room, besides on the floor next to the bed where the blood had dripped down from the silk bedspread.

"So this is definitely Diggs. And more of him than I'd ever like to see," I told Hope as I walked around the bed to inspect the body closer. I noted that he was completely nude. Exposed for everyone to see while lying there on the bed. It used to shock me how many bodies we found that weren't wearing clothes. Now it was just another part of the job. "What do we have so far?"

"I won't know the exact time of death until the ME completes an autopsy, but it looks like he's been out for at least a few hours. I'd guess the cut on his throat is what killed him. It goes right across both carotid arteries, and there's way more blood from that wound. Probably had his throat slit first, then the stabbing happened directly after, or close to post mortem. Hard to tell from here."

"It looks like he was killed here in the bed. I didn't see any signs of forced entry when I walked in. Doesn't look like there was much of a fight in here, either."

"Exactly," Hope started, "nothing's turned over or broken. Doesn't look like whoever did this had to force themselves in. Maybe a client or what he thought was a friend, I don't know. The weird thing is, everything's really organized here. I mean obviously, this place had the best service the hotel can provide. But did you see all those drugs on the kitchen counter? That seems pretty abnormal."