Who Killed Cupid?

This is a repost of a story that I wrote for Valentine's day a few years ago. I hope you enjoy it.

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Cupid was dead.

A trickle of bright red blood still wound its way from the gunshot wound blackened by gunpowder just above his nose. His eyes held a startled expression, his face still held a half smile, as if he had been about to greet someone when he was shot.

Shell casings riddled the area around the body which was dressed in nothing but a white cloth diaper, a hint of white briefs peeking above the edge of the material. Two huge safety pins secured the diaper at the victim's hips. On his feet were a pair of white soft canvass slip-ons. Feathered wings lay smashed under the body. His bow and about six arrows were scattered around him, his quiver in his hand.

Detective Kaitlynn Cambridge stood over the body, careful to keep the tips of her well worn boots out of the bright red puddle that surrounded the victim. She wasn't worried about the blood, she just didn't want her foot prints to be scattered in the mix around them as she worked the scene. The coppery scent of blood in her nose, she crouched down and lifted one of the shell casings on the end of a ball point pen.

"9 mm. That's a big gun to bring into a party." She looked around at the guests that were still milling just outside the taped off area. "All these casings and only one hole in the victim. And no one saw a thing."

"They were all in the bathroom," a deep voice said and she saw another pair of shoes stop next to hers, shiny, black and expensive. She knew that voice and felt a thrill of pleasure shiver through her that she quickly shoved deep.

"Jake," she said in greeting as she stood to face the man her body craved. Detective Jacob Temple, the department's golden boy and the bane and reason for her existence, smiled down at her. "What are you doing here?"

Green eyes looked past her and at the ornate surroundings, the party decorations and glasses strewn around the room. Thick brown hair that was just a bit too long brushed the collar of his suit jacket and played over his wide forehead was scooped back by a long elegantly fingered hand. "The brass thought you could use some extra help on this one, Kate, nothing more. Don't get your knickers in a twist." He smiled, full lips quirking over impossibly white, impossibly perfect teeth.

"My knickers, twisted or not, are none of your concern, detective." She hissed the words, disgusted with herself for letting him get to her. "And I can handle this case."

"Valentine party at the Mayor's house and one of his guests turns up dead? The press will be all over this, Kate. You need my help." He reached out a hand before he could stop himself, and pushed a lock of tawny blonde hair that had escaped the ponytail she habitually wore to work off her forehead.

She managed, barely, to keep from slapping his hand away, reminding herself that they were almost center stage right now in the public eye. The last thing she needed was a picture of that on the front page of the Times in the morning. She could see the head line now: Lover's Spat Over Cupid's Body.

"Fine," she growled. She pulled out her notebook, flipping it open to the page she'd been using for notes. "The victim's name is Reginald Holton, 32, single. Shot once, point blank range by a 9mm pistol. So far that's about all I know. I've got uniforms taking names and searching the property. It's a big party."

Jake's eyes slowly traversed the crime scene and then the assembled guests. All were in costume. He remember the invitation he had received a few weeks ago. A Valentine costume party, the theme, lover's throughout the centuries. He could see quite a few here, a crying Juliet being comforted by her hovering Romeo. Bonnie standing quietly next to Clyde, their Tommy guns laying on the floor in front of them. Next to them, a loincloth covered Tarzan, a stuffed monkey hanging from around his chest, had his arm around a leopard skin clad Jane. And that was only a few of the costumes he did recognize.

"Who was our victim with?"

"No one. I guess he's a friend of the Mayor's oldest daughter, Sarah. Maybe that's why the Cupid getup. He's here to spread love and joy."

Kate stepped back when a man, dressed all in black, walked up. "Hey Doc. About time you guys showed. It can't be too busy down at the morgue tonight."

"Do you have any idea how many people committed suicide tonight?" Doc Weston, the county coroner, sat down his black bag and pulled out what looked to be a long meat thermometer. He slid it gently into Cupid's side and down into his liver. After reading the digital numbers in the front, he pulled it out and wiped it off with a sterile alcohol swab. "TOD is approximately 10:30. I'd say COD is pretty easy to establish."

"Well I don't think he was stabbed with an ice pick." Kate stepped back in closer. "I need everything you can get and quick, Doc. This case is hot and the press is already outside. I especially want to see his blood tox screen."

"You'll get it as soon as I get it," Doc said, standing up. "Why aren't you off on some romantic dinner tonight, Kate?"

"Doc, you know good homicide detectives don't have personal lives, or romantic dinners. Those are for normal people." She patted the man on the back. "Soon as you can, okay Doc?"

He waved his men in and the rest of the CSI crew as Kate and Jake stepped back. "I want to interview Sarah tonight." She turned and looked at the tall man beside her. "I suppose you want in on that."

It was more a statement then a question, but he answered it anyway. "Yeah, I love watching you work, Kate. You go straight for the jugular, take no prisoners. It's terrifying."

"Great," she rolled her eyes and started to walk away to where she could see the Mayor and his family standing, just outside the line of sight of the press. They stood huddled, the Mayor, a tall thin man dressed in a cutaway coat and breeches, a pristine white cravat tied around his throat, with his arm around his daughter, a petite blonde who's curves were threatening to burst free of the shimmery gown she was wearing. His other daughter, a mousy thing, wore a staid black dress with long sleeves and a tight collar, and stood behind the Mayor. His wife, a fabulous bustled ball gown sweeping the floor, stood off to the side, a disinterested party who seemed more taken with what one of the waiters was doing then the fact that someone was murdered in their home.

Jake stood and watched Kate for a moment, wondering why the hell he couldn't get her out of his head. She was beautiful, yes, with long tawny hair that seemed to curl with a mind of it's own, defying rubber bands and bobby pins when it came to taming. Her eyes were strange, a hypnotic blending of greens and golds that seem to shift with the light and in the right one, just to the left of the pupil was a tiny brown spot, like a beauty mark. Her face was oval, high cheekbones, patrician nose, sweetly kissable lips. They all added up to top off a body that stirred a man no matter how many times he'd been stirred before.

And they'd had one incredible weekend, two unforgettable days and nights where he'd done his best to purge this need he had for her from his system.

It hadn't worked. He could still taste her on his tongue, feel her under his hands. He dreamed about her at night, waking with sweat beading on his forehead and her name on his lips. He'd catch a whiff of her scent, spicy and warm, and he couldn't help but look for her, watch her. He wanted her again, in his bed, under him, crying out his name in need and release.

He took a deep breath and lifted his hand amazed to see it shaking slightly. He had to get over this need for her. He could still remember dropping her off outside her apartment. She'd brushed a kiss across his lips, thanked him for the fun weekend and walked away without a second glance. As if it hadn't meant a thing to her. And she'd stayed away from him since, avoiding him as if he had the plague. Her attitude when forced to be with him was always antagonistic.

Kate turned to look back at him and he quickly blanked his thoughts, hurrying to catch up with her. He could play the game just as well as she could.

~~~~~~~

"Sarah, how long did you know the victim?" Kate asked, jumping right into the interview. They had borrowed the Mayor's study for the interview. Leather chairs and a long black leather couch grouped off to one side of the huge desk that otherwise dominated the room. Thousands of books graced the oak shelves. Expensive antique objects d'art were everywhere. The room reeked rich and made Kate nervous.

Sarah, her mascara smeared, tears still flowing, her Tinkerbelle green sheathe glittering with dozens of sequins, sniffled and took the handkerchief Jake handed her. "Um, we met at Daddy's offices about six months ago. He works--worked there. Why would anyone want to kill my Reggie?"

"That's what we're trying to find out, Sarah. You two were close?"

"We were in love. We were going to be married." The tears started streaming again and Kate flinched at the wail that came from the pretty blonde.

Jake picked up the glass of water he'd gotten her and handed it to her. "Then I'm sure Reggie would want you to do everything in your power to help us find his killer, don't you, Sarah?"

Sarah gulped audibly, wiping black mascara from under her eyes with the square of linen. She nodded as she swallowed again, visibly calming herself down.

"You and the vic...er...Reggie were engaged?"

"Oh, well, not officially yet. But it was only until he got the money thing straightened out. As soon as he did that, well, then he was going to get me a ring and make it official." Sarah folded the handkerchief into a tiny square, opened it and started again.

"Money thing?" Kate asked, her eyes sharpening.

"He owed some guy some money, um, that guy that owns the Casino north of town. Bobby Barker, that's it, like in that old game show."

Robert Barker, big time hustler turned con artist turned Casino owner and all around scum bag. Kate had had cause to invade Mr. Barker's privacy on more than one occasion and she by far wasn't his favorite person.

"Some money, Sarah? Or a lot of money?"

"Oh, um, Reggie didn't talk about those things with me." She sniffed and used the handkerchief again. "He always said I shouldn't worry my pretty head over things like that. That it would give me wrinkles." Huge tears glistened in her big blue eyes that she turned Jake's way batting eyelashes to let one tear slide down her pale cheek. "He's gone now, and I'm all alone."

"Uh, yeah, Sarah?" Kate called the blonde's attention back to her. "Can you think of anyone who'd want to hurt Reggie? Anyone at all?"

"His ex-girlfriend. That slut. She didn't want to let go of my Reggie, said she'd get even with him for dumping her. Aurora Conway." She watched Kate write the name in her notebook. "I bet she did it, she killed my Reggie."

Kate almost groaned out loud as she saw the sobs starting to build in the blonde again. They weren't going to get much more out of her tonight. But she had one more question.

"Where were you when Reggie was shot, Sarah?"

"Reg..Reggie asked me to get him some water, said he wasn't feeling too well. I went to hunt down one of the servers. That's when I heard the shots."

"Okay, Sarah, and thank you. If we have any more questions, we'll be in touch."

"You'll get them, won't you, the person who killed my Reggie?" Sarah asked as she stood up to leave the room.

Jake stood with her and led her to the door. Kate could hear him making all the right noises, saying all the right things. It was one of his best attributes, besides being a top detective, he always knew the right thing to say.

Unlike her. Damn. She didn't need the memories of that weekend in her head right now. That unforgettable, intensely passionate weekend. She hadn't known what to say to him when he dropped her off, had waited to hear him say he wanted to see her again, but he hadn't. He hadn't called, he hadn't come by her place. He hadn't done anything since that morning except be a thorn in her side.

But oh, for that one brief, beautiful weekend, she'd known passion and need and desire. She'd known what it felt like to have a man want you with everything in him, look at you with eyes that seemed to sear the skin and reach deep inside to send a girl's heart fluttering madly. She'd known the power of seeing a man bursting with need for her, of hearing him groan that need when she touched him, when she kissed him. The power of making him lose control with her hands, her mouth, bringing him pleasure so intense he'd turned almost wild, throwing her to the bed and taking her until her nails scoured his back.

Kate felt the blush suffuse her face and cleared her throat. This was work and she wasn't going to think of that weekend anymore. It was over and done, just as they were.

Jake turned, and for one second, he saw in her eyes the same thing he'd seen that weekend, the woman she kept hidden so well any other time. He took two steps forward and saw the blankness fall in front of her eyes like a shutter slamming shut.

"Well, I think we need to pay a call on a few people. That is if you plan on tagging along?" Her tone and face held no expression as she waited for an answer. He was a complication she couldn't afford but a part of her hoped that he'd say yes.

"Can't think of anything else I'd like to do at almost midnight on Valentine's Day but go and get people out of bed. After you?" He held open the door waiting until she left her card with the Mayor and checked in with the CSI's. She stopped and gave the officer in charge some instructions and then got in her car. Using her radio, she got addresses for both names that Sarah had given her.

Aurora Conway lived in the city and worked as a waitress down at a small dive close to the harbor. Bobby Barker had a swank joint outside of town where the rich folks with "new" money lived. But she had an idea she'd find him at his casino playing lord and master and keeping an eye on things.

"What's your gut say?" she asked Jake as she put the car in reverse to back out of the mess of cops vehicles and party vehicles still surrounding the huge home.

"Barker's going to be easy to find. His place don't close until it has to. I say we go with the ex girlfriend first."

"My thoughts exactly." She wheeled between two cars leaving about an inch of spare room on either side and made it through to the gates. Looking over at Jake, Kate had to grin. He had his eyes closed and she swore she'd heard an amen coming from his side of the car just seconds ago. "You can look now," she said, putting it into drive.

Jake cautiously opened his eyes and then caught sight of the grin on her face. Her smile, the way it lit up her face, caught at his gut. "You know, that's a good look for you."

Kate spared him a quick look before paying attention to her driving. "What's a good look?"

"Smiling. I don't think I've seen you do to much of it recently. Not since that..."

"I don't want to talk about that," Kate jumped in, interrupting him. "It was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened but it did. And now it's over so we can just forget about it."

Jake saw the way her body tightened, the white knuckled grip she had on the steering wheel. Everything about her body language said the subject was off limits but he hadn't gotten to where he was by doing what he should do. "Why was it a mistake?"

"Jeez, Jake, can't you drop it. It's in the past, okay?" Kate shrugged her shoulders to get rid of the stress that was starting to creep up into her neck.

"What if I don't want it in the past? Dammit, Kate, I miss you, I miss the way we used to be. We were friends as well as co workers and we liked each other. That weekend was..." He stopped when she swerved off to the side of the road.

"Either you drop it or you can call a car to come and get you and I'll do this on my own." She didn't want to hear what he thought of their weekend, she didn't want to know if he regretted it. She didn't and couldn't regret it herself even though she now couldn't be in the same room with him without her hands going sweaty and her thigh muscles weakening as she remembered what he did to her.

"It's dropped," he said flatly, meeting her stare head on. For now, he thought, gazing into those bewitching eyes that narrowed with her glare.

They got to where Aurora Conway worked, a place that could only loosely be termed as a restaurant. It was a dive located off one of the main streets downtown. Just far enough off for visitors to not notice and strangers to be wary. They walked in the front door, noting right away how half of the very few patron there slunk down in their seats, making them as cops from the start.

"If you'd keep your face out of the media, maybe we wouldn't be so recognizable here," Kate hissed at Jake as she made her way to a both.

"Hey, I can't help it if the press seems to like me."

"They just like your pretty boy looks and smooth smile," she tossed at him as she slid into a cracked leather booth seat. The table was slightly sticky and stained with rings from cups and glasses of old. She almost laughed as Jake gave the seat a disgusted look before slipping partway in and sitting gingerly.

Two menus were slapped down in front of them, two cups rattled in saucers and thumped on the table. "Coffee?"

Kate looked up long legs encased in pantyhose under a pink polyester waitress uniform with a white frilly apron. Both were marked with unrecognizable stains. A name tag was pinned on the straining material across large breasts. The name tag read - Aurora. This was their girl.

Kate took a second look when she got to the girl's face. She was gorgeous, deep red hair that flickered with fire from the light of the bug stained fixtures, misty gray eyes that held a hint of sadness and a whole barrel of streetwise, full lips painted red and a tiny indentation on her chin in an oval face with skin that was pale perfection. Kate hated her on sight just out of principle.

"Is it drinkable?" Jake asked.

"About the only thing in this dive that's palatable." Aurora smiled at Jake as she filled his cup, keeping it at 100 watts as she slopped some coffee into Kate's.

"Aurora Conway?" Kate asked, moving the cup out of the small puddle of coffee on the table and getting out her badge. "We need to talk with you, take a break."

"Oh, fuck!" Aurora banged the coffee pot down on the table hard enough it should have broken, making both Kate and Jake flinch. "What'd that bitch say I do this time?"

"Who would that be, Aurora?" Jake asked carefully, scooting further over in the booth.

Aurora plopped down in the empty space and snapped her gum angrily. "That bitch Sarah, the Mayor's kid. She thinks I want that two timer back and keeps sending you guys out after me, trying to frame me for something. It ain't my fault he keeps sniffing back around here." She turned and looked at Jake, batting mile long eyelashes at him. "Can you blame him?"

"Are you talking about Reginald Holton, Aurora?" Kate got out her notebook and pen.

"Yeah, Reggie. That no good scum. He weren't ever good enough for me. That jerk got himself in trouble and he wanted me to hook to get him out. I ain't never hooked and I won't start now."

"What kind of trouble was he in?"

Aurora looked at Kate then back at Jake. She held up long fingered hands tipped with lethal red painted nails. "What's this all about? What they saying I did?"

"Reggie Holton was shot tonight, Aurora. We need to know where you were at approximately 10 p.m."

"He's dead?" Those gray eyes glittered as she stared at Kate.

"Yeah, he's dead."

"Oh," she said quietly, looked down at her lap, her fingers playing with a frayed hem on her apron. When she looked up, her eyes were hard. "I wish I could say I was sorry. I mean that's what you're supposed to say when someone dies. I'm sorry. But I'm not."