Caliente (Dina) – 7.3: A motive and a suspect

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(Previous post: Murder in Sunset Valley)

A dead body is found on the street in Sunset Valley and Sara and her team are called in to investigate his murder.

“I am sorry to do this to you Jerod but I just don’t think I’ll make it home in time for dinner.” It was already afternoon and Sara knew this day is going to run long so she called first her mother and now her fiancee as well. “Will you be okay with mum and Justine?”

“Well as much as I love them I think I am not ready to be there without you yet… I guess I will just hang out at the station, maybe finish a book…”

Sara laughed at the thought. She just couldn’t picture Jerod with a book, in all the years she knew him she couldn’t remember ever seeing him with one, even back in school he managed to somehow swing by on his overwhelming intelligence and disarming charm alone. They ended the call saying their “I love you’s” to each other and Sara went back to work. There will be no more laughs for her she thought miserably as she looked at all the open browser tabs on her computer, each one a piece of Clyde Belgen’s life.

She wished she could tell Jerod what kept her away from home but she couldn’t. Not yet. She knew he would understand, work was work… Still She longed to share this terrible burden she felt ever since this morning with someone, anyone… Yet she couldn’t, she was the boss now, she had to face the hardships alone.

She sighed turning to her screen to continue reading of the scandalous relationship of Clyde Belgen and the music talent scout Phaena Santoro that happened while she was still a baby but made all the headlines at the time.

An hour passed, maybe more and Sara found herself absently drawing a doodle on an empty sheet of paper when a sharp knock broke her away from her troubled thoughts.

“Come in.” She yelled looking at the paper in front of her. The drawing showed a dead man laying on the ground. She crumpled it up and threw it away in the bin before the door opened and Mika’il Kerry walked in.

“I’ve got nothing boss.” The young police officer said closing the doors behind him. “That part of the street is not covered by cameras and nobody saw a thing. I can’t believe it. There was a murder and we have nothing.”

“Maybe Vanessa will find something. Junior Hoves is back in the lab. If anyone can dig up something it is the old man…” The young officer didn’t seem to like the idea that he, or his findings wouldn’t solve this case or so his pained expression suggested but he kept it to himself, only nodding respectfully.

“You said to come here straight away and not to share the ID on the dead man with anyone. What’s the deal with that, you know him?” He blurted out and Sara sighed softly.

“I do. I did. His daughter went to school with me.” She thought back to the ungainly girl with unkempt bushy hair and dark beady eyes and how she used to follow them around constantly because she was in love with Rosie, Sara’s cousin and best friend. They were so mean to her back then, poor little Penelope Belgen, not as mean as Dougie Hoves perhaps, but Rosie just stringed her along all the time and Sara had not said a word…

And then all those years later that same face looked at her again, from above her hospital bed. The same woman she tormented in high school saved her life when a bullet hit her leg and now she would have to go to her and tell her that her father is dead. Murdered.

Miha’il nodded. “We will have to notify the next of kin.” He said. “They must be worried sick by now… Was he married?”

“No.” Sara said. “He lived alone with his daughter, Dr. Penelope Belgen.”

“She was his only kid then?” Mikha’il asked.

“He had a son as well but they were estranged.” Mikha’il wrote it all down in his notebook and she saw him looking at her expectantly. “Luther Prentiss. I want to go with you when you go tell Penelope, Luther too. ” Mikha’il nodded and she knew he would be more than glad to have her with them. This wasn’t easy, for anyone. There was a slight pause and finally Sara got the courage to speak what she wanted to say.

“I will tell you all I know about Clyde Belgen and his life but there is another reason I wanted to speak with you in private.” She gave the closed door another look before starting her story.

“About a month ago Clyde Belgen came to me personally. His daughter, she saved my life when I was shot and we knew each other since we were kids so I guess he figured he could trust me…” She stopped there feeling the burden of her guilt press heavily on her but it wasn’t the time to feel sorry, she had to get it out. “He told me his daughter, Penelope had been kidnapped on her way from work one day. The assailant took her to an undisclosed location and asked her to perform surgery on him. He had a bullet lodged inside him and probably wanted to avoid questioning from the police. Penelope did as she was told and she was released, unharmed.”

“She didn’t go to the police herself?” The young officer asked.

“No. She confided in her father, he insisted she report this but she didn’t want to, she said the man had threatened her family if word ever got out.” A meaningful silence descended between them and then Mika’il broke it.

“Her father however came to you.” Sara nodded. Mika’il looked away, pensive. “That is huge. What did you do?”

“What could I do?” Sara asked. “I couldn’t do a thing without proof, and Penelope’s testimony. When I confronted her however she denied the whole story, told me her father must be going senile. She refused to come to the station and urged me to bury the whole thing.”

“You feel guilty you listened to her?” The other man asked bluntly and Sara just gave him a stern look to let him now there were lines that shouldn’t be crossed.

“I am sorry a man is dead. But we have a possible motive and I am not going to overlook this again.” the young officer just nodded and Sara noticed an absent look in his eyes, as if the wheels behind them had already started turning.

“Is there a date for this kidnapping?” He asked all the sudden and Sara had to pull out her own notes to check. When she gave him the date she noticed him go absent again, then he opened his notebook and started going through it with furious conviction. Sara just looked at him puzzled about the whole ordeal. He checked and double checked something before lifting his head and looking at her anxiously. “You are not going to like this. You are not going to like this one bit but I think I know who the kidnapper is.” He paused and Sara’s mind was numb. There was not a single thought in her head in the space before his last word and the next one. “I think it was Bradley Frail.”

/* Some of you might remember Penelope’s kidnapping from Wounds and if you don’t it is not integral to know all the details to follow the rest of the story. I hope you liked this update! */

Caliente(Dina) – 7.2: Murder in Sunset Valley

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(Previous post: Scars)

Sara remembers the tragedy that recently hit their town and the impact it had on her fiancee.

Sara’s morning started in the best possible way, the four of them sitting in the kitchen, she and her mother had coffee while Justine and Jerod ate some leftover spaghetti from last night. Jerod was making all of them laugh, even her mother, who was notoriously hard to please. But that credit might not have been all Jerod’s but her new wife’s. Justine had one of those infectious laughs one just cannot resist joining in and Dina Caliente certainly didn’t seem to be immune to the charms of the younger woman.

They seemed so in love, Sara’s mother and her second wife, even after the charming fairy-tale wedding right here in the garden, and the romantic honeymoon in Champs Les Sims, just the other night Sara could see them in the garden, picking flowers for each other.

She hoped that one day she could be like that, just give in and be happy but she doubted it could ever really happen, both she and Jerod had been through so much, happiness seemed like just a very distant dream, forever out of reach. But it was fine Sara guessed, life was more than just being happy and in love all the time, for now seeing the smiles of her loved ones would do.

All in all Sara came to work happy that day, she hummed a tune under her breath as she pushed her way to her office, not even stopping for coffee, she figured her mother’s brew was strong enough to hold her until lunch.

It was supposed to be a regular morning, police work in Sunset Valley was rarely more than ordinary and dull. But before Sara was halfway through her morning routine of reading and sending out long and tedious reports there was a very loud knock on her office door followed by an emergence of a tall, gray haired and bespectacled man.

“Mr. Hoves!” She exclaimed in surprise as she watched him enter her office.

“Good morning lieutenant.” He replied with a grave note in his voice closing the door behind him. It wasn’t the first time Sara had the older man in her office, he was the head of the forensics department and had worked for the SVPD his whole life, it was however the first time he was here since his recent retirement.

Sunset Valley was a small town and like everyone else Sara heard how he had developed a drinking problem once he was out of the force but today his look was not one of a drunk. His eyes were sharp and determined and if Sara was to be honest it scared her a little.

“There had been a murder.” He said as he took a seat opposite Sara.

“Murder sir?” She asked feeling her heart start to race. He nodded but she still couldn’t believe it. “Here in Sunset Valley?” He nodded again, even more impatiently. “And excuse me sir but how do you know about it?”

“There was a distress call, a body was found in the dumpster behind the theater. I was fixing some stuff at home when I heard it on the police radio…” He said dismissively.

“How come I didn’t hear about it yet?” Sara asked.

“I caught the officer that was on his way to tell you on the stairs, I said I will do it.” He spoke with the efficiency of a man that used to be in charge and Sara couldn’t be the one to tell him he no longer was. It was an uncomfortable situation, she knew the man ever since she was nothing more than the receptionist down in the basement even though she now technically outranked him. And besides it seemed that someone was dead, murdered no less, she couldn’t waste any time.

“Tell me what happened.” She said putting everything aside. She was lieutenant Sara Caliente and this was her job.

“A patrol is on site now and they have confirmed that a dead body was found and foul play is suspected. You will have to go next, asses the situation, give orders. It were the new kids that were first on the scene, young Kerry and Vanessa Mayor. Kerry can take statements and Vanessa can do the forensics, I like how she treats evidence. And I will be downstairs in the lab.”

He rose from the chair leaving Sara to feel like a little child in her own office.

“But sir… You are retired…” She finally managed to mutter. He looked at her with a frown.

“There was a murder lieutenant. There hadn’t been a murder in this town since my uncle had been gunned down in that warehouse. We didn’t solve that one and I will be damned if I let that happen again.” With those words he left Sara’s office leaving her to quickly collect her bearings and go back to work. Her beautiful morning already seemed a lifetime away.

---

She was last to arrive on the already cramped parking lot behind the grocery store. A mass of people had already gathered around the adjoining building but Sara noticed with a little bit of pride her officers had done a good job keeping the noisy citizens outside the yellow tape that marked the crime scene. She walked over making her way through the bystanders. The dumpster was moved and by happy circumstance shielded the body of the poor man from the invading looks. She didn’t go there immediately but to her officers Kerry and Mayor who were waiting for her to submit their initial report.

“Morning lieutenant.” Mika’il spoke first. He was a thin young man with dark hair, dark eyes and a small goatee Sara didn’t like one bit. He was also engaged to her cousin, or so her mother had told her the other day.

“Morning.” Vanessa muttered after him. She seemed more visibly shaken by the scene in front of them than her partner. She was the same age as he was, also dark-haired, with softer brown eyes and a complexion that usually wasn’t as pale as it was now.

“Morning.” Sara said not feeling well herself, but doing her best to not let it show in front of the younger officers. “What do we have here?” She asked turning to the dead body on the street.

“Elderly male, dead from what appears to be a stab wound, or multiple stab wounds… I didn’t really want to touch the body before the M.E. comes….” Mika’il started.

“Good call.” Sara replied still looking at the man dead at the street. A terrible thing she thought. And definitely a murder. Her stomach clenched at the thought and she forced herself too look away from the body. “Any ID?”

“Well we didn’t really check… I mean, I assumed it was a robbery, why else would someone stab an old man?” Mikha’il answered.

“You mustn’t make assumptions.” Sara echoed the words of her old mentor. “Check his wallet.” She felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out of her pocket. Frédéric Jr. Hoves the caller ID read. She sighed loudly. The old man just wouldn’t let her run this case alone. She turned back to her officers. “Wait for the M.E here. Once he is done you run the scene Vanessa, collect all you find, take pictures and take it all to the lab. Mika’il, check the ID and come to me.” They both nodded and she left them to their job moving away to take the call.

The old man had nothing new to say. He gave instructions on things she already knew and ended the call saying he would call Vanessa next, just to be sure she does her job just right. In a way Sara was glad he was back, he was the top forensics specialist in the country and yet it was her case, she wanted to be left alone to run it. She sighed again planning to go back to the scene when she saw Mika’il standing close by with a satisfied smile on his face.

“I have the ID boss, you were right, it wasn’t a robbery after all! He had his wallet and I know his name. It is Clyde Belgen.” Sara’s head suddenly started to spin and she felt like she could throw up.

“Don’t share this information with anyone, and I mean it. Talk to the people from the theater, check if there are any cameras around, see if there are any eyewitness… Once you are done come straight to my office.”

Clyde Belgen. She couldn’t believe it. She turned around to where the body was still lying and with a strong feeling of guilt she couldn’t shake she turned around back to her patrol car and drove straight to the station.

/* Finally a start of an actual story 😀 I have all of Sara’s chapter’s written down so I hope all of it will be published without a large delay. I like the story, it kind of touches a lot of stories I set up earlier, I hope it won’t be hard to follow and that it will be interesting. Thank you all for reading!!! */

Caliente(Dina) – 7.1: Scars

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Sara Caliente was recently promoted to lieutenant of the SVPD. She had just come in to work after months of extensive physical therapy after suffering a near fatal leg wound. Her mentor and partner officer Jesse Hoves was shot dead the same day. The perpetrator’s were never caught. Sara lives with her mother and her mother’s second wife. Recently her own fiancee moved in with them.

Sara loved watching Jerod sleep. There was something so peaceful in his face, the way his hair fell over it and the way the weak morning light made it shine. She still hand’t quite gotten used to sharing the big bed in her mother’s attic with her fiancee and waking up to him each morning so whenever she got the chance she marveled at the little things that made up her day.

It didn’t take long for the spell to break. The alarm rang and Jerod stirred before opening his eyes.

“Morning beautiful.” He murmured in his sleepy voice. Sara smiled.

“Morning to you too handsome.” She replied playfully. “A grand day for staying in bed.” Jerod smiled, his eyes still half closed.

“I wish.” He replied sadly. “Work awaits, saving lives and all that… One of my guys left and now we all have to share the load…” He sighed. “I hope your mother made something nice for breakfast, and coffee… I really hope for coffee…” He added stretching before getting out of bed.

He always slept without a shirt on, even now, so when he pulled back the covers Sara got a full view of his bare back and all the scars stretched over it. They were mostly healed by now but still it wasn’t easy to look at that constant reminder of what the man she loved went trough. She ached to touch him, to caress the wounded tissue, to make it heal, to make him heal but it didn’t work like that. Sara knew it all to well.

After all she had her own scars too, the one in her leg where she got shot being the most recent one, but she knew it often weren’t the visible scars that cause the biggest pain, but the ones hidden beneath. For her it hurt more to remember how her partner and mentor had been killed, the memory of the slow pool of blood spreading from his body as her own leg burned from the pain she could not recall anymore.

She knew it was the same for Jerod. It surely hurt more that he didn’t get to his mother in time than the memory of that flaming beam hitting his back. She tried to get him to talk about it, she knew he had mandatory counselling back when he he had just gotten back to work, when he lived at the fire station, but around most people he pretended as if he hadn’t lost his mother, an aunt and a cousin, and even his mother’s little dog that day. Not to mention landing himself in a hospital for months running into the flaming house the meteor had struck.

It worked one night, right after he had moved in. They were lying here, in this very bed the lights were off and they talked in whispers.

He told her then, in a thin and soft voice of that day, the day that would probably hunt him until the end of his life.

“When I think of it I don’t think about mum, I guess because I never got to her then… What haunts me the most is what I saw when I first got there… The house was on fire, the home I grew up in… There was a huge rock, a monstrous meteor, the scariest damn thing one could ever see, I swear it Sara, right next to it and smaller pieces all around and I was lost, completely lost you know… I never saw anything like that and as I tried to compose myself, get into full firefighter mode I saw her and it didn’t break me then but it breaks a piece of me every time I think of it now…”

He took a deep painful breath and even though she couldn’t see him in the dark Sara knew he was crying, and in all their years together she had never seen him cry, it hurt to hear it but she knew she had to let him be. “She must have fallen out of the window on impact because she was just lying there on the street all covered in cuts and shards of broken glass. She was dead or close to it I could see it from where I was standing and there was nothing I could do anyway… The paramedics were behind me and that was their job and I still had mine… But I can’t get her out of my head… She had been so young the sweet girl. She used to come to the station often, to watch me work and just talk silly things. I knew her and her friends found me attractive, they were teenage girls after all but I didn’t mind it, they were so young and silly, so full of life… And now that life is over and I can’t… I can’t get it out of my head…”

The sobs took him over and Sara didn’t know what to do, she was crying herself. She took one of his hands in hers and kissed it softly as she listened to him weep.

He never spoke of it again although sometimes she tried to ask. But it haunted her now as well. The face of the young girl that had lost her life that day and the painful scar it left on her boyfriend’s heart. She wished she could just take it all back, move time backwards to when their biggest problem was planning their wedding, when none of them had really been hurt by life. A simple time.

If only they could just go back….

/* Yet another post featuring the meteor tragedy, hope it doesn’t bore you guys too much, I thought it was necessary to touch on what happened to Jerod and how he and Sara ended up living together. The girl who died, mentioned here, is Lena Prentiss. In the very next post we dive into the actual story! */

Justine Caliente

Justine Caliente was born Justine Hooks. Ever since she was very young she believed in living fast, partying hard and sleeping only when absolutely necessary. This lifestyle hadn’t brought Justine much money or career advancement but somehow she managed to avoid troubles and landed in Sunset Valley working as a waitress and occasional kitchen help in the local diner.

That is where she first saw her future wife Dina Caliente. Justine was never much into politics but even she knew who the older and stylish woman was. And while it was no wonder Justine noticed Dina the real wonder was that Dina noticed her.

Before she knew it Justine was partying, and soon dating the former leader of the free world. She never expected it to go far, none of her relationships before ever did  but that is how love works, it is unexpected and uninvited and before Justine knew it she was getting married to one of the most beautiful women on the world.

She gladly took her new wife’s last name and accepted to live in her big and beautiful house. As a wedding gift she now owns a local beach bar where she still sometimes mixes drinks. She practices SimFu, a skill she had to learn as a small, skinny woman living the lifestyle she used to lead. And although she now has everything a woman could wish for she sometimes dreams of having a career, preferably one filled with excitement like her  new step-daughter has…

Caliente (Dina) – Intro

Since I am getting less time to write and play no the space between my posts is getting bigger and bigger probably making it even harder to keep track of all the characters and interwoven story lines I have decided to do this short intro posts before each new story to make it a bit easier to keep track.

The idea still is to try and make each story work on its own but still being reminded of some background and characters may be of use so here we go.

Family Tree

Dina Caliente, the retired leader of the free world lives in Sunset Valley with her older, adopted daughter, Sara, a lieutenant in the Sunset Valley Police Department, and her second wife, former waitress Justine.

Dina is enjoying life as a rich and famous woman with a beautiful new young wife while her daughter Sara grapples with new life challenges at work, and her fiancee Jerod Prentiss who had recently moved in after a tragedy struck his family.

Table of Contents

Following the link above you can find all the previously published stories about Dina and Sara.

Last Round 

Last round’s chapters started with Dina and Justine’s wedding ceremony. Before Dina marries her second wife we learn that her heart still belongs to her first, now deceased wife, Nala, mother of her two daughters Sara and Summer. Meanwhile Sara recovers from a nearly fatal gunshot wound and the loss of her older mentor, officer Jesse Hoves. The story ends with a bonus chapter  in which we learn of Sara’s promotion to lieutenant and about two new, young officers joining her department.

This round

This round will be more focused on Sara, her relationship with her fiancee Jerod, his trauma and personal tragedies and a new case that shakes up the whole town of Sunset Valley, and the Caliente family personally. In the first post however we will shortly meet Justine Caliente, Dina’s second wife and the newest character in the story.

Caliente (Dina)-Round 6.3: Raid and recovery

/* NOTICE: This post continues directly on the previous post, I split them up because it was getting too long. I recommend reading previous post first. Also this is a flashback post, it explains the events mentioned in Escape, and happens much before all other posts in this round(except Locked up and  Escape) so don’t get confused. 🙂 */

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(Previous post: Home alone)

In her dream the memories came back. She came to work like she did any other day. She brought two cups of coffee, one for herself and one for her partner and mentor Jesse Hoves. She was really starting to like her job. It was a big change from being a receptionist down in the basement, in the forensics department. She didn’t have as much time as she did before, she couldn’t draw at work anymore, she had to shadow and learn from the senior officer but she didn’t mind it one bit. She knew she would learn a lot from Jesse Hoves. He had been a police officer his whole life. He was old, older then her mother probably but even though his hair had gone gray he still had a charming smile and lively eyes.

Caliente(Dina)-Round 6.2: Home alone

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(Previous post: Until death do us part)

Dear Sara,

We are still safe and sound at Champs Les Sims. The place is absolutely enchanting.  Both Justine and I fell in love with his history, the rustic houses, museums, and vibrant nature. I can’t wait to see you and tell you about all of our adventures here because if I were to write them I would need a hundred of these postcards. I hope you would visit here one day and see it all for yourself. Stay safe.

With love

Dina 

Caliente(Dina)-Round 6.1: Until death do us part

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(Characters page: People of Sunset Valley)

Dina stood on the balcony of her  beautiful home with a drink in hand. One could say she was enjoying the beautiful view it provided, view of the whole town, her town. But today Dina’s thoughts were elsewhere. She wasn’t seeing the streets, the park, the large glass dome next to the science facility. No. What she saw a beach lighted by a full moon. What she hard were the soft sounds the ocean made as the waves hit the soft sand. What she felt was the sand beneath her bare feet…

Caliente (Dina) – Round 5.4 – Celebrations

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(Previous post: Caliente (Dina) – Round 5.3 – The Mission)

Sara sat in Alyssa’s office her heart beating like crazy, her palms sweating as she moved them from griping the seat handles to rest on her knees. The electrifying excitement followed her from the dark basement in the office building downtown right back to the police station.

The note she found on the crates in the abandoned office, carefully bagged by all the procedures Alyssa and Mr. Hoves had shown her just hours ago was now in  Mr. Hoves’ hands and both he and Alyssa were busy examining it in silence that was unbearable for Sara’s nerves.

Caliente (Dina) – Round 5.3 – The Mission

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(Previous post: Caliente (Dina) – Round 5.2 – Lunch with the boss)

Knowing what she knew Sara was not the least bit surprised to see Justine Hooks, her mother’s girlfriend in the kitchen Wednesday morning, the day before her big mission for the SVPD.  She was also not the least bit surprised to learn Justine had spent the night or to hear her mother had gotten engaged for the second time.

She hugged them both and congratulated them with all her heart. Yet another engagement for the Caliente girls she thought… Her mother had gone trough it after all… Before accidentally spying on her mother’s search for engagement rings last week she wouldn’t have really imagined it possible. She believed Dina Caliente’s marrying days were behind her. For best of Sara’s knowledge her relationship with the much younger cook was just a silly fling to fill in time. She guessed she was wrong. Love works in mysterious ways after all…