The Naked and the Dead Ch. 03 - Final

This story continues my attempt to mix erotica and crime fiction. This chapter starts where chapter two ended. I recommend reading both prior chapters, in order, before you read this chapter.

This story is a work of fiction. Real institutions are mentioned, but they are used fictitiously. Insofar as the author knows, no real person affiliated with any of those institutions has ever behaved as described in this story. Any similarities between any character in this story and any real person are coincidental and unintended. I encourage comments on this story, both favorable and unfavorable. Thank you for reading.

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The old Buick sedan was parked at an outlet mall on Corkscrew Road. It was surrounded by uniform officers and crime scene techs. The uniform sergeant in charge said the Buick was registered to Congressman Jim Worth. Worth was running for his fifth term. Gail and I had moved to the area since the last election and didn't follow politics closely. The ads I'd seen said Worth was for law and order and traditional family values and against abortion in any circumstances.

The young woman was face down in the back seat. Her short skirt was around her waist. She wasn't wearing underwear. In life, she'd had a great ass and legs. The crime scene techs had taken their pictures, but the body was left in place so we could see it. Gail took a few more pictures with her phone. Gail had more experience with crime scenes than I did. I stayed out of the way and let her work.

The body was placed on a gurney face up. The victim had been a lovely woman. I saw no obvious signs of violence other than her ripped top. Beside me, Gail said softly "strangulation."

The victim appeared to be in her late twenties. The sergeant said, "Worth has a daughter but I think she's younger." The body went into an ambulance to go to the morgue. The crime scene techs would minutely inspect the entire area. The Buick would go to FDLE for forensics. The starting point for Gail and me was to talk to the Buick's owner.

We parked in front of the Congressman's home in an affluent part of the County. A handsome woman, probably around 50, answered the door. She said the Congressman had flown back to D.C. early that morning. She was his wife. Could she help us?

Laura Worth led us into an expensively furnished living room where Gail and I sat side-by-side on a sofa. Mrs. Worth identified the Buick from a picture on Gail's phone. It was the car her daughter Lisa used. Lisa was not home. Lisa had not been home all night, but that wasn't unusual. She was twenty, attended the local university, and had many friends. She often spent the night with one of her friends.

I was starting to ask when Mrs. Worth had last seen Lisa when Gail up and went to a shelf built into a wall. Gail picked up a framed photograph, looked at it for a moment, then went to Mrs. Worth. As Gail handed Mrs. Worth the picture, she asked, "who are the other two people?"

Mrs. Worth was obviously familiar with the picture. Handing it back to Gail, she said brightly, "Jim and Lisa. That's one of our favorite family pictures." Gail's face turned white. Wordlessly, she handed me the picture. I looked and got a sick feeling. The younger woman in the picture, Lisa Worth, looked a hell of a lot like the dead woman in the Buick.

I didn't know a better way to say it. "Mrs. Worth," I said, "I don't mean to cause undue alarm, but your Buick was found this morning in a parking lot in Estero. There was a young woman dead in the back seat. The young woman looks a lot like your daughter. Could you come with us to the morgue to look at the body just to make sure it isn't Lisa?"

"That's not necessary," Laura Worth replied. "Lisa always has her phone. I'll call her. You can talk to her and verify that she's very much alive." Mrs. Worth took her own phone out of a pocket, dialed a number, and waited. She obviously got voicemail because she said, "Lisa, it's Mom. Something's come up. Would you please call me right away? Love you." Mrs. Worth ended the call and told us, "Lisa will be calling in a few minutes. She always returns messages."

We sat, mostly silent, for about twenty minutes. Mrs. Worth said, "this is unusual. Lisa doesn't have class this morning. She usually calls back right away if she's not in class. Can I get you some coffee?" Gail and I declined. "Do you mind if I fix myself a cup?" Laura Worth asked. That was fine with us.

Laura Worth was out of the room for about ten minutes. We didn't want to say anything she might overhear, but Gail and I traded looks. We were silently telling each other that this does not look good.

Mrs. Worth came back into the living room with a cup and saucer in hand. She put them on a coffee table and said, "let me try her again." Mrs. Worth dialed again. She listened silently and ended the call. "Huh," she said, "it says Lisa's mailbox is full and can't receive messages."

Gail said, "Mrs. Worth, I know it's a burden, but if you'll come to the morgue with us, we can rule out your daughter, get on with our investigation, and stop bothering you. If your daughter calls while we're on our way, we'll just turn around and bring you home." Mrs. Worth reluctantly agreed.

Lisa Worth did not call her mother during the drive to the morgue. The morgue is in a relatively new and sterile, impersonal building. Laura Worth was obviously uncomfortable. I couldn't blame her.

A morgue staffer, Gail, and I accompanied Mrs. Worth into one of those cold rooms with a wall of small doors like you see on TV. The staffer opened a door, slid out a tray holding a body, and pulled the sheet away from the face.

Mrs. Worth stiffened and went white. "May I see the hips?" she asked. "Lisa has a small rose tattoo on her right hip." The staffer pulled the sheet further back. Mrs. Worth froze for a moment. Then, she sank to her knees and vomited on the floor. The body had a rose tattooed on its right hip.

Mrs. Worth sobbed for most of the drive but had regained some composure by the time we got her home. "I'm sure you have more questions," she said, "but I need to call Jim first." She was out of the room about fifteen minutes. When she returned, she said, "Jim's flying home tonight."

Mrs. Worth had last seen her daughter around 4:00 p.m. the previous afternoon. Lisa was joining her father for a meeting with a donor on Sanibel. "Jim's running for re-election," Laura Worth said, adding "Lisa often goes with him to meet donors. She's very persuasive." Father and daughter took separate cars because Lisa intended to visit friends near the university afterwards. Congressman Worth came home around 9:00 p.m. last night and caught a 6:45 a.m. flight this morning connecting through Atlanta to D.C.

Mrs. Worth said that Lisa had many, many friends but that she was not dating anyone steadily. She gave us the names of three friends at the university, two women and a man. "There's also her closest friend, Andrea Cupp. They went to high school together, but I doubt Andrea knows anything. She goes to school in Gainesville and she's been up there since August."

Lisa Worth lived at home. Mrs. Worth let us see her room. There had not been a purse, wallet, or phone in the Buick. We didn't find them in Lisa's room either. The only thing of interest was a laptop computer. Mrs. Worth let us take it. You find interesting things on people's computers.

Back at the Sheriff's office, I was told to see my boss, Major Bowen. The Major told me, "Worth's already requested that the FBI 'assist our investigation.' That's the bad news. The good news is that the Fibbies assigned Russ Washington. He should be here any time." Washington was in the local FBI office. I knew him slightly. He was a lowkey, professional law enforcement officer.

Gail opened Lisa's computer and tried to access her e-mail. It was password protected as, it turned out, were all the other applications that stored data. "I'll take this to my shop," Gail said. "We've got a guy who is amazing with passwords."

Russ Washington showed up. We briefed him then discussed where we should base the investigation. The case was high profile. The Sheriff's Office was notoriously leaky. Russ made a call and said he could give us secure space in the Federal Building. I ran that by Bowen, who said ok. Russ left to arrange the office space. Gail took the laptop to the FDLE office. I drove to Sanibel to talk to the donor whom the Congressman and his daughter had met the night before.

The view from the Sanibel causeway was the most valuable thing I got from my trip. The donor, an old, wealthy widower, did not like police in his house. He confirmed that the Congressman and his daughter were there the night before. They arrived about 5:30 p.m., briefed him on the terrible things going on in Washington, and left before 8:00. I got nothing else from him.

Gail called during my drive back. "Rodney came through," she said. "We're in all of the programs on Lisa's computer. I'm going to the Federal Building." I did likewise. There was some red tape for us to get passes that allowed us in with our guns and without a full security screening. It was late afternoon before Gail and I sat down with Lisa Worth's laptop.

We looked at e-mail first. Lisa's Outlook had mail from two accounts: her university account and another account: "nakedgirl336@gmail.com." That address was interesting enough that we started with it. Lisa had sent and received e-mail through that account until 3:45 p.m. the day before. Working backward in time, we found nothing interesting in the last six weeks, just typical college kid stuff. Messages in July, June, and May showed Lisa was having sexual relationships with four people: Peter, Gavin, Mike, and Kelly. We had e-mail addresses but getting service providers to give us names and physical addresses for these people would be a challenge.

From February through May there were a bunch of e-mail with the phrase "S Party" in the subject line. The earlier e-mail discussed where to have the "S Party" and who to invite. There were e-mail about getting food and booze. There were e-mail saying the Party was on for a Saturday night in mid-April. There was an interesting e-mail from Lisa to several addressees saying they needed three S's. Lisa would be one and she thought Anne and Stacy should be the other two. Stacy e-mailed the group that she'd do it. Anne sent an e-mail saying she wasn't "ready" to be an S. Lisa and several other group members had responded to that essentially exerting peer pressure on Anne.

We got an indication of what the "S Party" might be about from an e-mail exchange between Anne and Lisa about ten days before the Party. Anne wrote, "Since you really want me to do this, I will. Where do I find a nice G-string?"

Lisa had replied, "You won't regret it. Don't sweat a G-string. No one will look at it and you'll take it off. Just wear a thong."

The day after the Party, someone named Mike sent an e-mail to Lisa, Anne, and Stacey saying "Girls. Here is the video from last night. You did yourselves proud." There was a video file attached to the e-mail, but it was also password protected.

Gail and I were frustrated for a moment. Then, Gail smiled and reopened the video file. The box for the password opened again. "Bet I can get it," Gail said. She typed "Strippers" and the video file opened.

The video started with a room full of young people. There were more guys than girls. It looked like everyone was drinking. A busty young blonde walked into the picture from the left. She stopped at the right of the picture, bent forward and, we inferred, took off her shoes. She stepped onto some sort of platform wearing a halter top and short skirt. The camera moved to place her in the center of the picture. Music started and she began to dance.

The blonde faced the room for a couple of minutes, then turned to face the wall. She undid the fastener on the top of her halter, took it off, and tossed it on the floor. Her back was bare above her skirt. She swung her hips for a while before she turned to face the room. Her bare breasts were greeted with yells and applause.

The young woman smiled and danced around wiggling her breasts. A male voice yelled "lose the skirt." You could see anxiety in the young woman's face. She turned away from her audience again. Facing the wall, the young woman reached back, undid the hook in the waistband of her skirt, unzipped it, and let the skirt fall to her feet. She was wearing a white thong. She leaned forward and shimmied her bare hips for the audience. Another voice yelled, "get it all off!"

The young woman kept facing the wall. We could see her take a deep breath. She put a hand on each hip and pushed the thong down. She had her legs tightly together. When she had pushed the thong below her knees, it fell to the floor. She squatted as demurely as possible, picked the thong up, and tossed it to her left. She took another deep breath and spun to face the audience. The young woman was fleshy, but mildly attractive. A patch of unruly blonde hair showed between her tightly clenched thighs. The audience was clapping, yelling, and whistling. The girl stuck both arms in the air, held that pose for a beat, and then ran to pick up her clothes.

The music stopped. After a moment, another young woman entered the frame from the left. She wore a blouse and skirt. As she stepped on the platform, I asked Gail to freeze the image. It wasn't perfectly clear, but I was confident I knew who it was. "Lisa?" I asked Gail.

"Yes," Gail said, "that is Lisa."

Different music started. Lisa quickly stripped off her blouse and skirt. Underneath, she wore a shiny blue leotard. She pushed the shoulder straps off her arms and peeled the leotard down to her waist. As she danced, she mimed pushing the leotard all the way off to tease the crowd. Suddenly, she did peel the leotard off and tossed it into the room. At that point, the music changed and Lisa, nude, began doing something like a gymnast's floor exercise. It completely exposed her to everyone in the room. Even in the grainy video, Lisa Worth had been a sexy woman.

"Damn, that looks like fun," Gail commented.

Lisa kept at her nude dance for quite a while. When she finished, she stood facing the crowd with a huge smile. She seemed to be drinking in the applause and yells. Lisa did not dress but hopped off the platform and went into the crowd naked.

We expected a third stripper who soon came into frame. She was a short, slender young woman with dark blonde hair. She wore shorts and a tank top. When she climbed on the platform, I had the impression of a very lovely face. This young woman stripped with less hesitation than the first girl but not as enthusiastically as Lisa. Although she had small breasts, her flat abdomen, tight ass, and flawless legs more than offset that.

This young woman seemed to grow in confidence as she danced nude. I got the impression that she was enjoying the experience and she was lovely to watch. I was disappointed by the tepid response when she finished. Gail commented, with some venom in her voice, "that's not right. She's beautiful and was the best dancer." I suspected she was the Anne who had asked Lisa about G-strings.

A day or two after the video was sent, Stacey sent Lisa an e-mail asking, "Have you heard any more from the geek who fucked up at the S Party?"

Lisa responded to that e-mail two days later, saying "all worked out."

Sandwiched between those was an e-mail from Anne to Lisa. "I spoke with Devin," Anne wrote. "He's sorry and embarrassed about what he did at the party. He's promised to stay away from you."

We wondered who Devin was and what he had done. Looking at Lisa's university e-mail account, we saw only one Anne, who address was "AnneCombs@" the university's domain. Anne Combs was also a name Laura Worth had given us. Calls to the university produced the response that privacy laws forbade the university from giving us Anne Combs' address or phone number without a warrant.

The next morning produced a call from the medical examiner. Lisa Worth had been strangled, probably with someone's bare hands. The ME estimated the time of death between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. Sunday. "We found skin under her fingernails as if she fought back," the ME told us. "There was semen in her vagina and in her digestive system, meaning she had vaginal and oral sex before death, and she swallowed. Also, and she probably didn't know this, she was pregnant."

Frustrated by the university's lack of cooperation, Gail sent Anne Combs an e-mail identifying herself and asking for a meeting to talk about Lisa Worth. Anne responded affirmatively, suggesting a meeting in a Starbucks. We decided that Gail should go alone.

According to Gail, Anne Combs was the third dancer in the video. When Gail said she had seen the video, Anne blushed for a moment and then defiantly asked Gail what she thought. Gail said Anne's attitude improved when Gail said, "It looked like fun. I wish I'd been able to do something like that in college."

Anne told Gail that Devin was Devin Reynolds, another university student. "Devin's a nice guy and great with computers," Anne said, "He has a thing for Lisa. He drank too much at the party and hugged Lisa while she was naked. It really wasn't anything, but Mike, one of Lisa's current, uh, boyfriends, yanked him away and slammed him against a wall. Everyone saw that."

Gail said that Anne was certain Devin wouldn't harm anyone, least of all Lisa. Gail added, "I think Anne would have been pleased if Devin had hugged her that night. Devin should take the opportunity. Anne is much prettier in person than on the video."

We had an easier time contacting Devin Reynolds than we had finding Anne. Devin said he had spent Sunday and Sunday night at his parents' house in Sarasota. He drove back to Ft. Myers early Monday. Devin's parents confirmed that, but parents would. Devin gave us a DNA swab.

Through Anne Combs, we were able to identify and talk to all four of Lisa Worth's known lovers. Peter, Gavin, and Mike all admitted they had sexual relationships with Lisa. All three said things had cooled off over the last six or so weeks. Mike had taken the Party video and slammed Devin into the wall that night. His story squared with Anne's. All three men had alibis for the night of the killing that checked out.

Kelly was more interesting. Kelly Pete was an African American woman student at the university. She had an apartment near campus. "Lisa and I both prefer guys," Kelly said, "but there are times you just need another woman's touch." Kelly said that she and Lisa had been close almost from the day they had both started classes. Despite that friendship, Kelly had not met Lisa's parents. When asked why not, she made a sweeping gesture with her hands over her face and body. "Lisa didn't think her parents would really be receptive to my skin color," Kelly said. Kelly said that Lisa had a key to her apartment and was welcome to use it freely. She had not seen Lisa since the day before her murder. "But, when I got home from the Library Sunday night, it seemed like someone had been here while I was gone. Lisa's the only person besides me who has a key."

A canvass of the area around the mall where the Buick was found turned up nothing. A woman who lived in Kelly's building said she was about a half block away Sunday night when she saw someone who generally fit Lisa's description enter the building with a man. She didn't see either of them again.

FDLE did the DNA analysis. Lisa's body had been found Monday morning. Gail got a call from the lab Thursday. Gail, Russ, and I were in our temporary office when the call came in. Gail listened quietly then closed her phone.

"That was the lab," Gail said. "They'll e-mail a written report in the morning. None of the DNA hit in the national database. The semen in Lisa's digestive tract came from a different person than the semen in her vagina. The vaginal semen came from the same person as the finger-scrapings, which makes it sound like that person was her attacker. None of it came from Devin Reynolds." Gail paused, then said "the semen in Lisa's vagina and the skin under her fingernails came from someone biologically related to Lisa."