Dismembered 🔪 Dexter

03. Appearances

Appearances. Keeping up appearances is important, especially in my particular... line of work. I don't mean Blood Splatter Analysis, that's something that I never have to make excuses about, but sometimes my second persona isn't as easy to cover for. I can only come up with so many excuses for where I disappear to at night. Without Rita, my nocturnal absence is much harder to explain.

I don't like lying to Deb. She trusts me, and I betray that trust nearly every night. But if she knew who I really was, aside from her awkward, lab geek older brother, she'd never speak to me again. She'd be hauling me out in cuffs before I could even get to telling her I lived by a code. Even if I could tell Deb, whatever betrayal she would feel would only be amplified, after what happened between her and Rudy. She had endured enough of a mess as it was.

I made sure to show up to work a few minutes late. My cover with my sister would be that I had been out late the night before, which was true. I was just omitting the part where I was out accidentally kidnapping a girl I had plans to kill.

"Hey, where the fuck have you been?" Deb asked as soon as I walked through the glass doors of the homicide floor of the police precinct. She was wearing her usual plaid dress shirt and slacks, her detective badge shining on her hip.

"Late night." I answered honestly as I used my free hand to slip the chain holding me identification laminate over my head, heading towards the lab.

"Doing what?" Debra inquired further, crossing her arms over her chest as she followed me.

"I was out."

"Out? As in, like, in a social setting?"

"Yes, Deb." I said, rolling my eyes as I set my bag in my chair and laid the box of donuts I was holding on my desk.

"I sure hope you were with a girl, at least." Deb said. I could tell she was joking. Mostly.

"I was, actually." I told her to soften the frustrated look on her face. At least I hadn't lied to her yet today.

Deb's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "You're shitting me!" She said, and I didn't deny my statement. "Fuckin' A! That's the first time you've been out with a girl since Rita!" She exclaimed, loud enough that Vince Masuka, the Lead Forensics Investigator, glanced over from his desk.

"Dex went on a date? Nice, dude! She hot?" He immediately began interrogating, pushing his swivel chair over towards me and Deb.

"Yeah, Dex. She hot? When can I meet her?" Deb joined in, stealing a glazed donut from the box on my desk.

"I don't think it's gonna work out." I said to get Deb off my back.

"What? Too different of people?" She asked, implying my usual excuse.

"Too many similarities, actually." I mumbled, but Deb heard and accepted this as an adequate answer.

"Well, if she's hot and you're not into her, why don't you slide her number on over, brother?" Masuka encouraged, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Fucking animal." Deb muttered derogatively, rolling her eyes at Masuka before leaving the lab to return to her desk, half eaten donut in hand.

"Speaking of hot chicks, the new blood spatter assistant is here." Masuka informed me. Lieutenant Maria LaGuerta, who had taken a particular... liking... to me had insisted I would benefit from having an assistant. I had refused, but she insisted, like my job was just too much to handle on my own. Masuka didn't cover blood spatter so it was exclusively my job, which wasn't very time consuming. It couldn't be. I had other matters to attend to.

"You met her?" I wondered and Masuka nodded with a grin and a lustful look in his eyes.

"Think Amazon warrior princess meets America's Next Top Model." Masuka answered. I didn't particularly care what she looked like. What I needed to know was how close I'd have to work with her. Having an assistant brought the risk of them finding out about my... extracurricular activities.