Dismembered 🔪 Dexter

05. The Reckoning

Tonight's the night.

Calvin West. Nineteen years old and he was already a murderer. Five girls had gone missing across his college campus, all after disappearing to a room with West at a party. When several bodies turned up in a swamp with evidence of rape near the college he attended, police began investigating, but thanks to lawyer daddy West, Calvin was practically untouchable. People like West were why I did what I do. Not blood spatter analysis, but what I like to refer to as 'pest control.'

Luckily, I looked young enough to easily blend into a house party full of college students. I was wearing a loose black tank top and short denim skirt, and I was still dressed about twice as modestly as nearly every girl in the frat house. My hair was back in a messy ponytail, long gold earrings dangling from my ears. I had preemptively chosen a pair of worn brown ankle boots over heels, though most girls here were balancing on their stiletto thin hooker heels.

The music was blaring so loud it was hard for me to hear even my own thoughts. The house was sweltering. A house packed full of sweaty people in Miami, Florida made for a very uncomfortable environment, though the college students didn't seem to mind much as they jumped up and down, grinding against people they probably didn't even know. There was an abundance of red solo cups throughout the sea of intoxicated people. Aside from sweat, the smell of alcohol was the most prominent.

I pushed through the crowd, carefully dodging the stomach contents expelled by an overly drunk girl who had doubled over just as I passed her. "Gross." I muttered under my breath as I wrinkled my nose, looking over my shoulder back at the girl.

This hadn't been my scene in college. Far from it, actually. I never understood parties like this. Grinding against another hot, sweaty body that belonged to someone you didn't even know the name of. Getting so drunk your stomach turned inside out, not remembering a single thing that happened the next morning, the pounding headache of a hangover. All for, what? A night of promiscuity?

But I was here to play a part. That seemed like most of what I did, taking on alter egos. So I waded through the crowd of glaring girls and lustful looks from guys to where I got a red solo cup of some cheap beer from a keg. I pretended to sip from it as I glanced around the crowded living area of the frat house. I had memorized Calvin West's face. He was traditionally attractive with short blonde hair, as were half the other guys in the room, but one stood out more than the others. Though he was wearing a baseball cap backwards over his blonde hair, he was wearing a green and white striped polo shirt, the same one he had been wearing in the pictures I had found of him while doing my preparatory recon. I kept him in sight and eventually, my eyes caught his. I faked an intrigued grin and he smiled lustfully, giving a small wave. I pretended to giggle like a girl with a crush as he excused himself from his conversation with one of his frat bros. He pushed through the crowd until he stood before me. He was about a foot taller than me, but he wasn't overly muscular. He was lean to the point his polo shirt was a little wide and boxy, though the length fit.

"Ah, that's a shame." He said, pointing at my full cup. "I was gonna offer you something to drink." He flirted with a side smirk.

"I guess I'm ahead of you." I teased. He looked at me with curiosity in his eyes, like he saw some sort of mystery in me.

"I haven't seen you around before. Do you go to FIU?" He inquired.

"Dade Med, actually." I lied.

"A medical student. Shit, that's hot." He declared. "As if you weren't already the hottest chick here. I'm Calvin." He introduced.

"Zoey." I added to the fib with a flirtatious smile.

"Well, Zoey." He started, tossing his empty plastic cup onto a side table that was already covered in assorted trash. "You wanna go somewhere with a little more privacy. We can..." He lightly brushed his fingertips up my bicep, causing the skin to tingle a little, "talk." He finished.