Ollie
Mark said, “You guys go ahead, Kyle and I will start to review the footage from last night to see if we can find anything. Maybe they haven’t had time to delete anything yet.”
I nodded, “Start with the same time frame as Cody’s disappearance.”
Elliot and I followed Jeff to the ninth floor and found Bill, the daytime security officer, standing in the door of room 915.
He said, “The maid called me as soon as she let herself into the room to clean at a little after 10. She saw the table and chair turned over and said she didn’t touch anything. No one else has been in the room.”
Jeff said, “Good job, Bill.”
I called Zach Baker and asked him to bring his forensic team to the hotel as soon as possible. He told me he was on the way. Elliot and I pulled on a pair of gloves and followed Jeff into the room. We left everything undisturbed as we walked around for an initial look. Other than the table and chair, nothing looked out of place. There was a suit hanging in the closet and an open suitcase on the luggage rack. There was a shaving kit in the bathroom and a cell phone laying on the nightstand beside the bed.
Jeff was talking on his phone as Elliot and I walked around. He ended his call and said, “The room is registered to Eric Swanson, from Chicago. He checked in yesterday and was staying two nights.”
Elliot nudged me, “There’s a condom in the trash can again.”
I took a deep breath, “Just like last time. Things are starting to point to these two cases being related.”
He nodded, “My thoughts exactly.”
20 minutes later, Zach and his team arrived and started to do their thing. They immediately bagged the condom and toothbrush from the bathroom, they would use them to compare DNA, just like last time. I pointed out the phone to Zach, but just as I did, it started to ring.
I looked at Zach, he nodded, “You’re wearing gloves, you can answer it if you want, as long as it isn’t password protected.
I touched the screen and to my relief, I just saw the slide to answer button show up. I answered, “This is Detective Ollie Hemple with the Miami Police.”
The women on the other end said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I was looking for Eric Swanson.”
I said, “This is Eric’s phone, can I ask who this is?”
She said, “This is Darlene Roberts, the HR manager at Anderson and Associates. Eric was scheduled for a job interview this morning and he hasn’t shown up yet. Has Eric been in an accident?”
I said, “We aren’t sure yet,” I talked to Darlene for a few more minutes, I couldn’t tell her that Eric was missing, but I think she was putting all the pieces together. I finally told her that we would have Eric call her as soon as he could.
I turned to Elliot, “Well, we now know that Eric was in town for a job interview.”
Since I had the phone, I checked the text messages, the last one was from someone saved as Seth. The message just wished Eric good luck and Eric replied with a simple thanks. It was the only interaction between the two.
Elliot said, “That’s a little strange. There are no other texts between them, but this Seth guy knew about Eric’s interview.”
I nodded, “Yeah, I noticed that too. Did they just meet?”
I looked back at the texts before that one. There were a lot from a contact saved as Kayla. I wrote down both phone numbers as well as all the numbers from messages for the week before. We would have to start making phone calls to try to determine Eric’s movements for at least the last week.
Eric Swanson
Eric was starting to wake up. The last thing he remembered was someone pushing him into the hotel room and hitting him. As his eyes started to focus, he realized that he was no longer in the hotel room.
He heard a voice say, “He’s waking up, what do you want me to do with him?”
Another voice said, “Just put him the room with the other one.”
As Eric was pulled to feet, he realized that he was only wearing the underwear that he was going to sleep in last night. He asked, “Where am I?”
The captor said, “Don’t worry where you are.”
Eric asked, “Why am I here?”
They said, “Because you are a cheater, just like this asshole.”
Eric was shoved into a bedroom; there was another man sitting on the bed. He was also just wearing underwear. He heard the door slam behind him and a key lock the door. He turned back to the door and tried to open it.
The man sitting on the bed said, “Don’t bother, I have already tried that a hundred times.”
Eric asked, “Who are you?”
He said, “I’m Cody.”
Eric said, “I’m Eric, why are we here?”
Cody shrugged, “I don’t know. All they said to me was because I cheated on my wife.”
Eric asked, “Did you?”
Cody sighed, “I guess, but I have no idea who knows that, beside the guy I cheated with.”
Eric sat beside Cody, “The guy?”
Cody nodded. Over the next couple of hours, Cody and Eric shared the events of the night they were kidnapped. They talked about the unplanned hook ups with Jared and Seth and if they thought either of them were involved.
Cody said, “I have known Jared since college, I really don’t think he is involved. I am going to talk to my wife when I get home.” He sighed, “If I get home.”
Eric nodded, “Last night was the first time I met Seth, but he seemed like such a nice guy. Unless I am a rotten judge of character, I can’t see him being involved in this either. I’m going to talk to Kayla too; I really think it’s time we went our separate ways.”
As they continued their talk, Cody became just the second person that Eric told he was gay. Cody told Eric that he still loved Ella, but he is now sure that he is bi.
Eric asked, “How long have you been here?”
Cody said, “I woke up here Tuesday morning.”
Eric said, “Wow. So, have they told you anything or done anything to you?”
Cody shook his head, “No, they show up to give me fast food and just tell me to quit asking so many questions.”
Eric asked, “Do you think someone is looking for us?”
Cody nodded, “I’m sure they are. I know Ella would say something if she hadn’t heard from me. Plus, when I missed my meeting on Tuesday, I know my boss would get a phone call.”
Eric sighed, “Nobody but my recruiter knows that I am here. I guess the people I had the job interview with know too. I’m sure when I missed my appointment, they just threw my resume away.”
The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, then Eric asked, “What do you think they are going to do with us?”
Cody shrugged, “I have no idea.”
Cody looked over at Eric, he could tell that Eric was starting to get worried. He looked so scared, not that Cody wasn’t worried too.
Cody put his arm around Eric and said, “We’ll figure something out. I’m sure the cops will get us out of here soon.”
Eric laid his head on Cody’s shoulder, it did make him feel slightly better. At least he wasn’t going through this alone. As Cody held Eric, Cody noticed how cute Eric was. Eric listened to Cody’s heartbeat and slowly moved his hand to Cody’s chest. Cody had just a light coat of blond hair across his well-defined chest, Eric swirled the hairs in with his fingers.
Cody began to rub his hand up and down Eric’s shoulder, he wasn’t stopping Eric from playing with his chest hair. Slowly Eric moved his head to look up at Cody, their eyes met. Without a word being spoken, they both moved in for a kiss.
Suddenly, neither man was thinking about the fact that they were being held captive in some dark room. They both parted their lips and were soon in full make out mode. Cody lay back on the bed pulling Eric on top of him. Two suddenly hard cocks were rubbing against each other with only two pair of underwear separating them. Cody’s hands soon found Eric’s round firm ass, he moved under the elastic of Eric’s underwear, he wanted to feel Eric’s hot bare skin.
Cody began to push the underwear off of Eric’s ass. Eric lifted his hips up to help Cody; Eric was happy to have his hard manhood freed from the confines of the restrictive boxer briefs. Once Eric kicked his underwear to the floor, he wanted feel Cody’s bare cock against his. He helped Cody out of the red briefs and admired the piece of meat that was leaking a generous amount precum.
Eric lay back on top of Cody to resume their kissing and to grind his stiff pole against Cody’s, adding even more precum to the pool already accumulated on Cody’s stomach. Cody was now kneading Eric’s ass cheeks, pulling them apart to work a finger toward the promised land. Eric moaned into Cody’s mouth as a finger found his pucker.
Even with Eric’s limited experience, he knew that he suddenly was craving the taste of a cock. He broke the kiss and went to his knees, taking a position between Cody’s legs. He leaned down licked the drop of precum from Cody’s leaking love stick. Eric’s head was spinning as savored the flavor of his second cock in the last 24 hours. Cody tasted just as good as Seth, but Eric wanted more. He wrapped his lips around the piece of meat before him and inhaled it to the root. He gagged; he needed to temper his excitement. He slowed down and was now thoroughly enjoying Cody’s manly flavor. Eric reached up with one hand to squeeze Cody’s nipple and used the other to fondle Cody’s cum-filled nuts.
After a few minutes, Cody moaned and pushed Eric off of his swollen manhood. He was close to climax, and he knew he wanted a chance to get to Eric’s glorious ass. Cody rolled Eric onto his back and sucked Eric’s pole into his mouth. Eric groaned as he grabbed Cody’s head while his cock hit the back of Cody’s throat. Once Cody had Eric’s cock coated with a generous amount of slobber, he moved on to give Eric’s balls a little loving.
Cody continued his trek; he gently pushed Eric’s legs up. Eric was so lost in the moment; he was letting Cody do whatever he wanted. Eric almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a tongue rake across his hole. He decided that getting his ass licked was his new favorite thing. Once Cody had licked Eric within an inch of his life, he was begging Cody to fuck him. Eric had never had anything more than his own finger up there but now wanted to change that.
Cody looked into Eric’s lust-filled eyes and asked, “Are you sure?”
Eric panted, “I have never been more sure. Please, just go slow.”
Cody left more spit on Eric’s hole and then spit on his cock as he got into position. He pushed his broad purple cock head against Eric’s tight love tunnel opening. He leaned forward to kiss Eric, just to keep his mind off of the invasion was coming. Eric let out a deep breath as Cody’s cock breached the first ring of muscle. Cody paused, giving Eric time to adjust. Eric winced at the initial pain, a second later, the pain disappeared, it was replaced by pure pleasure.
Cody pushed in further and Eric’s hands gripped Cody’s ass as his eyes went wide. Cody asked, “Are you okay?”
Eric panted, “God yes. You hit something inside me, please, do it again.”
Cody grinned as he pushed in again, then pulled back and pushed in once more. Eric was squirming beneath him, the look of pure ecstasy all over his face. Eric was so tight, Cody knew he wasn’t going to last much longer. Eric was just as close to launching his love juices. One more push from Cody and both men sent their baby batter flying. Cody filled Eric’s guts and Eric glued the two men’s stomachs together.
They kissed until Cody’s spent cock slipped from Eric’s well-fucked hole. Cody rolled to Eric’s side as the pair tried to catch their breath.
Cody asked, “Are you alright?”
Eric smiled, “Yes, I’m great. That was incredible.”
After a few minutes of silence, Eric asked, “How are we going to get out of here?”
Cody sighed, “I don’t know. I have been trying to figure that out for two days. Let’s take a shower, they will probably be bringing our lunch soon.”
They went into the attached bathroom and cleaned each other. They discussed their options and shortly after they finished their shower, the door opened and they were each handed a Wendy’s bag. The captor quickly locked the door behind them as they left.
Ollie
Elliot and I left the hotel to go back to the station. We were going to start making phone calls, starting with Seth Harris.
Seth answered, “Hello, this is Seth.”
I said, “Mr. Harris, this is Detective Hemple with the Miami Police Department. Do you know Eric Swanson?”
Seth paused, “Well, yes. I met him last night. We had a couple of beers last night at the bar in the Elser Hotel.”
Okay, Seth wasn’t trying to hide the fact that he knew Eric. While that is good for Seth, it means that Seth probably wasn’t involved in his disappearance.
He asked, “Is Eric in trouble?”
I said, “We have a few questions to ask you about last night. Would it be possible for you to come to the police station so we can talk?”
Seth said, “Yeah, I guess I can. What is all this about, Detective?”
I said, “It would really be best to talk in person Mr. Harris. Please get here as soon as possible and ask for Detective Hemple.”
He sighed, “Okay Detective, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
I dialed the number of the contact listed as Kayla next. From the text messages that I saw, she appeared to be Eric’s wife, or at least his girlfriend.
She answered, “Hello.”
I asked, “Is this Kayla Swanson?”
She chuckled, “Well not yet. It’s Kayla Welker, we haven’t set the wedding yet. Who is this?”
I said, “This is Detective Hemple, with the Miami Police Department. When was the last time you spoke with Eric Swanson.”
She said, “When I dropped him off at the airport. He’s in Dallas with his parents. Did you say you are from Miami?”
I wasn’t sure what was going on. I said, “So he didn’t have a job interview here in Miami?”
Kayla said, “No, of course not. Eric works for my father here in Chicago. What is this all about, Detective?”
I sighed, “Eric was staying at a hotel here in Miami. The hotel maid found his room in disarray this morning and the company that Eric was supposed to interview with called saying he missed his appointment. Are you saying you didn’t know that Eric is in Miami?”
She huffed, “No, he better not have lied to me about going to see his parents. He has no need for a job; he has one here.”
Instead of sounding concerned about Eric’s welfare, she sounded pissed that he may have lied to her. You can never guess the reaction of a spouse or family member.
I said, “Miss Welker, you seem to have missed the most important fact. We have reason to believe that Eric was kidnapped.”
She sighed, “But Eric is not in Miami, he is in Dallas.” I heard her mumble, “At least he better be.”
I talked to Kayla for a few more minutes, I’m still not sure if I convinced her that Eric was missing. She was going to call her father to see if Eric told him about a job interview in Miami.
I let out a long breath as I ended the call. Elliot ended the call that he had just made to another one of Eric’s contacts. He asked, “Is everything okay?”
I shook my head, “I hope Eric reconsiders marrying that women, she is a piece of work. She swears Eric is in Dallas, visiting his parents.”
Elliot chuckled, “I think I know why. I just talked to Marty Calihan, he’s a corporate recruiter. He is hired by big companies like Anderson and Associates to find candidates for their open positions. He arranged for Eric’s interview. Marty told me that Eric made it very clear that he wanted to keep the interview a secret. He didn’t want his future father-in-law to know, and he said that he even sensed that he didn’t want Kayla to know. It sounded like Eric was planning on getting out of Chicago to make fresh start.”
I nodded, “That would explain why he said he was going to Dallas to see his parents.”
I called Eric’s parents in Dallas next. They confirmed that Eric was not coming to visit them anytime soon. It had been over a week since they last talked to him.
Eric’s dad sighed, “Maybe that kid has finally wised up. I don’t think Kayla lets him take a piss without first giving her permission.”
Eric’s mom asked, “You have no idea where Eric is, Detective?”
I said, “No ma’am. We are doing everything we can to find him.”
We talked for a few more minutes asking if Eric knew anyone in Miami. They told us that he didn’t, at least no one they knew about. I told them I would keep them updated; I added them to my list of daily phone calls. Eric’s father told me they would get a flight to Miami as soon as they could.
Before Elliot and I could make any more phone calls, we were notified that Seth Harris was waiting for us in the interview room. We grabbed some bottles of water and went to talk to him. He looked nervous as we walked into the room and handed him the water and introduced ourselves.
He asked, “What happened to Eric, Detective?”
I said, “We are trying to figure that out. How do you know Eric?”
He told me that it was a random meeting in the hotel bar. Seth told us that he was supposed to meet a friend, but the friend’s flight had been cancelled. They struck up a conversation and had a beer.
Elliot asked, “What did you do after you finished your beer?”
Seth sighed, “We went to Eric’s room.”
I nodded, “And then what?” I added, “Before you answer, we found the condom in the trash, and it is being analyzed for DNA right now. We will be asking you for a cheek swab before you leave.”
Seth let out another breath, “Yes, we had sex. Eric was telling me about his fiancé being a real bitch and he is such a nice guy. It was completely consensual, on both of our parts, Detective. I swear.”
I asked, “What time did you leave Eric’s room?”
He said, “I guess it was about 11:00.”
Elliot asked, “Did you exchange phone numbers?”
Seth’s eyes lit up, “Yes, and I sent him a text as I rode the elevator down to the lobby. That will tell you what time I left.”
He pulled out his phone and showed us the same text that I saw on Eric’s phone. It was time-stamped 10:57. So far Seth’s story matched everything that we already knew. We finished asking Seth our questions. Just like with Jared, we let him go home but told him to be available for more questions as the investigation progressed. He promised he would and asked to be updated with any new information. I added him to my list of daily calls.
After Seth left, Elliot asked, “What do you think?”
I sighed, “I didn’t see anything to tell me that he was lying.”
Elliot nodded, “Yeah, he seemed sincere. I think it was just a random hook up.”
I chuckled, “Two guys in a relationship with women come to Miami and they hook up with another guy. They are staying in the same hotel and they both go missing. That can’t be a coincidence.”
Elliot said, “You’re probably right. But why were they kidnapped?”
I ran my hands through my hair and said, “That is the million-dollar question.”
Elliot and I continued to call all the contacts that Eric had talked to in the past week. We asked them all when the last time they talked to Eric was. None of them knew that Eric was in Miami or that he was looking for a new job. We learned nothing new.
Mark and Kyle came back to the station. Just like the footage from Cody’s abduction, there was about 15 minutes that was deleted from Eric’s footage. They had found the deleted files, and it appeared that it was the same people carrying the victim away and they drove away in the same SUV. The surveillance footage did not show a license plate, so we only knew that the SUV turned north when it left the parking lot.
It was close to 9:00 by the time we finished making our phone calls. Elliot and I decided to go home, we needed to regroup and hope for a break in the case. As I was getting ready to leave, I checked my phone. Andy had sent me a text message that he was going for dinner with the visiting lab techs and would let me know when he was coming home. He had sent the text at about 6:00. I sent Andy a text to let him know I was headed home, I knew he probably wouldn’t answer since he was with his visitors.
I didn’t feel like cooking, so I ordered some Chinese food and picked it up on my way home. I made a gin and tonic when I got home and ate my dinner. I took a quick shower then sat on my couch going over my notes after. Andy was still not home and had not answered my text; his guests must be keeping him out late.
I was almost certain that someone from the hotel was involved. I made several notes; the first thing I wanted to do tomorrow was to look at the surveillance footage again. On all my visits, I noticed Marla Nelson had a clear view of the bar and the elevators. In one of my notes, I had written that the second person was either a small man or female. I also wanted to find out who would have access to and the ability to alter the footage. The last new note I made was to check what kind of vehicle Marla Nelson owned. She was suddenly moving to the top of my suspect list, but she had to have help. I knew the cases were related, they were too similar to not be related.
At about 10:30 I laid back on the couch to go over the facts in my head again, I dozed off. I must have been more tired than I thought. I woke up and checked my phone. It was 6:30 Friday morning. I jumped up to find Andy. Why didn’t he wake me when he came home?
Andy
As we finished our day in the lab, I sent Ollie a text to remind him that I was going out for dinner with our visiting lab techs. They were staying at the Elser Hotel, so we decided to eat there. They have a good restaurant there, so I was happy to join them. They were leaving in the morning, so I hoped it would be an early night.
By the time 9:00 rolled around, they were still ordering more drinks. I sighed as I switched to water, I still had to work in the morning. I had gotten behind on some of my work since they had been taking all of my time this week. I needed to be a gracious host, so I guess I was stuck here for the duration. I checked my phone and saw that Ollie had sent me a text message, I thought it might be rude to answer, so I put my phone back in my pocket.
Finally, at around 11, my guests decided it was time to go back to their rooms. Relieved, I wished them all a good night and walked out to my car. I pulled my phone out to let Ollie know that I was on my way home.
I was typing as I walked across the parking lot. “Just leaving the hotel now, should be home in 20…”
Before I could hit send, I heard footsteps behind me. Just as I reached my car, I turned to see who was following me. I felt the pain as something hit my head. I dropped my phone and everything went dark.
To be Continued…
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