As Sweet as Sin
In a world of sweets, this investigator finds that some things are sweeter.
Author: Kai Delmas
Kai Delmas loves creating worlds and magic systems. He reads slush for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and writes some drabbles in between.
Narrator: Eddie Knight
Eddie Knight has been a technical leader in organizations ranging from financial services to software security, enabling him to gain the wealth of experience and insight that he brings as a speaker, author, and strategist.
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The crime scene is perfection.
The sweet scent of sugar lingers in the air. Tufts of candyfloss lie scattered throughout the room, stuck to gingerbread floors and walls alike.
Whoever did this must have really hated the guy. Or they might be an artist like me.
“Redgum, come over ‘ere!”
Detective Cane is staring at something on the floor in the center of the gingerbread house.
I hurry over, forensics kit grasped in my gummi hand. “Ever seen anything as fucked up as this?” Cane stands tall, stripes of red and white wind around him diagonally. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to lick him. Peppermint rising into the gummi of my nose. If only I had teeth that could make him shatter into tiny shards of red and white. “Yo, Redgum! You with me?”
“Of course. Sorry.” I rub at my eyes to hide the fact I’m drooling. “You’re absolutely right. This is pretty intense.” I can finally see what Cane has been looking at. All that remains of the victim’s center is a white stick of plastic. The rest of him is scattered throughout the room in motes of pink and stringy strands of sugary goodness.
I wipe at my mouth again, my own red gummi hand getting slick and sticky. Sweet. Delicious.
“So, can you give me a time o’ death? Anything else? What can you tell me about this sweet tooth?”
“Let me take a look.”
I set my kit on the ground and get to work.
“Sugar’s cold. That means it’s been at least twelve hours. I’ll have to do more tests in the lab.”
I move from one tuft of pink to the next. Check for any traces, any clues. To figure out if the murderer is as good as I hope they are. If they’re as good as me.
My UV light brings the pink threads of sugar to life and flairs when I reach a patch that’s thickened.
“What have we here?” I say pulling out a swab.
“You got something?” Cane leans over me, eyes at the top of his curvy top staring down.
“Like you said, Detective. Our murderer must be a sweet tooth. I’ve got some clotted sugar here that must have their saliva on it. That means DNA. One step closer to catching them.” “Good work, Redgum. Good work.”
Cane’s phone rings and he turns away to answer it. I gather more samples and am overcome with disappointment. Whoever the murderer is, they might be an artist but they’re not as good as me. Leaving evidence like that is amateur.
Cane turns back to me. “I’ve got a lead I need to follow up on. Keep me posted on anything else you find.”
“Will do, Detective.”
Cane leaves and I continue to work the scene. There’s not much else I find but even if I did, I don’t know if I would want to share it with Detective Cane. The murderer might be sloppy but there’s potential there. I wonder what their next victim will look like when they’re done with them.
Once I’ve finished my investigation I pack up what’s left of the vic. Piece by piece. I collect every bit of him and keep a tally of how many bags I have.
When I return to the lab I have dozens of bags filled with sweet, wonderful, pink spun sugar. I kept a tally of all the bags that one might expect to see on a report but I also filled a few bags for myself.
In my lab. Alone. I open up one of the bags. Sugar fills my red gummi nose. I suck it in, relish in its sweetness. Then I pull out the pink tuft of candyfloss from the victim. It’s soft and sticks to my hand. I can see little crystals of sugar glinting in the white light of the lab.
Then I lick it.
Chomp it.
Stuff it into my gummi mouth.
Sugar courses through me. Invigorates me.
There is nothing better. Nothing more wrong. Nothing as sweet.
As sweet as sin.