5th Pentagram: The sequel to the #1 Hard Boiled Mystery, 9th Circle (Book 3 of the Darc Murders Trilogy) (Book 3 of the Darc Murder Series) (6 page)

“I will,” she said as she stood. “And, Detective?”

“Yes?”

“Make sure whoever did this burns for it, okay?”

Trey was puzzled at that. “Why’s it important to you?”

She cocked her head at him. “It’s like every bad horror flick out there. They give witches and the occult a bad rap. It pisses me off.”

“Well, we’ll do our best.”

Nodding, she moved off toward the exit, her long skirt sweeping the floor behind her. She was a little strange, but Trey liked the girl.

He turned back to Darc. “Well, time to go Satanist hunting.”

For once, Trey’s partner didn’t correct him.

* * *

The lines of logic formed around the information on the computer screen, glowing the green of uncertainty. There were vital facts here, facts that Darc knew he would be able to use. But something was off.

None of the threads were joining together. The symbols were fighting their placement. There was something here that was familiar, but every time Darc came close to discerning the source, the nonsensical numerals at the top of the pentagrams entered, splintering the pathways and destroying his train of thought.

According to the website, Satanists of all disciplines met each month on the day nearest the new moon, at astronomical midnight. They would travel out separately by ferry to Bainbridge and then join together on the one traveling back into the city, so as to be joined together at the appropriate time.

The new moon was tonight, and astronomical midnight was at 1:15 am. Darc found that information to cause rumblings in his interior emotional landscape. His date with Mala was this evening, and for a brief moment he had thought he would have to cancel. That had caused a surge of unfamiliar feelings to rush through him. The closest he could tell, those feelings were ones that typically accompanied the relieving of some sort of pressure. Strange.

And when he realized that he could travel out to the ferry after his date, the attendant emotions were ones that he associated with not obtaining something positive. Disappointment. Discouragement. At least those were the words that thesaurus.com had provided for him.

Perhaps this odd set of reactions was something he should discuss with Mala on their date. She was, after all, a psychologist, even if her practice specialized in children. She could very well add some insight into his burst of illogical sensations.

Trey sauntered over to Darc’s desk, looking over his shoulder at the Satanists website. He shook his head and clucked his tongue.

“What the hell is wrong with people? Satanist cruises? What next? A dating website?”

Darc clicked on one of the other tabs open in his web browser. DevilDates.com. A dating site for Satanists.

“Man. That’s… I got no words.” He sighed and dropped his head. Then he popped it back up again, glancing at his watch. “Darc. Dude. You gotta get going. Isn’t your date in like two hours?”

Darc looked at the digital clock on his desktop. “Two hours and eleven minutes,” he corrected his partner.

“So, get out of here already. You’ve got to go get ready.”

This was puzzling to Darc. “I am ready.”

“You’re… what? You’re
ready
?” Trey asked, his pitch raising several notches. “You mean you’re going like that?”

Darc looked down at himself. He was wearing a white shirt and tie, as well as slacks. There appeared to be nothing wrong with his attire. His tie was straight. His shoes were tied. Even his fly was done up properly.

“Yes. I am.”

“No, no, no, no, no,” Trey responded. “Okay, we’ll deal with that in a minute. But first tell me that you at least have a plan for tonight.”

“Of course.”

“Okay, good,” he said, letting out a huge breath. Then his eyes narrowed. “Wait.
What
is your plan?”

“I will pick her up at 7:30,” Darc replied. This whole conversation made no sense to him. Trey appeared to be either very concerned or having a psychotic break. Another topic he could discuss with Mala.

Trey waited a long moment before saying anything. “That’s
it
? That’s all? What are you going to do?”

“I had planned to ask Mala where she would like to—”

“Okay, okay. Stop right there. You will not… I repeat,
not
… be asking Mala where you will be going to dinner. That’s a total cop out, man. You’ll choose a restaurant, get a reservation, pick her up and take her there.”

“But that will not allow her to—” Darc began.

“Dude,” Trey said. “Seriously. Listen to me. You’re taking her on a date. She’s a total catch and you’re going to treat her like it.” He ran his hand through his hair, making it stand up straight. That was an indicator with which Darc was familiar. His partner was stressed out.

That seemed odd. Why would Trey be stressed out about Darc’s date? He opened up his mouth to ask the question, only to be interrupted once more.

“Okay, okay… we can fix this. I got a buddy who’s a chef over at Nishino. He can get you a reservation.”

“But I—”

Trey held up a hand. “As for the rest of it, I kinda thought this might happen, so…” He pulled out a laminated card and handed it to Darc.

Looking over the plastic rectangle, Darc saw that it seemed to be a list. A checklist, to be precise. One for preparing to go out with a woman, although Darc noted that Trey had left the gender nonspecific for some reason. There were fifteen items noted on the bulleted agenda.

“This seems excessive,” Darc observed.

“Are you kidding me? I took that list down from twenty-five. Mostly because I knew you’d never do them all.” He pointed over Darc’s shoulder at a section of the tally. “Now, items seven through nine are all about body hair grooming. Totally optional, but I gotta tell you, man, they’re gold.”

Darc took the card and slipped it into his back pocket. It appeared that if he were to follow everything Trey had detailed for him, he would barely have time to finish before he had to pick up Mala. He stood, ready to head home to begin his preparations.

“Hold on,” Trey said. He held out a small device in the palm of his flat hand. A tiny earpiece. “Got this from my buddy Bill Harris, the PI. I took the liberty of syncing this sucker up to your phone. You’re welcome.”

The heavy sensation Darc felt in his midsection, which had been growing stronger all day, seemed to diminish with that reminder. Trey would be with him throughout the dinner. Everything would be fine.

Everything would be more than fine.

* * *

Trey got home to find Maggie dressed to the nines in a stunning deep red dress. Actually, when Maggie dressed up, it was more like to the tens or elevens. She looked absolutely fantastic.

Crap.

“Hey, babe,” he said. “What’s up?”

“Um… date night? Remember?” she said, her eyebrows arching. That expression of Maggie’s was one that Trey was never sure what to do with. It made her look so sexy when she did it, but it always meant that he was on dangerous ground.

Forgetting about date night put him in the red zone. Missing date night because Trey needed to feed lines to Darc during his date could very well be grounds for divorce.

“Listen, Maggie…” Trey began.

Her eyebrows scrunched together. Now that Trey was thinking about it, so much of what Maggie communicated with him was done by those two strips of hair over her eyes. This was not a good sign.

“What is it?” she asked. “Did you forget again?”

“No, no, no,” he answered. “Well… yes.” He held up a hand before she could explode. “But listen, it’s for a couple of really good reasons.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m listening.”

“Right. So… the first thing is that we’re chasing a serial killer.” Maybe if he softened her up with the whole hero thing first…

“Explain to me how that makes today different than any other day over the last two months,” she responded.

Okay, so that hadn’t worked so well. Maybe add a little bit of fear into the equation?

“This looks like it might be Satan worshippers doing ritual killings. Gruesome stuff.”

Maggie snorted. “Please. Can’t be worse than Father what’s-his-face with the church from hell down in the Underground.”

True, that. Trey resolved to stop talking about his cases with Maggie from here on out. The woman forgot nothing.

Right. It was time to just come clean. Trey took a deep breath, swallowed once to get rid of the extra juices stirred up by his fear and launched in.

“Here’s the deal. Darc’s going on his first date with Mala tonight.”

Maggie went still. “What?”

“Darc. Date. With Mala.”

“He’s going out on a date?” she murmured under her breath. She stayed there with a puzzled look on her face for a moment, then shook her head. “Okay, he’s dating. But what does that have to do with you?”

“Well, that’s the thing. If you think about it for a second, you might even think it’s funny.” Trey took another deep breath and continued. “I agreed to talk him through his date. On Bluetooth.”

“You…
agreed
… to talk… Is there something wrong with you?”

“It was more of me suggesting it, actually, but yeah, probably.”

Maggie stood there staring at him for a long beat. Then she heaved a huge sigh.

“Fine.”

“Fine?”

“I said
fine
,” she said, her tone pleasant. She then turned on her heel and headed off to the bedroom.

Yikes. When Maggie was irritated and she started sounding like that, Trey had learned to tread lightly. It had only taken once or twice on the wrong end of that kind of exchange for him to figure things out. He might be a slow learner, but when actual pain was involved, the learning curve got steep real fast.

But for the moment, he wasn’t really sure what to do. Follow her in? Try to goad her into expressing what was really going on in her head? Instinctively, neither seemed like such a good idea.

So instead, Trey began setting up for his phone conversation with his partner. Phone plugged in so the battery wouldn’t die on him in the middle. A Bluetooth of Trey’s own so he would be able to roam around. He always thought better on his feet. And he might need a snack in the middle. Didn’t want to be tied down to a plugged in cell phone.

He was in the middle of rearranging the cushions on the sofa for maximum comfort when Maggie came back in through the kitchen. Her hair, which had been down and loose before, was tied up in a ponytail. The sexy red dress had been exchanged for a t-shirt and sweatpants. She scooped up a bottle of red wine and two glasses.

“What are you doing?” Trey asked.

“Helping. It’s Darc; you’re going to need all the assistance you can get.” She chuckled, then sobered. “Darc taking someone on a date is a big deal. He’s probably scared out of his gourd.”

“He’s accepting help from me,” Trey said. “So I’d say that yeah, he’s terrified.”

Maggie threw herself down on the sofa, messing up Trey’s meticulously arranged pillows. He decided he wouldn’t say anything about it.

“All right. How are we going to work this?” she asked.

Trey settled in next to his lady. He had to admit, it might not be a date night, but having her here and working with him was going to make this evening so much better.

CHAPTER 4

Mala put the finishing touches on her make up. She never wore much, part of the benefit of having darker skin and hair. Her eyelashes were plenty thick and visible without any mascara or eyeliner, and her need for foundation was minimal.

As she put down the lip-gloss, she found that her hand was trembling. Ridiculous. It wasn’t like she was going out with someone she had never met. Darc had been her colleague now for going on two months, and the kind of interaction they’d had was of the most intense type imaginable. They’d gotten to know one another
in extremis
.

Which was part of the problem, of course. She had no idea how they would be able to interact on a social level. Especially considering Darc’s Asperger’s. The feelings she had developed for Darc were ones that had not been tested in any kind of a normal setting. And if they couldn’t translate well into the real world, it seemed unlikely that a relationship between them could flourish.

She stepped out of her room and into the living room, where the babysitter was waiting. The girl was sixteen and had spent a week shadowing Mala a couple of hours a day after school as part of a project she had been working on. Mala had found her to be a responsible student, highly prepared and motivated.

So when it came time to find a babysitter, Pyper was her first choice. The girl hadn’t balked for a second, even when she found out that Janey had been silent since her parent’s death. She’d just nodded and asked what day she’d be needed.

“Janey’s in bed asleep, so shouldn’t give you any trouble,” Mala told her. “If she gets up, you can let her watch TV for a while, but don’t tell her I told you so.”

Pyper grinned. “I won’t.”

“My cell number’s right here,” Mala said, tapping a list she’d made out. “As well as my date’s and some emergency ones. Help yourself to anything in the fridge, and don’t hesitate to call if there’s any problems.”

“Okay. But I’m sure there won’t be.” Pyper turned around in a circle once. “The restroom?”

“Oh, sorry. Right down the hallway.”

“Great. Thanks. Just for possible future reference.” The girl made her way over to one of the overstuffed chairs and plopped down.

The bell rang, and Mala glanced at her watch. It was 7:29. Nope. No it wasn’t. It had just changed over to 7:30. Talk about punctuality. Mala supposed that was a good sign, although that virtue had never really been the highest on her list.

She stepped to the door to open it. There, waiting in the hallway of the apartment complex, was Darc, his head looking freshly shaven and his beard trimmed and groomed. There was a spot of toilet paper just under his jawline, where it appeared he had cut himself while shaving his neck.

He was dressed in an un-tucked button down shirt that was such a dark blue it almost appeared black. The shirt was paired with dark blue jeans that hugged his form. Mala had never seen Darc in clothes like these. They suited him quite well.