Kiss of Death (30 page)

I feel my cheeks redden. “It's hardly the point, Anton.”

“True. So, you said you
saw
Teresa and me having sex? You're talking about a vision?” I nod.

“Interesting.” He runs his fingers along his eyebrow. The sexual innuendo is gone, replaced with genuine intrigue. He wants to know what makes me tick—and that makes two of us. “Is it like you're watching a movie?”

“Kind of.” I hesitate again. “But it's not just visual. I usually experience the situation from one person's point of view and I feel what they feel, too.”

“Can you control it?”

“To an extent. I can usually induce a vision from a photo or the subject's environment.”

“I see.” A long pause before the seductive grin returns. “So, whose point of view did you experience last night?”

“Teresa's.”

He raises an eyebrow. “How intriguing for you.”

Darren clears his throat, purposely.

“So,” he continues, “I'd like to help with your case.”

“Good.” Whether I believe what Ward has to say or not is up to me. “Tell me about Damien Winters. Do you think he's capable of murder?”

He raises his eyebrows. “Straight to the point, I see.”

“Two women are dead, and I fear someone else's life may be in danger.”

“Two?”

“Yes. Another body was found this afternoon. It looks like both women were sacrifices. I checked the map in case the crime-scene locations represented a pentagram.”

“My logo. So you still suspect me.” He crosses his legs, nonchalantly.

“Of course you're a suspect, Anton. You fit my profile, you've lied to the police, you were caught on video talking to Sherry Taylor…”

He holds up his hand. “You've made your point.”

Silence.

“Did Damien ever mention the name of his new house to you? Or the police?”

“No, I don't think so. Why?”

“I think you might be onto something with your pentagram theory. But it's not the pentagram I use…it's a downward-facing one.” Ward draws the upside-down pentagram on a small sheet of paper. “Would that fit?”

I take out the map and compare the points of the pentagram with the locations of our two bodies.

“Shit.” Sherry's body marks the bottom of the inverted pentagram and Lily Underwood is the bottom right point. “It fits.”

“How could he do this to our kind? Vampirism and Satanism are miles apart, despite the uneducateds' beliefs on the matter. And now he's dragged us down to this?” Ward stands up and leans one elbow on the mantelpiece above the fire, seeming to calm down while staring into invisible flames. “In vampire mythology there is a clan rumored to have been active in the early 1400s called Knights of Reason. They were a house of radicals who believed they were warriors of our kind and that by drinking the blood of six human girls over six days they would restore the rule of vampires.”

“Right.” Darren speaks for the first time.

Ward gives him his best dismissive yet creepy look. “I do not believe this myself, Detective Carter, I am simply telling you of the legend.”

I can feel tension between the two men.

“And you think Damien's reenacting this ritual?”

“Possibly, yes. He did express interest in the Knights of Reason…that's why I was asking about the name. It's possible he's called his new house after this group.”

“What about James Logan. You know him?”

“Yes.” Ward looks down his nose. “We have met briefly.”

“You don't like him.”

“He didn't make a good first impression, no.”

“Do you think he could be behind this?”

Ward shrugs. “I'm afraid I don't know him well enough.” He brings his hands together, resting his forefingers on his lips. “I'd like to contact Damien.” He takes a small phone from his inside pocket and hits a couple of buttons. After a few seconds he looks up. “Straight to voice mail.”

I start pacing. “I was with Winters an hour ago. I had him.”

“Soph, we can't prove any of this.” Darren grabs my hands. “And wouldn't you have found more bodies if it was true?”

I shake my head. “You should see the place, Darren. It's a huge state park, with loads of walking trails. There could easily be more bodies we haven't found yet. Who knows how many.”

“There'll only be six,” Ward says. “According to the legend, the rituals must form an inverted pentagram, with the last death at the center.”

I start pacing again. “Saturday night, Monday night…That's two, and obviously we're missing one from Sunday night. Her body's in the park somewhere. And we know Lily Underwood wasn't the last sacrifice, because she isn't at the center of the pentagram so there'll be another victim tonight. But
who?
” I let out a frustrated sigh. “And if tonight is the last sacrifice, two more girls were killed on Thursday and Friday nights.”

Ward looks at me, puzzled. “Can you not…can you not use your gift to discover the answer?”

I flop into the chair opposite him. “Like I said, I can usually induce a vision…but they're often not coherent enough to give me solid facts or locations. Besides, I have had another vision of a girl being chased, but I've got no idea if it's from the future or the past.”

“I see.”

“And to be honest, I don't feel up to inducing a vision at the moment.”

“No, you're quite right. I don't believe it would be wise. You're still weakened, I can see that.”

“What exactly can you see, Anton?”

He stares at me again, the same slow and deliberate look. “You have a certain…” He looks up at the ceiling. “A certain presence about you. It's partly visual.”

“Like an aura?” I've heard about auras before and always thought it was a load of rubbish.

“Not quite, no. It's hard to explain and I've never come across anything like it before. I guess it's more a feeling. A sense of pulsing energy emanating from you.” He shakes his head. “I'm not making sense.”

No, he's not. But neither does my gift. It defies all my understanding of the world, that's for sure. I have more questions for Anton about my gift and what he senses, but now's not the time. I need to focus on the next victim. “Listen, Anton, thanks for your help, but I need to move this across to the Bureau and LAPD now.” I stand up and make for the door. “And I suggest you stay away from Winters. We can handle this.”

“If you come face-to-face with Damien, he'll feed off you again. And believe me, he won't be as polite this time…he won't stop.”

The logical part of my brain still wants to say, “What a load of crap,” but I can't deny that I
did
feel weak after my time with Damien and I still don't feel one hundred percent.

“Can I do anything about it?”

“Yes. You need to shield him.”

“Shield?” I can't keep the disbelief from my voice.

“Look, don't think about the logic, just do it. If you get close, envisage a white sphere of protective light around you. Okay?” His voice is forceful. I nod.

“I'm going to keep trying Damien. I may still have some control over him.”

I shake my head. “I don't think so, Anton. He's on his own now.”

Tuesday, 11:30 p.m.

I
let Darren drive so I can focus on getting together some sort of a team for tonight. The first person on my list is Sloan.

“Hello?” Her voice is croaky and I've obviously woken her up.

“Sloan, I think we might have something.”

“What? What time is it, Anderson?”

“Um…” I glance at my watch. “Eleven-thirty.”

“Anderson, can't this wait?”

“No, not this time. I think there might be another victim tonight.”

“What?”

Now I've got her attention.

“I believe the sacrifices are taking place to form an upside-down pentagram.”

“Ward.” Sloan's excited at the prospect of a more concrete suspect.

“No. At least I don't think so. I think our perp is Damien Winters and his new clan. I've just spoken to Ward and apparently there was a vampire clan from the 1400s called the Knights of Reason. They thought they
could take over the world if they sacrificed six women to form an upside-down pentagram, finishing with the center of the pentagram.”

“Damn!” She pauses. “And you buy it?”

I take a breath. I don't know if Sloan will trust my judgment, but I've got to go out on a limb. “Yes. Although it's also possible it's Logan and his followers.”

“Mmm…so we might already have more bodies.”

“I'd say definitely. If someone is reenacting the sacrifices, apparently there was one woman each night. So even if Sherry was the first, on Saturday night, we've still got a missing victim from Sunday night and then Lily Underwood from last night.”

“And some poor girl tonight.”

“Uh-huh. They've probably already intercepted her.” Maybe I was supposed to be tonight's sacrifice. If so, I bought us some time.

“Could Lily Underwood be the last victim?”

“No,” I say. “There's no way her death could be at the center of the pentagram.”

“Okay. Let's meet at the LAPD. I'll mobilize a few people en route.”

“Me, too. See you soon.” I hang up.

“She didn't need much convincing,” Darren says. “Maybe things haven't been as tense between you two as you thought.” He jumps onto the I-5, following the navigation system's directions.

“I think her change of heart is more about our second vic than professional respect.” I bite my lip. “So, we've got enough time to drop you at my apartment and then I can head across to the LAPD.”

“Not on your life.”

“What do you mean?”

“You heard what Ward said. You're weakened and you might be about to face the man who did this to you again.”

“Darren, this isn't your investigation. It's LAPD and FBI.”

He rolls his eyes. “I'll hang back.”

“But—”

He holds up one hand. “Look, I may as well have been working this case for the past three days with what little time I've spent with you. And tonight's our last night…We should at least be together.”

It's a joke, but I don't find it funny…Darren hasn't got a gun.

 

By the time we get to the LAPD's West Bureau, Sloan and I have managed to organize an immediate allocation of resources—we haven't got much time to save the next girl. Of course, I can't entirely rule out the possibility that Ward's wrong, or I'm wrong. But for now, we'll focus on the assumption that a girl may be murdered tonight. If we're wrong we can deal with the fallout tomorrow.

Sloan's waiting for me at the front of the briefing room. I make a beeline for her and Darren discreetly joins the rank and file, taking an aisle seat.

“Hi, Sloan.”

“Hey. I've got ten LAPD officers we can use tonight and more tomorrow if we need them.”

“We've got six FBI resources coming in, too, five field agents and one tech.” I pause. “And I'm afraid we've also got a stubborn friend of mine from Arizona, Detective Darren Carter.” I point him out for Sloan.

She gives me a genuine smile. “Men, huh?”

I roll my eyes. “Tell me about it.”

With only fifteen minutes until the briefing officially starts, Sloan says, “How do you want to do this?”

“I think we need three teams, including one on the ground investigating potential locations and looking for any sign of a ritual in Temescal Gateway Park and Topanga State Park. We have to assume all the murders,
the rituals, will take place in Topanga.” I take out the map. “I'd say it's most likely that Sherry Taylor's body represents the most southern location, the downward point of the upside-down pentagram.”

“Any farther south and we're almost in the ocean.” Sloan points to the Pacific.

“Exactly. Or we're in wealthy suburbia—not exactly an ideal location for a candlelit ritual.” I take a breath. “Based on that assumption, Lily Underwood must represent the bottom right point. One of the FBI resources I've pulled is going to look at this map and calculate the most likely GPS locations within Topanga State Park for other sacrifice sites.”

“Great.”

Mercedes recommended Andrew Statesman from her area. Apparently he's a mathematical genius and good with maps and deciphering patterns.

“It's possible this is Ward's misdirection,” Carey says. “Ward fits your profile to a tee.”

“I know. But Winters fits the profile, too.” I have to trust my gut on this one. “And if we find nothing tonight, we haven't lost anything by taking the gamble.”

“Except maybe Ward.” Carey leans in closer to me. “While we're out trekking in state parks until all hours of the morning, Ward could be skipping the country.”

I wince, reminded instantly of AmericanPsycho, a killer from a case I worked who not only got away with multiple murders, but also skipped the country. As far as we can make out, he's now living somewhere in France. And still sending me a single rose on the first of every month.

“There's no harm in keeping an eye on Ward tonight,” I say. “Better to be safe than sorry, huh?” I look at Carey.

“I'll organize that.”

Sloan nods.

“So our teams.” I give them a quick smile. “The first one will be in the park areas, searching the locations our FBI resource comes up with. I'll lead that team. The second team should focus on Winters and check out James Logan, too—we still can't rule out him or his clan members.”

Sloan nods. “I'll take that one.”

“And a small team should be based here, running down leads and looking for any recent missing persons who fit our victim profile. The two vics we've found were new to the Goth scene here in L.A., let's see if we've got any other missing girls who match that description. They may be tonight's target or they may be dead already.”

“I'll oversee that team,” Carey says. “And take care of Ward.”

“Good.”

“How about choppers for the park?” Carey suggests. “They will spot any lights and can look for heat signatures.”

Carey's right, a chopper flying low should easily be able to see lights on the ground, but at the same time I don't want to alert the Knights of Reason to our presence, either. Maybe one chopper…

“We need to get someone who knows the area to work with your team.” Sloan's heading in the right direction.

“Good idea. One of the park rangers.”

Sloan opens her cell phone and starts dialing.

Within a couple of minutes she's spoken to the California State Rangers and has organized for someone to meet me at Temescal Gateway Park in forty-five minutes. “Your ground team can head north on foot.” She forces a smile. “Maybe you'll strike it lucky and run into Winters.”

If he is out there somewhere tonight, it's unlikely he'll hear us approaching on foot.

Sloan's cell buzzes and she flips it open quickly.
“Sloan…okay…no one's answering, or no one's home…okay…yeah, wait there while I try and get us a warrant.” Sloan hangs up and looks at us. “That was the patrol car I sent to Winters' address. No answer on his phone or apartment and the lights are out. Soon as the meeting's done, I'll organize a warrant.”

“Let me try his cell.” I hunt around for the card he gave me and dial the number, but it goes straight to voice mail. I decide to leave a message, putting on my best American accent, with a hint of sultry. “Hi, Damien. It's Veronica here. I'd really love to speak to you.” I hang up. “Voice mail. I'll try him online, too. Winters is in the computer biz, so chances are he's connected.” In my BlackBerry I log on to Facebook as LadyVeronica. “He's not online at the moment but I'll send him a message.”
Great to meet you, have something I need to talk about ASAP.

The room is almost full now, and none of the officers and FBI agents have a clue why they're here—yet. I check my watch. Time to start.

“Let's go, Sloan.”

Just as we're moving to the very front of the briefing room Andrew Statesman walks in. I've only seen him in passing, but he's hard to miss at six foot seven. I give him a polite smile.

Given the case is still officially LAPD's, I let Sloan do the talking.

“Okay, people. As you know, on Sunday morning a female victim, Sherry Taylor, was found murdered in Temescal Gateway Park. What many of you don't know is that she had two puncture marks on her neck. And this afternoon, another woman, Lily Underwood, was found murdered in the neighboring Topanga State Park. She also had two puncture marks on her neck.”

There are a few surprised faces.

Sloan continues. “Because of the unusual elements, I called in the Bureau's L.A. profiler, Special Agent Sophie
Anderson.” She gestures to me and I give the officers a small nod.

“Agent Anderson has been looking into the possible involvement of the vampire community and realized this evening that the two murder locations could form two points of an inverted pentagram. This fits in with recent information from a source within the Goth subculture. In short, we believe these two murders may be part of a series of six ritualistic sacrifices, with five locations representing the pentagram's five points and a sixth location occurring in the center of the pentagram.”

More startled looks.

I clear my throat. “We've brought in FBI analyst Andrew Statesman to overlay the pentagram onto our locations. If we're right, there will be at least one more death—tonight. Given the size of the park and its many hiding places, we don't know if we're at the beginning or the end of this killing spree. The last sacrifice is supposed to occur in the center of the pentagram and the location of last night's victim, Lily Underwood, does not fit, so there is at least one more to go.”

I wince at the thought that the pentagram could be nearly finished.

What makes it even scarier is that a cult or new religious movement is at its most volatile if a cult leader prophesies some large event—such as the end of the world or judgment day—and that event doesn't come to pass, that's when NRMs are at the highest risk of becoming violent toward their followers. In this case, the followers have been told that when the sixth girl is murdered, vampires will rise to their proper place of dominance and overthrow humans. So what will happen if tonight is the last sacrifice and we don't catch them?

Sloan continues. “We're going to split into three teams. The first team will focus on our two suspects, Damien Winters and James Logan. I want to find these guys and
bring them in for questioning, ASAP. I'll be heading up that team. A second team will focus on missing persons who fit our victim profile. Detective Carey will be in charge of that team, and he'll also be liaising with the FBI's Andrew Statesman on the pentagram and possible crime-scene locations. From that we can figure out likely spots for any other bodies and for the sacrifice tonight.”

Andrew gives a nod and raises his finger to catch Carey's attention. The gesture is returned by Carey.

Sloan takes a breath. “And the third team will be working with California State Park Rangers, sweeping Topanga State Park. That team will be lead by Special Agent Anderson.” Sloan looks at her watch. “It's just after midnight, and we believe the ritual will take place sometime between midnight and 5:00 a.m. The clock is ticking, people.” She motions at the officers and agents before picking up a sheet of paper with a list of names on it. She starts reading out the officers' names and assigning them to one of the three teams.

“And where are our FBI people?”

The six FBI employees in the room raise their hands.

She nods. “Okay, so Statesman, you're with Detective Carey, two of you can work with me on Winters and Logan, and the other three agents can go with Special Agent Anderson to the park.” She pauses. “Any questions?”

One uniformed officer raises his hand. “Any information on what weapons the suspects might be carrying?”

Sloan shakes her head. “No. Bulletproof vests for all fieldwork, especially those of you based in the park.” She looks around the room. “We're also going to have air support in Topanga Park, looking for any signs of our suspects.” A brief pause, then: “Okay, let's get to it.”

I move toward Statesman. “Hi. Thanks for coming down on such short notice.”

“You're welcome.”

I open up the map and show him the locations. “This is where Sherry Taylor's body was found and this is where we found the girl this afternoon.”

He nods. “That's easy. The two crime-scene locations will give me a basis on which to estimate the size of the pentagram and get you your other coordinates. I'll also factor in the topography of the areas to account for variances our perps may be forced to make if one point is inaccessible.”

“Great. How long do you think it will take?”

“Fifteen minutes ought to do it.”

“Fantastic. I'll head to Temescal Gateway Park now. Call me the minute you have anything.” I hand him the map—the rangers should have another one for the ground team.