Mark of the Demon

I done something wrong?”

“I saw you out on the scene at the wastewater plant, Detective Gillian,” he said, ignoring my question. “You seem to be pretty meticulous and organized.”

He’d obviously never seen the inside of my kitchen cabinets. “I do my best, sir.”

“What were you doing to the body?”

“Er, what?”

He scowled. “You were squatting by the body and waving your hand over it.” He made a horizontal waving motion with his own hand. “What was that all about? Did you touch the body?”

Shit. He’d seen me trying to feel the arcane resonance. “No, sir, I didn’t touch the body,” I said, thinking furiously. “I, uh, was trying to see some of the cuts better, and there was some glare from the halogens.”

He leaned back in his chair. “Glare. Uh-huh. And Tessa Pazhel is your aunt?”

I just nodded, not wanting to say anything that could make me look like more of an idiot. Glare? That was the best excuse I could come up with?

“She has a rep for being a weird little bird,” he said, “but I’m sure you know that.”

I couldn’t help but bristle at the slight. “Sir, my aunt is—”

He lifted his hand, cutting me off. “I know, I know. I’m out of line maligning your family. I shouldn’t have said that. But I want to make it very clear, Detective Gillian,” his sharp blue eyes stayed on mine, “that I want these murders to stop, I want the bad guy to go to jail, and I don’t want any bizarre shenanigans on scenes. It’s not enough just to solve a case. We have to be able to take it to court as well. You weren’t wearing gloves, and it looked like you touched the body.”

“Yes, sir.” What more could I say? He was right. “I didn’t mean to get so close to the body. I’ll be more careful, sir.”

He looked steadily at me for what seemed like several minutes, though I knew it was probably only a few seconds. I willed calm, maintaining my demeanor as he regarded me only by utilizing my training as a summoner.

Finally he waved a hand at me. “You’re dismissed, Detective. Just keep in mind what I said.”

I stood. “Yes, sir. I will.” I turned quickly and exited. The secretary glanced up as I passed, giving me a small wink and smile that managed to drag my morale back to normal levels. She’d probably overheard quite a few ass- chewings over the years, and I felt a bit better after the silent reassurance.

Returning to my office, I shut the door and sat heavily at my desk. I deserved that, I had to admit. At least he hadn’t pulled me off the cases. I forced myself to take some comfort in that—not easy after being rebuked by the chief. But apparently he still had faith that I could handle it. I just had to be more careful. The last thing I needed was for people to think I was as strange as my aunt. It was besides the point that I was as strange as my aunt, but that didn’t mean I wanted people to think it. Who are you kidding, I thought wryly. They probably already do.

I finally exhaled heavily and spread my hands on the top of my desk. I can handle it. I’ll solve these cases, using every fucking trick in or out of the book. So what if no one had been able to solve the Symbol Man murders the last time he was doing his killing. None of them could see the arcane. That gave me an advantage.

Now I just had to use it.

Leaning back to reach my filing cabinet, I yanked open the middle drawer, then riffled quickly through the files until I came to the thick folder containing the pictures from all the previous murders—Series One, as I was beginning to mentally refer to them. I flipped through the pics quickly. All those bodies had been dumped in places that were traveled infrequently, which meant that they were often not found for days or weeks. The body at the waste-water plant had been found quickly, but the fracture injuries made me think that he’d meant to place the body up on the vat, or somewhere else less visible.

But the victim at the ball field was meant to be found quickly. So why the change?

I worked my way through the pictures, taking note of something else. The Series One victims had been killed in a variety of ways, except for the last two—who’d been strangled. They’d all shown evidence of prolonged torture, but the main feature that had tied those murders together was the symbol. Always the same symbol, though not always in the same place on the body. Sometimes not even in an immediately visible location. Both victims from my cases—Series Two—had been strangled. So, why the change? Could it be a copycat?

It doesn’t matter, I finally decided. It’s still a murder investigation.

But there was one more striking similarity between Series One and Series Two. Every single victim was the type of person who had no one to miss them. Homeless, prostitute, drug addict, mentally ill. Sometimes all of the above. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian—all were represented. And the victims were chosen carefully—of that I was sure. These were not random snatches off the street. The killer studied them, followed them, and made certain they were alone and would not be missed for some time.

I sat back in my chair, drumming my pen on my chin. How did he take them? Tox screens on the victims had never come up with anything more than traces of “street” drugs, which was to be expected with the types of victims he chose. But if he was holding them for several days before killing them, then any drug he used to subdue them would probably have time to clear from their bodies, though I’d need to check with Doc for specifics. Did he gain their trust? Was there a connection? The investigator on the original case hadn’t found any link between the victims, but I had no idea how deeply he’d dug either. Somehow, the Symbol Man snatched his victims without anyone seeing it happen, then transported them to a secure location where they were heinously tortured for several days and then ritually killed, sometimes suffering for up to a week before finally being put to death. And always the arcane smudges left behind on the body, as well as that unidentified symbol.

But why? What was he doing arcanely? There were a number of things that involved death and blood, but unfortunately—or fortunately—Aunt Tessa wasn’t an expert in any of them, other than the basic knowledge of Things That Are Bad.

I picked up the picture of the girl found at the treatment plant and scrutinized the parallel cuts and the symbol carved onto her chest. That shit had to hurt like crazy. And the knife had to be insanely sharp, judging by the precision in the cuts.

I sighed and pulled out the pictures from the very first body, seven years ago. This one was a young black male in his mid-twenties who’d hit three of the four factors: homeless, prostitute, and drug addict. I flipped through the pictures quickly until I found one of the symbols. It had been meticulously burned into the inside of his left upper thigh, just below the scrotum.

I replaced that file, then grabbed up the next: a white male in his sixties, homeless, no family, mentally ill. His symbol had been seared directly onto his genitals. More torture. Not just a brand, but one that was meant to cause incredible pain as well.

But why should that surprise me? It didn’t tell me anything new about the killer. But maybe it told me something about the symbol itself. If it was an arcane marking, then maybe the pain involved in its placing was important. Somehow generating more potency?

I replaced the files, then pulled out the one on the victim I’d actually seen when I was a road cop. But I didn’t need to look at the pictures. I remembered vividly where that symbol had been. In fact, at first the detectives hadn’t believed it to be the same killer, because no symbol had been found on the body. It wasn’t until the pathologist removed the tongue and trachea during the autopsy that it was found—seared onto the base of her tongue.

I jumped at the knock on my door and bit my tongue against the yelp. “Come in,” I called, then had to work to control my expression when Cory Crawford opened the door. His flat brown eyes flicked over the files and pictures scattered around my desk, then he looked at me, a sour expression curling his mouth.

“Dr. Lanza called to say he has court in the morning, so he’s not cutting your latest until tomorrow afternoon.”

“Okay,” I replied, guarded. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

Cory’s gaze swept my office again. “You making any headway?”

“It’s … a lot to go through. I’m trying to find a link between the victims now.”