Cemetery Dance

D'Agosta forced himself to focus on the cadaver. And was amazed.

It was the body of a normal — looking person: neat, spotless, and so fresh it could have been asleep. The face was clean — shaven, the hair combed and gelled, the only evidence of death being a nasty bullet wound above the right ear and a few twigs and leaves stuck to the gel on the back of the head.

D'Agosta looked at Pendergast and saw that the FBI agent seemed as astonished as he was.

'Well!' said D'Agosta, awash with relief. 'So much for your zombiis and walking dead, Pendergast. Like I've been saying all along, this whole thing's a hoax — concocted by the Ville. The guy was probably returning there from a night's fake zombifying and got capped by a mugger.'

Pendergast said nothing, just observed the corpse with glittering, silvery eyes.

D'Agosta turned to Beckstein. 'You got time of death?'

'An anal probe indicates he'd been dead about two and a half hours when he was found in Inwood Hill Park. That was at eleven, give or take, which would put the time of death around eight thirty.'

'Cause of death?'

'Most likely the prominent gunshot wound over the right ear.'

D'Agosta squinted. 'No exit wound. Looks like a.22.' 'I believe that's right. Of course, we won't know for sure until we open him up. My preliminary examination indicates he was shot from behind, at point — blank range. No signs of a struggle or coercion, no evidence of bruising, scratching, or binding.'

D'Agosta turned. 'What do you make of that, Pendergast? No voodoo, no Obeah, just a piece — of — shit gunshot murder like half the others in this town. Dr. Beckstein, was he killed in situ or the body dumped?'

'I don't have any information on that, Lieutenant. The first responders rushed the body to the hospital. It was still warm, and they weren't making any assumptions.'

'Right, of course. We'll have to check with the evidence — gathering teams when they're finished.' D'Agosta just couldn't keep the note of triumph out of his voice. 'It's pretty clear to me that we're dealing with a lot of mumbo — jumbo, rigged up by those sons of bitches in the Ville to scare people away.'

'You mentioned some curious aspects?' Pendergast asked Beckstein.

'I did. The first one you might find familiar.' Beckstein took a pair of tongue depressors from a jar, tore off the sterile coverings, and used them to open the corpse's mouth. There, pinned to the tongue, was a tiny bundle of feathers and hair. It matched, almost exactly, the one found in Bill Smithback's mouth.

D'Agosta peered at it, disbelieving.

'And then there was something else. I'm going to need a little help turning over the cadaver. Lieutenant?'

With huge reluctance, D'Agosta helped Beckstein roll the corpse over. Scrawled between the shoulder blades in thick Magic Marker was a complex, stylized design of two snakes surrounded by stars, X's and arrows, and coffin — like boxes. A weird, spidery drawing of a plant filled the small of the back.

D'Agosta swallowed. He recognized these drawings.

'Veve,' murmured Pendergast, 'similar to what we saw on the wall of Smithback's apartment. Strange…' He paused.

'What?' D'Agosta asked instantly.

Instead of answering directly, Pendergast slowly shook his head. 'I wish Monsieur Bertin could see this,' he murmured. Then he straightened up. 'My dear Vincent, I do not think this gentleman was 'capped by a mugger,' as you put it. This was a deliberate, execution — style killing, for a very specific purpose.'

D'Agosta stared at him for a moment. Then he turned his gaze back to the body on the table.

Chapter 53

Alexander Esteban settled himself into an inconspicuous place at the large Formica table in the shabby 'boardroom' of Humans for Other Animals on West 14th Street. There was a bright fall morning outside, but little of it penetrated the room through the one grimy window that looked out on an airshaft. He folded his arms and watched the other board members take their places, accompanied by the scraping of chairs, murmured greetings, the clattering of BlackBerries and iPhones. The smell of Starbucks cinnamon dolce lattes and pumpkin spice Frappuccino cremes filled the room as everyone set down their venti — size coffee cups.

The last to enter was Rich Plock, accompanied by three people Esteban didn't know. Plock took up a position at the far end of the room, clasped arms disguising the gravid — like swell of a paunch beneath the ill — fitting suit, his red face sweating behind aviator glasses. He immediately launched into a speech in his high, self — important voice.

'Ladies and gentlemen of the board, I am delighted to present to you three very distinguished guests. Miles Mondello, president of The Green Brigade; Lucinda Long — Pierson, chairwoman of Vegan Army; and Morris Wyland, director of Animal Amnesty.'

The three stood there, looking to Esteban as if they were straight out of central casting. Rabid idealists, desperate for a cause, completely clueless.

'These three organizations are co — sponsoring tonight's demonstration, along with HOA. Let us welcome them to our meeting.'

Applause.

'Please, everyone sit down. This special session of the HOA board is hereby convened.'

A shuffling of papers, many sips of coffee, pencils and legal pads and laptops brought out. There was a call for a quorum. Esteban waited through it all.

'There is one and only one item on the agenda: the protest march this evening. In addition to the founding organizations, we have twenty — one other groups on board. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, you heard me: twenty — one more! ' Plock beamed and looked around. 'The reaction's been unbelievable. We're expecting maybe three thousand people — but I'm continuing to interface with other interested organizations and there may be more. Many more.' He shuffled a stack of papers out of a folder and began passing them around. 'Here are the details. The small diversionary group will convene at the baseball diamonds. Other groups — all listed on the sheet — will gather at the soccer field, the park alongside West Two Hundred Eighteenth Street, along the promenade by the mudflats, and several other nearby locations. As you know, I've secured a permit. We wouldn't be let near the Ville otherwise.'

A murmur, nods.

'But of course the city authorities have no idea — no idea — just how big a group is going to be assembling uptown. I've made sure of that.'

Some knowing chuckles.

'Because, ladies and gentlemen, this is an emergency! These sick, depraved people, squatters in our city, aren't just killing animals, but they're obviously behind the brutal murder of Martin Wartek. They're responsible for the murder of two reporters, Smithback and Kidd, and the kidnapping of Smithback's wife. What's the city doing? Nothing.Absolutely nothing! It's up to us to act. So we're going in tonight at six pm. We're going to end this thing. Now!'

Plock was sweating, his voice was high and his physical presence unimpressive, and yet he possessed the charisma of true belief, of passion and genuine courage. Esteban was impressed. 'The detailed plan of the demonstration is on your sheets. Guard them carefully — it would be disastrous if one fell into the hands of the police. Go home, start calling, start e — mailing, start organizing! This is a tight schedule. We gather at six. We move at six thirty.' He looked around. 'Any questions?'

No one had questions. Esteban cleared his throat, raised his finger.

'Yes, Alexander?'

'I'm a little confused. You're planning to actually march on the Ville?'

'That's right. We're stopping this: here and now.'

Esteban nodded thoughtfully. 'It doesn't say what you plan to do when you get there.'

'We're going to break into that compound and we're going to liberate those animals. And we're going to drive out those squatters. It's all covered in the plan.'

'I see. It's of course true that they are killing — torturing — animals in cold blood. They've probably been