into it. Something about the Devil's well. I'm paraphrasing. I wasn't exactly in any mood to memorize his every line when he surprised me the other night with Eloise Whitaker's fire assassination.'
'I can't imagine what you must be feeling about now, Jess. I'm coming out there to be with you. You need me there.'
'No, no, Eriq. Bishop's close at hand, and I've got help here on all sides from our guys in Salt Lake. They're a little stiff, Mormons as well as FBI men, but they'll do.'
'If you're sure, Jess.'
'Anything on the handwriting, the prints, anything?'
'He's wearing a pair of cheap sneakers with a Sonics logo on them.'
'Sonics logo on the bottom of the heel? Hair burned off the back of his hands and forearms. Thanks.'
'At the toe-big toe, actually. You get those shoes, we've got positive ID on that print taken at Page.'
'Anything else? What about the two aliases he's used, Charon and Nessus?'
'Sorry, but a check of VICAP files and several other listings brought up zip on the computers. Whoever he is, he's never been apprehended before as a violent offender.'
'He's too methodical to not be a recidivist, Eriq,' she complained. 'He's killed with fire before Chris Lorentian. I just know it. I know it in my bones.'
'If he has, he may've gone straight into the asylum, bypassing criminal conviction, in which case we have nothing on him. We're running the prints through state and local institutions for the insane now, but so far-'
'Nothing.' Her exasperation trailed her breath. If the killer had never gone through the court system and been convicted as criminally insane, then he would not be in a facility for the criminally insane, either state or federal. 'Call me when you have something.'
'Will do. Are you sure you have plenty of backup there?' he asked.
'Salt Lake FBI branch has me on their radar. They're looking out for me; been good to me,' she lied, not wishing to tell him that she had informed Salt Lake of the situation but that she had not bodily joined forces with them, preferring to remain an independent part of the coming equation. So far as Salt Lake was concerned, the fugitive was theirs if they could surround him and tie the noose.
Jessica feared nightfall, which was fast approaching. She feared he would strike again, close by, and she didn't know how to stop this shadow monster. She feared she'd be the first to know when he struck, that he would somehow know where to phone it in, like a cat with a prize to offer her, another dead body, #5 is #5.
She began to strip away her clothes, stepping into the bathroom, turning on the shower, and getting under its soothing spray. While relaxing, she thought of James Parry and a paradise thousands of miles off. After showering, she returned to the phone and dialed Jim's home. It would be midafternoon in Hawaii, and Jim might not be at home, but she needed to hear his voice, needed reassuring, needed to know that he still loved her.
'Jessica? It's you. I've been worried about you; haven't been able to get in touch. You're on a manhunt. I talked to Bishop in Vegas. He gave me a number to reach you, but you'd already left.'
'Jim, I just called so you wouldn't worry, but it's nice to know you do.'
'I've missed you terribly.'
'Me, too…'
'Tell me exactly what's going on there, every detail,' he asked. 'I'm given to understand that this bastard you're after has threatened you over the phone?''
'It's a bit more complicated than threats,' she replied before launching into a detail-by-detail update on what had occurred since that first night in Las Vegas.
Parry, stunned at the revelations and fearful for Jessica, remained silent for a long pause after she finished speaking. 'Jessica, if I know my literature, that numbering of one through nine, and the words 'heretics' 'frauds,' 'traitors'-it all sounds a bit familiar, like the nine rungs of Hell in The Divine Comedy.'
'The Divine Comedy. Are you sure?'
'That's what it recalls to mind, yes.'
'Of course, The Divine Comedy, Dante's Inferno,' she replied. 'I haven't thought of that place since… since I was a junior in high school, where I had to read it for Mr. Blevins's World Literature class. Jim, you're a genius. I knew there was a reason I was supposed to call you!'
'Very flattering.'
'The subconcious always knows best. I called because I wanted to hear your voice, to tell you I miss you, to tell you I love you, Jim, but somehow my inner self knew that you could also help out on this horrid case.'
'That's more like it. Great to know I'm needed. Still, you knew I was a lit major in college, and ancient literature was my field before I got into law enforcement, or had you forgot?'
'Obviously not,' she lied. 'You're brilliant as well as handsome.'
'Not quite brilliant. I recently read a recap of the reasons why Dante was considered so important in man's perception of Hades, good and evil, all that in a chapter of a book called the History of Hell, so it's been on my mind. So, naturally, when you told me about what kind of nutcase you're dealing with… well, it was hardly brilliance on my part.'
'So, why're you reading about Hades?'
'Believe it or not, it's required reading in my course on comparative religion and the literature of evil along with People of the Lie.'
'You're taking a course?'
'Helps pass time. I miss you. God, I do.'
'Don't beg! I miss you, too.'
'And I'm worried about you. More so now than before. Please be careful there, darling.'
'I'm all right. I knew this guy was killing in the name of the king of Hell, Satan, but it's all right now… now we know his game. Dante's Inferno, of course. He'd called himself at one time Charon, Nessus at another…'
'Yes, the boatman who takes Dante across the River Styx to the Land of the Dead, and Nessus takes them across the river of boiling blood, guarded by the Centaurs. In fact, Nessus is one of the Centaurs.'
She recalled having said to J. T. that the killer likely thought he'd be rewarded by his demons by becoming a godlike creature himself, perhaps sprouting a pair of devilish wings. She said to Jim, 'Centaur, huh? This kook thinks he's a goddamned Centaur?'
'Why're you, of all people, sounding so surprised?' he asked, following with a light laugh.
'It's been a long time since I've read Dante. So this guy thinks he's a Centaur now, half man, half bull?'
'No, half man, half horse. Minotaur is the bull man.'
'Got it.'
'Read Inferno again. It could give you some insights into this creep.'
'Exactly. At least now I will know something about what he's talking about. He's anxious for me to learn.'
'What's that?'
'I think in all this madness, he's trying to… instruct me.'
''So you have a monster for a teacher? Sounds like par for your course, Jess. You can beat this creep-bastard. You and I both know it.'
'Thanks for the pep talk and the information. Before now, I had no point of reference when he'd make references to Hellsmouth, call himself different names.'
'Don't be so hard on yourself. The guy freaked you out. Who wouldn't be?'
'Yes, Charon was the name of the guide who pointed the way for Dante and Virgil in their mythical tour of Hades,' she thoughtfully replied. 'Maybe we can use it against him.'
'Don't take any unnecessary chances, Jess. Promise me.'
She paused before saying, 'Not to worry. I've got Bishop and the Salt Lake City field agents behind me. I'm surrounded by big, muscular types.'
'And that's supposed to ease my mind?' His laughter washed over her.
She loved to hear him laugh, and she imagined his warm, lovely smile, and she thought of how much they had laughed together in Greece and Rome. She took a moment to tell him how much their trip had meant to her before saying, 'Good-bye, James, and thanks for the help.'
'Good-bye, and be careful, Jess. I love you.'
'I love you, too, beyond your imagining.'
