“How do you know about all this?”
Oliver glanced at Edwina. “They really think we’re clueless, don’t they?”
“It doesn’t matter how we learned the details,” said Edwina. “The fact is, we do know about the case.”
“Then what do you think about this symbol?” asked Frost, pointing to the photograph. “The one that looks like an eye? Is that satanic as well?”
“It depends,” said Oliver. “First, let’s consider what you saw at the Christmas Eve death scene. There was a red chalk circle where he’d placed the victim’s severed head. And there were five candles burned at the perimeter.”
“Meaning?”
“Well, circles in and of themselves are quite primitive symbols, and they are universal. They can mean all sorts of things. The sun, the moon. Protection. Eternity. Rebirth, the cycle of life. And yes, it’s also used by satanic cults to represent the female sexual organ. We don’t really know what it meant to the person who drew it that night.”
“But it could have a satanic meaning,” said Frost.
“Of course. And the five candles may represent the five points of a pentagram. Now, let’s look at what was drawn last night, on Anthony’s garden door.” He pointed to the photograph. “What do you see?”
“An eye.”
“Tell me more about this eye.”
“It’s got, like, a teardrop. And an eyelash sticking out below it.”
Oliver took a pen from his shirt pocket and flipped the sheet of stationery to its blank side. “Let me draw it more clearly, so you’ll see exactly what the different elements are in this symbol.” On the sheet of paper, he reproduced the drawing:
“It still looks like an eye,” said Frost.
“Yes, but all these features-the eyelash, the teardrop-that makes it a very specific eye. This symbol is called Udjat. Experts on satanic cults will tell you this is a symbol for Lucifer’s all-seeing eye. The teardrop is because he mourns for those souls outside his influence. Some conspiracy theorists claim it’s the same eye printed on U.S. currency.”
“You mean on the top of the pyramid?”
“Right. Their so-called proof that the world’s finances are run by worshippers of Satan.”
“So we’re back to satanic symbols,” said Jane.
“That’s one interpretation.”
“What others are there?”
“This is also a symbol used by the ancient fraternity of Freemasons. In which case it has quite a benign meaning. For them, it symbolizes enlightenment, illumination.”
“The seeking of knowledge,” said Edwina. “It’s about learning the secrets of their craft.”
Jane said, “You’re saying this murder was done by a Freemason?”
“Good grief, no!” said Oliver. “That’s not at all what I’m saying. The poor Freemasons have been the target of so many malicious accusations, I’m not even going to repeat them. I’m just giving you a quick history lesson. This is my field, you know, the interpretation of symbols. I’m trying to explain that this symbol, Udjat, is quite an old one. It’s been used throughout history for various purposes. For some people, its meaning is sacred. For others, it’s terrifying, a symbol of evil. But its original meaning, in the time of ancient Egypt, was quite a bit less threatening. And rather practical.”
“What did it mean then?”
“It represented the eye of Horus, the sun god. Horus is usually depicted in paintings or sculptures as a falcon’s head on a man’s body. He was personified on earth by the Pharaoh.”
Jane sighed. “So it could be a satanic symbol, or a symbol for illumination. Or the eye of some Egyptian god with a bird’s head.”
“There’s yet another possibility.”
“I thought you’d say that.”
Oliver picked up the pen again and drew another variation of the eye. “This symbol,” he said, “came into use in Egypt around 1200 B.C. It’s found in hieratic script.”
“Is that still the eye of Horus?” asked Frost.
“Yes, but notice how the eye is now made up of separate sections. The iris is represented by this circle, between two halves of the sclera. Then there’s the teardrop and the curling lash, as you called it. It looks like just a stylized version of Udjat, but it actually had a very practical use, as a mathematical symbol. Each part of the eye represents a fraction.” He wrote numbers on the sketch now:
“These fractions arise by dividing subsequent numbers in half. The entire eye represents the whole number, one. The left half of the sclera represents the fraction one half. The eyelash is one thirty-second.
“Are we getting around to some kind of point here?” asked Jane.
“Of course.”
“And that would be?”
“That maybe there’s a specific
“A mathematical key, you mean?”
“Yes. And the circle, at the first killing, represented an element of Udjat.”
Jane frowned at Oliver’s sketches, at the numbers he had jotted in the various sections of the all-seeing eye. “You’re saying that the circle at the first killing is really supposed to be the iris.”
“Yes. And it has a value.”
“You mean it represents a number? A fraction.” She looked up at Oliver and saw that he was leaning toward her, a flush of excitement in his cheeks.
“Exactly,” he said. “And that fraction would be?”
“One fourth,” she said.
“Right.” He smiled.
“One fourth of what?” asked Frost.
“Oh, that we don’t know yet. It could mean a quarter moon. Or one of the four seasons.”
“Or it could mean he’s completed only a quarter of his task,” said Edwina.
“Yes,” said Oliver. “Maybe he’s telling us there are more kills to come. That he’s planning a total of four.”
Jane looked at Frost. “There were four place settings at the dining table.”
In the pause that followed, the ringing of Jane’s cell phone sounded startlingly loud. She recognized the number for the crime-scene lab and answered it at once.
“Rizzoli.”
“Hi, Detective. It’s Erin in Trace Evidence. You know that red circle that was drawn on the kitchen floor?”
“Yeah. We’re talking about it right now.”
“I’ve compared that pigment with the symbols from the Beacon Hill crime scene. The drawings on the door. The pigments do match.”
“So our perp used the same red chalk at both scenes.”
“Well, that’s why I’m calling. It’s not red chalk.”
“What is it?”
“It’s something a lot more interesting.”
SIXTEEN
The crime lab was in the south wing of Boston PD’s Schroeder Plaza, right down the hallway from the homicide unit offices. The walk took Jane and Frost past windows that looked out over the tired and broken neighborhood of Roxbury. Today, under a cloak of snow, all was purified and white; even the sky had been
