by Hadena James
By the time dawn broke, another woman was missing. It wasn’t me. Some part was relieved. Some part was angry. I could have stopped him.
The one they had found murdered the night before had been a fighter. He had tried to burn her body. He had failed, luckily. DNA had been discovered in her teeth. She had bitten him.
Alejandro was fuming. Michael looked a little depressed. The maiden maker had given us the organization that had ordered the maidens. It didn’t exist. It had been paid for with a money order.
How anyone legitimately paid for five Iron Maidens with a money order was beyond me. The only good thing was that the blacksmith had recognized the mark on the Scavenger’s Daughter. Like the Iron Maiden maker, he had made it for an organization that didn’t exist and paid for it with a money order.
I was dumbfounded by how blacksmiths of exceptional skill got paid. Lucas pulled me aside. I frowned at him.
“What?” I snapped testily.
“You don’t get it; blacksmiths don’t just make these items for show. You said it yourself; there is an underground for just about anything. I’m sure they take money orders from fake companies all the time and no one gets hurt without permission as a result. I’m sure the maker of the maiden was shocked when he learned his work had killed.”
“I know, I know. It just irritates me that we aren’t any closer. These women have very limited time.”
“We’re guessing about three days. That seems to be how long they are kept alive. On the fourth day, they are tortured and killed. We usually find them a few days after.”
“Thanks for the timeline update, but I’m guessing he isn’t going to wait that long.”
“Probably not. He missed some part of his ritual and he needs to get it back.”
“Ritual?” The word evoked something in me.
“What?”
“Ritual, the torture, not the method, is part of a ritual.”
“Stay with me Ace.”
“You’re the psychologist,” I pointed out. “It doesn’t matter how he tortures them, as long as he does torture them.”
“So why the medieval contraptions?”
“To lure me in. Now that I’m in, he could do anything, as long as he gets to torture the victims.”
“You think that’s what it was really about?”
“That verse from Revelations tells me what it was really about. When you add it up, it is all about me. I’m sure most of his contraptions are medieval in nature. He wouldn’t have known how long it would take to get me involved. The languages are proving that he is smarter than me. He knows I don’t know all of them.”
“This is all about you?” Lucas asked.
“I think so. Why else leave my fingerprints?”
“To make you a suspect.”
“But you said yourself, that I was never really a suspect. It was just another layer of mystery. What if somewhere over the last four years, I have touched that knife, but the touch was so insignificant, I’ve forgotten? Could he keep my fingerprints preserved for that long?”
“Longer if he wanted,” Lucas told me.
“Baker just seems too easy though. And I’ve been to hundreds of exhibits on torture. This was just the biggest one. I’ve probably touched hundreds of items in the last several years relating to torture.”
“Wouldn’t you use gloves most of the time?”
“Cloth gloves and yes, most of the time, I would have, but with a private collection…” I shrugged. Private collectors didn’t always require gloves.
“How many private collections have you seen?”
“At least three or four dozen, not to mention pieces loaned to museums for exhibits.”
“How many had daggers?”
“All of them, most had multiple daggers. You don’t collect torture paraphernalia without collecting other stuff, usually weapons.”
“That doesn’t help though.”
“I know, sorry,” I sighed and went out onto the balcony.
“How many in Chicago?”
“Beats me.” I didn’t know. “But the killings didn’t start here, they just ended up here. Like the exhibit that travels, once in a while, there’s a hiccup and the exhibit stays an extra day or two.”
“What?” Lucas asked.
“Exhibits, occasionally they get stuck in a place and can’t leave because of shipping issues or paperwork issues. It is the biggest pain in the ass for traveling exhibits.”
“Damn, have you ever been to Baltimore?” He asked.
“Yes, I did a presentation there once.”
“Miami, Florida?”
“Yes.”
“And Birmingham, Alabama?”
“Yes.” I looked at him. “Is that where all the killings took place?”
“Yes.”
“Damn, in what order?”
“Miami, Baltimore, Birmingham, now Chicago.” I thought for a few moments. “Nine months ago, I was in Florida, at a conference with my advisor on the Crusades. Six months ago, I was in Baltimore giving a presentation on the use of torture by the Catholic Church during the time period before the Inquisition. Three months ago, I was in Birmingham, Alabama helping out with an exhibit that on Witchcraft and the tortures used to determine if one was a witch. When I left Washington, I was supposed to move to Chicago and take a job at the Field. I backed out at the last minute. Decided I couldn’t do it. I was supposed to have moved here this week.”
“He’s following you.”
I lit a cigarette and watched the smoke curl from the tip of it. It was about me. I was back to being in sixth grade, where I was a freak for being eight years old.
“You’re not a freak.” Lucas said as he took my cigarette from me and inhaled deeply.
“You don’t smoke,” I told him.
“Not normally, I indulge in a good cigar every now and then.”
“How did you know that as my thought?”
“The look on your face. I remember photos of you from Xavier’s father’s files. I also remember that you told him you thought you were a freak.”
“Why do serial killers keep stalking me?”
“Pheromones.” He giggled.
“Seriously.”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged and giggled again. It sounded strange coming from the mountain.
“What do you know?”
“That you are going to take a year or two to break in, but once you’re there, you are going to fit in nicely with this group. You’ll also find that while we don’t always have the answers, most of it is about the quest anyway.”
“Very deep and complete bullshit. I’m not entirely sure I’m cut out for this. Once we move away from the torture stuff and the serial killer trying to get my attention, I will be flying blind.”
“Yes, but you will be in good company and we won’t let you crash into any mountains. I know it doesn’t feel like it now, Ace, but it will. Soon, it will.”
“Thanks Lucas,” I touched his arm gently. “What is your deal? I’ve figured out Xavier. I haven’t you.”
“You will. When we get home, there will be a dinner party at my house. You are invited. You’ll figure it out then.”
“Mysterious all of the sudden?”
“Not mysterious,” Lucas shook his head. “You’ll just have to wait.”
“Great and if I don’t survive this?”
“You will, you always have.” Lucas left me alone on the balcony again. I stubbed out the cigarette and took in another breath. When I exhaled, it exited in a plume in the cold dark air. I went back inside.
Chapter 24
