The Dead Priest of Sedona

by Charles Williamson

  The nightmare helped me answer the question. This was truly a religion, albeit a bizarre and primitive one. I decided that these Druids killed because they really believed their religion. They accepted the reality of these pagan gods. They accepted their demands for blood. The Druids of Pagan Point were saving the world from chaos and destruction by appeasing their false deities.

  I knew of other religions with strange practices, but nothing that involved murder as part of the actual ritual. There were Christians who handled snakes in their churches. There were Christians who let their children die of treatable ailments because they rejected modern medicine or blood transfusions. There were sects that killed themselves with poison Kool-Aid in South American jungles. There were sects who killed themselves in the hope of a ride to heaven on a comet. There were Moslems who blew themselves up in order to kill Jews or Christians. There were Buddhists who set themselves on fire to make a point. India was full of religious practices that were very strange to me. I could never understand these religions, but I could accept that they had sincere adherents. I needed to think of these murderers as sincere believers in an actual religion. Maybe with this understanding I would better anticipate their next move and teach these Druids a little about our secular justice.

  I retrieved my case notebook and the stack of books that Margaret had marked with post-it notes and read for two hours until Margaret joined me in the kitchen. She made coffee and sat at the table looking at me with concern. “Mike, you need to take the day off. You have spent so much time on this case that your health is suffering. You look so exhausted that John and Sue both mentioned it. Please take today off and come with us to Phoenix to do some last minute Christmas shopping.”

  I reached for Margaret’s hand and squeezed it gently and said, “Sweetie, maybe I’ll take tomorrow off. Going shopping in Phoenix would only exhaust me more. I’ve had a bit of new understanding regarding the motive of these evil Druid bastards. I’d like to do a little more research today. Besides, I did my shopping already.” I had arranged for Margaret to have a three-week cooking class at one of the best restaurants in Santa Fe for her Christmas gift. I’d rented a condo only a few blocks from the restaurant and from the central square. Some old friends from Los Angeles were now living in Santa Fe, and this was a good chance to see them again. Pete Aguilar, my old partner from the mid-1980’s, had just become the police chief of Santa Fe.

  Margaret was busy fixing breakfast when she said, “Mike, I’ve put together a great picnic lunch to have at Montezuma’s Castle on the way down . I’ve even made my double chocolate fudge walnut brownies, but maybe you should have those after dinner tonight.” Margaret winked about our private joke regarding the aphrodisiac and restorative powers of chocolate. I had been too preoccupied with the case to think much about chocolate lately.

  Montezuma’s Castle and Montezuma’s Well are National Monuments located between Sedona and Phoenix. The Castle was actually a pre-Columbian Sinagua Indian ruin built in the side of a cliff. It was a dramatic setting for a lunch, and we had often stopped there and picnicked under the giant sycamores on our way to Phoenix.

  The Well was a less visited Sinagua ruin located at a 368-foot diameter circular sinkhole. The sinkhole had formed a deep lake in the remains of a collapsed limestone cave. Since it was farther from Interstate 17 on a poor road, most of the tourists missed it. Neither ruin had any connection to Montezuma except in the minds of early settlers. Both had been abandoned by the Sinagua Tribe many centuries before the Aztec ruler was born.

  I didn’t mention the truth. I felt that this was a time of high risk in Sedona, and I was pleased that the family would be down in Phoenix. They would be safest in the crowds of the Phoenix shopping malls.

  Margaret smiled, understanding my reluctance to go to Phoenix a few days before Christmas. “I know you’re not fond of shopping, so I won’t push you darling. Remember that you have made a commitment to spend tomorrow and the weekend with us. We’ll be home late. I’ll leave dinner for you in the fridge. Now Sweetie, tell me what you’ve learned.” She was frying bacon for breakfast; its smell filled the kitchen. She wanted to hear the latest on the case before my son and his family were up and around.

  I explained my better understanding that the Druids were part of an actual religion. “We should expect them to behave like sincerely religious people who are certain that their actions are required by their gods. They are very much people of nature who hold certain specific locations sacred. The Druids can no more easily abandon northern Arizona as the site of their religious practice than their ancestors could have easily abandoned Stonehenge. They’re tied to this area by their religious beliefs. To many people this place is especially closely connected to the other world, the realm of power.”

  Margaret put the bacon and eggs on the table and said, “I think you’re on to something,”

  “I don’t think the Woods have fled the country. I think they’re hiding, perhaps with other members of their cult. I believe they plan to continue their sacrifices in spite of the risk of being caught. That may be their real weakness. If the Druids truly believe that their actions are required to keep the world from chaos, their religion is probably more important to them than remaining hidden.”

  Margaret sat across from me and looked at me with concern. “Mike, the most important sacrifice to the ancient Druids was a prisoner captured in war. I think that might have been important in the Father Sean murder; in spite of the risk, they killed him because he was an enemy. You’re now their enemy. Be careful.”

  I tried the bacon. It was a rare treat because Margaret was watching my cholesterol. “I’ll be careful,” I said meaning it. I had seen the remains of their murders and knew how truly dangerous these pagans were.

  “I’ve been thinking about how old Angus Wood might have gotten this cult started,” she said. “If he could persuade a naïve person to get involved, the newcomer would be trapped into permanent membership after they participated in their first Halloween rite. If they protested when they understood the nature of the Halloween sacrifice, they were probably killed too. After their first Samhain, they were trapped in the cult whether they believed in the pagan gods or not. That may be what happened to Dr. Beech. He went to Afghanistan to escape from the evil.”

  Margaret had a good point. The young men hanging around the Apple Tree Tavern might have been good prospects for membership in the cult. Even if some of the members were trapped and not sincere in their barbaric beliefs, the Wood family and some other members were probably true believers.

  CHAPTER 45

  I went to the office before John and his family woke. The familiar flock of ravens circled the uptown area spying on the sleeping town as I entered my office. I continued the frustrating process of trying to contact Dr. Beech. He had not answered any of my repeated attempts to reach him. I had no tangible evidence that he was involved, and there was not much I could do to pursue him in Afghanistan. I had called NATO, the army, and every other government agency. My hunch wasn’t enough to get the local authorities to do anything to help. Dr. Beech was a respected physician who was doing important work in a remote and difficult location as an unpaid volunteer. I would need strong proof before the authorities would help.

  Our other efforts had also shown little progress. We had worked the fingerprints from the rental cabins for several weeks. It appeared that bona fide customers were in the cabins the week before and the week after the last week in October. We were left with a dozen good unidentified fingerprints that might have come from the residents during the suspicious week. Unfortunately, fingerprints have limited usefulness if there is no match on file. Many honest citizens have never been fingerprinted. If we caught a suspect, the prints might tie him to the Woods and indirectly to the crimes, but without identifiable suspects, we were at a dead end.

  At 9:30 Chad came into my office. He looked thin and tired. Chad reacted to the stress of the case by exercising more and more. He ran out along Dry Creek
Road every evening for two hours. It was too much exercise. He had become compulsive about it. However, running was healthier than spending the evening at a bar. We had followed so many dead ends. The lack of progress had been frustrating for both of us.

  I explained my theory about the Druidic rite having a serious religious component. Chad was quite skeptical that people could take these beliefs seriously. He thought they must be a crazy group like the Mansons who used drugs and were under the direction and control of a charismatic cult leader. He was certain that their leaders would be too clever to return to Coconino County.

  Chad suggested that we call Dr. Kathleen Hawley, the psychologist who was helping Molly Bodean. Molly seemed to know something about this case. If we could just figure out how to get the information from her damaged brain, she might be able to help. We called on the speakerphone in my cubical. When Dr. Hawley came to the phone, Chad asked her to update us on anything she had learned from Molly.

  “Molly is taking her medication and is substantially more lucid than when you saw her a few weeks ago,” she said. “I‘m attempting to avoid implanting any false memories in her susceptible condition. I let her lead any discussion of trauma in her past. I doubt if Molly will ever make a useful witness in court, but I have recorded certain comments that might be of help in the investigation.”

  “Any details might be helpful,” I said.

  “I believe that Molly really saw the abductions she described. A stun device was used to abduct the victims. The abductions took only seconds. Five to seven people dressed in white surrounded the victim and pushed him into a black van. The van sped away, perhaps while the Druids sang in German. Molly definitely believes that the abducted were going to their death as a sacrifice to a pagan god,” she said. Chad and I gazed the speakerphone waiting for more, but it was silent.

  “Any surprises?” Chad asked after the pause.

  “The only surprise I’ve had from Molly is that she seems certain that the abduction did not only occur on ‘Candy Day,’ her name for Halloween. She thinks they also occur near ‘Red Gift Day,’ her name for Christmas.”

  We were only a few days from Christmas. Chad said with substantial emphasis, “Dr. Bodean, tell us more about these Red Gift Day abductions.”

  Chad was taking notes, and I was trying to keep my temper. Why hadn’t she call us immediately? “I wish there was more to tell. Molly doesn’t claim to have personally seen any other abduction. She maintains that she has dark visions or that angels tell her about these things. Other street people may have told her about events that she remembers as visions. There may be nothing useful in this claim by Molly, but I thought that I needed to pass it along since we are so close to Christmas. Molly has been correct about other things in this case.”

  After this conversation, it occurred to us that we might learn something by asking other Flagstaff street people if they knew anything about the abductions. It was a long shot, but we had no better plan. Chad decided to go to Flagstaff, and I would continue to work on the fingerprints from the rental cabins.

  About an hour after Chad left for Flagstaff, I received a call from Alicia Magnus. Her voiced sounded stressed. She explained that she needed to meet with me today. I walked over to her bookstore.

  Alicia started talking as soon as I entered the door. “Mike, dreadful things are happening. My group feels the presence of great evil and menace in Sedona. The black forces have gathered in a way we have never experienced before. They suck all the power from this place. Mike, the Druids are here, and this is their day of power.”

  Alicia was not exactly hysterical, but she was certainly distraught. Her black cat, Shadow, yellow eyes opened wide, circled me warily rubbing against my legs. I asked Alicia what she meant by ‘day of power’. Her store smelled of strong incense that might have been masking the underlying odor of marijuana. I was after information and not a pot bust.

  “Today is one of their most sacred days, the winter solstice. Tonight is the longest night of the year when the dark powers are strongest. This is a night of fear and evil. My friends and I are blind to their activity because of the power of darkness. The Druids are nearby.”

  I told Alicia about my dream, expressing the feeling that the Woods and their followers were tied to this area through their religious faith and worship of sacred places in the area. Alicia wholeheartedly agreed with me. She expressed her conviction that the Druids would continue their rituals.

  “The earth-hating patriarchal religions are destroying the Great Mother with their insane rush to consume Her resources for their useless toys,” she said. Her eyes were wide with alarm and conviction. “The Druids placate the old gods in an effort to aid the Great Mother and restore balance to the world. Their technique is wrong; the Dark Way can never heal Her. The Druids are certain that the human race can’t survive if the Great Mother dies. They think their sacrifices are helping her.” I could see that Alicia was totally sincere. I could guess that the Druids were also.

  CHAPTER 46

  After I returned to the office, I asked Rose to notify all of the law enforcement agencies in the area to be on the lookout for the Woods. Local officers already had good photos of the family, taken from their house in Oak Creek Canyon. We would check every motel and rental cabin in the area looking for them and for their friends. Regrettably, we still did not have a good idea as to who else was involved in the crimes. Our best hope was to find the Woods; they might lead us to the rest of the Druid murderers.

  While I didn’t actually believe the claim that black magic was most powerful on the winter solstice, the Woods probably did. That information might help us locate them. Sedona is a small town. If they were hiding somewhere in town, our chances of finding them was greatly improved. Chad thought that the Woods would be too smart to ever return to the area. They might already be outside the US. He was wrong.

  I decided to check everyone on Father Antonio’s list of Father Sean’s Sedona New Age contacts. I’d drop in on each of them and see if they had company. Just before I left the office, Rose put through a call from an attorney from Phoenix named John Archibald.

  Mr. Archibald opened the conversation without any preliminary comments. “Lieutenant Damson, I am calling on behalf of a client who has information regarding the Druid murders in Coconino County. He would like to share this information in return for a full grant of immunity. My client is currently out of the reach of American law enforcement, but he will return voluntarily to the United States and share everything he knows.”

  I could hardly contain my excitement. “I’m very interested in whatever you have to say Mr. Archibald.”

  “Although my client did not witness the Sean Murphy murder, he thinks he can name everyone who was involved. He did witness many of the other crimes at the Juniper Grove and the Tarn of Cailleach. He was an observer of these crimes from the time he was a young boy. I would like your help in getting the Arizona attorney general to discuss the immunity. I called you first because I believe you are in the best position to convince the attorney general of the critical importance of his testimony.”

  I knew how little evidence we had. There was a fair case against Walter Wood in the Kevin Riker hit and run case because the fingerprint evidence tied him to the Navigator. We had almost nothing that would be useful in court against his parents. We knew nothing at all about others who might be involved. This guy was our best shot to solve this case.

  “I am interested in discussing the case with Dr. Beech directly, but he has not returned my repeated attempts to reach him. I can get the army to help with his extradition if necessary. He is not completely outside of the jurisdiction of US law,” I said.

  Archibald called my bluff. “Lieutenant Damson, I can’t officially confirm the name of my client; however, you might find that the Europeans who manage the Doctors Without Boarders are reluctant to assist in the extradition of a doctor of proven good character to a state like Arizona that uses capital punishment in murder cases. Parts o
f Afghanistan are under NATO jurisdiction. Most Europeans consider capital punishment a cruel and unusual punishment and would provide a sanctuary for him.”

  He was probably correct. The choice would actually be up to the Arizona attorney general. We needed Beech’s help and I was determined to try and get it. I said, “Mr. Archibald, we have reason to believe that the criminals involved in these cases might kill again. I must talk with your client immediately.”

  “Yes, we do have an additional problem. My client sent some information last week to my home e-mail. I’ve been on a case in Denver and did not see the message until a few minutes ago. It appears that there is a high risk of another murder. This cult will react to the adversity of the discovery of their sacred grove with another human sacrifice. I was shocked to learn from this e-mail that the risk was highest for today, December 21. Unfortunately, I know of no way to reach my client on short notice. He is in a very isolated spot.”

  The attorney could provide no additional information. I called Sheriff Taylor and asked for help from the Flagstaff force in searching for the Woods. The sheriff said he would call the attorney general to explain our need of Dr. Beech as a witness. We had no hope of getting more information from Afghanistan immediately, but I had to find the Druids today before they killed again.

  CHAPTER 47

  My heart was racing. If Alicia Magnus was correct and the Druids had gathered nearby, this would be our best chance to catch them. We would search the whole damn town. I had Rose arrange a meeting with all the local law enforcement officers we could reach. I called Chad to update him on the conversation with Archibald. Rose answered his cell phone after four rings. She was in his nearby office. Rose laughed and said that he had left it on his desk. She claimed he’d picked up that habit from me. I’d need to update him on the news when he called in, or when he got back from Flagstaff.