5th Pentagram: The sequel to the #1 Hard Boiled Mystery, 9th Circle (Book 3 of the Darc Murders Trilogy) (Book 3 of the Darc Murder Series)

by Hopkin, Ben

  But it was working.

  They had followed the plan, and now they were all grouped around Janey right up in the front of the class. Well, all except for Rachel and Miguel, but they would get here soon enough. A piece of chewing gum and a box full of poppers would see to that. Then they’d all be here together.

  Popeye gave her a smirk and said that only the dunces had to sit up close to the teacher.

  Janey didn’t care. It was all happening according to her plan.

  She had seen the bad thing, watched for a while, and then the trails of color in her head showed her a way that she could make things happen. She’d followed those bright paths and now those things were actually happening.

  Not all of the things were good, of course. When Mala had come in, Janey had almost given up. She didn’t want Mala to be disappointed in her.

  But this was important. It didn’t matter if she got in trouble for it. Well, it did, but Janey wasn’t the one getting into trouble any more. The colors had been ready for that one. It was all part of the plan.

  No more cutting hair. She had promised. And she’d kept her promise.

  There were a few other things that she had to do, but Janey was sure she could do them without getting sent to the principal’s office again. Even if Mrs. Kingsley had to call Mala again, it was worth it.

  That thought made Janey’s tummy do a flip-flop and Popeye laughed at her and called her a chicken. She stuck her tongue out at him and told him he was just a weird looking dog. He hated it when she did that.

  Then Dmitri handed her a note while Mrs. Kingsley’s back was turned. Janey opened it up and it was a picture. Not like the ones that Janey made that could talk to Darc, but it was a pretty good one. At least it made Janey feel good.

  There was a boy and a girl and they were giving each other a hug. When Janey saw what it was, she looked up at Dmitri, who smiled and waved at her.

  Popeye started singing a rude song about Janey and Dmitri up in a tree kissing and stuff. She smacked him on the head. He was trying to ruin the picture for her.

  But Janey loved it. She smiled back at Dmitri and put the drawing in her desk.

  She would take it home and keep it forever.

  * * *

  “Turn around,” Darc said to Trey.

  “What? But we’re almost to the—”

  “Turn around now.”

  “Okay, okay. Jeesh.” Trey slowed down only long enough to let a car in the oncoming lane pass before whipping the wheel to the left. Hard.

  The turn created enough centripetal force that Darc was thrown against the passenger side door. The pressure would no doubt result in a sub dermal hematoma, but that was irrelevant. The information Mala had just communicated to him had jolted all of the data into place, clarifying the next location.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Trey asked, weaving in and out of traffic. “You were only on the phone for like three seconds. And did you say something about the Greenbelt?” Darc ignored the noise coming out of his partner’s mouth and focused instead on the rush of new facts.

  It was similar to a fog lifting. One moment, all was obscured. The next, far off points of reference settled into pinpoint focus.

  The internal pathways and symbols had been snagged, snarling at one another as they attempted to find cohesion. When Mala spoke the word Freemason, the threads untangled themselves, pointing the way for the various representations of logical fragments to find their respective docking bays.

  “I’m telling you, that little priss over in the Mayor’s office is going to have a conniption when we don’t show up,” Trey grumbled to himself. His words were tiny threads that blew about the greater tapestry of light that was assembling itself within Darc’s mind.

  The upside down pentagram in the metal fabricating warehouse. Darc had surmised that its orientation was downward as an indication of the left-handed path favored by Satanists.

  Such was not the case.

  The pentagram was also a symbol used by the Freemasons, used to denote the five points of fellowship. But it was almost always upright. In this case, it was upside down to give orientation to the points on the map. Rotating the figure one-hundred and eighty degrees caused the map to click into place. The symbols synched, creating a framework for the Golden Ratio spiral that led to the next point on the pentagram.

  To the West Duwamish Greenbelt.

  It was the largest contiguous forest in a city that was known for its greenery, and most particularly its trees. The northern part of the Greenbelt had trails and ended on a large elementary school, but where they were headed was nothing but growth.

  As they traveled, Darc retraced the steps of the case. There had been other indicators of Freemasonry, before the conversation with Mala had pointed them out. Clues that Darc had missed due to his distraction with the sound number sequence.

  Even the specific mutilations matched many of the warnings of the Masonic rituals, symbolic punishments reserved for those who betrayed the secret rites of their brethren. The tongue torn out by the root. The throat slashed. The entrails removed and burned. The sword piercing the heart.

  Any deaths that occurred from here on out could be laid at Darc’s feet.

  As they raced down 16th Avenue, they came to the turnoff leading into the Seattle Chinese Gardens on one side, the Community College on the other. Darc pointed straight ahead, following the trail of blue light that led them.

  “Wait,” Trey said, peering ahead at where they were going. “I can’t go straight here. I’ve been here before. We go through a parking lot and then right into the forest.”

  “That is accurate,” Darc replied. The lines of light sorted and cross-referenced the data flowing in. The area of the forest was over 800 acres, and contained big leaf maples, alder and cottonwood, as well as red-legged frogs, foxes, eagles and hawks. They were entering a space that was not at all urban.

  “So we’re going in there?” Trey asked, his pitch raising by an octave.

  Darc nodded once.

  “That’s it,” Trey said and slammed on the brakes. A car behind them swerved, narrowly avoiding rear-ending the Land Rover. Trey waved the man past as the driver made a gesture with one of his fingers. Strange that he would use that digit to point.

  “Why are you stopping the vehicle?” Darc queried.

  “Because I’m not going traipsing into some jungle with you without backup.”

  “It is not a jungle. It is a stage two and three deciduous forest. In addition, the murders could be talking place—”

  “I know, I know,” Trey interrupted him. “They could be happening right now. Or they could have just happened. Or maybe they won’t even end up happening at all because we’ll be here to stop them.” He held up a hand to keep Darc from speaking. “With backup.”

  “That will only put more lives unnecessarily at risk. We should—”

  “No, Darc. Just no.” Trey glanced over as another car passed by them, the driver of the vehicle staring intently into the Land Rover while sounding his horn. Darc’s partner shook his head and turned back. “You can’t tell me that you know for positive that those murders are happening right now.”

  “The data is not that conclu—”

  “Darc!” Trey’s voice cut through Darc’s attempted explanation of the vagaries of the logic pathways. “Look. I get it. You’re still broken up about all the cops we lost in the slaughterhouse—”

  “And in the Underground.” It was Darc’s turn to stop his partner from speaking. “And then in the cathedral, where you were knocked unconscious with unknown injuries and I was forced to strangle Janey to save the city.”

  The memories surged up within him, a tsunami wave on the shores of the gray emotional topography of his psychological makeup. His reaction was stronger than he would have anticipated, but the streams of light wove themselves about the landscape, protecting the battered surface with the cold illumination of information.

  Trey sighed, seeming to read something i
n Darc’s face that tempered his own emotional reaction. Darc could not read what Trey’s reaction was, but it seemed to be fear. Fear of injury? Fear of failure? There was no way of knowing for sure.

  “Listen, man, I know where you’re coming from,” he said, and then pointed straight forward at the dark green line of trees awaiting them. “But look at that. There’s no way we can search that with just the two of us.”

  The lines were insistent. They knew where to go. There was a pulsing insistence to their directions, speaking to Darc in his mind. Move, go forward, follow our guidance. Now.

  But Trey was pushing in the opposite direction. Wait for backup. Hold on until we have help. We can’t do this alone.

  And Darc did not know what to do.

  Then Trey said something else. “What about Mala?”

  “I do not understand the question,” Darc replied after a moment’s processing gave him no indication of his partner’s meaning.

  “You told Mala we were headed here, right?”

  “Correct.”

  Trey shook his head. “So you think it’s a good idea to take off into the woods, leaving her out here, wondering if we’re dead.”

  The lines snarled and spat, repudiating Trey’s reasoning. “I do not understand how her state of mind is relevant.”

  “Darc. C’mon. You love her, right?”

  Darc stared back at Trey, unable to answer the question in any way that would satisfy either his partner or himself. It was a query that landed with a reverberating crash directly in the middle of the ravaged gray landscape. A place from which emerged no clear or direct answers.

  Finally Trey continued. “I’m pretty sure you do. And even if it’s just a strong case of like or even lust… which, ew, by the way… you’ve got to start thinking about how these things are going to make her feel.”

  From somewhere within that darkened topography, a clear beacon of light threaded its way out. The light was clear, which was unusual. The information streams always took on color. The shaft of clarity settled on his figures, brightening the symbols and interwoven strands of logic, giving them a new meaning.

  Waiting for Mala, even waiting for backup, was not a sign of weakness or irresponsibility. In fact, with the new source of light, Darc could see the benefits of entering the forest with Mala’s help. What’s more, there was strong evidence that by increasing the numbers of their team, they would greatly improve their speed in finding the exact location.

  There would be no time wasted in the long run.

  How could this be? Were the bands of light so myopic in their scope? Had Darc been led by information that could not see beyond its own speed, accuracy and cleverness? That thought was troubling.

  And just like that, the clear light faded, leaving Darc once more in the weak reflected glow of the information. The difference in scope was stunning.

  He had no idea what had just happened. But he did understand one thing.

  They would be waiting for the rest of the team to arrive.

  CHAPTER 14

  Mala pulled into the huge parking lot shared by the community college and the Chinese gardens. There, off to the side, was Trey’s Land Rover.

  And there, resting on the hood, were both Trey and Darc.

  Blinking to make sure the vision was real, Mala jumped out of the car and rushed over to join the two detectives. Trey waved a hand at her as she approached.

  “Hey, Mala. Took you long enough.”

  She ignored the playful banter and leapt right to the question. “Why are you still here?”

  “That’s a fine line of inquiry there, Doc,” Trey drawled. “And to be honest, I have no clue.” He pointed at Darc, who was staring at the ground. “One second we were fighting about whether or not we were going in without backup, and the next second, he turns meek as a kitten.”

  “Darc?” Mala called out to him, hoping to elicit a response. Darc lifted his head to stare at her a moment, then went back to contemplating the asphalt. “This is… odd.”

  “Tell me about it,” Trey answered back. He leaned in and whispered, “He changed his mind when I told him you might get upset.”

  Mala heard the words coming out of Trey’s mouth. She even could put them together and mostly make sense of them. But when she tried to place them in the context of having to do with Darc, her mind short-circuited.

  “I can hear you when you whisper,” intoned Darc. “And yes, that is correct, but only to a certain extent. In measuring the possible benefit of entering alone or waiting for help, the latter seemed to yield stronger results.”

  “Say what you want, dude, but that’s not how it went down.” Trey stretched his shoulders and cracked his neck. “So… is Janey taken care of?” he asked Mala.

  “Yeah. I asked Pyper to pick her up from school.” She saw the look on Trey’s face. “Don’t start. There was no one else.”

  “Hey… what’s a little pot between friends? Did you call the cavalry while you were at it?”

  “Yes. They should be right behind me. I called Captain Merle the second…”

  She trailed off as the sound of sirens approached.

  “Speak of the devil,” Trey muttered. He took a long whiff of the air. “Smells like bacon. And you know how I love me my breakfast meats.”

  He jumped off the hood of his car and sauntered over to where the first of the police cruisers was pulling into the lot. Waving his arms, he directed the rest of the cars in, keeping his body between the cars and Darc.

  Once the uniforms started piling out, Trey called out to them. “Okay, everyone. Here’s the deal. We’ve got stuff going down in the forest.”

  One of the cops raised his hand. Trey pointed to him.

  “This young man has a question. Which shows his lack of experience here in this precinct. I don’t have any answers. So don’t bother.” He glanced back at Darc, almost as if he were making sure his partner hadn’t hightailed it into the forest on his own. “You know the drill. I’m like the anti-answers guy. You ask me something, you’ll know less after I’m done with you.”

  “But are we dividing into teams, or what?”

  “Hey!” Trey shouted back at the sarcastic cop, then seemed to think better of it. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Darc?” He turned to his partner, looking for approval, or maybe just a reaction. Mala watched as Darc just peered back at him.

  Darc may have capitulated on the backup, but he seemed to be fighting himself about it every step of the way. The likelihood, in Mala’s mind, was that Darc wasn’t even aware of that fact himself.

  “Ooookay…” Trey stretched out the word, maybe hoping Darc would step in at some point and take over. But that wasn’t happening. “Yeah. Groups. I want three uniforms with Darc, Mala and me.”

  That seemed to catch Darc’s attention. He looked at Trey, then at Mala, then back at the ground. What was troubling the detective so much?

  “The rest of you guys divide yourselves into groups of… let’s see…” Trey did a quick head count. “Five. That should give you four more groups with one cop left over. Squeeze him into one of those teams.”

  “Should we search in a grid pattern?” Mala asked. “Or would a spiral pattern be better?”

  “Grid,” came an utterance from Darc’s general vicinity.

  “Grid it is,” Trey chimed in, pointing to three of the teams. “You guys head over that way as far as you can and go north-south. The rest of us will go east-west from here.”

  The groups divided up, and Trey clapped his hands together. “I love it when a plan comes together,” he chuckled, then stopped. “Why am I getting such a strong sense of déjà vu?”

  Mala could only hope that it was all in his imagination.

  * * *

  Officer Katy Burchfield followed her team out into the forest. At least it was still dusk. Mostly. If they were doing this search in the middle of the night, it would be so much creepier.

  Just as she said that, the sky grew darker. The sun must have d
ipped further down below the horizon, or maybe gone behind an even thicker grouping of clouds. Now the typical Seattle grey sky had turned a much darker shade. Just her luck.

  She pulled out her flashlight and pushed past a grouping of what looked like ivy. One of the plants she’d heard was an invader, or something like that. Non-native, anyway.

  She’d been with the force for seven years. Starting off, she’d had a husband, Chad, and no kids. Now she had no husband and a son, Jake, that split his time between her and his newly out-and-proud dad who had decided to move to San Francisco.

  Yeah, that wasn’t stereotypical or anything.

  Good thing his new life-partner… no, that wasn’t true. Fiancé. They were getting married two months from now. Good thing Chad’s almost husband was a sweet guy.

  The feelings surrounding the divorce were complex for her. She had loved Chad… still did, in fact… and wanted to be supportive. It just sucked. Bad.

  At least she was dating someone now. Nights had gotten pretty lonely once Chad had left, and there was only so long you could convince your six-year-old boy to sleep in your bed before it started feeling weird. She figured she had another year of that. Maybe two, if she really stretched it. More than that, and his friends would probably find out. Or worse, her new boyfriend. Not that he would be an ass about it or anything, but it would be kind of embarrassing to admit that she couldn’t sleep well by herself.

  She glanced over at Officer Kyle Laughlin and caught him looking back at her. Giving him a quick and secret smile, she swiveled her head left and right, making sure no one else had seen. Two cops dating wasn’t unheard of, but if people started finding out about it, it might end up in front of HR. That would not be such a great idea. The head of HR was a real prick.

  Kyle didn’t look like much, but then again, Chad had been almost painfully handsome. She’d had her fill of boys who were prettier than she was.

  He was a man’s man. Liked to camp, loved sports of all kinds, even went out fishing. He even enjoyed monster truck rallies. He’d taken Jake to his first just a couple of days ago. He was so good with her son.