I checked my line of sight. If Wesley had been watching Sherry from the docks, that meant she must have been on this side of the island when she hid the Apollo Stone in the bushes. I walked along the shoreline, pine needles and dirt sticking to my wet feet, until I found a small rickety-looking dock. Damn, I could have made this so much easier on myself if I’d seen it earlier. I could have docked there and simply stepped off the boat, keeping my clothes on in the process.
Too late for that now. I was here, so I might as well take a look around.
The island wasn’t very large, maybe a quarter mile across and a half mile long, so I could cover it in a short amount of time. Of course, I had no idea what I was looking for or even if I’d find anything at all. Evidence that a magical ritual had taken place here was the most obvious thing to look for but as far as I knew, the last time the monster had been summoned was three years ago, when it had eaten Deirdre Summers.
Since then, any number of people could have visited the island: fishermen, vacationers, teenagers looking for a quiet place to make out. And the weather could have destroyed any evidence that the blue-eyed man in the hoodie had been here. Three winters had passed since then.
I looked around anyway. There were no birds in the trees and the only sound as I searched the island was the crunching of pine needles and twigs beneath my bare feet. I found a bare patch of dirt and a circle of stones where someone had built a campfire some time ago but it wasn’t the type of circle I was looking for.
After about an hour of searching, I sat on a mossy tree stump in the middle of the island, ready to admit defeat. If there had ever been anything of interest here, it was long gone by now.
So why had Sherry Westlake placed an Apollo Stone on the island? What was she hoping to record? As far as I knew, she hadn’t been investigating the Deirdre Summers case. And even if she had been investigating that case, why would she put an Apollo Stone on the island now, three years after Deirdre went missing?
It didn’t make sense. The only thing I was sure Sherry had been investigating was the church in Clara. So was the island connected to the church in some way? I thought about that for a while but couldn’t come up with any answers.
Finally, I decided to give up on the island for now. I needed to return to the office. I also needed to eat. My stomach was growling hungrily. I got up and made my way back to the shore. When I reached the small dock and was just about to follow the shoreline around to where the Princess of the Lake was anchored, I stopped.
I turned and inspected the trees on the island. There were a few that had fallen over, uprooted by the wind, killed by disease, or maybe even hit by lightning, but they had all been felled by natural causes.
Except one. The stump in the center of the island, the one I had just been sitting on, had a flat top. It had been cut by a chainsaw.
I retraced my steps to the stump. It was in a small clearing with no sign of the felled tree anywhere. I searched around and found it eventually, a tall pine that had been dragged fifty feet away and left lying in the undergrowth. The cut at its base matched the stump in the clearing. Clean and straight.
Why had someone cut down this one tree and dragged it over here? I returned to the stump. Moss covered its top, which made it a comfortable place to sit. But what was hiding beneath? I found a stick and began scraping at the spongy moss, clearing it away from the top of the stump.
After a minute of scraping, I revealed a section of the wood beneath. Something had been carved into it. I could see a line and a curve that were definitely manmade. I went back to clearing the moss and when it had all been removed, lying in dark green clumps around the tree roots, I looked down at the stump.
Magical symbols covered every inch of the wood, carved at least an inch deep with a knife or some kind of woodworking tool. I examined them closely. They looked similar to the symbols in the stained glass window at the church. I couldn’t check because my phone was on the boat. That meant I couldn’t take photos of the carvings, either. I was going to have to swim back to the boat, take her to the rickety dock and come back here to get pictures.
I got back to the shore and waded into water, shivering at its cold touch. When I was up to my waist, I leaned forward and entered the water with a gasp before breaststroking my way back to the Princess.
Cantrell was still asleep and snoring heavily, his upturned face burning slightly in the sun. I started the engine and guided the boat to the small dock before slipping my feet into my boots, grabbing my phone from my jeans pocket, and treading carefully onto the wooden structure. It held under my weight but I wouldn’t put any bets on Cantrell being able to stand in the wooden slats without them giving way beneath him.
I tied the boat to the dock and walked back to the clearing at the center of the island, hoping my boxers would dry off so I could put on my jeans when I got back to the boat. If Cantrell woke up and saw me coming out from the trees in my boots and boxers, he’d probably arrest me on some sort of indecency charge.
When I got to the stump, I turned on my phone and compared the symbols carved into the wood with the ones on the stained glass window at the church. Some of them were identical.
Whoever made this makeshift altar was using the same magical system that was being used by the robed figures in the church window. I couldn’t deny a connection between the island and the church now. Sherry Westlake had somehow known about this tree stump altar last year and had put the Apollo Stone on the island to keep an eye on it.
I called Felicity. When she answered, I asked her, “Did you manage to track down a crystal reader?”
“Yes, they’re sending one over from Bangor. It should be here today.”
“Great. I found an altar here on the island and it’s carved with the same symbols as we saw in the church windows.”
“Oh, that’s terrible,” Felicity said.
“Terrible? No, it’s good. We have a connection between Deirdre Summers and the church. We should be able to find more clues about what’s been going on, why those thirteen people were massacred.”
“Yes, I know that, but this language scares me, Alec. It only ever turns up where black magic or evil are involved. And it’s been found throughout history all over the world. Whatever is going on here is bigger than we thought if someone is using that language as part of a magical system.”
“We should know more when we get that reader and use it to play back the information on the Apollo Stone.” That was assuming the Apollo Stone captured anything before Wesley Jones removed it from the island. But it had been here, recording, on Christmas Day so there might be something on the crystal that showed activity on the island while the massacre at the church was taking place.
“I’ll be there soon,” I told Felicity. “I need to get back to the boat and put on my clothes before Cantrell wakes up.”
“What?” She sounded shocked. “What exactly is going on there, Alec?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later.”
“Okay,” she said. “Be careful.”
“I will.” At least being so deep into the case gave us things to talk about that didn’t involve last night’s kiss.
I ended the call and took some photos of the tree stump altar before heading back to the dock. Cantrell was awake and standing in the boat with his hands on his hips, watching me as I approached.
“What the hell are you doing, Harbinger?”
“I decided to go for a swim,” I said.
“In your drawers?”
“I didn’t bring my trunks.” I climbed onto the boat and began to get dressed. Cantrell was staring at me. “What?” I asked, pulling on my jeans.
“That’s a hell of a lot of ink you’ve got there. I was looking at it, that’s all,” he said defensively.
“Magical protection tattoos,” I said. “My version of a bulletproof vest.”
He nodded, continuing to watch me as I dressed. “That job of yours come with a gym membership too?”
I pulled my
T-shirt over my head and said, “I train at home. I have to stay in shape, my life may depend on it.”
Cantrell might have had a comeback if this conversation had taken place this morning before he saw the monster in the lake. Now, he knew the kind of enemies I dealt with. He simply nodded and kept quiet.
“Anyway,” I said, “while you were sitting here catching flies, I was searching the island. I found an altar. It was probably used to summon that creature we saw.”
“Did you destroy it?”
“No, it’s abandoned, overgrown with moss. Whoever made it hasn’t been here it in some time.” I started the boat’s engine and untied the mooring line. When we were clear of the shallow water and rocks, I opened up the engine and left the island behind.
Cantrell was strangely quiet, his eyes gazing into the distance, a thoughtful look on his face, all the way back to the dock. Even when I gave the boat keys back to Woody and thanked him, Cantrell offered only a cursory nod to the old man before following me back to the cruiser in the parking lot.
“You okay?” I asked him when we reached the vehicle.
He snapped out of it. “Of course I am. I’ll drop you back at the station so you can pick up your car.” He got in and started the engine. Country music came drifting out of the radio. Cantrell turned it off when we hit the highway and said, “Thanks for your help today but I can take it from here.”
“We’re nowhere near solving the case yet,” I said. “We don’t even know who they guy in the hoodie is.”
“I’ll find that out using good old-fashioned police work. We know what happened to Deirdre now, which is what I asked you to find out. You did that, so thanks.”
“I can help catch that guy,” I said. “Don’t kick me off the case before it even gets started.”
“I’m not going to argue about it, Harbinger. As far as you’re concerned, this case is closed, do you understand?” He shot me an angry look before turning his attention back to the road.
I didn’t say anything but cracked my window open.
“I told you not to do that,” Cantrell said, “We have…”
“Air, yeah, I know,” I said, enjoying the fresh air blowing on my face through the open window.
11
When I got to the office, I had a paper sack of food under my arm. Cantrell had driven back to the station in silence, lost in his own thoughts, and after he’d dropped me by the Caprice, I drove out to Darla’s Diner and got Sandra the waitress to bag up a couple of burgers and some fries. I was sure Felicity wouldn’t have eaten yet today and eating lunch together seemed like a good idea. At least it might dispel any awkwardness between us.
She looked up from her computer when I leaned in through her office door and held up the sack of food. “That smells delicious, Alec. I haven’t eaten at all today.”
“I didn’t think you had. Let’s eat in my office. I’ll open the windows so any clients we get won’t drool from the smell and leave a puddle on the floor.”
“Ewww, not a nice mental image when I’m about to eat.” She got up and followed me into my office. She had gone back to wearing her usual office attire; a white blouse and black skirt. Her hair was piled up on top of her head in the usual manner too. The look said, “business as usual” but a mental image of her in the black lacy top and jeans flashed into my head.
I opened the windows in my office to let the warm breeze inside and tipped the food out onto my desk. “A cheeseburger and fries for you,” I said, handing her the paper-wrapped packages, “and a Darla’s Double Burger and fries for me.” I slid a can of cold soda across the desk to Felicity and popped one open for myself.
There was an empty space on the bookshelf where the Grimoire of Dark Magic had once been. “Is anything else missing?” I asked Felicity as I took my first bite of the burger. The meat practically melted in my mouth.
“No, just that book. But if you look at all the other books, you’ll see that they’ve all been pulled out of the shelf a little bit. I didn’t move anything so you could see it exactly as I found it.”
“The thief was probably searching them for the one he wanted. Probably using a flashlight. So he may have had to pull them out to examine the titles.”
“But why would he put them back and only take the Grimoire of Dark Magic? If it was a normal burglary, there are books on that shelf that are worth stealing more than the Grimoire. Your edition of the Grimoire is a late edition with all of the original Latin text translated into modern English. There’s a first edition Lesser Key of Solomon there that’s worth much more than the Grimoire on the underground market.”
“Unless the thief didn’t take the book to sell,” I said.
“Yes, of course, I’ve considered that. The Grimoire of Dark Magic contains spells and formulas from the Middle Ages. It would be dangerous in the wrong hands, of course, but it would take a lot of magical knowledge to make those spells work. They’re complex rituals and whoever wrote the Grimoire was vague regarding their use. The book is more an item of historical item interest than a practical spell book.”
“Someone doesn’t think so,” I said, waving a handful of fries at the shelf. “They left all these other books behind and went for that one.”
Felicity nodded and ate some of her cheeseburger. “How did you get on with Sheriff Cantrell?” she asked.
“I got kicked off the case.”
“Oh? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.” I told her about the trip to the lake, the vision of Deirdre Summers’ death, the blue-eyed man in the hoodie, and the altar on the island. I finished off the story by saying, “And then Cantrell told me he was going to take it from here and that as far as I was concerned, the case was closed.”
“That’s odd, since he’s the one who hired you in the first place. Are you sure you didn’t do something to make him angry?”
“Yes, I’m sure. That man’s default setting is angry. He was quiet all the way back from the island, though. I’m pretty sure he was thinking about his wife’s death and wondering if it’s related to the Summers case. If there’s even a chance that there’s a connection, he won’t want me looking into the Summers case because it might lead to the church massacre.”
“But we are looking into his wife’s death.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t know that. In fact, I think hiring me to work with him was just a part of his investigation into the church case. He was fishing for information about Sherry Westlake, like I know where she’s hiding.”
“If she’s alive,” Felicity reminded me.
I finished my burger and fries and gulped the soda down. “The police evidence seems to suggest she is. Besides, she’s an investigator and we don’t kill easily.”
“You’re all so tough,” Felicity joked.
“Tough and charming.”
She looked down at her burger for a moment then back up at me. “Speaking of charming, Alec, I think we should talk about last night.”
“Okay,” I said, “You want to go first?” The truth was, I didn’t know what to say about the kiss we’d shared. It had been so damned good but the situation between us wasn’t exactly uncomplicated.
“It’s complicated,” Felicity said, her words mirroring my thoughts. “I know I’m still getting over Jason and my emotions are all over the place but last night, I got it into my head that I knew exactly what I wanted and that was you. I came over to your place wanting that kiss to happen, Alec. And maybe more. But when it did happen, I panicked.”
“There’s no need to explain,” I told her.
She threw her hands up. “I feel like there is. I don’t regret what happened. But I don’t want to ruin our working relationship or our friendship. With all that’s been happening lately, my emotions are confused.”
“Confusion isn’t a good basis for starting a relationship,” I said. I sounded like one of those calendars that has a pearl of wisdom for each day of the year.
“No, it isn’t.” Felicity let out a
sigh. Then she looked worried. “I’m not saying I only kissed you because I was confused. I didn’t mean that at all. What I meant was…”
I held up my hands to stop her. “Felicity, you don’t need to explain anything. And it wasn’t your fault. I kissed you just as much as you kissed me. There’s something between us that goes beyond work and friendship and I reacted to it just as much as you did. But we don’t need to rush in to anything. We can take our time, let things settle down a bit. We see each other every day and neither of us is going anywhere.” I frowned and added, “You’re not going anywhere, are you?”
Felicity grinned. “No, not this time.”
“Okay, so let’s just take it one day at a time.” There I went again dispensing Harbinger’s thought for the day.
She nodded. “That’s fine with me.”
“Great,” I said. Hell, I was no expert on these things. My relationships were usually short and sweet because I lived in a different world from every girl I’d ever dated. Eventually, that put every relationship at breaking point and we went our separate ways.
But Felicity lived in the same world I did, a world where monsters, demons, and other creatures stalked the night. A world where magic was real and a battle between good and evil was fought every day. Life felt more precious because danger lurked around every corner.
Maybe it was possible to build something more than I’d known in the past.
A knock on the open office door made us both look up. A bearded man in a cream shirt and black pants stood there with a small cardboard box in his hand. “Alec Harbinger?” he asked.
“That’s me,” I said, getting up.
He put the box under his arm and produced a tablet from his belt, tapping away at it with a small plastic pen. He looked at the screen and then back at me. The image on his screen would be the photo that had been taken of me when I’d become an investigator.
The Harbinger PI Box Set Page 40
