by J M Bannon
AWAIT YOUR REPLY.
U.S. MARSHAL QUENTIN
COLORADO TERRITORY
"Do we know if this is a legitimate claim, this Marshal Quentin a credible source?" Rose replied handing the paper back to Dolly.
"I am confirming through my channels the legitimacy of this Lawman, then we may share our evidence. As the ship departed from the United States, I don't see why this wouldn't get the thumbs up,” said Dolly.
"My first reaction is to investigate, and see if they have a common metaphysical cause. We are the team most capable of helping," finished Rose. "Help Burton pull out all the files and get them together for review,” Dolly instructed looking through his reading glasses at the wire-type.
"It would be nice if we still had the Zeus Colonial for evidence, don't you think?” asked Burton looking at Rose.
"Well, under no circumstances would Spiros Saganaki allow a million pounds sterling airship to remain Crown evidence," replied Dolly when he overheard his subordinates' complaint.
"I heard he renamed the ship and has commissioned cruises in South America so that passengers never find out what happened aboard," added Burton.
"We don't know what occurred, they worked so quickly to return that boat back to him. It would have been helpful to perform a complete investigation before they turned it back to the Greeks," Rose said crossing her arms and putting her boots up on her desk.
"Rose, get that sour look off yer face and yer ass off the chair; help Burton go through the evidence. As soon as I receive permission from the Home Office, I want to share our notes with the Marshal in hopes of reciprocity," said Dolly going back to his office.
"The Zeus Colonial was traveling from America with Americans aboard when the incident happened. What was the name of the town the Marshal mentioned? I could review the ships passenger manifest and confirm if anyone was from this town," Burton suggested, moving from the office he shared with Rose to the file cabinets in the ward room. "He didn't mention the town," said Rose.
Near the file cabinets was a large table for laying out evidence. It was already stacked high with file folders. Most of the files were the initial statements taken by constables or detectives from witnesses or victims believing they had been party to some supernatural event. The bulk were crackpots. A growing trend of "informants" hoping to secure a meeting with Rose, the famous White Witch of London, a moniker Gerald Welsh from the London Guardian had given her.
She was a celebrity now with crime reporters noting where she had shown up to investigate utilizing, her strange kit of potions. The case that thrust her into the spotlight was the Zeus Colonial.
The Zeus Colonial incident had completely consumed the public imagination for months. The pleasure cruiser had left Boston with a planned arrival in Paris. The airship was discovered wandering off course, in Irish airspace when Her Majesty’s Air Service intercepted the ship. Upon boarding the marines discovered all passengers and crew deceased.
Rose was quoted in the newspapers citing a supernatural influence as the cause of death. A death toll of one hundred and thirty-two from eleven countries was a tragedy. All that death combined with the international complexities of a Greek flagged airship crossing international waters from the United States to France, but ending up in the British Empire making for a complex and highly publicized case.
Rose was thrust into the spotlight as the investigation became daily fodder for reporters across the globe. This was Rose's first high profile case in the media, others had been covered in the news but only after she had made significant progress or delivered a solution. The Zeus Colonial was different. The public obsession fueled the newspapers' frenzy, seeking answers. Just as she was conducting a detailed investigation, her superiors informed her that the ship was to be returned to Greece.
She flipped through the files reviewing the evidence pictures and investigation notes. It took days, multiple investigators and photographers just to gather the standard crime scene documentation. Rose and Dolly's frustrations were compounded by the similarity of the victims to the Moya and Chilton cases. Those cases were closed after the demise of the prime suspect, Angelica Moya. The Haitian Voodoo Queen was murdered by the hand of a Necronist cult member. Rose had witnessed the whole incident and knew with certainty that the powerful priestess was responsible for the deaths of Hernando Moya, Emilio Moya, Sir Francis Chilton, and Detective Cullam Keene.
How was it that over one hundred and thirty people were killed in a manner resembling the Pwen Hanaan ritual?
Rose was nonplussed, this seemed to be the same ritual she had learned to perform the night of Angelica's death. One that could pull Azul's spirit out of Preston and relieve her friend of his mental anguish. Therein lay the problem, what consequences would Rose face if she practiced what most considered the Dark Arts?
Rose snapped out of her daydream when Burton dropped another pile of folders on to the table she was leaning against. "There are more downstairs," said Burton.
Rose's eyes glazed over, then dropped to the thick file in her hand, the observations of a small galley serving the first-class section. "This is nonsense! I think it would take me a year just to read through these accounts. Are we seriously going to copy and send all of this over to America?"
"Right then, let us apply our investigative skills, there has to be some connection. It may not be criminal, but we have two accounts of a large group of people who died in the same manner,” said Burton.
"A pattern," Rose interjected.
"If the cause of death is the same, and if intentionally perpetrated, then the same individual is responsible," finished Burton, reaching for another file.
"It has to be the Necronists," theorized Rose.
"Why?" asked Dolly from his office.
"Come on, Boss, you two were there. Albeit, you did not witness the entire scene unfold, but you know Saint Yves and his cult had their own agenda. Their intent was to capture or kill Angelica behind your back, and I witnessed two things that night I can't shake. First, through the channeling, I experienced the ritual Angelica used to kill Moya in Haiti. Then I was party to the conversation between Saint Yves and Angelica. They had a past and whatever that was, it was important enough for the Necronists to go after her." Rose stood up to make her point, and eye contact with the Senior Detective.
"I am not saying to discount your hunches Caldwell, but everything you said is based on feelings and cannot be tied directly to evidence collected at the Zeus Colonial," challenged Dolly.
"Do you agree that the cause of death presented here, appears to be the same, as the Voodoo ritual Angelica used to kill her victims?"
"Yes, but we still have no evidence connecting the Necronists to the Zeus Colonial!” replied Dolly.
"The few pictures I could take with my camera obscura showed an imprint nearly identical to Emilio Moya's murder, the difference being I couldn't image the perpetrator," said Rose.
"Burton, will you assist Caldwell in following proper investigation procedures? We look for facts and evidence to piece together a case for the Crown to present to a Jury," guided Dolly as he went back into his office, then stopped and turned. "You two remember, the purpose of reviewing those files is to provide a fellow law enforcement officer material to assist with an investigation, you're not doing this to summarize findings or further investigate the Zeus Colonial."
* * *
7:00 p.m. Hawkin’s House, Paddington
Enzo knocked on the jamb of the door, it was open, and Rose was sitting at her desk. Next to it she was shining a light through glass plates and a gas chamber of the spectral projector creating a ghostly image of a scene on the Zeus Colonial.
“What are those?” Asked Enzo pointing at the pictures floating in the fumes of the projection chamber.
“Spectral pictures from a case, the Zeus Colonial. We had an American contact us saying he has seen a similar incident, and now the office is reviewing all the evidence we collected from the airship disaster,” Rose explained
as she studied the image.
“The condition of the bodies and the energy patterns in my photos are very similar to a case I investigated where a Voodoo Priestess stole the souls of her victims. The ritual was called the Pwen Hanaan.”
“A product of the Darkness,” said Enzo.
“Is this really about right and wrong, good and evil?” asked Rose.
“Maybe a poor choice of words. All of us will stand trials and many of us will have to go to a dark place, where grief, despair and dissatisfaction will try to consume us. It is there that you have to contemplate choices and your path out. How you make your way, the journey, is just as important as getting out. Those types of enchantments are produced in the time of one's darkness not with the intent of evil but intending to get to one’s desires easily,”
“Enzo, I have a working knowledge of the Pwen Hanaan ritual. I won’t go into the circumstances, but I could access it. I sought to learn the practice to extract Azul from Preston. During that process, the person who gave it warned of its use, I didn’t feel right about using it so I didn’t. I am relieved because it would have destroyed Azul and I now know he is a good soul.” explained Rose.
“Patience and understanding have guided you well,” offered Enzo.
“But I have a plan that will require me to use that practice. I am creating a new home for Azul, separating him from Preston for good; not banishment but to give him a chance to be as free as he can be. After meeting with Preston’s father and the Doctor, I feel an added urgency to using the Voodoo ritual as a remedy. I realize it may come at a personal cost; that it could break my connection with the Angelic and put me on a slippery slope.” Rose said as she collected the glass slides and put them into storage.
“What I can offer is that the only way to that answer is through the darkness. Should I come back another time and leave you to brood on that; or would you like to engage in the training we scheduled for now?”
“I am ready, I’ll meet you in the Theurgy room in a moment,” Rose figured a Theurgy session would clear her mind.
“Not today. Given what you shared I would like to show you something different today. Could you bring the Rod of Raziel out?” said Enzo.
Rose went over to the cabinet where she stored the Rod in a velvet lined mahogany box.
“Do you know the purpose of this Artifact?” asked Enzo.
“It was forged by the Archangel Raziel and used as a book mark in his book of secrets,” said Rose.
The old man winced and shook his head side to side. “This is the point of today's lesson. When you have an idea, and assume you understand a person place or thing then you are blocked from fully or truly understanding that person place or thing. Please clear your desk, I will be back in a moment,” with that comment the old monk left the study.
He returned shortly carrying an antique leather trunk. Rose couldn’t be certain from looking at it where it came from or how old it was, but one thing she did know, Enzo had not come into the house with it. Setting it down on the end table, he opened the top and then the front. The interior was partitioned into small cubby holes. Enzo reached into one and pulled out a scroll. Slowly, Enzo unrolled the old paper, setting paper weights on the corners to keep the paper unfurled.
“The object in your hand is not a book mark, it is a place mark. Rather than being left in a book to note what page you left off at, it was designed by the Guardian of Adam to rest upon the page to keep your place on the page. Lay it on the scroll,” said Enzo pointing to the parchment on her desk.
Rose looked down at the scroll and the indecipherable writing. In many places, the ancient page was too faint or deteriorated to read.
“Concentrate and look to the Rod not as a tool of dominance and power, but as a way for you to understand, to step outside your constraints, to comprehend what the source wishes to communicate to you,” guided Enzo.
Rose centered herself and set the square metal guide across the scroll under the first line of writing. She had in the past wielded the Relic like a sword or mace with great effect but when placed in this way it seemed more purposeful. She rested her fingertips on the rod and moved down the scroll.
The tips of her fingers tingled and the gold and silver filigree that decorated the oversized metal ruler shimmered with energy. Above the Rod the words faintly illuminated and where ink had faded it returned. Where mildew had destroyed the parchment, it was made whole. Rose found she could understand the ancient Enochian. She visualized a place where a monk was acting as the scribe while an Angel dictated these verses and described the formation and structure of the universe.
Rose snapped out of the experience with elation, wanting to share with Enzo what was happening. “Enzo, I could read the verses, but more exciting, I could understand and experience what the writer and the reciter were feeling and intending to convey. It was if I was there,” Rose declared with wide eyes and a gleaming smile.
“There is the true intent of the Rod, as a tool to further understanding rather than a weapon to smite enemies. The Relic looked to interpret your base requirement and at a time that you needed to protect yourself, it provided you protection and strength. I suggest to you that our training is not about learning how to use this tool but interpreting the needs and desires of yourself and those around you through the rod. We are all in each other’s lives for a reason or a season, the sooner you can understand that purpose, the faster you will work with that person to achieve the outcome intended.”
Rose picked the Rod up and let it rest in her palms. She let the room talk to her, focusing first on Enzo, not trying to drive her will through the Rod but allowing it to speak to her. Strangely, her thoughts were a mix of Angelic and English. Understanding of Enzo’s purpose came quickly, and it was obvious he was here to support and train her, but then she saw a closer purpose that this moment was about those scrolls and her further study. The Enochian Verses; the records of the first and original communication between man and the Angelic.
"Thank you for entrusting me with the scrolls, Friar," said Rose.
“You are most welcome, I have been entrusted with those documents for some time and now that you see them as you do, I know that that season of my life has been concluded,” Enzo relayed, visibly relieved.
At that moment Rose received a strong feeling, a burgeoning enlightenment coming from the spectral projector. The Rod drew her near it and she opened herself to the cognitive flow of intelligence. Rather than seeing just the swirls of spirit energy she saw the vectors and understood the spaces where she had taken the pictures. In one hand, she held the Rod, unaware that she held it up above her body, like a torch. With her other hand she switched out the glass plates absorbing the images in her mind.
"Enzo would you mind switching out the plates when I give you the prompt, I need to make notes while I observe?" asked Rose.
“As you wish,” The monk followed her lead and changed the slides as she asked. Rose looked at the image and allowed it to communicate what it had to say through the Rod. She then made notations on the diagram of the Zeus Colonial. Her concentration was broken when she heard the doorbell ring, then went right back to looking at her spectral projector.
* * *
8:15 p.m. Hawkin's House
Dolly was always a little startled when Pāora Te Potangaroa answered Rose's door. First off, he was huge, not only a good four inches taller than Dolly’s five foot ten inches, but wide and thick. Oh, and then there were his face tattoos that made him look like the leader of a war party not a house man in Paddington.
"Good evening Detective,"
"Good evening to you too, can you let Constable Caldwell know I am here on Police business?"
"Follow me, the Mistress of the house is in her study with the Monk,"
When shown in to the study, Dolly observed Rose standing over her desk scribbling away with one hand and holding one of her relics in the other.
"Miss Rose, Detective Williamson is here to see you," said Pāora.
"No, I'm fine, thank you,”
"Dolly, what perfect timing I want you to look at this," Rose set the Rod she often carried around with her down on her desk and held up the diagram of the Zeus Colonial.
"Exactly what am I looking at Caldwell?"
"Oh, yes, well Enzo here helped me achieve a breakthrough and what you are looking at is a series of lines and arrows I have drawn suggesting the direction the spirits are being pulled towards. It all points this way and down, Rose pointed with her fingers over a diagram of the Zeus Colonial. Dolly was confused, it was just a bunch of red pencil marks all going towards a central point.
"I can't say definitively because the ship was taken before I could finish shooting pictures, but I believe all the souls aboard were pulled to one location at the same time,"
"Interesting, let me ask you a question. You think you have enough slides to shoot pictures in Colorado?"
Rose smiled at Dolly, "We have permission to go?"
"Better, Caldwell, we have an invitation to visit. The United States Government’s State Department has requested our investigation. Apparently the newly inaugurated President Lincoln was informed of this incident. With seven states seceded and armed conflict imminent they want our opinion on the cause, to determine if this is a new weapon of the rebel coalition."
"When do I go?" asked Rose.
"When do we go?” Dolly retorted. “I plan to leave Burton in charge of the London office and travel as the officer in charge. I can't let you represent the Metropolitan Police and Her Majesty. I need to get things in order with Burton, then get your cargo requirements, so I then can arrange transport," he finished.
"Arrange transportation, what are you on about Dolly? Pāora!" yelled Rose.
"Get a wire-Type over to Reidun at the Aerodrome and find out when she can leave for America."
