CHAPTER FOUR
Kate crossed her arms and read the cipher again.Or rather one of the ciphers.The killer had used four different codes that she could identify, and those codes were scattered randomly throughout the message, preventing her from decoding any one part of it.
She’d figured out one of the ciphers so far, using the seventh commandment as a reference.That cipher was a simple substitution cipher where each letter of the Aramaic alphabet was replaced with its opposite: one was replaced with twenty-two, two with twenty-one, and so on.
The cipher she’d decoded confirmed that the killer was punishing people for violating the seventh commandment, but it hinted that the Carltons were killed not just for their own sexual deviance but for leading others to sexual deviancy.
The door to the hotel room flew open, and Kate stiffened, then huffed irritably as Marcus stormed inside.“God, Marcus!Could you not do that?”
“Sorry,” he grumbled.“I’m just frustrated.”
“At what?We just got here.Did you think we were going to solve this in a couple of hours?”
Instead of answering, Marcus walked to the balcony window of the high-rise and threw it open.“Hot in here,” he mumbled.
It was also hot out there.Miami was famous for its warm summers, and at five in the afternoon, there were several more hours of sunshine left.Kate left it alone, though.“Marcus, talk to me.What happened?”
“Lawyer’s giving me shit,” he explained.“Says the guest records are proprietary information, and he’s not required to provide them to me.”
Marcus was working on the hypothesis that the killer attended last night's sex party as a guest and either remained on the property after the party or returned later after everyone left.He tried to find the guest records on the Carltons' bedroom computer, but the device and the files were password-protected, and Rivera balked when Marcus suggested he deliver it to the Miami Field Office's cybercrimes unit.Now, apparently, the Carltons' estate lawyer was stepping in.
“We need to subpoena the records,” Marcus said.“I guarantee the information we need is there.”
He was pacing the room, scowling like an angry bear.He looked adorable but now was probably the wrong time to tell him that.
“We can do that,” Kate said, “but I’m not convinced that the killer is a member of our guest list.”
“Why?”
She turned to her notes, which covered the entire surface of the hotel room’s table.The notes were laid out in imitation of the code as it appeared on the headboard of the Carltons’ bed with photos of the cipher placed where Kate hadn’t decoded them yet and written translations taped down where she had.
Marcus approached and scowled down at the cipher.Seeing what she’d translated so far didn’t improve his mood.He really had hoped this wouldn’t end up being related to Cox.
“The cipher uses multiple codes,” Kate explained.“Four, I believe.I’ve only decoded one of them, and it appears to have been used mostly for Bible verses.The top one here is the obvious one: ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’”
“And the rest follow the same theme,” Marcus said.“So do we think this is a legit commandment killing?”
“It’s too early to tell,” Kate replied, “but I think it is.Look at these verses, though.I don’t think the killer’s just punishing people for being freaky.”
She pointed at one of the ciphers and the translation next to it.“This is an excerpt from Proverbs 9.‘She sits in her doorway on the heights overlooking the city.She calls out to people minding their own business.“Come in with me!”she urges the simple.To those who lack good judgment, she says, “Stolen water is refreshing!Food eaten in secret tastes the best!”But little do they know that the dead are there.Her guests are in the depths of the grave.’”
She looked expectantly at Marcus, who returned her gaze for a moment, then said, “Okay, uncle.What should I be noticing here that I’m missing?”
“Well, it’s clearly a condemnation of the Carltons, but I don’t think it’s because of their own infidelity.”
He raised an eyebrow.“All right?Continue.”
“That part about calling to other people makes me think their real crime wasn’t sleeping with other people but hosting these parties.They were the foolish woman calling to others to join her in her folly.”
Marcus nodded, finally getting it.“Encouraging other people to fall.”
“Exactly.I don’t think the killer murdered them for being adulterers.I think he or she killed them for facilitating adultery.”
“Okay,” he said.“I can buy that.Kind of like the first commandment when Cox went after ministers who were leading people astray rather than the people led astray.”
“Yes.”
Marcus crossed his arms and tilted his head.“Why cut their genitals off, though?If their crime is leading others astray, then it’s not really their hoo-hahs that are the issue.”
