AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Who are these sacrifices made to?” Logan asked, also standing.
“They have a god. He’s called the Master. Aunt Willow didn’t speak about him much. He’s kind of off-limits, I guess. I don’t know anything else about him.”
“Do they pray to this ... god?” Jeff asked.
“I don’t know that either. I never heard my aunt pray to him. It’s possible they feel he’s too holy to talk to. Like I said, I’ve tried to forget everything Willow told me about The Book. I’m surprised I retained this much. It wasn’t intentional. I worked hard to bury all this years ago. Guess I wasn’t very successful. It’s still there.”
“Let’s leave any other questions about this book for later,” Jeff said. “You all get going. We’ve got to do what we can to narrow the search for this guy so he can be stopped.”
“What’s the railroad doing?” Logan asked.
“Stephen told me they’re guarding their trains the best they can. I’m certain the Kansas City police are doing all they can too, but with all the trains out there, this guy could show up almost anywhere. ”
Jeff picked up the folder he’d brought with him and handed it to Alex. “I’m trusting you to do a good job. A lot of lives may depend on it.”
“I will.”
“I know you will. I’m not worried. Just remember that Kansas City needs whatever you can give them as soon as possible. We can glean a lot from what we already know about this guy and what we can discover from investigators doing a thorough search for information. We need to provide as much help as we can. The lives of at least two more people are at stake. Hopefully, he hasn’t already killed them.” He stood. “Why the poem? How does it tie in?”
“At first I assumed he chose victims near trains because it’s easy to tag boxcars and hide bodies inside,” Alex said. “But after hearing the poem, I think he had a fractured childhood. Confusing, especially if his parents never told him whether he was a demon or an angel. I remember wondering the same thing when my aunt first started telling me this stuff, but I got past it soon enough because I didn’t believe any of it. I wonder if ‘The Train Man’ was read to our guy when he was a child.”
She paused for a moment, letting everything they knew so far click into place in her mind. “Obviously, Adam Walker decided he was a demon. And not only that but the demon who’s supposed to bring about destruction on the earth.”
“It seems to me that believing he belonged to the world of demons didn’t give him his own, personal identity,” Logan said.
“Exactly. And at some point in his life, he identified with the Train Man. Maybe he was originally presented to Walker as someone terrifying, but then our killer decided to face his nightmares by becoming the thing he feared most.” She met Jeff’s gaze. “I’m probably jumping the gun a bit. This is just my initial reaction.”
“Sounds right to me,” Jeff said. He looked at Logan and Monty. “You have anything else to add?”
When they both shook their heads, Jeff said, “Okay. Start with that. Give us more when you can.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jeff turned and left the room. They followed quietly behind him, no one saying a word. Alex was sure they were all thinking about the Train Man. Hopefully, something in the file would help them find him. An inner voice told her they needed to work fast, because this guy was already several steps ahead of them.
Another voice, one that troubled her even more than she cared to admit, told her no one could understand the Train Man more than she could. They were connected by the past, and that connection terrified her.
