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“J didn’t find it because there is no record of these killings except for that file. It’s been erased and buried. All witnesses are dead or have been silenced. The victims of the original case don’t even have headstones. They were dumped in a plot of land in the middle of the forest and forgotten about.”
A systematic cover-up. By who, she couldn’t begin to imagine. It would require an enormous amount of power to erase a case short of one file. Maybe Mackey had that kind of power. It was clear she knew nothing about the woman.
Vera held the images up to the light. A hazy ‘X’ could be seen just left of center on the chest of a man. One after another, she found it on all three of the victims. “Holy shit.”
“Your memories may come back in time about what you experienced or maybe it will always remain dark to you. But there was an entity in that circle with you tonight. It didn’t start taking men’s hearts here in Sylen. I’ve been looking for more cases but as of right now, it’s pure speculation. But I believe there is a trail of cluster killings all across the country. Locals play a role in the murders but through the interviews I’ve done on this original case I know there is something supernatural contributing to the sacrifice of their hearts. Something I’m guessing you saw tonight.”
A river of blood from one end of the country to the other. That’s what it would look like if Mackey was right. That thing she was sure had touched her, killed eight times. At least that they knew of.
“It creates a symbiotic relationship. Women need something and so does it. So they provide for one another. My theory is that it’s surviving any way it can, just like those women.”
Mackey looked out the window and the overhead light cut sharp angles across her face.
The wind howled, slinging the flames into a wall of crimson. A wave of blood to engulf them. Guttural screams harmonized with its song, making it grow brighter. The fire seemed to slide beneath her skin. Slithering up her fingertips until it danced along her arms to her chest, ripping across her pelvis and down to her toes. A living flame. It awoke a deep impulse within, urging her to do something. What she was supposed to do, she didn’t know, but she wanted to listen. To reach her hand out and burn all that it touched. She sensed someone next to her. The barely-there sensation of them touching her face. A cool touch against the lava hiding just under her skin. Its hollow lips brushed against her ear, whispering.
“Did you hear me?”
Mackey pulled her from the memory. Touching her cheekbone, she could still feel the whisper of someone else.
“No."
Normally impossible to read, concern pinched her face. “I’m going to be honest with you because I don’t think you can handle any more shit tonight. What happened here, in that forest, in this town, will die here. Interviews and searches will be conducted but I’m confident nothing will come of it. Those women made sure of it and honestly, from what I’ve gathered, I’m glad they did.”
“You don’t know.”
Mackey lifted her hand to silence her. “I know enough for right now. I know they did what they felt they had to do and they had the power to do it.” Her brow arched knowingly. “People like you and me see a different kind of truth. Sometimes lines are nothing but arbitrary fences and rules are the very thing making the bad, worse. Not always but too often to pretend it doesn’t happen.”
“How would you know that?”
“Because I know what you did in D.C.” Vera became heavy and light at the same time. “I'm not going to play the moral police and tell you that you were right or wrong. Adrian is gone and Satine is on the warpath because of that." Vera's mouth went dry. She’d heard nothing of The Unveiled since the end of her assignment. If Satine was still hell-bent on their mission then it would take a monstrous effort to stop her, if anyone could. "I read your file long before you came back home and I got a good picture of the kind of agent and person you are. You worked your ass off to get the training you needed to be a solid undercover operative. You read people, you blend in when you want and stand out when you need to. Being in the middle of the fray is where you thrive. Your eyes are still adjusting from the blinders you’ve yanked off but rest assured, what you will find is the real truth. Ugly, harsh, difficult to swallow sometimes, but truth nonetheless.”
She looked Mackey in the eye and found all her secrets laid bare. Secrets she lied to keep hidden from the few people she cared about. Secrets that cost her everything. “Does Teddi know that you work for this organization?”
Her eyes flitted down as she brushed a piece of lint off her pants. “Not at the moment, no.”
“Then why tell me? Was all this some test? Did you know what was going to happen?” Vera pointed toward the forest. She felt like a toy soldier being shoved back and forth, kept in the dark, and used however others saw fit.
“I didn’t know. I’m telling you this because I’m a good judge of character and I have a feeling about you. Call it instinct or intuition, I don’t care. All of these events are links in a chain bringing you to this moment. A moment where I think you were forced to face the kinds of truths most people are incapable of imagining. Beyond that, I think what you found scared you.”
Vera was too tired to deny it. Fear was a perfume clinging to her skin. Which is why her eyes narrowed when Mackey leaned forward and lowered her voice.
“You’re in a unique position. You can take the remainder of your suspension on the chin and try to salvage a career out of the FBI while most likely being punished for that suspension. Or you can do something different. So, my question is this: are you interested in pursuing more hard truths?”
“I figured you’d be up,” Ximena’s whisper cut through the quiet.
The bed dipped as her sister planted herself so close to her side they were squished together from thigh to shoulder. It made her feel like a kid again, a big sister again.
She’d been like that ever since she got back to Fort Collins. Reaching out for more hugs, asking her constantly if she needed anything. All the anger had gone out of her, leaving them back where they always were—sisters who needed each other more than they needed a fight. Vera just couldn’t seem to find her way fully back inside the house next to her. It was as if all that anger and fear from Ximena had seeped out and Vera absorbed it.
She hadn’t told her about the glade and what happened with the women. Not even Nora’s confession about killing Alex. A sanitized version of how she got injured was concocted in the back seat of the SUV. As more details trickled out from Mackey, she decided to tell her sister only what she needed to know. Alex had killed himself. They’d agreed it would be safest to write the narrative Sheriff Malis began. For different reasons but a lie all the same. Too many question marks and not enough people in custody left Vera sure of her decision. The true cause of Alex's death would stay buried in the land of Sylen.
They lay in the heavy silence that only two a.m. could bring as the ceiling fan whirled above. Yellow street lights and the ambient glow of porch lamps beamed like stars outside the window. The world slept, unaware that it had turned upside down. She wanted to run down the street and scream at everyone, wake them up from their slumber and shake them, tell them that everything she thought she knew was a lie.
“I don’t know how to carry all of this,” she admitted hoarsely as the hot tears flowed without restraint. The room blurred into a grey mass behind the flood.
Turning to her side, Ximena wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Maybe that’s the point."
“What is?”
