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Hernandez adjusts the phone. “How was this kept so quiet from us?”
She flashes a look my way. “The medical histories were buried. Nearly half of the victims weren’t initially town residents, having moved here beforehand from other states.”
I see Devyn before me in the cave, her eyes flashing wild when she said:I’ve liberated them.
She wanted to liberate them from the suffering of their illnesses, their pending physical deaths. She could have been communicating with these people for years before they moved here to disappear.
“What I want to know is how you put this together, St. James?” Rana asks me.
Snapped back into my thoughts, I touch my forehead. “There was a medical journal at the mansion library.” I sneak a glance at Hernandez.Wasbeing the operative word. “It was conjecture.”
“Good conjecture,” she says. “The father’s death certificate was recovered to confirm he was the gene carrier for their disease. He was checked into a hospice facility at the time of his death.”
My limited research indicated that juvenile onset of the disease is almost always inherited from the father. I suspected that Devyn’s father likely passed away from complications not long after he left town. Possibly, so his children and wife wouldn’t have to watch him deteriorate.
“You profiled that if the gift of the Overman was rejected by society, then the perpetrator would devolve and take their own life or the victims’ lives.”
I immediately see the connection the agent is making to the torture chamber and internally curse. On my second revision of the profile, I concluded the hemlock would come into play as a means of elimination. Which, by all appearances, looks to be what happened to Bethany.
“That wasn’t a definitive conclusion at the time,” I say, attempting to deter her. “Considering the recent developments, the alchemist suspect fits that profile more reasonably than Childs. Closing up loose ends, eliminating any potential leaks that could expose and implicate them.”
“If that’s so, then Childs would logically be in danger, as she’s also a loose end,” Rana says, and the hairs along my body lift away. “But it’s more plausible they’re working together. Childs staged the scene yesterday. No matter who injected the hemlock, she’s an accomplice.”
Unless Devyn was trying to tell me something with the scene. I know it’s not rational and even biased, but I want to believe Devyn’s desire was to help these people, to offer an escape, even if a delusional one.
“I’m sending Keller and Locke your away to team up,” Rana says. “I want the crime scene analyzed in daylight before the storm can hamper any potential evidence.”
At the mention of Kallum, my heart rate quickens. “Agent Rana, did you receive my?—?”
“I got your notice, and I don’t accept it. Professor Locke is scheduled to depart this evening, and I can’t lose the both of you on this case.”
“Agent Rana?—”
“I know why you want to leave,” she cuts me off. “I understand you feel a connection with Childs—Devyn,” she amends. “And though I typically subscribe to the sound advice to never commiserate with the suspect…use it, Halen. Use your connection with Devyn to find her.”
Chest constricted, I can only nod, not fully appreciating what I’m agreeing to before she ends the call. All I can think about is what she said.
Devyn could be in danger.
Hernandez pockets his phone in the inseam of his jacket. “So you’re not leaving now.”
I expel a tense breath and look him in the eyes. As he was the one to help load my luggage in my rental, I couldn’t keep it from him. “I still am. I’ll check out the scene once more before you drop me off. But like I said before, if anything pops up that you need assistance?—”
“I’ll reach out to you,” he says with a wan smile. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re making the right call. I have a bad feeling about this offender. Like Rana said, as we close in on them, it could get volatile.”
While we wait on the second half of our team to arrive, I conduct a more thorough examination of the victim’s body, looking for anything that I could have overlooked during my cursory evaluation.
Using the ME’s photos on the tablet to compare to the autopsied body, I study the figures drawn in animal blood on her skin. I recall most of the markings from Devyn’s circle in the cave as part of her ascension ritual. The only symbol that stands out is the philosopher’s stone. It’s the only symbol that appeared in the ravine, Devyn’s sacred space.
An image of the symbol carved into Alister’s skull flits across my vision, and I squeeze my eyes shut to force it away. Kallum has woven himself just as intricately into this case, and if I start pulling at the thread, I’ll be the one to unravel.
What are you trying to tell me, Devyn?
I glance up from the body. “Was Colter Childs ever identified among the remains?” I ask Dr. Forrester.
She presses her lips together and digs out her phone. After I provide my email, she sends the full report to my device.
“Thank you, but can you just tell me if his remains were recovered?—”
