Page 26 of Forever Dark
A faint humorless smile touched her mouth.“I had to catch a mail bomber a few years ago.It was kept out of the news.If he’d been successful, a lot of people would’ve died.”
Connor leaned one shoulder against a pew end, watching her.“And you needed Latin because…”
“He sent Latin threats before he escalated to bombs.Churches, courthouses, schools.Enough phrases repeated often enough that I learned the common religious ones.I studied it while I tried to get inside his head.”
“You just casually picked up Latin chasing a terrorist?”
Selena took some photos on her phone.“I’m not exactly fluent.I’ve just seen enough to recognize the usual material, especially religious passages.I’ll get my office to send this on to a linguist for analysis, just in case.I’m no expert.”
The phrase on the wall sat there with its air of permanence and piety, but in this place it felt wrong.Borrowed by someone who wanted the weight of religion without any of its mercy.
Selena turned away from it.“Has the entire scene been swept over by forensics?”
“Yeah.”
“Connor,” Selena said, her voice more stern.“Are you certain?I don’t want to contaminate the scene.”
Connor raised an eyebrow.“We’re not all country bumpkins here, Selena.”
“Good.Then please show me where you found the body.”
Connor nodded toward the side door.“This way.”
They turned and walked together back down the ruined aisle to where the tower entrance sat.
The tower stairwell felt narrower than she remembered.Darker, too.Connor went first this time, and Selena followed with the flashlight beam cutting up over worn steps and old boards.Their footfalls thudded through the enclosed space.Dust shifted under their shoes.The wood gave small groans as if objecting to their weight.
Halfway up, Selena caught the smell.It was faint but certain.Dried blood.She had never quite gotten used to it.No matter how many death scenes she had attended.No matter how hard she had hidden her revulsion to it all from her peers.
Connor pushed open the upper door.
The choir loft opened around them in dim angles and boards and shadow.Shuttered windows lined one side.Weak daylight seeped through narrow gaps.Chalk marks sat on the floor where the chair had been positioned.Evidence tape had been removed, but the room still held the tension of something interrupted.
Selena stepped in slowly.
Connor cleared his throat.“This was where Brenda Colter had been arranged.Head bowed.Hands together.Throat cut.”
The place felt smaller than it had in the crime scene photos.More intimate, which made it worse.
“According to the preliminary report, you found the body?”she asked.
“I did.”Connor stayed near the doorway, giving her space.“Saw a light up here.I think it was candles.”
Selena looked toward the chalk marks, then leaned down at several solid splashes of wax on the floor that had been labeled by forensic cards.“And there were other candles downstairs as well, weren’t there?”
“A bunch.Like this was some God damned ceremony.”His words seemed to echo in the old tower.
Selena’s flashlight moved over the wall until it caught more writing.
Scortum ducere.
Connor came closer.“I searched online for a translation to that one, too.Not sure how accurate it is.”
Selena narrowed her eyes at the letters.“It’s not a religious phrase I recognize.”She let the beam linger.“Hold on.”
One hand went into her pocket for her phone.She pulled it out and dialed her office.When it answered she was quick.“Tanya?”
“Hey, Selena, what’s up?”the voice replied.
