Answering the Call

by Ali Vali

  New Orleans was different, though. All these people were like a large incestuous soup that connected them each to the new game. The one common denominator was the warrior, but each of these people had a part to play. They all also fit into Hunter’s plan to keep bleeding Savoie until she was on her knees.

  “Tonight you lost your partner. Little warrior Nathan will never forgive you for the loss of his woman. In a way she was one of yours, and you couldn’t protect her.” Chloe Johnson’s car arrived, and she waved to Roger one more time before driving away. “I need to make a few more once-removed sacrifices before Chango is satisfied with your blood.”

  Chloe made a U-turn and stopped at the light close by. “Plenty of sacrifices that will chip away at what you count on.”

  * * *

  “Go drive Keegan home, and take Nathan with you,” Sept said as the bomb squad ran everyone out while they checked. Her father had lectured all of them, but she figured this was one scene that wouldn’t be rigged to blow.

  “I don’t need a babysitter for that, shrimp,” Joel said, and she flicked his earlobe hard.

  “He’s staying with her because he’s upset, Mr. Sensitive.” The guys from the bomb squad came out and gave her the go-ahead. “The victim was his girlfriend, remember? Keegan doesn’t want him to be alone.”

  “Will do, and I think that’s your voodoo guy,” Joel pointed to where Nathan was still sitting.

  “Make sure you walk them both to the door before you hurry back.” Before Joel got to them, Julio took a small pouch from his pocket and removed something that he then put around Nathan’s neck. She wondered if the colored beads would help Nathan with his pain.

  “Hello, Sept,” Julio said when he joined her on the small porch. “I gave Nathan some tea to help him sleep. Keep him with you until tomorrow morning. His pain will need your strength.”

  “Thank you, and Keegan will take good care of him until I get home.” She handed him some booties and a pair of gloves. “Excuse me a moment.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” Nathan asked when she joined him at the back of the ambulance.

  “I need you to go take care of Keegan for me until I’m done here. No matter what, know that you’re not alone in this, my friend.”

  “Thank you,” Nathan said and stood to hug her.

  She watched him go, her heart aching for him. Julio placed his hand on her shoulder, and she smiled at him. “You’ve seen the worst Perlis could come up with, but you need to take a few deep breaths before you get in there.”

  “It’s not an altar?” Julio asked as he put everything on. “When you called…I thought.”

  “Wait,” she said, slowing him down. “It is an altar, but the body is way more mutilated than usual. Not that the usual isn’t bad enough.” She followed her own advice and took some deep breaths before leading Julio in.

  Julio walked in and inhaled sharply when she moved to the side and allowed him to see the body. Judy Rollings had been stripped naked like everyone else, disemboweled like everyone else, but the killer hadn’t stopped there.

  “Do you see the differences?” she asked, worried she’d have to take Julio back out when he placed his hand over his mouth like he was trying not to throw up. “She was a police officer, and I’m still trying to decipher how this happened. There’s no sign of forced entry, and she knows enough about these cases to not have gone willingly. I’d rather die on my feet than subject myself to this.”

  “Where are her breasts and her heart?” Julio asked, his eyes on the circle of salt. The only items in there, though, were the candles, a religious statue, and a child’s snack-pack pudding cup.

  “Tell me about this, and we’ll try and figure it out together.” She stood next to him, and George stopped what he was doing to listen. “What’s this orisha?”

  “The statue is La Virgen de la Candelaria, or Our Lady of Candlemas. Another not well known saint, but as orishas go, Oya is the owner of the marketplace and followed by plenty of business owners.” Julio took a few steps toward the circle and pointed. “Her colors are brown and burgundy, and she loves chocolate pudding, but true followers would’ve made it from scratch. Her sacred number is nine, and she’s also known for being a fierce warrior who wields a machete.”

  “That would explain this, then,” George said, holding up the large evidence bag with a machete inside. “We found it driven through her mouth and stuck to the floor,” he told Julio. “You can see the picture, but I couldn’t look at her like that anymore.”

  “From what’s here, what do you think the meaning is?” Sept asked, and she heard a few people coming in.

  “Jesus H. Christ,” Fritz yelled, placing his hands on knees. “What the fuck is this?”

  “Sir, this is Dr. Julio Munez, the expert from Tulane helping us with the scenes,” she said, thinking eventually someone new would contaminate the scene with puke. “If you could allow him to finish, I’ll bring you up to speed.”

  “Oya is an odd choice, but I can only speculate as to why she was chosen.”

  “Speculation isn’t a bad word, Dr. Munez,” Fritz said.

  “Alex Perlis stole the books from Estella Mendoza, then killed a woman in her store,” Julio said, and something Keegan had mentioned made her guess where he was going with this.

  “To duplicate Frieda Herns’s murder would be tricky and almost impossible,” she said, and Julio nodded. Keegan had questioned that if the murders had all completely duplicated Perlis’s order, how would the killer copy that one. “Instead of choosing a place of business, the kill is dedicated to the goddess of the marketplace.”

  “Yes, but you’re right about this being so different, since the heart and other pieces are missing,” Julio said.

  “What the hell?” Fritz asked, as if just noticing that Judy’s breasts, ears, and heart weren’t in the altar circle.

  “The killer took souvenirs this time, sir. Did you think of something?” she asked Julio.

  “Oya is also the keeper of the cemetery gates.”

  “I thought the cemetery was someone else’s domain?” she asked, and Julio shook his head.

  “The first day with the police officers, the killer marked them with the path of Afra, which linked them with the woman at Elegua’s altar, but Afra is the gatherer of the dead. This orisha guards and keeps the gate where Afra’s path leads them,” Julio said.

  “Excuse me.” Sept stepped outside and told the closest couple of police officers, “Put a list together of all the cemeteries close to here, and I mean all of them. I don’t care what religious denomination. I need it now.”

  “What are you thinking?” Fritz asked.

  “I don’t think the souvenirs were to keep.” She cocked her head to Judy’s body. “The altar’s offerings had to go somewhere else.”

  “What does this asshole want?” Fritz asked Julio.

  “Aside from the degradation of my religion?” Julio asked, breathing shallowly, as if not wanting to contaminate his lungs with the negative air in the room. “I don’t know, sir. Hopefully people like Detective Savoie will eventually figure it out, but all I see here is someone who wants to kill for the simple sake of it. Nothing more than that jumps out at me.”

  “Why pick these crimes, of all things?” Fritz asked, but his question didn’t seem directed at anyone in particular.

  “We thought it might be a disciple of Teacher, or Teacher himself,” she said, but neither of those choices seemed right.

  “And now you don’t?” Julio asked.

  “I don’t really know what to think just yet, but I do want to find the body parts and see if they lead us somewhere.”

  Jennifer had finished taking pictures from every angle, so George removed the black cloth from Judy’s upper face and cursed. “Fuck me. The eyes are missing too.”

  “The eyes?” she asked, and something clicked in her mind. It had been something she’d read, but she had to do a few things first. She made a note to find the referen
ce later, but something about eyes jogged her memory.

  “I hope to hell for Judy’s sake he did all this after she was dead,” George said.

  “I hope so too, but for now let’s see if we can bury her with as much dignity as possible,” she said, and Fritz turned around and stared at the door. “Julio, will you come with me?” Sept asked.

  “Whatever you need, I’ll try to help you.”

  “Then pray for answers, but for now we need to take a ride.”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  “Why so quiet tonight?” Brian Voles asked Nicole as he cut a piece of steak and waited for her answer before placing it in his mouth. “You’re not thinking of giving up, are you?”

  “I’ll get what I need without police input,” Nicole said, twirling pasta onto her fork. “The police are your take on the book and what’s happening now, not mine.” She gazed at him as she took a bite of her meal, licking her lips slowly when she was done. “What would you be doing if the current investigation was yours?”

  “I’d concentrate on the explosives,” he said, his nostrils flaring as she enjoyed another bite. “If they’re the result of a serial bomber they’ll have a certain signature. That’s where they can find a lead to solving this case.”

  “The agents in Hicks’s office won’t share with you?”

  “Anabel must be fucking someone in DC to keep this job.” He chewed the meat like he was a vicious animal. “She’s not taking my calls and has her people running interference for her. Her bomb experts are working with NOPD, which is unheard of, if you’re true FBI. This should be her show, and the local idiots should be kept where they belong, on the sidelines. Either way, no one’s talking.”

  “Maybe we should leak their lack of cooperation to the papers and news.”

  “If you did that to me, I’d shut you out permanently.” He cut another piece of steak and dipped it into his mashed potatoes. “We need to start checking the police scanner and simply show up. Until we luck out, you need your NOPD contact to agree to a meet. I want to talk to him.”

  “You can do that alone?” She slid her hand across the table and touched the tips of his fingers. “I’ve got a few more meetings set up with Alex, and I don’t want to miss them.”

  “Has he said anything interesting?” Brian didn’t move his hand away from hers as he picked up his wineglass. “The fucker should do everyone a favor and hang himself before the city has to spend a fortune to try him.”

  “He’s starting to trust me, and I think the thrill of being memorialized in a book is starting to thaw his frozen throat. A few more visits and I should have the whole story.” She pushed her plate away, not hungry for any more food. “What do you think about the bombs?”

  “In my opinion they’re a diversion,” he said, picking up his scotch. “It’s the same with people. Usually loud showoffs are busy screaming at the world for attention, but it’s when they’re quiet that you should really be looking.”

  “And what are they usually doing?”

  “The world is full of two kinds of people, sweet girl. Those who fuck, and those who get fucked over.” He finished his drink, and she signaled the waiter for another.

  “Where do we fall in the grand scheme of things?” She pulled on his index finger and smiled. “Maybe it’ll give me a hint to get Alex to open up to me.”

  “Hopefully I taught you to always be in control and on top. You’re too smart and too beautiful to be anyone’s bitch.” He smiled, and like in some instances, she found his expression more cruel than pleasing. “You have to grab him by the proverbial balls and squeeze. Then you simply have to demand he talk, and he will.”

  “I see.” She leaned back and crossed her legs. “Back to the bombs. What are they a diversion from?”

  “I can’t say without the facts.” He glanced from the new drink to her knee that her skirt riding up had exposed.

  “You must have some idea.”

  “Maybe the killer should have skipped killing the two police officers since they drew attention somewhere unimportant.” He swallowed half the new drink and began twirling the glass again.

  “Why a mistake?”

  “Doing anything that galvanizes every law-enforcement agency in town against them wasn’t the smart play. That’s my take, but my job is to find the bad guys, not plan the crimes. The FBI has taught me to think like a killer, but somehow I can’t dumb myself down that much.” He finished his third drink and asked for the check. “Though I could be wrong.”

  “We’ll see, I guess, but I’ll always bet on you, Daddy.”

  “Shall we continue this at home?”

  “I have another appointment, so maybe later.” She lifted his hand and leaned over to kiss his knuckles. “Much later.”

  * * *

  “Sept,” the radio dispatcher said after one of the uniforms handed his radio over and changed it to a secure line.

  “Yes, ma’am. Go ahead.”

  “One of the units called in, and they found what you’re looking for. That’s all they reported since they said you’d understand.”

  “I know what they mean. Where are they?”

  “Outside Lafayette Cemetery on Washington,” the woman said. It was like a punch to the gut. “You know where that is?”

  “Yeah, thanks.” She waved to Julio to get into the car, and she sped off. Lafayette Cemetery was directly across from Blanchard’s Restaurant. If it was what she was thinking, the bitch had made a point to leave a message. “I know exactly where it is.”

  The valets at the restaurant were all staring at the entrance to the cemetery and the police car with the blue flashing lights. “Turn those off,” she said as she got out. “Where is it?”

  “It’s actually the entrance across from this one, on the other side,” the officer said, pointing through the wrought-iron gates. “John sent us over here to cover the block.”

  “Do it without the pretty lights so we don’t freak out the full and happy people coming out of there.” She drove around the block and walked to the gate with Julio. A larger police presence was there, but they stayed outside as she and Julio headed right in and to the right of the gate, where the two candles flickered in the very slight breeze.

  “Someone cut the lock,” John said, stopping at a magnolia tree to the right of the gate against the wall, “and left this.”

  It was another altar, complete with candles and another statue like the one in Judy’s home. She grabbed John’s arm when he tried to move closer. “Call those bomb guys back.”

  “Why? You see something?” John asked but stayed next to her.

  A heart, breasts, and ears lay in the circle, and she wanted to collect them, but she thought about her father’s warning. “Something’s hinky about this, so let’s be sure.”

  They didn’t have to wait long, and again the explosives experts cleared them out. Sept took a few minutes to call Keegan so she wouldn’t be scared if she happened to look outside. “Can I stop by and see you?” Keegan asked. “Joel didn’t mind waiting until we got through our busiest seating, since I didn’t want to leave Louis in the lurch, but we’re ready to go.”

  “Not this time, baby. Just go home, and I’ll be there as soon as I can. Is Nathan still there?”

  “I put him in the office with Joel, but I couldn’t talk him into eating anything. This is the most bizarre thing. That poor woman.”

  “We’ll talk about it later, but you’re right about that.” One of the bomb guys came out and held his hand up to her. “I’ll call you later, but I have to go.”

  “Love you, and be careful.”

  “Love you too, and remember not to leave alone.”

  “Detective Savoie,” the federal agent said. “We’ve got a situation, so good call.”

  “What’d you find?” The rest of the team came out to retrieve more equipment.

  “The statue has enough C4 to take out everyone here. Whoever your perp is, the guy’s got a seemingly endless supply of the stuff.”r />
  “Thanks, and be careful. We’ll clear the area until you’re done,” she said, and the guy nodded.

  “Might be a little while,” the guy said, getting back into his protective gear. “We’re trying to save it for the evidence value if it doesn’t go off, but if it’s too dangerous, we’ll blow it in place.”

  “Take your time.” She reported back to George and the others and apologized to Julio for keeping him so long. He stayed in the car with his eyes closed, softly mouthing prayers, but he wasn’t leaving until he helped her. “Hey,” she said to Gustave, “where are you?”

  “Closing out the Rollings scene, trying to keep the chief and Dad from having matching strokes. You need something?”

  “No. I was wondering if you found anything else.”

  “Gavin came out himself and said to pass along that he’d found the same needle mark on her shoulder area. They finished a few minutes ago and loaded Rollings for transport. As soon as we lock up I’ll meet you there.”

  She told him what was happening and to inform their father. After the call, she joined George and Jennifer in their van, remembering the note she’d made to herself. “Did you ever get anything back from the toe someone sent me?”

  “We handed it off for DNA testing,” George said as Jennifer typed something into her laptop. “With everything going on, I haven’t pushed them for results, considering where it came from.”

  “I need the results as fast as you can get them.”

  “Do you want me to have Gustave or one of the others follow up?” George asked.

  “No. Tonight, all this made me think about it.” The delivery on the happiest day of her life suddenly had her believing that the smallest clue that made no sense might be a key to unlocking something important.

  The team came out of the cemetery with a metal box, which meant they’d retrieved the bomb without it going off. “It’s clear, but we want to do one more sweep,” the same guy told her.