There’s a horse in my backyard, Dan thought. A white horse, eating the crab grass.
He observed the horse for a few more seconds, then went back into the house.
That's when he heard a noise from the bathroom. The sounds of someone being violently sick. He rushed down the hallway and checked the bathroom.
Megaera was kneeling on the floor, her head in the toilet. Dan crouched beside her and rubbed her back.
"Meg! Jesus! What's wrong? Anything I can do?"
She came up for air and shook her head. "Just check on Sally. I brought her over to meet you, she wanted to know all about you," Megaera whispered.
"Sally?" Dan asked. "But I didn't see anyone else in the house when I came in."
"She's in the backyard," Meg managed.
"Is Sally a white horse?"
Megaera just nodded.
"Then, we've met. I'm not sure what she thought of me," Dan admitted.
Megaera groaned and put her head back into the toilet and began heaving. Dan left her and went into the kitchen. He hunted for a glass in the sink, then looked in the cabinets. He found all his glasses put away. He picked one and filled it with water. With the glass, he headed back to the bathroom.
He tried to get Megaera to drink. She shook her head and stood, her legs weak. She leaned into the basin and ran some water. She quickly washed her face, then looked at Dan. Her eyes were puffy, her hair in her face. He helped her walk into the living room and onto the couch.
"Is it a virus?" Dan asked, at a loss for words.
"I have no idea. I'm not supposed to get sick! It came on me when I was cleaning that bathtub of yours. I have no idea how you can live like this," Megaera said. "I had to do something. My sisters are planning what to do with Sorath, mother is busy with that niece of yours, who is still hanging around."
"What?" Dan shot back. "Megaera, my niece is dead!"
"Yes, but she refuses to move on," Megaera groaned and ran back to the bathroom. Dan heard her being sick. He went back to the kitchen and looked out the window. The horse was now staring back at him. He felt as if the horse was judging him.
Megaera walked up behind him and leaned against him. "I have to get back home."
"Want me to give you a ride?"
"No, I'll take Sally. I think she likes you," she said as she opened the back door. Dan followed her and watched as Megaera lifted herself onto Sally, riding bareback. The horse glared at Dan. "See? She likes you. I'll be back either tonight or in the morning."
"I'll be at the office late, so maybe in the morning?"
Megaera tried to smile as she turned Sally towards the fence lining the backyard. Sally trotted, leapt into the air, and vanished.
Dan stood for a full five minutes, his eyes on the area where the horse had disappeared. He blinked several times. He went back into the bathroom and saw the bucket and towels where Megaera had left them.
He had to get back to the station, but he made a note to drop by where Megaera lived to check on her. A surprise visit.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Tartarus
The throne room in Tartarus was immense. It dwarfed the throne room on Mount Olympus, it was even larger than the throne used by Hades in his palace.
It was carved from the obsidian that also lined the walls and formed the floor.
Sorath claimed it as soon as he appeared. He was much stronger now, and was observing his minions scurry back and forth, carrying maps, papers, charts, white boards, and easels. He had no idea that, in the time he was gone, bureaucracy had broken out. His fingers tapped impatiently on the arm of the throne. He watched each one carefully and finally he'd grown tired of frantic movement.
"Enough!" He bellowed. He glowered at the small demons huddling together before him. "No more maps! No more wall charts! Just bring me Bune and that arrogant idiot Rommel."
The demons scattered. They soon returned with Bune and Rommel, marching smartly into the throne room. Bune halted and bowed deeply.
"Lord Sorath," he intoned. "It is a welcome pleasure to see you again. I trust your time on the surface was productive?"
"Stop the groveling. It's time to get to work. I wish to attack the Furies in the next two days."
"Impossible, your eminence," Rommel began.
"NOTHING is impossible, you Teutonic moron!" Sorath roared.
"I need trained and disciplined troops. I could use some mechanized weapons," Rommel protested. "But I need trained troops, not these monkeys! Give me an armored division, and I'll take Asphodel in a single day!"
"You do realize that your surface weapons don't function here?" Sorath reminded him, then added, "We have weapons, along with millions of those monkey-like creatures. Arm them, they will attack in a deadly swarm of stupidity and courage."
"I suggest we take the fight to them, on the surface," Rommel suggested.
"That comes later, after I've secured the underworld and disposed of the Furies," Sorath stood, unfolding to his full height of over 3 meters. "Before I entered the portal, I saw the blonde one with a mortal. She's grown very weak. She even stays with this insipid mortal, and the portal happened to open in this human's domicile. It'll be easy to take her," Sorath explained. "Prepare one of the cells for her. Once separated, the sisters are easily defeated."
"I'll see to it right away, boss," Bune replied.
Sorath disappeared in a blast of deep purple light: Dark, yet bright at the same time. It left an afterimage in Rommel's eyes. He blinked and glanced at Bune.
"I still require armored divisions. You know that, my whole plan of attack requires it," he insisted.
"When we claim the underworld, we will attack the surface. I know two countries that will give you weapons you've only dreamed about," Bune replied.
***
Dan was on a stool in the tech lab, watching Dylan finish the tests.
"It all tests perfectly normal," Dylan tapped a display. "Nothing unusual in any of the samples."
He lifted the wine bottle, and poured a small sample into a beaker. He swirled the wine and sniffed it.
"More tests then?" Dan asked.
"Yes, one final test," Dylan said as he lifted the beaker to his lips and sipped. "Dan, it's just wine and some exotic fowl."
Dan sighed and stood up. He started to leave. "You can keep the bottle. I have another at the house."
Dylan grinned as he replaced the cork and place the bottle carefully in a paperbag.
Dan crossed the building in deep thought. He didn't see Jones as he passed the bullpen. He kept his head down and entered his office, moving file folders from his chair to the desk. He sat, heavily, and tried to read.
Jones tapped on the door jam. "Dan-O. Your car doing ok? You should have stayed at home and napped, you look as tired as I feel."
"The car runs fine now." Dan suppressed a yawn. "Yeah, maybe I should have napped.
"Must have had a good time last night," Jones teased. "When do I get to meet this mystery woman?"
Dan sat back and stifled another yawn. "Eventually. Once I figure her out."
"Dude, I don't want to wait that long, buddy." Jones turned to leave when the desk phone rang, and both of their cell phones went off.
Jones stepped back into Dan's office and they looked at each other. Jones grabbed his cell as Dan lifted the desk phone's receiver.
"Lanahan," Dan said as he looked at his cell phone. "What? Where? You're shitting me. Alright, on my way."
Dan went around his desk and tapped Jones on the shoulder. "They found Agent Banks. On the way, call up his supervisor, try to catch him before he gets too far."
"Banks? Our guys found him?" Jones asked as he pulled a business card from a pocket.
"You're not going to believe this," Dan said as they headed out to the parking lot at a fast jog, Jones trying to keep up.
***
Dan aimed his black muscle-car into the greenbelt parking lot. Yellow crime tape was stretched around the area. Dan and Jones got out at the sa
me time and looked around. A patrol officer had a woman and child off to the side, the obviously woman distressed. Another patrol officer was standing back from a copse of trees. He waved when he saw the detectives arrive.
"Okay, this is too bizarre," Jones observed.
They walked to the small copse of trees. The patrol officer met up with Jones and Dan on the jogging trail. It was Torres, one of the men who'd been at the same scene a few days earlier.
"Lieutenant, Sargent," Torres said, waving to the trees. "He's over there. I only got close to read the ID on his body. Otherwise, the scene is secure."
"Thanks Torres, go help Randal with the witness, get both of them further back, especially the kid," Dan told the officer.
Jones was still on his cell phone as he slowly followed Dan to the tree line. He hung up just as they got within sight of the dead FBI agent. "Henderson is on his way. Oh shit."
"Yeah." Dan stood and took in the scene.
Kyle Banks hung in a tree, his shirt torn open, his identification card pinned to his chest with a switchblade knife. His neck gaped open, a gruesome second mouth, and dried blood was dripped all down his shirt and trousers.
"Whoever did this wanted to make a strong statement," Jones remarked.
Dan turned as the Coroner pulled up, followed by a tech van. Sandra climbed out and just stood, head cocked. She joined Dan as Jones stepped away to make more calls.
"Copycat?" Sandra guessed.
"I'd say so. He's carved up, yes, but the symbols are different. Like someone was trying to copy the other symbols. Then the murder weapon is here," Dan observed. "Not really the same as the other victims, but has the same feeling."
"A very angry person did this," Sandra said, as she donned a pair of blue gloves, handing a pair to Dan.
They walked to the displayed corpse. Like the other victim, Banks was hung with rope, symbols craved in his face and chest.
"Mutilation occurred post-mortem. See? There's no blood in the wounds." Sandra prodded the chest and examined the knife. "I'll do a workup on the knife, see if I can match the knife to the other victims."
Dan looked closely at the body, then stepped back as the other techs showed up and started processing the scene.
Dan moved back to the trail as Jones hung up from another call. "Henderson is a minute out. Is it Banks?"
"Yes. It might be he did get too close, but there are certain differences between this scene and the others," Dan told Jones. Then he watched an unmarked sedan blast into the area, and slide to a stop on the gravel parking berm. Henderson jumped out of the car and jogged to the area.
"Dan," Paul said. "I just happened to be driving back to Sacramento when I got the call. I busted all records getting here."
"Paul, you might want to get ready for this one," Dan cautioned as he led the man to the scene.
Henderson stopped and just stared at the scene. The techs were tagging evidence, and taking photos. Two more officers were erecting a tent and screen as more people arrived, including a TV news van.
"Jesus." Paul began to breathe heavily. He turned and walked back to the trail, hands on his hips.
"Will the feds want to take over?" Dan asked.
"Yeah, we'll take over," Paul managed to get out. He pulled out a white handkerchief and held it to his mouth. "I'm sorry. I don't see things like this very often."
Dan nodded at Jones, who walked back to the tent.
"We'll do this as a joint investigation," Paul said, breathing hard. "Let your people know. I'll get my people down here, but it'll be an hour or two. We don't move him until my team arrives."
"Understand," Dan said. He walked to where Jones was standing with Sandra.
"They taking over?" Jones asked.
"Of course. Let's stop taking photos and tagging until their guys get here." Dan let his gaze wander away from the scene to where the woman and her little boy were standing. Torres was trying to entertain the little boy.
"You know what this means," Jones said, waving back towards the crime scene tent.
"Yeah. The killer is still in town." Dan stared at the scene. Then he remembered something Megaera had said. He pulled out his notepad and flipped through pages. "Perhaps we should go interview my niece's roommates."
"I've already talked to them. It's not your case, it's mine," Jones pointed out.
"Well, then, I'm your supervisor and I just reassigned myself to the case. Let's roll." Dan started for his car. Jones had to jog to catch up.
***
A typical kid's apartment. Sparsely furnished, matt-white walls adored with college sorority plaques, framed photos of girls holding cups or posed in front of a large house, all photos embossed with three Greek letters.
On the couch, Adrienne and Kaitlin sat next to each other, eyes red, holding hands and looking at Dan sitting across from them.
"I think we answered all the questions Detective Jones asked the other day. I still can't remember what the man looked like." Kaitlin shrugged and looked to her friend.
"I still have nightmares," Adrienne said.
"Me, too."
"So, do I," Dan said, looking over to Jones, who was standing in the dining area, watching the two women.
"Really?" Adrienne began to cry again. Jones walked forward with a tissue and gave it to the crying girl.
"I want to ask one more question. Okay? I heard from someone, not saying who, that a picture was taken when Bree was sick that evening. Did either of you happen to notice a flash when you saw her sick on the lawn?" Dan asked.
Kaitlin look up with wide eyes. "I did! Not a flash, but I took a picture of her puking. I usually get one of her puking, just to poke fun at how badly she's wasted..."
"But, we weren't drinking, you understand," Adrienne explained.
"That's alright. I'm not here to get anyone in trouble for drinking. Do you still happen to have the photo?" Dan asked, looking up at Jones, eyebrows up.
Kaitlin got up and went into her bedroom. Both men watched as the young woman returned holding a cell phone in a white enamel case. She was scrolling through something on the screen. She stopped and held the phone out to Dan.
"See? The guy she left with is right behind her, but his face is too dark." She frowned, looking down. She was barefoot and her toes were gripping the carpet. "I should have said something sooner, huh."
Dan peered at the phone, then gently took it. "No, it's ok. We don't expect anyone to remember everything, that's why we sometimes talk to people several times."
Dan stood and showed the image to Jones. Jones looked back to Kaitlin.
"Can we borrow your phone for a few hours?” Jones asked. “It's important, we may be able to lighten the image and see who this guy is."
"I'll make sure to bring it right back, ok?" Dan asked, looking at the phone, then he fixed his eyes on the two young women. As one, they both nodded.
"Anything to catch this guy." Adrienne stood and pulled her roommate into a hug.
"You will catch this guy, right?"
"Guaranteed," Dan said as he pulled a business card out, and began writing on the back. "Here's a receipt for the cell phone, and I'll get it back to you as fast as possible. Don't worry, I promise not to look at anything else on the phone."
***
As Dan and Jones crowded around a monitor in the tech lab, Dylan plugged the cell phone into the laptop and started searching for the image.
"It'll be the last one, I think," Dan suggested.
Dylan pulled up an image taken of Brianna's funeral. "It's probably further back. What was the date? Never mind, here it is."
On the screen: a grainy image of kids on a lawn, Brianna was on her knees, getting sick. A tall figure looming over her.
Dylan zoomed into the figure, and lightened the image. He applied a few adjustments and added contrast. Slowly, the image began to show features.
The man standing over Brianna was Kyle Banks. It was unmistakable.
"Save that, and send it to my phone. And att
ach another copy to the case files on Brianna and Kelsey," Dan said, stepping back.
Dylan hit a key and sat back. "You'll have it in a few seconds."
Dan's phone made a small chiming sound and he swiped a finger on the screen. A few taps and he held the phone up to his ear. "Agent Henderson? Dan Lanahan. I'm forwarding an image taken from a student's cell phone. Uh huh. It's of the Oberon girl when she was grabbed and we've ID'd the man she was with. Yes. It's your man Banks." A pause. Dan continued, "Very positive. We'd like a tissue sample from Bank's body so we can be sure, run it against the DNA we found on both victims. Yes. Thank you," Dan disconnected the call and looked at Jones and Dylan.
"He's as shocked as the rest of us." Dan nodded to Dylan. "Pull up all the DNA evidence we found on the victims. I want to reach out the other departments where this guy had been, let them know."
"Dan," Jones interrupted, putting up a hand. "We thought Banks was killed by the serial killer, but if he's the killer, who killed him?"
"Goddamn," Dan said, flatly.
"Someone got some serious revenge on this guy's corpse. You can tell, those marks were done with a ferociousness I've never seen," Jones went on. "And that includes my time in Caracas."
"I know who to ask," Dan said softly.
"Care to share who it is?"
"A CI." Dan looked back to the monitor and the image of Banks standing over Brianna, his face a scowl, eyes demonic. Dan knew the red light in the man's eyes was reflection from the flash. Even so, it still gave him the appearance of pure evil.
***
Megaera was rushing back and forth all night, between the comfort of bed and the cold tile of the bathroom. Seeing the window brighten, she tried to get up.
Megaera managed to get out of bed, her stomach still queasy. She pushed her feet into her bunny slippers and wrapped her thick robe around her shoulders. She shuffled to the door, hitting it with her face. She stepped back and scowled. She slapped the door. It was solid.
"What the fuck?" She punched the door. Nothing. She growled and opened it.
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