Sound's Familiar

by Dana Marie Bell

  She glanced at Jonah, her mind no longer on the case. His broad back and narrow waist were defined by the powder-blue shirt he wore. His black belted slacks hugged his ass, and he’d worn a tie today—basic black with gray diamonds. From his appearance, you’d never think his parents were multi-millionaires.

  Jonah might have a bigger house than most, but other than that he lived simply. He vacuumed his own carpet, scrubbed his own toilet, and cooked his own meals. She found she admired him a lot more than she’d thought she would. He might be on the society pages from time to time thanks to his family, but other than that he was just like any other person.

  It made her far more comfortable than she would have been if he’d lived in some fancy mansion with servants doing his bidding.

  “I’m betting there was a little bit of mana left within our vic, just like the last one, and that it was sucked away after death.”

  Carol brought her attention back to the subject at hand. “That would match with our theory, yeah.” She had to stop staring at his ass and focus on their murder victim. Ass viewing could take place after work.

  Jonah bent over to pick up a piece of paper off the floor.

  Or during work. That was good too.

  “Hey, Debbie, does this belong to you?” Jonah held out the piece of paper, smiling whimsically at Paul’s wife.

  Debbie was standing in front of the secretary’s desk, her arms akimbo, a scowl on her face. She was staring down at a pretty woman who was currently touching up her lipstick.

  The stench of the secretary’s perfume stung Carol’s delicate nose, making her sneeze. She could only imagine how torturous it was for Debbie to smell it day in and day out. No wonder she was scowling.

  “Yeah, thanks.” She turned to Jonah and took the piece of paper, glancing over it. Her expression tightened as she read. “Hmm.” She turned to the secretary, her scowl returning. “Why was this on the floor? I asked you to file this an hour ago.”

  The woman shrugged nonchalantly, but there was a nasty gleam in her eye. “I have no idea.” She reached out for the paper, her dark brows rising when Debbie held on to it. “Mrs. Lofland?”

  Debbie’s teeth were visibly grinding as she handed over the piece of paper. “Please make sure that this time it’s filed properly, in a cabinet.” Her tone was so sugary, Carol was afraid she’d get cavities.

  “Yes, Mrs. Lofland.” The woman stood and headed for the corridor.

  “I hate that woman,” Debbie muttered under her breath. She turned to Carol and Jonah with a strained smile. “Let me guess. You’re here for our latest blood sorcerer vic?”

  “Yup.” Carol leaned in close to Debbie. “What’s with her?”

  “She’s a bitch who thinks the only person she needs to listen to is Paul, despite the fact that I outrank her.” Debbie turned on her heel and led the way into Paul’s office. “Think you could eat her for me?”

  “Nah. I never eat things that smell that bad.” Carol nodded a greeting to Paul, who was seated at his desk. “Hey, Mr. Reaper.”

  Paul, appearing stunned, laughed. “I haven’t heard that one before.” He stood, holding a file folder. “I can guess why you guys are here. C’mon, I’ll explain what I’ve got so far. Just remember, it’s not much, just an initial assessment.”

  Jonah and Carol followed Paul into the autopsy room where Sara Miller lay. Her head was propped up on a special pillow, her body covered by a white sheet. Underneath, she was naked, her skin pale and gray from death. “Got an estimate on time of death yet?” Jonah asked, his gaze glued to the victim.

  “From the lividity, the rigor mortis, and core temp, I’d say...” Paul checked something in his file folder. “Between ten p.m. and two a.m. last night. Wherever she was, I think she was inside. There were no signs of insect activity, at least on an outward examination.”

  Jonah nodded. “Right. Was there a blow to the back of the head?”

  “Right around the same area as the last one.” He gently turned the victim’s head so that they could all observe the raised, bleeding cut peeking through her hair. “There wasn’t this jagged cut on the last victim’s head, however. The murderer switched weapons.”

  “And flowers,” Carol added.

  “We did find some signs of branding around the stab wounds, just like you suspected.” Paul pointed to a tiny dark spot on the victim’s chest. “When you view the video...”

  “We’ll find the symbol of Apep.” Carol shuddered.

  “I think so.” Paul returned the victim’s head to its original position. “I’ll have a slightly better time of death once I do the full autopsy.” He lifted her hand, turning it slightly. “I did notice something under her nails. I’ve sent it to the lab for analysis. It might be skin, or it could just be dirt.”

  “She might have managed to scratch her attacker?” Carol glanced at the body. “But that doesn’t make sense, unless...”

  “She woke up during the ceremony and managed to scratch him.” Jonah wrote something in his notebook. “Which means she might have seen his face too.”

  Carol winced. “Please tell me we’re not calling in a necromancer.”

  “We’re not calling in a necromancer,” Jonah replied absently. “There isn’t enough mana left in the body.”

  Necromancers weren’t zombie creators, like some feared. They simply were able to use the link between body and soul to call upon the departed. But without residual mana in the body, the link was irretrievably broken. Most bodies lost their mana within a week of death, meaning necromancers were in high demand with those who wished to contact the departed. Some people simply wanted to say goodbye to a loved one, others wanted the keys to treasure, and still others, like Jonah, used necromancers to solve murders.

  “Wait. Something here is different.” Debbie pointed to the dimenic runes circling the stab wounds. “Gimme a sec.”

  Carol read as best she could the runes Debbie had pointed out. “She’s right. This isn’t just Eat at Joe’s like Reeves. I think this has a signature embedded in it.”

  “Huh?” Jonah leaned in closer. “Are you sure?”

  Carol nodded. “We’d need to send it to an expert to be sure, but yeah.” She glanced at Jonah, only to find him pulling out his phone, probably to take pictures. “It’s not his or her real name, but it’s definitely a magical signature.”

  “Which means we may have missed something on the other victim.” Jonah smiled tightly. “Time to examine those images of Reeves a little more closely. I’m betting we’ll find out there was a signature on him too.”

  “I’ll let you know if we find anything during the autopsy.” Paul tucked his folder under his arm. “In the meantime, get out of my hair. I’ve got work to do.”

  “Oh, before we go, I’m borrowing your wife this weekend.” Carol’s cheeks began to heat. “I need to pick up some clothing.”

  “Oh?” Debbie drawled, linking her arm with Carol’s. From the wink she gave, Carol understood she was about to be teased. “Tell me more. What kind of clothing?” She tugged Carol out of the morgue, Jonah following behind them.

  Carol shook her head. “Work clothes, ya perv.”

  “Damn,” came softly from behind her.

  Carol turned to stare at Jonah. “Did you just say—”

  “Nope.” Jonah coughed into his hand. “I didn’t say a word.” He wasn’t meeting her eyes, though, and his cheeks were as red as hers probably were.

  Carol turned back around. “Maybe I can shop for some non-work clothes,” she muttered.

  “Yay!” Debbie hugged her. “You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to this.” Debbie took off cackling, so happy she even smiled at her husband’s secretary.

  The secretary to scowled for about two seconds before turning a bland smile their way. “Oh, Detective, Ms. Voss. Are you leaving already?”

  Carol almost rolled her eyes. Now that Debbie and Paul were no longer visible, the secretary’s tone couldn’t be more bored. “Jonah? Be right ba
ck.” She ducked back into Paul’s office. “I’m going to eat your secretary.”

  “Huh?” Paul looked up from the pile of paperwork on his desk. “Why?”

  “Why? She irritates your wife, and she was barely polite to Jonah and me. That isn’t who you need greeting people who come to the morgue, especially family members who have to identify the deceased.” She was hoping that professionalism would win over Debbie’s obvious jealousy. Maybe if someone other than Debbie complained, the woman would get fired.

  Paul sighed. “You’re right, and thank you. I’ve needed a real reason to get rid of her, but no one other than Debbie has complained. If you and Jonah do, I can fire her with justification.”

  “I’ll talk to him. I’m sure she’s been less than pleasant to him in the past.” Carol waved goodbye. “Oh, if you and Jonah want to join us this weekend, you’re welcome to.”

  Paul grinned, looking so happy she thought sparkles might start dancing around his head. “Nah, we’ll pass. Maybe I’ll take him for burgers while you ladies shop.”

  “Sounds good. See you later.” Carol left the office, certain she’d done her new friend a solid.

  Jonah was waiting by the elevators reading something on his tablet. He smiled as she approached, seemingly relaxed. “Everything all right?”

  “Perfect.” She pushed the button to call the elevator. “Paul is going to ask you out for burgers while Debbie and I shop.”

  Jonah glanced at her, his expression relieved. “Good, I was thinking of tailing— I mean, going to the mall too.”

  Carol chuckled. “I think I’d notice you, senpai.” She tapped the side of her nose. “I’ve got your scent.”

  Senpai? He chuckled softly. His familiar apparently liked anime. A senpai was an older classmate or teacher, one who usually mentored the younger person, or kohai. He tugged at her magic, then took hold of her hand as they stepped into the elevator. “That’s okay. I’ve got yours too.”

  Chapter 19

  Jonah took a huge bite out of his burger and moaned. “Jesus, that’s good.”

  “Mm.” Paul swallowed his own bite and turned to stare at the crowds in the mall. They’d chosen this restaurant because they could meet up with the women once they were done shopping. The girls had told them they’d grab a bite to eat in the food court, not wanting to waste much time on food when there was money to be spent and clothing to be tried on.

  Jonah smiled. Carol had been so excited on the way to the mall she’d been bouncing in her seat. She’d run up to Debbie the moment she caught sight of her, chattering away a mile a minute. If he didn’t know better, he’d think her a chipmunk instead of a wolf. “Carol was looking forward to this all day.”

  “So was Debbie.” Paul put his burger down. “By the way, do me a favor and write your complaints about my secretary down so I can fire her ass and not get sued for it, okay?”

  “Huh?” Jonah shook his head, amused. “Is that what Carol was talking to you about?”

  “Yup.” Paul took a bite of his burger. “Om, beh da muay—”

  “Hold it right there.” Jonah shuddered in disgust. “Eat, then speak, you ass.”

  Paul swallowed. “Yeah, whatever. Listen, the magical signature we found in those runes. I can’t get it out of my head. I get the feeling there’s something significant to it, more than what we originally thought.”

  “Oh?” Jonah pulled out his tablet, scrolling through images until he came to the one with the signature. “What about it caught your attention?”

  Paul wiped his hands before handing over his own tablet. “Take a look at the enhanced picture.”

  Jonah stared at the runes. They’d been magically enhanced and enlarged. “There’s runes within the runes, not just the signature Carol thought she saw.” He blinked, the image dancing before his eyes. The way it had been done was dizzying, but if he focused, he could ignore the sensation of being off-balance enough to understand what it was he was examining.

  “Yeah. Whoever did this is a master, Jonah. I’m going to be checking Reeves’s body for the same thing just in case we missed them.”

  “Meaning Carol could be wrong about the Eat at Joe’s thing.” Jonah sat back, thinking hard. He munched on a french fry while his mind raced. “Like I said, I’m not a rune expert, but this is significant. It seems that the runes are different from the ones used to hide them.”

  “Using non-magical language to hide magical language,” Paul concluded. “I’m having my expert double-check Ms. Miller’s photos as well. It’s possible there’s more than one hidden message that we’ve missed.”

  “Check for Egyptian magic specifically.” Jonah sat forward and picked his burger up again. “Since we’re dealing with Apep, it’s likely we’ll find Egyptian hieroglyphs or hieratic script.”

  “Good point. If we do, I’ll send them to your Egyptologist contact and get them interpreted.” Paul glanced out the window again. “We might need to sit down with her and ask some questions. This is getting more and more interesting, isn’t it?”

  Jonah picked up Paul’s tablet again, sending himself the images Paul had shared with him. “More and more confusing, you mean.”

  “Hmm. If you were to take a diamond and cut it in half, you’d have two triangles,” Paul muttered, drawing something on the window with his finger. “A triangle in three dimensions is a pyramid.”

  “That’s one way to...” Jonah stared at Paul’s finger as it traced a triangle over and over again on the glass. “Shit. Apep, funeral flowers, baseball diamond... He’s creating a death pyramid.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. It’s just a theory though.” Paul turned back to Jonah. “I could be wrong.”

  It made sense. Pyramids were the tombs of pharaohs, who were considered immortal gods. The pyramid was said to be designed to help the soul on its journey, and to help it return to its body. Using the baseball diamond to create a pyramid of death with the pitcher’s mound as the capstone would work, but for what he still wasn’t sure. “I agree. The dead people, not just their souls, but if he’s a follower of the Egyptian gods...” He was rambling, his thoughts tumbling over one another, trying to follow the trail that Paul was on.

  Paul’s gaze turned to his tablet. “Wait. I seem to remember that there’s more than one soul for an Egyptian, isn’t there? I remember from watching some mummy movies that there’s the bâ and the ka, right?”

  Jonah brought up a web browser and began searching for beliefs of the ancient Egyptians when it came to the soul. “It says here that there’s the jb, or heart, created from a drop of blood from the mother’s heart. It was the seat of will and intelligence as well as emotion.” He continued to read. “Then there’s the sheut, or shadow. Every shadow contains something of the person it represents. Statues were often referred to as shadows.”

  “Which is why, if you wanted to erase someone, you chiseled away at their statues,” Paul replied.

  Jonah nodded and continued. “Ren was the birth name of the person. If you erased the name, you erased the person, so they were careful to protect it.”

  “More chiseling, to get rid of a person.” Paul was writing something down, but Jonah was too busy reading to check it out. Besides, Paul would tell him his theory once he was done forming it.

  “The bâ was the personality of the person and was one of the aspects that would remain after death. It would join the ka in the afterlife.”

  “That’s a lot of souls,” Paul muttered.

  “There’s more.” Jonah scrolled down, wondering which aspect of the soul contained the magic. “The ka was the vital essence, that which made a person either alive or dead. If the ka fled, the body died. The last bit is the akh, which...” Jonah whistled. “Okay. The akh was thought to be living thought, intellect as a living entity of its own.”

  “The spirit of the person, right?” Paul leaned over to stare at Jonah’s tablet. He began to read out loud. “So, the akh replaced the khat, or physical body, in the afterlife by joining with the ka
and the bâ.”

  “Hmm. It says here that in the spells left in Egyptian coffins the bâ could eat, drink, and even have sex. The bâ could even perform everyday tasks in non-corporeal form, returning to the mummy at night.” Jonah shook his head. “I don’t think the bâ is what this guy was after though.”

  “Or the ren,” Paul added. “He did nothing to try and hide their names.”

  “Probably. Hmm. I’m thinking that it’s probably not the sheut, either, since capturing someone’s shadow is more difficult than it sounds. Shadows are closely linked to Terra Noctem, making them almost impossible to control. Even if you make a statue of the person, you won’t get the whole shadow, just a fraction. If the sheut acts like a normal shadow, then I doubt it’s what this guy is looking for.” Jonah tapped his finger on the tablet. “So, we’re left with the ka, the jb, and the akh. Which one holds mana?”

  “I have no idea, but if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say the ka or the jb. The akh is more of a traditional ghost in my mind.”

  “The ka is the vital essence, and the jb is the personality of the person.” Jonah stared at his cooling burger, his appetite fleeing. “The ka.”

  “It has to be.” Paul picked up his own tablet. “Which part goes to the afterlife to face Ma’at?”

  “The jb is the part that’s placed on the scales,” Jonah muttered. “Oh, shit.” He glanced up at Paul as his blood ran cold. “The jb is the part that’s devoured if it isn’t lighter, or at least the same weight as, Ma’at’s feather.”

  “So, it’s a matter of figuring out which part of the soul our mana comes from, the heart or the soul.” Paul picked up one of his fries and swirled it in the ketchup. “I’m thinking that the magical signature will answer that question for us.”

  “I agree, though I’m leaning toward the jb. Apep devours the heart if it isn’t judged worthy of the afterlife, and that’s whose symbol we’re finding on the victims.” Jonah picked up his burger and took another bite, his appetite returning with a vengeance. “If we can find the blood sorcerer before he completes his pyramid, we’ll stop whatever ritual he’s performing.”