‘Exactly,’ Theo agreed, ‘he’s crossing a line now.’
‘I have to admit he’s been different down at the station too,’ Jake replied thoughtfully, ‘he’s been even more erratic and confrontational and others are starting to notice it now.’
‘You don’t think he’ll actually hurt her do you?’ Theo asked. ‘I’d hate to have to go to prison for killing the Chief of police.’
‘I get the uncomfortable feeling you’re not joking.’
‘I’m not going to let anyone hurt her, not even a man of the law.’ Theo replied seriously.
‘I know,’ Jake shook his head, I don’t think he’d actually physically hurt her but then again I just can’t gauge him anymore. He’s obsessed. Why’d he go after her anyway, what did he want to know?’
‘He wanted to know where she was yesterday afternoon.’
‘Ah,’ Jake nodded, ‘Yeah I heard you two gave Hanson the slip.’
Theo paused with his cup halfway to his mouth.
‘Louisa told me,’ Jake clarified, ‘after all it was my sister’s car you borrowed.’
‘That’s true,’ Theo took a sip of his coffee.
‘So where’d you two go anyway.’ Jake asked curiously.
‘I’d better let Olivia explain that to you,’ Theo grimaced ruefully, ‘she’s already mad at me.’
‘Do I want to know why?’
‘Probably not,’ Theo shrugged.
‘About the Chief,’ Jake mused thoughtfully, ‘maybe Olive should call Erica and get her to file an official complaint with the Mayor’s office. If he’s got someone above watching him it might force him toe to the line.’
‘Or it might push him entirely the other way,’ Theo
answered.
‘Maybe but then she has both of us, we just need to
keep an eye on her.’
‘There’s one more thing,’ Theo’s unwavering gaze locked with Jake’s, ‘I want you to teach me to shoot a gun.’
‘Do I need to worry about you shooting the Chief?’ Jake asked in amusement.
‘I’ll try not to,’ Theo replied dryly.
‘Then why?’
‘Because we still don’t know what is in the woods and there’s a murderer on the loose.’
‘Fair point,’ Jake conceded, ‘Okay I’ll stop by tomorrow morning and we’ll get started.’
‘Started on what?’ Olivia padded back into the kitchen pulling her long wavy hair into a pony tail.
‘Nothing,’ Jake frowned absently, noticing the file tucked under her arm, ‘what’s that?’
‘Take a look for yourself,’ she dropped it on the counter in front of him.
Jake watched on, highly entertained, while she walked past Theo, obviously annoyed with him, and took a mug down from the shelf. Theo’s eyes dropped down to her ass for a moment before he turned and flipped the kettle on. Jake continued to watch them; Olivia dropping a teabag in her mug as Theo automatically turned to the refrigerator and took out the milk. Olivia took down the sugar and scooped a spoon into her mug and two in Theo’s mug. As she turned to put the sugar back he squeezed the teabag into her cup and removed it while she added milk to both her tea and his coffee, stirring it before handing it to him.
‘You shouldn’t mainline coffee it’s not good for you,’ she scowled at him.
He smiled at her as he took a sip.
Jake was startled at how in sync with each other they were, and even more so that they didn’t seem to be aware of it. Shaking his head in amusement he turned his attention to the file in front of him.
‘Is this what I think it is?’ he suddenly frowned as he scanned the first few pages.
‘The files from the original murders in ’94,’ Olivia slipped onto the stool beside Jake.
‘How?’
‘I was sent it yesterday.’ Olivia sipped her tea.
‘This has something to do with where you two disappeared to doesn’t it?’
Olivia nodded putting her cup down and flipping to the pages pertaining to James Talbot.
‘Victim number four James Talbot,’ she began, ‘this victim was specifically highlighted by whoever sent me the files. So I figured there was something special about this one, something someone wanted me to know. I read through his file and the only thing of note was that he was the only victim who didn’t live in Mercy; he lived in Salem with his parents. So we decided to drive out there and see if his family still lived there.’
‘And did they?’ Jake asked.
‘His mother did,’ Olivia replied picking up her mug again, ‘his father passed away some years ago but she was happy to speak with us. It turns out James Talbot didn’t always live in Salem, he was born and raised in Mercy and he want to school with my father and Thomas Walcott, the three of them were best friends.’
‘Thomas Walcott?’ Jake replied in surprise, ‘Chief Walcott?’
‘Yes,’ Olivia nodded, ‘there’s more though, Chief Walcott and James Talbot were lovers.’
‘Are you sure?’ Jake asked sharply.
‘I’m sure, Mrs Talbot had letters to prove it,’ she sighed, ‘my father was the only other person who knew the truth. The night James was murdered he was supposed to meet in secret with the Chief and no one but my father knew James was going to be in town that night.’
‘That’s why he has a problem with you. He must blame your father somehow and by extension you.’
‘He pretty much said that to me last night,’ Olivia replied, ‘he basically accused me and my dad of being a murder tag team. I think in his mind my father committed the original murders and I took up where he left off until he busted out of the nut house. Now he thinks we’re having ourselves a little joint murder spree.’
‘For fucks sake,’ Jake raked his hand through his hair in frustration, ‘Christ, not only is that ridiculous, I had no idea that he…’
‘Prefers the company of men?’ Theo answered.
‘Yeah,’ Jake murmured, ‘I mean I knew he wasn’t married, we all just figured he was married to the job. He obviously goes to great pains to hide his preference; I’ve never even had a hint that he was homosexual. It wouldn’t matter to any of us; I wonder why he feels as though he has to hide it.’
‘There could be many different reasons,’ Olivia shrugged, ‘he could be ashamed of it or he could have family that wouldn’t approve or he could’ve felt that it would hinder his career or maybe he’s just a very private person. Who knows?’
‘You know this makes him very dangerous,’ Jake replied seriously, ‘if he believes your father murdered the person he was in love with, a person he has been unable to mourn publicly for the last twenty years he is going to take it out on you if he can’t get to your father.’
‘Yeah,’ Olivia replied miserably, ‘I’d pretty much figured that one out. He not about to let this go anytime soon and while he’s fixated on me, he’s not looking for the real murderer, whether it’s my father and his partner or not.’
‘Olive,’ Jake spoke thoughtfully, ‘I really think you need to speak with Erica and put in an official complaint about Chief Walcott.’
‘That will probably only make him worse,’ Olivia frowned.
‘But it will mean that there is someone keeping an eye on him.’ Jake insisted, ‘it will give you some measure of protection.’
‘I guess so,’ Olivia replied unconvinced.
Jake nodded in approval.
‘So do you have any idea who sent you the file?’ he scanned through the notes. ‘Do you still have the packaging it was sent in?’
‘Yes,’ she nodded sipping her tea, ‘I didn’t recognise the handwriting though.’
‘I’ll still check it anyway, maybe I can find where it was sent from. Was it through the postal service or a courier?’
‘Courier,’ she answered.
‘I should be able to trace it then,’ he mused thoughtfully. ‘If this is Ex-chief Grady’s copy, that would mea
n it was possibly sent to you by the pale haired man working with your father, but why would he want you to know about your father’s connection to the victim?’
‘I have no idea,’ Olivia shrugged, ‘to be honest the whole thing’s giving me a headache.’
Jake fell silent as he studied the case notes intently.
‘Jesus,’ he muttered as he read through the later victim’s autopsy reports, his face turning pale.
‘Yeah, it’s pretty grim,’ Olivia muttered.
‘Going by the details of Adam and Brody’s murders I’d say we were dealing with the same person, if the third body turns up in the same condition as victim number three from the ‘94 murders I’d say we’re dealing with either the original murderer or an apprentice. There are too many details the same for it to be copycat, things that were never released to the press.’
‘There is something I’ve been meaning to ask you,’ Olivia took the file from him, pulling out the crime scene photos, ‘What’s this?’
She pointed to picture after picture of a blurry mark on each of the corpses.
‘That looks like it’s a brand, like the current victims have got, but it’s not too clear.’ He squinted closer, the rest of the picture seemed to be in focus, it was just the mark on the corpse that was unclear. ‘There should have been close ups taken of the markings.’
‘You mean these?’ Olivia handed him another small stack of pictures.
‘What the hell?’ he murmured.
Every single shot of the mark regardless of which victim it was on, was obscured by a bright light, like a flare.
‘Hold on a moment,’ Jake pulled out his phone, ‘I took a picture of Adam’s mark when I was in the morgue with Doc Hughes, it should be in here somewhere.’
He scrolled through the pictures on his phone.
‘Well I’ll be damned,’ he breathed. As he handed the phone to Olivia, Theo leaned over her shoulder to get a look.
The picture he had taken of the mark on Adam’s corpse had the same light flare as the other pictures.
‘What does the mark look like,’ Theo asked Jake.
‘It’s circular,’ Jake cast his mind back, ‘inside the circle are two serpents entwined in an opposing ‘s’ shapes so it kind of looks like the figure ‘8’only it wasn’t vertical but horizontal.’
‘So not the number ‘8’ but more like the infinity symbol’ Olivia answered.
‘Yes that’s it exactly,’ Jake nodded, watching as Theo disappeared from the room and came back holding a sketch pad and pencil.
Olivia and Jake both watched curiously as Theo drew on the paper with quick confident strokes.
‘Did it look like this?’ he asked seriously.
Jake’s gaze dropped down to the paper, his eyes widening and his mouth dropping slightly open. Theo had drawn the mark in exact detail.
‘How do you know what it looks like? he asked suspiciously.
‘Because as soon as you started talking I recognised it, I’ve seen this symbol before.’
‘Where?’
‘Salem 1695,’ he replied turning to look at Olivia, ‘you remember the cleric I told you about, Nathaniel Boothe?’
‘Yes,’ she nodded.
‘This was his personal seal; he wore it around his neck, he was never without it.’
‘What the hell is a seventeenth century seal doing on the corpses of twenty first century murder victims?’ Olivia frowned.
‘I have no idea,’ Theo shook his head, ‘but we do know he had some kind of connection to your family Olivia. From what I understand he was responsible for the death of Hester and Bridget West’s mother. We also know he was after something he believed they had.’
‘What was that?’ Jake asked curiously.
‘I don’t know,’ Theo shrugged, ‘All I know is it was called Infernum, but I don’t know what it was. We also know that the murderer is connected to you somehow, whether it’s your father or not. We can’t make any assumptions yet, but the murderer is taking people connected to you, marking them with Nathaniel’s seal and then dumping the bodies near to your home. It’s a tenuous link at best but it is a link.’
‘This doesn’t make any sense,’ Jake hissed in frustration, ‘how can this be connected to a cleric who lived over three hundred years ago?’
‘Maybe the link isn’t to him but to a descendant,’ Olivia mused thoughtfully.
‘What?’
‘Think about it,’ Olivia explained, ‘quite a lot of families from here, Salem and neighbouring towns can trace their roots back to the earliest colonies. What if the murderer is a descendant of this Nathaniel Boothe and the seal was passed down his family generation to generation? I know, for me personally, I have hundreds of year’s worth of history in this house.’
‘Maybe,’ Jake scratched his chin thoughtfully, ‘but it could just as easily be that someone saw the seal in a book or something and copied it.’
‘Possible,’ Olivia conceded, ‘but I don’t think so; this seal means something to the killer, something personal. If we can figure out the seal maybe we can figure out who the killer is and how they’re connected to my family.’
‘Okay,’ Jake stood, ‘I’m going to take the file and the packaging it came in and see if I can trace who and where it was sent from. As you’re the historian why don’t you see if you can piece together the family history of Nathaniel Boothe and see if he has any descendants living in the area.’
Olivia nodded.
‘I’ll give Renata a call at the museum and see if she can help me.’
‘I’ll take a look at the symbol itself,’ Theo added, ‘see if I can find out the history of the seal, where it came from or what it symbolises.’
‘Good,’ Jake nodded in approval, ‘if you guys find anything call me straight away, no more playing detective okay? It’s one thing driving into Salem to talk to a little old lady it’s another thing entirely to go chasing after a psychotic killer.’
‘We will,’ Olivia promised.
They watched as Jake walked out of the room and then they heard the front door close. For a few moments they silently stared at each other.
‘I’m going to take a shower and then I’ll get started on the symbol,’ Theo spoke finally.
‘Fine,’ Olivia replied.
Seeing he wasn’t going to get much more from her with the mood she was in, he turned and left the room.
After a few more minutes of sitting in the silent empty kitchen brooding into her cold tea she got up and dumped it down the sink, rinsing the mug out. She was startled out of her silent musing when her phone rang. Pulling it out of her pocket the caller ID showed Mags was calling her again. Sighing, she hit disconnect and turned and walked out of the kitchen.
She spent the rest of the day avoiding Theo, she knew it was childish but she couldn't seem to help herself. He brought out a side of her she just wasn’t ready to deal with. So instead she concentrated on trying to find Nathaniel Boothe’s family. She closed herself in her bedroom with her laptop like a surly teenager and spent most on the day surfing the web, going through every ancestry website she could find. She’d also spent hours on the phone to Renata, the dear old curator at the museum. She’d taken on the challenge with relish, that is until like Olivia she had come up several hours later with empty hands and a pounding headache. Not only had neither of them been able to track down any of Nathaniel Boothe’s family history but they had been unable to find a single historical reference to the man himself. It was as if he’d never existed.
Frustrated and tired Olivia shut down her laptop and stripped. Pulling on an over sized tee-shirt she brushed her teeth and climbed into bed. Switching out the light she turned on her side and found herself watching the blinking red numbers on the clock.
11.05pm
She was exhausted and her head was thumping but she couldn’t seem to get her brain to switch off.
11.47pm
She turned over unc
omfortably aware of the empty space in the bed behind her.
12.32am
This was utterly ridiculously. She was perfectly capable of sleeping without Theo in her bed.
1.05am
She rolled onto her back and stared into the darkness, she’d only shared a bed with Theo for a week. Granted before last night they hadn’t done anything more than sleep but she was certainly capable of being in a bed by herself.
1.42am
Sighing in resignation she pulled the covers back and swung her legs over the side of the bed. The trouble was she didn’t want to sleep on her own. She wanted Theo. Padding down the stairs on silent feet she stopped in the doorway of the library and found him asleep at her desk with his head pressed to an open page and a mountain of aunt Evie’s books stacked around him.
Everything in her softened and yearned towards him as she crept quietly into the room. Stopping next to the desk she ran her hand gently through his dark hair letting the curled ends slip through her fingers.
‘Theo,’ she whispered softly.
He lifted his head and blinked sleepily like a little lost boy and something in her chest throbbed and did a funny little roll.
‘Theo,’ she murmured again, ‘come to bed.’
He looked up at her with those fathomless eyes.
She took his hand, relieved when he stood and entwined his fingers with hers. They moved silently back upstairs to her bedroom, Olivia climbed back into bed as Theo stripped and slid between the sheets behind her pulling her back into his chest and wrapping his arms around her.
She trembled suddenly unable to swallow past the knot of emotion caught in her throat. Even after the way she’d treated him all day he was still there holding her like she was the most precious thing in the world to him.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered into the darkness.
His arms tightened around her and she felt him press a kiss to her hair.
This time she relaxed, her eyes drifted closed and she was asleep before she could even glance at the clock.
Downstairs in the library, the fire banked down for the night but as the old house creaked and settled one of the books balanced precariously on the desk slipped and toppled to the floor, falling open to an illustration of dual serpents in the shape of an infinity symbol.
Mercy (The Guardians Series 1) Page 29