Solomon's Key

by Tim Ellis

  She started to choke on a piece of toast. I got up and patted her on the back.

  ‘Thanks,’ she gasped. ‘It was the shock of hearing you say you don’t know something.’

  I took a sip of coffee, which was already nearly cold. ‘Ha, very funny,’ I said.

  ‘I don’t know of any deities that require sacrifices of different parts of bodies. Usually, it’s a whole person, or the heart, but not different parts.’

  ‘We’ll need a break soon, I know that. I think we’ve probably got until Tuesday to solve it, and then I’ll be in charge of the lost property room.’

  She put her hand on top of mine. ‘I don’t think the Chief will let that happen, Sir.’

  Her touch was electric. I quickly moved my hand to take another piece of toast from the stack.

  ‘She might have no say in the matter,’ I said.

  ***

  Terri had just started the post-mortem as we arrived in the mortuary. India Soames lay on the metal table, a gaping wound in her abdomen. The room smelled like a public toilet.

  ‘Good morning,’ she welcomed us. ‘Sorry about the smell. Because the stomach was removed, and we’ve siphoned off the pooled blood, the intestines are free to vent their unpleasant odours.’

  She seemed strangely jovial this morning.

  I noticed that KP had stayed by the door.

  ‘This is the fourth one, James. How many more should I expect?’

  ‘I wish I knew.’

  She pulled what looked like a raw sirloin steak from the abdomen then deposited it on a digital scale. Speaking softly into the hanging microphone, she said, ‘Spleen, point seven three kilos.’ She turned to me, ‘No leads yet?’

  ‘We are pursuing our enquiries.’

  ‘Have you seen the papers this morning?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Not very flattering, I’m afraid. Incompetent, bumbling, useless, and they were the words I’m willing to repeat. Now there’s been a fourth one, I hate to think what they’ll say about you.’

  Usual story, I thought. They think we have a crystal ball, second sight, or precognitive abilities. They seem to forget that we’re fallible human beings like them.

  ‘Makes a good story,’ I said.

  ‘Unfortunately James, people believe it.’

  Sighing, I said, ‘I know.’

  She stopped what she was doing and motioned me with her head to come closer.

  I edged forward.

  ‘No one has claimed Sally Renshall’s body,’ she whispered.

  Her green eyes were staring at me. I knew that Sally’s parent’s had died in a car crash. There had been no brothers or sisters. ‘What, no relatives?’ I asked her.

  ‘Apparently, there’s a grandmother of ninety-four, but she’s in an old people’s home and has dementia. Other than that, there’s no one.’

  ‘What about her colleagues at the paper?’

  ‘They don’t want to know. Say it’s not their responsibility.’

  ‘Bloody hypocrites,’ I said. ‘Leave it with me, I’ll sort it.’

  ‘I knew you would, James,’ she said, stroking my cheek with the back of her latex gloved hand.

  I felt my face heating up. I had to solve this case soon. People were beginning to feel sorry for me.

  Terri gave us nothing new. We left at ten twenty.

  ‘What was Terri whispering about,’ KP asked as we approached the car.

  I turned on her. ‘Don’t I get to have a private life?’

  ‘What, with Terri?’

  I didn’t respond.

  We remained silent until I dropped her off at Shaftsbury Mews to collect her car.

  ***

  ‘Where is everyone?’ I said to KP, as we walked into the incident room at eleven-fifteen.

  She sighed and stared at me as if I had learning difficulties. ‘They’re where you sent them – the basement.’

  A hand waving caught our attention. ‘We’re here,’ Suzie’s voice came from the corner. Her red hair cascaded over a light blue satin blouse.

  A good-looking young man with shoulder-length black hair stood up and came towards us with his hand outstretched.

  ‘Chief Inspector, I’m Jonathan Wardle from Kings College. Here about the Bible.’

  I left his hand hanging. ‘What Bible?’ I shook my head and looked at KP.

  ‘The message,’ she hissed, nudging me.

  He dropped his hand.

  Eventually, it came to me. ‘Oh yes! The quote from the Bible, any luck so far?’

  ‘Suzie has been briefing me. She has just deciphered the second message, and…’

  I raised my eyebrows. They were on first name terms already. I turned to Suzie. ‘Since when has Mr Wardle been in charge?’ I aimed at her.

  Her head shot up and if it were possible, her eyes would have turned me to stone. ‘I thought…’

  My hands were shaking. ‘Well, you thought wrong, Miss Palton,’ I cut her off. ‘I’m directing this investigation, not you – or for that matter, Mr Wardle.’

  I saw KP glaring at me.

  I slid my coat off and sat down on the edge of Jane’s desk, knocking over the photographs of her children. ‘So come on then, what’s the second message?’

  Suzie switched the projector on. She did it with such force it nearly flew off the table. ‘Shit,’ she said, as she just caught it. Her cheeks went red. Her lips were pencil thin. She looked everywhere but at me. I couldn’t blame her. I was being an unreasonable pig. It was strange, I didn’t feel angry. It was something else.

  Jonathan Wardle looked at Suzie, then at me, then at KP, who merely shrugged.

  ‘This is the message from the Gillian Wilkinson murder,’ she said. ‘I was up half the night on it. He’d changed the rules.’ She moved down the screen through the different stages so fast, it was just a blur.

  You shall not let any of your seed pass through Moloch.

  It was a good job for her that she stopped at the plain text. I would have said something unpleasant. The clue was as informative as the first one. ‘How far are you along with the third one?’ I asked her.

  ‘Another hour.’

  ‘Good. Have you received the fourth one yet?’

  She glared at me. ‘Yes.’

  I turned away from her. ‘Mr Wardle thanks for coming,’ I said in my welcoming voice. ‘What do you make of the two messages?’

  He came and sat on the edge of John’s desk opposite me like we were old friends. I could smell garlic on his breath. ‘You were lucky to catch me. I was just off to do a spot of caving in the Peak District. Been doing it for about…’

  ‘The messages, Mr Wardle,’ I interrupted. ‘That’s why you’re here.’ Why can’t people stick to the point, rambling on as if anyone cared about bloody caving?

  He stood up and moved to a chair. I saw him sneak a glance at Suzie as he sat down and crossed his legs.

  ‘Oh yes! Sorry. I’m a bit of a fanatic…’

  He obviously saw the look on my face.

  ‘Well, both of the messages are from the Bible.’

  He didn’t instil me with confidence. I felt it was going to be a long day.

  ‘The first one, from Luke sixteen, verse thirteen, concerns mammon. In Biblical literature it is used to describe riches, avarice and worldly gain. Those who worship mammon are defined as greedy people who value money too highly.’

  ‘That could describe Irene Stone’s parents,’ KP said. ‘They certainly lived in an exclusive area of Hampstead.’

  Wardle ran his fingers through his hair. White flecks cascaded onto the shoulders of his brown corduroy jacket.

  ‘Mammon is also regarded as a deity.’

  ‘What, a God?’ I asked.

  ‘A demon,’ he replied. ‘There are numerous mentions in the literature of Mammon as a demon. Spenser describes him as overseeing a cave of worldly wealth, and Milton as a fallen angel who values earthly treasure above all other things.’

  This was turning into a theol
ogical lecture. I sighed. ‘So how is this helping us?’

  ‘I’m sorry Chief Inspector, what do you mean?’

  ‘If you hadn’t noticed Mr Wardle, we’ve got four murders. These messages are clues to finding the killer. As interesting as your discourse on theology is, where is it leading?’

  He shifted on his chair and tried to catch Suzie’s eye, but she didn’t look up from her laptop.

  ‘If you’ll let me finish Chief Inspector, the connection will become clear.’

  My backside had gone to sleep. I moved to a chair, sat back and folded my arms. ‘Go on then, but try to be brief.’

  ‘The second message is from Leviticus eighteen, verse twenty-one. The full text reads: And you shall not let any of your seed pass through Moloch, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

  ‘Both the messages refer to demons then?’ KP asked. I wondered how she knew Moloch was a demon. I didn’t.

  ‘Well… yes,’ he said. ‘But there’s more to it than that.’

  ‘Go on,’ I encouraged him, although I thought he was too fond of the sound of his own voice.

  ‘In some texts, Moloch is a Prince of Hell who reigns over the Eastern Reaches, and commands eighty legions of demons.’

  ‘I thought he was a demon himself?’ KP observed. I was wondering how many demons made up a legion, but I wasn’t going to ask him.

  ‘Yes he is, but Hell has a hierarchy much the same as Heaven, and Earth for that matter.’ He smiled, appearing to be pleased with the connection he’d made to Earth.

  ‘So, what you’re saying is that this Moloch is fairly high up the hierarchy?’ KP was obviously paying attention.

  ‘Yes, second only to Lucifer.’

  As much as I was enjoying the riveting discussion between KP and Mr Wardle, I asked, ‘But what does it all mean in the context of the murders?’

  ‘I’m sorry Chief Inspector, I have no idea.’

  ‘OK, Mr Wardle thanks for your help,’ I said and stood up. ‘I’d like you to stay around until Miss Palton has deciphered the other two messages, then…’

  ‘Of course I’ll stay,’ he glanced at Suzie and smiled. ‘But I haven’t finished yet.’

  I sat back down again. ‘Haven’t you?’ I felt as though I’d been stuck in a lift with him for ten hours.

  ‘No. In some texts, Mammon is also thought to be a Prince of Hell, also commanding eighty legions of demons.’

  KP was still awake. ‘I see,’ she said, leaning forward. ‘Let me see if I’ve got this right. We’ve got two Princes of Hell. Moloch commands the East, and Mammon commands where?’

  ‘His area of command is never referred to. Does it matter?’

  ‘What do you mean, does it matter?’ I said sitting forward. ‘You’re meant to tell us whether it matters or not. What exactly do you do at Kings College Mr Wardle?’

  ‘I’m a post-graduate student in the department of Theology and Religious Studies, and…’

  ‘A bloody student,’ I stood up looking at KP. ‘Is that all they could send us?’

  ‘I resent that, Chief Inspector. I am…’

  ‘A bloody student,’ I finished for him. I turned to KP. ‘Let’s get someone who knows what they’re talking about.’ I strode out of the incident room and headed towards the stairs.

  Chapter Nine

  ‘Hello, Gov,’ Brian said as I walked into one of the basement rooms. Files were stacked, floor to ceiling. There was just enough room for the table Brian sat at. I stood with my mouth open and stared.

  ‘How many bloody files are there?’ I asked. I could just see the clock on the far wall above a stack of files. It was five past twelve.

  He gave me a wry grin. ‘In this room, there’s about two thousand. The same again next door. In another room, we’ve got the personnel files.’

  ‘I didn’t think there’d be so many.’

  ‘Neither did we, Gov.’

  ‘Any luck so far?’

  ‘What Ali’s told us to do is create two piles, one for possibles, and another one for forgettables. We’re filtering at the moment. We do a quick scan and decide which pile to put them in. Most are forgettables, but we don’t know that until we’ve scanned them. It’s gonna’ take forever, Gov.’

  ‘What’s the update on the CCTV footage?’

  ‘I’m expecting a call from forensics this afternoon.’

  ‘OK. Good work, Brian. Where’s Ali?’

  ‘She was next door, Gov.’

  I wandered next door. Ali stood looking at a file. Pea sat at a table reading, and Jane was moving a stack of files to the table.

  ‘Hi,’ I said. ‘How’s it going?’

  They looked at me bleary-eyed.

  ‘I can think of better ways to spend the weekend,’ Jane said.

  ‘I’m sure,’ I gave her a half smile. ‘Ali, a word,’ I said, motioning for her to follow me into the corridor.

  ‘Yes, Sir.’

  ‘What’s a bloody post-grad’ student doing helping us? Couldn’t you get an expert from Kings, someone who knows what they’re talking about?

  ‘Apparently, if we want to know about the Bible, he’s the best they’ve got.’

  I saw KP walking down the corridor.

  As she came up to us, she said, ‘You obviously got out of bed on the wrong side this morning, Sir.’

  I smiled. ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘You should have given Jonathan a chance to explain.’

  I pulled a face. ‘So it’s bloody Jonathan now is it?’

  She ignored me. ‘You’d better go back up and apologise to him. He’s threatening to leave. And Suzie’s not too happy either.’

  ‘And…?’

  ‘He’s the best there is. We’re lucky to have him. It is Saturday.’

  ‘How can he be the best there is? He’s a bloody student for Christ’s sake.’

  ‘Yes he is, but apparently, one that knows the Bible like the back of his hand. He’s this country’s leading expert on Biblical interpretation.’

  ‘Then why is he still a student?’

  ‘Because he spends a lot of time abroad, and that has delayed the completion of his PhD.’

  I shuffled my feet and mulled for a moment. ‘OK, I’ll give him another chance. But he better stick to the point.’

  ‘Very generous of you, Sir,’ KP said, turning and heading back towards the stairs.

  She was at the stairwell before I’d formulated an appropriate response. Instead I shouted, ‘I’ll be up soon.’

  ‘This is going to take some time, Sir,’ Ali said. ‘There are about five thousand files to go through.’ She looked defeated already.

  ‘He’s killed four times now, three times within five days. If he’s going to kill again, it will be soon and somebody connected to Darwins. How many personnel files are there?’

  ‘About three hundred and fifty, Sir.’

  ‘It shouldn’t take too long to identify those at risk. Do that first. Let’s try and find his next victim before he does.’

  ‘OK, Sir. It seems like a prudent course of action. I’ve got John and Paul on that at the moment, but I’ll put the other three on it as well.’

  ‘Good.’ I looked at my watch, it was twelve-thirty. Let’s have everyone in the incident room at four-thirty for a briefing.’

  I went via the squad room. Ted was sat down with his feet on the coffee table reading the Sun.

  ‘Ted,’ I said to him, ‘can you do me a favour?’

  He took his feet off the table, put the paper down, and went to stand up. ‘Name it, Gov.’

  I waved my hand for him to stay seated. ‘Can you find a local funeral director for me? Ring them and ask them to give me a call. I need to arrange a funeral.’

  ‘Sure, Gov. Anything else?’

  I wrote down my mobile number and gave it to him. ‘No nothing else, Ted, thanks, but keep this between the two us.’

  ‘No problem, Gov. I’ll get right on it.’

  ***


  KP stood at the incident board discussing the case with Jonathan. They seemed to be getting on famously.

  I sauntered up. ‘My apologies Mr Wardle, do you want to continue?’ It wasn’t the best apology I’d ever made, but it would have to do.

  ‘As I was saying Chief Inspector, it doesn’t matter which area of Hell Mammon commands. Like Moloch, he is considered to be a fallen angel.’

  ‘These are angels that have been banished from Heaven,’ KP said.

  I raised my eyebrows. ‘So now we’ve got two experts?’

  She poked her tongue at me. ‘Jonathan was filling me in when you…’ She didn’t say what she was going to say.

  I sat down in a chair, and asked, ‘So how many fallen angels are there?’

  ‘It is said that God cast out a third of the Heavenly host, estimated to be anywhere between seventy and a hundred.’

  ‘I certainly hope those figures are not going to be translated into murder victims, Mr Wardle?’

  His face took on a pained expression. ‘No. The important thing here is that there were only five Seraphim.’

  ‘Explain.’ By practising brevity, I was hoping some of it might rub off on him.

  ‘These were the highest order of angels. Lucifer, who was second only to God, led a rebellion and when he tried to raise his throne to the same height as God’s throne, he was hurled out of Heaven. His co-conspirators in the Seraphim were Belial, Mammon, Beelzebub, and Moloch.’

  ‘OK. So we should only expect four murders?’

  ‘No. I think five. Lucifer will be the last.’

  ‘But what’s it all for? This talk of seraphim and such like is all well and good, but I keep coming back to the question, why? What’s it all for?’

  ‘That I don’t know Chief Inspector.’

  ‘Why is he taking the body parts?’

  ‘I don’t know that either, I’m sorry. Except…’ he scratched his head. ‘The hands could represent greed in the first murder, and the removal of the uterus and breasts might represent the seed or offspring in the second.’