Riverwatch

by Joseph Nassise

  Her breath caught in her throat as she tried to scream…

  She awoke, gasping for air, the sound of her scream still ringing in her ears. Something clutched at her out of the darkness, twined itself in and out of her legs, and she screamed again, thrashing her limbs frantically, fighting off whatever it was with strength born of desperate fright.

  With a start she realized she was merely tangled in her bed sheets, the material clinging to her sweat-drenched skin.

  "Oh, my God!" she said, her chest heaving as she fought to control the wild beating of her heart.

  "It was a nightmare, just a nightmare," she mumbled as she slumped back against the headboard, drained and exhausted.

  Unlike most dreams, this one stayed with her; most of the details etched firmly in her mind. It had been shockingly real and frightening. She couldn’t imagine what had caused it; she hadn’t had such a vivid dream in years, certainly not one so violent.

  Or so strange.

  She sat up and glanced at the clock.

  Three-thirty.

  Hours before daylight yet.

  She lay back down, willing her body to relax. In time her shaking finally stopped and her breathing lost its ragged edge, returning to its normal rhythm.

  Though she hadn’t expected to return to sleep that night, her exhaustion worked to her advantage. Eventually the gentle sounds of her own breathing lulled her to sleep as easily as a child listening to a mother’s lullaby.

  At her breast the red gemstone shone brightly with a crimson light all its own.

  Across town, Moloch, the beast the stone had connected her with, continued with his bloody assault.

  Chapter Sixteen: Premonitions

  Katelynn awoke the next morning with a nagging suspicion that something was wrong. The dream remained with her still and all through breakfast images flashed before her, reminding her of the horror she’d seen. The face of the man on the balcony kept playing itself over and over again, haunting her, until she knew she would have to do something about it.

  Although she was reluctant to admit it to herself, she knew that face in her dreams.

  She saw the scene again in her mind.

  The open balcony doors.

  The symbols etched out on the floor.

  The man standing in the center of the room, blood covering his face and chest, a sword held in his right hand.

  She’d seen both eager anticipation and sudden fear in his eyes.

  Katelynn couldn’t deny it any longer. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that the man in her dreams had been Hudson Blake.

  She saw enough in the local news and had even gone to his estate to try and interview him at the start of her thesis. She could still recall his haughty dismissal of her request and the way he’d slammed the door in her face in dismissal.

  What was he doing in her dreams?

  Katelynn ate her breakfast, mulling it over, then picked up the phone and called Jake. She told him that she had something important to speak to him about, something that she had to do in person, and asked if they could meet. Jake agreed and told her he’d be at her place within the hour.

  Good to his word, Jake arrived just on time. She let him in, and the two of them walked through the kitchen and out onto the deck, where they took seats next to each other on the patio chairs. It was a gorgeous morning, but the heat of the sun did nothing to thaw the chill in Katelynn’s bones.

  "I want to go over to Riverwatch."

  Jake could see that she was agitated. "Why?"

  "I want to try again to get Blake to give me an interview for my thesis. I thought maybe you could help out."

  Jake laughed. "Hell, Katelynn. The man can’t stand me. You’d probably have better luck going without me."

  "No, I don’t think so. He hired you, didn’t he? Maybe with you there he will be more apt to say yes."

  Katelynn didn’t like lying to Jake. He was a friend and deserved better, but she knew that if she told the truth, he would laugh in her face. Jake was too firmly rooted in reality to believe that something like premonitions could exist outside their weekly Swords and Sorcerers sessions. She wanted him there because she had a nagging suspicion that something would be horribly wrong when they arrived at the Blake estate. Jake had always been level-headed in a crisis, and she needed that rock-solid support if it turned out that she was right.

  He protested for several more minutes, but eventually Katelynn wore him down. He had the day off due to the continuing police investigation at the Stonemoor estate. He had yet to hear when they would be resuming work, so he could use that as a pretense for going to see Blake. Reluctantly he agreed, if for no better reason than the fact that he enjoyed her company and had nothing better planned for the morning.

  Jake waited while she cleaned up her breakfast dishes, then they went out to the Jeep. Loki was waiting inside and Jake let him out to greet Kate for a moment before they all climbed back inside.

  The ride to Riverwatch passed in companionable silence, with an occasional chuff from Loki at a passerby on the street he found particularly interesting. It was a sunny morning, and Jake was feeling pretty good about things in general. He had time off from work with pay, money in his pocket, and good friends. He did his best not to think about the events from earlier in the week, not wanting to ruin the beginning of a great day.

  When they arrived at the estate, Jake pulled into the drive and down to the front of the house. He parked directly in front of the entrance, knowing that it would probably irritate Charles, which was okay by him, and got out of the Jeep. Katelynn did the same. Before she could shut her door, however, Loki pushed his way past, shot up the front steps, and began barking furiously at the door.

  "Shit!" Katelynn exclaimed.

  "Don’t worry about it." Jake said, shutting his door. "Just leave the door open a minute and I’ll get him back inside." He called to the dog, fully expecting him to return. He’d trained the Akita well, despite the aggravation and the time it had taken. Having such a large dog made the training mandatory in Jake’s view and since being trained Loki had always obeyed him. This time was no different. The dog stopped barking immediately and trotted back to Jake’s side. But instead of climbing back into the car, Loki stood close to Jake, his attention fixed on the mansion’s front door, growling low in his throat.

  Jake had only seen him act this way on one other occasion, and that had been when a burglar had tried to break into his home. Something was wrong, that was clear.

  Jake squatted down next to the dog. "What is it, boy? What’s in there?"

  The Akita looked at him, and then turned back to the door, growling once again. He took a step or two forward, looked back at Jake, and growled a third time.

  "Something’s wrong, Katelynn. He never acts like this. I think we should go."

  "Go?" Katelynn asked. She hadn’t taken her eyes off the dog since he’d leapt from the car. A heavy, suffocating weight was slowly settling on her shoulders as she realized that her suspicions had been correct. Something was terribly wrong here, and Katelynn had a hunch she knew just what it was.

  "We have to go inside," she heard herself say. It sounded to her like her voice was coming from a distance, and she wondered if she’d even said it aloud.

  Apparently she had. "Inside? What the hell for?" Jake replied.

  "Someone might be hurt, Jake. We can’t just leave."

  "The hell we can’t. If it’s got Loki this upset, I’m not going inside." He turned toward the Jeep, intending on doing just what he’d suggested, when Loki made his own opinion known. The dog dashed back up the steps and jumped up, putting his front paws against the door.

  Much to everyone’s surprise, the door opened beneath him and dumped the dog into the foyer. With a cacophony of barking, the Akita disappeared inside.

  "Oh, shit!" Jake exclaimed as he chased after him.

  Katelynn followed.

  Loki must have gone straight upstairs because Jake could hear barking from somewh
ere above once he was inside. He raced up the steps to the second floor. Loki’s barking became deeper, more strident, and Jake knew that the dog had found whatever it was he had been looking for.

  *** ***

  Back in the foyer, Katelynn glanced around.

  Instinctively she knew the house was empty. She knew it with a certainty that surprised her, and this only served to heighten her discomfort. She was frightened for both Blake and his servant, beginning to think that what she had seen in her dreams had been a premonition of harm for them both.

  Somewhere up above, the dog’s barking became more urgent.

  Katelynn glanced into the closest rooms. If anyone had been in the house, they would have heard the commotion and come to investigate, but every room she checked was empty. Satisfied that her observation had been correct, Katelynn returned to the entryway and started up the steps to the second floor.

  *** ***

  As Jake reached the second floor landing, he glanced down the hall to find the dog standing in the entrance to the very last room. Loki stopped barking and stared at him, obviously waiting for permission before entering.

  Jake was not going to give it.

  "Come boy," he said firmly.

  The dog stood his ground.

  "I said, Come."

  Loki paced back and forth, whining in his throat. It was clear he was not going to obey the command.

  "You’re going to regret this," Jake said through clenched teeth, his anger rising. The last thing he needed was to be caught here in his employer’s house with his dog. He would be out of a job quicker than he could blink. Shaking his head in frustration, he started down the hall.

  As soon as Loki saw that Jake was coming toward him, he turned back to face the room, but did not enter it.

  When Jake reached the door, he saw why.

  *** ***

  Katelynn came up the stairs, calling their names. She reached the second floor landing and saw Jake and Loki down at the end of the hall. "What’s going on?" she called.

  Jake jumped, and then turned to face her. "Stay there, Katelynn. You don’t want to see this."

  "Don’t want to see what?" she asked, ignoring him.

  She started down the hallway, her fear growing with each step.

  Jake came forward and tried to stop her, but she slipped by his grasp, needing to know, needing to see.

  The room was just as she’d seen it; the bookcases, the symbols drawn on the floor, the sword standing upright in the center of the room, except now the room seemed to have been splashed with blood. It was everywhere, and the stench of it must have been what had drawn the dog. Across the room, Katelynn could see the body of a small animal in the far corner. Through the open patio doors the lower portions of a man’s legs could be seen lying on the balcony.

  Loki growled softly.

  "Is he..?" She couldn’t bring herself to finish the question.

  "I don’t know."

  "We’ve got to find out. What if he needs help?" It was the right thing to do, but in her heart Katelynn knew the man was already beyond help.

  Jake nodded and started forward.

  Katelynn watched as he made his way across the room and out onto the balcony. He disappeared from view behind the partially opened door and then emerged a few moments later. He saw her looking at him and shook his head, letting her know there was no help to be given.

  "It’s Blake’s butler," he said, when he rejoined her. "We’d better find a phone and call the police."

  Taking hold of Loki’s collar, Jake led the way back down the stairs and into Blake’s study where he knew he would find a phone. He gave the details to the 911 operator and was told to wait outside until the Sheriff arrived.

  Back in the Jeep, Jake thought about what he’d seen upstairs. He hadn’t really needed to go into that room, hadn’t really needed to discover if the man they’d seen on the balcony had been dead or alive.

  He’d already known.

  Once you’ve seen death up close, he thought, you can recognize it anywhere.

  Despite the sun shining high overhead, the day was no longer as bright and beautiful as it had been when they’d left Katelynn’s.

  It had gotten considerably darker.

  In the back seat, Loki looked up into the sky and growled low in his throat.

  Chapter Seventeen: Riverwatch

  Damon spent his first twenty minutes on the scene interviewing Jake and Katelynn. After telling them he’d be in contact shortly to follow up, he let them go home and turned his attention to the scene itself. He had a lurking suspicion for the last several days that they’d missed something at the first two crime scenes, something special, something that would provide that one important clue he so desperately needed. This time he intended to take no chances.

  If it’s here, he thought with grim determination, we’ll find it.

  He ordered the officers to take up watch at the gates to the estate with the command that they admit no one but the coroner and the state police forensic squad. Officers searched the house thoroughly looking for any sign of the owner, to no avail. Hudson Blake was quickly put at the top of the Sheriff’s suspect list and an APB was put out on him with a "wanted for questioning" alert.

  It wasn’t long before Strickland arrived, alerted personally as he’d been by Damon via radio just after the call came in. Ed came up the drive in a hurried walk, his black doctor’s bag in one hand and his crime scene kit in the other.

  Damon turned toward the house and matched his stride, filling Ed in on the details as they went in.

  On the second floor they stopped at the entrance of the room before entering, letting initial impressions sink in. Roughly forty square feet, the room looked to have once been a study. A desk was pushed flat against the wall off to the right, next to a small table. Bookshelves partially lined two of the other walls. A glass shelved display case stood between the bookshelves, filled with medieval weaponry. The fourth wall, directly opposite the door in which they were standing, was split in the center by a set of open French doors.

  In the middle of the room a large circle had been drawn on the polished wood floor with some kind of white powder or sand. In the center of that circle, a second design had been similarly laid out. A bejeweled sword was thrust point first into the floor inside the latter. A dark stain coated the blade’s surface and a section of the floor several feet wide surrounding the tip of the blade. The light from the morning sun coming in through the open balcony doors glistened off the precious stones set in the weapon’s hilt and cast a long, cross-shaped shadow across the floor in their direction.

  Beside him, Damon heard Strickland whisper, "What in the name of God…?"

  Once Damon tore his gaze from the strange tableau in the center of the room, he noticed what had sparked Strickland’s outburst.

  Small amounts of blood were splashed in odd places throughout the rest of the room: on the spines of a book, on the front of the desk, on the gossamer-like curtains that blew in the slight breeze coming through the open doors. The headless corpse of a small animal, possibly a cat, lay in one corner as if carelessly tossed there. A small gilded cage stood incongruously on the desktop beside a revolver.

  A man’s lower leg jutted out from behind one of the open balcony doors.

  Thinking of the other recent crime scenes, Damon found himself hoping there was a body attached to that leg.

  "Ed," he said aloud, pointing out the limb to his companion, who was still staring in amazement at the condition of the room. The two men made their way to the balcony, being careful not to disturb anything as they crossed the room.

  On the balcony they discovered the mutilated body of a middle-aged man. Like the Cummings, large chunks of flesh were missing from the corpse. However, this time the killer had added a new twist. Several weapons, obviously taken from the weapons case in the next room, had been thrust violently into the body and left there, reminding Damon of pins in a pincushion. One corner of Damon’s mind began abse
ntly cataloguing the weapons; that’s a broadsword, and an epee, and a dirk�. He shut the voice off quickly.

  "Recognize him?" Strickland asked.

  "No, but we’ve got a positive ID."

  The man’s face was twisted in a savage expression of fear and pain, partially splashed with blood. Damon told Strickland that Jake had provided a confirmation that the man was Charles Turner, Blake’s butler.

  Strickland set his bags down on a clean section of the balcony and opened one up. Withdrawing a pair of thick rubber gloves, he pulled them on and then knelt next to the body to begin his examination.

  Damon gave him a few moments to do the prelim, and then asked, "What do you think?"

  "No question it’s the same killer. Exterior soft organs gone; eyes, tongue, etc. Chest cavity penetrated, probably find a few organs missing from there as well once I open him up on the table. What I can’t figure are these weapons."

  "Pre or post?" Damon asked, referring to whether or not the weapons had been used while the victim was still alive.

  Ed gave it some thought. "At a guess I’d have to say he was still alive when they were used. There’s some evidence of bleeding around the wounds themselves, though it is hard to be sure. From his facial expression there is no question the poor bastard suffered." Ed shook his head in frustration. "Then again, they could all be post-mortem. Wounds of that type should have bled one heck of a lot, yet the floor beneath him is practically blood-free." He looked up at Damon. "I can’t say either way until I open him up."

  When Ed bent again over the body, Damon left him to his task and walked back into the room. He surveyed the damage and then headed over to the dark stain in the center of the room. As he got closer to it, several details became clear.

  The stain was obviously blood; that was immediately apparent. And though partially obscured by the blood, Damon could see that the design laid out on the floor was actually a pentagram enclosed by a circle. The material with which it had been created was probably salt or colored sand, he guessed. It reminded him of the Hopi sand paintings he’d seen once on a trip out West.