Chapter Four

At the station, James closed the file on his desk, then stretched his arms out with a yawn. Finally done.

The station had been nice and quiet for most of the day, giving him the opportunity to sink his teeth into the mountainous pile on his desk. Even if it had only been one of many files, he was happy to have finished the paperwork on his burglary case. It hadn’t been his toughest challenge, but it hadn’t been a walk in the park either. If the victim had a less questionable background, he would’ve had an easier time on the stand. Regardless, the case was closed, and he wasn’t sad about it. 

He glanced over at Lily’s empty desk. Typically during the week, she spent some days at the funeral home and other days here working on cases. She’d told him she wanted to catch up with work at the funeral home today. He thought that had been odd. She always wanted to be here, cranking away at each case. But he suspected she didn’t want to be here today because she had hit a roadblock on the Klaus Gusev case.

James sniffed. He promised he would stay out of her way so she wouldn’t feel like he was being overprotective. But he couldn’t resist the urge to help her whenever possible. He stood up and walked over to her desk. She’d left a manila folder in the center of the table. He flipped it open to find two names on a list. 

Vlad Petrov and Demetri Popov. 

He remembered she had abandoned the lead after the first phone call, although he couldn’t be certain she didn’t call the second person on the list. Grabbing the list off her desk, he decided he would take the risk she might get upset if it meant pushing the case further. Besides, a missing body in a funeral home was bad for business. This case had to get solved sooner rather than later. 

James returned to his desk and dialed the second phone number on the list. 

“Hello?” A deep voice answered. 

“Mr. Popov?”

“Yes, who’s calling?”

“This is detective James Rivers from Manorview PD. I am investigating the disappearance of Klaus Gusev’s body. Would you mind answering some questions?” 

A long pause on the other end made James think this would not go in his favor. 

“As a matter of fact, I’m glad you called. I have some information you might be interested in. I think you should come meet me. I’ve got something to show you.”

James's heart thumped—not what he had expected. “Sure, I can meet you if you think it’s worthwhile.”

“I think you’d be very interested.”

James sucked in a breath. He didn’t know what to think. Most civilians wanted nothing to do with him. It’d be better for him to meet up with this guy than Lily. “When and where?” he asked.

“This is very sensitive information I am providing you. I don’t want anyone I know to see me with you near my house." Demetri chuckled. “Let’s meet at Al’s Diner in one hour. No one I know would eat in that place.”

James glanced at the clock on his cell phone. Four thirty. He could meet Demetri Popov and be back before Lily noticed he’d been gone. Since he knew Lily wanted to take the lead on the case the last thing he wanted to do was step on her toes. “I’ll meet you at Al’s in one hour,” he told Popov. “Come alone and don’t tell anyone we are meeting.”

“You won’t regret it.”

“We’ll see about that. Bye.”

James hung up the phone with zero confidence that this was a legitimate lead. This guy Demetri was probably planning on getting his whole crew together to jump James for even trying to question him. He took his car keys out of his pants pocket and found the smallest key to open his locked desk drawer. Inside he took out his gun and ammunition. Loading the gun to full capacity, he wanted to make sure he was ready for anything. 

“Making sure you still know how to load a gun?” Abrams said, poking his head into the office.

James didn’t look up at him as he finished pushing the bullets into the cartridge. “I’m going to Al’s to meet an acquaintance of the wife of the guy whose body was snatched from the Reynolds Funeral Home. He claims to know something about it.”

Abrams shook his head. “Never dull at the Reynolds place. You need backup?” 

“Probably. But at least I’ve told you where I’ll be. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Famous last words. I’ll send a car over just in case.”

“Whatever you say, boss.” James got up, put his gun in his shoulder holster and walked toward Abrams. “Just don’t tell Lily. This is her case.”

“Right.” Abrams put his hands up. “I know nothing about it, nor do I want to,” he said as he walked toward his office. “Call if you need anything.” 

“Sure thing. Should be fine.”

“I bet,” Abrams said without looking back. “Should be fine.”

****

Al’s Diner usually had a substantial dinner crowd, but Monday nights were typically slow. After James parked his car in the lot next to the diner, he took a look at his surroundings. The patrol car Abrams sent sat in plain sight across the street—not the best choice. He hoped that wouldn’t scare off Demetri. He also hoped he wouldn’t run into a car full of big dudes with baseball bats waiting for him around the corner.

James stepped into the diner with laser focus. A mixed bag of kitchen smells ranging from burnt toast to hamburger grease filled his nostrils as his eyes swept the room for anything out of the ordinary and for his potential suspect.

A boisterous bunch of teens had gathered in a corner booth on one end while an older couple sat sipping soup across from each other at the other end of the restaurant. He took a few more steps inside when he noticed a thin elderly man stand up in his booth and wave James over. James hesitated at first, unclear what to expect but knew he couldn’t back out now. 

“Detective. I’m Demetri. Please have a seat.”

James instantly felt relieved. At least he could rule out a total ambush. “How did you know who I was?”

“You have that look to you. Official, yet rough on the edges.”

James didn’t have a response. 

The waiter approached their table. “Good evening, Frank. How are things?” James asked the long-time server.

Frank pushed his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose. “Not bad. Slow night.”

“That’s what you always say. I think you’re just really efficient at what you do.”

“I won’t argue with you. And you’re always working.”

“True. But don’t tell my wife.”

Frank smiled. “What can I get you?”

“Nothing for me.” James pointed at Demetri. “Mr. Popov?” 

“Black tea for me.” 

“Right away.” Frank walked away. 

James cleared his throat and focused on the task at hand. “You have something to show me?”

“I don’t like to beat around the bush. I haven’t told Katia anything about this. I didn’t want to upset her.”

“She might know a little. She was the one who gave us your name.”

Demetri rubbed the four o’clock shadow on his chin. “She meant no harm in it. She probably had a hunch I might know something.”

“Or maybe you had something to do with the disappearance of the body.”

Demetri pointed one finger up. “Once I explain, you’ll understand.”

Frank came back with Demetri’s tea and placed it in front of him.

“Thank you.” He took a sip as Frank walked away.

“I’m ready when you are,” James told Popov.

Demetri placed the teacup in its dish and reached in his back pocket. He slid a folded paper in front of James. It was folded in half like a brochure or flyer. The front page said Zeus centered in typed letters. The rest of the page was blank. James glanced at Demetri as he looked inside the brochure. There was a hasty sketch of a large house surrounded by woods with the number twelve written beneath it. He flipped the brochure over. The back had nothing written on it. He’d never seen anything so incredibly unhelpful. 

James shrugged as he held the brochure with disinterest. “What does it mean?” 

“It’s a secret meeting—a group run by a guy who calls himself Zeus. They meet in the woods in a secluded area to practice rituals.”

James looked at the drawing inside, frowning the entire time. “What does the twelve mean?”

“That I don’t know. It might be a way they’re communicating with each other—a code.”

“So far, I’ve seen nothing illegal here. What’s the connection?”

Demetri leaned forward a bit. His glossy blue eyes stared at James. “I have no proof, but I think this guy Zeus took Klaus.”

James frowned. “Why would Zeus do that?”

Demetri’s eyes went wide. “I think they used Klaus as a sacrifice—a human sacrifice.”

James leaned back in the booth. This had not gone in the direction he’d anticipated. He held up the brochure. “Where did you get this?”

“It was handed to me near my church on Tremont Road. I go there for evening mass.”

“Saint Nicholas Church?”

“Yes.”

“Did you know the person who handed it to you?”

“No, I didn’t know him, regular looking guy. But it was dark at that time and hard to see anything distinguishing about him.”

“Have you been to one of their meetings?”

“Nah.” Demetri grimaced. “That’d be a sacrilege. But the guy who handed it to me said his name was Sam. He told me if I wanted to follow a real leader I should go to the meetings.”

“A real leader?”

“He said they meet to practice religion the ancient pure way, uncorrupted by modern life.”

“Did he mention human sacrifice?”

“No, that’s my interpretation.”

James frowned. “How did you jump to that conclusion? Some random guy is helping recruit to a different church and suddenly there’s human sacrifice?”

Demetri took another sip of his tea. “After Sam handed me the pamphlet I went to my church and asked if anyone had heard of such a meeting. You could say these were largely rumors but I trust my fellow churchgoers. They are good people.”

“Your church friends suggested to you that there are rituals in the woods with human sacrifice, but you believe the human sacrifices are actually performed with bodies stolen from funeral homes?”

“Not just me. It is also believed to be true among my colleagues.”

“And you don’t know who Sam is?”

“No.” Demetri smiled. “I know how this sounds but I wouldn’t have wanted to meet if I didn’t think this was all credible. All I’m asking is that you look into it. For Klaus.” 

The whole thing made James think he’d wasted half his day. He was certainly no historian, but human sacrifice typically happened with live bodies, not refrigerated ones waiting to be embalmed. 

James felt his pants pocket vibrate. “Is there anything else you wanted to share?”

“No, that’s about it.”

“Thank you. If you’ll excuse me for a minute, I’m going to take this call.” 

Demetri nodded and went back to sipping his tea. 

James stood and walked out of the booth toward the diner entrance. “Hello?” He already had seen that the caller was Lily. 

“You’re not going to believe this.” She sounded both alarmed and breathless. “It happened again.”

“Believe what? What happened?”

“I had Shanna and Zachary double check in case I was losing my mind but they both agree that I’m not seeing things.”

“That’s comforting. Can you calm down and tell me what you saw before I send a police brigade down there?”

“You might as well send one, we’re going to need it.” Her voice came out muffled. It sounded like she was running around the funeral home.

“For what?” His voice came out stern and annoyed. 

Her breathing slowed, as she seemed to finally stop her frenzied movement. “We’re going to need help because another body was snatched.”