Chapter Five

As soon as James rushed into her office, Lily burst into tears. He was the rock in her life and his presence unleashed raw emotions. “I don’t understand. Who’s doing this?”

All strong and comforting, he reached out to embrace her. “It’s all right. We’ll figure it out.”

She buried her face in his shoulder. “Who in their right mind goes out of their way to take bodies out of a funeral home?” She wiped at her cheeks. “What are they doing with them? Those poor families. They’ve entrusted us with their loved ones, and we can’t even keep them safe.” Her arms flailed. Anger replaced the tears. “If I’d known there was a serial body snatcher, I would’ve hired a bodyguard to watch the place twenty-four hours a day.” 

“We can do that. We can have a patrol car stationed nearby.” He rubbed her back from hips to the nape of her neck in long, firm strokes. “I didn’t think it would happen again either. Doesn’t make much sense. The only theory that’s surfaced is completely ridiculous. We’ll have to keep this place locked up tight and hope whoever is doing this comes around again for a third, and when he does, we’ll snatch him.”

Lily smiled. He had a way of making things better despite the obstacles. She sniffed and wiped away the remaining wetness from her cheeks. “What ridiculous theory came up?”

James sighed. “I don’t want to make you more upset.”

“Oh, great. It gets worse?”

“It’s not bad. I was trying to help with this case.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “Tell me.” 

“I saw the list on your desk and remembered you had abandoned the lead after the first call, so I rang the second guy on the list.”

“Demetri Popov? You called my lead?” Her nostrils flared. “Without asking me?”

“I wanted to help. I didn’t think it would go anywhere.”

“And? Did it?”

“Demetri wanted to meet up and tell me who he thought was involved.”

“Tell me you met up with him?” She leaned in closer to James. 

One eyebrow rose. “Of course, I follow every lead.”

Lily cocked her head. He was teasing, but she wasn’t interested in playing.

Then he shook his head and smiled. “Don’t worry. I didn’t steal your case. It was a complete waste of time. He thinks there’s a secret ancient religious group meeting in the woods somewhere practicing human sacrifice.”

Lily frowned. “What?”

“I know it’s completely insane. He showed me a flyer a six-year-old might have made.” He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and placed it on her desk.

“Human sacrifice? As in murdering innocent people for religious purposes? Who are the victims?” She picked up the brochure. One look made her mouth drop open as her brain clicked into gear. “Are you saying this group is stealing my bodies for sacrifice?”

“It doesn’t even make sense. Human sacrifice is with living people, not dead ones.” His arms went out. “Isn’t it?”

Lily scrunched up her face as she scrutinized the pamphlet. “I don’t know. Did Demetri explain what all of this means?” 

“He said the group is led by a guy who calls himself Zeus. The drawing of the house represents where they meet in the woods—not really clear on where that would be though.”

Lily looked up from the brochure. “They would need a large local house with privacy. Whoever drew this also included a wooded area.” She pointed to the tangled sketch of trees and bushes surrounding the house. “That’s a helpful clue. And they also bothered to draw the stone blocks from which the house is constructed. My guess is the rituals are being conducted behind a very large house with a significant number of woods surrounding it, making the house more secluded than the average house in Manorview. That narrows the options down quite a bit.”

“To how many?”

Lily raised her shoulders. “The first one that comes to my mind is the old Rubin mansion. It’s been abandoned for years by that old doctor and his wife. They ran out of money building the place.”

“Yeah, I know the story. Dr. George Rubin, the famous neurologist. He got pretty far with the building of that house before it got out of hand. One of the guys at the station told me the pool in the back has a large cave with a waterfall inside. Maybe that’s what did him in.”

“Maybe, but the old Rubin house is really secluded with a lot of woodlands behind it. I bet that’s where this Zeus is holding his rituals.”

“The whole thing sounds crazy to me,” James said. “I think Demetri was handed this brochure by some looney tune. It’s completely made up.”

She pointed to the numbers. “What’s the twelve mean?”

“No idea. Maybe it’s a reference to the twelve days of Christmas.”

Lily glared at him. 

“Look, if you want to pursue Mr. Popov’s brochure of terror, suit yourself. I’m here to investigate the theft of another body. Show me where it went missing from.”

Lily placed the pamphlet on her desk. He was right about one thing. She had every intention of pursuing this lead. “The thief got a little more confident this time,” she said as she led him out of her office. 

“More confident?”

“The body was stolen out of here,” she said, leading him into her make-up room. 

“Are you sure?”

She cocked her head in response. 

“It couldn’t have been anywhere else?” he asked.

“You’ve been living here long enough to know what goes on here. There’s a step-by-step process. I asked Zachary to help move Ms. Bernardo from the embalming room to this room for her make-up application.”

“Where were you when this was going on?” 

“In my office reviewing the family’s specific make-up requests for her.”

“How long were you in your office?”

“Twenty minutes.” 

“Then what?”

“I went into the make-up room, expecting to see Ms. Bernardo. I found the room empty. Then I checked the embalming room. She wasn’t in there either.”

“What did Zachary have to say about it?”

“He said he moved her in the make-up room and then he went back to restocking inventory.”

“Is anyone else here?”

“Shanna was here earlier, embalming the same client but then she went out to dinner with Abrams after she finished.”

“What about Antonio Reales? Is he out with the hearse?”

“He said he wanted to take it out to the car wash.”

“What about Rick?”

“He made it a point to announce he needed to go run some errands.” 

“He took his truck?”

“I assume so.” Lily shrugged her shoulders as she peered up the stairs at the door to Shanna’s old bedroom. She suddenly got the urge to search the room. 

“What about Chris and Marcia?” James asked. 

“I sent Chris out to deposit checks at the bank. Marcia said she wanted to step out for some fresh air.”

“Does she do that a lot?”

“Maybe. I haven’t been keeping track of how often she has stepped out for fresh air.”

“All right. I’ll request the forensics team to come over. You never know if this person left a fingerprint or a strand of hair somewhere.”

“If they have hair on their head,” Lily mumbled. 

“What?”

“Nothing. Sounds like a plan. I can’t believe I have to tell another family we lost the body.”

James squeezed her shoulder. “We’ll figure it out. I promise.”

She tried to smile but it wouldn’t come. “I’m going to check upstairs to see if there’s anything misplaced.”

“All right. I’ll get things rolling down here. This isn’t going to happen again. I promise.”

“Hope not,” she replied, climbing the stairs with purpose. She wanted to get in Rick’s room before he came back from running errands—if that’s really what he was up to. 

When she approached Shanna’s bedroom, she looked behind her to make sure James hadn’t followed her. He probably wouldn’t appreciate her fishing around in his buddy’s stuff.

The coast is clear. 

Lily breathed in as she stood at the door. 

There’s a smell. 

Not a rotten one but a sharp burnt odor mixed with a hint of the floral room spray her sister always used. As she opened the door, her shoulders relaxed. Nothing looked odd or out of place—not that she believed the missing bodies would be in this room, but she felt slightly better about barging in and finding nothing. 

Lily quickly rifled through the drawers in Shanna’s cabinet. She found nothing but his folded clothing. As she went through his stuff, she noticed he’d brought very little with him. Although Rick hadn’t been completely transparent about how long he would be staying, it didn’t seem like it would be for a long time. 

She checked the bathroom. Nothing was out of the ordinary there. Then she stood in the center of the room, scanning every corner until her eyes landed on a black bag next to the bed on the opposite side of the door. She rushed over to take a look at it. Rick could be headed up the stairs for all she knew.

She needed to search the bag. 

As soon as her hands pulled out what looked to be a black shirt, the same odd smell smacked her in the face. Her nasal passages stung. She suppressed the urge to cough. This is where the burnt smell was coming from—as if Rick had been around a bonfire recently. But she detected something else in the odor, something she dealt with all the time at work, something familiar.

The rancid charred stench was unmistakable. She smelled a burnt body. Knowing she would need the shirt for evidence at a later time, she rushed to hide it in Shanna’s closet under some extra linen. Then she scrambled out of the bedroom and made her way to her office before anyone could see her. As she processed what she’d found, Lily sank into the cushioning support of her leather chair. She’d never felt more positive about any other case.

Detective Rick Drakon, friend of James, was Zeus.