The temple was laid bare, the mystical nature of it dispersed by the harsh entry of the arc lights. Rhona shivered a little, and wished she’d put another layer on under the boiler suit. The cellar wasn’t damp, not like the upper floors, but there was a definite chill down here which crept into your bones.
She’d called both Chrissy and Magnus, both of whom would appear shortly. In the interim she would take her own set of stills and a video recording, before embarking on a forensic examination of the room.
From the layout of the altar and the couch, this may have been the most likely place for the sex magick to occur. If that were the case then Leila’s encounter with the man in the bar seemed random and perhaps nothing to do with the Nine.
Rhona recalled McNab’s assertion that Danny had been filming some of the encounters in secret. If that was true, then here would be a better place to do it than Leila’s bedroom, but where exactly in this room might a camera or a person with a camera or camera phone be hidden?
It took her thirty minutes to work out what she believed was the best possible location. Once decided it seemed obvious. The altar under its long white tablecloth consisted of a circular stone tabletop balanced on a wooden frame. It stood tall enough for someone to crouch beneath.
When Chrissy and Magnus arrived, Rhona ran her theory past them. Chrissy’s response was that they should try it out.
‘If Danny or Barry took the video they would have to fit under there. Both of them are tall, maybe not as tall as Magnus . . .’ Chrissy eyed Magnus speculatively.
Under Chrissy’s intense scrutinizing gaze, Rhona could swear he winced.
Chrissy snatched Rhona’s mobile from her hand and gave it to a reluctant Magnus.
‘Okay, you get under the altar.’
Magnus, seeing he had little choice other than to agree, dropped to his knees and did as commanded. It was a tight squeeze for a man of his height and build, but he managed it.
‘Right, boss, now’s your chance with me on the couch,’ Chrissy said with glee.
After much laughter and many sexual innuendoes, the deed was accomplished.
Rhona played back the video. It was clear that the location under the table was a good vantage point should someone want to capture anyone using the bed for sexual magick.
With the fun over, Chrissy set to work on the room while Rhona and Magnus discussed the altar. Rhona explained her thoughts on the missing knife and the wounds on the most recent victim found in the lane.
‘There should be a yag-dirk here,’ Magnus agreed. ‘And it would be capable of inflicting damage like that, but there’s something else missing too.’
‘What?’ Rhona said.
‘Leila’s Book of Shadows. There’s a chance she might have brought it with her each time she came to the temple, but if that was the case, I assume you would have found it in her flat.’
‘What would it look like?’
‘It’s the Wiccan equivalent of a Bible. Witches will create their own. They’re often bound and very ornamental.’
‘There was nothing like that in her flat.’
‘Assuming Leila and Shannon were worshipping together here, the Book of Shadows would contain the rituals they practised and the spells they performed.’
‘Including the ones cast with the Nine?’ Rhona said.
Magnus nodded. ‘It might give you a clue as to what the Nine were involved in, and what their desires were.’
‘Which makes you wonder who removed it, and the knife?’ Rhona said.
‘From a profiler’s viewpoint, nothing feels right,’ Magnus said. ‘Leila met the main suspect for the first time the night she died. She took him home and they had sex. In her flat, not here. If he did kill her, the act would appear to have been random, perhaps fuelled by drink or drugs, or as a reaction to the idea that she was putting a spell on him via the cingulum. So why hang her on a hook in that room? Why not just get out of there and fast?’ He shook his head in consternation. ‘This isn’t the profile of a random killer. It does, however, fit the profile of a serial offender or,’ he paused here, ‘someone who is intent on wiping out everyone who might identify him.’
‘One of the Nine?’ Rhona said.
‘Or all of them. Killing as a group makes it far more difficult to pin the blame on anyone.’
‘If Leila threatened to expose them,’ Rhona began, ‘or Danny tried to blackmail them with the videos he’d taken, and your theory is correct, then maybe McNab is right, and the latest victim is Barry Fraser.’
‘Which means Daniel Hardy is the only one left alive who’s able to testify to any of this.’
An uncomfortable thought reared up in Rhona’s mind. ‘Danny made contact with Freya Devine recently. It was Freya who suggested he look in the Goddess statue for the list.’
From Magnus’s expression he didn’t like that piece of information one bit. ‘I believe anyone who may have a link to this case will be considered a threat to the perpetrator or perpetrators,’ he said. ‘Can you ask McNab to keep a watch over Freya?’