Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“Oh my god.”
Devon looks down. “It was a year ago but the GC has lost a lot of credibility and I personally wouldn’t trust them until the whole board has been replaced.”
“Yeah, homicidal rage isn’t a quality I look for in a leader.”
“Right? Look…solving a cold case is pretty damn cool, if you ask me. I’m a true crime junkie and it kills me when some of those unsolved murders were so obviously supernatural. Just be careful, Anora.”
“I will. If anything, I’ll stay out of it and let my friend “discover” the evidence during the renovation.”
“That’s a good idea. And thanks. Next time I see you, hopefully it doesn’t involve wannabe witch hunter spirits or portals.”
Devon laughs. “A few of us from the coven are meeting for drinks at Maria’s next Friday. You should come.”
My face lights up. “That would be fun!”
“Bring Nik. Something tells me he’ll enjoy the attention he’ll get. We don’t come across fae that often anymore.”
“Hah. He would eat that up.” And then try to sleep with half the witches and warlocks who paid him any attention, but I don’t say that out loud.
“But, uh, not your boyfriend,” Devon adds awkwardly. “Being an Order member and all—”
“Former,” I interject, getting automatically defensive of Ethan. “He quit and I know I told you that.”
“Right. He’s a cool guy, but the coven isn’t a fan of the Order.”
“Yeah. That whole thing.”
“Something else that’s petty.” Devon laughs nervously and I get to my feet.
“Well, uh, thanks again.” I force another smile. “Good luck with the papers. Maybe you should just give everyone As.”
“Hah. If only.”
Still feeling awkward, I leave his office and walk through the sprawling academy, saying a friendly “hello” to any other witches Hunter and I pass by. I open the door and step out, making it a few steps before my phone gets enough service to start dinging, letting me know I have a text. I stop, and the sounds of the forest surround me.
There’s something so relaxing and calming in nature. I tip my head up, looking at the green leaves that are finally coming back to all the trees.
“It’s Julia,” I tell Hunter. We had asked her to use her hacking skills to see if she could get any info on the murders from any police records that are still on file.
Julia: Just to clarify, you said the tongues were cut out and crosses were marked on the victims’ forehead with their own blood, right?
Me: Yeah. Gruesome, I know.
Julia: And you’re sure these murders happened in the 80s?
Me: 1988 to be exact.
Julia: And the murderer is dead?
Me: Yep
Julia starts typing but then the little bubble disappears and a second later, my phone rings.
“Hey, you got a minute?” she says as soon as I answer.
“Yeah, of course.”
“Okay, so records from that far back are a little difficult to access, but murders that could be based off of religious or occult reasons are tracked by the Order. The crosses were recorded as upside down.”
I get a chill and think back to poor Allison, being frozen and forced to watch Stuart stand over Marissa.
“You’re right. Allison was looking at Marissa from the top of her head down.”
“So, the first time a body was found strangled with the cross on the forehead was 1986. The tongue wasn’t removed, but killers often improve the more they kill.”
“Lovely.”
“Right? They get more cocky as well. Sometimes that’s good and causes a slip-up, sometimes it gives them time to perfect their craft. Anyway, ten years later, two more girls were killed in Arizona. Same thing. Strangled, tongues removed and crosses drawn on the foreheads. The FBI got involved and asked the public for info, but they never disclosed the details in fear of a copycat since the crimes were so spread apart.”
Bernice said Stuart died three years after he killed Marissa and Allison. The woman is in her late eighties, but her mind is perfectly sound. She told me the only reason she’s in the nursing home was because she’s diabetic and has wounds on her feet that just won’t heal.
“Almost exactly a year after that, another girl was killed. It happened on a Native American reservation, which means it didn’t get the media coverage or police work that it should have.”
“Four years later there was a string of killings in Colorado. The media named the serial killer the Denver Strangler.”
“Fuck, I’ve watched a documentary series on that. The tongues weren’t cut out, though.”
“No, and the bodies were burned this time. This isn’t on any official report since there’s no credibility, but supposedly a psychic reported that a, and I quote, “large man with dark hair and beady eyes watched each girl for several weeks before breaking into their homes and killing them. He marked them with the sign of the cross before dousing them in gasoline”. Fast forward to 2007 and I was able to track down three murders that are similar in nature. A woman was found burned to death in her car and her tongue was cut out. Another was strangled and her tongue was bitten in half. There were post mortem wounds on her chin and forehead that make it look like the killer pulled her tongue out and clamped her own jaw shut on it.”