Tess Gerritsen - The Mephisto Club

“And no one’s called you?”

“No.” How could they? I’ve done my damnedest to stay out of sight.

He looked at Baum, then back at her. “I’m so sorry to have to tell you this. But your friends-both of them-are dead.”

She shook her head. “I don’t understand. Was it an accident? How could both of them…?”

“Not an accident. They were murdered.”

“Together?”

“Separately. It happened around Christmas. Lori-Ann was killed in Boston. And Sarah was killed in Purity, New York. Sarah’s body was found in your parents’ house, the house you’ve been trying to sell. That’s why the police have been looking for you.”

“Excuse me,” she whispered. “I think I’m going to be sick.” She scrambled off the bed and bolted into the adjoining bathroom. She slammed the door shut and dropped to her knees over the toilet bowl. The wine she’d drunk the night before came up, scorching like acid as it burned its way up her throat. She clung to the toilet, retching until her stomach was empty, until she had nothing left to throw up. She flushed the toilet and staggered to the sink, where she splashed water in her mouth, on her face. Staring at her own dripping reflection, she scarcely recognized the woman she saw there. How long had it been since she’d looked, really looked, into a mirror? When had she transformed into that feral creature? The running had taken its toll. Run too long, and eventually you’ll leave behind your soul.

She dried her face on a thick cotton towel, used her fingers to comb back her hair, and retied the ponytail. Mr. Good-Looking-and-Rich was waiting to interrogate her, and she needed to stay on her toes. Tell him just enough to keep him happy. If he doesn’t know what I did, then I sure as hell won’t tell him.

The color was returning to her face. She lifted her chin and saw the old warrior’s glint in her eyes. Both her friends were dead. She was the only one left. Help me, girls. Help me survive this. She took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom.

The men looked at her with expressions of concern. “I’m sorry to have sprung that news on you so abruptly,” said Sansone.

“Tell me the details,” Lily said bluntly. “What did the police find?”

He seemed taken aback by her coolheaded directness. “The details aren’t pleasant.”

“I didn’t expect they would be.” She sat down on the bed. “I just need to know,” she said softly. “I need to know how they died.”

“First, may I ask you something?” said the German man, Mr. Baum. He moved closer. Now both men were standing above her, watching her face. “Do you know the significance of the reverse cross?”

For a few seconds, she stopped breathing. Then she found her voice again. “The upside-down cross is…it’s a symbol that’s meant to mock Christianity. Some would consider it satanic.”

She saw Baum and Sansone exchange surprised glances.

“And what about this symbol?” Baum reached into his jacket pocket and took out a pen and a scrap of paper. Quickly he made a sketch, which he showed to her. “It’s sometimes called the all-seeing eye. Do you know its significance?”

“This is Udjat,” she said, “the eye of Lucifer.”

Again, a look passed between Baum and Sansone.

“And if I were to draw a picture of a goat’s head, with horns?” said Baum. “Would it mean anything to you?”

She met his mild-mannered gaze. “I assume you’re referring to the symbol for Baphomet? Or Azazel?”

“You’re familiar with all these symbols.”

“Yes.”

“Why? Are you a Satanist, Ms. Saul?”

She felt like laughing. “Hardly. I just happen to know about them. It’s my own peculiar interest.”

“Is your cousin Dominic a Satanist?”

Lily went absolutely still, her hands flash-frozen in her lap.

“Ms. Saul?”

“You’d have to ask him,” she whispered.

“We’d like to,” said Sansone. “Where can we find him?”

She looked down at her hands, clenched tightly in her lap. “I don’t know.”

He sighed. “We devoted a lot of manpower to tracking your whereabouts. It’s taken us ten days to find you.”

Only ten days? God, I’ve gotten careless.

“So if you could just tell us where Dominic is, you’d save us a great deal of trouble.”

“I told you, I don’t know.”

“Why are you protecting him?” asked Sansone.

That made her chin jerk up. “Why the hell would I protect him?”

“He’s your only living blood relative. And you don’t know where he is?”

“I haven’t seen him in twelve years,” she shot back.

Sansone’s gaze narrowed. “You remember exactly how long it’s been?”

She swallowed. That was a mistake. I’ve got to be more careful.

“The things that were done to Lori-Ann and Sarah-that was Dominic’s work, Lily.”

“How do you know that?”

“Would you like to hear what he did to Sarah? How many hours she must have screamed as he carved crosses into her skin? And guess what he drew on the wall in Lori-Ann’s bedroom, the same room where he dismembered her body. Upside-down crosses. The same symbol he carved on that barn when he was fifteen years old, when he was living with you that summer, in Purity.” Sansone moved closer to her, his nearness suddenly threatening. “Is he the one you’ve been running from? Your own cousin, Dominic?”

She said nothing.

“You’re obviously running from something. Since you left Paris, you haven’t lived anywhere longer than six months. And you haven’t been back to Purity in years. What happened that summer, Lily, the summer you lost your family?”

She wrapped her arms around herself, coiling into a tight ball. Suddenly she was shaking, at a moment when she needed, more than ever, to hold herself together.

“First your brother Teddy drowns. Then your mother tumbles down the stairs. Then your father shoots himself. All within a few weeks. That’s a lot of tragedy for a sixteen-year-old girl.”

She hugged herself even tighter, afraid that if she didn’t, she would shake apart, shatter to pieces.

“ Was it just bad luck, Lily?”

“What else would it be?” she whispered.

“Or was something else going on that summer, something between you and Dominic?”

Her head snapped up. “What are you implying?”

“You’re refusing to help us find him. All I can conclude is that you’re protecting him.”

“You-you think we had a relationship? ” Her voice rose to a hysterical pitch. “You think I wanted my family to die? My brother was only eleven years old!” She stopped, then repeated in a whisper, “He was only eleven years old.”

“Maybe you didn’t realize how dangerous it all was,” said Sansone. “Maybe you just joined him in a few incantations, a few harmless rituals. A lot of kids do, you know, out of curiosity. Maybe to show they’re different from everyone else, unique. Maybe to shock their parents. Were your parents shocked?”

“They didn’t understand him,” she whispered. “They didn’t realize…”

“And the other girls. Your friends Lori-Ann and Sarah. Did they join in his rituals? When did the game get scary? When did you realize there are powers you don’t ever want to awaken? That’s what happened, isn’t it? Dominic lured you in.”

“No, that’s not what happened at all.”

“And then you got scared. You tried to pull away, but it was too late, because their eyes were on you. And on your family. Once you’ve invited the darkness into your life, it’s not so easy to get rid of it. It burrows in, becomes part of you. Just as you become part of it. ”