Edward Lee - Incubi

Jan Beck’s stomach wasn’t the only one turning.

“There’s more,” Randy said. “Beck thinks this is the last one.”

“Why?”

“First two, the perps went out of their way to disguise themselves. They wore the black wig. Beck didn’t find a single wig hair this time.”

“Which means they don’t give a shit anymore about being recognized. And that means they’re either ready to stop or they’re ready to leave town, just like Karla Panzram said they would. But I don’t think Susan Lynn is the last one. I think there’ll be one more murder.”

Randy looked at him inquisitively.

“Faye, the state researcher, found out a lot more about the ritual protocol. These guys worship some medieval demon called Baalzephon, some sex demon or something, an incubus, she called it. Once a year this cult would try to incarnate Baalzephon by a specific rite. They’d sacrifice three girls, one for each point of the triangle, then they’d do a fourth, to finish the rite. Everything she’s dug up so far syncs with what’s already happened. So that’s my guess. There’ll be one more 64 before these guys book.”

“That’s very imaginative, Captain Cordesman.”

Jack knew the voice at once. How long had he been standing here listening? “Ah, Noyle,” Jack said. “I almost didn’t recognize you without your face buried in the commissioner’s ass.”

Noyle frowned in the doorway. “I’m a trifle concerned that you haven’t yet enrolled yourself in the county alcohol program. Please do yourself a favor, Captain. Posthaste.”

Posthaste. What a dickbrain . “Why’d you shitcan Faye Rowland?”

“Because her services are no longer integral to this case.”

“They’re not, huh? Well, what have you come up with, besides handfuls of your own shit?”

“You’re a very profane man, Captain.”

“You’re fucking right I’m profane, especially when a no-experience little IAD weasel yanks my homicide investigation and fucks up a week’s worth of hard work. Faye Rowland found out more about these assholes in three days than you’ll find out in a year of hobnobbing around, running rap checks on a bunch of dance-club scumbags and bar cockhounds. Don’t you even want to see the information she’s compiled on the aorist cult?”

“The aorist cult,” Noyle repeated with a reserved smile. “I’ve read your preliminary reports, Captain. They’re quite…amusing. Fortunately we’re a modern police department; we have no interest in devils. What we’re concerned with are two highly dangerous chronic psychopaths, and we will proceed in the effort of their apprehension by following the standard investigative procedures, and maybe if you had adhered to the same standards you would not have turned this case into the biggest embarrassment in the history of the department.”

Jack stood up. Randy rolled his eyes.

“Listen to me, you little buttplug,” Jack said. “These guys are not psychopaths. If they were psychopaths, we could’ve caught them by now. They’re rational, calculated devil-worshipers. The only thing crazy about them is their beliefs and the only way you’re going to bust them is to research their beliefs.”

“Sit down, Jack,” Randy suggested.

“Their beliefs are irrelevant, Captain,” Noyle said. “We don’t investigate beliefs, we investigate crime and the perpetrators thereof. You might’ve solved this case by now if you’d spent more time on the suspects and less in the bars.”

“There are no suspects, you idiot!” Jack yelled.

Noyle stepped back without a change of expression. “And I repeat. You are officially advised to enroll yourself in the county alcohol program.”

“Posthaste, right?”

“That’s correct, Captain. Posthaste. A police department is no place for a drunk.”

Jack stood grinding his teeth. Noyle was wearing suspenders, the new craze. Jack was very tempted to give them a good hard snap.

Noyle left.

“You better watch yourself, Jack,” Randy counseled. “Noyle is one guy you don’t want to fuck with.”

“He can bugger himself,” Jack suggested, and sat back down.

“And you better take care of that rehab stuff too. He’ll ax you, Jack. He’s done it to a lot of guys.”

Jack mumbled something not very complimentary under his breath. He couldn’t argue, though. Randy was right.

“Beck left something else too.” Randy picked up a chromatography analysis report. “Whatever you and Faye gave her to go on checked out.”

“The tox screen?”

“Yeah. It turned out to be exactly what you said it was.” Randy squinted at the writing in the comments box. “‘Cantharadine suphate, endorphic stimulant, derived via series-distillation of Taxodium lyrata tubers. Indigenous to central Europe. Produces aggregant aphrodisiac affect through hyperstimulation of libidinal receptors. An oil-soluble colloid, will suspend microscopically in alcohol. Colorless, odorless, tasteless. No field in NADDIS. No record of criminal use in U.S.’”

“Great,” Jack griped. “Indigenous to central Europe. You’ll have to run a CDS trace through goddamn Interpol to find out where this shit’s used. That’ll take months.”

“But what the hell is it?”

“Something like Spanish fly, I think, gets you horny. The aorists used it in the Middle Ages for orgies and rituals. Beck found traces of it in the bloodstreams of the first two 64s. It mixes with alcohol, she says. The postmortems said Barrington, Black, and Lynn were all in heightened sexual states then they died. That’s how our guys picked them up so easy. They were probably putting this shit in their drinks.”

“All this weird stuff”—Randy gestured at his desk—“and I don’t know what to do with any of it.”

“You know one thing, though,” Jack cautioned, “and mark my words. You can bet there’s gonna be one more murder before this is over.”

“Here it is,” the librarian said. “Be very careful; it may be the only copy in existence, and it’s in bad condition. Turn the pages with the stylus, and I’m afraid you’ll have to wear these gloves. The amino acids on your fingers will damage the paper if you touch it.”

Faye donned the nylon gloves. “What about photocopies?”

“It’s illegal to photocopy any Class D precaution printed material. You can photograph the pages if you have a camera. If not—”

“I’ll use the copy machine I was born with,” Faye finished, indicating her right hand. “Thank you for finding this. I’ll let you know when I’m done.”

The librarian left Faye to her cove. The book had been brought out in a lidded aluminum box, and rested in an acetate cover. It wasn’t thick; it looked more like a brochure than a book. The binding had been removed to reduce page wear. Its faded title in black ink on red seemed to look back at her.

THE SYNOD OF THE AORISTS

No publication date, no copyright. The only printing information read: Morakis Enterprises. Translated from Greek by Monseigneur Timothy McGinnis. No author was listed either, and no contributors or bibliographic data.

The page after the title had a dedication:

To know God, one must first know the Nemesis.

This book is for all who seek God .

Faye Rowland opened the book and began to read.

Ginny cranked out the last page from the Smith Corona XL that Khoronos had provided. Her story was done. It was only about 1,500 words, but she’d redrafted it obsessively. Even with her novels, it was not uncommon to rewrite eight or ten times. Art did not come easy for some; most of writing was rewriting. And to hell with all this word processor stuff. Ginny couldn’t imagine writing with anything but a loud, clanky typewriter. It was the activity that spurred her, margin bells ringing, keys clacking, the carriage whipping back and forth as her muse poured out of her fingertips. All her friends at her writers’ group told her she was crazy not to own a computer. “Oh, but Ginny, you’ll save so much time!” “I’m not interested in saving time, I’m interested in creating art,” she’d come back. “Oh, but Ginny, it all goes on disk! You just push the print button when you’re done! Laser jets! 256 RAM! 20-gig hard-drive! How can you live without one!”