Ash Return of the Beast

CHAPTER 8



Three Months Later…

Kane and the young detective, Mitch Wheeler, stood together in front of Kane’s desk as they studied the crime scene photos of the latest victim in the string of mysterious deaths.

“Number five, right?” Wheeler asked.

“Yeah. Poor bastard.”

“Who was he?”

“Name was Paul Hansen. A perfectly healthy 39-year-old pastor of a non-denominational community church. Next door neighbor discovered the body in the pastor’s own back yard early this morning.”

“What was the neighbor doing in the pastor’s back yard?”

“He wasn’t. He was in his own driveway, getting into his car. He happened to glance over the fence and saw the body on the ground.”

Wheeler ran his fingers through his thick brown hair and gave Kane a sideways glance. “That FBI lady was right, wasn’t she?”

“About what?”

Wheeler pointed to the time/date stamp on the photos. “Exactly nine days since the last one.”

Kane nodded. “Yeah, I can count.”

The phone on Kane’s desk buzzed. He picked it up. “Kane. What? No shit? Be right there.” He hung up the phone and turned to Wheeler. “Looks like maybe we finally got a break. Come on.”

They hurried out of the office and took the elevator to the photo lab two floors down.