Ash Return of the Beast

CHAPTER 16



Three Months Later…

Kane blew the head of steam off his first cup of morning coffee and stood staring at the calendar on his office wall. It had been nine days since the last preacher met his maker at the hands of… what? A lunatic? A boogeyman? Kane didn’t know. All he knew was that this was day number nine and, unless something had changed, all he had to do was sit and wait for the phone to ring.

The hours passed.

By 2 o’clock in the afternoon the only call he got was from Special Agent Ravenwood asking if he’d heard anything.

“Nothing. Nada,” he told her. “You think he’s changed his M.O.?”

“Doubt it. This guy’s carrying out some sort of a ritual. Unless he’s dead he won’t stop until he’s completed the pattern. Let me know the minute you hear anything.”

“If I don’t hear anything does that mean I never have to talk to you again?”

“Yeah, right. Just call me.”

Kane chuckled and hung up the phone.

Another three hours passed and Kane was beginning to think maybe Ravenwood was wrong. God, wouldn’t that be sweet?

The call came in a few minutes after five. The preacher killer had struck again. Martin ‘Marty’ St. Martin, victim number six, was only 33 years old, married with two kids.

It crossed Kane’s mind that making a trip to the crime scene was almost pointless. He doubted it would reveal any more clues than they already had which was next to nothing. The call from Detective Wheeler––already on the scene––pretty much confirmed his suspicion. Every detail of the scene was an exact repeat of the other five. But the location seemed a little odd.

“They found the body where?” Kane asked.

“In the men’s restroom at the Queen City Concert Hall. And get this. His clothes were soaked with urine. Presumably his own.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Nice, huh? Samples are on the way for DNA testing.”

“Anybody see anything?”

“No. But shortly after we got here about a half dozen people from his church showed up. Apparently he was heading up a protest and was supposed to meet these people at five o’clock to get organized. He’d arrived ahead of them and by the time they got here he was dead.”

“Who found the body?”

“Maintenance guy. John Cushman. Long time employee. He was just getting off work for the day. We checked him out. Family man. Volunteers as a soccer coach for under privileged kids on weekends. Clean record. He was pretty shook up about the whole thing.”

“Okay. What about this protest? What’s that about?”

“Ever hear of a band called Mega Therion?”

“No. Tell me.”

“Death Metal crap. You know. Head bangers. That shit.”

“Yeah. Second only to rap for the most annoying noise on the planet.”

Wheeler chuckled. “Yeah, well these guys are into weird stuff. At least you’d think so if you ever heard the lyrics to their songs.”

“How so?”

“Dark stuff. Satanic. Demons and shit. You know. That’s why this Pastor St. Martin and his people were here. The band’s playing here tonight. The pastor and his people were planning to stage a protest. They believe the band is responsible for turning kids away from Christ and all that stuff.”

“Hmm… interesting. Sort of fits with this mumbo jumbo that Ravenwood’s been feeding me. Any of the band members there?”

“No. Not yet. According to the guy who manages this place the band isn’t scheduled to show up for another hour to get set up for the show. But you’ll like this. We got another video. The concert hall manager is getting it for us as we speak.”

“Excellent. Bring it in, pronto. I can’t wait to see this one. And get me all the info you can about that band. I want names, addresses, phone numbers. Whatever you can find out.”

Kane ended his conversation with Wheeler and promptly called Ravenwood.

“So, Ravenwood, you wanna see a movie?”

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

“You should be so lucky. The boogeyman struck again. We got video.”

“Save me a seat. I’ll be right there.”

“Bring popcorn.”