The Second Coming (41 page)

Kate joined him at the counter dressed in business casual slacks, a blouse and high heels and they ate while they discussed her staying at his house again that night. Everything was going great until Mike’s cell phone rang. It was Captain Volger.

“Hey Mike, I just wanted to let you know that I’m pulling Axelrode off of surveillance.”

“What the fuck?” Mike replied pissed.

“Before you get your panties in a bunch, just listen. The Sterling Killer isn’t going to attack her in broad daylight. That’s not his M.O. I need Axe back on the streets. We don’t have the resources to have someone watching over your love interest.”

“He knows who she is. She’s in imminent danger.”

“Maybe instead of spending your time banging your expert witness you should be out trying to catch the killer.”

“What’s she going to do tonight? She can’t go back to her house alone.”

Captain Volger let out a sigh. “The best I can do is have a cruiser meet her at her house to make sure it’s safe and then drive by every hour after that.”

“That’s bullshit. I’ll fucking handle it myself.”

“Don’t think with your cock Mike. You’re already on thin ice.”

“Kiss my ass.” Mike flipped his phone off and tossed it on the counter. His head felt like it was going to explode.

“He’s right you know?” Kate assured him.

Mike looked at Kate with confused eyes.

“I heard what he said,” she told him.

“Everything?”

“Enough. The Sterling Killer isn’t going to risk getting caught in the day. He works at night.”

“No way. I’m going to follow you to work.”

Kate smiled appreciatively. “You can’t follow me everywhere I go. You haven’t even showered and I need to get to work. You have to call Dr. Schafer and see if he knows what the symbol is.”

And find out where little Jimmy is.

Mike shook his head reluctantly. “I don’t like it.”

Kate got up from her stool, walked over and looked Mike in the eyes caringly. “I’ll go straight to campus and I can have security meet me in the parking lot.”

That didn’t sound too bad. “I don’t want you stopping anywhere for anything.”

“I won’t,” she assured him as she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. “You’re sexy when you’re angry.”

Mike was uncomfortable with the situation to say the least. “I’m not kidding,” he told her seriously. “Under no circumstance are you to stop. You promise?”

“I promise.”

Mike walked her to her car and watched as she backed her BMW out of his driveway. He waved as she sped down the road. He didn’t have a good feeling about this. He knew it was a mistake, but he didn’t know how bad of a mistake it really was.

As she watched Mike disappear in her rearview mirror, Kate was relieved to get out of there. The coffee was bad, but she didn’t have the heart to tell him because she thought he was so sweet to go through the effort to make breakfast, but now it was running through her system like uranium. She needed to use the ladies room, but was too embarrassed to at Mike’s so now she was hoping she could make it to Stanford before it was too late. Now she wished she hadn’t waited. There was no way she was going to make it all
the way to Palo Alto so she pulled off the freeway and found a Starbuck’s in a crowded strip mall. She promised Mike she wouldn’t stop, but this was an emergency and would only take a minute. There was no way anything was going to happen to her.

After she used the ladies room, she decided to get a real cup of coffee. She was already there so she might as well. As she stood at a sidebar stirring a Splenda into her cup, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Her heart skipped a beat as she spun around startled to find Father John dressed in a black clergy shirt and matching pants with a white clerical collar holding a steaming cup of coffee. She almost didn’t recognize him.

“Oh Christ Father, you scared me.”

“Sorry about that. Are you alright?”

Kate sighed, feeling a little ridiculous. “I’m fine. It’s just that Mike doesn’t want me stopping anywhere because he’s worried the Sterling Killer could be following me.”

“Did Detective McCormick tell you that he has cleared me as a person of interest?”

“He did. I’m happy for you.”

Father John paused with a troubled look on his face. “I don’t know what there is to be happy about. I’m still having my dreams and we still don’t know who the killer is.”

“At least they know it isn’t you.”

“I already knew it wasn’t me. It was only Detective McCormick and his split personality theory that didn’t know,” Father John said with a grin.

“He is only doing his job and clearing suspects through the process of elimination.”

Kate put the lid on her cup of coffee and began to stroll towards the glass doors. Father John held the door open for her.

“Did he tell you about the photo of my family standing in front of the Oakland Children’s Orphanage?”

Kate nodded with a disturbed look on her face. “He did. That is a really strange coincidence that the first victim’s body was found there.”

“I keep thinking there has to be some connection between my dreams and the orphanage.”

“It is strange,” Kate said and then looked at her watch. “I hate to be rude, but I need to get to work. Where are you going?”

“Just down the street to help out at a residential care facility.”

“Do you have a car?”

Father John chuckled. “Oh, goodness no. I haven’t driven since college.”

Kate found herself amused by that. “Can I offer you a ride?”

“No thank you. I don’t want to be an imposition.”

Kate stepped down from the curb towards the driver door of her car and chirped the alarm off. “If it’s just down the street it won’t be an imposition. Hop in,” she said as she got into her car.

Father John shrugged his shoulders, walked over to the passenger door and got in.

As Kate started the car and began to back out of her parking spot, she realized that not only was she breaking her promise to Mike not to stop anywhere, but now she was giving Father John a ride and would have to stop again. Mike couldn’t get mad at her. She had to stop and it was only Father John she was giving a ride to. What could go wrong?

chapter
65

M
IKE WAS SO
anxious to get to work and call Professor Schafer regarding the symbol and to find out whatever happened to Little Jimmy, that in lieu of a shower he washed his hands and face, ran his wet hands over his crew cut hair, being gentle around his scar, brushed his teeth and got dressed in a hurry. He figured he would shower at the gym at lunch not knowing that he would never get the chance.

As he sped to work he was consumed with the anticipation that something big was about to break in the case. There had to be a reason the Sterling Killer left the first victim’s body at the church that was dedicated to Father John’s mom. And what about little Jimmy? It couldn’t just be a coincidence. Hopefully Professor Schafer would know the meaning of the symbol and be able to shed a little light on the situation.

Mike parked his car in the cyclone fenced parking lot under the freeway and ran up the stairs to Homicide. By the time he got to his desk, his forehead was covered with beads of sweat and his button down shirt was wicking to the middle of his back.

Big Pete was hunched over his desk when Mike burst through the swinging doors.

“Are you alright?” Big Pete asked as Mike approached his desk with shifty eyes.

“God Damn it Pete,” Mike said with frustration. “I know we are missing something, I just can’t figure out what it is?”

“What are you talking about?”

Mike paced as he thought out loud. “Do you remember the story Kate told Father John about almost drowning?”

Big Pete nodded. “Divine intervention, right?”

Mike rubbed his stubbled jaw. “It turns out that the boy she almost drowned with abducted her at knife point in high school and threatened to kill her.”

“Why’d he do that?”

“She thinks he panicked because he didn’t know why God saved him and thought maybe she knew and wasn’t telling him.”

“What happened to him?”

“I don’t know. They put him in a mental institute and she doesn’t know where he is now.”

“You don’t think he has anything to do with the murders do you?”

Mike shook his head with a discouraged scowl. “It doesn’t make any sense. Why would he be killing people? He can’t believe that is what God wants.”

“What’s his name?”

“Jimmy Jones or James Jones. I was hoping you would check the database and track him down while I phone Professor Schafer.”

“Who the fuck is Professor Schafer?” Big Pete asked bewildered.

Mike felt a twinge of jealousy creep into his belly. “He’s one of Kate’s old professors. She thinks he might know what the symbol means.”

“It may take a while for me to find him. There have to be a lot of Jimmy Jones’.”

“You’re looking for a Caucasian born around 1970 in San Diego that spent time in a mental institution.”

“That’ll narrow it down. I’ll find him.”

Mike walked over to his desk, sat down and dialed Professor Schafer’s number. He felt remotely strange calling a former lover of Kate’s. There was a part of him that resented the dirty old bastard for taking advantage of a young coed, but there was another part of him who knew he would have done the same thing.

“This is Dr. Schafer,” a concise voice answered after the second ring. “Can I help you?”

Mike sat up straight on the edge of his chair. “Yes, hi Dr. Schafer,” he replied calmly. “My name is Detective Mike McCormick. Kate Wilson gave me your name and number.”

“Oh yes,” the professor replied reflectively. “How is Dr. Wilson? I haven’t spoken with her in years.”

“Very good. She sends her best regards.”

There was an awkward moment of silence. “Are you involved with her?”

Mike was taken aback. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

Professor Schaefer chuckled. “Be careful. She’ll break your heart.”

Mike knew he was right. She was already making his heart ache. “I’ll take that under advisement. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions regarding a case we are working on.”

“Any friend of Kate’s is a friend of mine.”

“Are you aware of the Sterling Killer murders?”

“I’ve been out of the country so I haven’t been following the news. What’s this about?”

Mike played with his mouse as he woke his computer up. “The killer leaves a symbol smeared in the victims’ blood at the crime scenes and we can’t figure out what it means. Would you mind taking a look at it?”

This peaked the professor’s interest. “Of course. Can you email it to me?” He gave Mike his email address and Mike sent it and waited while the professor opened the attachment.

Mike heard the professor moan disturbingly when he opened it. “Where did you get this picture?” he asked apprehensively.

“The killer leaves it at the crime scenes. It’s his calling card so to speak.”

“Have you shown this to anyone else?” Dr. Schafer asked with a deliberate tone.

“Just the people working the case,” Mike responded disconcerted. “Why? What does it mean? I can’t find anything about it anywhere.”

Dr. Schafer let out a long sigh and Mike heard his chair squeak through the receiver. “That’s because it doesn’t exist. The church has done all they can to destroy all texts about it. Just mentioning it is very dangerous. That is why I hesitate to speak of it.”

“It’s just a symbol. What makes it so dangerous?”

“Anyone who has spoken of it publicly has mysteriously met with an untimely death. The church does not want this story told.”

“I don’t understand,” Mike said disturbed as he sat back in his chair. “What story?”

“Do you know who the Antichrist is?”

“Sure. He’s the Devil.”

“That’s a common misconception,” the professor admonished him. “Do you know what the number 666 is?”

Mike thought of the Iron Maiden song. “It’s the number of the beast.”

“That’s right, but do you know why that number in particular is thought to be the number of the beast?”

“I’ve never really given it much thought,” Mike admitted.

“Have you ever heard of the Satanic Codex?”

“No I haven’t,” Mike replied growing weary of the questions. “Should I have?”

“Very few people are aware of it and those who are would do best to forget about it.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

Dr. Schafer let out another deep breath and then in a hushed tone began to tell the story of the hidden scripture. “The Satanic Codex is an ancient text that was discovered with the Nag Hammadi codices concealed in a jar in a cave in Upper Egypt in 1945. It tells the controversial story about the birth of Jesus Christ and the Antichrist.

“According to the Satanic Codex, because Mary was a mortal woman, the only way God could impregnate her was to have a mortal man plant God’s seed in her, which Joseph willingly did. When the Devil realized that God was making a mortal son in his image, the Devil determined he too needed a mortal son in his image as an adversary to God’s son, so he used Joseph to unknowingly plant his seed in Mary. When Mary gave birth to Jesus, she also gave birth to his twin brother, the Antichrist.”