The Fifth Victim Part 28

"What's happening?" Dallas whispered.

"She's made a connection," Jacob replied in a low voice.

"Is she in pain?"

"No."

Genny made odd noises. Gasps. Whimpers. Groans. All the while she sat with her eyes closed, her body barely moving.

And then as Dallas and Jacob watched her, she tossed back her head and a look of sheer agony appeared on her face.

"No, please, no!" Genny cried.

"What is it, Genny? What's happened?" Dallas reached for her, but Jacob grabbed Dallas's arm and shook his head.

"Can you talk to us?" Jacob asked.

"Blood. Blood on her face. Blood on her arms...the knife. No, don't!"

Darkness all around. Swirling mists of malevolence surrounded the bare feet standing inside the pentagram painted on the floor-painted in blood. The woman's own blood. It dripped from the small incisions in her arms. She held the crimson-stained knife over her head as she swayed slowly and hummed. Her white blond hair fell in wild array around her naked shoulders.

"Prince Beelzebub, I beseech thee," the woman shouted. "I desire to make a pact with thee, and request that thou protect me and bless me."

Genny could see the woman's face plainly. A face etched with pleasurable pain. She stood, totally naked, in the center of a dark room. Alone.

"I command thee, Great Lucifer, to send an emissary to receive my offerings, and if these gifts please thee, then do my bidding on this day. I desire thy instruction in the ways of the ancients."

This isn't right, Genny's mind cried out. Do not ask favors from the dark powers. Evil will take your soul.

Startled when she heard Genny's voice inside her head, the woman dropped the knife to the concrete floor. She stopped abruptly and looked all around her.

"Who is speaking to me?" She stepped out of the unholy circle and began searching the room.

I'm not in the room with you. I'm in your mind. I see what you're trying to do. I know what you hope to accomplish. You must stop now. No good can come of this. Not for you or for others.

The woman shook her head, as if trying to dislodge the voice inside her. When she found nothing in her search, she reached for a switch on the wall, flipped the lever and flooded the room with overhead lighting.

Genny realized the woman was in a large room in a bas.e.m.e.nt. She saw cinder-block walls and a concrete floor, both in their natural state. Weathered gray. Cold. Damp.

"Are you a witch?" the woman asked.

I am no witch, Genny told her.

"Who are you? What do you want? How did you contact me? Please, answer me. I want to learn. I must-"

Genny began backing away, knowing that she had connected with evil, but not the monstrous mind of the killer she sought.

"Answer me, d.a.m.n you!"

Genny tried to free herself from the mental connection she'd made with Esther Stowe, but the minister's wife held tight, refusing to release her.

"I must know who you are!"

I am one who wishes you no harm.

"Are you a messenger from my Lord Satan?"

No, Esther, I am not. My powers come from a kind and loving G.o.d.

Suddenly as if what she'd heard startled her, Esther's grip on Genny snapped like a rotten twig in the wind. Genny's mind swirled through endless clouds of darkness. Black. Poisonous. A dangerous vortex of unholiness threatened. Genny fought valiantly to escape.

Gray mists curled all around her, then disappeared, leaving only a clean, pure white light. She heaved a deep sigh, knowing she was free and once again in total control.

She opened her eyes and looked first at Dallas and then at Jacob. Both men were leaning toward her, concerned expressions on their faces.

"I didn't reach the killer," Genny said in a weak voice. "I made contact with a woman who proclaims herself a witch, someone who practices black magic."

"How did that happen?" Jacob asked. "If you were concentrating on Cherokee County, then that must mean-"

"She lives in Cherokee Pointe," Genny told them. "It's Esther Stowe, the minister's wife."

Esther ran upstairs to her bathroom, showered hurriedly, was.h.i.+ng the blood from her body; then she covered her cuts with antiseptic cream. She couldn't believe what had happened. Didn't really understand what it meant. But she knew, without a doubt, that she had telepathically linked with another mind. But it had not been a believer in the occult, not someone such as herself.

The voice had said she wasn't a witch, but Esther believed otherwise. Whoever possessed such incredible power had to be no less than a high priestess, albeit a high priestess in the art of white magic. If only she could connect with this person again.

Esther opened her closet door, jerked a set of gray sweats from a hanger and slipped into them. She put on socks and shoes, then headed for the front door. After grabbing her black-and-white wool tweed coat from the hall tree, she rushed out of the house, leaving the front door unlocked. She raced along the sidewalk, bursting into a run several times, then slowing her pace back to a fast walk. She made it from the parsonage to the church, half a block away, in record time.

She hoped Haden was alone. He spent much too much time working with, consoling, and comforting the members of his church. At heart, Haden was a do-gooder, despite his odd behavior quirks. When she'd first met him at seventeen, he'd been the minister at the church her aunt Theda attended back in Abilene, Texas. They'd started s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around within a month of meeting, and as soon as she turned eighteen, they'd gotten married. h.e.l.l, she would have married just about anybody to have gotten away from Aunt Theda and Abilene. At first the s.e.x had been good and Haden had doted on her, giving her whatever her heart desired. But it hadn't been long until he revealed his little s.e.xual oddities. He was a voyeur. He liked to watch. And nothing turned him on more than watching her f.u.c.k another man.

Marty Gannon had become her lover and her teacher. He had introduced her to satanism, and she quickly discovered her true calling. For the past five years she had worked diligently at her trade, at first seeking out other covens when she and Haden moved from one parish to another, then eventually forming her own covens and anointing herself as the high priestess.

Haden had strenuously objected to her practicing black magic, but when she threatened to end the fun and games he couldn't live without, he became more tolerant. At first he had refused to join her in the rituals, but when s.e.xual orgies were added to the coven's list of practices, Haden had been unable to stay away. He never partic.i.p.ated himself, but he watched with lascivious pleasure.

Esther knocked on the office door and waited. She'd learned not to flounce in on her husband while he was at work.

"Yes, please come in," Haden said.

She opened the door and peeked inside. "Are you alone?"

"Yes, I'm working on my Sunday sermon."

"I have something wonderful to tell you. Something you aren't going to believe."

She burst into the room and ran straight to him. She threw her arms around him as she flopped down on his lap. Stunned, he drew back tensely and stared at her.

"I made a telepathic connection to someone this afternoon," Esther said.

"My G.o.d!" Haden's eyes widened in shock. "Who...?"

"Calm yourself. I didn't speak personally to Old Scratch." Esther laughed. "I linked with a woman who says she's not a witch, but I know she is. She's a white witch, though, and-"

Haden grabbed Esther's chin. She yelped when his long, thin fingers bit into her cheeks.

"You've allowed someone to learn your ident.i.ty, someone you don't know and trust?" Haden glowered at her. "You little fool, do you know what you've done?"

"What's wrong with you? Why are you so upset?"

"Do you know who this woman is?"

Esther shook her head.

"Does she know who you are?" he asked.

"I don't think she knows-" Esther gasped.

"What?"

"She called me Esther."

"You're an idiot. You've exposed yourself. Exposed us. This woman who is capable of telepathy knows you're a practicing witch. Our lives will be ruined if that truth is revealed."

"But...but...why would she...what would she have to...oh, Haden, who do you think she is?"

When he shoved her off his lap, she almost lost her balance, but managed to grab hold of the desk. He paced the room. Esther stood silently by and waited until he'd worked off some of the anger-fed energy.

"Genevieve Madoc!" Haden cried. "The girl who lives on the mountain. The people here in Cherokee Pointe say her grandmother was a witch woman. Supposedly she has strong psychic talents. It has to be her. I don't think there's anyone else it could be."

"Isn't the sheriff her cousin or her brother or something?"

"Her cousin. And if she tells him about you and he starts poking into our business-"

"I'll hide everything," Esther said. "I'll gather up all my books and potions and...I promise I won't-"

He grabbed her shoulders. "If he connects us to the animal sacrifices that were done in the woods last fall, then it will be only a short leap to suspecting us of murder."

"Murder? But who-"

"There have been three women sacrificed in Cherokee County. Don't you think people are going to believe that someone who sacrifices animals as part of their devil-wors.h.i.+p rituals might easily sacrifice human beings?"

"Maybe it wasn't Genevieve Madoc that I contacted. Maybe it-"

Haden shook her soundly. "You didn't contact her, you fool. You have no powers. She contacted you. Now she knows who you are."

"What-what are we going to do?"

"You're going to get rid of everything connected to your black magic. I don't care what you do with it, just make sure it can't be linked back to us."

"But what about the Madoc woman?"

"Don't worry. I'll take care of her."

Chapter 23.

With his strong arm firmly placed around her waist, Dallas walked with Genny from her grandmother's room to her own. She had depended on Granny for most of her life, whenever she'd recuperated after using her gift of sight. But during the past six years, she'd had no choice but to rely on Jacob and Jazzy and occasionally Sally and Ludie. They were the only people she trusted implicitly, the ones who truly understood her situation. But now she had Dallas, for however long he chose to remain in her life. He gave her strength, as no one else could, the bond between them unique.

As Dallas helped her into her bed, Jacob stood in the doorway. Genny held out her hand to him and called his name.

Jacob went to her and took her hand in his. "I'm here, i gi do. What is it?"

"Esther Stowe is practicing witchcraft. She is the high priestess of a coven in Cherokee Pointe," Genny said. "While I was inside her mind, I drew images from her thoughts, images of animal sacrifices and wild orgies." Genny paused, took several shallow breaths and then continued. "She yearns for magical powers and is calling on the devil with incantations that she actually believes will work."

"Did you get a sense that she is in any way connected to the sacrificial murders?"

"No, but..." Genny's eyelids drooped, then closed.

"Genny?" Dallas called to her.

"She's asleep." Jacob released her hand and turned to Dallas. "You'll stay here with her?"

Dallas nodded and the two men walked out into the hall.

"I think I'll pay a friendly visit to the Reverend and Mrs. Stowe," Jacob said. "I can't accuse them of anything since I have no evidence of any kind. And no judge is going to issue a search warrant so we can inspect the church and the parsonage just because Genny had a vision. But I can shake the Stowes up a little simply by dropping by to see them."

"Genny didn't seem to sense that Esther Stowe was connected to the murders, but what if Reverend Stowe is? Or maybe one of the members of Esther's coven. Could be our guy has a past history with witchcraft."

"I'll call-"

"Let me contact Teri. We'll get quicker results that way."

"You'll have her check out Carson, Pierpont, and Jamie Upton, as well as Haden and Esther Stowe?"

"Most definitely," Dallas said. "Call me after you talk to the Stowes."

"Yeah, I'd planned to call you to check on Genny, anyway."

"Don't worry about her. I'll be here to keep watch over her."

Esther Stowe was a delicious creature, lithe and supple, her body made for f.u.c.king. When she'd asked a favor of him, he'd readily agreed, knowing she would repay him with s.e.x. Since he was a faithful member of her inept little coven, she believed she could trust him. And she could-up to a point. If he gave away her secrets, he'd also be admitting that he belonged to a devil-wors.h.i.+pping cult. Not something he wanted made public. But if she ever betrayed him by naming him as a follower of Satan, he would punish her severely.

"You'll have to keep everything in your bas.e.m.e.nt," Esther told him. "I know it'll be safe with you. And we won't be able to meet for a while. Haden said not until we're sure the sheriff isn't watching us."

"There's no need to worry," he told her. "We'll find a way to get around Sheriff Butler. In a few weeks, we can use my bas.e.m.e.nt, if we're very discreet."