28. Dagger and Other Rituals

Kathy picked up on the first ring. “Hi Sandy, how are you today?”

He resisted the urge to dive right in and replied with exaggerated civility, “I’m doing just fine Kathy, and how are you?” Talk about rituals, he thought.

“Just peachy, thanks for asking,” she said with a fake Southern accent. That was the politeness game out of the way. “Did you dig into that cold case?”

“Yep,” he said. “Score one for you and your instincts. Linda has new computer modeling or recognition or whatever they call it that compares wounds and she’s 99% sure the dagger that killed Shaye was used on Catrina Somers. “

Kathy let out the breath she’d been holding. “Wow. That’s great news. Oh dam, I don’t mean that, it’s awful that someone slaughtered two women and they’re still out there. We’ve got to stop it happening again!”

Brampton agreed. “We might think the whole dagger history thing is nonsense, but it’s clearly part of what’s happening here. I need your help finding out more about this so-called ceremony. Are there other bloodletting rituals, why is the dagger so important, are there rituals around how it’s used?”

Kathy frowned. “You mean physically how it’s used? I don’t understand.”

Brampton slowed it down. “Okay, let’s think about this. By definition a ritual has procedures, the order in which you do things, what you use, what you say, there’s rules for everything from satanic rituals to the bloody boy scouts. Linda established the knife cuts were horizontal, she said east to west and in almost the exact same place, between the second and third ribs. Coincidence? Unlikely.”

Kathy felt a tremor of excitement. “I can find out! I’ll start with Rivers, he loves any excuse to talk about this stuff. I can ask Grant and Deborah, too, they’re both obsessed with the dagger’s history, I wonder how much they know about the less savory aspects of it? Oh, sorry, was this something you wanted to do?”

He chuckled. “God no, I was hoping you’d volunteer. Those people already know you’re interested in the history of the thing, hopefully it won’t ring any alarm bells if you go back with more questions.” He grinned, thinking of Linda’s description of Kathy as a whack job. She wasn’t the only one in this case. “We’ll keep it quiet that we’ve linked the two cases, don’t want to alert the murderer.”

Kathy considered what her approach should be. Everyone knew the dagger was the murder weapon in the death of Shaye. It was not unreasonable to ask more questions, and they were all proud to show off what they knew about the thing.    And Grant Ashbury knew both women, too, she thought with a shudder.

“Give me a couple of days, I’ll figure out a way to talk to Rivers and Grant again. I should go back to Gordon Stormont, too, but he’s out of the country for a couple of weeks and I don’t want to wait that long to get started.”

Brampton agreed but cautioned her, “Go careful, Kathy. Remember they were young attractive women and somebody stabbed them. It’s starting to look like some sort of ceremonial revenge, but we don’t know that. You’re a young, attractive woman.” He paused and swallowed hard. “I don’t want you to risk being corpse number three.”

Kathy smiled at her end of the call. “Got it. I’ll be super careful, and thanks for your concern.” Young and attractive, she thought with a flush of pleasure. “I won’t mention the cold case, just ask about the dagger’s history and the ceremony. It’s horrible but fascinating, all those men following a crazy blood-letting ritual, even the ones who thought it was hogwash, and as for the ones who actually killed a woman they supposedly loved.” She threw caution to the wind. “I guess I’m lucky nobody loves me.”

Brampton held the phone away from his ear and stared at it. He grinned but didn’t take the bait. “Just be careful. Keep me posted, I’ve got your back.”

She wasn’t sorry she’d said it. She had heard his hesitation. “I know Sandy. I know. I’ll stay in touch. Have a lovely day with no more murder and mayhem in it.”