The Cold Road (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Belberra would not say a word. Not one. Neither would he ring his lawyer. James frowned at the door of Plant's office This was not how the morning was supposed to go. There was supposed to be a lawyer, angry words, accusations thrown, Belberra would smirk his guilt in silence and they would get somewhere. Shuffling in his chair, James examined the Styrofoam cup in his hand. It was deformed. He held it up to his lips and took another sip of the cold coffee, chewing the lip of the cup as he did so. His fingers twitched, jolting the cup but his teeth kept it steady.

Shortly, Plant joined him in the office. The old man walked quietly, glasses perched on the end of his nose, his hair unbrushed. He sat himself at his desk and spun to face James. Leaning forwards, he clasped his hands in front of him, sighed gently and looked at James. 'So what do you have?'

James stood, dumping the cup onto the desk. He crossed his arms as he stared solidly at the captain.

'The first victim, Ed Carleton, was murdered at the sawmill,' he began. 'When I answered the caller, he mentioned that he heard chanting. Four months later, a group of boys discover a series of pentagrams and used candles out in the forest. The cult thought the meeting place would be safe, that no one would find it. However, after it was compromised they had to move. I believe they relocated to the farmhouse at Bone Hollow. Rumours still flew of people chanting in the woods, but no evidence was found. I think because they decided after every meeting to tidy up.'

'And the connection to Belberra?' asked Plant. Leaning back, he removed his glasses and rubbed his red eyes. 'He owns the farm house, he has bloody game in his shack, that's no crime. And as for this, uh,' placing his glasses back on, Plant peered at the file before him, 'alter. What makes you think he didn't just find it outside?'

'I saw him using it,' said James. His arms fell to his side as he marched to the other end of the office. He stopped, starring at the wall. The man had stood on it and preached to the ensemble. His voice was distorted, but it could only be him. He turned to Plant who was watching him with narrow eyes.

'What do you mean you saw him use the alter?' the captain demanded.

'Last night,' said James. He sighed, returning to his chair. 'I got the location from Heinrich, after I asked around to try to pinpoint where the rumours started. It gave me the farmhouse. Last night,' he paused, chewing on his front lip. 'I went to the farm, just to look around, I guess. And I saw them. Ten of 'em. They were, all huddled around the stone. Belberra stood on the top of it.'

'You actually saw his face?' said Plant, leaning forwards. 'Did you see the other members of this cult?'

'Um, no.' James shook his head. 'They were all in robes, with hoods. I didn't see any faces. Belberra had a voice distorter on. But it was him. I recognised his speech pattern.'

'Hmph.' Plant sat back. 'It's hardly evidence, James. You didn't see any faces, you didn't hear his voice because of a distorter, but you recognised his speech pattern? It's pretty poor. What else did you see?'

'They talked of a willing cold sacrifice, and then Belberra said they also needed a warm bodied sacrifice. So one of the members stepped forwards, a woman.' James paused again, a lump swelling in his throat. His mouth filled with saliva. He resisted the urge to throw up. He drank a mouthful of coffee and breathed deeply. 'They fucked her,' he said after a moment. 'They took it in turns to step up onto the rock and fuck her. It wasn't rape. At least, I didn't see them force the woman onto the stone. Belberra said they had a warm body sacrifice and she stepped forwards.'

'Okay,' said Plant, leaning forwards again and tapping the desk absently. 'So we have evidence of the cult. You suspect Belberra to be involved, but he was wearing a hood, it was dark, and he used a distorter. It won't hold up in court, not unless we get a confession out of him. But still, an orgy in the woods is not illegal. And all this talk of warm and cold sacrifices is not illegal either, we have no way of knowing what they meant. So how does this fit into Franks' Damascus Devil case? What's the evidence for that?' asked Plant, relaxing back into his chair.