DEATH (The Justice Cycle Book 1) Read online

  Theirs was a bitter conflict that was predestined to last until the world ended. The Musketeer turned and walked away leaving the weapon where it lay. Both swords continued to glow in defiance of each other until the Musketeer was out of sight.

  When they were gone, the sentient sword lifted itself off the ground and hovered. It bobbed up and down and its glow softened as it made its way over to its former bearer. The weapon continued to hover over him, bathing the dead body with blue light.

  Before long, it settled into the Shogun’s stiff open palm, and its glow ceased. The weapon rested there in the familiar hand that had wielded it for so long. After a while, it began to contort and melt until it had fashioned itself into a new form, that of a small golden locket with a large blood-red gem at its center.

  Here it would rest until another who was worthy of the call would come to claim it. It could sense that the new bearer was near. It would not have long to wait. It never did, because the cycle which had begun at the fashioning of the universe itself would continue until the last light of that universe faded away.

  Twelve

  Dana awoke with a start. Someone was gently shaking her and whispering her name. The face that hovered over her was Steve’s, and she groaned and placed one hand over her eyes hoping he would go away.

  “What time is it?” she asked groggily.

  “Five thirty,” he said with a yawn. “I made you some coffee, hope you like it strong.”

  She started to sit up and felt Jared stir slightly from the movement. It was then that the events of last night came flooding back to her with amazing clarity. She could not remember what time it had been when she finally fell asleep, but she knew that it must have been late.

  “I heard your alarm going off in your room and after about ten minutes of it, I realized you weren’t in there to turn it off,” he whispered as he helped her up. “I thought that you might appreciate the wake-up call.”

  “Thanks,” she replied, looking back down at Jared. It touched her that he had stayed with her all night. She was loath to let the moment go, so she just stood there silently gazing at him.

  Steve put the cup of coffee on the end table, slipped out of the room and back to bed.

  It was late and she had to start getting ready for work, so she bent down and gently kissed Jared on the cheek. “Maybe someday you will love me as much as I love you,” she whispered.

  Jared stirred as she spoke, and he opened his eyes and stared at her dazed. “Jasmine?” he asked, confused.

  “No,” she replied, her voice cracking. “It’s Dana. You stayed at my house last night, remember? It’s about five thirty and I have to go to work. I’ll tell the lieutenant that you are sick or something. You stay here and get some rest.”

  She dashed for the door before she finished with her last sentence, wiping away the tears that now flowed freely down her face.

  “Wait! Can’t you stay with me?” he called to her. “I don’t want to be alone right now.”

  She ignored him, too choked up to speak, and quickly made her way down the hallway to her room, slamming the door shut behind her. Sobbing uncontrollably, she slumped to the ground and pulled her legs up to her chest, hugging them close.

  When she’d heard him say Jasmine’s name, it had shattered her perfect moment, breaking her heart. She had no one to blame but herself and she knew it. He had come to her as a friend, not a lover, and she had set herself up to be hurt.

  “Get ahold of yourself, girl,” she scolded herself. “You have a job to get ready for, and you don’t have time to do this right now.”

  After a few calming breaths, she got changed and made her way into the bathroom to prepare for the day.

  Jared awoke to the irritating sound of a phone ringing. His eyes were red and swollen from crying and he wasn’t sure where he was. He felt like he had a hangover. It was then that he remembered everything from last night and he sighed deeply.

  “Dana,” he said dreamily to himself. She seemed upset before and he hoped everything had turned out okay. Jared wondered what could have made her so upset. He could not come up with anything offhand, so he returned to his brooding. The phone continued to ring and after a few minutes of ignoring it, whoever it was hung up.

  He walked out into the kitchen, yawning and stretching away the stiffness. He opened the refrigerator door and peered in, looking for anything edible. Nothing looked good, and he didn’t feel like eating anyway, so he closed the door, deciding to skip breakfast. Well, at least what he thought was breakfast, anyway. He wasn’t entirely sure what time it was.

  The clock on the microwave told him that it was nine o’clock and he wondered if Jasmine had tried to call him. If she had tried his cell phone, she would have received no answer and probably would have been infuriated. His cell was still in his car at the Number Six restaurant, so he had no way of checking to see if she had called. He wondered if she’d tried to call his parents as well, but he didn’t want to bother them.

  Who was he kidding? According to Joe, she had left the restaurant with some other guy. The last thing that she would likely do is call him right now. He had to talk to her, and he had to do it right now. In a panic, he picked up Dana’s home phone and dialed the number to Jasmine’s cell. It rang until her voice mail picked up and he left a heartfelt message telling her to call him.

  A call to her parents revealed that she had left for New York City with her new friend. They felt sorry for Jared but said that they had promised not to tell him where she was staying in the city. He did manage to get the name of the guy she was with, though. Vladimir Durgala. He was apparently a diplomat of some kind and had stopped in Binghamton on his way back to the city.

  Jared slammed the phone down and slumped into the chair at the kitchen table. How could this be happening? What a nightmare. One day everything was fine, and then, poof. In one fell swoop, it was all gone. It was amazing how your entire life could be thrown into complete and utter chaos in one moment’s time.

  The phone rang again, startling him out of his lethargy. He quickly picked it up, hoping it was Jasmine. It was Dana, however, and he did not try to hide his disappointment.

  “Jared?”

  “Yeah,” he responded gloomily. “What’s up?”

  “Are you up and around?”

  “I just woke up,” he replied with a yawn. “Is something wrong?”

  She did not respond immediately, and he could hear her talking to someone else in the background. When she returned to their conversation, she sounded tired and a bit distraught. “Yeah, we got another one on our hands, and the captain wants you here ASAP.”

  “Another what on our hands?” he asked. “Can’t you handle it on your own just for today?”

  “Jared, get your head out of the gloomy cloud it’s trapped in and listen to me for two seconds,” she snapped. “We have another dead girl on our hands, and the FBI has shown up. Since we were the presiding detectives on the other case, the captain wants us both here at the crime scene to assist them in any way necessary.”

  “Oh man!” he said excitedly, his own problems beginning to seem small in the light of what Dana had just said. “They think we have a serial killer on our hands, don’t they?”

  “The FBI being here is a good indication, don’t you think? We can discuss the details when you get here. Just hurry, okay?”

  “I will,” he said, getting up from the table and grabbing a piece of paper and pen. “Where are you right now?”

  “Twenty-One Falkirk Ave. Do you know where that is?”

  “The name sounds familiar.” He frowned in thought. “I’m pretty sure it’s in our jurisdiction.”

  “Just on the edge of it. It’s not too far from the Number Six restaurant.”

  Jared’s face went pale when he remembered why that street sounded so familiar to him. That was the name of the street he had crossed on his little adventure last night. He was surprised that he remembered it since he had only glanced at the sign once. He co
uld see the sign in his mind as clearly as if he were looking right at it.

  “Are you still there?”

  “Yeah,” he stammered, deciding not to tell Dana until after he had a chance to think it over. “What was the time of death?”

  “They are not sure yet,” she said. “The crime scene was only just recently secured, and the medical examiner has not yet looked at the body.”

  “All right. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes or so.”

  “Okay, see you then,” she said and hung up.

  His head swooned, so he reached out and grabbed the table using it to steady himself. Maybe if he hadn’t been so preoccupied with his own worries, he might have been able to help that girl. Of course, he was not sure of what time he had been there. But the knowledge that he might have been able to save her would probably haunt him for the rest of his life.

  Jared was still dressed from the night before, so he decided to skip going to his apartment to change before heading directly to the murder site. As soon as he had gotten down the stairs and opened the door to leave, he remembered that he had left his car at the Number Six.

  Gritting his teeth, he rushed to the stairs and called up to his brother but received no response. He called again and received the same result, so he decided to go find Steve and wake him up. Upon reaching the guestroom, he found it empty and the bed made. A note was lying on the nightstand and he picked it up and quickly scanned it.

  The note was from Steve. It said that he had left early to do some errands and that he would be at Mom and Dad’s later in the day if Jared wanted to see him before he returned to the city. He crumpled the note and threw it into a corner.

  “Well, I guess I am going to have to call an Uber,” he grumbled as he stomped back down the stairs.

  Jared went back into the kitchen, and upon realizing again that he had left his cell in his car, picked up Dana’s phone and called a taxi instead. Before long, a beat-up old station wagon painted yellow with a large sign that said “Yellow Cab” on it pulled up in front of the house. He jumped in and had the driver take him to the Number Six restaurant to retrieve his abandoned car.

  When they had arrived, he grimaced as he handed more money than he had wanted to the cabby. It was a bit chilly this morning so the first thing he did after getting in his car was put on his black coat. He started up the engine and blew on his hands as he waited for the car to warm.

  Jared knew it was a long shot, but he checked his cell phone to see if Jasmine had left him a message. Just as he suspected, she had not, and he tossed the phone onto the passenger seat, disgusted. It bounced twice and then dropped down into the crevice between the seat and door. He ignored it, too annoyed to care, and slammed his foot down on the gas pedal.

  Jared reached the area around Falkirk Ave forty-five minutes after his conversation with Dana. He had to park a couple blocks away, thanks to the usual mob of bystanders and journalists gathered there like vultures.

  Hurrying, he fought his way through the dense crowd to the taped off area at the corner where he’d met Steve. The officer on watch, an old veteran with short gray hair and a bushy mustache, was a close friend of his and waved him through as soon as he saw him approaching.

  “Hey, Sergeant Cotter, how ya doing?” Jared asked the older office. “Must be some heck of a show going on here with all these people hanging around. Is Endless in town or something?”

  “Ha! Ha! Very funny, Jar,” Cotter replied dryly. “Where have you been? Dana’s been going out of her mind looking for you.”

  “Overslept,” he said, his breath making a cloud in the cool morning air. “You know how it is.”

  Cotter laughed and rolled his eyes. “Maybe for you girls in homicide. We beat cops never get to sleep in. Think of what would happen if we did. Who would do all the work?”

  “Not to mention get the coffee,” Jared shot back. “I take mine with two sugars but no cream, thanks.”

  “Get your own coffee, you son of a bitch!” Cotter retorted with a wry smile. “I have better things to do than babysit you.”

  “Okay, okay!” Jared said, throwing his up hands and backing away. “I can see you have your hands full already, so I won’t take up any more of your time. Say hi to the hottie from action news for me, will ya?”

  “No. I think I will keep that one all to myself,” Cotter said, turning just in time to see the aforementioned “hottie” standing directly behind him. His face flushed with embarrassment, like a little boy caught with his fingers in the cookie jar.

  “This is going to cost me big time, isn’t it?” Cotter asked the reporter dejectedly, and she smiled and nodded.

  Jared fled down the street toward the area where the body was found before Cotter had time to properly thank him for setting him up. He smiled, his depression forgotten temporarily until he reached the crime scene and saw the expression on Dana’s face.

  He walked up to her, passing the barely covered body of a young woman, and the gravity of what he saw hit him like a ton of bricks. He could do nothing but stand and gawk at the morbid scene. A deep sense of sadness swept over him, and all his petty troubles were lost in the terrible finality of death’s cold stare.

  CSI officers worked like archeologists gingerly scouring the area for any clue the killer might have left, while other officers talked to the occupants of the surrounding houses, attempting to gather as much information about the events of the night before as they could. All in all, it was a typical murder scene much like the numerous others he’d been called to investigate.

  But this one was different somehow, and he could not fathom why. Deep down in his gut, however, he could sense that there was something disturbing about this particular murder. He could not put his finger on what it was.

  Dana walked up to him and stared down at the broken body of the young woman. “Why can’t I shake the feeling that there is something strange about this murder?” she asked him softly.

  “You and me both,” he replied, unable to turn his gaze away from the grisly scene. “It’s almost as if this is more than just a murder.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know what I am trying to say. Maybe this is the kind of thing that usually happens when dealing with serial killers, but I can’t shake this strange feeling of dread.”

  “Yeah maybe,” was all she said. Neither of them bought the hasty rationalization.

  They stayed there staring until a large man wearing a brown suit interrupted them. “Detectives Campbell and Caddret?”

  “Yeah,” said Jared, tearing his gaze away to look at the man who had addressed them. “What can we do for you?”

  The man tried not to stare too long at the girl, but his curiosity got the better of him. His face went wan and he looked as if he was going to throw up. “I… um… am Special Agent Johansson from the FBI.”

  “Is this your first crime scene, Mr. Johansson?” Jared asked. “You look a little nervous.”

  “Uh… no, not really. I don’t know why this one is affecting me this way. Maybe it’s how young the girl is. She kind of reminds me of my daughter. I apologize, but I think I am going to need to sit down.”

  “We’ll join you,” Jared said, taking Dana by the arm and turning her away from the scene. “The boys from the coroner’s office will be here to take her away soon, anyway.”

  “Yeah,” Dana said, shaking her head as if waking from a dream. “I have all the information I need for now.”

  The trio walked over to a parked patrol car and opened the driver’s side door. Johansson sat down and bent forward, breathing heavily. None of them spoke for a while, each lost in their own dark thoughts.

  Johansson was a tall well-built African American man with short-cropped dark hair and dark brown eyes. He was in his mid-fifties but looked older, the stress of his job weighing heavily on his features.

  “Sorry to have pegged you for a rookie back there,” Jared said, breaking the silence. “But I’ve seen a lot of guys faint when they look shaky like tha
t.”

  “No offense taken,” Johansson said with a gruff New England accent. “I don’t know what came over me. In all my years at the Bureau, that’s never happened to me before.”

  “You’re not alone, Special Agent,” Jared replied. “Detective Campbell and I were just discussing the strange reactions we were experiencing as well.”

  Dana nodded but said nothing.

  “Detective Campbell informed me that you are here to investigate the possibility of our two murders being linked with the ones you have been investigating in the city?” Jared asked. “The Eastside Stalker, I believe.”

  Johansson stood up gingerly and smiled. “You’re a smart detective, and I assume the thought has crossed your mind as well. There are striking similarities between the murders, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “Yes, but there have not been any murders outside of the city to date,” Dana said. “Why should we believe that he has moved from his usual hunting grounds?”

  “That’s true,” Johansson replied. “All of the reported murders that have been linked to him have taken place in the city.”

  “Then why should we be quick to assume that these two murders, which have not even been connected to each other yet, are connected with the ones in the city? Don’t you think you are jumping the gun a bit here?”

  “Hey, I’m not the enemy, Detective Campbell!” Johansson said, putting up his hands. “I’m not here to second-guess you guys, but when you get two grisly murders in as many days in a city that only gets about twenty-four in a year, then I’d have to say that this is definitely more than a coincidence.”

  “I’m sorry. This whole thing has just had me a bit on edge lately.”

  “Please call me Tom,” he said, waving off the apology. “We are all in the same business here, after all, trying to end the career of sickos like this guy.”

  “If you don’t mind me being forward,” Jared interjected, “you seemed to be alluding to something earlier before Detective Campbell interrupted you.”