Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

Penn showed up shortly before the pizza. She bustled in, wearing a blue and white polka dot swing dress with a black patent leather belt, a pair of chunky white pumps, a blue peacoat, and a bag full of goodies.

“I brought Cheetos, Oreos, a pint of cookies they act on them. They’re suspected in several cases where demons appeared throughout the country. I suspect Letty, being an expert in demonology, was trying to find out all she could about them.” Carson narrowed his eyes.

“Okay, so…Letty pretends to be a member. Maybe they found out she wasn’t who she was claiming to be?” I said. “Is there an offline chapter near here?”

“From what I can tell, there’s a Seattle branch, but I don’t have an address yet for it. I have feelers out, though.”

“She definitely had enough books about the subject, so I guess she put on a good show.” I frowned. “Did you find out anything else about her?”

Carson opened Letty’s laptop and fired it up. He tapped a few keys and the wallpaper appeared, with a few icons splattered across it. There were the usual programs you’d expect—a word processing program, several school software programs. There appeared to be nothing unusual, especially for a work computer.

“Did you examine it for any hidden documents?” I asked.

Carson nodded. “This one is squeaky clean. She toed the line about separating her personal life from her professional one. I’ll continue to check it out, but I can comfortably say this is good to go and you can give it back to the academy.”

“What about her personal computer?” Dante asked.

“That’s another matter,” Carson said. He shut down the laptop and hooked up the desktop to the monitor. Then, he logged in. This computer had a lot more on it than the laptop. “She was a movie nut—she has dozens of movies ripped to her computer. She also seems to like puzzle games. I think she was trying to write a novel—a mystery.”

“Was she any good?” Sophia asked.

“Not that I can tell,” Carson said. “But here’s where we get to interesting things. I found a trail that led me to the places she visited on the Dark Web. Brim Fire was the only website there she frequented.”

“I still think it’s so odd…” I shook my head. It didn’t make sense with anything I knew about her.

“There were a few other things I found out. In a hidden file, I found evidence that she was part of some small leftist group trying to squelch the demonic activity that she was studying. I think she went in undercover and got over her head. I still haven’t figured out who the group is, though.”

My heart plummeted. “And if Brim Fire found out she was a spy…”

“Yeah, they might have sent someone to take her out. That would explain the demonic energy on her mandrake root.”

“Can demons just appear into a locked room?” I asked.

“That, I don’t know,” Carson said. “I suppose it depends on the demon, and where they originate from.”

“How did she find Brim Fire to begin with? If she’s working with a small operation, like you suggest, then how did she get into the Brim Fire site? We all know the Dark Web isn’t open for casual business. Nobody goes there just to play around. At least, nobody but some damned fool teenager or ego-ridden hacker.” Orik rapped his fingers on the table.

“That, I can’t answer. I’m not done searching, but I do have one potential lead for you,” Carson said. “While I was reading in the forums she posted in, a name that leapt out at me, and it did because…it shouldn’t be there.”

“Whose name is it?” Dante asked. “And why shouldn’t they be there?”

“The user name is Lazenti413X.”

I stared at him. “Lazenti? Why does that sound familiar?”

“Because I’ve talked to him in other chatrooms. I knew immediately it’s the same guy. And I’ve mentioned him to you before.” Carson shrugged. “I recognized his handle right away, as well as his manner of speaking. Do you remember that case we worked about eighteen months ago? The one with the vampire blood-ring?”

I sat straight. “Yeah, I remember. That was a nerve-wracking case.”

Blood-rings were forbidden by law. A move by hate groups, they tried to trick vampires into joining groups filled with wannabe bloodwhores, promising fresh blood waiting on tap. But then, once the vamps took the bait, the members of the group were waiting to stake them. It was against the law, but there wasn’t much the cops could do to prove that the hate groups were murdering the vamps, since there wasn’t much left when they went ‘poof.’

“Lazenti 413X was an informant I talked to. He was working on the inside, helping us try to find out more about the group involved. He’s a vampire, and if he’s posting in the forums, I doubt they know who he really is. Which must mean the Vampire Federation is checking into Brim Fire, too. I might be able to contact him and see if he knows anything about Letty Hargrove.” Carson leaned back. The beads in his braids clicked together as he moved in an almost musical way.

“See what you can find out. Maybe we can get some answers from him. Meanwhile, what do you all think about asking Angela to ask if she knew what her sister was doing?”

“I think it might be all right. She seems no-nonsense,” Dante said.

“I guess there’s only one way to find out, and that’s to call her.” I pulled out my phone and punched in Angela’s number. She came on the line after two rings.

“Hello? Kyann, do you have any news for me?”

“Actually, I have a question for you ,” I said. “Do you know anything about a group called Brim Fire?”

She paused for a moment, then said, “I’ve heard of them, but I can’t say that I know much about them. I do remember my sister had some books that mentioned the group, but I never read any of them. They’re some fringe group, aren’t they?” She sounded sincere.

I let out a sigh. “Yeah, they are. They want to summon demons in to take over the world, or something. Did you know that your sister was involved with them in any way?”

This time, the pause was longer. After a couple minutes, Angela said, “You’ve got to be kidding me. Why the hell would she belong to a group like that? My sister was, at times, opinionated, but she wasn’t crazy.”

I told her about the mandrake root. I was cautious to avoid mention of the Dark Web. Talking about sites on the Dark Web could get you killed in some instances, and I didn’t want her repeating anything to the wrong people. “So, she never mentioned Brim Fire to you?”

“Not in so many words. I still can’t believe she’d be connected with them. I mean, you must have found some damning evidence. But…I don’t understand.” There was a catch in her voice.

“We’ll continue to investigate, but this raises a lot of questions. I’ll call you later. It’s best if you don’t mention this to anybody until we know more.”

“I won’t. I’d be embarrassed if people thought my sister was part of some fanatical group. It would be a black mark on the family name.” She paused again, then asked, “What about the rest of her effects?”

“Why don’t you ask Philip Groveletter to box them up for you. There are some things in her office that may be school property and I wouldn’t know the difference. I’ve taken what I needed for evidence from there. I do have her purse, so you can drop by the office for it, whenever you want.” As I hung up, I realized that I firmly believed Angela.

“What did she say?” Orik asked.

“She can’t believe her sister was mixed up in anything like that. And at this point, I don’t blame her. There has to be some explanation that makes sense.”

“Could she have gotten in over her head, then killed herself when she realized she was too deeply involved?” Sophia asked.

I shrugged. “Maybe, I suppose. But Letty showed no signs of being suicidal, according to both Angela and Philip.” I finished my latte. “All right, I’m going to run the mandrake by Penn—she’s good at psychometry and she said she’d take a look. Meanwhile, let’s talk about Alf. We should go talk to his neighbor.”

Dante glanced at the clock. “It’s nine-fifteen. I’ll give the guy a call and see if he’ll let us come over.”

“Meanwhile, I’ll contact Lazenti,” Carson said.

“We also need to visit the Supe Community Action Council to take a look at their offices,” Dante said. “Orik, what about you go over there this afternoon? Call Tana and make arrangements.”

“We’re good, then,” I said, standing. “Hop to it, and let’s see how much we can get done this afternoon.” I headed back to my office. Ten minutes later, Dante had made a one o’clock appointment to meet Holden White at his house. He was Alf’s next-door neighbor, and Orik was going to meet Tana at one-thirty.

“We should meet back here by four,” I said. “We’ll want to sort out what we’ve managed to?—”

Carson peeked in my office. “Lazenti’s willing to meet with us. His assistant made an appointment for you, Dante, and Orik tonight at 9:00 in the Underground. You’re to meet him on the fourth level down, at a restaurant called the Green Goblin.”

I never felt comfortable going into the Underground, but at night, four levels below the surface? So not my idea of a good time. “The Green Goblin, huh?”

“Yeah. I ran a check on it. Legit bar, run by a goblin named Homey.”

Dante rolled his eyes. “Homey?”

“Apparently, it’s a common name among goblins. Short for Homeratu, which means ‘big strong ears’ or something like that. Anyway, the owner has all his permits, so…what can I say?” Carson glanced at his tablet.

“How will we know Lazenti when we see him?” I asked.

“He’ll be wearing a black suit and a red necktie, and he said he’ll find you. He knows what you look like.” Carson shrugged. “At least he’s agreed to meet.”

“Okay then, I guess we have our marching orders,” I said. “Let’s get busy and see what we can unearth.” I hoped to hell that, whatever we dug up, was something we could deal with.