Free 1 A Motive for Murder by Morgana Best

ritual for making one."
    At this point, Douglas stood up and walked to the window. I wondered whether I should also look out the window to see what he was looking at, but just when I decided I should, he returned to his chair and sat down. I was beginning to zone out and had a bit of trouble staying awake.
    "What's interesting, in the 1940s, the head of Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis in California actually carried out this ritual. His name was Jack Parsons and he did the ritual with Marjorie Cameron, whom he later married. Crowley found out and was furious."
    That got my interest. "What happened?"
    "No child was born, at least not a physical one. Many believed that a spiritual force was unleashed. Crowley later became famous for the Babalon Working, a series of rituals intended to manifest a living form of the divine feminine."
    "You'd be good on trivia nights."
    Douglas chuckled. "I would be. Parsons was also a rocket-fuel scientist and the main partner in the Babalon Working was his fellow Ceremonial Magician L. Ron Hubbard, later the founder of Scientology. How's that?"
    "I'm impressed!" I actually was.
    "Yes, but do you want to know what the homunculus has to do with the missing page?"
    I sure did. I hoped he wasn't going to say that Aunt Beth had anything to do with all this. I tried to keep my tone even and not sound too eager. Besides, my intellect was in conflict with my hormones. I was enjoying sitting here with Douglas, even if he was about to deliver unsettling news. "Yes, what does it have to do with it?"
    "How about I bore you with just one more story?"
    I nodded. I could have said, "Bore away; I will just sit here," but of course that would not have been the thing to do, so I kept quiet.
    "Do you know what a golem is?"
    "What is with you, Douglas? I feel like I'm on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire! Yes, I've heard of golems but don't know much about them."
    "Golems were believed to be something that was made alive out of say, a lump of clay." Douglas paused. "Misty, you'll have trouble believing what I'm about to tell you now, and I have to ask you to keep this in strict secrecy and don't even think of writing about it."
    I nodded again, wondering what was coming next.
    "Your Aunt Beth was in, well, I suppose you could say, a Secret Society."
    I was taken aback and hastily shut my jaw which was hanging open. "Are you serious? Like, what, the Skull and Bones? Or the Illuminati?"
    Douglas did not look amused. "Exactly. She was in a society of alchemists."
    I was totally gobsmacked. That's an expression meaning I was shocked right down to my cotton socks.
    "You're kidding! Aunt Beth wanted to turn metal into gold, and make people out of clay?"
    Douglas looked disapproving. "No, of course not. Think of the Rosicrucians, or the Order of the Golden Dawn. Beth was in a similar organization, but one which knew the secret of long life. Well, not to be coy, Beth was one of a group which studied the ways to prolong human life, to rejuvenate."
    "Like vampires?" I felt a fit of the giggles coming on again.
    "Misty, I'm perfectly serious! I know it's a lot to take in."
    "But I saw Aunt Beth! She was, well, old."
    "Misty, not everyone in the group used the procedure on themselves." Douglas frowned at me. "Many didn't even really approve of it, but as enquiring minds still studied it. Are you sure Beth didn't say anything to you? Even a clue which will now make sense in hindsight?"
    I thought hard, but this was all too much to take in. "I don't think so."
    "That's unusual. Membership is hereditary. If your great-grandmother hadn't taken your grandmother to Australia, she may well have been involved too. I know she was considerably younger than Beth."
    I thought about it. "Yes, Beth wanted to stay behind and as she was twenty two, my great-grandparents didn't pressure her to emigrate."
    "There would have been more to it, Misty. By then Beth would already have been an active member of the Society."
    "Aunt Beth certainly looked her