Free Angel Killer by Andrew Mayne Page B

Warlock being obsessed with the occult and the suggestion that Chloe and her double were meant as a kind of sacrifice to demonstrate his powers. People keep glancing my way, expecting me to say something or add on to what he’s saying.
    I focus on Chisholm as he recommends looking for possible connections between the victims and the Warlock through occult online groups and related subcultures.
    As the meeting is about to wrap up, a young agent barges through the door and whispers something into Knoll’s ear and hands him a note.
    Knoll tells us to stay in our seats. “They exhumed the coffin and found something else.” He checks the note again. “Sand. From initial inspection it doesn’t appear to be from the Michigan area. Apparently it’s still damp and smells like salt water.”
    The blond agent raises her pen. “Wet sand in a coffin that was supposed to have been buried for two years? How is that possible?”
    Everyone turns to me.
    How the hell would I know?

12
    T WO DAYS LATER , the assistant director of the FBI waits for me to perform a literal miracle in his office.
    AFTER THAT MEETING I returned to my job in the cubicle hunting down fugitive decimal points. But I’d been active in the online working group for the Warlock case, following its development. The forensic lab sent samples of the sand over to the Navy and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for analysis and I was asked again to offer my explanation as to how fresh sand got into the coffin.
    I tried describing to Ailes that there could be any number of ways. Without more evidence, I wouldn’t be able to say exactly how.
    He’d shake his head, “Agent Blackwood, we’re not asking how exactly he did it. We just want to know that it could be done. Could you do it?”
    “Of course,” I replied. It seemed to me like the backwards version of the buried-alive stunt. Instead of getting a living person out of the ground, you were putting something in the grave after the fact.
    “Could you do a demonstration?”
    He must have seen my face go white at the thought of being buried alive in some field at Quantico. He clarified, “I mean, can you just show them you can get something inside a sealed box under difficult conditions? I just want them to keep their minds open.”
    “A small demonstration?”
    “Yes. Just a proof of concept.”
    “Okay.” I told him my idea. He gave me a grin and asked if I’d do a demonstration for the assistant director as well as Knoll and Chisholm. I resisted the idea, but he was relentless.
    “You need to show these people, Jessica.”
    “I think they’ll get the idea if I just tell them.”
    He shook his head. “I mean, you need to show them what you’re capable of.”
    “It’s just a trick,” I insisted.
    “So is the Warlock’s stunt. We need to be reminded of that.”
    I gave in. I knew he wouldn’t stop. I don’t want to be the performing magic girl. I just want to be a good cop.
    THE WOODEN CHEST I asked Ailes to bring to Assistant Director Breyer’s office the day before is sitting in the middle of his desk. Breyer pokes a finger at it and gives me a smile. “I had them lock this in a safe overnight. So what gives?”
    I check my watch. “You’re an Orioles fan, right? What’s the score?”
    He clicks open a screen on his computer to check. “They just finished. Ouch . . . Sox beat them by two.”
    “You have the envelope I asked Dr. Ailes to give you?” I’m standing while everyone else sits, looking at me like it’s a goddamn magic show. I guess it is.
    Breyer pulls the envelope from his desk and hands it to me. I check the seal and open it up. There’s a key inside. I put the key into the lock on the chest and give it a turn. It makes a click. I step back and motion for Breyer to open the chest.
    He gives everyone a look, then lifts the lid and peers inside. He takes out the envelope inside the chest and holds it up. “Am I supposed to open this?”
    “Please.”
    Breyer takes a