Page 99 of Say Yes to the Death

“When do we start?”

“Tomorrow night. Saturday is Jason’s poker night, so if she’s going to do anything nefarious, it’ll be while he’s gone. Now what do we need for a proper stakeout?”

Claire put down her pointer and picked up a pink whiteboard marker. She wrote “snacks” on the board.

“My camera,” Nicole said. “To capture any evidence.”

Claire wrote it down.

“I’ve been meaning to re-think my stakeout wardrobe. Last time I went with a leather miniskirt, and that really wasn’t conducive to sneaking around the park at night,” Nicole said thoughtfully.

Sneak-appropriate outfit went on the board below “camera.”

“How about a box of live snakes to fling at Wendy?” Mindy suggested.

“I’m trying to avoid more lawsuits, remember?” Claire capped the marker and set it on the tray. It was time to stop avoiding the bigger problem. “We can worry about the list a little later. There’s something else I need to tell you about. Slightly more terrible.”

“Okay, what’s the more terrible thing?” Mindy took off her coat and slung it over the back of her chair. A white handprint was imprinted on the back of her skirt.

Claire took a deep breath. “So, you both know my biological father has made an unwelcome re-appearance.”

Nicole and Mindy grumbled.

“What you don’t know is that he didn’t show up to make sure I was ok after my stabbing and near-death incident. No. He showed up to pressure me into helping the FBI coerce information out of Barney so they can get closure for the families of the victims. Oh, and he thinks Barney was part of a big, murderous cult that hates women.”

Nicole gasped. “He wants you to what?”

Claire rehashed the story of the suspected cult, the body locations, and Barney’s insistence on speaking only to her.

Nicole’s mouth had dropped open. “When do you go see him?”

Claire pushed back from the table and rose, beginning to pace again. “Soon, but I feel like I need to do some research before confronting him. Maybe I can get him to slip up a little or piss him off enough to give me something. Have any of you ever seen this symbol?”

Claire pulled her sleeve and bra strap to the side and revealed the figure carved into her chest.

“What is it?” Nicole asked, standing up and coming closer to get a better look. “Oh, it looks kind of like a hieroglyphic. I’ve never seen it before.”

“This symbol was found on over a hundred bodies recovered all over the country. I’m the first live person with the mark. They think it’s the cult’s symbol.”

Nicole’s eyes watered. “I can’t believe he branded you. Stabbing is bad enough, but this is worse, somehow,” she said, staring at it. She dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve.

Mindy walked over to Claire. Her nose was centimeters from Claire’s skin. “What the hell is it? It looks like a three-legged stick figure.”

“I don’t know. And neither do they. I’ve Googled everything I can think of.”

“You should go talk to Professor Burke,” Nicole chimed in.

“Who?”

“The archaeology professor from Venor. Remember we almost took her historical symbology class because it sounded cool?”

“I forgot about her. I’ll email her and see if I can drop in on her office hours this week. She should be doing a summer term. Nicole, is that your yearbook?”

Nicole slid it across the highly polished table.

“Let’s see, Barney would have been two years above us… Ugh, here he is.” Claire shuddered as she looked into the soulless eyes of the man she had known as Bernard Twigg before he legally changed his name to Barney Windsor. He had been probably fifty pounds heavier in college, and a shaggy mop of hair nearly covered one eye.

Mindy peeked over her shoulder. “Activities: business club, whittling—boy, he’s not kidding—Future Entrepreneurs of America, and something called ESA. What the heck is that?”

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