Page 16 of So Hollow

Cranston’s smile faded slightly. “Ah. I should have guessed. This is in regard to a murder?”

“Two murders,” Faith corrected.

His smile faded all the way. “I see. I’m so sorry.”

“Maybe you can help us be less sorry,” Faith said. She nodded to Michael, and he opened the file.

Cranston glanced at the photos and flinched. “Oh God. Oh…” He put his hand over his mouth and paled a shade. “Oh God.”

“Not very pretty, is it?” Michael said. “We need your help figuring out the meaning behind all of this.”

“Oh my God,” Cranston repeated. “Those poor girls. They’re not much older than my graduate students.”

“Cassidy Holt was twenty-eight, and Samantha Reynard was thirty-two.”

“She looks younger,” Cranston said absently. “I’m sorry. That’s not an appropriate thing to say.”

“Why isn’t it appropriate?” Faith asked.

“Oh… I don’t know, actually. I guess I… I’m just not used to seeing things like this.”

“Count yourself lucky,” Michael said. “Doing this for a living gets less and less fun as time goes on.”

Faith stepped in to bring the conversation into focus. “Cassidy Holt was killed first. She’s the brunette who was folded up like she’s going to do a cannonball into a swimming pool.”

“And that black stuff on her body,” Cranston interrupted. “Is that dirt?”

“Strictly speaking, we don’t know yet,” Faith replied, “but I don’t think so. If it was dirt, I can’t imagine the CSIs would send it to a lab for analysis. She was found in a botanical garden, so dirt is pretty commonplace there.”

“Ah. And the other woman, Sarah?”

“Samantha,” Michael corrected. “Reynard. Killed in her loft apartment two nights ago. Left positioned like that, arms and legs spread. Covered with white powder this time. Well, not covered. Dusted.”

“Yes, I see,” Cranston said, nodding. “And now I know why you came to me. You read my translation of the Magnum Opus.”

“We scanned the pertinent parts,” Michael said. “Is that what our killer’s doing?”

Cranston nodded slowly. “It appears so. The Magnum Opus involves four shapes, four humors—usually represented with colored liquids or powders—and four elements.”

“Is there any significance to posing them naked?” Faith asked.

“Possibly. Some alchemical traditions require that sacrifices be pure. Stripped of clothing, shorn of fur or hair and unblemished with makeup or tattoos. It seems that our killer may subscribe to a portion of that philosophy. I have no doubtthat the shapes are intentional, though. Miss Holt was posed in the shape of a circle. I’m guessing the inner circle.”

“The inner circle?”

“Yes. Here.”

He grabbed a notepad and a pen and drew a circle. Around that circle, he drew a square so that its sides just touched the edges of the circle. He drew an equilateral triangle with the bottom line joined with the bottom of the square and its vertical sides touching the top corners. Then he drew a larger circle around the triangle.

“This is the squared circle,” he explained. “Each symbol is paired with an element, and each element with one of the alchemical humors. So the inner circle is paired with earth, represented by the black humor, ornigredo.The square is paired with air and represented by the white humor, oralbedo.The triangle is paired with water and represented by the yellow humor,citrinitas.The outer circle with fire and paired with the red humor,rubedo.I suspect that this second victim, Miss Reynard, was posed with each of her limbs terminating at one corner of the square. The white powder, of course, symbolizesalbedo, the whitening.”

“The whitening?”

“Yes. The names of the humors are also the names of the processes required to complete the Magnum Opus.Nigredois the blackening,albedothe whitening, and so forth.”

He took his glasses off and cleaned them nervously. “I’m afraid that this means that your killer is only halfway done. He or she no doubt intends to complete this process and that means he or she will be looking for two more victims, one forcitrinitasand one forrubedo.”

Faith sighed. She wasn’t surprised to hear that. It was an obvious conclusion, but it still angered Faith to know for surenow that once more, they had a psychopath running loose looking for innocent victims.

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