Page 40 of Girl, Unseen

Ella stood in the observation room next door with the cult book burning a hole in her hands. She'd devoured the whole thing on the ride back from Old Acre Farm, trying to wring some sense out of the cryptic ramblings within. But it was like trying to decipher a madman's shopping list – all random ingredients and nonsense measurements, with no clear recipe in sight.

The elements are not mere building blocks but gateways to higher understanding. Through them, we transcend our base nature and achieve perfection.

Perfect nonsense was more like it. Yet something about the book's contents had lodged in her brain like a splinter. The handwriting changed throughout. Sometimes neat and precise, other times frantic, like the author had been racing to get the words down before they evaporated.

Man's connection to the elements transcends mere physical existence. We are born of earth, sustained by water, moved by air, and ultimately consumed by fire. The cycle is eternal, unbreakable.

Ella's fingers tightened on the book. Appearances aside, this kid was neck-deep in something dark. The kind of dark that left bodies in public places and symbols carved in stone. She just had to figure out how deep and how to drag him back to the surface before more people died.

‘What the hell is that?’

Ross' voice made her jump. He had a file folder in one hand and a bemused expression on his face.

Ella held it up and gave him a good look at the arcane title. ‘Found it in Felix's room. Tucked between his Asimov and his porn stash.’

Ross' eyebrows climbed north. He took the book gingerly, like it might bite. ‘Hermetic Order of Quinta Essentia? Am I saying that right?’

‘Beats me.’

‘Sounds like a prog band.’

Ella took the book and flipped to a random page. ‘I think it’s a Bible. Talks about elements and conspiracies and mankind's true nature. The kind of stuff you find in bookstores next to crystal healing guides.’

‘A Bible? Doesn’t look very King James to me.’

‘No. But thatcultyou were talking about?’ Ella waggled the book. ‘Maybe you weren’t far off the mark.’

Ross rubbed his jaw. ‘Shit, I hope you’re right. And if this Felix guy was a member…’

‘It means we can find the others.’

‘But that book – does it have any symbols in it? The ones from the crime scene?’

‘No. That tripped me up too. Most of it is philosophy musings, but there’s a ton of stuff about the elements. I’m betting that Felix took things into his own hands, maybe went a bit too far and progressed to murder. At least, I hope that’s all we’re dealing with.’

‘So,’ Ross paced back and forth, ‘Felix has a connection to Marcus Thornton, as well as a motive to kill him.’

‘Yup. Felix requested access to some ancient texts and Marcus denied it. Then Marcus caught Felix trying to steal the texts and got him expelled from school.’

‘Got it. What about the second victim, Sarah Chen? Anything that connects Felix to her?’

Ella shook her head. ‘Not yet, but if there is, we’ll find it.’

Ross glanced over at the book again. ‘The hell does Hermetic Quinta whatever mean, anyway?’

‘It’s Latin, but I don’t know the finer details. Could be real, could be fantasy. Hard to tell these days.’

‘Jesus. Give me a good old-fashioned murderer any day. At least they make sense.’

Footsteps announced Luca's arrival. He carried three coffees in a cardboard tray and that specific look he got when he was trying to hide nerves behind charm. His burns must have been hurting - she caught him favoring his left arm as he distributed the drinks.

‘One black, two sugars.’ He handed a cup to Ella. ‘And whatever passes for coffee in this place for you, detective.’

Ross took his cup with a grunt of thanks. ‘Well, the kid didn’t say a whole lot on the ride over. But he did a great impression of a statue.’

Ella digested that. In her experience, innocent people screamed for lawyers the second the cuffs came out. The ones who stayed quiet tended to have something to hide. Then again, she'd also known plenty of perpswho thought they were too smart for an attorney. The kind of hubris that looked good on paper but fell apart fast in an interrogation room. Through the glass, Felix had graduated from staring at his own reflection to drawing circles on the table with his finger. His nose had turned interesting colors where it had connected with Ella's elbow up on that catwalk in the barn.

‘Ross, could you get on the phone to Harper at NYU? See if we can access to their restricted archives? See if we can find exactly what Felix was looking for? If we can find any mention of those symbols in there, we might be able to nail him even if the hard evidence isn’t in our favor.’

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