Page 23 of Deadly Secrets
Shane typed on his laptop. “I already ran searches for all of the sigils The Rev left behind. There were no matches anywhere.”
“Allof the sigils?” Brooke frowned. “Were there more than two?”
“He leaves a different one on his victims each time,” Nadia said. “Just like he changes his name.”
“She’s only seen two of the crime scenes.” Roman motioned at Polly and her files. “Show her the first one.”
Brooke’s mouth went dry. The other two were close to the type left on Aleisha’s forehead, but not a match. Could this other one be an exact replica?
Polly pointed at the blue folder. “Photos of all three are in there.”
Brooke opened the folder and flipped through the top pages until she came to the photos, laid out side by side for comparison. She recognized the most recent from the previous night. The next one resembled the style of those on the boulders Roman had shown her earlier. Her eyes slipped to the third.
A tingling started in her fingers and the air trapped in her lungs whooshed out of her mouth.
It’s not him.
Relief flooded her. The sigil from the first mass murder was not the one she’d seen carved on her friend’s forehead that night. Close, like the other two, but notthe one.
The room had gone silent, everyone waiting for her to say something. She took a swig of water and cleared her throat.
Get it together.
“Three different sigils, three different names.” She glanced at Roman, who was staring at her with an expression of cautious optimism. “The sigils match the name somehow.”
Roman sat forward. “Do they stand for the apostle whose name he’s using? Like the seal you mentioned? Or is he using them to call on that apostle for help?”
“They’re all similar, so I think the basic symbolism stands for his overall belief or goal and the slight variation may have to do with the apostle’s name. He may believe he’s channeling the energy of individual apostles, or…” She studied the photos again. “All of Jesus’s disciples were made into saints, with the exception of Judas, so he may feel he’s calling on a saint for help or protection.”
“How does that help us catch the guy?” Winslow interjected. “How will figuring out the sigils give us the key to stopping him?”
The question of the hour.“To stop any killer, you have to understand his motivation, why he picks his victims, and why he kills in the manner he does,” Brooke said, hoping too late that her criminology 101 speech hadn’t just annoyed them.Too many lectures lately. “Often understanding why a killer is drawn to his victims is the key piece of the puzzle. In this case, you know his victim type—nonwhite, undocumented immigrants, but they’re hard to find since they tend to stay in the shadows. I think the way to stop him is understanding everything about him in order to anticipate his next move. The sigils may actually hold more clues than you expect.”
“How do we figure out the meaning of them then?” Roman asked. “Can we break them down into parts?”
“There are several methods for creating them, including various wheels of letters and numbers.” Brooke glanced around the table. It was going to take them hours, maybe days, even with the insight she could give them. “Anyone here good at codes?”
