Read Online A Cruel Season for Dying by Harker Moore - Free Book Online Page B

line. “They told me I’d just missed you at your office. I hope you don’t
     mind my calling.”
    “No, Dr. Whelan, that’s why I left this number with you.” He was surprised to hear from the language professor so soon. “Murder
     investigations don’t follow nine-to-five schedules.”
    “I’m sure they don’t, Lieutenant.”
    “Unfortunately, we do indeed have a third victim.”
    “And a new word on the wall?”
    He spelled out the letters written in Westlake’s bedroom. “So what have you found out, Dr. Whelan?”
    “Not me, Lieutenant Sakura. My good friend, Dr. Haim Isaacs at Yeshiva. Remember when I said this morning that your killer
     was making angels? Well, he’s also naming them. Kasyade and Jeqon are names of angels found in an Apocryphal text called
The Book of Enoch.
”
    “The wings seemed obvious. But this confirms it. You said Apocryphal text?”
    “Material excluded from authorized translations of the Bible.”
    “So whatever the killer is doing,” Sakura asked, “might have something to do with religion?”
    “Possibly.”
    “What about the markings on the chests?”
    “I haven’t found anything yet, and Haim said he didn’t see any connection with
Enoch.
”
    “I’d like to see this book.”
    “I’m sure Dr. Isaacs would loan you his copy.”
    “Thank you, Dr. Whelan.” He got out his notebook and was jotting down the Yeshiva professor’s number.
    “Lieutenant Sakura!”
    “Yes, Doctor?”
    “But how could I be so forgetful,” the man was saying. “Haim said these are not just the names of any angels. He wanted me
     to make it clear that the names on the walls are the names of
fallen
angels.”

    The man had scaled the last section of the building up to the roof like an experienced mountain climber. In truth, he didn’t
     like heights. Although, it wasn’t heights so much he feared but falling. He forced himself to look down now. A dull darkness
     gave way to a denser blackness.
    He swallowed a hard knot of saliva and inched backward from the edge. From beneath his foot a stone unsettled itself. He breathed
     the cold air and stretched his arms wide. The thick skin of his leather jacket glinted weakly in the moonlight, and he imagined
     himself a large bat unplugging itself from its nighttime roost.
    Behind and above him the bridge soared. A line of cars winking into Brooklyn. He bent and, unzipping his bag, retrieved his
     camera. This rooftop would give him the vantage he needed. He circled around some air venting to the other side of the building.
     From here it seemed he could see the entire universe.
    He looked out. The aura surrounding the silhouetted figure came as a shock, and he caught himself before he could fall. He
     held his breath, hearing the roar of blood inside his head. His fingers trembled as he brought the Nocta up to his face. Even
     with the scope he was havingtrouble focusing, but he knew what he was seeing. He clicked the lens once before the light exploded.

    The warmth of the bedroom seemed an indulgence to Hanae, so long accustomed to a house that was cold in winter. She dropped
     to kneel beside Jimmy and began the process of centering herself in
hara,
drawing her mind to the point below her navel that was the exact physical center of her body.
    Her husband, fresh from his bath, lay facedown, his head resting on folded arms, his back draped with the traditional cloth
     that would veil his skin from her touch.
    The cloth was white, a fact she could sense in its steady surface vibration, so different from an object that was a buzzing
     red, or cooling blue beneath her fingers. But the visual aspect of color remained an impenetrable mystery. She could not even
     begin to imagine what it must be to sense color with the eyes. This was her small regret for having been born blind. The greater
     loss was that, despite the intimacy of her fingers with its contours, she would never actually see her husband’s face.
    She emptied her mind. Her heart