Death Raiser by J. C. McKenzie

Author:J. C. McKenzie
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781990143274
Publisher: J. C. McKenzie

Chapter

Fifteen

I blinked down at the red-stained floor and swallowed the involuntary response to gag. The placement and sheer volume of the blood suggested at least five victims had died in a circle in the middle of a living room, blood pooling under their bodies and soaking into the trendy area rug. The nearby couch and wall on the one side were covered in blood spatter as were the television and framed family photographs on the other wall.

When I’d arrived, Kang had dismissed the lingering analysts so we had the apartment to ourselves to stare at all the bloody chaos.

“Are you going to be okay?” Kang asked. He stood at my side, his silent presence offering a weird sort of comfort that I’d grown accustomed to without realizing it.

“I’m fine.”

“You look green.”

“I’ll be fine,” I amended.

He leaned in, his hand trailed up my arm and he whispered in my ear, “You’re such a liar.”

I swatted his hand away and swayed on my feet. “Stop distracting me. What exactly am I looking at? And where’s Jacobs?”

“You’re looking at evidence suggesting five bodies had been arranged in a circle, and Jacobs is still finishing up at Odette’s apartment.”

“Lucky bastard.”

“I’ll tell him you said so.”

“You’re just trying to sabotage our relationship.” I lifted my chin.

“Of course. I want you all to myself.”

I walked around the blood-stained floor. “Not sure why you called me in. Not that I mind billing the department for the call fee, but there are no bones here.”

“Ah, well. That wouldn’t be entirely accurate.” Kang remained where I’d stood earlier, tracking my progress with his gaze. “Take a look at the coffee table.”

I turned and walked over to the coffee table someone had pushed to the side of the room. An evidence bag sat on the scratched laminate covered surface.

“Is that…?”

“A severed finger? Yes. We were hoping to find more—at least some bone fragments, but this crime scene is clean. A finger is enough, right?”

“It is.” I snatched the evidence bag from the table and walked back over to the pools of blood. “Clean wouldn’t be the word I’d use to describe this scene.”

Kang shrugged. “Aside from the blood, severed finger and summoning circle, there’s no evidence. No signs of struggle, no chunks of hair or skin. No bloody footprints. It’s incredibly odd.”

I knelt near the stained area rug. Specs of white powder speckled the floor not soaked with blood. “A summoning circle?”

“It appears so. Preliminary results indicate it’s made of regular table salt.”

“So they summoned something and it killed them before arranging them in a neat little circle? Or someone else used their deaths to summon something inside the circle? Or…”

“We have an occult specialist as a consultant as well. We might have to call them in. But in the meantime, I was hoping you could get something from the finger. Only if you’re up to it, though.” His gaze softened and dropped to scan my body as if looking for visible signs of an impending breakdown.

I narrowed my eyes. “Did you call me in just to check up on me?”

“Maybe.

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