Seven Days (novelette) by Jack Soren

Author:Jack Soren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, love, zombie, sacrifice
Publisher: Jack Soren

"Hey, Pete," Wagner said as he stepped into the museum's foyer, trying to set the tone of the encounter. From the look on Director Matthews' face, it wasn't going to work. Flashing red and blue lights pulsed through the fogged glass blocks around the museum's entrance. The upper drive outside looked like an extension of the Federal Plaza parking garage, there were so many FBI cars strewn about. Beyond the cars, a gaggle of reporters strained at their NYPD leashes.

"Not the way I wanted to start my day, Joseph," Matthews said, staring out at the barricades. The men were the same size and build, but somehow Wagner always felt small around him.

"No, sir," Wagner said.

"You promised me I wouldn't regret the suppression in this case. Do you recall?"

Wagner remembered, all right. Six weeks ago, when the first mutilated body had been found by a group of teens on the edge of Central Park, Wagner had assumed the killer chose the location to garner attention. Why the killer wanted attention hadn’t really mattered at that point. Wagner had been sure that if they denied the killer his publicity he would make a mistake — a frustrated phone call to the cops or a letter to the media. Something. But as it turned out, the killer was methodical and patient. More patient than Matthews, apparently, Wagner thought. It would have been easy to let the NYPD have the case and be done with it. But Wagner's son had been among the teens who had found the body. It pissed Wagner off and when he found out the first victim had worked for the post office, he used the technicality to take over the case. But worse, he used his old friend to do it

The second killing had been three weeks ago. That one had been hanging in the rectory at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Madison Avenue, the corpse's arms outstretched like a crucifixion on an invisible cross, the same rudimentary butterfly carved into its bare chest. Still convinced of his tact, Wagner fought to keep that murder out of the press, as well; the location making it even harder. Reluctantly, Matthews had finally agreed to go along and even pull some strings with the Archdiocese. No small feat.

And now this.

"We're checking the security cameras as well as the traffic cameras in the area, but—"

"But you're not going to find anything. Just like the others," Matthews said.

"No, sir. Probably not. If this is like the others, he has pull like I've never seen before. The fact that he didn't set off any alarms seems to bear that out."

"You're not helping your case, Joseph," Matthews said. He turned around and faced Wagner. He was at least ten years Wagner's senior and had been a mentor to him when he'd first joined the Bureau, but their rank and methods had driven a wedge between them long before this case came along. "Give me a sitrep and then I have to go meet with the Archdiocese who want to tear a new hole in me for breaking the promises I made to them after the last murder.

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