Der Schädelring: Thriller (German Edition)

slaughter.
    They squeezed between two large boulders and emerged into a flat clearing. Hartley was waiting, dressed in a brown wool robe, the hood thrown back to reveal the dome of his bald head. His eyes were set deep in the bones of his face, condemned to always look out at the world from shadows.
    "Anybody follow you, Lucius?" Hartley said.
    "Nobody," Snead answered. "Triplett ought to be in custody by now."
    "Should have put him out of the way a long time ago."
    "Don't worry. I'm sure we can arrange a little 'accident.' A chase through the woods, he falls from a cliff trying to elude arrest, nobody will think twice about it. Not with his past."
    Hartley pulled a gun from his robe. “Unless the Triplett whore’s bones turn up. And the bones of the baby she gave us. Then somebody else might start snooping around, like Judas Stone here.”
    The Triplett whore? Walter's wife. Oh, God, no. What kind of woman could give up her infant as a sacrifice?
    Julia’s anger revived her, and she fought against Snead’s grip. Three more hooded figures emerged from the trees. It was as if Satan had summoned them out of earth, wind, fire, and water. They surrounded her, rough hands groping and clutching her limbs.
    “Tie her,” Hartley ordered.
    Julia struggled but was overpowered and forced to the ground. Her hands were yanked behind her and her feet bound with rope. A faint scent of perfume crossed her nostrils, and a slender hand touched her cheek. The whispers went into her ears and through the lost rooms of her soul.
    “You’re one of us,” Dr. Forrest said. “You’ve always been one of us.”
    “You bitch,” Julia spat. “I’ve never been one of you.”
    “You were born one of us,” Dr. Forrest said. “You belong.”
    “The master is ready,” Hartley said, looking around, the gun pointed at the turbulent sky. The wind had risen, now was chattering and screaming through the trees. “He’s given us the signs.”
    “What do we do after we finish her?” Snead asked Hartley.
    “Let Satan decide.”
    “There are too many loose ends, Hartley. Satan’s supposed to blind the weak. But bodies have turned up, and sooner or later somebody’s going to link us to Memphis.”
    “Are you doubting, my Brother Judas?”
    The hooded figures stood around Julia, watching the confrontation. Julia noticed two of them wore patent leather shoes. Cop shoes.
    Snead said, “He has truly blessed us. I’m just thinking about it from a law-enforcement perspective.”
    Hartley’s voice rivaled the low thunder that crept over the hills. “There’s only one law, and only one enforcer.”
    Julia looked up at Snead, saw the man’s aquiline face redden in anger. “That’s easy for you to say. You make the messes, and I have to clean them up.”
    Hartley raised his left hand as if addressing the sky. “Even the book of fools acknowledges the master of this world.” Hartley smiled at Julia. “Four-oh-six, Judas.”
    A gunshot echoed over the hills, coming from the rocks near the peak of the ridge. Julia's heart clenched.
    Walter. They must have found him.
    She pictured him slumped in the leaves, blood pouring from his chest. Shot while trying to escape, they’d say. But Julia would know the real truth: that he had given his life trying to protect her. And she had doubted him and his God.
    Hartley had ducked at the sound and now motioned Snead to investigate. Snead and two of the hooded figures disappeared among the boulders. Hartley whispered, “Watch the whore,” and then slipped into the trees. Julia lay on the ground, tied and helpless, alone with Dr. Forrest.
    The doctor knelt beside Julia, gently stroking Julia’s hair. Julia cringed from the contact, sickened by the possibility of Walter's death. She sobbed.
    “Hush, Sister Judas,” Dr. Forrest said to her. “You’re nearly healed.”
    What was this crazy woman saying? How many others had she polluted in her role as a therapist? How many other vulnerable victims were led to this wicked end by Dr. Forrest’s manipulation?
    Dr. Forrest smiled down at her, like a Madonna upon a child. “If only your father could see you now.”
    “What about my father?” Julia managed to ask through her confusion.
    “He was weak, a fool. He lost his courage just when he was about to enter the Inner Circle. Imagine the power Satan would have bestowed upon him if only he’d have had the strength to seize it.”
    “No,” Julia said. “You told me—you made me remember that