Divine Evil

“Things like this don't happen in a town like Emmitsboro.”
    “Not unless something triggers it.” He sipped slowly now, watching Blair. “When I was on the force in D.C., we came across some dogs. Three big black Dobermans.
    They'd been mutilated in just about the same way as Dopper's cattle. We found a few other things there, though. Black candle wax, pentagrams painted on the trees. All in this nine-foot circle.”
    “Satanism?” Blair would have laughed, but Cam wasn't smiling. Slowly, he took his seat again. “Not here, Cam. That's really reaching.”
    “Did you know graveyard dirt's used in Satanic rites? I looked it up. It's even better if it's from the grave of a child. Nothing else was disturbed in that cemetery. And somebody had hauled the dirt away. Why?”
    “Kids on a dare.” But his reporter's instincts were humming.
    “Maybe. It wasn't kids on a dare who clubbed Biff to death. And it wasn't kids on a dare who took a knife to those calves. The hearts were gone, Blair. Whoever did it took the hearts with him.”
    “Good Christ.” He set the mug aside. “Have you told anyone else what you're working on?”
    “No, mostly I'm just thinking out loud.” Cam leaned forward. “But I've got to take into consideration that Lisa MacDonald says the guy who attacked her was chanting. She'd said singing before, but when I asked her about it again, she changed it to chanting. She said it sounded like Latin. You've got contacts on the paper, Blair, people who know a lot more about this cult business than I can dig up in a library.”
    “I'll see what I can find out.” Blair rose, trying to pace off his unease. If they had been anywhere else but Emmitsboro, he would have bought into Cam's theory quickly. As a reporter he knew how pervasive cults had become, especially in cities and college towns. “You figure kids have experimented and gotten in too deep?”
    “I can't say. I do know that drugs usually go hand inhand with this kind of thing, but other than a few kids rolling joints, we don't see much in this part of the county. There was more of that going on when we were in high school.”
    “Maybe you've got a renegade. One person who's wacked himself out reading Crowley or listening to Black Sabbath.”
    “It took more than one person to do what was done to Biff.” He ground out a cigarette. “I don't believe for one minute that a couple of kids listening to black metal and doing a few chants psyched themselves up to do all this. In the books they're called dabblers because that's just what they do. What's happening here isn't dabbling.”
    “And I thought I'd come home for a nice relaxing weekend.”
    “Sorry. Listen, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mention any of this to Clare.”
    “Any reason?”
    “Officially she's my only witness in the MacDonald case, and I don't want to influence her memory. Personally, I don't want her any more upset than she already is.”
    Blair tapped a finger against the coffee mug, considering. “She spent twenty minutes this morning examining every inch of that burl.”
    Cam's eyes cleared, and he smiled. “Oh, yeah?”
    “And to think of the money I've wasted on flowers and jewelry whenever I've ticked a woman off.”
    “You never had my charm, Kimball. How about putting in a good word for me?”
    “I never knew you to need anybody to do your talking.”
    “It was never this important before.”
    Blair couldn't come up with a joke and rose, jiggling change in his pockets. “You're really serious about her?”
    “Deadly” He rubbed a hand over his heart. “Christ, it
feels
deadly.”
    “You know, that ex-husband of hers was a jerk. He wanted her to give swanky dinner parties and learn to decorate.”
    “I hate him already.” He could ask Blair what he hadn't felt comfortable asking Clare. “Why'd she marry him?”
    “Because she convinced herself she was in love and it was time to start a family. Turned out he wasn't interested in a family anyway. Before it was done, he'd convinced her everything that had gone wrong was her fault. She bought it, too. And she's still a little raw.”
    “I figured that out.” Cam nearly smiled. “You want to ask me if my intentions are honorable?”
    “Fuck you, Rafferty” He held up a hand quickly. “Don't say you'd rather fuck my sister.”
    “Right now I'd settle for sitting down and having a rational conversation with her.”
    Blair considered for a minute. “When do you get off duty?”
    “In