The Mephisto Club

parameters?”
    “Dismemberment. Satanic symbols. Yes, a few cases showed up from other states, but nothing that matched to our satisfaction.”
    “Then widen the search.”
    “Any wider, and it becomes useless. It’s too general, too big a net.”
    “I’m talking internationally.”
    “That’s a pretty big net.”
    “There’s no net too big for this killer. Look at all the clues he’s left. Latin inscriptions. Drawings made with red ocher from Cyprus. A Mediterranean seashell. He’s practically announced to you that he’s lived abroad. And probably killed abroad. I guarantee you, if you search the Interpol database, you’ll find more of his victims.”
    “How can you be so…” Jane paused, and her gaze suddenly narrowed. “You already know. You’ve checked.”
    “I took the liberty. This killer has left distinctive tracks everywhere. He’s not afraid of the police. He’s utterly confident in his own ability to stay invisible.” He pointed to the photocopies. “Twelve years ago, the killer was living here. Already having his fantasies, already drawing those crosses.”
    Jane looked at Maura. “I’m going to stay here at least another night. There are other people I need to talk to.”
    “But I need to get home,” said Maura. “I can’t stay away that long.”
    “Dr. Bristol can cover for you, can’t he?”
    “I have other things I need to attend to.” Maura did not like the look Jane suddenly shot her.
Other things being Daniel Brophy?
    “I’m driving back to Boston tonight,” said Sansone. “You can ride with me.”

TWENTY-NINE
    “Detective Rizzoli didn’t look too happy when you took me up on my offer,” Sansone said.
    “She’s unhappy about a lot of things these days,” said Maura, staring out at fields covered in a snowy white skin. Although the last light of day had faded, the moon was rising, and its reflection was bright as a lantern on the snow. “Me included.”
    “I noticed the tension between you two.”
    “It’s that obvious?”
    “She doesn’t try to hide much, does she?” He shot her a glance in the dark car. “You two couldn’t be more different.”
    “I’m finding that out more and more.”
    “You’ve known each other long?”
    “About two years. Since I took the job in Boston.”
    “Has it always been this edgy between you?”
    “No. It’s only because…” She fell silent.
Because she disapproves of me. Because she’s on her moral high horse, and I’m not allowed to be human. I’m not allowed to fall in love.
“This has been a stressful few weeks” was how she finished the sentence.
    “I’m glad we have this chance to talk in private,” he said. “Because what I’m about to tell you is going to sound absurd. And she’d dismiss it without a second thought.” Again he glanced at her. “I’m hoping you’ll be more willing to listen.”
    “Because you think I’m less of a skeptic than she is? Don’t bet on it.”
    “What did you think about the death scene today? What did it tell you about the killer?”
    “I saw evidence of a severely disturbed mind.”
    “That’s one possibility.”
    “What’s your interpretation?”
    “That there’s real intelligence behind this. Not just some nutcase getting his jollies by torturing women. This is someone with a focused and logical motive.”
    “Your mythical demons, again.”
    “I know you don’t accept their existence. But you saw that news article, about the barn that was defaced twelve years ago. Did anything else in that report stand out for you?”
    “You mean, aside from the crosses carved in the barn?”
    “The missing goat. There were four goats released from the barn, and the farmer recovered only three of them. What happened to the fourth?”
    “Maybe it escaped. Maybe it got lost in the woods.”
    “In Leviticus, chapter sixteen, another name for Azazel is ‘the scapegoat.’ He who assumes all the sins, all the evils, of mankind. By tradition, the chosen animal is led into the wilderness, taking humanity’s sins with it. And there it’s released.”
    “We’re back to your symbol of Azazel again.”
    “A drawing of his head appeared on your door. You can’t have forgotten that.”
    No, I haven’t. How could I forget that my door bears the mark of a killer?
    “I know you’re skeptical,” he said. “I know you think this will turn out to be like so many other investigations. That it will lead to some rather ordinary, even pitiful character who lives