Lauren didn’t say anything. She just sat there with wide eyes.
“Took him right off his feet and tossed him back down the steps. He bled out pretty fast, having the front of his chest cavity ripped open like that.”
“Did you get the guys?”
Curran looked away. “Two of them. Yeah.”
“Did they stand trial?”
“They never got that far.”
Curran watched Lauren stop breathing. After a minute of staring at her, she exhaled slowly. She said nothing.
“So,” continued Curran. “To answer your question, yes, I have felt a sense of premonition before and that was it. I somehow knew there was going to be trouble that day. Luckily, I listened to it. That could have just as easily been me taking that shotgun blast in the chest.”
Lauren finished her coffee. “Steve…I…I felt something earlier today when I was researching the Soul Eater.”
“Felt something? Like what?”
“A presence in the library with me while I was reading.”
“You mean like a ghost?”
“Possibly. But I don't think so. It felt different than a ghost.”
Curran eyed her. “You've felt ghosts before?”
“Yes.”
I’m not going to touch that one, thought Curran. “Okay. Tell me about it.”
“The library seemed to close in on me. But at the same time there was a breeze. It made my hair stand on end. It flipped the pages of the book I was reading until the chapter about Soul Eaters came up. Later on, it got incredibly cold in the room but I started sweating. I suddenly felt like someone was there with me.”
“Could it have been another person in the library with you?”
“I thought of that, too, but it wasn't. The only other person there was an old nun. And she was far too busy studying to have been it. But Steve…something else was in there with me.”
“You think it was this Soul Eater guy?”
Lauren shook her head. “I doubt it. I don’t think his power extends to invisibility. But something, some kind of presence, was in that room.”
“And you think it’s related?”
“I think so. I heard something that sounded like a voice.”
Curran stopped drinking his coffee. “Did you say a voice?”
“Yes.”
“What did it say?”
Lauren looked away. “Don’t think me foolish. But it sounded like it said ‘soon.’”
Curran’s heart jumped. Could it be that she heard the same thing Curran heard in his dreams? He frowned. Ridiculous. They were just dreams. Weren’t they?
“Steve?”
He snapped back to reality. “Yeah?”
“You look concerned. Everything all right?”
A buzzing on his left hip made him jump. The cell phone. He exhaled and grabbed it. “Yeah?”
What he heard didn’t make him feel any better. He hung up and got to his feet.
Lauren stood. “Steve, what is it?”
“We’ll have to continue this some other time.”
“Why?”
“They just found another body. Looks like the Soul Eater — whatever we end up calling him — has struck again.”
Chapter Eight
They’d found the body on the top part of Prince Street in Jamaica Plain. Woods bordered the street on both sides a short throw from Jamaica Pond. The leafless trees leaned in on the police cruisers, their bent and broken branches threatening to scratch the tops of heads and cars alike.
By the time Curran arrived, Kwon and his meat wagon were already there. Kwon didn’t look happy.
“Another one,” he said by way of introduction.
Curran lit a cigarette, inhaled and held it for a few seconds before letting the smoke stream out of his mouth. “Who’s the lucky stiff?”
“Tell me that’s not supposed to be funny.”
“Okay.”
Kwon bent down and unzipped the body bag. “Name’s Jeremiah Simpson. Ring any bells?”
Curran frowned. “Wasn’t he the pedophile that judge went real easy on over in Cambridge? Got herself disbarred for it, too, I heard.”
“He was. You guys would know more about him than I would. But judging from how the uniforms are talking, this guy wasn’t the nicest dude on the planet.”
“Understatement,” said Curran. “If I recall the case right, Cambridge PD busted him for ten counts of sodomy on children, a handful of kiddie porn possession charges, and they suspected him in the deaths of at least four kids. They never had enough evidence to press those on him though.”
“Dude’s dressed like a woman,” said Kwon. “Even down to the bra, for crying out loud.”
Curran nodded. “That was his thing. He apparently thought that he projected a less threatening demeanor towards kids as a woman.”
“Piece of work,” said Kwon. “And he’s got the same marks as our friend from the other night.”
“Nothing.”
Kwon nodded. “Exactly.”
Curran glanced around. Through the trees he could see Jamaica Pond’s icy glacial waters. “But what’s he doing over here?”
Kwon shrugged. “Someone mentioned he’d been paroled recently. There’s a school up on Moss Hill. Maybe he was scouting it out.”
Curran frowned. Pedophiles deserved to die. On any other day, he would have been thrilled to see a piece of garbage like Simpson end up in Kwon’s body bag.
But now.
“He was looking for victims.”
Kwon nodded. Looks that way.”
Curran looked at the sky. The sun had already descended and the first tendrils of the night had bled across the sky. It would be dark in fifteen minutes. The cold November winds blew through the trees and rustled the yellow crime scene tape strung from light pole to light pole.
“He must have lived around here.”
Kwon glanced up from writing something on his clipboard. “What makes you say that?”
“He was found like this? Just out and all alone?”
“Yeah.”
“No car nearby,” said Curran. “We’re a bit isolated here. Maybe he was out for a walk. That’s when it happened.”
“No identification on him,” said Kwon.
“We can get his address from his parole officer.” Curran dug into the cigarette again keeping the tip bright red. Another damned death.
“I can do the PM right away if you want,” said Kwon.
“You don’t mind?”
“I’m still backlogged, but I know it means a lot to you.” He stood and placed his hand under Curran’s elbow. “What the hell is going on here, man?”
Curran tossed his cigarette and watched the tip burn out as it hit a puddle of brackish water. “Wish I knew.”
“No theories?”
“Lauren has one.”
“How about sharing?”
“She’s done some research. Found out there have been recorded instances of this activity in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.”
“Yeah?”
“Book she found says the culprit is something called a Soul Eater.”
Kwon stopped walking. “You aren’t freaking with me, are you Steve?”
“Wish I was, pal. That’s what she found out.”
“Great.” Kwon sighed.
“For a science geek, you’re taking the prospect of supernatural involvement pretty well.”
“First of all, I’m not a geek.” Kwon crossed his arms. “And secondly, I’m not devoid of interest in stuff like this.”
“You dig the occult?” Kwon never ceased to amaze Curran.
“Not like how you make it sound,” said Kwon. “But my upbringing in Korea was surrounded with myths and legends. Some of them weren’t all that far-fetched.”
“Yeah, but something like this living in the modern world?” Curran shook his head. “Seems like it’s way out there to me.”
“Even today, sometimes we have to go on faith rather than facts.”
“You’re starting to sound like Lauren.”
“Great minds,” said Kwon. “So this thing…what’s it doing this for?”
“We’re still trying to find out.”
Kwon sighed. “I hate it when things aren’t all neat and orderly.”
Curran tried to grin but it failed him again. “Welcome to my world.”
By the time ten o’clock rolled around that night, Curran’s eyes felt sticky and hot. Darkness covered the rest of the floor at police headquarters. And in the room where Curran sat, the only illumination came from the dull glow of his computer screen.