"I'm sorry," he said. "I really am. As much as it pains me to say this, I think you're really a nice lady. For an FBI agent. So you think we could start over?"

The words caught Ravenwood off guard. It took her a moment to regroup. I was right. There is a Teddy Bear inside the belligerent b.a.s.t.a.r.d. "Thank you," she said, graciously acknowledging what she knew must have been difficult for him to say. "I'm ready if you are."

Okay, he thought, this might actually work. "Well, I don't know if I'm ready or not but if you've got something to bring to the table I'd like to see it. Because, frankly, when it comes to this case... my table is pretty much bare."

"Well, that's why I'm here. So let's get started. Do you have the doc.u.ments I gave you?"

"Yup," he said, retrieving the large envelope from a drawer. He pulled out the contents and spread them across the desk.

"Excellent," she said. "Now, check this out." She pointed to the photos of the two deceased victims, "See those marks on the forehead and the chest of each body?"

"Of course. That's what... wait. You're going to tell me you know what they mean?"

"Not exactly what they mean. At least not yet. I'm working on it. What I can tell you is that the marks on the chest are sigils."

"Sigils? What the h.e.l.l is a sigil?"

"For simplicity's sake let's just say they are signssymbols, if you willthat are created for some magickal purpose."

Kane shook his head. "Lady, you're losing me real fast here. Magic? You mean like abracadabra, watch me pull a rabbit out of my a.s.s?"

She glared at him. "I thought you were ready to take this seriously. And it's not abracadabra. It's abra-ha-dabra."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't. Everybody knows"

"Well, everybody's wrong. Trust me. This is exactly why you need me on this case. I know things you can't imagine."

Kane rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Go on."

She was about to explain further when Kane's phone buzzed. He mocked an apologetic shrug and took the call. "Yeah, what is it? I'm entertaining a lady in here, so make it quick." He winked at Ravenwood. After a moment his expression changed. "You gotta be s.h.i.ttin' me. All right. Yeah." He hung up the phone and looked at Ravenwood. "Hate to break up our fascinating conversation but it looks like victim number three just made the roster." He got up, put his jacket on and headed for the door.

Ravenwood spun around in her chair. "Where are you going?"

He was already half way across the outer office when he hollered back. "Gotta go look at a dead guy. Have a nice day Ms. Ravenwood."

Ravenwood stood up, grabbed her briefcase and jacket and started after him. "Wait a minute," she said, coming up behind him. "I'm coming with you."

Kane stopped short and turned to face her. "Abra-HA-dabra," he said, waving his hands like a magician performing a vanishing act. "Disappear, will ya?"

Ravenwood pursed her lips. So much for the Teddy Bear. "Sorry," she said, "it doesn't work that way. Your car or mine?"

CHAPTER 4.

Mountlake Terrace, A Middle-Cla.s.s Seattle Suburb The crime scenea small, one-bedroom home owned by Robert McKale, a Methodist ministeryielded no real surprises. No sign of struggle, no sign of violence. Yet, face down in the middle of the living room floor, was one dead preacher. The Medical Examiner rolled the body over. As in the previous two cases, the man's shirt was unb.u.t.toned, there were strange markings on his forehead and chest, his trousers and underwear were pulled down to his ankles and, like the other two victims, a black plastic Batman coin had been stuffed into his mouth.

When Kane and Ravenwood returned to the office, Kane plopped himself into the chair behind his desk and stared at Ravenwood. Finally he spoke. "Sigils, huh?" he said, picking up the conversation where they'd left off as if nothing had happened.

Ravenwood was a little surprised. "So you're ready to listen to what I have to say, I take it."

"Might as well. Can't dance."

"Beg your pardon?"

"I said" he stopped and shook his head. "Never mind. Can we just get on with it? Dazzle me with your mystical brilliance."

She ignored the sarcasm. "That's what I'm here for." She clicked open her briefcase, pulled out the sheet of ill.u.s.trations of the odd symbols and slid it across his desk. "Like I said, I'm certain these are sigils. The word sigil is derived from the Latin, sigilum, which means seal, although some"

"Look, lady. I don't need a friggin' history lesson here. Just give me the G.o.dd.a.m.n bottom line, will ya?"

She took a deep breath. How the h.e.l.l did this guy even graduate from high school? "Okay, all right, no history lesson. But even you will like this next part."

"I can't wait."

"Ever hear of s.e.x magick?"

Kane chuckled. "s.e.x magic? h.e.l.l yeah. I've performed a lot of that in my time."

"Really? That's not what I hear."

Kane found himself caught off guard without a clever retort.

"May I continue?" Ravenwood asked.

"By all means," Kane said. "Don't stop now. It's just getting good."

"It gets better."

"Do tell."

Ravenwood leaned back in her chair. "Remember I told you sigils are symbols used in magick?"

"Right. Magic." He raised two fingers and traced the sign of a cross in the air as if performing a blessing. "Hocus pocus dominocus, betican beecha indominos."

It was corny. It was juvenile. It was also kind of funny. Ravenwood couldn't quite suppress a grin. "Cute," she said. "But no."

"Whaddya mean, no?"

"We're not talking about hocus-pocus here. That's stage magic. This isn't David Copperfield making the Statue of Liberty disappear."

"No?"

"No."

"Then what the h.e.l.l are we talking about and when do we get back to the s.e.x stuff?"

"We're talking about ritual magick, the dark arts as some call it. Maybe even black magick. Possibly satanic. Hard to say at this point. But ritual magick of some sort."

"Witchcraft?"

"Maybe. It's complicated."

Kane thought for a moment. "You're an expert in this stuff, right?"

"You could say that."

"Then let me ask you a serious question."

Finally, Ravenwood thought, trying not to look shocked. "Shoot."

He looked her straight in the eyes. "What, exactly, does 'colder than a witches t.i.t' really mean, anyway?"

She shut her eyes and shook her head. Jesus Christ, the man is still back in the sixth grade. "Actually," she said, "I could answer that for you."

Kane looked surprised. "Get outta here. You serious?"

Ravenwood couldn't believe he could think she was serious. She decided to play it out. "I said I could tell you. I didn't say I would tell you. Because you know..." her face turned deadly serious, "...if I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Oh, that's original."

She gave a chuckle. "Yeah, I know. But there is actually an answer to that question."

"Really?"

"Tell you what. You stop s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with me and one of these days I'll tell you. And I won't kill you. Promise. Deal?"

Kane grinned. Stop s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with you? I wouldn't screw you if you were the last woman on earth. Wellmaybe the last woman. "All right, deal. I'll hold you to that promise."

Ravenwood hoped the smile on her face appeared more appreciative than condescending. "Okay, then. Are we together on this magick thing? Do you get what I'm telling you?"

"Yeah, I'm gettin' the picture but what is it with this ritual magick stuff? People believe this s.h.i.t really works?"

"Yes, they do. The idea behind the practice of ritual magick is to learn how to use one's will to bring about some intended change."

Kane nodded for her to go on.

"For example, let's say there's this job that you really want but you heard the employer is intending to hire someone else for that position. So you would engage in some particular magickal ritual in which the intention is to bring about a change in the employer's decision. You could be very specific about the means by which you would like your intended outcome to manifest or you could leave it open-ended. Either way. Doesn't matter, really, just as long as the end result is that you get hired instead of the other person. See what I mean?"

Kane raised an eyebrow. "Or you could do one of these rituals to make somebody die?"

She nodded. "That, too."

"Okay, I'm getting the gist of what you're saying. I don't believe a word of it, but I get it. So what exactly are these rituals, anyway?"

Ravenwood spent the next several minutes explaining some of the various forms of ritual magick: invocations, evocations, consecration, divination and others. Most of it was over Kane's head. His eyes were glazing over.

"And, of course," she added, "s.e.x magick."

Kane's eyes brightened.

Ravenwood grinned. "I knew that would wake you up."

"What can I say? I'm a guy. So what about this s.e.x magick thing."

Ravenwood launched into a short introductory course on s.e.x magick while Kane listened intently. Even though it wasn't more than fifteen minute's worth of information on a subject she could have expounded upon for an hour, she didn't hesitate to mention some of the more lurid elements that are occasionally included in such rituals.

Kane thought he'd heard it all in his line of work but this was definitely a new one on him. He sat up and, for the first time, showed some signs of genuine interest. "So," he said, "let me see if I've got this right. Basically, what you're saying is that these people use s.e.x to get what they want. What's new about that? It's one of the oldest tricks in the book."

"You're not quite getting it. What I said was, the pract.i.tioners of this particular ritual use the s.e.x act and the energies it releases as a tool for activating the intended outcomefor good or for evilwhatever the case may be. The o.r.g.a.s.m is that momentary window of opportunity, when the s.e.xual energy is at its peak. The pract.i.tioner has one goal at that moment: to cast his spell and give it life in the real world. In other words, to make the intention become a reality. It's entirely a mental exercise requiring the most intense concentration."

Kane leaned back and scowled. "Hmm... Doesn't sound like much fun. Now, me, I'd rather"

"I don't really care what you'd rather, Lieutenant. This isn't about you. I'm trying to get to a point here.

"Well, hurry it up then. Get to the point."

"Thank you. Now"

"You want some coffee?"

"What?"

"Coffee," he said, nodding toward the coffee maker on the file cabinet. "You want some?"

My G.o.d, she thought. His Teddy Bear is showing. "Well, sure, thank you."

"Cream? Sugar?" a.r.s.enic?

"No, just black, thanks."

He got up, filled two Styrofoam cups and handed her one. "Careful," he said. "It's hot." He thought about adding the words, like you, but caught himself before it came out. Christ. I must be slipping.

"Thank you," she said. Now, where were we?"

Kane sat down and blew the steam off the top of his coffee. "s.e.x in front of the window or something like that."