At First Light(Dr. Evan Wilding #1)(83)

“That’s where all the bodies are buried,” she told him. “You really think it will prove useful?”

To be honest, he couldn’t see how, exactly. But he gave her an appreciative smile. And then his smile widened as he mentally pulled up line twenty-five of the Talfour poem.

With his mirror I did mirror mere to mere.

“That’s it, Diana!” he cried.

“That’s what?”

“Do you remember the killer saying in line fifteen that he’d come here from across the sun-swimmer home?”

She nodded. “Followed by the words for mine, mine, mine gone.”

“Yes. I’m still working on that. But sun-swimmer is, I believe, a simple kenning for the sunfish, which dwells in the Atlantic Ocean, among other places, suggesting that the killer may have come here from England. In addition, we have the killer’s comment about mirroring mere to mere. That is, from one lake to another.”

Diana’s face lit up. “The killer is re-creating the English graves of bog bodies here, in Chicago.”

“It works, doesn’t it? In its own odd way. We aren’t an island, obviously. But we do sit alongside a rather large body of water.”

She snatched back her map. “So the killer is . . . God, that’s an awful thought. There are nine bog bodies in the British Isles.”

“I believe our killer is intending a total of five victims.” He explained his theory to her. “The number five surprised me, since nine is a number of great significance to Odin and the Vikings.”

“Maybe our killer is modest and believes he shouldn’t overreach.”

“It clearly signifies something.” He snapped his fingers. “The wooden figures.”

“Explain.”

“Christina—Dr. Johansen—told me this morning that four wooden figures were found in Chicago last spring, near bodies of water. If we map all four of them, I’ll bet their locations correspond to four of the bog body locales you’ve indicated on your map.”

“Which means whichever spots haven’t been taken—”

“Are where his next victims will go. I’d better call Addie. Diana, you are a genius.”

“I’m glad you finally noticed.” Her gaze turned pensive. “You think there’s any link between those wooden figures and the little man sitting in a box in our office?”

“It’s crossed my mind.”

“But what would it mean? That you’re—” Horror filled her eyes.

He held up a hand. “If anything, the presence of the figure suggests that if I’m to be sacrificed, it will be only in effigy. Which is vastly how I prefer to be sacrificed.” But he made a mental note to pass along this theory to Addie. And to Sten Elger, who had also received a figurine.

Diana didn’t look convinced. But a glance at her watch set her in motion. “I have to run. Promise you’ll call Addie. And that you won’t do anything rash. I’ll check in with you tonight and fill you in on my lunch with Rhinehart. And by the way, I found Raven on the closed-circuit video from Ragnar?k. Sten sent his picture to Patrick. It won’t surprise me at all if the killer turns out to be our Ringwraith.”

She sped away from him down the hall. At the doors, she turned back and gave him a wave before disappearing into the sunlight and wind.



Upstairs, a member of the campus police was just exiting Evan’s office.

“There you are,” he said when he saw Evan. “You’ve got Chicago PD in an uproar looking for you. I didn’t see you in your classroom just now, so I thought I’d better make sure you weren’t down for the count in your office—hurt or something.”

“Thank you, Officer.” Evan ignored the way his stomach flipped at whatever had driven Addie to call out campus security. Diana hadn’t been exaggerating. “Any idea what this is about?”

The officer pulled a note out of his pocket. “It was something about riding of riding?” He winced. “Jeez, that makes no sense now that I say it out loud. I must have heard it wrong. Anyway, you’d better call that detective from Chicago PD. Is it Basset?”

“Detective Bisset.” Riding of riding. The heat in his stomach intensified. What had happened while he’d been out of pocket? Had they already found the third, fourth, and fifth victims? “I’ll give her a ring.” He edged past the man still standing in his doorway.

“And call security when you’re ready to leave, Professor. We’ll walk you to your car. Or over to another building, if that’s where you want to go. Just don’t leave Harper without us.”

“Got it.”

The officer gave him a wave and headed toward the stairs. Evan hurried into the sanctuary of his office, closing the door and turning the dead bolt. It made sense that campus security would have keys to all the rooms. He just hadn’t thought about it. And now that he had, he didn’t like it. Which was rather unkind of him; they were only trying to help.

The phone started ringing as he approached his desk. He snatched it up.

“Addie? I’m so sorry!”

“Bothering the women again, are we?” asked a deep, cheerful voice that carried only a trace of a British accent.

Holding the phone, Evan sank into his chair. “River. I’m glad you called. I need to pick your brain about bog bodies.”