“What’s Tea and Tarot?” King asked.
“The local metaphysical professionals meet twice a month to talk shop at the Fortune Teller’s Café.”
“Who was there last week?” the Sheriff said.
“The owner of the café, Tara, was there. She reads cards. Lily, a tea leaf and palm reader was too. And so was an astrologer, Audrey. She also has an energetics practice.”
“Energetics?” Night asked.
“Reiki, that sort of thing,” Riga said.
The Sheriff drummed his fingers on the nearby table. “I hear you’re a P.I. of some sort, did some consulting for the Oakland police.”
Riga crossed her arms, thinking. The Oakland connection was an odd one for them to pick up since she’d lived in San Francisco. The SF cops would have been a more obvious reference. “I’m a metaphysical detective and I have a California investigator’s license. I’m not licensed in Nevada. How did you hear of it?”
“Cops talk,” the Sheriff said. “They said you knew how to keep your mouth shut.”
It wasn’t exactly a rave review, but she couldn’t blame the Oakland PD. It had been an unusual case, even by her standards. She was surprised they talked about her at all. “Are you looking to hire a consultant?” Riga placed a subtle emphasis on the word “hire.” She’d come here for an extended vacation, but turning it into a work trip held a certain tax deductable appeal.
In response, the Sheriff unzipped his parka and pulled out a manila file folder. From it he withdrew an eight by ten photo. He extended it towards her.
Okay, she thought: he wanted to see what a metaphysical consultant could do. She took the photo, and returned to her spot against the counter beside the gargoyle. Riga held the picture before her so Brigitte could view it: a black and white glossy of a metal disk with a symbol impressed upon it – two concentric circles with oddly shaped letters drawn between the two and a hexagon overlaid in the center. The expression on her face flickered, then stilled.
“You know it?” the Sheriff said, leaning forward in his seat.
She grimaced in distaste. “It’s a sigillum used to summon and control a demon when you don’t know the demon’s name,” she said. “The style is similar to the Sigillum Dei Aemeth created by John Dee but there are key differences which make this unique. There was a man in Paris who used a system like this, invented it in fact, named Francois Lefebvre. The Parisian police will have a file on him. He died five years ago in a fire. Lefebvre didn’t take students, wasn’t the type to share, but he had servants. They may have learned his technique.”
“How did you learn it?” the Deputy asked. He was taking notes and turning a pencil between his fingers. His hands were calloused, roughened by work, and she imagined the young man swinging an axe, splitting firewood.
“I never said I learned it,” she said.
“But you know enough to identify it,” Night persisted.
“Lefebvre tried to summon a demon in my presence,” she said dryly. “It’s not something one forgets.”
The Sheriff’s bushy eyebrows rose. “Did he succeed?”
“Of course not,” she said. Lefebvre had succeeded in raising the demon, but not in controlling it. Riga had seen to that. The demon had seen to Lefebvre. Riga had managed to evade the Parisian cops, keep her involvement secret, and she wasn’t about to upset the status quo.
“You haven’t asked me what this is about,” King said.
“What’s this about, Sheriff?”
“Sarah Glass was murdered. We found this beside her, and now you tell me you’re one of the few people in the world who knows what this is and how to use it. I understand you’ve got some fighting skills? Have studied martial arts?”
“What does hapkido have to do with this sigil?”
Damn it. She should have known nothing good could come from telling them about Lefebvre. But she’d maintained a reasonable relationship with the authorities by not withholding evidence, even when the police neither liked nor believed her.
The Sheriff leaned forward, his stare unrelenting. “So what happened here? Did a demon kill her?” His voice was mocking.
“I have no idea how she died or by whose hand,” Riga said. “If I had more information—”
He stood and replaced his hat. “Can’t give you that. Thanks for your help, Miss Hayworth. Don’t leave town.”
About the Author
Kirsten Weiss grew up in San Mateo, California. After getting her MBA , she joined the Peace Corps and ended up in post-Soviet Eastern Europe. That started an international career, which took her to far flung places such as Kyrgyzstan and into the Afghan war zone. Her experiences abroad, especially in Afghanistan and the Wild East of the former Soviet Union, gave her glimpses into the darker side of human nature. They also sparked an interest in the effects of mysticism and mythology, and how both are woven into our daily lives.
She writes paranormal mysteries, blending her experiences and imagination to create a vivid world of magic and mayhem.
Kirsten has never met a dessert she didn’t like, and her guilty pleasures are watching Ghost Whisperer reruns and drinking good wine.
Follow her on Twitter @rigahayworth or check out her website at kirstenweiss.com
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: A Client Arrives
Chapter 2: Two blondes walk into a bar
Chapter 3: A Funny Valentine
Chapter 4: Nino’s cross
Chapter 5: Bad Haiku
Chapter 6: Petrichor
Chapter 7: Mystics and Metaphysics
Chapter 8: Tarot and Tai Chi
Chapter 9: What Comes in Three’s
Chapter 11: Banished and Bewildered
Chapter 12: Pumpkins on the Shore
Chapter 13: Ariadne’s Secret
Chapter 14: The Bishop’s Wife
Chapter 15: The Apollo Group
Chapter 16: Moirai
Chapter 17: Klotho
Chapter 18: Saving Liz
Chapter 19: Venus Flytrap
Chapter 20: The Devil
Chapter 21: Denial – Not Just a River in Egypt
Chapter 22: A New Client
Chapter 23: Ghost On the Loose
Chapter 24: Faerie Shaman
Chapter 25: The Hanged Man
Chapter 26: El Diablo Rojo
Chapter 27: Mothers and Daughters
Chapter 28: One Mystery, Solved
Chapter 29: On the Record
Chapter 30: Off to the Races
Chapter 31: Six of Swords
Chapter 32: Underworld
Chapter 33: Labyrinth
Chapter 34: Persephone’s Tale
Chapter 35: Olympus
Chapter 36: Paris Was a Sucker
Chapter 37: Father of the Gods
Chapter 38: The Locked Room
Chapter 39: Dionysus
Chapter 40: The Trickster
Chapter 41: Goodbyes
Chapter 42: I’ve Gathered You Here Together…
Chapter 43: Hecate
Chapter 44: The Return
Chapter 45: Vinnie
Chapter 1: Calcination
About the Author