“So why not tell the police?” Julie asked.
“Because, we have since learned, the newspapers she wrote for were mostly owned in silent partnership by F.E. Lindemann.”
“Shit. They skipped through life without a care in the world. But their own children, they seemed to have been cursed, themselves,” Jennifer said.
“You bet they were,” Gabriel said. “Not one of them died of the causes listed on their gravestones. As a matter of fact, there isn’t one body in any of those graves.”
That sent everyone to asking questions all at once, but Gabriel was patient and let the voices around the table calm before he continued.
“The children were each lured home one at a time and killed by their parents.”
“What…what for?” Jason Sanborn asked, feeling sicker the more he heard.
“Who knows? Maybe because they were indeed changelings, maybe because Elena couldn’t call them her own, or maybe just because they weren’t babies any longer. The one thing we do know for sure is that all eight of the bodies were buried right alongside their birth mothers in the subbasement. That has been confirmed through DNA testing. Altogether, we are looking at one of the first substantiated cases of a brutal serial killer who was into devil worship on a major scale. With the eight changelings, there were thirty-one bodies unearthed under Summer Place.”
“I think,” John said as he stared at the table, “that Elena, or Vasily, was so evil that his power kept growing even after his death. Hell, maybe we’ll never know how the entity was really created. But everyone here must understand: where there is one, there is another, and another.”
Everyone talked for another half an hour and then Gabriel cleared his throat. He picked up the folder he had placed on the table when he entered the room.
“This is from Lord Henry Wilcox in the House of Commons in Great Britain. He has requested our services, naming each and every one of us specifically. It seems he has some trouble on his estate in Scotland. Several people have disappeared, and he wants us to investigate. The police and Scotland Yard have come up with no viable answers. Although I initially turned him down, he has become quite the persistent gentleman. He has placed an offer of one million dollars compensation for each member of…well, each of us, to find out what is stalking his estate.”
The room was quiet, and Gabriel waited for the refusals to spill forth with vehemence that would be well deserved. Instead, each person looked to the next.
“I’m out of work, so a million dollars looks pretty damn good to me right about now,” Julie said.
“I hear that,” Kelly Delaphoy agreed.
“Are you people nuts? Wasn’t Summer Place whacked enough for you?” Leonard asked, rising to his feet.
George Cordero placed his hand on Leonard’s and pulled him back into his chair.
“That translates into: when do we go?” George smiled at Leonard, who only grimaced.
“Detective Jackson, what do you say?” Gabriel asked the large man to his right.
“That’s former detective Jackson. And just to let you know, I didn’t save as much money as I should have. So, I agree. When do we go?”
It was agreed. They would do just one more investigation to get everyone back on their feet again.
As men and women started gathering their things, it was John Lonetree, with Jenny on his arm, who asked the question.
“By the way, Gabe, what did Lord Wilcox say? You stopped at ‘each member of’.”
Gabriel hesitated, then smiled. “Why, it was that stupid name that Julie called us during that damned Halloween special.”
“I don’t remember,” John said. “I was a little preoccupied at the time.”
Most in the room rolled their eyes, but it was Gabriel who reminded John what they had been nicknamed during that long, dark, and very stormy night in Pennsylvania.
“Each member of the team known as…the Supernaturals.”
About The Author
David was born and raised in Chino, California. He has raised three great children, Shaune, Brandon and Katie Anne, and has welcomed a new daughter-in-law to the family, Tram, and last year a brand new baby granddaughter named Kiera.
David spent many years in Loveland, Colorado. He now makes his home on Long Island, New York. He was taught at an early age to love books by his father who passed on his love of reading to his son after driving a tank across Europe in World War II. His influences include, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Larry Bond and the greatest character writer in history, Stephen King. He hopes you will find touches each of these authors in his work.
David is the New York Times bestselling author of Event, Legend, Ancients, Leviathan, and Primeval, and in 2011, Legacy, all available through Thomas Dunne Books, a division of St. Martin’s Press, whom David has been a part of since 2006 and where he will continue his tales of the Event Group. David is now thrilled to be a contributor to Seven Realms Publishing where he has another outlet for his wild imagination!