Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“I have intuition too,” she says. “And I’m not feeling that at all.”
“You’re not feeling it because you don’t see any hard evidence to back it up. We’ve been through all this, Mom. You and I share many things, but we differ in our use of our intuition. You use it to find facts. If it doesn’t lead you to facts, then you discount it. I see it in a different way.”
Mom sighs and checks her watch again. “All right. I’ll get it.”
A few minutes later, she returns to the kitchen. I take the ring from her. It’s large and heavy. The center stone is black, probably onyx. On one side are the initials B and S, but on the other…
“What the hell?”
I examine the strange symbol. An oval and an X, with one corner of the X touching the elongated part of the oval.
“Uncle Joe and Uncle Talon asked a Freemason who specializes in symbols to look at it when they found Tom Simpson’s ring. He theorized that it was a twisted version of the symbol for female, which is also the symbol for the planet Venus…and for Lucifer.”
“The devil?”
“Yes, but some scholars believe that Lucifer, at least in this context, has nothing to do with Satan. The name literally means light bringer, which coincides with the planet Venus being the morning star.”
“Okay…”
“But”—Mom sighs—“we know for sure what it means. Your father told you when he relayed the whole story. Wendy admitted to it. It’s a symbol for an evil woman. A symbol for Wendy Madigan.”
Chapter Three
Brendan
I go with Donny the next day to Snow Creek High School. He’s the city attorney for the town, so he’ll be taking the lead. We didn’t make an appointment. As the city attorney, he has every right to visit the school whenever he wants.
We walk through the metal detector and then stop at the office, where we’re allowed to bypass the security check with IDs because of Donny’s position with the city. The receptionist on duty gives us each a visitor tag.
“What can I help you with, Mr. Steel?” she asks.
“We need to see the principal.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No, we don’t, but it’s very important that we see him right away.”
“All right. I’ll let him know you’re here.” She taps on her computer and then speaks into her headset. “Darrell? Donny Steel and Brendan Murphy are here to see you.”
Pause.
“I don’t know.”
Pause.
“All right.”
Then she turns back to us. “You two can go right in.”
Darrell Hutchins is the principal at Snow Creek High School. He and Hardy Solomon were both in Dale’s and my class. He was on the quieter side, but a nice guy.
Donny knocks.
“Come on in,” Darrell says through the door.
When Donny opens the door, I walk in before him.
“Brendan, Donny. What can I help you with today?” Darrell asks.
Donny closes the door behind him, and we both remain standing while Darrell sits at his desk.
“We have some questions for you, Darrell,” Donny says. “About a club here at the school.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.” Darrell furrows his brow. “The two of you no longer go to the school, and you don’t have any children in the school. In fact, we have no Steels on our roster at all this year.”
“I am still the city attorney,” Donny says.
“Yes, which is why I allowed you to come in without an appointment. But I have to tell you, Don, I don’t see how our extracurricular activities are any of your business.”
“It’s certainly my business if there are illegal activities going on.”
Darrell frowns. “Now you wait just a min—”
Donny holds up his hand. “No accusations. We’re just curious about a club.”
Darrell clears his throat, his eyes narrowed. “If there were anything illegal going on at my school, I’d contact the proper authorities. Eventually it would be your business, but the first order of business would be for the police to investigate.”
“Are you saying there may be some illegal activities going on?” Donny pushes.
“Don’t twist my words, Steel. Tell me what you want. What club are you concerned about?”
Darrell’s etiquette seems to have vanished. Is he hiding something?
“The future lawmakers club,” Donny says.
“What about them?”
“So they do still exist,” I say.
“They do. The club was here when I took over as principal a couple of years ago.”
“Our concern is that it may have some relationship to a club with the same name at Tejon Prep about fifty years ago.”
“Fifty years ago? At a private school in the city?” He lets out a scoffing laugh. “Why in the world would that be a concern?”
“Because…” Donny clears his throat. “The club in question was into some nefarious activities.”
“But it was a different school. Why would it have any relation to the club here?”
“Darrell, we don’t know that it does,” Donny says. “But we want to take a look at it. My fiancée, Callie Pike, says it was around when she was a student here and that it had nothing to do with future lawmakers. That it was a club by invitation only, and when she went to a meeting, they didn’t talk about the law at all. All they talked about were ways to stick it to the man. Apparently, during those years, the club took credit for some bad stuff that went on.”