Mortal Sin (2 page)

Mortal Sin
begins three months after “Ghostly Justice,” starting with a murder. Because murder is always a good place to start…

I truly hope you enjoy this supernatural thriller.

Warmly,

Allison Brennan

November 2014

Moira O’Donnell

A former witch who was conceived and born to serve as a liaison to the Underworld by her mother, a powerful witch. When Moira realized that she was to be sacrificed, she disappeared and was sheltered by St. Michael’s Order, a reclusive monastery on a small island off Sicily. She’s been trained by the best to hunt demons and dark magic covens.

Raphael “Rafe” Cooper

A former seminarian and psychologist sent to Santa Louisa de los Padre, the Lost Mission of California, to help troubled priests. He was the sole survivor of the massacre that killed those priests during a ritual that summoned a powerful demon to Santa Louisa. In a drug-induced coma for ten weeks, he awoke with memories that weren’t his—and might be that of the priests he couldn’t save.

Anthony Zaccardi

A demonologist from St. Michael’s who came to Santa Louisa after the massacre and stayed to rebuild the mission. His specialty is exorcising demons from buildings and artifacts and some of the things he comes up against now are over his head. He has a strong animosity against Moira because while she was staying at St. Michael’s, she had an affair with his brother, Peter; Peter and Moira practiced magic in the hopes of finding her mother, but opened Moira up to a demon possession that ended in Peter’s death.

Sheriff Skye McPherson

Both the youngest and first female Sheriff of Santa Louisa County on the Central Coast of California, she didn’t believe in anything spiritual until she saw a demon with her own eyes. Now, she’s doing everything she can to save her town and protect the people she loves, starting with Anthony.

Fiona O’Donnell

Moira’s mother who is seeking eternal life and youth. A powerful witch who is uniting the disparate covens in order to gain power. She intended to give her daughter eternal life as the liaison between the Underworld and the coven, where Moira could have walked willingly between the two worlds; she was furious when Moira broke the curse and went to St. Michael’s.

Serena O’Donnell/Lisa Davies

Serena seduced Rafe as Lisa Davies, the “daughter of the cook” at the mission. She is Moira’s half-sister and Fiona’s right hand. Her own power is growing exponentially.

Matthew Walker

Serena’s father and Fiona’s lover; he was the pastor of Good Shepherd Church, which was a front of the coven, but left when Rafe first came to down. (Revealed in
Original Sin.)

Lily Ellis

A high school senior who was conceived and born to be the
arca
, a vessel where the Seven Deadly Sins could live while under the control of the coven. At the beginning of
Original Sin
, Rafe saves her life and prevents the demons from possessing her, but unwittingly released them into the world.

Elizabeth Ellis

Lily’s mother, a member of Fiona’s coven, who intended to sacrifice her daughter for the group.

Rico Cortese

Head trainer at Olivet, affiliated with St. Michael’s Order. Trained Moira and the many others.

Father Philip Zaccardi

Saved Moira nine years ago and shielded her. Died saving Lily’s life in
Original Sin
. Raised both Anthony and Peter. His loss has left a void at St. Michael’s.

Jared Santos

Lily’s boyfriend and the first person Moira had contact with in Santa Louisa.

Deputy Hank Santos

Jared’s father; had dated Nicole Donovan, a high-ranking member of Fiona’s coven. He had been infected by the demon Envy, but when Envy was captured, the effects wore off. Is now one of Skye’s supporters and understands what’s at stake.

Deputy David Collins

Head of Santa Louisa’s small SWAT team, a friend and ex-boyfriend of Skye’s, who is one of the few people she can trust.

Dr. Rod Fielding

The former head CSI turned temporary medical examiner when the original retired early after the massacre at the mission. A close confidante to Skye and Anthony, and working on a “cure” for the demon infections.

Martin Truxel

The District Attorney and publicly opposing Skye’s re-election.

Assistant Sheriff Thomas Williams

Running against Skye for Sheriff.

Deputy Bruce Jorgenson

A supporter of Skye.

St. Michael’s Order

A monastery founded to battle evil and restore balance on Earth nearly two thousand years ago, with ties to an ancient Jewish priesthood. For two millennia, women have left their young boys and infants at the gates to be raised by the priests; each priest would “adopt” a child and then help them discern their talents—the priesthood, teaching, psychiatry, demon hunting, demonology, etc. Over the last few generations, fewer children have been left, and the Order has been slowly dying off. Some feel this is a sign that the end is near.

Olivet

The training ground outside Missoula, Montana, run by Rico Cortese to train demon hunters from St. Michael’s.

This book is dedicated to all the readers who emailed and wrote me, encouraging me to finish this series even in the face of adversity. This book would not have been finished without you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you
.

If the present world go astray,

The cause is in you,

In you it is to be sought.

~ Dante Alighieri

Santa Louisa Sheriff Skye McPherson stared at the bludgeoned body of Dr. Richard Bertrand, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach—and not from the dried blood that darkened the beige carpet, or from the office that had been torn apart by someone looking for something. It was the lingering rage in the room, an anger almost palpable.

Equally frustrating was the fact that Dr. Bertrand was her best lead in finding two murder suspects. Fiona O’Donnell and her daughter Serena were both wanted for questioning in multiple homicides.

That they were witches was irrelevant to Skye. They were cold-blooded killers, which was enough reason to put them at the top of her Most Wanted List.

She glanced at Deputy Bruce Jorgenson, one of her few allies in the sheriff’s department since the riots three months ago. She couldn’t very well explain to anyone that something supernatural had caused people to act violently. She hadn’t even discussed it with Jorgenson, but he seemed to intuitively understand. Skye had a few other supporters—cops who’d seen things they couldn’t explain, but hadn’t gone off the deep end like her lead detective, who hadn’t been back to work in months.

Assistant Sheriff Thomas Williams, who was her only opposition in the upcoming sheriff’s race, had been amassing endorsements and support right and left—blaming Skye for every unsolved crime and the increasing acts of violence in their previously quiet coastal California town. The election was five weeks away, and Skye was pretty sure she was going to lose. But damn if she was going down without a fight.

She said to Jorgenson, “What do you know?”

“His housekeeper found him this morning.”

“He’s unmarried? Lives alone?”

“Affirmative. Single, never been married, no children, forty-four years of age. Edith Martinez is his housekeeper—”

“Edith?”
Santa Louisa was a small town, and Skye knew more than half the residents either by name or association, but Edith was a long-time friend of her family, as well as the mother of Detective Juan Martinez.

This couldn’t be a coincidence. Juan had been on disability for six months. He’d been injured in the line of duty, but there was far more to the story than recovering from a simple knife wound. While his body was healed, he was mentally slipping further from reality every time she saw him. He’d been possessed by a demon and had killed a man. A friend. Skye had covered it up because no one else would believe something supernatural had done the killing, but she doubted Juan would ever be the same. He certainly couldn’t return to active duty.

“You know Mrs. Martinez?”

“Detective Martinez’s mother.”

Jorgenson wasn’t from Santa Louisa; he’d moved here after being honorably discharged from the Army three years ago because his only living relative—his grandmother—was here. He lived with her in a big, rambling Victorian in the downtown area and helped keep her house in order. He was a big cop, formidable in appearance, but kind-hearted and a bit soft around the edges. Skye still couldn’t picture him on a battlefield, but he made a good cop.

“Where’s Mrs. Martinez now?”

“Next door with a neighbor and a patrol officer.” He glanced at his notes and continued his report. “Mrs. Martinez comes in three mornings a week. Cleans, shops, prepares meals. She arrived at eight a.m. and didn’t expect the doctor to be here. She walked in and smelled something foul, thought it was rotten food, then went to the kitchen, but it was clean. She then saw his briefcase in the dining room, called for him, walked past his office where she saw the mess, then his body. She immediately left the house and called 911 from next door.”

“Call the hospital, find out when he left. Then canvass the neighbors. See if anyone remembers when he came home or if they saw or heard anything unusual last night. Have you called Dr. Fielding?”

“He’s on his way.”

“Go out and wait for him. Bring him in as soon as he gets here.”

Rod Fielding was the acting medical examiner. He’d been in charge of the CSI unit until the former M.E. retired early, shortly after the massacre at the mission that left twelve reclusive priests dead. Though Rod was a rock and rarely talked about the horrors they had seen over the last six months, Skye knew those murders had shaken him. Rod was planning on retiring as well, but promised he’d wait until after the election so as to not give her opposition additional fodder against her.

Rod understood that what they faced was not wholly natural. He processed evidence and information like the scientist he was, but he also listened to alternatives, things she couldn’t well explain. She hoped the murder of Richard Bertrand had nothing to do with the supernatural, but considering he’d been in the middle of some crazy-ass things that had been happening in Santa Louisa, she feared there was more to his death than she could see in front of her.

Skye stood in the doorway of Bertrand’s in-home office. The foul smell that Mrs. Martinez had mentioned to the responding officer was coming from here. Bertrand was long dead, his body stiff, eyes open and glazed—at least the one visible eye. The rest of his head had been caved in by whatever he’d been hit with. There had been multiple blows—at least Skye didn’t see anything in the room that could have made that big of a gash with only one hit.

Bertrand was on the floor, partially obscured by his desk, which faced the room. She tried to picture what happened, but none of the scenarios she thought of  worked for her.

For example, if he’d been working at his desk—as it appeared he had been based on the location of his body—why was his briefcase still in the dining room as if he’d just entered the house? If he’d heard something in the den and confronted the intruder, why wasn’t his body closer to the doorway? Though CSI would process the entire house, there had been no sign of forced entry. Had Bertrand known his attacker? Had he brought someone home with him? Had they argued? Had he been killed in a fit of rage? The violence in this room certainly suggested anger at work.

Because of the destruction of the room, it was impossible to see what might have been on his desk. A phone had been pulled from the wall and thrown into the corner so hard it had left a deep gouge and now lay broken on the floor. Maybe Bertrand had gone to his desk to call the police because of a break-in, the attacker grabbed the receiver, yanked the cord from the wall, and threw the phone. That theory seemed to hold with the evidence. But why would Bertrand have used a house phone? Wouldn’t he have a cell phone? She made a note to locate his cell and pull the records of both his cell and his house phone.

A file cabinet had been pulled away from the wall and rested precariously at an angle on the extended drawers. Papers were strewn everywhere. Pictures broken. Glass shattered. Skye couldn’t tell if the destruction was out of anger or if the killer was looking for something. Or both.

She snapped several pictures with her phone so she could look at them later. It might take a day for her office to get the official crime scene photos.

“Shit,” Rod Fielding said as approached her and looked into the room. He was alone. “I told the crime techs to hold up for a minute because I didn’t know what to expect when I heard the victim was Bertrand. But this looks like a run-of-the-mill murder. I hate to say I’m glad.”

“It’s still Bertrand. Nothing run-of-the-mill about him.”

“Are you worried about Cooper?”

“Bertrand was his doctor. Rafe believes Bertrand kept him in an artificial coma for who knows what reason. Bertrand has denied it, and that’s it. There’s no way to prove Rafe’s accusations, especially without bringing in the idea of witches and demons and all other manner of weirdness.”

Rod asked, “Is he still staying with you?”

That would certainly be a conflict, not that where Rafe Cooper now lived wasn’t.