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“I should leave you two to it,” Gil said, screwing his face up at the gruesome trio of bodies Edrisa had arranged so she and Malcolm could bounce easily between them. All three had a series of burn marks on them that none of them could identify but everyone knew they had to mean something.
“Don’t you want to help solve the puzzle?” Edrisa blinked at him as if amazed that someone might not want to help them.
“I should get back to work.”
“You’re on limited duty. Dani and JT are out working the case. You could go back up and ride your desk or you could help us brain storm.” Bright shot him that look that said, ‘dare you to refute that logic,’ that devilish look that reminded him something he’d known for years. Malcolm Bright was a little shit.
Gil shot him a look of his own but there was nothing he could say. This would be a more productive use of his time than paper shuffling at his desk. Gil went and sat in the corner. His gut hurt and Bright was right, he was on limited duty. He was barely allowed back at all at this point. He tried to make sense of it all but it was like someone allowed two Jack Russell Terriers drink a bathtub full of four-shot cappuccinos after snorting a line of coke.
Edrisa and Malcolm pinged back and forth between the trio of corpses looking at the odd patterns of the burns, tossing out ideas as to what could have caused the burns and why.
“Some kind of grill?” Edrisa mused, “Like those little ones you can get on your oven.”
Malcolm shook his head. “No, this isn’t that. I think it might be a form of pyrolatria.”
“What?” Gil broke into their high-energy stream of consciousness.
Malcolm snapped his gaze around, eyes wide as if he had already forgotten Gil was in the room. “Fire worship.”
“Because the burns are in the same places on all three?” Gil pointed to the forehead and bounced his finger down to indicate the chest and the navel.
He nodded. “There’s something deeply meaningful here. These were made with care.”
“So not someone getting crazy with a curling iron or jamming the victims up under a car and a catalytic converter burning them,” Edrisa wrinkled her nose at her own suggestion. “The burns are too even for that.”
“Yes. I swear I know this pattern. It’s locked up in here.” Bright tapped his temple.
“Maybe you need to relax a little. We’re both a little wired. I’ve had way too much caffeine.” She bounced on her heels.
You don’t say, Gil thought wryly.
“I have a little CBD oil…”
“Edrisa,” Gil groaned. It wasn’t illegal but Malcolm shouldn’t mix anything much with his meds.
“I can give you some too, Gil. It might help with your pain.” She pressed a hand to her belly.
“I’m fine.” He gestured back to the bodies to refocus her.
Edrisa turned back to them. “We’re missing something. You’re right about the ritual.”
“I know this symbol but I don’t know why.” Bright cocked his head, studying one of the burns close up.
Gil listened to them ping ideas off each other as if they were almost one brain. He felt relatively sure as much as Bright liked Edrisa as a friend he wasn’t interested in a romantic entanglement, no matter just how much they so obviously had in common. He remembered the look on Jessica’s face when she heard Edrisa and Bright riffing off each other at the carousel the time she met. He didn’t want to think about her reaction if these two started dating. Why was he thinking of this now? Because watching them now, their enthusiasm for the work and their easy friendship, it led his brain down some weird paths.
“It’s a brand,” he said. It was the simplest answer but none had suggested it yet.
They both paused staring at him and then back at each other.
“How did I not think of that?” Bright asked and Edrisa shrugged.
“It does play into the idea of fire worship,” Bright continued but where do I know this symbol from.”
“Oh!” Edrisa jumped and ran to the shelves along one way, reinforcing that Jack Russell image in Gil’s head. “I know what this is.” She peeled off her gloves and grabbed her phone. After a few minutes of scrolling, she let out a high-pitched squeal. “I have it.”
She raced over and showed Malcolm her phone. Gil levered himself up, his gut pinching. He looked over Malcolm’s shoulder. Sure, enough there it was, the symbol.
“It’s Tibetan. It’s “tsa ra,” which means “the sword of flames,” she said.
“There’s a Tibetan art museum on Staten Island. That might be why it looks familiar to me,” Malcolm said.
“What does it mean?” Edrisa asked.
Bright shrugged. “I don’t know but it’s going to be exciting to find out.”
That was a word for it, Gil thought as he dialed Dani to bring her and JT up to date. Gil knew this was just the beginning of something very weird. He knew this breakthrough would be what they needed to get some action on this case. They would solve it, he had no doubt. Bright all but glowed with the possibility of unravelling the weirdness. Seeing Malcolm momentarily happy made Gil smile no matter how odd the reason.