Blood Hunt by Lee Killough Read Free Book Online

shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep.” He gave Harry a recap of the North Beach canvas. “It was a waste of good shoe leather, though; I didn’t find her.”
    “ Maybe you’re lucky. Your hexagram this morning was number forty-four, Coming to Meet. ‘The maiden is powerful. One should not marry such a maiden .’”
    A sudden chill raised the hair down Garreth’s spine. He wondered at it. I Ching’s prophecies usually neither disturbed nor encouraged him. He thought of Grandma Doyle’s Feelings. However, he made himself slap Harry’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Taka-san. I have no intention of marrying any maiden in the near future.”
    Too late he realized that the flip response had been wrong. Harry’s almond eyes went grave. “You know the text isn’t to be taken literally. What’s the matter?”
    The chill bit deep into Garreth’s gut. “Nothing.” A lie? He could not be sure. His chest felt so tight he had trouble breathing. “Guess I’m just superstitious enough not to like having that caution turn up when I’m hunting a woman.” He hurriedly changed the subject. “Here’s the flier on Mossman’s watch, ring, and pendant that’s going out to the pawnshops.”
    Harry read it over. “Good.”
    The tightness and chill eased in Garreth. “What do you want to do this morning?”
    “ I think one of us ought to get started checking out cults and the other see if anyone around China Basin saw anything Thursday night.” Harry pulled out a quarter. “Flip for it? Loser takes the cults.”
    Garreth chose tails. The quarter came up heads. Harry grinned as he left for China Basin.
    Garreth sat down with the Adair file and read through the reports to see which groups Faye and Centrello had investigated. On the half dozen he found reports on, only one had a formal name, Holy Church of Asmodeus. The others were listed by leaders’ names. The groups varied in size, organization, and object of worship. Some seemed to be satanists or devil worshipers. Others appeared to be variations of witchcraft and voodoo. One group claimed to be neo-druids.
    All, however, had been rumored to use blood in their ceremonies. A few admitted it, but insisted it was either animal blood or small amounts from members, voluntarily given. Analysis of blood samples on altars and instruments confirmed that most was animal blood. One of the few human samples proved to be A-positive like Adair’s, but investigation of the group failed to establish access to Adair by any of the members and more detailed analysis of the blood sample ruled it out as Adair’s.
    Nevertheless, Garreth called Dennis Kovar in Fraud. “Denny, what complaints have you had in the past year about oddball church and cult groups?”
    Kovar laughed. “How much time do you have to listen? I don’t need to lift weights after picking up the current file a few times a day. Parents and neighbors are all out for the blood of these groups.”
    “ What about the groups? Do you have word that any of them are using blood?”
    Silence came over the line for a moment before Kovar answered. “What are you looking for?” He listened silently to Garreth’s reply, then said, “I don’t have many complaints about those groups. They aren’t asking for monetary donations. They keep a low profile so they won’t be noticed. Talk Angelo Chiarelli. He’s undercover full-time for Narcotics, but he’s fed me information on some of these fraudulent church groups and contacted a few kids in the cults for Missing Persons. Maybe he can help you.”
    A call to Narcotics produced a promise to pass on Garreth’s request. “You understand we can’t go calling him every day, and he’s pretty busy doing his own job to run errands for other details.”
    Garreth sighed. “He doesn’t have to work on my case. I just want information on blood-using cults he may know about.”
    “ We’ll get back to you.”
    He even called the Humane Society about complaints of people killing and