Circle of Death (Damask Circle 2)

“True,” Russell muttered. “I guess she figured it out pretty quickly, though, because she was cackling when she dragged me into the sunlight.”

“Did she take the files you were looking at?”

“Yeah. But I did manage to get a look at a couple of them first.”

Doyle glanced around as Camille approached. She offered Russell some sunburn cream and patted his shoulder, a look of relief on her face.

“And?” Doyle prodded Russell.

“One was Rachel Grant’s file. Like Helen, she’d been put up for adoption as a baby, but her adoptive parents were killed in a freak storm. A tree went through the roof and crushed them in bed.”

“How old was she when this happened?” Camille asked, frowning.

“Seven.”

“Too young to have gone through puberty,” she murmured. “Talents don’t usually appear until then—unless they’re freakishly strong. What happened to Rachel after that?”

“None of the relatives wanted her, so she came back into government care. She was

farmed out to a series of foster parents, but she never lasted with any of them. The records state she was classed a ‘difficult’ child and she ended up in this center.”

“Like Helen,” Camille said. “It’s looking more and more like this place is the connection.”

“And the second file?” Doyle asked, although he had a pretty good idea who that second file was about.

Russell glanced at him. “Kirby Brown. She was never adopted, and there’s no mention of why. She stayed in several long-term foster homes, but ended up here at eleven.”

“And this is where she and Helen met,” he said, wondering about the strong bond between the two of them. It went far deeper than mere friendship. If he were to believe her thoughts, it was almost as if they’d been spiritually bonded—something that usually only ever happened between twins.

Camille raised an eyebrow. “Has Kirby said much about this place?”

He shook his head. “No. I don’t think she can actually remember much about her time here.” Which was odd, considering she seemed to be able to remember everything else about her past.

“Then you’d better start trying to jog her memories, because I’ve got a feeling the answers are locked in the past and what happened in this place.” Camille glanced back at Russell. “Nothing else in those files? None of the other names on the list?”

“There might be. I didn’t get a chance to go through the rest of the files.”

“And now the witch has them. Damn,” Camille commented.

“Nothing’s ever easy when it comes to tracking evil,” Doyle said. “Do you want to continue checking the boxes?”

Camille shook her head. “Waste of time now. If there was anything else here, she would have taken it.”

“And she now knows we’re hunting her,” Russell said. “We need to find the remaining two women.”

They also needed to uncover just how Kirby was connected to all this. Was the witch merely after power, or was there something deeper going on? “Have you found anything more about that symbol she’s been carving on the doors?”

“I’m doing an online search through the Circle’s library. It’s going to take time.”

The problem was, time was running out. And with Kirby on the killer’s list, he wanted this case solved as soon as possible.

He glanced at his watch. Half an hour had passed. They wouldn’t be able to reclaim the car just yet. “Do you think it’s safe for me to bring Kirby back in yet?”

Camille hesitated. “I’d rather not take the chance. And to be honest, if the killer is concentrating on finding you and Kirby, then maybe Russell and I can catch her unaware.”

It was a good plan, but he wasn’t happy about using Kirby as bait. Too many things could go wrong—like her running. He had to catch some sleep sometime, and sooner or later she would take advantage of it.

“What’s your plan, then?”