Order of the Solar Temple

Chapter 6

Jean Rhodes downed his sixth cup of coffee mixed with vodka; eyes red as scarlet. He checked his bedside clock, 5:32am. Sleep evaded him and he appreciated its refusal. Pain lurked in his sleep. Death lurked in his dreams and he couldn't take it anymore. He closed his eyes and conjured one of her images in his mind; Flowing brown hair, warm brown eyes, pointed nose, perfect shape of lips. Body as smooth as milk, legs as straight as a ruler, Gracefulness of a gazelle and the smile of... A goddess.

A gangway came into view and he was at the end of it. He was waiting for someone but had no idea who it was until she appeared on the other end. She walked to him slowly and teasingly the wind billowing around her, lifting up her skimpy sundress to reveal the silky skin. She smiled once she reached him, lifted up his right hand and placed it on the small mould of her stomach. He could feel it! The heartbeat of their unborn child.He stared her amazed while she smiled happily at him. He leaned in for a kiss whe suddenly she disappeared. He whipped around but she was nowhere to be found

"Isla" he called out, searching the beach frantically until he heard her screams. She was in a speedboat being held captive by two men. He screamed her name and dived into the water swimming towards them but his speed was no match for theirs. They had already gone far but not too far for him not to see the knife being raised -a sharp glint from the sun- and plunged into her stomach repeatedly, her heart-rendering screams echoing around the vast ocean, till her eyes became lifeless and the blood of their unborn child pooled around her

"Islaaaaaa" he screamed and jumped out of bed all sweaty. He rubbed a hand over his face but it trembled viciously. Running into the bathroom, he ripped open a drawer and pulled out a small bottle, spilled five pills into his palm and swallowed it dry willing his trembling hands to stop. Minutes passed and his racing heart calmed down, peace returned again but that hollow feeling nothing has been able to wipe out, ached deeply within him.

A shrill echo destroyed the silence of the atmosphere causing Jean a quick jump from his sobriety spot. He ambled to his bedside and picked up the screaming phone

"Detective Jean" he voiced running a hand through his hair. His face quickly turned from dejected to hardcore, a deep frown etching it's way on his forehead. Whatever was being said was definitely not good.

"Sure. On my way" he released the phone from his ear and dialled another number quickly. Putting the receiver on his ear, he waited patiently.

A lazy voice full of sleep picked up

"Yeah?" it slugged

"Dr Pierre, it's jean" he wielded the door of his closet open, checking through for casuals

"I know. What's up?" A tired yawn escaped from the receiver and he quickly pulled it out from his ear, glaring at the phone like it was the other converser

"We've got a situation, I'm coming to pick up at thirty. What's your location?"

"What's going on? Is it a fire?"

"Worse than that. It's really bad" he pulled a shirt and jeans attached to a hanger and laid it on the bed

She scoffed "It's always bad"

"Alright, we don't have time for this chit-chat. Get dressed and send me your address" He babied the phone with his shoulder while squirting paste on his brush

"When did you start poetry? Nice rhymes" Was she drunk?

"Aidèen, get your ass up!" His patience was wearing thin

"Oh, so you know my name? I thought your default settings was plugged to just 'Dr Pierre'. By the way, you don't have to drive me I know the way. Send me the address let me get dressed" she giggled. It was confirmed. She was drunk.

"You're drunk Aidèen. You can't drive neither do you know the place"

"Am capable of driving myself and if you don't want to send the address. I'll ask someone else" He didn't have time for this

"Fine" he snapped and threw the phone on the bed, charging to the bathroom.

When he returned, his phone screen was glowing. Ignoring it for a moment, he dressed up, adding a thick leather jacket and picked his keys. Retrieving the phone he checked through, it was a message from Dr Pierre. An address. He shook his head sympathetically and walked towards the door and stared at the picture on the wall

"I think I'll be late today. Trouble uptown but I'll make in time for dinner" He gave a sad smile and placed a kiss on the picture caressing it for a while. Taking a deep breath, he walked out.

•~•~•

Honking for the third time, Jean struggled not to get down and drag Aidèen out. What was taking her so long? In three minutes, she walked out of the door, looked at him and raised a finger then side walked to the next house and knocked on it. A young woman came out, smiling warmly at her, an action Aidèen reciprocated. They talked for awhile to Jean's annoyance then departed with a hug. As Aidèen climbed into the jeep, Jean was ready to tear her apart but something about her face restrained him.

"Sorry about that." Aidèen spoke sullenly. He nodded, wondering what was up.

"Rough night?" Though he so badly want to ask her about the drunk call but didn't want to seem poke nosing.

"You could say that" she looked out of the window ending the discussion. He noticed the two red spots form on her cheeks. She was embarrassed, he dropped the discussion.

"You mind?" he asked her pointing to a stryfoam cup and a packaged cinnamon roll on the console

"Bless your soul" she picked the cup and took a sip. "Where's yours?"

"Had some already" He hoped it wasn't a noticeable lie. He had given her his breakfast, she looked like she needed it more than him.

"So what are we up against?" she turned to him looking abit brighter

He sighed "You know the Trou du Diable?"

"The cave in St-Casimir?"He nodded

"Residents claimed they heard an explosive sound coming from that location around dawn. The vigilante team was rallied up and they all marched to the scene to find the dying embers belonging to a burnt car but that wasn't all. Smoke was also emanating from the cave. The firefighters were called and they crawled through the cave and discovered five burnt bodies and they were still on fire. The murderer barely escaped"

Aidèen seeped the hot coffee, her attention was fluctuating dangerously. She had enough on her plate already. Foretime, was Felipe's memorial and her brain was still in scrambles. she had gone through the routine she has been doing for the past nine years. Get drunk and cry. Felipe, first love and Maria's father, she met him on one of her conference trips to Spain when she was still on her Anthro training. He was working as a bartender but she didn't really care about his social status. Love was all that mattered. They kind of hit it off on their first meeting and that spiked the beginning of an endless 'business' trip to Spain. Maria was as a result of a careless night but not a regretful one. The joy of a new child was going to cement their relationship. They were both estactic and drunk in happiness until the day that went down in history as a day of pain. Aidèen had just gone baby shopping at three months. Three hours of going buggers on a baby shop gifted her a trolley full of baby stuffs which she dragged to the counter. her phone ringing harshly in the process, she fetched the phone from her purse. It was a lilac purse designed with deep blue flowers and red seeds dotted with yellow fittings. A detail her brain could never forget.

"Hola" she had said excitedly to the caller. Antonio, Felipe's friend and now a friend of hers.

"Aidèen..." that broken voice that had continued haunting her dreams came on

As he talked, her grip loosened from the handle of the trolley and then a cool breeze so gentle swooned by knocking her knees and crumbling her to the floor to the dismay of onlookers.

Felipe was crushed in a headway collision on the highway with a trailer. He was drunk driving from one of the celebration parties of his incoming child. He had slept off on the wheels, his foot still on acceleration. In a nutshell, a shovel was used to scrape his remains. The burial was scheduled quickly to save more heartache. She couldn't even make it. Being chained in a hospital from signs of malady, high blood pressure, signs of Post traumatic depression and a baby on the way among others.

Two years after, she was able to start taking proper care of Maria and picking up the pieces of her shattered heart that could never be glued together. The least she could do was name the last gift she got from him after him. Lippy. He gave it to her on one of their numerous dates after the announcement of the baby. He was still a puppy barely able to walk. She couldn't call him Felipe because it sounded a little bit off and she didn't want Maria to grow up and misinterprete it. So she kept it simple. Lippy.

"Everything alright?" she turned to Jean who was looking at her curiously and sympathetically. Panicking for a second, she wanted to tell him to concentrate on the road but noticed the absence of the low hum. He had cleared off the road

She forced a smile "Yeah, why? "

"You've got something rolling down your cheeks" she felt for her cheeks and a wet splush told her she had opened a faucet of the ocean.

"Oh, I probably yawned or something" she cleaned it off casually avoiding his stilling gaze

"Aidè... "

"I'm fine Jean. I yawned okay? That's it" she adjusted her seatbelt then focused her attention to the land beyond.

He watched her for a while unconvincingly then steered the car back to the road. The rest of the drive was filled with awkward silence till they hit the boroughs of the village. The whirling noise of police sirens and fire trucks could be heard from miles away and the blinking neon lights in the distant weren't so discreet. They slowed down at checkpoint before continuing towards the scene. The loft of cars scribbled with different jurisdictions looked too many for the small village but still managed to hitch themselves before the mouth of the cave.

Aidèen came down as soon as the car stopped; the atmosphere hanging wasn't a comfortable one. She dipped her hands into her coat and weaved her way through the amassed bodies including that of curious residents till she came to face the caution line. The boundary between the needed and the onlookers. She lifted it up and passed under it.

"Hey" A policeman grabbed her hand pulling her back

"Your not supposed to be here. That's how far you can come" He pointed to the curious crowd formed at one end

"Oh, that's funny and I thought you were in need of a forensic" He looked at her disbelievingly but expectant. She sighed and handed him her ID

"Apologies ma'am" he said slightly flushed, handing her back her ID. She pulled her hand away adjusting her coat while giving a long hard stare

"Problem officer?" Jean materialised in front of her

"No, not any more" The officer slinked away leaving them, he turned to her but she only shrugged and walked away.

The burnt car was being heaved unto a flat bed. It was a Honda Civic burnt beyond recognition, there couldn't search for clues. So it was left be. Flashlights lighted off in a corner in three huge flashes amidst the chattering of detectives drawing Aidéen to the scene

"Twas a bloody g******e down there" A chubby detective gave a grimace waving a hand towards the mouth of a cave.

"Five bodies. That was a m******e" A tall lady decked in black suit clenched her suit across her body shaking a sorry head

"Recovery ain't gonna be easy. So glad that ain't my thing" a short guy spoke up scratching his bald head that made a dry ruffling sound. The tall lady looked disgustingly at the short man and distanced herself.

Aidèen examined their faces. They were obviously not from the Surúte de Quebec neither the SQ team. She looked at the inscription of the vehicles the bald guy had stalked off to. They belonged to the county.

"Aid" Aidèen whipped her head to find her boss behind her, shock evident on her face. Perez Duitmore never liked scenes, he preferred to send his team and work behind the grid. He was holding a certificate in Pathology but never got his hand messy with the work. Directing was more like his thing. Seeing him here was similar to finding a lizard scuba diving. It didn't just fit the picture.

"Dr Perez what are you doing here?" Aidèen gazed at him. He looked around suspiciously and back at her

"Things are getting hot and I can't be sub rosa anymore. I need to be present"

"What's going on and who are these people?" she jerked her head towards the milling detectives more like police officers

"Those are the Sheriff's people" she looked at him expecting more

"They got here first to find the fire and don't want to leave the scene. Want to assure their people they have a hold on the case secretly calling us behind their people's back" she flicked a perfectly shaped brow up

"They are a prideful..." He explained "...come, there's work to do". Perez led the way to the mouth of the cave, that was when Aidèen caught sight of some of her colleagues and she relaxed. The SQ boys, not all, just the assigned hovered around talking each holding a cup of coffee. Xavier, the pathologist was already clad in a neon suit holding a helmet while talking to Jean. Perez excused himself and met up with Claudel who looked sick. Aidèen used this opportunity to walk upfront and assess the arena.

On the other side of the blocked road, was a blackened spot were she suspected the burnt car was retrieved. She imagined the scene while walking then stopped and listen in on other conversations around, watched the other jurisdictions come and go, a reporter talking to the camera. The lady gave a sideways glance and their eyes met for a brief second before Aidèen looked away and walked back to her position. The last thing she needed was to be interviewed. Perez had just returned as she reached the mouth.

"Where did you go?" he asked passing her a gear

"Just a walk around"

"Put it on" The whirling of sirens became louder as they garbed themselves in protective suit, helmet and boots armed at the waist with a torchlight.

"Are you set?" A firefighter yelled amidst the noise. They nodded

"Just follow my step" he yelled again, dropping on his stomach and slithering into the cave. Aidèen exchanged glances with her boss before replicating the man's movement