The Black Ibis Case - Chapter 4

The drive to Reservoir road was quiet and soothing. The air had a stillness to it that almost made me forget about the growing pains in my face and torso from the fight a half hour ago. I could see in the rear-view mirror that I had a busted lip and a cut on my cheekbone, and my side felt like it was going to have bruises for a few days. Luckily though, nothing was broken. I was just going to tough it out and tell anyone that gave me a side eye that it was a failed mugging.

I turned off on Reservoir road and slowed down for a moment to look at the setting sun over the city. Oakport was just a dark outline against the red and yellow, its tall towers adding more character to the skyline with warm lights from its windows and the odd flash of red or green from antennae atop skyscrappers. The noise from the city didn’t make it out here, and I wondered what it might be like to wake up everyday in the absence of honking cars and the sounds of brawls in the street.

I decided it was time to get back to work once the sun was set. There were no more streetlights past the water tower, and their absence was noticeable immediately. The road was dark and what few homes were nearby shed weak light through the trees, giving them a somber silhouette.

The road got increasingly eerie as I drove one, the porch lights becoming scarcer and further apart. I must have still been on edge because I remember nearly jumping out of my seat when I heard gravel hitting the bottom of my car. There were no more houses after this, yet the road went on for several minutes, with only the beams of light from my vehicle to keep me company.

I thought I had missed Kent’s home and was just about to give up and come back the next morning when I saw something gleaming through the trees. Reassured from seeing something other than my headlights, I pressed harder on the gas pedal, kicking up gravel and dirt from under my wheels as the car sped ahead with renewed vigor.

I was surprised by the professor’s house when I first saw it. I imagined it would be a nice country home from the part of town she was in, then I started thinking it was a cabin of some sort when I got far in the woods. Both were wrong.

Erica Kent lived in a mansion. Even in the dark, it was clearly a place designed to make visitors feel small. Passing by the open iron gate, I was led along the circular drive to a central fountain, cliché, but still impressive. The fountain was odd, and looked just like a large flat bowl with designs around the sides, maybe some kind of hieroglyphs etched all along, but it was too dark to see. The place would certainly be quite a sight in the daylight, but for now I’d have to satisfy myself with what I could see in the dim light from the house.

There were several cars in the driveway, and I could see a few people discussing near the main entrance who made their way inside as I approached, feigning they hadn’t noticed me. I made my way over and was stopped by two robust men in grey coats. The doctor must indeed be well-off if she can even have hired muscle.

“Evening, sir. May I ask the reason for your visit?” asked the mustachioed man in a pleasant yet firm tone meant to make it obvious he was in charge.

“I’m Sam Patterson, private investigator. I talked to doctor Kent earlier at her office about a case I’m working and I would need to speak to her again.”

“Doctor Kent is entertaining guests at the moment. She doesn’t wish to be bothered in her private time. Call her office tomorrow and schedule an appointment,” answered the guard plainly.

“A young man has gone missing, and your boss is the only one who saw or spoke to him recently that I know. Just let me through or go get her, I’ll be done in five minutes.”

“Mister Patterson, please remove yourself before things need to get unpleasant,” answered the guard as he put a hand in his jacket, with the second guard mirroring him.

I looked at them disdainfully. The show of force was unnecessary and I wondered what could be so special about this gathering to warrant a show of force so quickly. I had just started to turn back around when the door opened. I looked over and saw the doctor looking back at me.

“What’s all this ruckus?” she asked to the guards, though her attention was on me. She seemed angry, yet unsurprised at my visit, and she forced her expression to soften.

“This man came to see you, Doctor Kent. He was just leaving,” answered the guard, not leaving me with his furrowed brow.

“He travelled all this way just to bother me, I think I ought to spare a moment,” she answered with a wave of her hand, ordering her guards to walk off. Once they were out of earshot, Erica stepped closer to me. “My, my, two visits in one day. You must find me fascinating, detective.” She tried to sound jovial and spoke with levity, coming off even a little flirty, yet the underlying tone of her voice was cold and insincere. Her eyes weren’t looking kindly upon me, instead squinting in the faint light from the interior as though she was trying to pierce my skull to get to the information she would need to send me off on another path.

I decided not to engage in her attempt at a playful tone and remain focused on the task at hand instead. “I’m sorry to bother you at home, and at such a late hour, Doctor Kent. I spoke to some people, and I learned you may have had some meetings with students here, at your private residence, and that Leonard Michaels was among those who came over. Is that correct?”

“I don’t see how nourishing my students’ interests in matters that fascinate me and exposing them to colleagues in my field are relevant to your search, detective. Unless you consider me a suspect in this affair,” she said, crossing her arms in vexation.

“I’m simply trying to piece together where that boy went, what his habits were and figure out where he might have gone from there. I make no accusations, though I’d like to know why you didn’t mention these visits when I spoke to you earlier.”

“These are private meetings and I didn’t see their relevance when we first spoke, nor do they seem of great value now for that matter. If you must know, we merely discuss pieces in my personal collection and those shared by my contemporaries, we speak of articles that we have read and dissect them, and we have a few glasses of wine. In moderation, mind you.”

“You don’t need to excuse the drinks or your visitors’ age, I’m not a police officer,” I said laughing slightly to ease the rising tension. Erica relaxed her shoulders a little, though she was still tense. “Would you mind if I come in and spoke to some of your guests? Someone might have a clue for me to follow so you can be done dealing with me.”

“No, detective, I don’t think I want to allow that, in no small part because you aren’t a police officer. Our little group is quite closely-knit and any important information regarding one of our own would be known to the others as well, be they young or old. Anything important regarding Leonard one of them might have would be known to me, and therefore transmitted to you in turn. Alas, we have no such information and therefore, your search here is at an end,” she paused for a moment to gauge my reaction, though I only kept looking at her blankly. She then turned her head to the still open door at her back and listened to the discussions coming from inside. “Now if you would excuse me, detective, I simply must return to my guests. I bid you good night and good luck in your search,” she turned around and started for the inside without waiting for my response.

“Before you go, doctor, I just have a personal question. How can you afford such a place?”

She laughed, apparently genuinely amused this time. “Old money, detective.”

“Thank you for your time, doctor Kent,” I answered just before the door shut with a heavy thud. I started walking back to my car as the guards came back from their walk. They were watching me unpleasantly even as I sat down and turned on the ignition.

I sat there for a few seconds and fumbled around to find my cigarettes and give myself a few seconds to think. Something didn’t feel right to me about Erica’s meetings with her students and her other guests. I hadn’t seen any of them, but I got a feeling there was something I wasn’t being told. What kind of professor would entertain students at their isolated mansion so regularly?

I decided I wanted to see more of what was happening since one of the meetings was under way, but I clearly couldn’t do anything at this very moment. I put my car into gear and started driving off back the way I came, the darkness crowding in on all sides as soon as the mansion was at my back.

I drove only a few minutes, until the lights from the mansion weren’t visible anymore. I knew that at this point, the lights from my car wouldn’t be visible to anyone trying to see me either. I found a small clearing where I could leave my car off the road, far enough that it would be out of sight, and I stepped out of the vehicle to check my surroundings in the thick darkness.

I walked slowly on the edge of the road, waiting for my eyes to adjust. After only a few minutes, the mansion came back into view. I detoured off the road into the brush to find a different approach, one away from those two hulking guards. There was something else bothering me about Dr. Kent: what kind of researcher would need security for a little “get together” with her extremely tight-knit group of contemporaries as she put it?

Old money or not, hiring people for security isn’t cheap and you need a reason to justify the expanse. A collection of artifacts could admittedly be one such reason, though a good alarm and strong bars would be just as effective. The need for active security led me to believe there was at least a perceived need for it, and I only grew more intent on discovering what it might be as I stepped softly in the underbrush and avoided roots and rocks by feel alone. Every spider web and twig in my face fired me up even more until finally I reached the wooded area at the back of the property.

The back yard was lit by torches, with only a glimmer of electric light in the background. At first, I thought Erica just had a strange sense of aesthetics, or maybe that it was a theme she had since the topic of these gatherings were based in antiquity and the torches added to the immersion of the event.

My first impression was that this must have been a dress up party, or maybe a re-enactment of an ancient ritual, because guests began filing out of the house into the torch light in what appeared to be full purple hooded robes. I could see jewelry such as gold bracelets, necklaces, and belts on some of them, and just then, a tingle ran down my spine as I recognized the silhouette of small black birds around their necks. The last to come out was a young woman dressed in what appeared to be full Egyptian queen garb, once again with a small black jewel at the center of her heavy gold necklace. She walked forward and completed the circle with her purple-robed cohorts.

I had to squint to make out the face under the headdress, and almost laughed when I saw Doctor Kent. I knew she though highly of herself, but clearly, I had underestimated to what extent.

My amusement vanished when she started talking.

“Brothers and sisters, thank you all for coming. I will begin our meeting by telling you of an interloper. Samuel Patterson has come here tonight to ask after Leonard Michaels; he mustn’t be told of Leonard’s fate lest the trail of that traitorous cur leads poor old Patterson to learn of our order. Is this understood by all?” she boomed, and in response was a chorused chant of “Yes Mistress”.

“Good. Now, on to more jovial matters,” she turned towards the main door to the mansion and spoke loudly. “Bring out the initiate!”

At her command, the door opened, and a naked young woman came out. She walked slowly, as if unsure of herself, yet her step didn’t falter and soon she came to stand in the center of the circle facing Erica.

“Kneel, initiate,” ordered Erica as a servant handed her a golden chalice with sapphires and rubies, the chalice looked strangely familiar to the one represented in the fountain at the front of the mansion, save for the addition of the stones. The young woman did as she was commanded without hesitation, her face was angled upwards, but I couldn’t tell what her expression was from where I was hiding. “Olivia Sherman, you have served loyally, and you are offered the chance to join our society. Do you accept the burden placed upon your shoulders?”

“I do, mistress,” replied the initiate, bowing her head.

“Then drink from the chalice and gain the knowledge hidden from all but we few,” continued Erica as she extended her hands towards Olivia, who accepted the chalice with reverence.

Olivia looked at the chalice and its content for a moment, then downed it in a single gulp. The liquid must have been foul because I could see her wretch. A few seconds passed, and her body began to spasm, and her hands lost control of the cup, which fell to the ground with a clear clinking that echoed throughout the forest.

As Olivia convulsed on the ground, the circle of robed figures joined hands and began chanting in a language I couldn’t make head or tails of, but its tones were low, with a few members taking up a higher harmony which contrasted the low notes with a strange discord. Lightning started to growl overhead even though the sky had been calm seconds before. Clearly, this was not a re-enactment of an ancient ritual, I was witnessing the real thing!

The tones continued to grow faster and louder as the convulsions of the young woman grew more rapid, when suddenly, she sat up straight, releasing a bone-chilling scream that lasted unnaturally long leading her to collapse and remain motionless as the chant ended abruptly.

One of the members walked to her and laid their head on her chest. “She lives,” the robed person said flatly to the rest of the group. Another member walked forward and took Olivia by the hand as the previous person was doing, and she was pulled to her feet, stiff as a board.

She was breathing heavily and quickly, her skin gleaming with sweat even though it was freezing cold outside. The two robed people held Olivia by the shoulders to steady her as Erica moved forward and embraced the young woman.

“Welcome to the Black Ibis Society, Olivia Sherman,” she said as she moved away and placed an identical purple robe around her shoulders, as the other members repeated the greeting.

“I, I saw… I saw… I can’t explain what I saw…” said the stunned young woman as her body slowly released the tension of her ordeal and she regained her ability to stand on her own.

Erica placed both hands on her shoulders. “Don’t worry about what you saw, your mind can only comprehend a small amount of it. For now, at least,” Erica laughed slightly. “More will be revealed as your journey progresses.”

I must have moved forward without realizing it, and I heard a twig snap under my feet. The small sound was enough for all the heads to snap at attention in my direction. I felt shivers form on my skin, even though they had yet to see me.

“Is someone there?” asked Erica authoritatively. “Show yourself!”

As she ordered me to come out, I saw several cultists start to move in my direction until all, but Olivia were walking towards me. I had no intention of showing myself and I felt a growing sense of dread, as though I had just witnessed something I shouldn’t have, and I would likely be made to pay a price for what I saw.

I stopped thinking about stealth and took off running in the darkness. I heard the group screaming directions to each other as to where they thought I was headed, but I paid no mind to the words they said. Except for one; dogs. I had even less desire to deal with their dogs than with the cultists themselves, so I ran faster than I can remember ever running.

My feet struck a few roots and I struggled to remain standing, but I managed not to fall. Branches whipped my face as I ran, drawing blood, but I was not slowed. The cultists’ voices were growing more distant as I got closer to where I had left my car, but they were replaced by something far more terrifying.

Coming up behind me, I could hear running and barking, even howling at times. The dogs were gaining on me and fast. I could hear dead leaves rustling and branches being snapped. I could have sworn some were snapping at shoulder level with me.

The growling got closer as I was nearing my car, and I felt as though whatever was chasing me would pounce before I could reach the safety of my vehicle and make my escape. Without thinking, I pulled my pistol from its holster, twisted around as I planted my feet firmly in place and fired three shots at the source of the sounds.

Something collapsed only three feet in front of me. I didn’t stop to investigate what it was, but the flashes from my gun and what I could make out in the dark told me this so-called dog was big, very big. It was almost the size of a small bull by my estimation, and I saw it had a long, thin snout and wickedly long fangs.

My brain couldn’t form images in my head that made sense as to what the heck that creature was, but since I could still hear more on my trail, I ran hard to my vehicle, slid in, and jammed my key into the ignition, peeling out of that clearing like my tail was on fire.

My tires spit up rocks behind me into the maws of those unholy beasts as I sped off. My heart was racing, and I didn’t stop for a second to look behind me. The entire trip through the forest road seemed to have taken a single second, and I only realized I hadn’t breathed at all once I reached the water tower and the safety of its lights.

I stopped to regain my senses there, and realized I was still gripping my pistol as I drove, my knuckles white on both the grip and the steering wheel. I had to pry it off with my other, shaking hand. I breathed fast and deep and took a sip out of my flask before lighting up a cigarette, then another.

My nerves steadied themselves, and I decided to continue down the road and get back to the city before anyone decided to come after me. There, they wouldn’t be able to find me, though I suspected Erica would soon figure out it was hiding near the mansion, if she didn’t already know.

What had I gotten myself into?