when he led excavation teams. She watched as he studied the stars close-up.
“Illegal desecration of the mounds,” he said. “But I’m glad to hear you’ve been exploring Mason Mound. That’s our target, darling, and we can’t just go waltzing in there with trowels, sieves and needle picks. Not until you get the man’s permission one way or the other. But, unlike with the old artifacts,” he went on, his voice in lecture mode now, “you’re right about this being clotted blood, so what’s the message here?”
9
A s they leaned over the table and Carson studied the metal stars, Kate told him her theory. “Grant and I think there’s some symbolic message here, so I’m guessing the blood on the tips ties in to that.”
“Grant and I?” he repeated, taking a seat at the table. “I like the sound of that.” He produced a penlight from his jacket’s inner pocket, slid the cloth with the stars closer to him and shined a thin beam on one of them. “If you two are working together on this, there’s more to come—namely getting into that Adena mound on his property. I could try to get a court order, but it would take a while. Eminent domain versus private-property rights is a touchy subject, and we don’t need a setback or negative PR.”
He smiled at her. “Besides, I’d prefer to set up on his land to explore the interior of the mound, and I’d rather have him on our side. But tell me what you have discovered or analyzed about these stars.”
“We’re theorizing they were put there by a local religious-cult leader, who calls himself Bright Star. He’s got quite a group of followers in the Hear Ye compound not far down the road from here. He doesn’t like me. I got upset and more or less told him the Adena were less pagan than he is. His real name is Brice Monson.”
“The same charlatan who’s entranced the Lockwood cousins you mentioned?” he asked, carefully turning one star over with the tip of his penlight.
“The same. Maybe he thinks by putting these bright stars on the mounds he’s symbolizing that his beliefs are above those he calls ‘pagan dead.’”
“And the blood? It is the Christian symbol of salvation.”
“Carson, like I told Grant, he’s not
Christian.
He’s a weirdo master controller, not that he couldn’t be using blood as some sort of sign or message. Who knows how he keeps his people in line? I swear, my cousin Grace is actually afraid of him.”
“Really? I’ll have some of my grad student assistants circumspectly check some of the other mounds in the area for more of these. And if we can prove this guy is the one defacing the mounds, we can have him arrested and fined. He could do jail time, though what his flock would consider persecution probably wouldn’t free them from his control.”
“I swear,” she said, sinking into the other chair, “he’s cast an evil spell over his followers, like in some gruesome fairy tale. He’s an ogre masquerading as a shepherd—the wolf in Grandma’s clothes from
Little Red Riding Hood.
”
“Then he’s a formidable adversary, so beware. He can’t be an idiot to do all this, especially mind control.” Carson looked up from studying the second star. He clicked his penlight off and replaced it in his inner pocket. “Maybe he’s read up on the Adena, their cult of death, and thinks he can somehow use that to either keep his people in line or scare others off, so he ties the mound to himself—tries to exert control with his namesake symbol above it.”
She sighed. Carson was brilliant, though sometimes she thought he was just restating something she’d come up with. Hadn’t she just, more or less, said that? “Tess told me he buried a couple of dead infants on his property, but he had permission for that.”
He sat up even straighter. “In a mound?”
“Little mounds, I guess, hidden under plastic.”
“Stranger things have happened. But all this aside for now, I’m thrilled to see you. No offense,
“Illegal desecration of the mounds,” he said. “But I’m glad to hear you’ve been exploring Mason Mound. That’s our target, darling, and we can’t just go waltzing in there with trowels, sieves and needle picks. Not until you get the man’s permission one way or the other. But, unlike with the old artifacts,” he went on, his voice in lecture mode now, “you’re right about this being clotted blood, so what’s the message here?”
9
A s they leaned over the table and Carson studied the metal stars, Kate told him her theory. “Grant and I think there’s some symbolic message here, so I’m guessing the blood on the tips ties in to that.”
“Grant and I?” he repeated, taking a seat at the table. “I like the sound of that.” He produced a penlight from his jacket’s inner pocket, slid the cloth with the stars closer to him and shined a thin beam on one of them. “If you two are working together on this, there’s more to come—namely getting into that Adena mound on his property. I could try to get a court order, but it would take a while. Eminent domain versus private-property rights is a touchy subject, and we don’t need a setback or negative PR.”
He smiled at her. “Besides, I’d prefer to set up on his land to explore the interior of the mound, and I’d rather have him on our side. But tell me what you have discovered or analyzed about these stars.”
“We’re theorizing they were put there by a local religious-cult leader, who calls himself Bright Star. He’s got quite a group of followers in the Hear Ye compound not far down the road from here. He doesn’t like me. I got upset and more or less told him the Adena were less pagan than he is. His real name is Brice Monson.”
“The same charlatan who’s entranced the Lockwood cousins you mentioned?” he asked, carefully turning one star over with the tip of his penlight.
“The same. Maybe he thinks by putting these bright stars on the mounds he’s symbolizing that his beliefs are above those he calls ‘pagan dead.’”
“And the blood? It is the Christian symbol of salvation.”
“Carson, like I told Grant, he’s not
Christian.
He’s a weirdo master controller, not that he couldn’t be using blood as some sort of sign or message. Who knows how he keeps his people in line? I swear, my cousin Grace is actually afraid of him.”
“Really? I’ll have some of my grad student assistants circumspectly check some of the other mounds in the area for more of these. And if we can prove this guy is the one defacing the mounds, we can have him arrested and fined. He could do jail time, though what his flock would consider persecution probably wouldn’t free them from his control.”
“I swear,” she said, sinking into the other chair, “he’s cast an evil spell over his followers, like in some gruesome fairy tale. He’s an ogre masquerading as a shepherd—the wolf in Grandma’s clothes from
Little Red Riding Hood.
”
“Then he’s a formidable adversary, so beware. He can’t be an idiot to do all this, especially mind control.” Carson looked up from studying the second star. He clicked his penlight off and replaced it in his inner pocket. “Maybe he’s read up on the Adena, their cult of death, and thinks he can somehow use that to either keep his people in line or scare others off, so he ties the mound to himself—tries to exert control with his namesake symbol above it.”
She sighed. Carson was brilliant, though sometimes she thought he was just restating something she’d come up with. Hadn’t she just, more or less, said that? “Tess told me he buried a couple of dead infants on his property, but he had permission for that.”
He sat up even straighter. “In a mound?”
“Little mounds, I guess, hidden under plastic.”
“Stranger things have happened. But all this aside for now, I’m thrilled to see you. No offense,
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