Hollywood Notorious: A Hollywood Alphabet Thriller Series (A Hollywood Alphabet Series Thriller Book 14) by M.Z. Kelly

zombie-rap performance with my elderly former landlord and my friends as part of a fundraiser for charity. Outtakes of us making a spectacle of ourselves had been running on a cable TV station that was promoting a show called Hollywood Detective. Leo and I had agreed to do the show to help out a victim, and I was still trying to live down the performance.
    Molly said, “Dr. Castillo is a nationally recognized expert on cults and rituals as they relate to both primitive cultures and mythology, as well as current issues in society. She’s written several books on the subject.”
    “You ask me, it’s a complete waste of time.” Darby looked at me. “You and the legend can go talk to her. We’ll do the real police work.”
    Darby’s reference to ‘the legend’ was a nickname some cops had given Leo because of his years with the department and his past work breaking some big cases. My partner wasn’t fond of the moniker and glared at Darby, but otherwise didn’t respond.
    After pushing paperwork around for an hour, Leo and I made the twenty minute drive from Hollywood Station to UCLA in Westwood. The sprawling campus was beautiful, with lots of brick and ivy-covered buildings.
    The Department of Anthropology was located near a tree lined courtyard, and, after a couple of inquiries, we found Dr. Rosalind Castillo in a classroom with about sixty law enforcement officers. We stood at the back of the lecture hall, intently listening as the professor finished up with her class.
    “Ladies and gentlemen, there is a change occurring in the world,” Castillo said. “Homicide is a crime where one, or more, human beings causes the death of another. That crime used to be personal, a killing response to a perceived injustice that was suffered by an individual. While crimes of that nature still occur, we are entering an era where the act of killing is no longer a response to a perceived wrong. Killing is now impersonal, belief-oriented, and it happens on a mass scale. Unfortunately, these will be the killing fields of our future.”
    After the class ended, we took a moment before going over and introducing ourselves. We then went upstairs to Dr. Castillo’s office, where Leo and I took seats across from her while Bernie flopped on the floor next to me. The professor’s work space was cluttered and full of artifacts, including pottery and some primitive masks, that she’d probably collected in her work. I noticed the shelf behind her was lined with several books she’d written.
    Our cult expert was probably in her mid-sixties, with braided silver hair, parted down the middle. She wore a couple of brightly colored scarves, draped over a loose cotton dress. Her appearance reminded me of pictures I’d seen of students from the 1960s.
    Castillo wasted no time getting down to business, telling us, “I’ve seen what’s been on television about your case. It’s…” She exhaled, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. “If you want to fill in some details for me, I’ll then give you my take on everything.”
    Leo and I took a few minutes, going over what we knew, telling her how the victim was posed and painted. We then described her dress and wig, the fact that the body had been shaved, and that sodium hydroxide had been used to partially remove the flesh.
    “We don’t know a lot about the ritual, but we believe the murder could be tied to the Day of the Dead celebrations,” Leo said.
    Castillo nodded. “Based on what you’ve said, I think there are some general similarities.”
    “What specifically can you tell us about the ritual?”
    “Do you have some photographs of your victim that I could look at first?”
    I removed the crime scene photos from my briefcase and handed them over. “Just a warning. These are very graphic.”
    Dr. Castillo took a couple of minutes, sifting through the images. The room was silent as she studied the photographs. The only sound we heard was the chatter of students from somewhere