GODDESS OF THE MOON (A Diana Racine Psychic Suspense) (33 page)

One of his many incubators.

Gods and Goddesses

“Y
ou asked for a rundown on the progeny,” Jason said when he called
Lucier
back, “but first, you asked about the co
llege the group’s children
attended
.
”

“Give
,” Lucier said
, grabbing a pencil from atop his desk and readying a pad of paper
.
“
I’m taking notes
.”

“
No need. I’ll fax you everything when this call is finished.”

“Better,” Lucier said.

“
Middlebridge’s
endowment is huge, and the biggest benefactors are Crane Corp
oration
and Compton International. It has a small student body and promotes a basic liberal arts curriculum, and I do mean liberal.”

“Explain please
.
”

“You wanted to know if it was a religious college.
I didn’t find any
courses in religion
, but the curriculum covers just about everything else―
literature, art, mythology
, world
cultures
, even
erotica
.
The tuition is double the top private colleges, which keeps the elite enrollment small.
Besides the group’s offspring
, children of others in the same financial stratosphere as Crane and Compton
’s go there
. Excellent
avant-garde and progressive
professors
in the artsy
subjects
,
and only one has a direct connection to our man. He used to teach an abstract reasoning course at Oklahoma, where Compton went to school. He’s old now but still considered a giant in his field. The sons and daughters of our subjects
graduated with very high GPAs.”

“
I would have thought there
’
d be a right-wing lean, but it doesn’t seem that way.
”

“
Not so sure,” Jason said. “T
he
political science professors tend to be Libertarian and Conservative, but
, as I said,
the
other
courses lean socially left. Go figure
.”

“
Interesting but not surprising
. What happens when they graduate?”

“
Here’s
where it gets
strange, because
I
haven’t been able to
fill in
the blanks.”

“What do you mean?” Lucier asked.

“Some of the sons and daughters are supposedly off doing humanitarian work overseas
for the family foundations
. They’ve filed IRS forms, but their
income is
listed as stock dividends or interest from inheritances, and their addresses are the same as their parents. They have no records of employment, credit cards
with no charges
, and
are without
debt. Nothing more I can track.
”

“I see what you mean.”

“Of the six
progeny of Phillip
Crane, Seth is the only one I can’t account for. He’s one of the out
-
of
-
the
-
country people. You know about the Crane women, and the oldest son, David, runs Crane Corporation. He’s married, has three children, all grown, oldest in the business; the other two are in the missing column.
The other families follow the same pattern
. Martin Easley’s son Cal is the only other child of a first marriage I can’t account for
.”

“What the hell’s going on?”

“I’m just the messenger, Lieutenant,” Jason said. “
I’m curious about
the answers
myself
.
My fax will contain an
exact breakdown of the family trees,
their history, et cetera. B
ut the only second marriage with no traceable children is Silas and Selene
Compton
.”

“
Which makes Selene an oddity of the group.
”

“
Yeah
.
An article about Jeremy Haynesworth said his son and daughter were off doing humanitarian work overseas. That’s
the same story
the others say when asked.”

“Damn, I’d love to get my hands on their passports. See whether they’ve really left the country. I doubt they have.”

“Why? Where do you think they are?”

“Damned if I know
, but my
gut instinct
says they’re not where they’re
saying they are
.
I’ve
used
up my supply of hunches
lately.
”
He tapped his pen on the empty pad of paper
.
“
Is that it?”

“For now.
I’ll let you know if I find out anything else.”

“Hey, thanks a lot.
Great work.
I
’m
just
not sure
what to do with it.”

“
Can’t help you there.
You’re the cop.
I’ll fax this to Diana so it doesn’t go through your
office
. Is that all right?”

“Perfect.”

“Tell her I love her.”

“Wait in line, buddy.”

“As a friend, Lieutenant.
Wish I were competition.”

Lucier laughed and hung up. He leaned back in his chair and scratched his head. What
the hell.

* * * * *

B
y the time he arrived at Diana’s that evening, Jason had faxed hi
s report and Diana had read it.

“This is major strange,” she said, “especially about the name changes.
Which got me thinking.
” She
handed Lucier the pad of paper she had in front of her
.

“More
crosswords
?”

“No, research.
Look at these names.
Cybele, Selene, Maia and Dione.
I went online and typed in the names. Are you ready? Cebele
―
a fertility goddess, mother of the gods; Selene
―
moon goddess, known for her countless love affairs; Maia
―
impregnated by Zeus in the dead of night while all the other gods slept; Dione
―
the mother of Aphrodite by the big guy again, Zeus. These women are all named for mythological figures.”

“Jason figured that out, but it
made no
sense to me. Maia and Dione
―
you’re not thinking Compton, a very Zeus-like character, did the dirty with his own daughters, are you?”

“Nothing would surprise me anymore. Compton’s a megalomaniac. I wouldn’t put anything past him. Did you see Maia the other night? Not the most outgoing, is she? And the deal she pulled with those two hoodlums. She hates her father, and Selene, too. Again, why? There’s more here than meets the eye.”

“There’s no indication that Compton did anything with those women. Selene
isn’t
a woman who
’
d share her man with his daughters.”

“Selene
’
s
e
ither
a sexual predator or she’s a big tease. I’ll go with my first impression. Selene and her sisters are all gorgeous and not as dumb as they wanted us to think
.
My father
would call them stacked. Not a bad description either. Like the two girls, Brigid and Nona.” Diana tapped her pencil. “Oh, and I mentioned Nona is the goddess of pregnancy in Roman mythology, but Brigid is the goddess of childbirth. Now doesn’t that ring your bells
even
a little?”

Lucier
scanned
her notes
more carefully. “So
we have disappearing people, satanic elements,
stolen
babies with IQs that will probably soar off the charts when they’re grown, lots of voluptuous women, and mythological gods and goddesses.” He fell back into the sofa’s cushions. “
This is way over my head.
What do
you think
?”

“I don’t know, but it’s not good.”

“I’d need a hell of a lot more to question Silas Compton than your mythology research.”

Diana
pointed to
the names in the notebook. “Don’t you see? Mythology is all mixed up in this.”

“That proves my point about your Brother Osiris.
Another mythological name.”

“Would you stop saying he’s mine. You know why he picked that
particular
name.”

“Yeah, because he has no
―
”

“Stop!
Don’t say it. He had cancer, for
G
od
’s
sakes. It’s not like he chose the name without reason. And the name Seth, Crane’s son and Selene’s brother
―
the one who’s supposedly doing
humanitarian
work overseas? I remembered what Cash found at the beginning of this case and looked it up. Seth was the brother of Osiris, the one who killed him.”

H
eat prickle
d
Lucier
’s skin.
R
ubb
ing
his scalp
, he said,
“I want you to leave New Orleans and go
to South Carolina to
stay with your parents.”

She jerked back and scowled.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I wouldn’t miss what’s going to happen for the world.”

“We don’t know what’s going
to happen
.”

“That’s exactly why I wouldn’t miss it. Besides, Silas Compton called. He wants to set up a time when I can read the group.”

Lucier’s breath caught. “I hope you said no.”

“I did at first. Then he said he’d donate a million dollars to any hospital
s
or charities I chose.” She
shrugged,
a mischievous glint in her eyes. “I could
n’t
turn that down, could I?”

Temptation

M
aya sat at the dining room table reserved for the elders.
N
o point in being stubborn. She was starved, and she ate with unabashed relish.
“Great food, as always,”
she
said.
“Health
y
and plentiful.”

“Why did you do it, Maia?” Seth asked, fixing his
magnetic
eyes on her.
“You had to know what would happen.”

Avoiding his gaze
didn’t relieve the unnerving effect of his penetrating stare. Steeling herself, she faced him. “Those babies were kidnapped. How can you condone that?”

“I don’t, but my father says we need other genetic material. We’ve tried to keep certain of the youth apart. I’ve segregate
d
some of them because there were…p
roblems. Even a
―
” Seth turned away, either unable or unwilling to look at her.

“Even a what?”
Maia asked.

“A brother and sister
―
”

“Oh, my
G
od,” Maia said, cutting him off. Her food, delicious just moments before, now
rose in her throat
like
spoiled leftovers
. She
stood
and
paced the perimeter of the room
. “What are we doing, Seth?”

“I
stopped them
before it happened a second time. Fortunately, nothing
…
took.” He looked at her apologetically. “Animal attraction is
difficult
to control.”

“If anyone should know that it’s you. I’m the perfect example.”

“I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but you’re the only one I’ve impregnated. Oh, I’ve engaged in other sexual liaisons. I am human, after all. But
my only
children are
your children
.”

Did she believe him? Did it matter?
“Yes, and the last time you drugged me. I’m not a baby machine. I didn’t want another child taken from me as soon as I’d given it sustenance. You can’t imagine how painful that is.”
Tears flooded
her eyes.
Damn
.
“You
raped me
, Seth
.” She
brushed
the back of her hand across
her cheek to wipe away a tear.