Snow crunched beneath her feet. The vapors of her breath vanished into the darkness as her mind raced to grip what had taken place. Search dogs barked in the distance as the strobing lights from police cars danced through the trees, while officers scanned the cold forest for any sign of life.

Hoping and praying it was just a terrible nightmare, she could hear her sister’s voice in the back of her mind, getting louder and louder…and louder!

    “Lieutenant Daniels! Lieutenant!”

    “Wha-what?”

She jerked back to reality, leaving the memory of her sister behind.

     “I’m sorry. Give me a minute.”

She stepped outside for a breath of fresh air.

    “You okay boss? You don’t look so good.” Rookie Detective Patrick Collins took her by the arm to steady her.

     “Yeah. Just needed a second. I guess even after twenty-years you just never get used to seeing things like this.” Laurie said as she gently nodded squeezed Collins arm in thanks for the welfare check.

      “This one’s pretty bad and with the kid missing, it’s not looking to turn out so good.”

       Steadying her resolve and regaining her bulldog like detective wit, Laurie cleared her throat and choked the tears that tried to form.

       “So let me get this straight.” Laurie took her notepad from her pocket, licked a thumb to flip to a clean page before asking, “We have two dead. The mother and father. And there’s no trace of the ten-year-old daughter. Correct?”

       “Right. The parents apparently suffered blunt force trauma, most likely bludgeoned to death. Oh, and there were some strange carvings on both parents’ arms.”

      “Carvings?”

       “Almost looked to be some sort of religious reference. We should probably take a closer look at that.” Patrick motioned Laurie toward the house.

The door hung open as the responders prepared to move the bodies. As the coroner wheeled a gurney past, an arm slipped into sight.

    “Hold up a minute.”

Laurie gently lifted the sheet to get a better view. She eyed the marks dug deep into the flesh. She sighed, then stood straight and said, “Look around the house and see if you find any similar, markings, drawings…anything the could be related.”

Laurie walked over to the other body which lay on the living room rug in front of an old rabbit eared television set. She covers her nose with the back of her left-hand, takes a pair of tweezers from her pocket with her right, and reaches down to pick up what appeared to be some type of black ash surrounding the body.

She brought it to her nose, “Whew! Smells like rotten eggs. Must be Hydrogen Sulfide. Why would someone burn a circle around them with Hydrogen Sulfide?”

Laurie says as she ponders her question. She reaches for the right arm and turns it over, revealing another carving deep into the flesh.

“That’s odd. Looks like a horse. ‘Ps 78:49’. What’s ‘Ps 78:49’? That sounds like a scripture reference. Is that Psalms maybe?” As Laurie is supplying answers to her own questions, Patrick Collins calls out to her from the bathroom.

    “Hey Boss, you might want to come take a look at this.”

    “What, what is it?” She says as she is taking off her gloves and cutting the corner to step into the bathroom.

     “Oh my word. What the heck is this?”

Her heart quickened as she heard its hard thump. Her palms suddenly felt greasy. She took her right hand and wiped her forehead before rubbing her eyes. Wishing she could just erase all she’d seen through the years. On the bathroom mirror before them was what looked like a rushed attempt of drawing a skull in blood. Below the drawing was the words “Mortis” and Ps 78:49.

     “Its Morty again…just like I’d feared. I’m telling you this guy is a real psycho, and he’s not finished...he’s just getting started.”