Faded Children (Morgan Knight Mysteries Book 2) - Jo Beekman

Faded Children (Morgan Knight Mysteries Book 2) by Jo Beekman

Book excerpt

There were no tortured teenagers, no dead bodies, and no evidence of any kind of a black magic ritual. Heavenly. So far, she was having a fabulous vacation. The view from the third-floor condo balcony was awesome. Morgan stretched while lying in the lawn chair. The breeze was warm and smelled of salt water.

She was right on the beach and except for a few people walking on the sand, all she could see was ocean. Earlier she had spotted dolphins jumping out of the water but now the water was calm except for the rolling surf. Morgan contemplated getting up and taking another walk or going down to the condo’s pool and swimming a little but decided that both were too much work at the moment. Besides, she would have to braid and tie her thick dark brown hair back before getting into the pool and her other swimsuit fit her not quite skinny body better. Not that what she looked like mattered, but the weight of the water tended to pull the top of the one she was wearing a little lower than she was comfortable with. Definitely too much work. She was on vacation. She could be lazy every day for the remaining eight days if she chose.

Especially after the hectic and sometimes scary events of the last few months. Captain Jack Branigan of the Landis Sheriff’s Department had caught the occult killer who was sacrificing migrant workers to his Palo Mayombe “gods” but not before she had been kidnapped and almost killed. It all turned out well, but when the staff at her security company, Knight Integrity Security Systems, suggested she take a vacation, Morgan agreed.

Kevin had expected her to argue and was clearly surprised when she didn’t. She had felt she needed a vacation too. She also thought her staff needed one. So, she closed up shop for two weeks so everyone could de-stress and unwind. Just sun, the warm Gulf water, and good food that she didn’t have to cook was already working wonders for herself. She hoped the others were also having a good time.

She was surprised when her cell phone rang. Not only was it the first telephone call she had gotten all week, but it was her mother.

“What’s up?” Morgan asked curiously.

“I’ve been shopping around that weird grimoire you found in that unfortunate young man’s attic,” her mother said. “I thought you’d like to know I have a few good leads but before I pursue those, I wanted to ask you some questions. Was he in any group? Not necessarily a coven,” Thea added hastily, “Any sort of quasi-religious group.”

“That depends on how you feel about the Methodist Church,” Morgan said with a smile. “He belonged to their young adult group.”

“Well, that’s not exactly what I had in mind,” Thea said, laughing. “This book is not for sale anywhere but one of my sources thinks he’s seen something very similar before. He thinks this is an updated version of the book he’s seen.”

Morgan sat up. “He’s seen it before? That’s amazing.”

“Well, he thinks he has. I’m going to drive down this weekend and we’ll compare what he remembers to this one. He’s just north of Athens, Georgia, so it’s not that bad a drive.”

“He teaches at the University?”

“He teaches philosophy. He was apparently involved somewhat in this sort of thing years ago and he saw something very much like this book at a party at a friend of a friend’s. Now it’s more of a hobby.”

Morgan thought about that for a second. “Do you actually know this guy? Are you going to have someone with you?”

“I’ve met him dozens of times and his wife will be there. I’m not going to stay with him—I’m past the age where I enjoy teenage angst and he has four daughters. I’ll send you the address of the Marriott I’ll be staying at. I have another question.”

“Shoot.”

“If this young man didn’t participate in any groups other than his church group, did he have someone in his family that did?”

“Not exactly. Nothing that would use a grimoire. If he did, we’d pretty much know where the book came from,” Morgan said.

“According to Bart, this type of grimoire would have only been distributed to the group members it was written for. It wouldn’t have been sold anywhere,” Thea explained.

“Hector and I thought Luke might have bought it at a garage sale,” Morgan said. “He kept a ledger of his budget and from the entries, he bought quite a bit of stuff that way. Maybe someone left the group or passed away or whatever and his family put it out for sale. Luke’s mother’s family followed Santeria and of course, his cousin was a Palo Mayombe priest. But no coven, as such.”

“Humph.” Thea sounded thoughtful. “I’m leaving tomorrow morning. If Bart has questions, I’ll call you but otherwise, you enjoy yourself and relax and I’ll talk to you when I get back.”

“Be careful and have a good time yourself,” Morgan said. “Love you.”

“Love you too baby.”