from Sudden Cool Dark

And then there were the devil-worshipers.

They were not a distinct population of Carlson, like the Catholics, the Baptists or the Native Americans. They did not announce themselves but Dalton had teased out their existence from newspaper reports extending back more than a century.

Here and there, incidents of vandalism. The phrase Satan is King had not appeared for the first time over the doors of old Holy Spirit Catholic Church on the most recent Thursday. Someone had been scrawling the words on the walls of homes, in alleyways and on the exteriors of churches for decades. The local Catholic Church had taken the lion’s share of the graffiti.

The incidents had all occurred far apart, separated by years. Only by looking back through news reports for a century could the detective see a pattern. It was as if someone had not wanted to draw too much attention to their animosity.

And the disturbances were not limited to graffiti. There were occasional disappearances, animal mutilations. Public speculation about causes ranged all over and included UFOs.

Father Joe had stated that the last incident at the church had occurred several years ago. A Christ child was stolen from the nativity scene in 2010. But Dalton learned that in 2005 something truly dire had happened. The detective was not sure if local police perceived a connection.

In the fall of that year, a house fire had completely consumed the palatial residence of Samuel Ellsworth, an elderly man and the last remaining heir of one of the largest plots of ranch and farm land in the region. Mr. Ellsworth had not been found in the home nor had anyone been hurt. Indeed, it was believed that Mr. Ellsworth had been suffering from advanced dementia. He remained missing.

Dalton might have ignored this piece of information completely had it not been for something that had occurred at roughly the same time and subsequently had been mentioned in the following edition of the Carlson Gazette.

A deceased John Doe, middle-aged and white, had been discovered in the desert just outside of town. Completely naked, his body torn by wild animals. His identity was never determined but investigators were certain that he was not Ellsworth.