The Secret Society

This Tuesday afternoon, the two colleagues from the police's vice squad sat listening to one of the three three representatives from the murder investigation department, who had just said that there was an investigation going on about a sometimes murderous sect, which they didn't seem thoroughly informed about. This was not surprising, since their investigation on them had to be kept confidential, partly because of the sect's brainwashing and seductive capacity, and to a somewhat lesser extent due to their brutality.

“The sect seems,” he said, “to be  -  since fairly long back  -  secretly established the city, and the suburbs. Now, since at least very recently, they are even here in this country town. Some of their murders are so gruesome that we haven't been able to let the public in on that they have happened, not yet, at least. That is we don't see that they will not be able to scare people into silence if we tell abut it. I'm here to tell you that it's very much about those seemingly innocent youngsters that you've been studying for a while!”

He paused for a few seconds. Leslie and Hector from the vice squad looked at each other with some astonishment.

“Therefore I will highly recommend that you keep your minds open for the possibilities that Linda will show you soon. But first I want to be certain on whether or not you both handle weapons quite well?”

Again, the two colleagues looked at each other.

“Do you mean guns?” they asked, interrupting one another.

“Yes, at least that is what I'd hoped for!”

Hector cleared his throat. Then he said: “Well, I've had some basic training, but not too recently right now.”

Leslie said: “It's the same for me.”

The man before them sighed and told them to “start training that! And possibly also something of plain physical combat, if that too is rusty! Moreover you might need some skills for field work that I prefer you ask our superiors on how to handle. I mean that you might have to be working undercover.”

He looked at them, waiting for them to answer.

“We're fairly used to working undercover,” Hector said at last. “We do it quite often. At least I feel that way.” He looked at Leslie, who looked back, before stating:

“Yes, I'm doing some undercover work right now, but I don't even know what it's about! Not yet!”

“Great, then. For the gun training you will need to speak to Charlie, here, after Linda has introduced you to the case.”

While he spoke Linda had risen to her feet.

“Are you finished, Harold?” she asked, looking at the first speaker.

“Yes,” he said. “I'm done for now.”

With that Harold left the white board and desk where he had been standing, and Linda went forward there. With her she brought a small suitcase, which she opened and took out two sheets of paper with handwritten notes on them, four sheets of see-through overhead plastic and a remote control for the projector in the back of the room. While she was doing it, Harold lowered the light in the room a little, and asked if she wanted it “like this, or lighter or darker?”

“I guess this will be just right for now. Thanks, Harold.” She pulled out the overhead projector and put a plastic sheet on it. Then, after first glancing at one of her white paper sheets, she turned it on and targeted it on the projection screen. “This is who we believe to be their guru, or top man. We don't know for certain as of now what his actual name is, nor where he's from.”

The screen showed a man who seemed to be of a mixed origin, perhaps mostly from the countries around the Mediterranean sea. After a few seconds, Linda exchanged the plastic sheet with his picture against another one and continued:

“... and this is what we now know about their hierarchy: As it seems, that guy on top chooses every now and then one of the three subordinates to to lead the sects development into a direction that he - or that could possibly be a she - dictates - or so it seems. The chosen one of those, then in turn chooses one or two of his or her five subordinate for various sub-strategies. It is these subordinates and their inferiors that might seem to you actually may have run into, when you reported that there seemed to be a sect leader or something guiding sex offenders as to how to blame each other or someone else. If you're not unfortunate, neither these people nor those higher up in the hierarchy do not know about these reports you have had for us. We have classified this material.

“Below that third level of their top leader's subordinate leaders there are virtually always at least one more sublevel of leaders.

“I have read in a report of yours that the two of you found that some people that we know are involve with this sect, or secret society or whatever, seemed to be covering for each other, which is true. It is not likely, how ever, that these covered crimes of theirs are by far, even, their worst!

“For the sake of keeping track of these possible worse crimes than you want to imagine, it's advisable that you for a start at least hold back on your comparatively trivial issues of for sex-offence crimes. But do expect, of course, that you will sooner or later you shall return to the thoroughness your usually about for it.”

She now put on her second overhead sheet.

“This here shows the face of the local leader that you were dealing with. As you can see, she is very young, only fifteen.”

Linda changed to her last sheet,which showed her and a man who was seemingly caressing her.

“This man is her closest associate.”

He seemed to be in his late fifties. Leslie herd Hector sigh, while also sighing herself. “What,” she asked after a few seconds, “do they have in common?”

“They seem to have in common mostly that they're both interested in sex that is sadomasochistic. He seems to be her subordinate mostly because he doesn't charm people as well as she does.”

Hector asked: “Does that work the same way elsewhere in the?”

“It seems to be the rule almost all the time for them.”

“Do you know to which extent there might be other hidden hierarchical levels? I mean especially if there are some on top of the ones on the first slide.”

“Hardly,” Linda answered. “But yes, there are probably also at least some loose hierarchical levels here and there in their sect.” After pausing again for a few moments, she moved the overhead projector and glanced through her paper sheets, after which she said: “Now comes the part that almost only, we think now, the uppermost two levels of their hierarchy know about. Harold, let's turn the lights of completely.”

He did. Meanwhile she grabbed the remote control and clicked it. The picture on the screen now showed a highly mutilated male body. “This is one of their victims,” she said, and clicked again. “This is another one. As you can see, she even was pregnant!” She kept on clicking, commenting occasionally for about three minutes. Three of the people shown on the pictures were, she mentioned while showing them, people that the one or both of the two in her audience, fairly likely might know, or at least be somewhat acquainted to, since they were from their precinct. She, their lecturer, was herself from a more central one, which she said that five of the shown victims were from. After finishing with the slideshow, she asked Harold to turn on the lights again, which he did.

Linda looked at Charlie and nodded at him. Then she quickly put the sheets back to the suitcase. The remote she left on the desk.

Charlie stepped forward and passed Linda as she left the desk at the white board and the projection screen, which he soon after raised back up towards the roof.

“Alright, guys,” Charlie said, “I won't be very long!” He looked at the two people in audience. “I'll see to it that you can refresh your shooting skills, especially if you want me to! For now, please just check if you think you'll both be available either at four PM tomorrow, at ten AM on Friday or Three PM on Monday.

Hector was the first to answer: “Friday.”

Leslie thought for a few moments more, then she said. “I too can come on Friday.”