“Okay,” Horton said slowly.
“Frank went to Away So Far the day he jumped into the water,” Louis said.
“So? It’s a tourist joint,” Horton said.
“Exactly. Why would Frank Woods go out there?” Louis asked. “Especially since he was already a suspect by then. He was running. He was going home.”
Horton held up a hand. “So you’re saying that over the last three decades, Frank Woods abducted girls and took them out to that island where his so-called family lives?”
Louis and Landeta were silent.
“Well?” Horton asked.
“We think the whole family might be involved somehow,” Landeta said.
“How?” Horton asked.
They were silent again. “We’re not sure. It could be some kind of cult thing,” Louis said finally.
“Cult?” Horton laughed. “Look, that family out there might be a little strange, but no stranger than a lot of folks who’ve lived around here a long time. I’ve been out there and never saw anything weird. They just pay their taxes and run their shitty restaurant.”
“We think the women were abducted and taken to the island, raped, maybe tortured,” Landeta said.
Horton frowned. “What makes you think they were tortured?”
“Shelly Umber had bruises and ligature marks. She was restrained by the neck and ankles,” Landeta said. “And she was wearing a coral ring, the same kind of ring that was found in Frank Woods’s house, which probably belonged to his wife. The ring could be some kind of cult symbol.”
Horton looked at Landeta for a long time, then reached down and rubbed the dog’s head. “What else?”
“Frank told me himself there was something going on out there,” Louis said.
“He told you?” Horton asked, looking up.
“When we were on the island, he said, ‘hic solutio est.’ It’s Latin that means ‘the answer is here.’”
“Latin?” Horton asked.
“Yeah,” Landeta said. “Louis translated it.”
Horton looked at Louis. “You know Latin?”
“No, no,” Louis began.
“But Frank Woods did,” Landeta added quickly. “He taught himself.”
Horton shook his head slowly. “That it?”
“No, there’s the painting,” Landeta said.
“A painting? Like an oil painting?”
“The painting is on the wall in the restaurant. It’s called ‘The Rape of the Sabine Women’,” Louis said. “It’s a picture of Roman soldiers carrying off women. It’s part of the legend of Romulus and Remus.”
“Who?” Horton asked.
“Romulus and Remus, Roman brothers suckled by the she-wolf,” Louis said. “There’s a photo of them suckling on a wolf’s teat.”
“There’s a painting out on that island of someone sucking on a tit?” Horton asked.
Landeta held up a hand. “Wait, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.”
Horton was just staring at both of them.
“Frank Woods was into lycanthropy,” Landeta said, speaking more slowly. “Lycanthropy is a mental disease where a person thinks he is turning into a wolf.”
“A werewolf?” Horton asked.
“No, no,” Louis said. “A real wolf.”
“What the hell makes you think Frank thought he was a wolf?”
“The books in his office.” Louis dug for his notebook and flipped the pages. He read off the titles of the books he had taken from Frank’s house.
When he was done, he waited for Horton to say something. Horton was still staring at them both.
“That’s it,” Landeta said.
Horton looked from Louis to Landeta and back. Then he got up slowly and walked a few paces away with the dog. He stood there for a moment, looking out at the river then turned back.
“What a crock of shit,” he said.
“Chief —-” Louis began.
“I don’t believe I’m hearing this from two grown men, no, two experienced investigators.”
“Al,” Louis said. “C’mon. Let’s go back to the station. We’ll lay it out on paper. It’ll make more sense.”
“Writing it down isn’t going to make it do anything.”
“Angela Lopez even told someone she had a lunch date,” Louis said. “That’s the only time people can go out to that island.”
“That’s good, Kincaid. A lunch date in 1984.”
“There’s one more thing,” Louis said. “There’s a kid out there whose mother’s name was Mary. He said she died.”
Horton hesitated but then shook his head. “Common name, Kincaid. You get anything solid to connect it to Mary Rubio?”