"…and Hell Followed With Him…"
**Immediately follows "One of Their Own"**
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name
that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him."
Revelations 6:8
CHAPTER 1
Matt Houston stepped off of the elevator at the penthouse office of Houston Investigations in downtown Los Angeles and was met by his wife CJ and secretary Chris in the lobby. He had just taken the midterm exam for his Fire Chemistry class and was about to hit the books once again to study for the next section that the class would be covering. "Hi." The PI stopped in his tracks when he saw the look that the two ladies were giving him – Chris looked like she was about to burst into laughter and CJ had a look that he flat out wasn't sure about. "Something wrong?" He watched as Chris sank down in her desk chair in a fit of giggles.
"So when were you going to tell me?" CJ's look was still puzzling her husband.
"Tell you what?" He stopped a few feet away from her, unsure whether or not he should turn back to the elevator.
"About your new career."
"Huh?" He looked over at the secretary who now had her head on her arms, her entire body shaking from laughter.
"You had a call from Trina Jensen…" CJ let him dangle for a few seconds and watched as the gears in his head started in motion, but the blank look on his face didn't disappear. "She's with Albright Publishing?" He continued with the blank look and then his face suddenly began reddening, which sent the secretary into another round of giggles. "So when were you going to tell me about your career as a calendar pin up?"
"I uh, well see…that happened when…" He was motioning over his shoulder and stammering.
"Do you think he'll get the cover?" Chris just couldn't help herself and was nearly in tears from laughing so hard and CJ herself started smiling.
"Funny. Look, she just came up to me when I was at the junk yard fire scene in Silver Lake a couple of weeks ago." He had an indignant look on his face that, when she looked up at him once again, set Chris off into another fit of hysterics.
"Well congratulations: she said the pictures that she took of you that day have landed you a spot on the calendar." CJ came down the steps and gave him a kiss. "Why didn't you tell me? Surely you didn't think I would be angry about it." She wrapped an arm around him.
"I really didn't think anything about it at the time – I was more worried about trying to find out who murdered Bob Peterson." He had calmed down slightly and his face was slowly going back to the normal tan complexion. "I'm surprised that Vince didn't tell you about it. He was with me." It then dawned on him what all she had said. "She took pictures of me?!" Once again the secretary lost it.
"Uh huh. She's sending them over by courier – said she thought you might like to have some copies. I know I would." CJ kissed him on the cheek and they started up the steps to her office. "You didn't really think I would get mad about something like that did you? It is for a good cause after all – plus it would give me some bragging rights." When Chis heard the last part she lost it yet again – as did Michael Hoyt who was waiting for the pair in CJ's office.
"Oh, God…" Matt turned and started back out of the office but CJ pulled him back inside.
"Michael wants to talk to us about a case, Cowboy."
"Yeah, I'm not here for an autograph or anything." The cop started laughing again.
Matt walked over, sat down on the loveseat, and in a disgusted voice asked, "What's the case?"
"The Chief received a phone call from the Chief of Police in San Francisco – a heads up if you will. There have been a series of crimes carried out by four bikers. The really interesting part is that they weren't all done in San Francisco." The elevator chimed. "There have been cases in New Mexico and Arizona as well."
Chris came to the door with a package in her hand and took it to CJ. The two women exchanged a look and CJ ripped into the large envelope and pulled out three eight by tens. "Whoa…Cowboy!"
Chris was peeking over CJ's shoulder and got a shocked look on her face. "Wow, Boss! You look…hot!"
Hoyt walked over behind the lawyer's desk and grinned. "And you had no idea she was taking pictures?"
"No…" Matt got up and walked over taking the pictures from his wife. The first showed him as he was running into the junk yard while the fire was in full swing and then later when he came out with two other firefighters carrying evidence back to the truck. After taking off the mask, air tank, and turn out coat, he had removed his sweat-soaked t-shirt and was getting a drink.
"Her note says that the one where you're downing the drink is the one that their panel of judges zeroed in on." CJ looked up at her husband who was once again beet red as he tossed the photos back onto her desk and went back to the loveseat, still looking embarrassed. "She also says that the decision on you was unanimous."
"So what have the bikers done exactly, Hoyt?" The PI changed the subject.
"They've been murdering people; apparently each one uses a different method. As if that isn't bad enough, the witness reports have been all over the place when it comes to a description of their motorcycles."
"Uh huh…but how do you know that it isn't just totally unrelated?"
"Because of the weapons being used; there are four distinct methods of killing."
"And those are…"
"A scythe, a sword, heroin, and a bow."
"As in bow and arrow?"
"Uh huh." Hoyt had picked up the stack of pictures and was going through them. "You really didn't know she was taking pictures?"
"So how many folks have been killed by these guys?" Houston went out to the bar to pour himself a cup of coffee.
"At least twelve, possibly more. You know these are actually pretty good, Houston. I'm sure Anne and Kathy would like to see them."
The PI could hear the giggles from the other room and rolled his eyes as he took a sip of coffee. Walking back into his wife's office, he sat back down on the loveseat and the elevator chimed once again. "This sounds like something the FBI would be chasing down."
"We are." Agent Alexander Bateaux stepped up into CJ's office and loosened his tie. "Sorry I'm late – had to deal with more of Walter King's new attorney." King was a serial killer that Matt had helped the agent to track down the previous December. "How are you doing, Houston?" He shook hands with the PI, then with CJ and Hoyt.
"Oh, he's doing really well…" CJ grinned as her husband shook his head no and waved his hands in a cutting motion. "C'mon hon – most guys would be bragging. Take a look." She handed the pictures across the desk to the agent. "He's going to be on the fire department's charity calendar next year."
"Congratulations!" Alex looked through the photos. "What are you so embarrassed about? It's for a good cause." He sat down on the loveseat next to Matt who was once again bright red and now rubbing his temples.
"Can we get back to the case please?" He shot CJ a grumpy look and she blew a kiss at him as she replaced the photos in the envelope. "Okay, you said the description of the bikes was sketchy – what gives?"
"They've been reported as being several different colors."
"Well it could be different bikes or maybe they painted them." Matt drank down coffee.
"That would make sense except for the timing." Alex pulled out his notebook. "These guys work together; they are all present when the murders occur but only one of them murders at a time. But the times that the crimes are committed are too close together for the bikes to be painted in between. Two of the murders in Arizona happened within fifteen minutes of each other and ten miles apart."
"Okay, well…" Matt pondered over it for a minute. "What's the plan?" He looked to Alex.
"Our Bureau Chief thought this sounded like a good job for you – after the King deal. He was very impressed by how you and CJ work and wanted to see what ideas you had about how to approach it."
"Good thing Hooten is already dead." Hoyt had spoken without thinking and immediately had a did-I-say-that-out loud-look on his face. First CJ snickered then Alex. "Sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about in my opinion." Matt had killed the former FBI agent in a fight to the death on his ranch a few weeks previously. "Wait a minute…" He stood up and started pacing as Michael and CJ exchanged a look – they had seen the process many a time. "Their weapons were a bow, a sword, a scale, and a scythe."
"Not a scale – heroin." Alex corrected him.
"No, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Revelations…their weapons were a bow, a sword, a scale, and a scythe – in that order." The PI looked at the other three. "What order have the murders been committed in?"
"Uh…"Bateaux flipped back a few pages in his notebook. "The bow, the sword, the heroin, and the scythe." He gave the PI a surprised look. "Heroin?"
"Think about it." Matt continued to pace. "In Revelations it referred to the way that grain would be rationed out during a famine – it was measured out. Unless the guy wanted to go around waiting for his victims to starve to death or whacking folks over the head with a scale, it would have to be something that you measure out."
CJ had begun working the keyboard on her computer and pulled up information on the Four Horsemen. "You're right, hon – about the weapons and about the order."
The four detectives stared at each other and Matt spoke again. "These guys think they're the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."