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Author's note: Tasha is Charlie's student & Karolin's roommate.

Codes & Heretics-Chapter 2-The First Body

"So, let me get this straight: Someone is after people who aren't religious?" David said as he stared quizzically at the jumble of letters and numbers that composed Charlie's equation.

"No, someone is possibly after people who aren't monotheistic," Charlie said as he looked through the letters again. "According to Karolin, the only people who have gotten these letters are those in the so-called 'pagan' groups."

"Alright, yeah, thanks," Don said as he hung up the telephone. "That was Agent Tompkins. He said they've got the same problem in San Francisco."

"So, this isn't just some random event?"

"No. Apparently, this is happening in Reno and Las Vegas, too," Terry said as she came into the room.

"So, who can we rule out?" David asked as Don's cell phone rang.

"Eppes. Where? Thanks. Okay, people, our threats have just become a murder investigation," Don said as he closed his phone. "There's been a body found at the university." Don turned to Charlie, "They didn't say who it was, but-"

"I'm coming."

"Charlie, are you sure?"

"It's my responsibility to make sure they're okay."

"They?" Terry asked.

"Karolin and Tasha are both pagans and my students."

"I though Karolin wasn't your student."

"They are both students, so both of them are my responsibility."

"Okay, then, let's go."

University square.

"Who do we have?" Don asked as Detective Chris Williams walked over to them.

"Katherine Martin, 19. It looks like she jumped," the detective said as he accompanied them to where the body was.

Don looked over at Charlie. "No, I don't know her," he said as he walked over to where two young women were talking with another detective.

"They're the ones who found the body," Williams said. "The blonde was pretty calm when we got here."

"Okay, thank you. If you can think of anything else-"

"We'll call you," Karolin said as the detective walked away.

"How are you doing?" Charlie asked the two young women.

"She was our sister," Tasha said. She looked as is she was about to break down at any moment.

"There's a brand on her," Karolin said before Charlie could ask her what was wrong.

"What? What brand?" David asked as he, Don, & Terry joined them.

"On her left palm. I saw it before the police came."

Terry nodded and walked over to speak with one of the forensic investigators before Don could even ask.

"Karolin, Detective Williams said that you were pretty calm when the police came. Care-"

"-to explain?" she finished. "I'm a forensics major. Dead bodies don't scare me," she said.

"How did you know she was dead?"

It was Tasha's turn to explain, "I'm pre-med. I checked for a pulse and performed CPR. It didn't help." Don could see tears were forming in her eyes, and let the women go to their dorm.

"I don't trust those two," detective Williams said as he approached Don & Charlie.

"Why? Because they knew someone was dead, but tried to revive them anyway? Or because one of them didn't show any real emotions after finding the body?" Charlie asked.

"Both."

"From what Tasha has said about Karolin, I'm not surprised," Charlie told the detective as he turned and left.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"The equation has changed. I need to see what we're dealing with."

"Are you sure you two are brothers?" David asked as they watched the professor walk away.

The Los Angeles FBI offices.

"Well, what have you gotten so far?" Don asked his brother as the mathematician furiously scribbled numbers and letters into his equation.

"Those letters," Charlie briefly pointed to on the table, "were written only to female students. And one set of numbers keeps showing up."

"Four, nine, five, eight, five, one, eight, five, two, zero, nine, three, one, nine. This makes no sense. There is no zero letter in the alphabet."

"I think that's because most of the letters in the alphabet go from ten to twenty-six," Terry said as she and David walked in.

"So, it should be four, nine, five, eight, eighteen, eight, twenty, nine, three, nineteen."

"That would spell," David began organizing it in his head. "That would spell 'Die heretics.'"

"So, whoever is behind this definitely wants people dead."

"Creepy."

"Yeah. Okay, so, what've you got?"

"Well, I checked with Katherine Martin's roommate, and she said that they both received letters that were composed of only numbers," David said as he handed the stack of letters to Don.

"Okay, so did you find out if their pagan?"

"Yeah. And get this, they're both Druids."

"Like Karolin. Are they in the same group?"

"No. Katherine was from an old English family, so she never got into the local Druid community, per se. She did, however, go to some of their festivals."

"That explains why Tasha said Katherine was their sister," Charlie cut-in. He was given an assortment of odd looks. "They consider each other to be their family. So, in a way-"

"-they're sisters," Terry finished.

"Exactly."

"Okay, so now that we have that explained," Don turned to Terry, "What do we know about the brand that Karolin saw?"

"Well, she was right. There's a brand on Katherine's left palm." She showed the men some pictures of the dead woman's palm.

"So, she was right. But that still doesn't mean she isn't a suspect."

"You mean, she's a suspect because she was the only one willing to come forward?" Charlie questioned.

"Well, I guess it's safe to say she's not a suspect," Terry said as she got off her cell phone.

"What do you mean?"

"That was trace. They said that Katherine Martin was raped. They found semen inside her pants."

"So we can narrow the search down to just men."

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

"They also found traces of juniper."

"Juniper? As in the tree?"

"Yeah. They were covered in human saliva. From a woman."

"So, she's still a suspect?"

"As far as I'm concerned, everyone in that group is a suspect," David said.

"But we should-" Charlie was interrupted by the ringing of his brother's cell phone.

"Eppes. Where? Okay, yeah, thanks. We've got another body."

"Where?"

"At the university."

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