“Okay.” Colcord raised his eyebrows.
“A book calledJudgment of the Inquisitionsgoes into the mass arrest and torture of over fifteen thousand Knights Templar in France, the persecution of heretic conversos, and the trial of Galileo in 1633 during the Roman Inquisition.”
“Pretty heavy reading,” Colcord said.
“In the book, he found a reproduction of an 1839 painting entitledCommunion of Dyingby Alexey Venetsianov. It depicts a woman in her deathbed wearing white linens, with a priest in red cloth standing by her bedside. The linens were just like how Grooms and Reno were dressed.”
“Anything else?”
“A lot more. Viaticum, also known as the Eucharist or Holy Communion, is administered as part of the last rites—the ministrations given to Catholics shortly before death. It roughly translates to ‘food for the journey’ and is said to be a source of strength on their journey to eternal life. Apparently, it wasalsogiven to baptized Catholics being tortured or executed during the Inquisition—to ensure that even apostates be givena final chance to go to heaven. It was considered a kindness to them—even as they were being killed. Grooms and Reno were given Communion wafers and sacramental wine shortly before they died. Grooms is Catholic—remember how he was baptized in Solitary Lake? Reno was also Catholic, and they were both dressed in white linens, their bodies treated with respect, if you could call it that. Embalming is another sign of respect—the idea is that it preserves the body for the Last Judgment and resurrection of the dead.”
“What about Castillo? He wasn’t given Communion and dressed in linens.”
“Because he wasn’t Catholic. Since he wasn’t a baptized Catholic, he didn’t get viaticum. And his body was treated like trash—dismembered and thrown into a lake instead of embalmed, posed, and dressed in linen.”
She showed Colcord a photo of theCommunion of the Dyingpainting on her cell.
“Jesus Christ,” Colcord said.
“Do you see what this means?”
“Not completely.” Colcord steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair.
“Devotiomeans ‘devotion’ in Latin. I believe it might be an extreme Catholic cult or something. It explains a lot. Why would four people go to the trouble and take the risk to clean, pose, and give viaticum to murder victims otherwise? And even embalm them?” Cash paused. “The killers believed they weresavingthe souls of Grooms and Reno by force-feeding them the Eucharist before they murdered them and preparing their bodies for resurrection.”
“So why would a secret society of Catholics be targeting and killing a group of UFO researchers?”
“That, Colcord, is the very question I was just asking myself.”
