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"Dark Endeavors, Part One": In December of 2012, it began to get very cold in Boston. A corpse had turned up, and was declared a likely victim of the Ice Fisher killer, requiring the presence of Detectives Frost and Donovan from th

Quote1 Ada Davenport was a girl who got murdered. The guy who did it is the witch. Quote2
Eve Coffin

Coffin Hill #8 is an issue of the series Coffin Hill (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 2014. It was published on June 11, 2014.

Synopsis for "Dark Endeavors, Part One"

In December of 2012, it began to get very cold in Boston. A corpse had turned up, and was declared a likely victim of the Ice Fisher killer, requiring the presence of Detectives Frost and Donovan from the associated task force at the scene. Eve Coffin had been riding patrol near the Boston University campus when the call came through, and she had known immediately that it was another victim. It was her first time meeting Greg Frost, who was far more interested in meeting the corpse of Ada Davenport - the fifth victim.

It had been lucky for her that she and Eddie Wachowski had been the ones to take the call, as it would be a career making case. It was Doyle Donovan who spoke to her first, and when he learned that she was a Coffin of the Coffin Hill Coffins, he made her pass off the paperwork to Wachowski, and join the task force. Frost was naturally iffy on having a rookie cop treading on his crime scene, despite Donovan's explanation that her parents' money could do the department some good. Overhearing his complaints, Eve responded that she was more interested in catching killers than doing good, drawing their attention to a mysterious occult looking tattoo on the corpse's inner eyelid.

Now, in Coffin Hill, Bianca Morelli and her friend Lacey smoke on the front steps of Coffin House. Lacey is reluctant to stay, knowing that Ellie Coffin will have them thrown in jail for trespassing - though she does have a crush on Police Chief Nate Finn, so perhaps it would be worth it. Bianca is intent on sneaking inside the mansion, commenting that the two of them are the only two witches left in Coffin Hill, and she's tired of playing the good witch. Besides, Mrs. Coffin may not be there anymore, since Eve was arrested.

Stepping inside, Lacey is reluctant, and lights up a joint, to Bianca's annoyance. Ignoring it, she explains that she hoped something would click in coming here; that she'd be able to connect with her older sister Dani somehow. Stepping further into the house, Bianca picks up an item from the floor and comments that she knows Lacey took her sister's locket - and she's going to make her pay.

Back in 2012, Eve returned home to tell her roommate Kimmy about her assignment, but found that she'd been given a black eye by her boyfriend Sean. He was recently released from jail due to overcrowding. She explained that he took her stash of drugs, and she needed a fix to get her head back on straight. Eve responded that she could do a lot of things to help Kimmy, but giving her drugs was not among them, and none of them would really help until she kicked her habits. Kimmy discovered a bottle of pills in their apartment, and Eve snatched them back, warning that those were hers. Desperately, Kimmy begged for them, promising to take better care of herself. Sighing, Eve gave her a few pills and hoped they'd be the last.

The next day, Eve was in early at the station looking over the evidence, and was interrupted by Greg Frost. He warned her not to keep trying to get on Donovan's good side. The detective was only in it for himself, and he'd solve the case and take a job at the FBI without a thought. This troubled Frost not a bit. Without skipping a beat, he pressed Eve to explain what she knew about the symbol on the victim's eye. She explained that it was alchemical symbol for Saturn. Before she could say more, Donovan arrived with a coffee meant specially for Eve, and admitted that the victim's autopsy would likely tell them nothing. Eve, knowing she was too inexperienced to be on the front line of this investigation suggested that she could do leg work cross referencing contacts for the victims.

Donovan excused himself to do some interviews of his own, allowing Frost to return to questioning Eve about the symbol. The symbol means something to witches, she explained, as it was co-opted by covens from the sixteenth and seventeenth century. It means dark matter; the "dark endeavour." Covens who used dark magic would mark themselves with it to see whom they could trust. Eve explained that it was not Ada Davenport who was a witch, though - it was the killer.

Following the lead, they returned to an area Greg had canvassed a number of times already. He explained that he used to work fraud and moved to homicide when he got tired of being lied to so often. He admitted that the switch wasn't necessarily the best choice he made. Eve led him to a house which she believed met the criteria for the sort of place the killer would hide out, if he was a witch. Stepping inside, Eve began to worry, as Frost had chosen not to call in back up. He insisted that if they did, it would give up the fact that they were on to the killer. In an upper room, of the abandoned building, they discovered a dirty mattress and a sweater that Frost recognized as the same clothing that victim number three, Thea Crane, was wearing when she was last seen. The killer, if he'd been there, was gone. Eve called it in.

Now, Bianca walks along the side of the road and texts Lacey a non-apology, wishing her a nice walk home alone. With the snow coming down, a car pulls up beside her and the driver asks directions for town. Before she can answer him, Officer Wilcox pulls up behind in her cruiser and orders Bianca to get in her car. Approaching the other car, Wilcox asks if she can help the driver, and the man comments that he wants to know where to find Nate Finn. Unbeknownst to Wilcox, this is Nate's older brother Patrick.

In the abandoned house, the CSI crew discovered blood under the sink, but Frost knew they wouldn't get any DNA hits if it was the killer's blood. Outside the building, Eve and Frost encountered Detective Lenore Ingersoll who introduced herself, offering some free advice. She said the case would drag Eve down if she stuck with it. After she left, Greg confided that Ingersoll was from Internal Affairs. He was under investigation for some missing bearer bonds from when he worked fraud. In the meantime, he told Eve to go clean up. He and she would be the ones to deliver the bad news to Thea Crane's parents.

Now, Eve is in the Nashua Street Jail in Boston, and Ingersoll has little time for Eve's story that the shooting she's in for was witchcraft. Eve won't change that story, though - because it's the truth.

Appearing in "Dark Endeavors, Part One"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Boston Police Department
    • Greg Frost (Flashback only)
    • Doyle Donovan (Flashback only)
    • Eddie Wachowski
    • Esparanza
  • Bianca Morelli
  • Lacey

Antagonists:

  • Lenore Ingersoll (Flashback and main story)
  • Patrick Finn

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:


Vehicles:



Notes



See Also


Links and References

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