'Tucker Adams was kiled in 1943 when inner-circle member Henry Arlen Preston died, and Anthony Alen Birkby joined the elite. When Sheldon Brodie drowned in 1949, Martin Patrick Veckhoff was the new inner-circle choice and Edna Farrel was his victim. Anthony Alen Birkby perished in a car wreck a decade later, his son was given the inner-circle nod, and Charlie Wayne Tramper ended up on the Communion table.'

'Wasn't Tramper kiled by a bear?'

'Young Birkby may have cheated a bit. The Tramper funeral was where Parker Davenport met Simon Midkiff, by the way. Midkiff knew Tramper through his research on the Cherokee.'

'Did Midkiff know what had happened to Tramper?'

'Claims he had no clue.'

'How did Midkiff get hooked up with H&F?'

'In 1955 the young professor was newly arrived from England, and had been told to look up Prentice Dashwood, an old family friend. Dashwood recruited Midkiff into H&F.'

'He never made it to the inner circle.'

'No.'

'But Davenport did.'

'Folowing the Tramper funeral, Midkiff gradualy introduced Davenport to the brothers. The idea of an intelectual elite appealed to Davenport, and he joined up.'

'Even though he was from Swain County, Davenport had never known about the lodge?'

'Not before he joined. Apparently no one did. These guys were amazing at keeping themselves hidden. They'd sneak in and out after dark. Over the years, everyone forgot the place was there.'

'Everyone except old Edward Arthur and Luke Bowman's father.'

'Right.' McMahon perused the contents of a drawer as if unsure whether to pack or discard them.

'And the club put nothing on paper.'

'Very little.'

He emptied the drawer into the box, reinserted it in the desk, opened another.

'What is al this shit?' He straightened and looked at me. 'Continuing with the chronology, John Morgan died in 1972, Mary Francis Rafferty was kiled, and F. L. Warren moved up. By this time, Midkiff was getting disenchanted. He quit shortly after that.'

'So he may not have been a party to any murders.'

'It looks that way. But Davenport's dirty. In 1979 he was chosen to replace Wiliam Glenn Sherman in the inner circle. Davenport's canap� was the unidentified black male.'

'Was it significant that the victims were drawn from different races and both sexes?'

'The idea was to maximize the breadth of spiritual intake.'

'Jesus.'

'Kendal Rolins succumbed to leukemia in 1986 and his son Paul took his place.'

'Albert Odel was the victim?'

'Correct.'

McMahon dumped the second drawer.

'What happened with Jeremiah Mitchel and George Adair?'