Melissa picked up the phone and made another call. When Karen came back on the line, Melissa said, “Hey, listen, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out. But with everything going on and … Yeah, so we’re cool? Good. I wanted to bring up two more things. Don’t hang up until I tell you, okay? Yes? Good.” Melissa explained about Angelo being creepy and chasing Dana, and about the eclipse tattoo that Angelo had and how that tied into the jewelry or tattoo on each of the victims. Melissa suddenly winced and held the phone away from her ear.
“What happened?” asked Dana.
“She hung up on me. Very loudly. Probably broke the phone slamming it down like that.”
They went back into Dana’s room and sat on the floor with their backs against the bed. The chair was back in place against the door. Melissa shifted around and studied Dana’s face.
“What…?” asked Dana.
“Shame about Ethan,” said Melissa. “Never spotted him for being a sexist jerk.”
Dana felt her chest tighten. She was so mad at Ethan, but at the same time she wanted to talk to him. She didn’t want to talk to Melissa about it, though, so she changed the subject. “What if what I saw was a vision of what’s going to happen? Maybe not tonight, but sometime soon. If the angel is going after Karen next and she won’t listen, don’t I have a responsibility to do something more, no matter what happens to Ethan or me?”
They sat there, listening to the wind blow through the trees outside.
“Man, I don’t even know what to say about that,” said Melissa.
“We have to do something,” insisted Dana.
Downstairs they heard the front door slam the way it always did when Dad came home.
Melissa smiled. “I think we call in the big guns.”
CHAPTER 70
Scully Residence
8:22 P.M.
They sat at the kitchen table with both of their parents. Charlie was out in the yard chasing the sprites and fairies Gran had told him were hiding out there. The TV was on in the living room, but no one watching.
Mom made tea and laid out some cookies. No one touched anything except Dad, who slowly ate his way through a dozen fig bars while he listened. He did not interrupt once, which Dana took as a good sign.
Melissa said very little, except to agree with what Dana said.
As Dana laid it out, though, she downplayed the visions and emphasized all the hard evidence.
First she went through her dream of Maisie and the strange encounter in the locker room, and what appeared to be the wounds of Jesus. From there she went through the case files and detailed the wounds of the apostles and how they were cited on the autopsy reports, but how those injuries were hidden among the greater damage inflicted by car accidents. She produced the photocopies she’d made at the library and pointed out the matching wounds.
Then she showed them a sketch of the eclipse symbol that was noted in the autopsy reports and collected evidence logs.
Her parents sat as still and expressionless as the big stone heads on Easter Island. When Dana cut a look at Melissa, her sister gave her a weak but encouraging smile.
Dana plunged on and went over the toxicology reports next, and the fact that it disproved the thought that any of the victims were driving drunk but also showed something in their blood. A substance she hadn’t figured out yet.
No reaction from anyone at the table.
She told them about Sunlight, though she skirted around the astral projection part. She said that he was considering talking to the sheriff but hadn’t done it yet. Dana insisted that they couldn’t wait, that something had to be done now.
No reaction.
Dana circled back to the eclipse symbol as a way of laying out the case against Angelo Luz. She told them about the scars on his hand that Corinda had seen in her vision, and how they matched the scars on Angelo’s hand.
She told them about being chased. That was the first time her mother reacted at all. Mom began to reach across the table to take Dana’s hand, but Dad stopped her with a curt flick of his hand. Mom withdrew her hand, and Dana could see her shutting down, dropping the blinds over the hurt in her eyes.
By the time she was done, Dana had told more than she wanted to. She laid her soul bare, and as she did so, it occurred to her how weird it sounded. Being fifteen did not help.
When she was finished, Mom looked at the two sisters and then at Dad. She had not said a single word the whole time.
Dad finished chewing the last bite of his fig bar, washed it down with a long drink of cold tea, set the cup down very carefully and precisely, and then folded his hands together atop the dining room table.
“Well,” he said calmly, “that is quite a tale.”
The kitchen was so quiet they could hear Charlie asking Gran a question about tree sprites and canned laughter from a TV sitcom.
“We need to call the sheriff’s department tonight,” said Melissa. “We can’t let another minute go by.”
“Right,” agreed Dana. “Something bad could happen to Ethan or Karen.”
“Something bad could happen to Dana,” said Melissa, and that made Mom’s eyes twitch.
“And we need to get them to arrest Angelo.”
“Enough,” said Dad, his voice very soft.
“But we—” began Dana, but suddenly Dad rose up and slapped his palm down on the table so hard it was like a shotgun blast. Everyone recoiled, the teacups danced, and one spilled.