The questions kept coming in, and Corinda answered them, detailing how she began having visions of the murders and saw the face of the killer in her mind.
“At first he disguised himself,” explained Corinda, “projecting an image of one of the Watcher angels, a grigori, and then as a nephilim, the offspring of an angel who married a human woman in ancient Canaan. Then I understood right away that these projections were part of his delusions, that this was how he saw himself. Psychotics are like that, you know. Over time, though, I was able to break through his defenses and pull off the mask and see his true face. That’s when I knew that I had to come straight to the sheriff’s department in order to prevent this madman from doing more harm to the beautiful children of our community.”
“She’s doing it,” whispered Melissa, grabbing Dana’s hand, “she’s taking the fall for you … for all of it.”
“And that led me to consider other ways in which the killer’s religious mania could have manifested in his crimes,” continued Corinda. “Maisie Bell had appeared in a vision to a girl at her school, and it was immediately clear to me that she had received the wounds of Jesus, that the killer had tried to simulate stigmata. I made the intuitive leap to the other deaths, and I told the sheriff’s department to look for wounds that correspond with the deaths of the apostles, specifically James the Greater, James the Less, Saint Peter, Doubting Thomas, and even Judas.”
The image cut away to the news anchor in the studio.
“We’ll have more from Corinda Howell, owner of Beyond Beyond on Route 302A, which is Main Street in Craiger. Miss Howell is a professional psychic who reached out to authorities today to help them investigate the case of the string of tragic deaths of teenagers. And this just in,” said the anchor, turning to accept a sheet of crisp paper. “Sources within the Craiger sheriff’s department have issued an arrest warrant for Angelo Luz, a nineteen-year-old Latino male. Luz is wanted in connection with the deaths of those six teenagers.”
“Oh my God…,” whispered Dana.
CHAPTER 71
Scully Residence
April 6, 12:18 A.M.
Melissa crept into Dana’s room after midnight. She closed the door and came into Dana’s bed and under the blankets with her, pulling them all the way over their heads the way they had when both of them were little girls. The rest of the house was dead quiet now that Dad had stopped yelling, and he had yelled a lot and for a long, long time. Eventually, he had exiled the sisters to their rooms and there were growled promises of consequences to come. Mom tried to intervene, but that turned into a more private war behind their bedroom door, and the muffled thunder of it filled the house for nearly forty minutes.
Now Dana and Melissa lay with their heads on the same pillow, faces inches apart, talking quietly in the dark.
“Why did she do it?” asked Dana. “Why would Corinda do this?”
“Do what?” said Melissa.
“Lie like that.”
Melissa shook her head. “Is that really how you see it? ’Cause I don’t. I think what she did was smart and brave.”
Dana propped herself up on one elbow. “Brave? Smart? How?”
“She took as much of this off you as possible.”
“Right, she made it all about her. Sunlight was going to go to the sheriff. She must have stolen the idea from him.”
“That’s ridiculous. And what does it matter who told the cops? That’s exactly what we wanted to happen,” insisted Melissa. “How does it matter to you who actually talked to the sheriff? You don’t own all this, Dana. This is the real world. Sunlight would have done it the same way, which means he’d have left you out of it, too.”
“Sunlight would have done it without TV reporters and being the center of attention. The way Corinda did it was cheap. It was all ‘look at me.’ It was all about her taking credit for everything.”
“Credit? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Corinda made it look like she was the one solving this case,” said Dana, thumping her mattress with a fist.
“Well, excuse me. Since when are you a cop? Hate to break it to you, sis, but you’re fifteen. You’re not police, you’re not FBI, you’re not Sherlock Holmes.”
“But I figured a lot of this out.”
“Right, and who would believe you if you went to the cops? No one. What would happen, though, is everyone would be looking at you as the weird girl who sees dead people. And you know who else would be looking? The killer.”
“Angelo already knows I know. He chased me, remember?”
“Sure, but he doesn’t know what else you know. Corinda’s letting herself be the target instead of you. Just like Sunlight would have done. Or maybe she’s smarter because she didn’t wait to have a quiet word with the sheriff. She came right out and said it to everyone. That takes the whole spotlight off you. Why can’t you get that? Corinda did it to protect you.”