“I thought that was the plan. She goes home and we take her.”
Gerlach shook his head. “That was a possibly contingency. There are a lot of ways this thing could still go.”
They watched Dana walk away.
“I could put a bullet in her from here,” said Danny, reaching back to pat the sniper rifle in its case on the backseat. “One shot and we close the book on her.”
“Maybe,” said Gerlach. “That’s another contingency.”
“So … what are we supposed to do?”
“We follow her and see what she’s up to.”
Danny started the car. “Say, boss … what do we do about Angelo Luz?”
Gerlach gave that a few moments’ thought. “That’s a whole different problem,” he said.
“Do we, um, have contingencies for that?”
The red-haired agent smiled. “We always have contingencies, kid.”
The black sedan drifted along a block and half behind Dana Scully, moving silent as a shadow.
CHAPTER 76
Beyond Beyond
9:13 A.M.
“Dana,” said Corinda, a bright smile blossoming on her face as she looked up from the counter. “I’m surprised to see you this early. Don’t you have school today?”
Dana marched up to the counter and slapped both her hands down on it, making Corinda jump. There were only a handful of customers in the place, each dressed for yoga and heading toward the back, with their rubber mats rolled up under their arms. They glanced at Dana, clearly reading the fury and tension in the taut lines of her posture. Dana ignored them and leaned forward and nearly spat her reply at Corinda. “I got suspended.”
“Suspended? Why?”
“You’re the great psychic. I thought you’d already know.”
Corinda’s smile leaked away. “Okay, you’re clearly upset. Your aura is crackling with negative energy.”
“My aura’s fine,” snapped Dana. “My life’s falling apart and it’s your fault.”
“Mine?” Corinda looked truly surprised. “How is it my fault that you got into trouble at school?”
“How? How?”
“Stop yelling.”
“You went to the cops. You were all over TV. Your face is in the papers. I think you know.”
Corinda hustled out from behind the counter, took her by the arm, and half led, half pulled her to the table on the other side of the screen. “You need to sit and calm down, Dana.”
“Why? Because you don’t want people to know what kind of egotistical jerk you are?”
“No, because this is a sacred place of spirit and there is a yoga class starting. Show some respect.”
Dana lowered her voice but not her intensity. She sat with her back to the partition but leaned across the table to hiss at Corinda. “Sunlight was going to talk to the sheriff.”
“I know.”
“So why did you?”
“Because he was thinking about it and I didn’t think we could afford to wait any longer. I did try to find him, though, but he was out. I waited as long as I could, and then I drove over to the sheriff’s office.”
“You made this all about you,” said Dana. “You made this all about the great and powerful psychic Corinda Howell.”
Corinda’s eyes narrowed. “What exactly would you have had me do? Tell everyone that a fifteen-year-old girl was seeing angels and devils? That the dead were talking to you?”
“It’s the truth.”
“Sorry to break it to you, sweetie, but the truth isn’t always the best thing. If I’d told the absolute truth, they’d have put you in the spotlight. What chance would you ever have for a normal life? They already think I’m weird. I’m the strange lady who runs that weirdo store in town and does tarot card readings and talks to the spirit world. That’s me and that’s who I am already. If people think I’m some kind of nut, it won’t exactly be a news flash. But, Dana, you’re new here in town. You’re still a kid. I know what it’s like to be strange in school. I was mocked and made fun of my whole life. I never had a chance for a normal life. Never. You still do. I can make it so that the thing that happened to you in the locker room was because of your exposure to me. I can sell that and people will buy it. The focus won’t be on you, and after a while people won’t even care about that. Not even the kids at school. The story is already so much bigger than your vision of Maisie that you aren’t even mentioned in the papers. You’re mad at me because I’m taking credit for it? Sure. Be mad, that’s okay. And later on when you’re able to make friends at school and meet guys and go to proms and have a regular life, maybe you’ll take your ego out of high gear and realize that what I did was done out of empathy and compassion for you.”
Dana sat there, stunned into silence.