Dana leaned on the counter and shouted it in Corinda’s face. “Karen’s dead! Someone killed her, and it wasn’t Angelo Luz, because he’s in jail thanks to you.”
“No…,” said Corinda in a tiny voice. “No, that’s impossible.”
“Why? Because you’re this big, infallible psychic? Because you’re Corinda Howell and you can’t be wrong? Well, guess what? All that psychic stuff is pure crap, and you know it. You’re nothing. No, I’m wrong about that. You’re responsible for Karen. Because of you, the cops stopped looking for who really killed everyone, and now Karen’s dead and it’s on you.”
“No, no, I told them what I knew.… This is wrong. It can’t be true.”
“What made you so sure it was Angelo anyway?”
“All the signs point to him, Dana.”
“Signs? Signs? How about facts? How about evidence?”
“Belief does not require proof,” said Corinda sagely, “not in the presence of true intuition.”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“You don’t understand.…”
“Understand what? You’re saying you don’t really have proof that Angelo is the killer? You told the police he was. You somehow convinced them.”
“And what did he do? He ran away. I think that’s proof enough.”
“No it’s not!” roared Dana. “All you do is lie and make excuses and hurt people, Corinda. What’s wrong with you? Are you hiding something else? Is that it?” Dana pounded her fist on the counter. “Is that what this is all about? Are you the one who’s helping the killer? Or are you the one selling that stupid Eclipse stuff? Is that what you put in my tea so I’d freak out? What did Angelo do to you? Did he know you were dealing drugs out of here and you lied about him to get him out of the way? I’ll bet that’s it.”
“No, no, no, no, no, no!” babbled Corinda.
“Are you dealing drugs out of here? Did you slip me some Eclipse?”
“Don’t be absurd.”
“I’m serious as a heart attack, Corinda. They found it in my blood, and now I’m wondering if you used it to spike my tea.”
“I would never do something like that, Dana, I swear,” said Corinda, backing away so that her shoulders hit the partition hard enough to knock it from its hooks. It crashed down to the floor, exposing the booth behind it. Dana thought it was a great statement about how Corinda managed her whole psychic con game.
“I took some of those tea bags today,” announced Dana, “and I’m going to turn them over to the cops. Then they’ll come here and arrest you and lock you away forever.”
“I never gave you drugs. God, I would never do something like that. You’re only a kid.”
“So was Karen. So were Maisie, Todd, Jeffrey, Chuck, and the others. We were all kids and you tore us apart. Maybe you didn’t hold the knife, but it’s all your fault. And you tried to blame poor Angelo.”
“Angelo’s a monster,” snapped Corinda. “He’s always sneaking around. Always listening at doors and sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. He knew every single one of the kids who died. Did you know that? No, I bet you didn’t. They all came here for classes, and I saw Angelo talking to each and every one of them, one time or another. That’s how he targeted them. He was using this store—my sacred space—to select his victims. If anyone slipped you Eclipse here, it was him. He has to be the one who did this.”
“He’s in jail.”
Suddenly, the store lights went out and the whole place was plunged into darkness. Dana and Corinda both screamed.
Then there was a sound behind them, and a figure stepped out of the darkness in the back of the store, his face lit by weak light that slanted in through the windows. He was broad and muscular, and his clothes were streaked with blood.
“Angelo…?” whispered Corinda as she stepped out from behind the counter.
Angelo took another step forward, and now the light glittered off the sharp knife he held in one bloody fist.
CHAPTER 81
Beyond Beyond
9:19 P.M.
“Corinda, run!” screamed Dana, and shoved the taller woman toward the front door.
“Don’t,” ordered Angelo.
Dana whipped a heavy glass tip jar off the counter and flung it at Angelo, catching him on the cheek. The glass exploded and he reeled away, throwing a hand up to shield his eyes. Corinda cringed back against the wall. Dana was caught in a moment of terrible indecision, and it rooted her to the spot.
Angelo was here, which meant he’d broken out of jail.
Karen was dead.
Angelo was covered in blood, and he had a knife.
Dana felt like the world’s greatest fool, but instead of crippling her with self-hate, her fury welled up and focused like a laser on the monster who had destroyed her entire life.
She knew that she could not possibly hope to beat him.