It was stupid.
That thought flashed through her mind as she charged Angelo. He was still off balance, and she slammed into him with both hands outstretched, sending him crashing into a table of crystals. He hit the table and went over it, falling hard with a dozen wickedly sharp pieces of rutilated quartz crunching down on him. The silver knife went spinning off toward the back of the store. Dana jumped over the table and tried to land on his stomach with both feet, hoping to knock the wind out of Angelo, but he twisted away. Her feet thumped onto the floor beside him and one of her heels crunched down on Angelo’s left hand. He cried out in pain and lashed out with his shin, sweeping her legs from under her, and she went down hard on her butt. Pain shot from her tailbone all the way up through her head, and she pitched sideways. Angelo climbed clumsily to his feet, bleeding from a score of cuts on his face and body.
“Stop it,” he yelled, but then he staggered as Corinda stepped out of nowhere and hit him across the lower back with a big Australian didgeridoo that was longer and heavier than a baseball bat. She swung it awkwardly but with great force, and Angelo went flying into another table and fell with copies of astrology books scattering around him.
Dana reached for something to throw, but the table closest to her was full of little knickknacks and tribal fertility statues, most of them weighing less than half a pound. Even so, she began hurling them as fast as she could as once more Angelo fought his way back to his feet.
Despite being bashed and cut, he came up quickly and began slapping the figurines out of the air with one hand.
“Will. You. Stop. It,” he said, punctuating each word with a hard slap.
“I got him,” yelled Corinda, and she swung the didgeridoo again, but this time Angelo was ready. He stepped into the swing, caught the instrument with the same hand he had been using to deflect the figurines, and tore it from Corinda’s grip. Angelo snarled and flung the thing halfway across the store, where it crashed through a mass of wind chimes.
Dana dived for one of the bigger chunks of quartz, but Angelo beat her to it and kicked it out of the way as deftly as a soccer goalie thwarting a shot.
“STOP!” he roared, with such force that it froze them all. He stood there, panting, shaking his head. “This isn’t what you think.”
“You killed them all,” said Dana. “You’re a monster.”
He stared at her with a look that was nothing like what she expected. Instead of triumph or hate or contempt, Angelo’s face crumpled into a mask of pain. Of grief. Tears glittered in the corners of his eyes.
“No,” he said. “I never killed anyone.”
“You killed Karen Allenby,” said Dana.
He looked startled. “Karen’s dead?”
“Don’t play innocent. You killed her. That’s her blood all over you. You broke out of jail and killed her.”
“You’re loco, chica. I broke out of jail to kill someone, but not Karen. No way. She was one of the nice ones. I’d never hurt her. I busted out of jail because no one believes me, and if I couldn’t set things straight, they’d put me in the electric chair.”
“You’re a liar and a psychopath,” said Corinda.
“You call me a liar? Eso es gracioso,” he said. “That’s really funny coming from you.”
“Really?” sneered Dana. “You’re a psycho, Angelo. You would have killed me last night if I hadn’t outrun you.”
“Outrun me? You really are loco,” laughed Angelo. “After you freaked out at the school, I followed you to try to explain. I lost you for a moment, and then I saw you lying on the grass outside that house. I watched from across the street until you got up. I followed you every step of the way to make sure no one hurt you. You think I wanted to hurt you? If that’s what you think, then you’re nuts.”
“Don’t even try,” warned Dana, hefting a sharp piece of quartz. “I found out that was Karen’s house. Is that why you picked her, because you saw me in her yard?”
“That was Karen’s house?” he said, seeming to be surprised. “I … didn’t know that.”
“Don’t lie. You had that knife and you’re covered with her blood.”
“Her blood?” Angelo looked at his clothes and then at his right shoulder. He tried to raise that hand, but it only twitched, and Dana realized that during the entire fight, Angelo had only used his left hand. He licked his lips. “I…”
Then his legs suddenly buckled and he fell hard on his kneecaps.
Corinda took that moment to grab another didgeridoo, and she raised it to swing at his head, but Dana yelled, “No!”
Angelo sagged down and lay on his back. Dana crept toward him.