Demonologist (44 page)
He pulled away. “If I was possessed by something, and if it made me do these terrible things I had no control over…then how can I be the one responsible?”
Danto shook his head. “There’s no logical way you can explain it all to the police, Bev. I can back you up…but no one’s going to buy it.”
Tears filled Kristin’s eyes. “What are we gonna do?” she cried, her voice edging on panic.
Bev took a sip of water.
All of a sudden, an idea crossed his mind.
A way out of the mess.
Could it work?
“Kristin…I need you to get me some clothes, and some food. I’m going to leave here, leave L.A.”
“How?” Danto asked. “How can you possibly hide from the authorities?”
“Tell the police that we were all a part of the cult. Tell them that you haven’t seen me since you fled the fire, and that you believe I committed suicide as a part of the ritual, and that my body probably burned in the house. They’ll assume me dead amongst all the bodies. There’s no way they’ll be able to identify everyone in there.”
Danto nodded. “Not a bad idea. Just might work.”
Kristin hugged Bev. “Stay right here, Daddy. I’ll be back with some clothes and food for you.”
“You have any money?” Bev asked.
She stopped.
Danto said, “I’ll go. Kristin, stay here with Bev. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”
She rubbed her face nervously, then nodded and sat next to Bev on the bed, holding his hand. “Will it work, Dad?”
Bev nodded. “It has to.”
Danto gazed at them. He then turned, and opened the door.
A gun was pointed in his face.
Someone shouted: “
Slowly, put your hands on top of your head
.”
Bev sat in shocked silence as the police rushed the room. They pulled Kristin away from him, leapt him, twisted him around, cuffed him at gunpoint as he lay face down on the bed.
He closed his eyes, listening to the officer shouting in his ear: “Bev
Mathers
, you are under arrest for the murder of Jake Ritchie. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do….”
Bev sat in the guarded jail room, opposite his attorney.
Dave Collins wore a blue suit and red tie. Sweat coated his forehead. Bev twisted uncomfortably in the metal chair, handcuffs chafing his wrists.
“How did they know we were there? At the motel?”
“The kid working the desk recognized Thomas Danto when he checked in. The story had been all over the news for most of the night.”
Bev shook his head. “I didn’t do it.”
“Bev,” Collins said, the frustration evident in his tone. “Your prints were a match to those found at Ritchie’s murder scene. They were also everywhere in the rectory—they were in the cop’s blood, for Christ’s sake. Listen, do us both a favor—tell me the truth. There’s a mountain of evidence against you. My only suggestion is a plea, which will get you life. Otherwise, given the nature of the crime, prosecution will seek the death penalty.”
Bev stared blankly at the smooth gray surface of the table. “What about Danto?”
“Exonerated. Prosecution is using him as a witness.”
“And my daughter?”
“She’s our star witness. Right now she’s blaming it all on the cult—not sure how that will help us, but it’s a long shot we have no choice but to take.”
Kristin…thank you
. “Can I see her?”
Collins nodded. “She’s outside.” The lawyer stood and exited the room.
Moments later a police guard escorted Kristin into the room. Despite the stress of everything, she looked good. Made up. Black skirt. Tan blouse. Very professional.
She paced slowly across the room and sat across from Bev.
He moved to take her hand.
She resisted.
“Kristin?”
She stared intensely at him. Then turned and eyed the guard. The guard stared back.
“Kristin?” Bev whispered.
She looked back at him. Grinned.
Not
her
smile. Still, there was a strange familiarity to it.
And then, she spoke.
In a whispering voice wasn’t hers: “I can restore all your memories.”
Bev’s mouth fell. His heart slammed against his chest as his mind was instantly inundated with every minute detail of the events that had taken place at
In Domo
. He shuddered, then rubbed his chest furiously.
He gazed back at his daughter.
Not his daughter.
Allieb.
“Where is Kristin?” he asked, trembling.
Allieb grinned. “She’s in here…with me.”
“No…”
“I can get you out of here, Bev. Come with me if you want to see Kristin again. Or…you can spend the rest of your life in jail.”
“Kristin…”
She’s in here…with me
. Then, he asked, “How?”
“What is your decision?”
Bev nodded. “Just let me see my daughter.”
Her face shifted a touch. Suddenly, her feminine voice fell from her lips. “Daddy…daddy, is that you? Please....please,
help me
.”
Her countenance shifted back, and
Allieb’s
personality returned. “Well…what is your choice?”
“I remember…Satan had said that he was going to take your soul.”
Allieb smiled, Kristin’s lips thinning ever more slightly than usual. “Don’t you know by now that the Devil is a liar?”
Bev swallowed.
Kristin needs me
.
“It’s your only way out of here.”
He nodded.
At once Bev felt a slight scratching in his head. As though a fingernail was digging in the thin space between his skull and brain. An odor of burning limestone filled his nose.
And then he felt himself falling down, down, down, deep into the bowels of Kristin’s body, where she waited for him, burning in the torturous acids of her stomach.
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