SEVERAL YEARS AGO The sounds of gunfire started just as we were getting into position. that wasn’t supposed to happen–we were supposed to be among the first in. Had we already lost the element of surprise? That didn’t bode well. Not at all.
PRESENT DAY Between Michael, Father Antonio, and Amira, we didn’t have the slightest problem getting into Vatican City, despite the late hour. No one even seemed to notice us, although if that was the norm or some sort of supernatural intervention on Michael’s part I couldn’t have said.
PRESENT DAY “What happened to you?” Direct seemed the way to go
He seemed to be having trouble catching his breath. “Big dog.”
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO I never would have expected to be going back to Mrs. Claire’s so soon. But I needed supplies. If I could believe what Sister Kat had said–and I had no particular reason to doubt her–then there were things that I wouldn’t have the first idea how to find.
But I knew someone who did.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO I made call after call to my fellow priests around the diocese, yet I wasn’t having any luck narrowing down exactly what I was supposed to do about the situation. Really, there were two problems that were getting in my way.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO I took a gun.
In hindsight–which is of course 20/20–that may not have been the best idea I’d ever had.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO After that all together too depressing exit, I was more than ready to leave Mrs. Claire’s. Now I knew that she had been telling the truth–she was being haunted. So far as if Alex was actually having any effect on her business, I couldn’t say for sure, but that was a completely secondary motivation. And then there was Alex’s request. That was something to think about.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO “There has to be more to it then that.” I could feel the pitch of my voice rising, but there was little I could do to control it. He just wasn’t willing to listen to reason and it was extremely frustrating.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO
Apparently Alex and Amanda had dated, back before he’d died. Mrs. Claire didn’t know how long before, if they’d broken up or not, and the way the two of them were glaring at each other and circling, I wasn’t particularly keen on breaking in to ask.
PRESENT DAY I drove. And while I drove, I filled Father Antonio and Amira in on at least so much as I knew about the entire situation. They were adequately surprised and disbelieving–at first–when I told them that the lady who had threatened us was actually a giant dog; neither had actually heard of any such thing before.