Page 112 of Deliver us from Evil

She scoots closer. “I tell you what, Justin. Let’s have a nap, me and you. And when we wake up, your mommy will be here.”

Justin shakes his head. “I’m not tired.”

“I know.” She moves a lock of hair off his forehead, and looks straight at the camera. “But it will make the time go by so fast.”

Rube clears his throat. “Is that Monica?” he asks, looking up at Apollo and Cass.

“Who else?” Cass says. Apollo nods.

Rube doesn’t look at the camera again. “How does this help?”

Cass frowns. “Gabriel said Apollo should show this to Trinity. I’m guessing he told her Monica was involved, and she wouldn’t believe him.”

“Yeah, she didn’t mention any of that to us,” Apollo adds.

I’m looking at them too, but I can still hear what’s going on. The rustle of fabric. The cooing sounds Monica makes.

Rube goes to turn off the cell phone, but I stop him. His head whips to look at me. “Really?” he murmurs. “You really want to watch?”

“It’s not in a basement,” I tell him.

“Does it matter?” His voice drops low and deep. “You know what’s going to happen. Why the fuck do you have to watch it?”

“Because it’s not in a basement!”

Apollo leans back from my yell. I rake my fingers through my hair and snatch the phone from Rube’s hand. I move my finger over the time bar.

There’s a brief snatch of Monica’s voice.

…show my husband what a handsome boy you are, Justin…doesn’t that feel nice…don’t cry now…

“This didn’t happen in a basement. This boy isn’t one of us.”

“And that makes it okay?” Cass begins, indignation rife on his voice.

“Just fucking listen to me!” I pause the video, hesitate as I check the screen, then hold it up Cass. “There. See?”

Cass glances at it, and then immediately looks away. “Jesus Christ, you’re a sick fuck,” he mutters, and his face goes a shade whiter.

“Not…fuck…” I grit my teeth. “Look past the fucking bed. Behind it. There’s a window. See? The curtains are open.”

“Yeah, sure, I believe you,” Cass says, but only looking at me out of the corner of his eye, not at the screen. “First prize, Zach.”

“Wait…are you saying…” Apollo reaches for the phone, but then plucks his hand away. “Is there like a landmark or something?” he glances at Cass, bumps him with an elbow. “We could use it to triangulate the location of the house.” And then his face falls. “But this must have been taken years ago. What’s the point?”

“The point is, she didn’t bother trying to hide anything. She didn’t pull the curtains. She used the boy’s real name.” I tap my fingernail on the screen, but then hurriedly lock the phone when the video starts playing again.

Everyone goes rigid, jaws clenching, glaring at me.

“Sorry,” I murmur.

They don’t need to hear that.

Fuck,Ididn’t need to hear that.

“She felt comfortable enough to shoot a video on her phone and not worry about someone finding it.”

“It was password protected,” Rube says.

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