Page 10 of Dead Evil
“I remember now,” Fitzgibbon said. He turned back to Jude. “You’re saying Agatha Louise is a guest in his museum?”
“Yeah,” Jude agreed. “The doll was put on display with a write up of her kills and warnings not to insult the doll. The second day Agatha Louise was on display, a young man and his girlfriend made the mistake of laughing at the doll’s melted face. He and his girlfriend were run down by a hit and run driver. The boyfriend died at the scene. The girlfriend woke up in the hospital and wrote a letter to the doll, begging her forgiveness. She lost a leg but survived. The letter is now on display at the museum. A week later, a man was heard calling her U-G-L-Y. He dropped dead on the spot. Massive aneurysm.”
“I swear to God, Jude, if you’re fucking with us,” Ronan began.
“Look up her bio on the museum’s website,” Jude offered.
“How was the doll stopped from adding more victims to her kill list?” Fitz asked, looking scared to death.
“Bulletproof glass. It’s the only thing that’s worked so far. Her exhibit is surrounded by warnings not to take her picture or make eye contact.”
“And you believe this story?” Fitz asked.
“Hell yeah! I can’t wait to see her.” Jude grinned from ear to ear.
“If everything you’ve just said is true, why on earth would they risk moving her? What if she brought down the plane she was flying on, derailed a train, sent a Greyhound bus over a cliff?” Ronan’s heart started to pound. He was terrified.
“Devin travels with her every year to Paranormal Phantasmagoria. It’s only a ten hour drive from Tampa to NOLA. It’s nearly twenty six hours to Salem, so I didn’t think she was coming, but she is! I can’t wait to tell Cope!” Jude popped out of his seat. “I’ve gotta get back to work!” he called as he ran out the door.
Ronan was gobsmacked by Jude’s enthusiasm for the doll. “Do you believe the story?”
Fitzgibbon’s eyes darkened. He nodded and made a motion like he was zipping his lips shut. “We’ll just keep the kids away from her and everything will be fine.” Fitz got up and followed Jude out of the room. “Let’s grab tacos in an hour. I’m starving!”
It seemed that the tale of Agatha Louise the serial killer doll hadn’t phased Fitz one bit. Ronan on the other hand was scared out of his mind. He wanted to run home and grab his rosary and bathe in holy water.
Not only did Ronan have to worry about keeping his family and city safe from demon hunters, a homophobic white supremacist hate group and its rabid followers, but now also from a murderous doll who could take out the entire auditorium in the blink of her one good eye.
What the hell was next? A plague of locusts? The Apocalypse?
5
Tennyson
Ten sat at the kitchen table slicing a large red tomato from their garden, while Ronan finished frying bacon for BLTs. Everly was tearing apart a head of iceberg lettuce. Ezra was at Cope’s with Lizbet. Jude would be here at any second with Kaye. “I would feel so much better if you’d tell me what’s going on.” Ten had tried reading Ronan several times since he’d gotten home from work, with no luck. Everly couldn’t read him either, which worried Ten even more.
“We want to talk to Kaye about King of Deliverance. Also, Jude and I found out more information about KOD and the D-E-M-O-N hunters.”
“I can spell demon, Daddy.” Everly rolled her eyes.
“Of course you can,” Ronan said. “I’m just worried about the convention and want you as far away from it as possible.”
“No! No way! You promised I could go.” Everly crossed her arms over her chest. “I want to meet other gifted kids like me. I need my own psychic girl squad.”
“Ronan, why don’t we hear what you and Jude have to say and then the three of us can decide about Everly’s involvement in the convention?” Ten felt a headache coming on. He got up from the table and washed his hands in the sink before grabbing two Advil from the bottle and dry-swallowing them.
“No promises,” Ronan said, as the doorbell rang. He left the room to answer it.
“He’s really worried about something. Not just his usual kind of worry,” Everly said. “Actually, I think Daddy’s afraid of something.”
“I think so too,” Ten agreed. “Some of what Ronan and Jude want to talk about might not be appropriate for you to hear.”
“I understand,” Everly said, bowing her head.
“You do?” Ten asked, sounding stunned. “I was expecting a little pushback.”
Everly grinned. “Oh, I’ve got alotof pushback, Dad, but we all know the more information I have the better.”
Ten sighed. He knew his daughter was right. “Let’s see what happens.”
