Exorcist Road Read Free

to grab his hands so he wouldn’t hurt himself anymore, but before either Ron or Liz knew what was happening, Casey had lashed out, torn a gash along his mother’s hairline. Liz was too stunned to react, but Casey never hesitated. He belted her in the face. By that time Ron was over there too—so was Carolyn; somewhere along the line, she’d come in—but Ron was no match for his son. Casey heaved him across the room. Then he got on top of Carolyn. He was…” Danny trailed off, and I saw tears in his eyes, “…Casey was hitting her, but he was fumbling with her…he was trying to do something no brother should do to his sister.”
    My mouth was dry. There was a painful, steady throb in the base of my skull.
    “Liz saw what was happening and went back over there right away.” Danny smiled admiringly. “She’s a hell of a woman, Father. I have no idea why she married that brother of mine. I guess it could be the money, but that doesn’t seem like Liz.”
    “Was she able to get Carolyn away?”
    “Thank God. She pulled Carolyn out from under Casey, but not before Casey smacked Liz in the face again. Anyway, that was about the time Ron was shutting the bedroom door.”
    I shot a look at Danny. “Shutting them in?”
    He looked at me meaningfully. “Not according to Ron. But I’ve got my suspicions. At any rate, they all three got out and were able to keep Casey contained until we got there.”
    “Then what?”
    Even though the only illumination in the cruiser was the blue luminescence of the dash and the occasional sodium streetlight on Rosemary Road, I could see the blood drain from Danny’s face. “Then…” His eyes shifted to something on our right. He signaled. “Here’s Ron’s house. Maybe it’s best for you and Father Sutherland to see for yourselves.”
    My heartbeat quickened. Father Peter Sutherland was the best priest I’d ever met. And my mentor. “He’s here?”
    Danny nodded. “Any minute now.”
    “I’m not sure I understand.”
    Danny glanced at me as we pulled to a stop. “The only way I could persuade Bittner not to take Casey to jail was by telling him we needed to have the boy examined by a priest first.”
    “Danny,” I said. “Are you saying you believe this is a case of demonic possession?”
    He shut off the cruiser and sat there a long moment without answering. When I was about to abandon it as a lost cause, he said, “I don’t know what it is. I’m no expert at that sort of thing. All I know is what I saw in that bedroom, and it was the scariest damned thing I’ve seen in my whole life. The growling and the roaring and the… My God, Father, it was like a horror movie in there. If I hadn’t been there, I’d have said Jack used excessive force. But I was there. I saw Casey going ballistic. It took everything we had just to get him restrained. Then we went to fetch you guys.”
    “How did Bittner get to Father Sutherland’s house?”
    “He took Ronnie’s car. The Mercedes. It’s the car Ron drives when he wants to go slumming.”
    “Why did you have Jack drive your brother’s car?”
    Danny smiled. “First off, I figured you for a tougher sell. Father Sutherland has experience in these matters.”
    “He’ll be skeptical.”
    “Secondly,” he went on as though I hadn’t spoken, “I didn’t want Jack changing his mind and radioing in to headquarters.” Danny tapped the mouthpiece dangling from the dash. “If he was in Ron’s car, he couldn’t use the radio. And Jack doesn’t carry a cell phone.”
    I frowned at Danny in the gloom. “But you just said it yourself—I don’t have any experience. Why was it important for me to get here first?”
    Danny shrugged, not meeting my eyes. “I wanted to make sure I was here to protect Casey when Bittner got back.”
    “Why would you need to protect him from your own partner?”
    “Oh that,” Danny said, and I could see he hadn’t forgotten it at all, but had rather been hoping I wouldn’t ask. “I