Devil's Advocate (The X-Files: Origins #2)(87)

Melissa looked as dazed as if she had been hit by a stun gun. “Was it another car accident?”

“No,” said Dana. “She was stabbed on the soccer field.”

The horror of that—both the way Karen was killed and where she was killed—sucked all the air out of the room.

“We have to call Corinda,” gasped Melissa. “Maybe Angelo had an accomplice and she can find out who it is. She’ll help us and—”

“Gah, you’re useless,” growled Dana.

She shoved Melissa back onto the bed, spun on her heel, and ran from the room. She was halfway down the stairs when she realized that her parents were still on the porch. Then a figure stepped out of the shadows of the den. Gran. Smiling a strange and distant smile.

“You used to like to ride your bike, Margaret dear,” asked Gran. “Why don’t you ride your bike anymore?”

Dana blinked. “Bike? Great idea. Thanks, Gran.”

She kissed her grandmother and took a step toward the backyard, but the old woman caught her arm and held her with surprising strength.

“Be careful, Dana Katherine Scully. So many people love you. So many people need you. Even some you haven’t met yet.”

“What?”

The clutching hand lost its strength and Gran gave her an empty smile. “You always loved your bike.”

She let go and wandered back into the darkened den. Dana wanted to ask her what she meant, but there wasn’t time, so she headed out the back door, grabbed a heavy hood-sweater off a peg by the door, took her bike from where it stood against the shed, and walked it quickly through the gate and down the back alley. She mounted it when she reached the cross street, and then she bore down and flew into the night.

It took no time at all to reach Main Street, and she cut right and raced in and out of traffic. It was after nine and there were only a few cars. She saw the sign for Beyond Beyond ahead of her. The window lights were off, and her heart sank, but as she skidded to a stop, Dana saw Corinda inside, standing beneath a single light, totaling the front register. Dana dropped her bike in the middle of the pavement and jerked open the door.

“Sorry, we’re closed,” said Corinda without looking up.

“Believe me,” said Dana, “I’m not here to have my aura read.”

Corinda looked up. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s what I’m here to ask you,” Dana fired back. “Did you hear the news?”

“What news? Did you go to the TV people to say that it’s all you and that I’m nothing but a fraud? Isn’t that the story you’re telling people?”

“I want to punch you right now. No. I mean the news about Karen Allenby.”

Corinda sighed impatiently. “What about her?”

Dana leaned on the counter and shouted it in Corinda’s face. “Karen’s dead! Someone killed her, and it wasn’t Angelo Luz, because he’s in jail thanks to you.”

“No…,” said Corinda in a tiny voice. “No, that’s impossible.”

“Why? Because you’re this big, infallible psychic? Because you’re Corinda Howell and you can’t be wrong? Well, guess what? All that psychic stuff is pure crap, and you know it. You’re nothing. No, I’m wrong about that. You’re responsible for Karen. Because of you, the cops stopped looking for who really killed everyone, and now Karen’s dead and it’s on you.”

“No, no, I told them what I knew.… This is wrong. It can’t be true.”

“What made you so sure it was Angelo anyway?”

“All the signs point to him, Dana.”

“Signs? Signs? How about facts? How about evidence?”

“Belief does not require proof,” said Corinda sagely, “not in the presence of true intuition.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“You don’t understand.…”

“Understand what? You’re saying you don’t really have proof that Angelo is the killer? You told the police he was. You somehow convinced them.”

“And what did he do? He ran away. I think that’s proof enough.”

“No it’s not!” roared Dana. “All you do is lie and make excuses and hurt people, Corinda. What’s wrong with you? Are you hiding something else? Is that it?” Dana pounded her fist on the counter. “Is that what this is all about? Are you the one who’s helping the killer? Or are you the one selling that stupid Eclipse stuff? Is that what you put in my tea so I’d freak out? What did Angelo do to you? Did he know you were dealing drugs out of here and you lied about him to get him out of the way? I’ll bet that’s it.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no!” babbled Corinda.

“Are you dealing drugs out of here? Did you slip me some Eclipse?”

“Don’t be absurd.”

“I’m serious as a heart attack, Corinda. They found it in my blood, and now I’m wondering if you used it to spike my tea.”

“I would never do something like that, Dana, I swear,” said Corinda, backing away so that her shoulders hit the partition hard enough to knock it from its hooks. It crashed down to the floor, exposing the booth behind it. Dana thought it was a great statement about how Corinda managed her whole psychic con game.