Exorcist Road Read Online Free PDF Page A

expected more from you, Danny. After we open our house to you. Let you stay these past couple weeks.”
    “Stop it, Ron,” Liz said.
    “Am I lying?” Ron demanded. “Guy says he needs some time to dry out—”
    “You don’t need to bring that up in front of—”
    “Why not, Lizzie?” Ron asked, nodding at Danny, who appeared to be studying the floor. “He brings Bittner here, makes the whole situation escalate… I think everybody’s got a right to hear why Danny’s judgment might be a little clouded.”
    “I haven’t had a drink in a month,” Danny said.
    “You don’t have to explain yourself,” Liz said. She glowered at her husband. “Can we focus on Casey?”
    Ron grunted but didn’t say anything more.
    Liz turned to me, her eyes pleading. “Should we stay, Father Crowder?”
    With Liz so close to me, my mouth went dry. Mustering as much composure as I could, I said, “Perhaps you should join your daughter, Mrs. Hartman. She needs you now as much as Casey does.”
    Liz didn’t look totally convinced, but after a couple seconds she nodded and moved slowly out of the room.
    Bittner waited for Liz to go, then closed the door and said, “Good. Now we can drop the bullshit and find out what all this kid knows.”
    Sutherland looked disapproving, but it was to Danny he addressed his question. “What’s he talking about?”
    Danny colored, looking like he’d rather be anywhere but where he was. “I was hoping he’d tell you on the way over, Father Sutherland. Jack here has this wild theory about Casey being the Sweet Sixteen Killer.”
    A thunderstruck silence took hold of the room. The only sound at all was the raspy susurrus of the boy’s breathing.
    Ron was the first to speak. “What the hell did you just say?”
    Bittner’s lip curled in a snarl. “You heard him.”
    Ron wheeled on Bittner. “Get the fuck out of my house.”
    “You called us here,” Bittner said. “You invited us in. The only reason this little bastard’s not in jail is because he’s Danny’s nephew.”
    Ron stared up at Bittner in disbelief. “What did you just call my son?”
    Danny moved toward them. “Why don’t we all calm down until Father Sutherland takes a look at—”
    “Why the hell didn’t you say something?” Ron barked at his little brother. “How can you let him back into this house knowing what he thinks about my boy? He’s your goddamned nephew . Don’t you care about Casey at all?”
    “Of course I do,” Danny said in a hoarse voice.
    “Then tell this stupid ape to—”
    But before Ron could finish, Jack Bittner had him by the throat. Danny looked as shocked as I was, but he grasped Bittner’s arm in an attempt to intercede. Faster than I would have thought possible, Bittner shoved Danny aside and slammed Ron one-armed against the wall. The picture of LeBron shattered on the floor.
    “Officer Bittner!” Sutherland called, moving toward the pair.
    I could see the striations of Bittner’s right forearm as he squeezed Ron’s throat. Both Ron’s hands were grappling with Bittner’s flexing wrist, but he was having no luck at all breaking Bittner’s iron grip or apparently drawing a breath. Ron squirmed, his face a livid red, his eyes huge with fright.
    “You wanna see how strong this ape is?” Bittner growled into Ron’s flabbergasted face. “I’ll show you strong. If you’d been a better father, monitored your freak of a son a little bit, there might be six other sets of parents whose daughters were still alive.”
    As surprised as I’d been by Bittner’s flare of violence, I was even more taken aback by the way his voice cracked when he spoke of the dead girls. Danny and Sutherland had reached the struggling pair, Danny shouting something to Jack about letting Ron go. My trance breaking, I joined them, and after a momentary struggle, Jack did let Ron go. The wheezing stockbroker tumbled to the floor, the ass of his gray sweatpants landing on the broken glass. Ron emitted a