“If they’re so powerful, why would they even want to communicate with us?”
“Gods can do anything but live on earth and experience the things that humans do. They’re a bit envious of us at times. When we talk to them, they’re able to slide inside of our bodies and experience our memories for themselves. Once they do this, they tend to grant the human a wish. Grandma says the trick is to get your wish and then close the line of communication so that the god doesn’t try to suck up all of your memories and experiences, because the drain would kill the average human.”
“So that night, your mom didn’t close the lines of communication and something may have gotten through?”
“Exactly.”
“What do you think about all of this?”
“That they’re all crazy and that there weren’t any gods there that night. I was there. It was only bad things and evil. But according to Grandma, when Mom killed Dad, she never closed the lines of communication. She was supposed to say some sort of chant, pour the liquor over the fire and other things. But she didn’t, and some of the gods remained on earth for a while. Grandma says Donalito had to come down and bring them back, and due to that, he cursed our family.”
I tossed him a skeptical glance. “Cursed your family?”
“Everywhere we move the earth turns gray and barren. Cancer has hit and taken out ten women in my family, mainly aunts and cousins. Grandma does huge sacrifices to Donalito so that we’ll be back in his favor, but every year Donalito does something new and it always comes in ten. Even worse, Grandma isn’t sure Dad’s spirit ever truly left our realm. With the gods walking about on earth around his spirit, she thinks Dad may have made a bargain with the gods to remain, some sort of promise to do their bidding.”
“So you believe this?”
“I don’t know. When Grandma sees things, they come true. She saw the deaths of these girls. Al said it wouldn’t happen. He hid the first girl from me. The one he saw right before you came to work for me. Brenda was a good friend of mine. I painted her many times and she helped me learn about video cameras. Al had Reece tell me she flew away. I even emailed her to see how she was, but never heard anything back.”
Instead of acknowledging that I’d hid it too, I sipped my drink.
“For Patricia, Al told me she died from some weird asthma attack. Deep down inside I knew it was bullshit, but I chose to believe it so that I could do my art the next morning. However, once Reece and Mom were carted off by the cops, I was confused and ran to his office to ask what happened. I didn’t find Al. Instead, I found three dead girls strung from the ceiling.”
I held my hand to my chest. “Three girls were killed tonight? Do you think Reece did—”
“No. There was no way Reece could’ve done it. She flew off somewhere to get a file for Al. This was the gods.”
I shook my head. “The gods? Come on, Hex. This is ridiculous. Somebody is out here killing girls. This isn’t the gods. This is some sicko hurting people.”
“I’m not so sure. There was a message written under the girls’ bodies in blood. It said, ‘Hello, son. I’m back.’”
Chapter 22
Alvarez
“It said, ‘Hello, son. I’m back.’” Grandma came out of the kitchen fully dressed. “There’s no way Reece could’ve done that. And neither Dayanara, she had that sneaky investigator watching her the whole time. So who did it?”
Three women were killed tonight? I’ll have to call their families and notify them.
I rubbed my temples. “I don’t know who did it, Grandma.”
“Donalito did it! That’s who! I told you he would not stop, and even worse he’s allowed that sick man to come back and terrorize us.”
I sighed. “You think Snyder has returned as some powerful evil spirit?”
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that, like I’m some crazy woman who doesn’t know what she’s talking about. If you don’t believe me, then look at the security video. I saw it and your Detective White saw it, too. He almost messed his pants, he was so scared. Those girls’ bodies slid into the room on their own and rose into the air by themselves. No one else was around.”
“I’ll have to see this for myself.”
“And then will you get me the hearts?”
For fuck’s sake! It always comes back to body parts.
“I’ll make a call to the coroner.”
“I need them fresh!”
“Yes, Grandma.”
“That’s the only way to appease Donalito until I find something to deal with Snyder’s return. You know Dayanara tried to tell me.” Grandma moved around the kitchen fast, grabbing pots and putting them back where they were as well as opening the fridge and then closing it. Her hands shook the whole time as she moved her gaze from side to side. “Dayanara kept mumbling that he was coming, but I wouldn’t listen. Once again I ignored my sweet daughter. I’m always ignoring her and then so many die from my mistakes. I have the vision, but never get the visions in time to do anything about it.”