Erik comforted Vickie as best as he could, then he and Pastor Mark went out onto the patio.
“I think we should call the F.B.I.,” the Pastor said. “They need to know that Collins is missing.”
Erik handed him the card with Thralls’ number.
“You call him. They already think I’m involved.”
“What should I tell him? That Collins shot himself full of holes?”
“This thing is just too weird to be believed. I don’t know what to say anymore, Pastor. I hate to lie, but no one will believe the truth.”
“I’ll tell them you went into the woods together to look for this altar stone and you were separated. We don’t know where Collins is. They can take it from there.”
Erik nodded. Mark pulled out his cell phone to make the call but Erik was too nervous to listen. He paced to the edge of the back yard and looked into the woods. He could still feel the repulsion of the awful stone, even from here. The thing did have a terrible power. Dovecrest claimed it was a gateway to hell, and he believed him now. It was channeling its power through the cult’s leader-obviously the man Erik had seen in the woods-but the power definitely came from the stone. Erik suspected that the demon on the other side of the gateway was already making its way into this world. That probably explained the growth on the leader’s neck.
He looked back and saw that Mark had finished his phone call. He took his time walking back to the patio.
“They’re sending out a couple of State Troopers,” Mark said. “They’ll pick up the trail from Dovecrest’s place. Thralls is coming here to talk to you.”
“Did he buy it?”
“He thinks something’s fishy. He just doesn’t know what.”
“I guess I should just tell him the truth,” Erik said. “What’s the worst he could do? He already thinks I’m a nut case.”
“I’ll wait around with you until he gets here,” Mark said. “I already told him what Dovecrest told us, so he thinks I’m crazy too for believing it.”
Erik laughed. Misery loves company.