Page 35 of Hextreme Measures

“How did that fit into his schedule?” Sully asked.

“She was part of his gaming crew. It wasn’t a physical affair,” she added, almost as an afterthought. “It was an emotional one. I think those are worse.”

Ofelia didn’t know which type of affair was worse. She hoped to never deal with either. Of course, cheating simply wasn’t in Sully’s wheelhouse. Of all the things she worried about, that was never on the list.

“Did you confront him?” Sully asked.

“No.” Cathy shook her head. “I was still deciding what to do about it when he died. I know this is going to sound weird — I was really mad at him — but losing him before I got the answers I needed is somehow worse than anything else that could have happened. I don’t know how to explain it.” Her shoulders slumped.

“I get it,” Ofelia assured her. “I would feel the same way. I have another hard question.”

Cathy waited her out.

“Have you been approached by a woman, maybe even in your dreams, asking you to embrace your anger regarding your husband?”

Now Cathy looked completely confused. “What?”

“It’s a thing,” Ofelia replied. “Has anybody approached you — in life or your dreams — telling you to take your revenge on your husband? It’s important you tell the truth here.”

Cathy shifted on her chair, clearly uncomfortable. Finally, she let loose a sigh. “I had a dream two days before he died.” She took a breath, then plunged forward. “I’m not sure it was a woman who approached me. It sounded like one, but I couldn’t make her out. She offered to help me make my husband pay.”

“Did you take her up on that?”

“Of course not!” Anger flushed Cathy’s cheeks. “I loved Roger. I just didn’t know what to do to fix our marriage. I didn’t want him dead.”

“So, you told her no,” Ofelia guessed.

“I did. She was mad and said that I was being a walking doormat. I told her I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to give in to the anger and hurt him. I was convinced we were going to work it out, and look back on this time in our lives when we were old and laugh.”

“What about Roger?” Ofelia pressed. “When he heard the screams, was he called to them?”

“No.” Cathy wrinkled her nose. “Is that a thing? What is going on?”

“We’re not sure,” Sully replied when Ofelia went silent. He knew she was thinking hard. “The marks that were on Roger’s body match the marks from two other attacks that I’ve found, all spaced apart, and another victim who survived an attack at a party last night.”

“And you think it’s some sort of revenge monster or something?” Cathy pressed.

“We think it’s a banshee,” Ofelia replied. There was no reason to hold back the information. “We believe that it’s more than one banshee, actually. They’re recruiting.”

“Why?”

Ofelia held out her hands. “I don’t know.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Find them.” Ofelia’s smile was flat. She’d finished the dishes, and they were on a towel on the counter drying. “You need to hold firm in your refusal to join with the banshee if she approaches you in your dream again.”

“Do you think she’ll do that? She did it three times and then stopped visiting. I assumed she was gone for good and that she was just a figment of my imagination because I was mad with Roger. I became so consumed with what happened to Roger that I didn’t even think about her.”

“I think it’s unlikely,” Ofelia replied. “I don’t know that it’s impossible, though.”

Cathy nodded, resignation taking over her features.

“Don’t go outside if you hear the screams,” Sully ordered as he stood. “Call me if you hear them again or have a dream. This isn’t a joke. Make sure you do it.”

Cathy took the card and clutched it tight. “Did Roger suffer? At least tell me that. Nobody else will.”

“No,” Ofelia replied, even though she had no idea if it was the truth. She said the one thing she knew that Cathy needed to hear, regardless. “It was instantaneous. He wouldn’t have even known what happened.”