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degrees. He took some aspirin, hoping to break the fever. This was the Christmas season, and with it began a host of clerical duties-a particularly bad time for a priest to be indisposed. Father Mancuso fell into a troubled sleep. Around four in the morning of Christmas Eve, he awoke to find his temperature now up to 104 degrees. He called the Pastor to his rooms. His friend decided to get a doctor. While Father Mancuso waited for the physician, he thought again of the Lutz family.
    There was something he couldn't quite put his finger on. He kept envisioning a room he believed to be on the second floor of the house. His head swam, but the priest could see it clearly in his mind. It was filled with unopened boxes when he had blessed the home, and he remembered he could see the boathouse from its windows.
    Father Mancuso recalls that while ill in bed, he used the word "evil" to himself, but thinks the high fever might have been playing tricks with his imagination. He also remembers he had an urge, border*mg on obsession, to call the Lutzes and warn them to stay out of that room at all costs.
    At the same time, in Amityville, Kathy Lutz was also thinking about the room on the second floor. Every once in a while, Kathy felt the need for some time to be by herself, and this was to be her own personal room. She had also considered the room, along with the kitchen, for her meditation. That third bedroom on the second floor would also serve as a dressing room and storage place for her and George's growing wardrobes.
    Among the cartons in the sewing room were boxes of Christmas ornaments that she had accumulated over the years. It was time to unwrap the balls and lights, get them ready to put on the tree her mother and brother had promised to bring over that evening.
    After lunch, Kathy asked Danny and Chris to bring the cartons down to the livingroom. George was more interested in his fireplace logs and only halfheartedly worked on the Christmas lights, testing the many colored bulbs and disentangling their wires. For the next few hours, Kathy and the children were busy unwrapping tissue paper that enclosed the delicate, bright-colored balls; the little wooden and glass angels, Santas, skaters, ballerinas, reindeer and snowmen that Kathy had added to each year as the children grew up.
    Each child had his own favorite ornaments and tenderly placed them on towels Kathy had spread on the floor. Some dated back to Danny's first Christmas. But today, the children were admiring an ornament that George had brought to his new family. It was an heirloom, a unique galaxy of crescents and stars wrought in sterling silver and encased in 24 karat gold. There was a fixture on the back of the 6-inch ornament that let one attach it to a tree. Crafted in Germany more than a century before, it had been given to George by his grandmother, who in turn had received it from her own grandmother.
    The doctor had come and gone from the Rectory. He confirmed that Father Mancuso did indeed have the flu and advised the ailing priest to remain in bed for a day or so. The fever was in his system and could remain high for another twenty-four hours. Father Mancuso chafed at the idea of remaining idle. He had so much work to do. He agreed that upcoming items on his busy calendar could be put off for a week, but some of his clients in counseling could not afford the same kind of postponement. Nevertheless, both the physician and the Pastor insisted that Father Mancuso would only prolong his illness if he insisted upon working or leaving his apartment.
    There was one thing he could still do, however, and that was to call George Lutz. The bad feeling he had about that second-floor room remained and it made him as restless as his fever. When he finally made the call, it was five p.m.
    Danny answered the telephone and ran to get his father. Kathy was surprised by the call, but not George. Sitting by the fireplace, he had been thinking about the priest all (lay. George had