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You’re
spiritualists and kooks, preying on this poor family’s nightmare. You’re both
pathetic. You’d let that thing go on and on while you study it and do some
mumbo jumbo over it. Well, we intend to blow it out of the water, not milk it.”
    Steven could see Roy’s upper lip tighten, and he knew that
Roy was ready to start swinging.
    “Barbara,” Steven said. “We’re only asking for some time.”
    “Any idea how long that might take?” she asked.
    “No, to be honest,” Steven said. “I don’t want to mislead
you.”
    “Meanwhile, it’s nearly the end of the day, and we’re all set
up and ready to go,” Sam said. “This equipment is expensive to cart around, and
I have an engagement with another client tomorrow. It’s now, or next week with
additional charges if you want our services.”
    “Your service is a fucking sham!” Roy exploded. “Fake
science! We’re not the ones ripping this lady off, goddamnit! We’re not
charging anything.”
    “I know how you use things like this for your own
self-aggrandizement!” Sam shouted, little bits of spit flying from his mouth as
he yelled. “Don’t pretend you’re helping from the goodness of your heart!”
    “Mr. White!” Barbara interrupted. “Are you sure it will
work?”
    “As we discussed earlier, there are no guarantees,” he
replied. “But we’ve eliminated rods many times before.”
    “Then I guess you can go ahead with whatever you’re going to
do,” Barbara said, resigned.
    “I’d strongly advise against it,” Roy said.
    “Roy,” Barbara replied calmly, “my husband has paid for these
people to do this. They’re all set up and ready to go. They say they know what
they’re doing, that this will solve it. You’ve admitted you don’t know what to
do. I have to let them proceed.”
    Steven could see she was set. Barbara didn’t seem like a
second-guesser.
    “It’s a mistake!” Roy said.
    Steven stepped up and grabbed Roy’s shoulder. “Come on, Dad,”
he said. “Let’s let this outfit do their job.”
    Roy cast one last pleading look at Barbara, but she had her
jaw set firmly.
    “I’m sorry, Roy,” Barbara said. “I do appreciate your help.”
    Roy saw a crinkled smile spread across Sam’s face. “If
everyone will leave the house, we’ll set the timers. It’ll kick off in about
twenty minutes, and take another hour to complete.” Then he turned and walked
out of the room.
     “Can I leave you my number, just in case this doesn’t work?”
Steven asked Barbara.
    “Of course,” she said, smiling at him. “That’s very kind of
you to offer.” They walked back into the kitchen. Roy decided to walk outside
to the front of the house and wait by the car.
    “I hope I haven’t offended your father,” Barbara said as
Steven wrote down his phone number on a pad in the kitchen. “I had to go with
the best option in front of me.”
    “We’re not offended at all,” Steven said. “I just hope it
works out.” He left the pencil and pad on the counter. “This is my cell number.
We live in Seattle, but we have a place out here where we’ll be staying. It
doesn’t have good cell reception, so if you do need to reach me and I don’t
pick up, leave a message and I will eventually get back in touch, OK?”
    “Thank you, Steven,” she said. “And thank you for finding
that thing in the attic. Your father was right, I don’t think White had any
clue it was there. He’s just bringing in his machines and trusting that they’ll
eradicate whatever they need to. We’ll see.”
    “Yes,” Steven said. “We’ll see. Good luck.”

Chapter Four
     
     
     
    Steven helped Roy pull the large tree branch back over the
road behind them. Since they had been coming and going on the small road to the
back of the Unser estate, they were a little worried about people noticing the
path and exploring it. In the interest of keeping people out, they’d added a
second gate to the path and Roy had cut down a large branch