'Where's her father?' he asked her.
'In Europe,' she whispered.
'Have you told him what's happening?'
She had thought about telling him so many times. Had been tempted. The crisis could bring them back together. But Howard and priests... For Regan's sake, she'd decided he mustn't be told.
'No,' she answered softy.
'Well, I think it would help if he were here.'
'Listen, nothing's going to help except something out of sight!' Chris suddenly erupted, lifting a tear- stained face to the priest. 'Something way out of sight.'
'I believe you should send for him.'
'It would---'
'I've asked you to drive a demon out, goddammit, not ask another one in!' she cried at Karras in sudden hysteria. Her features were contorted in anguish. 'What happened to the exorcism all of a sudden?'
'Now---'
'What in the hell do I want with Howard?'
'We can talk about it---'
'Talk about it now, goddammit! What the hell good is Howard right now? What's the good?'
'There's a strong probability that Regan's disorder is rooted in a guilt over---'
'Guilt over what?' she cried, eyes wild.
'It could---'
'Over the divorce? All that psychiatric bullshit?'
'Now---'
'She's guilty because she killed Burke Dennings!' Chris shrieked at him, hands crushing hard against her temples. 'She killed him! She killed him and they'll put her away; they're going to put her away! Oh, my God, oh, my...'
Karras caught her up as she crumpled, sobbing, and guided her toward the sofa. 'It's all right,' he kept telling her softly, 'it's all right...'
'No, they'll put... her away,' she was sobbing. ''They'll put... put... ohhhhhhh! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!'
'It's all right...'
He eased her down and stretched her out on the sofa. He sat down on the edge and took her hand in both of his. Thoughts of Kinderman. Dennings. Her sobbing. Unreality. 'All right... its all right... take it easy... it's all right...'
Soon the crying subsided and he helped her sit up. He brought her water and a box of tissues he'd found - on a shelf behind the bar. Then he sat down beside her.
'Oh, I'm glad,' she said, sniffling and blowing her nose. 'God, I'm glad I got it out.'
Karras was in turmoil, his own shock of realization increasing, the calmer she grew. Quiet sniffles now. Intermittent catches in the throat. And now the weight was on his back again, heavy and oppressive. He inwardly stiffened. No more! Say no more! 'Do you want to tell me more?' he asked her gently.
Chris nodded. Exhaled. She wiped at an eye and spoke haltingly, in spasms, of Kinderman; of the book; of her certainty that Dennings had been up in Regan's bedroom; of Regan's great strength; of the Dennings personality that Chris thought she had seen with the head turned around and facing backward.
She finished. Now she waited for Karras' reaction. For a time he did not speak as he thought it all over. Then at last he said softly, 'You don't know that she did it.'
'But the head turned around,' said Chris.
'You'd hit your own head pretty hard against the wall,' Karras answered. 'You were also in shock. You imagined it.'
'She told me that she did it,' Chris intoned without expression.
A pause. 'And did she tell you how?' Karras asked.
Chris shook her head. He turned and looked at her. 'No,' she said. 'No.'
'Then it doesn't mean a thing,' Karras told her. 'No, it wouldn't mean a thing unless she gave you details that no one else could conceivably know but the killer.'
She was shaking her head in doubt. 'I don't know,' she answered. 'I don't know if I'm doing what's right. I think she did it and she could kill someone else. I don't know....' She paused. 'Father, what should I do?' she asked him hopelessly.
The weight was now set in concrete; in drying, it had shaped itself to his back.
He rested an elbow on his knee and closed his eyes. 'Well, you've told someone now,' he said quietly. 'You've done what you should. Now forget it. Just put it away and leave it all up to me.'
He felt her gaze on him and looked at her. 'Are you feeling any better now?'
