Woods pinches the bridge of his nose, turning on the tiny office chair to look at us. He dwarfs the whole set-up, but I can only focus on how worried he looks. “Okay,” he says, taking his glasses off his face. “So let’s say that Trine is possessed—”
“Which she is, because why else would holy water hurt?” Salinas says, but Woods ignores him.
“And that her having Aura Dawes as a mother means that she’s going to always be more vulnerable to this than a regular member of the public,” he says. “Then what we need to know is how Ms. Dawes has managed to keep demons out of her own life, and how she can help Trine. And if she hasn’t, then…”
“What?” Salinas says.
“If this is psychosomatic, we might need to work on a reconciliation,” he says. “If Trine can understand her mother, then she might be able to start processing what’s happened to her.”
“And then holy water will stop burning her,” Salinas says. He normally doesn’t get annoyed at Rei’s skepticism—in fact, he welcomes it, and he’s kind of a skeptic himself for a priest—so something is wrong.
I think he’s worried about her. We’re all worried about her.
I shake my head as I get to my feet. “I agree that it’s insane,” I say. “But unless you have a better plan, then I think that’s what we have to do.”
“Okay,” Salinas says, getting to his feet. “Good luck convincing her.”
And then he walks out of the bedroom, and Woods stares at me, confusion written all over his face.