Free Hell Calling II by Enrique Laso Page A

friend, calm down, I beg you. Now we need to join forces to save your son and your granddaughter, if we still can."
    "But, how can we do it?" asked Elena, who could barely follow the course of events. She was very emotional and still deeply shocked by what Carlos had told her through the radio.
    "We have to find out why Alicia condemned them to Hell: firstly, her daughter and then, her husband."

IV
    E lena soon made a list of Alicia's closest friends. Despite Carlos having said that she had only one friend - Ana, the parapsychologist had soon discovered that her inner circle was actually somewhat wider. This also proved how distant this man and his wife had been, in every way. It was quite sad, seen in perspective.
    With Esteban's permission, Elena and Andrés had set themselves up in Carlos's flat. They could work better there and be in direct contact with the place where the three main characters in this truculent story had lived.
    "We'll need more sophisticated equipment," said Andrés, while testing the highly sensitive microphones.
    "What do you mean?"
    "There's something here that's escaping us, and this equipment isn't enough."
    "That's your intuition again..."
    "Well, yes. You hear voices speaking from Hell in a radio, and I have become more sensitive. That's the way things are."
    Elena went closer to Andrés and ruffled his hair affectionately. This was not the time to generate tension between the two of them.
    "I'm sorry. We are all edgy. I'll make some calls to try and get you some state of the art equipment. This case will catch people's imagination and there will surely be people willing to give us a hand."
    "But I wouldn't want a bunch of strangers to come along and take control of the situation..."
    Elena took some time to answer. What her colleague was suggesting was more usual than she imagined. She didn't want that happening either.
    "Don't worry. I'll find a way to keep us in charge of everything."
    "And now... what?"
    "Have you finished installing it all?"
    "Nearly there..."
    "Well, now I need you to give me a hand. We're going to do something I probably should have done first of all."
    "What's that?"
    "After Laura and Alicia died, and with the sensible purpose of keeping memories away, Carlos closed two rooms in this house. One of which was his daughter's bedroom, which I have scoured from top to bottom since the day I became involved in this story. But, even though he gave me his permission to look in the other one, I haven't done so, and now is the time to go in there and see what we can find."
    Andrés was quite surprised. Although he'd spent a long time in the place, he had hardly moved from the living room. He knew that some doors were closed and through prudence and discretion, he had never thought to open them.
    "And what's that room?"
    "It's a room that Carlos turned into a sort of junk room. Or I should say, a sort of shrine. In it, Carlos put anything that had to do with Alicia, to keep it out of sight as quickly as he could. Incredibly enough, at the time I deemed those things to be unimportant. However, I am now convinced that we'll find some clues there. Or, with a bit of luck, even some answers".

V
    F ather Salas was in the church with Esteban. They had both been praying in silence for a few minutes, in a temple that sheltered them in absolute intimacy. They had decided to repeat that ritual every day, as a token of their religious devotion and their faith in God to help them get through this crazy situation.
    "This is the only place where I feel safe," stated Father Salas, breaking the moment of reflection.
    "Are you scared?"
    "Yes, I must admit, I am. Esteban, I ran away from Mexico because I had faced evil on too many occasions. Us exorcists aren't extraordinary beings... we are simple people, like anyone else. But our work does require a prodigious fortitude. And I think I've depleted mine."
    Esteban, almost instinctively, put a hand on the priest's shoulder. This gesture reminded him