"My name is Odd Thomas, though in this age when fame is the altar at which most people worship," "I'm not sure why you should care." "I'm not a celebrity." "I'm not the child of a celebrity." "I've never been married to, abused by, or provided a kidney to a celebrity." "But I do lead an unusual life." "Penny Kalisto." "My name really is Odd." "According to my mother, it was a screw up on my birth certificate." "She says I was supposed to be called Todd, after a Lithuanian uncle." "My father insists my name was always Odd, and he notes that all of my uncles are Bulgarian." "My father claims my mother is insane." "My mother, of course, begs to differ." "My abilities are a gift from God!" "My father won that argument." "I was 12 years old when they finally locked her up and threw away the key." "I've come to believe that my mother and I share certain abilities." "Since I don't want to be locked up with the key thrown away," "I've pretty much kept mine a secret." "Odd Thomas." "Hello, Harlo." "Long time, no see." "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "Hey, hey." "Come on, man." "No touchy, no feely." "Sorry, but I love this car." "I know." "It's too bad a car can't love you back." "Huh?" "What's wrong, Odd?" "There anything I can do?" "No, it's something you've already done." "Hey!" "Hey!" "Come on, Odd." "No fooling around, man." "Give me my keys." "Her blood is in your pocket." "Most people think that's a weird thing to say, but you don't think it's very weird, do you, Harlo?" "On that night you took a piece of white felt and after killing Penny, you collected some of her blood." "And now it's dry and stiff and brittle like a cracker," "and it's still in your pocket." "In moments like these, pity tears at me..." "And a kind of madness comes over me, forcing me to hunt people like Harlo Landerson, who I have no pity for whatsoever." "Sorry, Mrs. Cur-tees!" " Ah!" " Sorry, Saleen!" "Oh, my God!" "What the hell are you doing?" "Mom, what's going on?" "Honey..." "Run, honey, run." "Come here!" "My life is filled with guys like Harlo Landerson." "And since I like my face just the way it is..." "I learned how to handle myself." "I may see dead people, but then, by God, I do something about it." "Hey." "Hey!" "Shift it down, man!" "Go easy." "I'm sorry, sir, but I don't have a go easy gear." "You should probably get that looked at." "Now, Officer Eckles, does being a police officer give you the right to beat the shit out of people?" "Not at all, Officer Varner." "But it is one of the perks of the job." "I believe in a higher power and the afterlife." "Call me strange." "Others do." "He's so strange." "Don't worry, Penny." "I think where you're going is a home for the spirit and it's filled with kindness and wonder." "I'm sorry, Penny." "I'm sorry your life was so short." "The dead don't talk." "I don't know why." "Here we are again." "Busted furniture and shattered glass everywhere." " Ah, most of it was not my fault." " Oh." "Except the panda bear lamp..." "And the Biffy the clown mirror." "That was this guy." "Why didn't you come to me first, give me a chance to find a way to get Harlo to entrap himself?" "Whenever we do it that way, it's always more efficient and less destructive." "Yes, I know, but he had to be stopped right now or he was gonna do it again soon." "That's what Penny wanted to tell me." "That's why she hadn't left yet." "Son, you so complicate my life." "Well..." "Look..." "Besides her blood, Harlo had these photos of Penny postmortem in his wallet." "If there's any fuss about how you pegged Harlo, just say he opened up his wallet to pay off a bet." "Five bucks on yesterday's Dodgers game, the photos fell out, you saw them..." "He ran, and, naturally, I gave chase." "Naturally." "Save me!" "Save me!" "Save us!" "Save us!" " Save us!" " Save us!" "Save us!" "Save you from who?" "Who is that?" "Who is it?" "Evil is coming." "And it's up to me to figure out who's gonna be holding the gun." "Morning, Elvis." "So much of my life is out of my control." "I would have gone seven kinds of crazy if I hadn't simplified." "So I have no motorized vehicles, no homeownership, no insurance, and no grand ambitions." "Ladies." "Eggs!" "Wreck them and stretch them!" "Wreck them means scrambled, and stretch them means add an extra egg." "Cardiac shingles and hash browns!" "Cardiac shingles are toast with lots of butter." "And hash browns are just hash browns." "Not every word we use is diner lingo..." "Whoa!" "Just as not every short-order cook is an undercover detective for dead people." "Duck." "That is Stormy Llewellyn." "Stormy and I are destined to be together forever." ""You are destined to be together forever."" "Hey, Chief." "Tummy tickler coming at you." "You know, I'm still not happy about what you did yesterday, Oddie." "You could have gotten yourself killed." "I am not afraid of death." "Of course, I'm not ready to go on a date with him, either." " Would you throw yourself off a cliff for me?" " Of course I would." " Into a river of razor blades and lemon juice?" " Absolutely." "Of course, I'd like to know the reasoning behind such a request, but, fortunately for me, you reek of intelligence and integrity." "And you reek of peach shampoo..." "Just the way I like you." " Chief." " Morning, Stormy." "What's with the cat-ate-the-canary smile?" "Tonight is date night." "Mmm-hmm." "So you think you're gonna get yourself some, huh?" "I wouldn't put it quite that way." "Stormy special." " Girlfriend." " Morning, dude." "I call them bodachs." "Well, not to their faces, I hope." "I never met anybody that could see them before." "Neither have I." "Everyone told me it's in my head." "Well, you should stop telling everyone." "I tried telling my parents." "If I told my parents, I'd have spent my whole life picking winning lottery numbers." "You can pick winning lotto numbers?" "No, I can't." "Stay..." "Stay on point." "Right." "Yeah." "Yesterday, when I finally saw one," "I gave him the finger, homes." "Don't you know?" "If they find out you can see them, they will kill you." "They will kill you." " Little advice?" " Yeah?" "Karla prefers chocolate to flowers and you should get yourself some candles." " Candles?" " Mmm-hmm." " Thanks." "Good idea." " Mmm-hmm." "Whew, close." "That would have been a little awkward." "You two are really something." "I don't know what, but something." "We're weird and screwed up, but we're okay." "I don't know." "You are so cool." "So, you deny me my weirdness, but agree that I'm screwed up?" "You're right." "I see your problem." "Weirdness... it can be fun." "It can be kind of cool." "Screwed-up-ness..." "Not so much." "You are quite weird." "Apology accepted." "I got to go." "Be good, you two." "It's not me you have to worry about." "Don't I know it." "I got to go to work, too, Oddie." " Uh, okay." " Later, my love." "Stormy!" "Uh..." "Miss you already." "Living up to his name." " Every damn day." " Later." "Months often pass when I don't see a single bodach." "When they do show up, it's a sure sign that carnage and bloodshed are not far behind." " Morning." " They don't cause it." "They feed on it." "The more bodachs that show up, the bigger the eventual feast." "They're attracted to evil like bees to flowers." "They know when death is coming and want to watch." "They don't show up for any ordinary death." "They want extreme, operatic violence and terror." "Penny Kalisto's death wasn't horrific enough to bring a single bodach into our world." "This town is in serious trouble." " Bye, Oddie." " See you, ladies." "Nicolina!" "Levanna!" "Odd, am I really sucking at this whole mother thing?" "Well, considering their last one was a junkie who left them in your lap when you were barely 18," "I think you rather rock, Vi." "See you later." "I'm heading this way, too." "Gonna go see Madame Pearl, get myself read." "Uh, personally, I don't believe people who say they can read minds or palms and, trust me, tea leaves..." "Just cloggage in the garbage disposal." "It's just I had this dream last night you would not believe." "Well, anything short of a nine-alarm massacre, I can top." "I've never seen myself face on in a dream before." "You saw your own face?" "Yeah." "Me and this guy, we were both lying dead all busted up, like we'd been shot to pieces or something." "You know, I wouldn't worry about it, Vi." "I mean, have any of your dreams ever come true?" "No." "I know most people think you're just quirky or weird, Odd, except Stormy who thinks angels fly out of your butt, but I know there's more to it." "You have a secret." "You're either a clairvoyant, a psychic, a seer, a soothsayer, or something." "Or you got yourself some juice with a higher power." "And I need to know." "Tell me the truth now, Odd..." "Do you see death in me?" "No." "No, all I see is my own insensitivity and a long, happy life for you, okay?" "Okay." "Hey, Vi, the, uh..." "The dead guy in your dream, what was he wearing?" "Wearing?" "I don't know." "Oh!" "Wait." "Yeah, a red and black shirt, with black bowling balls on it." "One of my stranger abilities is that when I need to find someone, like right now, the creepy guy in the diner..." "I can randomly wander around, and pretty quickly I'll run into him." "This is a talent for which I have no name." "Stormy calls it psychic magnetism." "That's Tom Jedd." "He was my little league coach." "Been hanging around Tire World for years, although I don't know why." "His death was not caused by a defective tire." "Such a beautiful girl" "There's something about a dead man trying to get a laugh that just bugs me." "Perhaps because it suggests that even in death, we still have a pathetic need to be liked..." "As well as the ever-present ability to humiliate ourselves." "Where are you?" "Where are you?" "When I finally have my own shop, no stupid uniforms." "I think you look adorable." "Adorable?" "Really?" "Puppies are adorable." "Why are you here so early?" "You missing me?" "Always." "But I'm..." "I'm here looking for a guy..." "A creepy guy." "Ooh." "Well, with you, there can be no other kind." "My psychic magnetism brought me here..." " That guy?" " That guy." "You are better than a bloodhound." "What is that thing on his head?" "Hair?" "It looks like a yellow yarmulke." "No, it's hair." "Any of those bodachs with him?" "More than I've ever seen before." "You're not shivering because of cold ice cream, are you?" "I'm gonna see what this guy's up to." " Stormy, wait, wait." " You, sit." "You think those fish are up to something?" "All fish do are eat, excrete, and fornicate all in the same water." "Fish are disgusting." "Oh, I never thought so until now." "Your creepy friend is buying two gallons of the summer special." "Are the flavors significant?" "That's your department." "I'm just reporting in." "Cherry chocolate coconut chunk?" "Coconut cherry chocolate chunk." "Oh." "I didn't realize that grammar was so rigid in the ice cream business." "Well, now you know." "This is bad for business." "Why?" "No one can see them but me." "Well, how could a bunch of slithering, evil spirits and guy who look like fungus be good for business?" "Fungus man scares me." "Can't you forget him?" "I have a gift." "It wouldn't have been given to me if I wasn't supposed to use it." " Maybe it's not a gift." " It's a gift." "I still got the box it came in." "Here." "Take my keys." "And please show up for dinner alive, because, remember, I can't see the dead." "If someone is going to cause extreme violence..." "Especially on a massive scale, which this is starting to look like..." "Bodachs will not leave him until the last ounce of blood has been spilled." "But they lost interest in Fungus man." "Winstone, Camels, and Marlboros." "Fungus man has friends." "Hmm." "Ooh!" "Oh, now would be a good time to run." "Bodachs." " Hey." " Loop me in, odd one." "I think I just achieved a personal best in the jump and gasp event." "Don't be such a scaredy-cat." "I found a gateway to Hell." "I'm walking back to it right now." "Most people would have the good sense to run away from it." " Well, I'm not like most people." " Not in the least." "It's gone now..." "Or hidden." "So, is Fungus Bob a man or something new in the neighborhood?" "I don't know." "This place looks like some kind of shrine." "Shrine of guys that like to make belts out of women's nipples." "What?" "Who is this guy?" "His real name is Robert Robertson." "Oh!" "Well, hello, Fungus Bob." "Did you check the refrigerator for any severed heads?" "No, I didn't open his refrigerator." "Where else would you expect to find severed heads?" "I wasn't looking for any." "Stormy." "Stormy, someone's here." "I got to go." "We don't know what this guy's planning to do yet." "You know what?" "Let me ask him to wait outside until I'm finished." "I can feel that." "Wait a minute." "What's today's date?" "August 14th." "The page to August 15th is torn out of his calendar." "That's tomorrow." "What happens tomorrow?" "Hold on." "Hold on." "Get out of there, Oddie." "Maybe he has a file on himself, you know?" "Unsolved murders and atrocities." "Chief and I could figure out a way to entrap him." "So, what's in it?" "Is he a mass murderer?" "No." "But I think he wants to be." "Hey, Bob!" "Robert, where the Hell are you?" "I want my gun back!" "Oh, shit." "Damn dogs." "Shut up, you hear me?" "Shut up, you damn dogs!" "One of these days, bang!" "You hear me?" "Wyatt is out back here, burning some perfectly good steaks." "Thanks, Karla." "Chief." "Odd, I hope you haven't come here to dampen my evening." "I share your hope, sir." "Been communing with the dead?" "It's not about who's dead, sir." "It's about who soon might be." "We call him Fungus Bob." "Yeah, I saw him enter the grill, but he didn't strike me as suspicious." "Just unfortunate." "Well, you didn't have the advantage of seeing his fan club, sir." "I guarantee you Hell on Earth is coming to Pico Mundo." "You know, sometimes you expect me to walk a dangerously narrow line." "That's just because I've got such great respect for your balance, sir." "Son, that sounds perilously close to being bullshit." "There's a little bit of bullshit in it..." "A little." "But it's mostly sincere." "Odd, this one of our newer officers, Bern Eckles." "Oh, hi." "We met yesterday." "Good call on that Harlo character." "I can't believe I once dated that perv." "And of course you know Lysette." "Uh, Bern, I want you to do a little DMV check on this guy Odd was telling me about." "Uh, I think Officer Eckles is a little worried" "I might try to hook up with you." "Karla and the chief are trying to set us up, him being new to the force and all." "It's like cleaning fluid with sugar in it." "Which reminds me, how's your dad?" "He's selling pieces of the moon online." " Vacation home sites." " Is that legal?" "He certainly doesn't guarantee the quality of the air." "And how's it going with Bronwen?" " She prefers "Stormy."" " Who wouldn't?" "Did you used to play piano?" "I did, yeah, for years." "How'd you know that?" "Because you have really beautiful hands." "I bet you play like a dream." "You know, Odd, you're a strange one." "Yeah, I can't disagree with that." "Bit of an oddball." "That was my nickname all through high school." "But you do have your charms." "That's what Stormy says." "Personally, I find it rather dubious." "You know, if you ever decide to give cooking lessons, you should give me a call." "I bet you really know how to whisk." "Sure, yeah, with scrambled eggs and stuff." "But, uh, pancakes, you really..." "You got to fold them." "But, mostly, I just fry, fry, fry, you know?" "Hey, Odd." "We got to talk." "Robertson moved here five months ago." "Before that, he was living with his mother." "Inherited a shitload when she died last year." "Clean record, though..." "Not even a speeding ticket." "How'd his mother die?" "Officer Eckles is checking on that right now." "But otherwise, I got squat on your Fungus Bob." "I can't hold him." "All right, well, you do agree that he's strange and suspicious, right?" "If strange and suspicious were enough to put someone in jail, you'd already be there." "You're gonna watch him, right?" "Only because you're never wrong," "I'll put on a tail on him and watch his house." "You go and have your dinner with Stormy." "She's the one." "You are one smooth operator, Odd." "She must love to hear you say that." "I love to hear me say it." "You better not be hauling any dead guys on my scooter." "Dead don't ride scooters." "Just saying." "I'd have to scrub the seat for hours." "Destroying the pleather." "I see you left your hormone spigot running, griddle boy." "Crank it shut." "This is a church." "I know it's a church." "I have a brain, you know." "You know why I call you Pooh Bear?" "Because I'm so cuddly." "Because his head is full of stuffing'." "Now listen to me, odd one." "I don't want you going back to that creepy room again." "Ah, it doesn't exist anymore." "Well, don't go looking for it hoping it'll come back." "Never crossed my mind." " Yes, it did." " Yes, it did." "It is a gate to the underworld, and you are forbidden by me to ever play in it again." "It's hard enough living with a guy who helps dead people without having to trek all the way down to Hell to pull his ass out of the fire." " Since when are we living together?" " We will be." "Oh, I guess I didn't think, "Let's put a pin in it" meant "Yes."" "You have to learn to listen with more than just your ears." "Stormy, what body part am I supposed to listen with?" "Right." "My heart." " I'm supposed to listen with my heart." " Mmm-hmm." "I listen with my heart." "Look, if you're serious about this," "I..." "I have to..." "I will do something big to improve our financial situation." " Your idea about selling car tires?" " Bigger." "And what, from your perspective, is bigger than tires?" " Shoes." " Shoes?" "Yeah, think about it." "A family of five might have two cars, but they have ten feet." "Not only that, but they need different kinds of shoes." "Dress shoes, winklepickers, high-tops, low-tops, running shoes..." "But not you." "You have five pairs of the same sneakers." " Like I said..." " You're not like most people." "Not in the least." "Do you want crackers with your cheese?" "We have a problem." "Crackers aren't a problem, just a choice." " Come on." "Come on!" "It's Fungus Bob!" " What?" "What?" "He followed me." "I don't know how." "Shit!" "Come on!" "Come on!" " It's him?" "You're sure?" " Sure, I'm sure!" "You don't think the two of us could kick his ass?" "Not this guy." " Come on!" " Sacristy!" "Uh..." "The back door." "Come on." "Come on." "Wait!" "Wait." "Come here." "We're heading towards danger, not away from it." "I can feel it." "It's like he's everywhere." "He's in front of us." "He's behind us." "Come on." "Let's go back the way we came." "Let's call the cops." "No time." "I have a better plan." "You stay here." "I'm gonna run over there and open the door." "If he doesn't lunge through, run that way." "If, however, he does lunge through, you run this way and I'll try to follow you." " Some plan, odd one." " It's the best I've got." "Full of stuffing." "Does that mean get on with it, or up yours?" "Unbelievable." "Right." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Chief, it's Stormy." "I'm sorry to drop in on date night, but here's Odd." "Sir, if you send a car real quick to St. Bart's you may be able to catch Robertson trashing the sacristy or even the whole church." "What was he doing vandalizing St. Bart's?" "He was trying to catch me and Stormy in the belfry." "What were you and Stormy doing in the belfry?" "Well, we were having a picnic, sir." "I'm sure that makes sense to you." "My guy at Robertson's house said he still hasn't been home yet." "Yeah, because apparently Bob's been too busy following me." "Oh, one second." "Where are you going?" "To get some food." "How can you think of dinner right now?" "Because I'm hungry." "Look, Odd, vandalism..." "Big deal." "I thought you said this guy was going to bring on the apocalypse." "Yes, sir, on August 15th, which is less than three hours away." "Trust me, that is the day that Pico Mundo will never forget." "Lyle!" "Oh." "Hi, Odd and Stormy." " Hi, Ozzie." " Hey, Oz." "Odd..." " Order up on 12!" " I'll be right back." "You know that I know guys who know guys, right'?" "Right." "So if you guys don't stop messing up my takeout orders, you're the one that's gonna get taken out." "Get it?" " Got it." " Good." "Oz, Oz, watch your blood pressure." "My blood..." "Hey, Odd, my blood has got cholesterol molecules the size of marshmallows in it, and if it wasn't for a little righteous outrage every now and again, my arteries would completely collapse." "I've finished." "That trinket you asked for." "Ah, perfect." "Wow, Oz, what..." "What exactly is this?" "It's a steel heart, six inches in diameter, like you said." "No, I said, "A piece of steel six inches in diameter" ""to go over a heart."" "Well, come on, man, I embellished, you know?" "I..." "I get in the moment." "I mean that..." "Why would Stormy want to wear that?" "It's not for Stormy." "I keep having this image of, uh a bullet going through a heart." "It's perfect." "Thank you." "Hey, Chief." "This place is trashed." "Yeah, it was Bob Robertson, sir." "I'm sure you're right." "You always are." "But he was long gone." "Didn't leave a single print." "Even the chalices were spotless." "Weird, huh?" "I'll, uh..." "I'll give my psychic magnetism a try to see if I can find him again." "Take Stormy home first." " Like Hell he will!" " I heard that." "He heard that." "Chief, you know I love Oddie desperately, so madly I would cut off my hand if that made any sense as proof of love." "And now I find out there's a guy trying to kill him..." "No one's trying to kill me, Stormy." "What, you think he was hitting on you?" "You know, this..." "This is the craziest conversation I've ever had." "Odd, you're a fountain of crazy conversations." "A geyser." "Time feels like a powerful black wave that wishes to crash down and engulf us." "I must run faster." "Why did I drive here?" "Oh, my God." "Oddie, your nightmare, the slaughter of the bowling alley people," " is it happening here tonight?" "Now?" " No." "No, no, I checked this place." "The employees here wear green and gold shirts." "So?" "So, in my dreams, the victims wear red and black shirts with little, black bowling balls on them." "I..." "I don't see Fungus Bob's car anywhere." "You think the slaughter of the bowling alley people and Fungus Bob are connected?" "Yeah." "Yeah, yeah, I know they are." "They got new uniforms." "Don't you dare." "Quite." "You said that whatever was gonna happen wouldn't happen until tomorrow." " Yes, sir, but you see..." " I still got an hour." "I know, sir." "I just want to keep you up to date." "I think there's a good chance that Bob Robertson might come to Green Moon Alley to do a little more than just hook some balls." "Maybe you want to send a guy out here to, you know, keep an eye out?" "Any of those bodarch things around?" "Bodachs." "No, sir, but they will show up when he does." "Yeah." "All right." "I'll send a guy right over." "Something doesn't feel right." "Something's wrong." "Are you nuts?" "Everything's wrong." "There's going to be a massacre and I'll bet you it's going to happen here." "No, all we know is it's the same uniforms, so it's the same group of people getting killed." "But tomorrow, any of them could be anywhere." "God!" "I'm missing something." "I'm missing a piece of the puzzle." "I need to see Viola." "Evening!" "Odd Thomas, right?" " Uh, yeah." " Ms. Llewellyn." " Mmm-hmm." " The chief sent me." "So, you know this guy, right?" "Uh, I've seen him a couple times today, but, no, I don't know him." "Yeah, chief says, uh, "if you see him reach for his pocket," ""he's probably not going for a breath mint."" "Wise words from a wise man." "So what exactly makes this guy so suspicious and dangerous?" "He came into the grill for lunch today." "That's it?" "You served him lunch?" " He was weird." " How weird?" " He had weird friends." " He has friends?" " Weird ones." " How weird?" "Very weird." "Hmm." "And..." "And a couple hours ago, he..." "He got very aggressive with me." "Wait, wait, a couple hours ago, this guy, Bob Robertson, got aggressive with you?" "Mmm-hmm." "Look, the creep made a pass at me and I told him to back off, and the creep got, you know, creepy." "Creepy" "Hey, Simon, I've been dying to know what this tattoo means." "Do you mind?" "Ah, well, Stormy, when I was a teenager, I was a mess." "If it wasn't for the police academy and the good Lord, let's just say this tattoo is a crude obscenity that I'd rather not say the meaning of." "Well, what a gentleman you are." "Nighty-night, Simon." "Night." "You manipulate me like that?" "Good heavens, odd one, I manipulate you every day." " You do?" " Yes." "Gently, of course, with great affection and you always like it." "Oh, I do?" "You are so adorable." " I'm not adorable." " Oh, please." "Puppies..." "Puppies, little puppies, are adorable." "Mmm-hmm." "You and puppies..." "Totally adorable." "I had a feeling I'd see you tonight." "It's about my dream, isn't it?" "You said you were shot." "My skull was all whacked." "My eyeball was swollen." "You know dreams have nothing to do with the real future, Vi." "We've already been over that territory, but here you are." "Where are you in your dream?" "No place." "A dream place..." "Fuzzy." "Are you planning on going bowling?" "Bowling?" "Did you hit your head?" "What are your plans tomorrow?" "Levanna's birthday is Sunday, but tips are real good on Sunday, so I was gonna work it and celebrate her birthday tomorrow instead." "A lot of people died in that dream of yours, huh?" "Yeah, they did." "Your dreams ever come true?" "Sometimes." "I thought so." "Close your eyes, Vi." "In your dream, what do you see?" "What do you hear?" "All right." "I'm running." "There's suddenly lots of flashing lights with old-fashioned kiddie music." "And then I hear a big crowd, a roaring one..." "Like in a big football stadium." "And then there's the sound of water, uh, gushing water." "How do you die?" "It's like someone hit me with a baseball bat, quick, like twice." "I scream and fall to my hands and knees." "My hands slip, slippery." "What are you slipping on?" "Oh, God." "Blood." "There's blood everywhere." "What's under the blood, under your hands?" "A floor, grass, concrete?" "I'm staring at the dead man." "Do you know him?" "Do you recognize him?" "Oh, dear Lord, Odd." "So many dead bodies." "Odd, you have to stop this from happening." "Oh, Odd, is there any hope that this can pass?" "If you listen to Oddie, you'll be just fine." "No." "Fate is not a straight road." "There are many forks in it." "You have the free will to choose which one you take, but sometimes it will bend around and bring you straight back to that same stubborn fate." "I just want to check on the girls." "They're so beautiful, Viola." "And they're such good girls." "They're lucky to have you." "That's what everyone says." "Odd?" "Anything wrong?" " No." " Mmm-mmm." "No, no, no." "I just, uh, want to make sure the girls were safe." " Mmm-hmm." " And with the bars on the windows." "I taught them how to work the emergency release myself." "Well, looks like everything's A-okay in here." "Step one, do not stay here." "I'll go to my grandma's." "Don't tell your grandma you're coming." "Don't tell the girls where you're going." "I don't want you overheard." " By who?" " By anyone." "Or anything." "Just go with it." "Step two is don't go bowling if for some reason you get the itch." "I can't believe we're leaving those horrid things hovering around those sweet girls." "They won't hurt them." "They just want to smell them before they die." "God." "Look, Stormy, there's nothing I can do about bodachs, okay?" "And right now, I wouldn't even if I could." "I need them to help me see the danger coming so I can maybe prevent it." "And when they eventually find out that you can see them?" "Oddie, will you ever leave here?" "Well, I sure hope I don't end up like Tom Jedd hanging out at Tire World." "I meant while you're alive." "Hey." "Hey, Stormy." "Hey, hey." "Look, look." "Look, Stormy, if you want us to go, I'll go." "It's not that." "It's..." "I'm just so scared for you, Oddie." "So scared, ever since I saw that creep Fungus Bob." "I'm sorry." "I just..." "I love you so much." "My Pooh Bear." "I promise you on the other side of tomorrow," "I will have all my stuffing intact." "That must be for you." "I..." "I heard the screams." "She ran across my yard." "I saw the dogs following her." "I grabbed my gun." " I shot the dogs." " It's on." "All right." "Here's what we know." "Lysette left my barbecue with Officer Eckles at around 7:45." "He dropped her off at home, clocked in at 8:00, and was manning the front desk when he got the call." "So somewhere between 8:00 and midnight," "Lysette was whacked in the eye and then tied up and gagged and hauled all the way the Hell out here and had two rottweilers sicced on her." "Hey, Chief." "What's with the guy who shot the dogs?" "His name's Kevin Goss." "He was teaching a class from 6:00 to 10:00, then he went to Starbucks till they closed at midnight." "He got home about two minutes too late." "Sir?" "I've actually seen those rottweilers before." "They belong to Bob Robertson." "All right!" "I want an APB put out on this guy now!" "Find him!" "Simon, I want you to go back over to Robertson's house." "I'll have a search warrant in the morning as soon as the courthouse opens." "Sir, no offense, but I wasted most of the day staking out that house." "Then I went to the bowling alley and stayed there until they closed." "Nothing happened." "Nobody showed." "It was a complete waste of my time." "Sir, are we sure this Robertson character isn't just a wild goose chase?" "Exactly where were you between the hours of 8:00 and 10:00?" " He was with me the whole time." " Stormy..." "Stormy..." "Ease up." "Just ease up." "Now go check the house again and ask around about the dogs." "Yes, sir." "You two." "Home." "Go." "Now." "Um, I, uh..." "I think you should wear this." "Try not to laugh." "Oddie, you are not responsible for every death you can't prevent." "She died." "And if Fungus Bob was her killer," "I was either slow or stupid..." "Choose your weapon." "Why would Fungus Bob kill Lysette?" "What's the connection?" "It makes no sense." "It doesn't have to make sense." "It just has to satisfy some sick urge." "Maybe he's warming up." "I think the chief just sent some detectives to protect you." "I don't need protecting." "Actually, I think it might just be surveillance." "Fungus Bob followed me to the church." "I bet the chief is hoping he'll sniff me out again." "If the chief is using you as bait, he should at least ask if you mind having a hook in your ass." "ODD"." "Oh, man!" "I got to stay focused." "Good." "You keep an eye on my girl." "August 15th had begun." "Time was running out." "Hey, Bob." "You're not planning on getting up, are you?" "But if you're dead, who's gonna massacre Pico Mundo?" "ODD"." "Gun on the floor, dead guy in my tub..." "I know a set-up when I see one." "But if I call the police, the chief will have to arrest me, and I won't be able to stop the catastrophe from happening." "Oh, my God!" "Oh, you are creeping me out." "You're freezing cold, Bob." "Your rigor moms 'rs way advanced." "You know..." "The chief said you didn't leave any fingerprints." "He didn't leave a single print." "And Stormy never actually saw you." " Come on!" " What?" "Because you were already dead." "The whole time in the church, you were actually a pissed-off poltergeist." "I think the last time I saw Fungus Bob alive was when he left his house right before I broke into it." "He's been haunting me ever since, blaming me for his death." "Why he blames me or who the Hell killed him is a little hazy." "If I'm caught, I'll either be arrested for murder or rolling what looks like the biggest joint ever." "It's just me, Rosalia!" "Damn it." "Give me a break." "It's just me, again, Rosalia." "I'm gonna borrow your car again, okay?" "ODD"." "If I'm being framed, why the police have failed to arrive and arrest me, or the murderer hasn't come to kill me, I do not know." "All right, Bob, where can I put you to quietly decompose for a while before someone finds you and has a new love of Jesus scared into them?" "Interesting story, Bob." "After the federal government abandoned this prison, it went through a long series of owners." "Rumor has it that at Von Zipper's Burgers the fries were delicious." "And the free-soft-drink-refill policy was generously honored." "And yet, this fine dining establishment never succeeded in winning over the family-dining crowd, which is so essential to any restaurant operation." "Welcome to the gas chamber." "A lot of people died in here, Bob." "You should feel right at home." "Stormy's always joking about running off to Las Vegas and getting married." "But I tell her Vegas is packed with dead people and bad guys and I'd just end up fighting evil 24/7." "I should have listened to her." "Too many." "Too many." "The chief." "I need the chief." "Oh." "Dear Lord." "If that's you again, Odd, we are going to have words!" "Oh, my God." "No offense, Odd Thomas, but I can't think of anybody who could come in here right now and not get my back up." "So, do you think he knew the shooter?" "Had to, which means it's probably somebody I know, too." " How bad is he?" " Bad." " Well, he's a fighter." " He better be." " Hey, Bern." " Ma'am." "Oh, Oddie." "Keep the reporters out of here." "You, on that door." "Sorry, no press inside." "Stay back, please." "Oh, come on!" "You saved his life, Oddie." "Where's this bullet?" "It's the one they're trying to dig out of him now." "ODD"." "Time is up." "Pico Mundo is awakening to a horror that only I can stop." "Lysette and Fungus Bob are dead." "The chief is in the emergency room." "There's hoards of bodachs swarming all over town." "Whatever's coming is gonna be big." "I'm scared, and I'm supposed to be fearless." "Don't tell me to stay home today." "Please stay home today." " I will if you stay home with me." " We've been through this." "I have to do whatever I can to stop it." "Is Viola going to be shot dead?" "You know I don't know that for sure." "She's had it hard in life." "She doesn't need this." "Shot dead?" "Really?" "Who does need it?" "Oh, I don't know why I try to reason with you." "I always lose." "You're a fabulous man of action, odd one." "You don't need to be a good debater, too." "Besides, you said yourself, any road I choose could lead me right back to the same fate." "So, which is it?" "Do I have free will?" "Am I in God's hands?" "Or is it both?" "Have I ever told you you've got a lot of issues?" "I'm a woman." "We all have issues." "It's what keeps us interesting and you men interested." "Oh, yeah." "It's what makes us crazy and die younger." "Do you love me?" "I love you more than life itself." "See?" "It's working." "Don't look back." "Don't look back." "Give him strength." "Knock, knock." "I'm hoping Bob left a clue on his computer:" "Something to lead me to his partner..." "To the person who's planning on killing hundreds, if not thousands of people." "Hey." "Loop me in, odd one." "Where are you?" "I'm walking towards a fridge." " Yours, mine, or Fungus Bob's?" " Uh-huh." "Don't "Uh-huh" me." "I told you, you are not allowed to go playing around in any more Hell gates." "Next!" "Oh, God." "Cockroaches." "Always cockroaches." "Odd Thomas, did you hear me?" "Which part?" "I can't believe you went back there." "Every time you don't listen to me, you get yourself into trouble." "I wish I'd listened to you." "You get out of there right now." "Right, right." "Leaving." "Leaving." "Ah!" "Ah!" "Ah!" "Never heard you make that sound before." "Is everything okay?" "Yeah." " What are you looking at?" " Um..." "Fingers." "Please say they're attached to someone's hand." "Sorry." "Get out of there, Oddie." "Someone has been buying a lot of Burke  Bailey's." "Yeah?" "Well, you tell whoever's buying it that our ice cream may be the best, but it'll still melt in Hell." " I'm calling the police." " No." "No." "Wait." "I'll leave here first." "Then I'll call them." "Be careful." "Don't worry." "Hey, Bob." "I guess when I began to out you, word somehow spread, and, uh, you became a liability to your partner, and he had to kill you." "Sorry about that." "I find it funny how I know more about dead people than dead people." "This is our realm, Bob." "You can't physically harm a living person." "But there is that." "Ah!" "Oh!" "Your call cannot be completed as dialed." "Oh!" "Gas." "I'm exhausted, I'm lost, and somewhere along the way," "I missed an important clue that could take me home." "The bullet through the heart." "It wasn't about the chief." "Oh." "God." "Enough already, Bob." "Please." "My three least favorite words." "Some..." "Assembly required." "STORMY"." "Simon, I've been dying to know what that tattoo means." "Let's just say this tattoo is a crude obscenity." "It's Varner." "I once had a run-in with some Devil worshipers." "I should've known." "P.O.D. Prince of Darkness." "No wonder Varner was suspicious when I told him Fungus Bob had gotten aggressive with me an hour earlier." "This guy, Bob Robertson." "Got aggressive with you?" "He had already killed Bob five or six hours before that." "And that police van protecting Stormy?" "That must've been Varner waiting to follow me home to bust me for Fungus Bob's murder." "Or shoot me while resisting arrest." "There were no bodachs around Varner." "But I can still feel myself being drawn to him and to the place where he's about to commit mass murder." "Coconut chocolate chip." "Oh, God, no." " Hey, Nell, I see what the problem is." " Stormy." "You are eating and reading at the same time." "How about I eat and you read?" "No?" "Not so good?" "Okay, fine." "All right, Varner..." "Where are you?" "Fungus Bob didn't just have one kill buddy..." "He had two." "One more, and they could buy group health insurance or form a rock band." "Officer Eckles is checking that right now." "I don't know what this Odd Thomas character knows, but I know that Robertson is stupid and careless and he's gonna get us nailed if we don't do something." "Relax." "Did Robertson ever find those photos at the mall he misplaced?" "I said, relax." "I'll take care of him." "Stalking someone at the mall, Bern?" "Robertson." "That idiot." "Oh!" "We got to make it look like an accident." "Oh, it'll look like an accident all right." "When I find Robertson, I'm gonna kill him." "Already been there, done that." "Looks like their plan was to jump out at the end of the mall disaster like heroes responding to the call." "But I never saw any bodachs around Eckles, either." "The presence of the bodachs tipped me off to Fungus Bob, but not to his two co-conspirators, which now seems intentional." "As if the bodachs knew of my gift, as if they know I can see them." "The bodachs have been manipulating me." "I'm gonna finish you off, old man." "Four." "Well, that's just jiffy." "This just so happens to be my very favorite book." ""The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."" "Prince of Darkness, Officer Varner." "Prince of Darkness." "Officer Varner." "Viola." "Viola!" "Viola!" "What are you doing here?" " Odd!" "Geez!" "You scared the..." " What are you doing here?" "We had to pick out a birthday present for Levanna." "And Nicolina wanted to get a card for her big sister." "Look, your dream, it's happening, right here, right now." "I thought in a big stadium or the water park or a bowling alley." "Ladies, I need you to take Viola and get her out of here, okay?" "Come on." "Come on, come on." "Go on." ""This made Dorothy so very angry" ""That she picked up the bucket of water that stood near" ""And dashed it all over the wicked witch." ""And then the wicked witch said..." ""I'm melting!" "I'm melting!"" "There's suddenly lots of ﬂashing lights..." "With old-fashioned kiddie music." "And then I hear a big crowd." "And then there's the sound of water, gushing water." "Bye, Nell." "Bye, Stormy." "Excuse me." "Excuse me." "Sorry!" "Move, move." "Excuse me!" "A gun!" "He's got a gun!" "ODD"." "Stormy and I are destined to be together forever." "Gypsy mummy gave us a card that said so, for a single quarter, what other couples couldn't buy at any price." "No!" "Get out of the way!" "Get off!" "It's not over." "It's not over." "It's not over." "It's not over." "Hey, Chief." "What's with the guy who shot the dogs?" "His name is Kevin Goss." "One of these days, bang!" "You hear me?" "He's got a gun!" " Is this your truck?" " I need a drill!" " Do you have a drill?" " I need to get this open." " Who the Hell are you?" " I'm a cop." "Now, look." "You see that woman?" "Some maniacs just shot up the mall!" "So either get with me, get behind me, or get out!" "I got..." "I got a grinder." "Oh, my God." "Everyone get the Hell out of here!" "Get the Hell out!" "Now!" "Ah!" "Hey!" "Ah!" "Goddamn it!" "Shit!" "You really set yourself up, asshole!" "It's cold in the desert." "I could tell my stuffing wasn't entirely intact." "He is awake." "He is awake." "But it was nothing they couldn't stick back together." "Karla told me that the chief had come through just fine and somehow managed to spin Fungus Bob's corpse into a bizarre cover story that kept my secret a secret." "An FBI expert on television said that if you hadn't gotten those explosives out of there, at least 500 or 600 people would've died, for sure." "They told me events at the Green Moon Mall had made headlines everywhere." "But I didn't want to read or see anything about it." "According to Eckles, he and Varner started a satanic cult when they were teenagers." "One night, they killed a man and realized they enjoyed it." "So they kept at it, eventually joining the police force for better cover." "They met Robertson and Goss and came up with a plan to infiltrate a small town and then slowly kill it." "Odd, we love you!" "Odd!" "Odd!" "Odd!" "Odd!" "Ah, when I'm with you," "I don't have to worry about pancakes or poltergeists." "When I'm with you, I'm with my destiny." "Where you live, I flourish." "We ate food that wasn't healthy." "We drank too much." "And slept too much." "But could never kiss enough." "Everything was just as I wished." "Yeah?" "Odd, uh, it's us." "Open up." "Hey, GUYS" "We have been calling you, Oddie." "I know." "You know, I disconnected the phone because the reporters won't leave me and Stormy alone." " Son." " Do you want some..." "You've been here long enough." "We think it's time to stop." "Sweetheart, the coroner finally released her poor body." "A part of me knew..." "From the moment I saw her behind the ice-cream counter." "But the truth hurt too much to accept." "Her death would have been one wound too many that day, and I think I would have let go of this life." "She's here, isn't she?" "You got to let her know." "She deserves to move on to her next life." "Son..." "It's just time." "I promise I will see you again, okay?" "Stormy always believed that life is not about how fast you run or with what degree of grace." "That this life is a boot camp, that we must persevere through all the obstacles and hardships to earn our way into the next life." "To be with her again, I will have the perseverance of a bulldog." "But sometimes, it seems to me, the training is unnecessarily painful." "If I live an average life-span," "I'll have another 60 years before I see Stormy again." "That will be a long wait." "But I am a patient man." "And I have much to do."