McCann said: “That poor farm’s on the water. It wouldn’t be hard to take them away by boat.”
Lowell objected, sharply: “Nonsense, McCann! How could they be taken secretly? You’re surely not suggesting that de Keradel could steam in, gather the paupers on his boat and sail away without anyone being aware of it?”
McCann said, placatingly: “Well, now, Doc, there wouldn’t be much of a trick in that. I’ve seen ’em snaked out of penitentiaries. Guards can always be fixed, you know.”
I said: “There are other ways. They might slip away of their own volition. Who knows what de Keradel might promise them—if they slipped away to him?”
Lowell said: “But how could he get to them? How establish contact?”
Bill answered, quietly: “By the shadows of Dahut!”
Lowell thrust his chair back, violently. He said: “Preposterous! I acknowledge that such abnormal suggestion as we have been considering might have been effective in Ralston’s case. But to assert that a collective hallucination could be induced which would draw away half a hundred inmates of—it is—preposterous!”
“Well, anyway,” drawled McCann, “they went.”
I said: “De Keradel is an enthusiast, and thorough. Like Napoleon, he knows that you cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs; nor can you have meat without cattle; nor human sacrifices without humans. How did he get his workmen? He engaged an agent who collected men without family—and therefore with nobody to care whether they turned up again or did not. Also, they came from widely separated parts and they did not know each other. Why? Because that reduced to a minimum any chance of inquiry concerning them. What became of those who were left after they had finished his rockery! Who knows—and who cares? Were any of them allowed to go after they had finished their work? I doubt it. Otherwise, why all these peculiar precautions? Again—who knows and cares?”
Bill said: “You mean he used them for—”
I interjected: “For his experiment, of course. Or as McCann’s old goat put it—for his rockery. They were laboratory subjects. Well, the supply runs short. He hasn’t enough. For one reason or another he doesn’t want to bring in any more that way. Still, he must have more subjects. For a show such as he proposes putting on, he may need quite a crowd. Where could he get them with the least risk? Not by stealing them from around the countryside. That would raise hell. Not from a prison—because even ten men vanishing from a prison would raise even more hell. Also, he needs women as well as men. What is the least missed person in the world? A pauper. And here close at hand is a reservoir of them. And so—the paupers vanish.”
McCann said: “It listens. But what about them dogs that ain’t dogs that sent ’Lias loco?”
I thought: “Riding on her stallion black, at her feet her shadow pack—” I answered: “Your guess about that is as good as mine, McCann. What are you going to do with these men, if Ricori puts them under your command? What plan have you in mind?”
He settled himself in his chair.
“Well, it’s this way. If the boss turns ’em over to me, it means he’s going to come back. An’ when the boss makes up his mind, he moves quick. Now these lads I named are handpicked an’ none afraid of hell or its angels. Handy with the Tommy-guns an’ what not, but they ain’t a bad-looking or a bad-behaved lot—ordinarily. Now what I’m figuring is that if this de Keradel’s up to the tricks we’ve been talking of, something’s likely to happen that’ll give us the breaks on him. I got a hunch the floating off of them two paupers was a mistake. He don’t want nothing that’ll point a finger at him. All right, maybe he’ll make another mistake. An’ we’ll be there.
“The Beverly people’ll be damned glad to see me. I been a mite modest about how much they took to me. I go back with a couple of the lads an’ tell Eph I’ll try out for a bit that house he offered me. Then in a day or two the rest filter in, just coming up to stay with McCann for the fishing an’ the rest. We’ll fish around all right, an’ sort of ride an’ tramp an’ scout. By the time the boss gets here we’ll have the lay of the land. Then, after you’ve shown him, he’ll tell us what to do further.”
Dr. Lowell said: “McCann, all of this will cost money. I cannot consent to it unless you permit me to defray the expenses.”
McCann grinned: “Don’t worry about that, Doc. The house won’t cost us nothing. Eph an’ his friends’ll see to that. As for the lads—well, I look after some things for the boss an’ he’s left me plenty funds. The boss’ll pay for the party. An’ should the party get rough, well—” there was a lawless glint in McCann’s eyes “—from what you and Doc Bennett tell me there ought to be good pickings at the de Keradel joint.”
Lowell exclaimed, shocked: “McCann!”
I laughed; nevertheless I studied McCann. Suddenly I had an uneasy feeling that he might not be so disinterested after all. Straightforward enough he seemed, and his story supported our every suspicion—but wasn’t it just a little too pat? He and Ricori had been gangsters and racketeers, operating ruthlessly outside the law. I had no doubt that in the main his story was true; that he had found a village filled with fear and rumor. But this might be nothing more than the gossip of a small community whose curiosity and resentment had been aroused by being barred from a place to which they had enjoyed free ingress for generations. In many parts of rural New England it is a neighborhood affront to pull down the window shades at night. Families have been ostracized and preached against in the churches for doing it. Unless you are doing something wrong, why cover the windows so the neighbors can’t look in? The same argument might be at the bottom of the Beverly unrest. Their imaginations painted what might be going on behind the de Keradel wall. And tale after tale would grow stronger in the telling.
How easy for a quick-witted crook to take advantage of such a situation; bring in a gang and set up headquarters in this house between the village and the isolated de Keradel place. Then, on some manufactured evidence or without it, under pretense of ridding the villagers of their terror, with their rear protected by these superstitious allies, to storm the wall, raid the house and loot it. Its guards once overcome, there would be none to interfere. Perhaps McCann had information as to the extent of the “pickings” beyond Bill’s surmises as to what had been secured from Ralston and the others. Perhaps he had already apprised Ricori of the opportunity, and the cable he had induced Lowell to send was only a blind.
These thoughts ran through my mind in a fraction of the time it has taken to tell them. I said:
“It sounds first rate. But what you need is somebody inside the place who will keep in touch with you.”
McCann said, emphatically: “That’s one thing can’t be done.”
I said: “Wrong. I know somebody who will do it.”
He grinned: “Yeah? Who?”
I said: “Me.”
Lowell leaned forward, staring at me incredulously. Bill whitened, and little beads of sweat came out on his forehead. McCann’s grin faded. He asked:
“How you going to get in?”
I said: “By the front door, McCann. I have, in fact, an invitation from Mademoiselle de Keradel. I’ve accepted it. I’m afraid I forgot to tell you that, Bill.”
Bill said, grimly: “I’m afraid you did. So…that…was why you wanted de Keradel’s address? And that was what you did while I was asleep…and that was why—”
I said, airily: “I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about, Bill. The Demoiselle, no matter what else she may be, is a damned interesting lady. I’d been thinking over what you suggested a few days ago—about sitting in and so on. It just happened that the invitation came while you were asleep, and I immediately accepted. And that’s all.”
He said, slowly: “And immediately the—”
I said, hastily: “Nothing to that, Bill. Forget it. Now as I see the situation—”
McCann interrupted, his eyes narrowed and face hardened: “Seems to me you know this de Keradel gal better’n anybody told me, Dr.
Caranac. Seems to me you know a hell of a lot you’ve not come clean with.”
I said, cheerfully: “A hell of a lot is right, McCann. And that’s the way it stays. Take me or leave me. You’ll have your gang outside the wall. I’ll be inside. If you want me to cooperate, fine. If you don’t, I’d just as soon play a lone hand. What are you afraid of?”
He flushed, and his hands went down to his hips in a swift stiff motion. He drawled: “I ain’t afraid—but I like to know the brand of who I work for.”
I laughed: “Take it from me, McCann, whatever it is, it’s not the Double-Cross. But you’ll have to leave it at that.”
Bill said, still sweating: “I can’t let you do that, Alan.”
I said: “Listen. Either de Keradel and the Demoiselle brought about the suicide of Dick and the others—or they did not. If they did—they accomplished it by some dark knowledge they possess, or by hypnotic suggestion. In either case, no evidence could be brought against them that any court would consider. So that’s out. But if de Keradel is actually carrying on that devilish experiment he hinted, and if he is luring, stealing or otherwise securing human sacrifices to complete that experiment, then he’s leaving himself open to perfectly tangible evidence and a charge of murder. He’s bending his neck to the noose. And so—” I winced at the thought “—is the Demoiselle. The only place to get that evidence is up there in Rhode Island. McCann’s plan is good, but he’s outside the wall, and he could not have the advantages that someone inside would have for observation. It happens that I am not only invited to go inside, but uniquely fitted for doing so—” I couldn’t help giving Bill a sardonic grin at that. “Also, Bill, if there is danger, I have a real conviction that I run less risk by accepting the Demoiselle’s invitation than I do by refusing it.”
And that was true enough, I thought. If I obeyed Dahut’s summons, I’d probably lose Helen forever. But if I didn’t—well, I would just as probably lose her anyway. And I didn’t like to think of what might happen to her and to Bill in the process. At that time incredulity and absolute conviction of the Demoiselle’s unholy powers revolved in my mind like a two-sailed windmill. And sometimes so fast that I found myself both believing and disbelieving at the same time.
Bill said: “You were always a rotten bad liar, Alan.”
McCann stuck out his hand: “Okay, Doc, I’m sorry I said it. You don’t need tell me nothing more. What you want me to do?”
I was really moved by that. I took his hand and said: “I’m sorry, too, McCann.”
McCann asked: “What for?” I said: “For something I’d been thinking. Come down to the Club with me and we’ll map out some line. We won’t talk here because from now on I want Dr. Bennett to keep out of this.”
Bill said, hotly: “The hell I will. When McCann goes up there I go with him.”
I said: “I know what I’m talking about. I’ll play this game with McCann. And with Ricori—if he comes over. But you’re out of it, Bill. I don’t want you even to talk to Ricori. Let Dr. Lowell do all the explaining.”
Bill said, stubbornly: “I go with McCann.”
I said: “You poor boob, do you think it’s you I’m considering? It’s Helen.”
He dropped at that, and again I saw his face whiten and the little beads of sweat come out on his forehead. He said, slowly: “So—that’s it.”
I said: “That’s exactly it. Think it over and see how right I am. Nothing doing, Bill. You’re out.”
I turned to Dr. Lowell: “I have the best of reasons for what I am saying. I am hoping you will support me. I don’t think there’s much danger for you. But for Helen and Bill—a lot.”
Lowell said, very gravely: “I understand you, Alan. I will not fail you.”
I got up; I looked at Bill and laughed. I said: “You’ve the look of somebody who sees his best friend pacing from the condemned cell toward that Little Green Door from which none returneth. It’s nothing of the sort, Bill. I’m going to visit a charming lady and her perhaps insane but nevertheless brilliant father. I expect to have a most interesting time. And if papa gets too crazy I have McCann to fall back on. If I want you, I’ll call on you. There are mails and telephone. Come on, McCann.”
We went down, the four of us, to the hall. I said: “Also, Bill, don’t tell Helen anything about this until I give you the word.”
And just then the door opened and Helen came in.
Her eyes widened, and she looked distressed and she said: “Hello, darling. Why didn’t somebody tell me you were coming tonight? I’d not have gone out.”
She put her arms around my neck and kissed me. Her lips were soft and warm, and there was a fragrance about her—not like some unknown sea-bloom but flowers blossoming on a breast of earth.
I said: “I didn’t know it myself until after you’d gone, angel.”
She said: “Well, you’re coming right back. I’ve a lot to talk to you about.”
I wanted to be with Helen, right enough—but some way, tonight, I didn’t want to talk to her. I cast an involuntary glance of appeal at McCann.
McCann caught it. He said: “Sorry, Miss Helen, but we got to get right out.”
Helen looked at him: “Hello, McCann. I didn’t notice you. What are you going to do with this man of mine?”
“Anything you say, Miss Helen.” McCann was grinning, but I had the idea he was speaking absolute truth, and that whatever Helen ordered he would certainly do his best to accomplish.
Bill said: “Alan has to go, Helen.”
She took off her hat and smoothed the copper helmet of her hair. She asked, quietly: “The de Keradel affair, Alan?”
I nodded and she went a little white. I said: “It’s nothing very important, but, honestly, I can’t stay. Let’s make a day of it tomorrow, Helen. Meet me at Marguens and take lunch. Then we’ll ride around a bit and get supper and go to some show or other. I haven’t been to a theater for three years.”
She looked at me for a long minute or two, then rested her hands on my shoulders: “All right, Alan. I’ll meet you there—at two. But—be there.”
As I went out I swore to myself that come hell or high water, I’d be there. Summons from Dahut notwithstanding. If Bill had to entertain one of her shadows for a few hours—well, he’d have to stand it. Down at the Club, McCann and I had a few drinks and I told him a few more things. I said I thought both de Keradel and his daughter were a bit crazy, and the reason I’d been invited down was because she had a wild idea we’d been in love with each other a few thousand years ago. He listened, silently. When I was done, he said: “The shadders, Doc. You think they’re real?”
I said: “I don’t see how they can be. But certainly the people who see them think they are.”
He nodded, absently: “Well, they got to be treated as if they’re real. But how can you put the heat on a shadder? The people responsible for ’em are real, though. An’ you can always put the heat on them.”
He said, shrewdly:
“This de Keradel gal, now. How do you feel about her? I hear she’s mighty ornamental. Feel safe—going down there?”
I flushed at that; I said, coldly: “When I need a guardian, McCann, I’ll let you know.”
He answered as coldly: “I didn’t mean it that way. Only—I ain’t aiming to see Miss Helen get any crooked deal.”
That stung me; I began, unthinkingly: “If it wasn’t for Miss Helen—” then shut up. He leaned over toward me, his eyes less hard:
“I thought so. You’re scared for Miss Helen. That’s why you’re going. But mebbe that ain’t just the way to protect her.”
I said: “All right, McCann, tell me a better.”
He said: “Why not leave it to me an’ the hands?”
“I know what I’m about, McCann,” I told him.
He sighed and got up: “Well, soon’s we hear from the boss you an’ me’s got to get together on signals an’ how to meet down there. There’ll be boats fishing at the end of the walls, for one thing. When do you figu
re on visiting?”
“When I’m sent for.”
He sighed again, shook my hand solemnly, and left. I went to bed, and slept soundly. The next morning at nine Bill called me up to say that Ricori had cabled the necessary instructions and that he was flying from Genoa to Paris that day to catch the Mauretania and would be in New York in a week. McCann ’phoned the same news, and we made an engagement for that midnight to go over details of our team work.
I spent a gorgeous day with Helen. I met her at Marguens and said: “This day is yours and mine, darling. We’re not going to think about anything else. To hell with the de Keradels. This is the last mention of them.”
She said, sweetly: “To hell with them suits me perfectly, darling.”
It was, as I have said, a gorgeous day, and long before it was over I knew just how much I was in love with her; how utterly lovely and desirable she was. Every time the thought of the Demoiselle crept out of the far corner of my mind into which I had thrust her, I pushed her back with a pang of hatred. At half-past eleven I bade good-by to Helen at Lowell’s door. I asked: “How about tomorrow?”
She said: “All right—if you can.”
I asked: “Why the devil couldn’t I?”
The A. Merritt Megapack Page 190