Evil Dreams (31 page)

Mike Ross suppressed a grin. How many times had he heard the same type of thinly veiled threats? Hongisto’s line of chatter got results more frequently with people hesitant to talk to them, than any other method at their disposal. Hongisto’s size intimidated people. His six-feet four-inch frame carried two hundred sixty-five pounds molded in place in such a way that told everyone not an ounce of fat or out of place muscle existed anywhere on his body.

“Let me see the letter,” Sam said reluctantly. The thought angered him. Only one other person had access to his files. Tory. What possible reason could she have to jeopardize her position by doing something so obvious and foolish as to blackmail his patients? He quickly scanned the letter. Swallowing hard, he slowed his brain to analyze the words. He finally acknowledged to himself that whoever had typed the letter must have read Sterling’s file. He knew Sterling would never have mentioned to anyone his turbulent feelings of being discovered and what he would do if he were. Looking up, Sam blanched when he found Hongisto studying him with narrowed eyes.

“You don’t have to say anything, Doctor,” he said. “Tell me how they got the information.

Where do you keep the records of your analyses?”

“Are you all right, Sam?” Marie asked, stepping forward.

“It’s just a little condemning, isn’t it? You think you know someone. Then you find out, because of something like this, you don’t really know them at all.” He drew a deep breath and waited to see what happened next.

“What are you saying, Doctor?” Hongisto asked, knowing he had made the right decision in coming to the psychiatrist’s office.

“I have reason to believe another of my patients may be in trouble because of this same person.”

“Jon?” Trina cried, moving closer to the knot of people. “Has something happened to Jon?”

“Please, Mrs. Ward,” Marie stepped next to her, placing an arm around the woman’s shoulders. “We don’t know anything for certain yet. Let’s not jump to conclusions.”

“Is Doctor Dayton talking about Jon?” she demanded, turning to face Marie.

“I—I’m not sure,” she lied, hoping to keep Trina calm until the police left. Then, she and Sam could explain to her, in a carefully orchestrated manner, the problem at hand.

“Marie, why don’t you take Mrs. Ward into my office and have her relax until I’m finished with these gentlemen,” Sam suggested.

She showed Trina to the inner office. When Sam was alone with the two police detectives, he offered, “I didn’t want to unduly upset her. I was referring to her husband, Jon Ward.”

“Really?” Hongisto asked blandly. “Now, since we’re alone, why don’t you tell me what you were about to, before the ladies left the room?”

“Dr. Von Keltzer, Marie, and I have been analyzing Jon Ward’s tapes at her home—”

“Tapes?” Hongisto broke in.

“I record each session, with the patient’s permission, naturally. It allows me the luxury of time to better study each case.”

“Would you show me your recorder and how this is done, Doctor?”

“Why?”

“Perhaps someone has placed a second microphone in your office and is recording at the same time you are,” Hongisto said.

“I—I never thought of that. If that were the case then Tory wouldn’t necessarily have to be implicated.”

“Who?” Hongisto asked, tenaciously hanging on each word the doctor uttered.

“Tory Worthington, my secretary. She transcribes each tape to written pages, enabling me to have a regular file in addition to those tapes I elect to keep.”

“Why did you suspect her in the first place, Doctor?”

Sam explained about the phone call Jon mentioned in the note he had left for Trina. “I still feel it was someone impersonating Tory.”

“Show me your office, Doctor.”

Opening the door slowly to avoid alarming Trina, Sam entered quietly, motioning for the officers to follow him. He went to the louvered doors and opened them. “The machine can be run either locally here or by remote control from my desk. The first few times with a patient, I usually go through the motions of starting the machine from here rather than from my desk. It seems to reaffirm in their minds that I’m doing what I said I’d do. As a result I’m able to build trust and confidence in a secondary way. About the third or fourth time, I begin using the remote controls and they just accept the fact that they’re being recorded.”

“I see,” Hongisto said, while absently running thick fingers around the shelves in search of a concealed microphone.

Mike Ross checked possible hiding places in other parts of the office, wherever small listening devices could be concealed.

“You realize,” Hongisto said after examining the recessed area where the recording equipment rested, “if we don’t find a bug of any type, we’ll have to question your secretary closely. She’s probably our number one suspect.”

“I still find it hard to believe,” Sam said obstinately and began closing the louvered doors. “Wait a minute,” he exclaimed, throwing the shutters open again.

“What is it, Doctor?” Hongisto asked.

“This tape,” he said, pointing to the reel on the right, “it’s been used.”

“How can you tell?”

“I always place a new reel on whenever I take a recorded one off.”

“So?”

“The machine records from left to right. This tape has been run through the machine and isn’t even threaded anymore. Besides, the machine is on. See?” he said, indicating the dim glow behind the recording meters. Sam pursed his lips in thought. Mentally picturing his actions after Carole Nelumbo left the previous afternoon, he remembered specifically placing a blank reel on the machine. He also recalled having to return to his desk to retrieve the recorded tape of her session, which he almost forgot to give to Tory.

“One way to find out, you know,” Hongisto said.

“Huh?” he asked snapping out of his recollection.

“Rewind it and play it,” Hongisto offered.

“What? Oh, right! Yeah, why didn’t I think of that,” he said, quickly rethreading the tape before he rewound it. When it was ready, he punched the play button.

First, I just want to say it’s too goddamn bad your boss with all his fucking education can’t figure out what’s wrong with this jerk, here.
Howie’s voice filled the room with its coarse tones.

What do you mean, Howie?

“That’s Tory” Sam whispered, running a hand over his face. But who was this Howie?

“Shhh,” Hongisto cautioned, motioning silence with a stocky finger to his lips.

Hurrying across the room, Marie and Trina joined Sergeant Ross who had been examining the bookcases. Standing behind Sam and Hongisto they were able to hear the conversation. The five people listened intently to the two conspirators outlining their plan. Trina wept at the mention of Jon’s name when Howie asked him for his billfold and Tory referred to him respectfully as “Mr. Ward.” Convinced that Jon had been abducted for the information he genetically possessed, Sam and Marie covertly shot concerned looks at each other.

When Tory left the room to call the airlines and the twenty minute silence began, Hongisto said after several seconds of quiet, “Shut it off. What the hell kind of soap opera was that? Hitler’s ghost? Lost gold? Kidnapping? What’s going on here, Doctor Dayton?”

Sam quickly explained about Jon’s dream and what had happened during the three hypnotic sessions. Trina listened in rapt amazement. “It appears,” he concluded, “as though Tory and her boyfriend, this Howie Liemen, had begun blackmailing some of my patients. Somehow, Liemen was able to figure out what Jon’s dream meant and is taking action to find what he believes is a hidden treasure of gold.”

“Amazing. Simply amazing,” Hongisto said detachedly. Turning to his partner, he shook his head. He thought he had heard everything in his nineteen years on the Chicago Police Force but this topped it all.

Turning the machine on fast forward, Sam let it run until a high pitched gabble of speeded up voices burst forth from the speakers. He stopped it, resetting the speed to normal and they listened again as the flight number was given.

“Well, I’ve never had law breakers give such a detailed account of their misdeeds before, but as soon as these two are apprehended, they’ll have a tough time arguing against this tape. May I have it, Doctor?” Hongisto asked, holding his hand out.

“I suppose this is evidence?”

“It’ll play a big part in obtaining a confession.”

“What happens next?” he asked surrendering the reel after he took it from the machine.

“We’ll call the Albuquerque Police Department and have them apprehend the three as soon as they get off the plane.”

“No!” Sam shouted adamantly.

“What?”

“Absolutely not! My patient’s consideration has to take precedence over the arrest of these two—” His voice died away when he tried to think of an appropriate term for the woman he had trusted and the man she apparently loved.

“Why? All care would be exercised for his safety.”

“You don’t understand,” he said feeling totally circumvented. “Tell them, Marie.”

Trina stood rooted in the same position she had assumed while listening to the tape. Jon was in danger, but the revelations she had just heard frightened her even more. Hitler’s spirit inside Jon? Jon kidnapped for whatever purpose the man and woman involved had in mind? Lost gold? Her mind spun. What would happen now? Could they still help Jon? Would Jon be in even more jeopardy with the doctor not wanting the police in New Mexico to arrest the kidnappers and rescue her husband?

When Marie cleared her throat, Trina looked up. What little the psychiatrist had told her had been enough for Trina to establish a beginning rapport and she found herself drawn to the German-born woman. Trina quietly turned, leaving the office without being detected.

“You must understand, gentlemen,” Marie began, “if Mr. Ward were merely hypnotized there would be virtually no danger. He would simply wake up as though he were asleep if too much noise occurred around him. However, I’m positive this man who induced the hypnotic state doesn’t know Mr. Ward should be talked with and given directions carefully while he’s hypnotized. If he allows him to remain unattended, the possibilities of his awakening are very good.

“Since we must contend with the fact that Mr. Ward is not alone as an individual personality, we must take into account the fact that the spirit residing within him is a malevolent one. We have absolutely no precedence to base a decision on at this point. Mr. Ward should be approached by Dr. Dayton and no one else.”

“I think I understand what you’re saying,” Hongisto said, “but for the life of me why you believe it, is beyond me. Why I think I understand—?” He shrugged his wide shoulders.

Marie quickly explained several of the incidents wherein Jon’s personality had changed drastically. Reemphasizing the importance of not having anyone interfere with Jon, other than Sam, when he arrived in Albuquerque, she finished.

“My only concern,” Sam said, rejoining the conversation, “is for Jon. You have your evidence to convict this Liemen character and Tory anytime you want. All you have to do is arrest them. The only thing I’m asking you to do is wait until Jon is safely away from them. Is that really impossible?”

“I suppose I could put the APB out for them in the normal channels,” Hongisto said slowly, conceding to himself that this was no ordinary case. “But how are you going to get Jon Ward away from them in the meantime? I mean, they’re evidently on their way to New Mexico.”

“We can catch up to them,” Trina said from the doorway before anyone answered the question.

“What?” Hongisto asked, turning.

They all faced Trina. “While Doctor Von Keltzer was explaining things, I took the liberty of calling O’Hare to find out the next flight to Albuquerque.”

“What time?” Sam asked excitedly, admitting a high degree of admiration for Trina’s cool thinking under stress.

“There is a flight leaving at seven-thirty that is non-stop. It gets there at nine-thirteen local time. We’d only be an hour and a half behind them if we could take that flight. But it’s full,” Trina said.

“Besides, we’re here in the heart of the Loop and not at O’Hare,” Sam said dejectedly, looking at Marie. Were they going to be beaten so easily by time and distance?

“There is another flight at seven thirty-five that makes one stop enroute, at Wichita, I think she said,” Trina continued. “It had room. I made reservations for the three of us.”

Sam grinned broadly before sobering immediately. “But how do we get to O’Hare on time? It’s a couple of minutes to seven.” A stillness quickly enveloped the room.

“There’s a heliport on top of the Stradler Building,” Hongisto said brightly. “I think we can convince them to get you there on time. Ross, you call them and tell them it’s police business. Then call O’Hare and ask them to have the tickets at the gate. It’ll be close but I think we can make it. Have them hold the plane until they get there in case they’re a couple of minutes late, Mike.”

“Right, Lieutenant,” Ross answered and went to the phone.

“The rest of you, follow me,” Hongisto ordered. Now, that he had a plan of action to follow, he wanted to waste no time in executing it since everything depended on the three people getting to O’Hare within the next half hour.

“I’ll have the Albuquerque police meet you people, however. That is, if you don’t mind, Doctor,” Hongisto said, hurrying toward the door.

“Fine! Anything if you can get us on board that plane,” he answered.

Marie tugged on Sam’s coat sleeve, motioning for him to hang back. “When you first hypnotized Jon,” she asked softly, “and gave him the command words
blue trees,
did you qualify the order by telling him he would go into a trance only if it was your voice he heard?”

A troubled look clouded his face. “That thought has been condemning me as a therapist ever since I heard the tape. No! No, Goddamn it! I didn’t, and I should be chastised no end for slipping up.”

Studying him with a sympathetic expression, she wanted to ask him why he hadn’t. But she knew he was punishing himself sufficiently without further questions from her. her.