Inner Circle (19 page)

The trip to the airport, the flight to New York, renting the car, and the drive to Gruber’s mansion seemed to have been done automatically. Gruber’s estate overlooked the Hudson River west of Rhinebeck. When she pulled into the driveway, she felt as if someone else had delivered her there. She sat for a moment looking at the huge stone chateau with the pillared portico. There’s time, she thought, to turn around. She could flee back to the safety of her home, the comfort of the country club, her classes at the university. She could return to a predictable life among good friends who were protective and sane.

Instead, she parked the rented car next to the portico. In the distance, the late afternoon sun glinted off the river. Its light filtered softly through the new green-gold leaves of the massive oaks that lined the drive. She’d expected someone, perhaps Jamie, to come out of the house to help with her bag. No one appeared. She unloaded her suitcase and carried it up the wide stone steps. After pressing the bell several times, the heavy door swung open.

Her old nemesis, Mrs. Foster, looked at her disapprovingly. She resembled, Kathy thought, the wicked witch in
The Wizard of Oz
. Without saying a word, Mrs. Foster motioned for Kathy to follow her. They ascended the sweeping circular stairway and proceeded down a long dimly lit hall. At its end, Mrs. Foster paused before another heavy wooden door. She fitted a big iron key in the lock. Kathy followed her into a large, well appointed bedroom. She noticed immediately that the tall windows were barred. The room was furnished with a king sized bed, several armchairs, a long leather-covered bench, and a mirrored dressing table. In the center of the outside wall was a fireplace set with logs. Through an archway she saw a bath with a big sunken tub. The floor and walls of the bathroom were black marble. Fastened at intervals along the walls of both rooms were heavy iron rings.

“This will be your room during your stay with us,” Mrs. Foster said matter-of-factly. She pointed to a speaker in the ceiling. “If either of the Masters or myself wishes to communicate with you, we can. There is also a small speaker built into the bed. This is a very large house. It’s easy to lose you way. Therefore, when you are summoned, I will come for you.”

Kathy smiled at the stern faced woman, “I don’t think, Mrs. Foster, that summoned is exactly the right word. I’m here at the invitation of Doctor Gruber. I’m here as a guest.”

“I’ve been informed, Mrs. Ryan, that Doctor Gruber intends to summon you to his study at seven o’clock. Before you are summoned, Mrs. Ryan, I suggest you freshen up.” The older woman stepped back and studied Kathy, “Summoned, is exactly the right word. I assume you’ve brought acceptable attire and shoes?” she asked frowning.

“Yes, of course.” Kathy glared back at her. “I have things in my suitcase.”

“Unpack, then.” She pointed to a closet. “You can hang your clothes there.” She turned to leave saying, “You know what the Masters expect.” Not waiting for an answer, she closed the door. Kathy heard the key turn in the lock.

“To hell with what the Masters expect,” Kathy said half aloud. No one here could force her to stay. She’d not hear from Madam Khe so perhaps the contract had been cancelled. There was no way she could help her sister-in-law. Abul was dead and so were Ruben and Sheila. Gruber and his lunatic nephew couldn’t threaten her with anything. She took a long leisurely bath then reapplied her makeup, nothing special, just lipstick and a touch of eye shadow. She was sorry now that she hadn’t packed another dress. Since her yellow linen suit and flat sandals were none the worse for the trip, she decided to put them back on. She’d let Gruber know from the start that he couldn’t dictate what she would wear. She lay on the bed and drifted into an uneasy sleep.

Several hours later, Kathy was awakened by the sound of Mrs. Foster’s voice crackling through the speakers. “Dr. Gruber will see you now. I’m coming to escort you to his study.” Suddenly Kathy felt the familiar coil of fear twist in her stomach. She cursed herself for phoning the crazy Doctor and for coming here. She would just meet him and say she’d thought it over and concluded it would be best if she left right away. She wasn’t interested in watching the “entertainments” or in having sex with Frederick’s big black servant, Jamie.

She heard the key in the lock and Mrs. Foster swung open the door. The old woman glared at her. “You said you’d brought acceptable attire.”

“This, Mrs. Foster, is as acceptable as I intend to get.”

The woman spun on her heel and motioned for Kathy to follow her. They went along the hallway and down the sweeping staircase. Kathy remembered that Gruber’s study was in the front of the house, the windows facing the circular drive. Her last visit to the study was terrifying. Gruber and Frederick had described, in vivid detail, what her life would be like if Satomi, the Japanese who held her contract, chose to give her to the Doctor. She would, they had said, eventually become Frederick’s pet, his dog whore. Her function would be to amuse the Doctor and his friends by offering herself to Frederick’s German Schnauzer, Negra, and to the dogs of their rich and powerful friends. They were, of course, insane. She’d escaped all that. She was now, once more, in complete control of her own life. But why, then, had she felt somehow compelled to return here? Why wasn’t she at home, attending a dance at the country club, or a lecture at the university, or a play in the city? Why here in this gloomy fortress with the two men she most feared in the world?

After Mrs. Foster had closed the study door behind her, Kathy didn’t move. Across the vast expanse of his study Doctor Gruber, pale and emaciated, sat studying her for several minutes. Without speaking he indicated she was to sit in the chair facing his huge desk. When she was seated a thin smile crossed his lips. “Well, Mrs. Ryan, I see that you are dressed for travel. Are you thinking about leaving us so soon? Why you’ve only just arrived.” He stared across at her, unblinking.

Kathy was forced to look down at her hands twisting nervously in her lap. She had trouble finding her voice, “Ah…yes, Doctor, I’m sorry, but this just isn’t going to work. I thought…I thought…that…” She looked up at him, “But now that I’m here it’s…it’s uncomfortable.” She looked over his head through the window. Her rented car was no longer in the driveway. “I’ve decided to go back home.”

“But, my dear, you haven’t renewed your acquaintance with Frederick. He’s been so looking forward to seeing you.”

“I’m sorry, truly sorry to disappoint you…both of you, but, well this was a bad idea from the start.” From somewhere behind her, almost inaudible, came the sound of the five discordant notes. Or maybe she was just hearing them again in her head. She felt her resolve slipping away.

“Well, then, at least share a glass of wine with me,” Gruber said. There were two glasses on the silver platter on his desk. He poured from a chilled bottle at his side. Kathy noted that he filled both glasses from the same bottle. He couldn’t be drugging her.

“Thank you,” she said, reaching for her glass, careful not to touch his cold fingers.

“Is there something the matter, Mrs. Ryan?” Gruber leaned forward observing her closely.

“It…it’s that sound,” she said. “I’ve been hearing it off and on since…” She took a deep breath, “Please, Doctor Gruber, tell me the truth. Did you do something to me while I was here…drugs…hypnosis?”

“No drugs, Mrs. Ryan. Hypnosis…perhaps.”

Kathy sat up straight, her eyes flashing with anger, “You had no right. That has to be a criminal act. You damn well can’t go around hypnotizing people, making them do whatever you want!”

“You should know, Mrs. Ryan, that under even the deepest hypnotic state a subject cannot be made to do anything that is strongly against their will. Of course, subjects are open the power of suggestion.” He paused, then continued, although a subject such as yourself, may be released from restrictive moral codes, you cannot be made to do anything that is absolutely abhorrent to you.”

“Like kill someone?”

“Exactly unless, of course, the subject subconsciously wished to kill someone and felt she was capable of doing so.” He sat back and folded his long white fingers on the desktop. “I must, in all honesty, confess that I put you in a deep hypnotic state while you were here hoping I could compel you to become one of us…to become another of Frederick’s pets. Obviously, you were strongly opposed. It didn’t work. As I said, under hypnosis you can’t be compelled to do something you’re adamantly opposed to or something that runs counter to your basic nature.”

“But, the sounds, the bells, the dreams?”

“Yes, your phone call came as somewhat of a surprise. Although perhaps I should have expected it. You see, Mrs. Ryan, after witnessing on the tapes how easily the Korean woman hypnotized you and the things you were willing to do in that state, I knew you would be an easy subject. As it turned out, you were extremely easy and your hypnotic state was very deep, indeed. I also knew that submissiveness is very much a part of your basic nature. The need for humiliation and the desire for physical pain are hidden, but powerful components of who you are. These things proved to be true. Nonetheless, you did refuse our offer. You were ready to give yourself to others in any number of degrading ways, but you drew the line at my nephew and Negra.” He sighed and shook his head, “I suppose everyone has a threshold they will not or cannot cross.”

Kathy shuddered at the thought of how close she’d come. “But these clanging noises, these awful bells?”

“Ah, yes, the bells. While you were here, we did use mild drugs to put you in a light sleep for twenty-four hours. During that time you heard through earphones those same jarring notes. There are five of them: C, B, E, F#, G. I call them my petit-sonata.

“They are, I’m told, never played together except by accident. The notes are what we used to place you in an hypnotic state.” He chuckled, “After all, I couldn’t be expected to devote precious hours to putting you under every time we wanted you to…to perform.”

“That doesn’t explain why I am…”

“Why you are here this evening,” he interrupted. “Do you remember several days ago getting a phone call and hearing on the line nothing but our delightful five notes?”

“Yes, now that you mention it. I thought it was strange and frightening. I’d been hearing those same notes in my dreams.”

“The phone call was an experiment which I had little hope of exceeding, but it appears that it has.”

“All the more reason for me to leave now. Will you send someone to get my car, Doctor? I want to go back to my room and pack.”

“Certainly, my dear. Again you disappoint us.” He pressed a button on the desk and almost immediately the study door opened and Mrs. Foster appeared. “Our guest has decided not to grace our house with her presence. Will you conduct her back to her room. She is going to get her things and leave.” Mrs. Foster nodded.

Kathy was surprised to see that her wine glass was empty. Quickly she glanced at Gruber’s glass and was relieved to note that it, too, was empty.

Kathy followed the older woman up the stairs and along the hall. Once more she listened for a key in the lock and heard none. She sat on the edge of the bed smiling to herself. She’d exerted her will. It had been a terrible mistake to come here, but before anything happened, she was going to leave. She was happy to know that there was, what did Gruber call it? A threshold she wouldn’t cross.

She stood up intending to get her things from the closet and pack. But suddenly she felt faint and very tired. Sitting back on the bed, she tried to recall her meeting with the Doctor. He’d poured their wine from the same bottle. She’d waited until he drank before sipping her own. He couldn’t have drugged her. She stretched out on the bed intending to rest for a moment before packing her things and leaving.

As Kathy fell into a restless sleep the bells began, seeming, at first to come from far away. Gradually they grew louder until they echoed off the walls. The same five discordant notes continued like that for the next six hours. Kathy tossed and turned crying out in her sleep but never awakened.

Soon after the bells stopped, Mrs. Foster entered the room and held an open vial under Kathy’s nose. “Mrs. Ryan,” she said sharply, “it’s time to wake up. Doctor Gruber wishes to see you. You need to bathe, oil your body, use heavy makeup, and this time dress appropriately. You know what the Masters prefer. I’ll be back in exactly one hour,”

Although Mrs. Foster’s words had registered, Kathy was confused. “What time is it?” she asked feeling as if she’d slept for days.

“Almost midnight.”

Kathy sat up, “But I’m going to…” she glanced at her open suitcase.

Mrs. Foster stepped closer to the bed, her hands folded in front of her, “Tell me, Mrs. Ryan,” she said evenly, “exactly what are you going to do?”

“I…I’m going to take a bath and…and make myself look desirable.”

“And why do you wish to do that?”

“Because Doctor Gruber wishes to see me.”

“Just Doctor Gruber?”

Kathy paused, frowning, “No, both of them wish to see me. Doctor Gruber and…and Master Frederick.”

Mrs. Foster stared down at Kathy, “You will prepare yourself so that you look beautiful for Master Frederick. You will make your cunt easily available because I’m sure Master Frederick will wish you to show it to him. This is what you are going to do. Am I correct?”

Kathy nodded slowly, “Yes, yes, of course, Mrs. Foster. I will take care to appear just as you say, beautiful for Master Frederick. I…I…am going to wear something that will enable me to show Master Frederick my…my…cunt should he wish to see it.”