The Witch's Ladder (8 page)

“
What about Leona? Surely you don’t suspect her?”

“
Again, you have to understand. Leona was with both Barbara and Travis on the nights they were killed. A young woman fitting Leona’s description showed up at the other two murders just prior to those homicides. I’m not suggesting she killed anybody, but if several witnesses can place her at all four murders… Well, let’s just say that bilocation might prove a hard sell to a jury.”

Doctor Lieberman knelt by Leona’s side, offering comfort by holding her hand. She appeared physically and emotionally drained by the experience and still unaware that discussions involving her were taking place. It soon became obvious to me that I couldn’t question her further about Suffolk’s Walk. A quick visual of the room told me that the group, likewise, was in no mood to discuss matters further. So once again, I thanked Doctor Lieberman and the group for their time, said goodbye and found my way out.

I later learned that that evening during one of the experiments, the twins, Akasha and Shekina, played some kind of prank on Gordon Walsh. I never gathered the full details, but I know it caused an upheaval so great that Doctor Lieberman reportedly put his foot down hard, scolding the girls for making a mockery of his experiments. The girls complained that they were simply having fun, to which he returned, “You are always simply having fun. But there is a time for fun and a time for work.” He went on to say that he was disappointed with all of them, adding, “I honestly wish I had just half the psychic powers that you have, for it’s truly a gift, and if you put your minds to it, there is nothing you can’t accomplish.”

Doctor Lieberman and Jean Bradford gathered their belongings and left without goodbyes. Valerie gathered up her things, too, saying, “He’s right. Two of our dearest friends were murdered in cold blood and we sit here arguing over something as trivial as a practical joke. It’s shameful.”

Lilith said, “So, why don’t we do something about it?”

“
What?” Shekina countered. “Bring them back from the dead? That would be a trick.”

“
No, seriously. You heard Doctor Lieberman. He said we can do anything we set our minds to. I think we can solve these murders. Why don’t we meet here tomorrow?”

“
And what?”

“
Meet here tomorrow and find out.”

Five

The following evening, with Doctor Lieberman’s permission, the members of both workshops gathered in the Center’s parking lot before heading in. Michael arrived first, followed by Gordon and Chris. Akasha and Shekina drove their Saturn in behind Doctor Lieberman’s Mercedes. Jean, Lilith, and Valerie followed respectively. Accounts told by surviving members after that night differed slightly, but most agreed that the events unfolded in the manner which I’m about to convey.

The only member who did not show up was Leona Diaz. When asked, Doctor Lieberman explained that Leona had called to say she was not feeling well. Nobody seemed surprised given the episode she experienced the night before with the glossolalia affair. Once everyone else was in attendance, the group, led by Doctor Lieberman, all filed into the building.

Upstairs, the mood remained serious and conciliatory from the onset. There were no bouts of partisan bickering, childish finger pointing or senseless name-calling. Even the twins made a special effort to work amicably with Lilith, who had arguably become the evening’s mistress of ceremony. The consensus among the group was simple: in order to start their own investigation, they would need to go back to the beginning. Lilith began.

“
People, let’s take it back to the evening Travis died. What do we know about that night?”

Gordon volunteered. “We know it was a Sunday night, because we were all together as a full group.”

“
Okay, good. What else?”

“
The date was March 19th, if that’s important,” Michael added. “I remember, because that’s the night I broke the record with the magnet experiment. I even made a note of it in my journal.”

“
All right, we have Sunday, March 19th. What else?”

“
It was cold,” said Jean, “unusually cold for mid-March.”

“
Yes,” Valerie said. “That’s another thing. It was the first night you joined us at the workshop.”

“
That’s right, and…oh, my. How could I forget?”

“
Forget what?”

She splayed her fingers across her mouth. “I remember I got here late; the doors downstairs were locked. Something terrible happened.” She narrowed her focus to a corner up on the ceiling and concentrated on a spot there, using it as a palette to draw on from memory. “I remember pulling on the door handle and banging on the glass for someone to let me in. That’s when I saw….”

She gasped. Her knees grew weak. She staggered backward, putting her hand out on the wall to catch her fall. Valerie and Lilith hurried to her side, each putting an arm around her shoulder to steady her to a chair.

“
Go on, Jean. Tell us what you saw.”

She melted into her chair and leaned her head back as if looking for the spot on the ceiling again before setting out to recall what she could about that night. “I’m not sure what it was. It took me by surprise, I can tell you that. I remember banging on the door—feeling quite agitated because I saw the lights on upstairs, but I couldn’t see any of you through the window. I stepped back and looked at the door again. That’s when I saw something: a reflection in the glass. It looked like…. I don’t know, someone wearing dark clothes and a hood or something. I turned around, but it was gone.”

“
You didn’t see anything?”

“
No, just the steam from my breath. I turned back to bang on the door again. That’s when I saw Doctor Lieberman. He opened the door and he let me in. I figured whatever I thought I saw must have been my imagination, so I brushed it off once I got inside and calmed down.”

“
Jean, why didn’t you tell this to the police?” Michael asked.

“
I didn’t think of it. I thought it was my imagination. I wouldn’t have held back something so important from the police if I remembered.”

“
Of course you wouldn’t,” said Lilith. “It’s all right. We’ll fill Detective Marcella in on the details later.”

“
Well,” said Gordon. “This could be really big news. It could mean something.”

Chris said, “Could mean what, Gordon? I mean, face it. Jean didn’t see anything. It’s possible there wasn’t anything there to see. So how does this help us?”

“
It’s simple. If someone was out there—that is, if the killer was out there, then maybe he was waiting for someone special. Maybe he knew Jean wasn’t a member of the workshop. She wasn’t one of us.”

“
One of us?”

“
Yes. You know, psychic or telepathic. Maybe that’s why he spared her.”

“
That’s good,” said Lilith. “That could be important, maybe, or maybe not. Come on, give me something else, something more. What else do we know?”

Valerie said, “I know both Barbara and I felt something peculiar that night, just about the time Travis was killed: a feeling of peril, of impending doom, which overwhelmed us. I actually felt a sharp pain in my stomach, like someone cut me with a knife, but it went away just as fast as it came.”

“
I remember you telling us that,” Shekina said. “And you also felt something the night Barbara was murdered. Didn’t you?”

“
I did. Again that awful feeling of doom, it completely overwhelmed me, except then it was accompanied by a sharp pain in my neck.”

“
So, perhaps it’s no coincidence. The killer snapped Barbara’s neck.”

Gordon said, “I have to tell you, I find all this interesting. In the case of both Travis and Barbara, Valerie experienced phantom pains relating to the injuries of each. Yet in the case of the homeless men she had no foretelling sense of doom or phantom pains.”

Lilith said, “You might have something there. We should ask ourselves, why is it that Valerie could sense danger for Travis and Barbara, but not the other two victims? Was it because she knew Travis and Barbara, or because the others were not psychic?”

Valerie said, “I have an idea. Let’s try psychometry. Lilith, will you help me?”

“
Yes, of course.”

“
What’s psychometry? Jean asked.

Lilith looked to Doctor Lieberman. “Doctor, would you care to explain?”

She knew he would. As the girls got ready, he explained to Jean the exotic method of prognostication with his usual flair for details. “In theory,” he began, “psychometry allows an individual to gather information about a subject by simply holding an object, which that subject either owned, or came in recent contact with. We base this theory on the belief that the human mind radiates an aura of consciousness, constantly transmitting a record of one’s existence in all directions. This record is then absorbed, or recorded in the day-to-day objects in which that person comes in contact with. Through psychometric examination, a clairvoyant such as Valerie can review or replay a record of someone’s existence in her mind, merely by concentrating on the object connected with that person.”

Jean nodded as Doctor Lieberman enlightened her on the finer attributes of psychometry, but in her eyes, Lilith could see that her understanding of the subject remained sketchy, at best. Lieberman continued. “For this experiment, Valerie is going to first try her luck with an object that belonged to Barbara: a scarf she left behind at the workshop the night she died.”

Before beginning the experiment, the group pulled the large oak table to the center of the room and positioned chairs around it. Next, they turned out the lights in the hallway and adjacent rooms, as well as the main lights overhead in the workshop. The only remaining light then came from three lone wall sconces mounted between the windows. When all was quiet, Valerie began. She held the scarf in her hands and concentrated on it intensely. She could feel the energy in her fingers ignite as she rubbed along the length of the scarf, sensing every stitch and thread.

“
I’m starting to see something,” she said, her eyes tightly closed. “I see Barbara walking toward her car. She’s looking at something, something in the sky. It’s the moon. It’s just the moon, but it’s so big and full. It’s beautiful. There are a few clouds—not many, sweeping across the face of it. They’re moving so swiftly.” She inhaled and exhaled with a shudder. “It’s cold—so cold and lonely, but the moonlight, it’s shinning so brightly on the parking lot. The car is well illuminated. She’s walking toward it again.”

As Valerie described the events, Jean took notes, recording the particulars on a pad of white-lined paper. Everyone else sat with folded hands, motionless and spellbound.

“
I’m in my car now,” Valerie said, vicariously living out Barbara’s last moments by assuming her identity. “I always do my pre-drive checklist just as Daddy taught me. I know it’s silly, but Daddy says it’s good practice.”

Akasha nudged Shekina with her elbow and the two girls giggled. “Daddy says it’s good practice,” she mocked in a hushed voice. Valerie remained undistracted.

“
Let’s see. I lock the door—check, release the parking brake—check. Make sure all the light switches are off—check. Then I—”

Gordon watched Valerie role-play through the checklist. He marveled at her ability to visualize herself in the car. Her hands, set properly on the wheel at the 10 and 2 positions, moved only to turn the knobs and switches as the checklist provided. When she reached down to where the radio might be to turn an imaginary dial, Gordon made a clicking sound with his tongue and cheek. The sound apparently met her approval, as she smiled at the accomplishment and announced, “Okay, radio is off. Now I depress the clutch, shift into neutral and start the engine.”

She reached for the ignition key and Gordon made a noise like an automobile engine starting up. Valerie’s eyes opened wide, but she remained in full character and appeared to view her surroundings as if sitting in Barbara’s car still parked in front of the compound.

“
Okay, I check the mirror, make sure it’s…. What’s this?”

She reached up, as if adjusting the rearview mirror. A strange curiosity molded her face. She not only sounded like Barbara then, but looked like her, as well.

“
All right slow down, Valerie,” said Doctor Lieberman.

“
She’s okay,” said Michael.

“
Maybe. But I believe we’re at a critical point, and Valerie’s state of mind may be too closely tied to Barbara to break away in a hurry if necessary.” He inched closer. “Take it easy, Valerie. Don’t move too quickly.”

“
Call her Barbara,” said Lilith. “Remember, she thinks she’s Barbara.”

“
Yes, of course, you’re right. Barbara, wait. You see something in the rearview mirror, don’t you?”

“
Yes, I do. There’s something on the back seat. I don’t know what it is.”