The Witch's Ladder (15 page)

“
I don’t care. We’re done. Expect Doctor Lowell or his surrogate to conduct future meetings, if there are any future meetings. As far as I’m concerned the workshop is disbanded.”

“
But Doctor, we don’t understand,” said Gordon. “What did we do?”

“
What did you do? Maybe you should ask the twins, or Michael. He’ll tell you.”

The doctor then turned and marched out of the room. Heavy footsteps echoed down the hall all the way to his office. The sound of a slamming door punctuated his retreat.

Gordon said, “What do you make of that? I’ve never seen him like this. He’s like a different person.”

“
Exactly,” said Shekina. “Perhaps we are only now seeing the real Doctor Lieberman.”

“
What do we do?” asked Jean.

“
What do we do?” said Lilith. “We go see what’s in that bag you found in his office. That’s what we do.”

The group charged downstairs and assembled out in the parking lot by Jean’s car. She popped the trunk and produced the mysterious brown paper bag for inspection. Valerie peeked inside first, took one look and backed away.

“
What is it?” asked Gordon, as the others took turns looking, only to back away as speechless as Valerie. Finally Gordon got his turn. He looked in and blurted out, “Bloody towels?”

Michael slapped him. “Shut up, stupid!” He gestured toward the squad car.

“
Oh, shoot. He didn’t hear me. Did he?”

“
I don’t know. Probably not, but we can’t act too suspiciously. Anyone have any ideas what we do now?”

“
I do,” said Valerie, snatching the bag and rolling it up tight. “We find out what they can tell us.”

“
I know one thing they tell us,” said Gordon. “They belong to Doctor Lieberman. I know because they’re monogrammed with his initials, P. L. Peter Lieberman.”

“
We see that, Gordon. I’m talking about something else.”

“
Psychometry?” Lilith said.

“
Yes. Psychometry may tell me exactly what transpired when blood got on these towels. Who’s with me?”

“
I am,” came the answer from everyone, including Jean, whom some would have guessed too squeamish for such things. They solidified their original plans to meet by the lake before jumping into their cars and speeding off, leaving my deputy waving to a parade of departing vehicles.

They gathered moments later in an old wooden gazebo overlooking the lake. Valerie took up a position in the center of the gazebo. The others formed a tight circle around her. “All right,” she said. “I’m going to need everybody’s cooperation and silence as I attempt to extract the impression of events recorded on these towels.”

“
What would you like us to do?” Jean asked.

“
Just move in some. Huddle up close. You don’t really need to do anything else but stand there. This is not like a seance where we all sit around and focus our energies to summon a spirit. Psychometry only requires me to focus on the object. By forming a circle around me, you can help deflect bad or distracting energies, allowing me to concentrate totally on the task at hand.”

Valerie reached into the bag and pulled out the first of three blood-soaked towels. Immediately, a wave of energy riffed through her body, plunging her into a deep trance-like state. She saw at once, the course of events surrounding the towel’s recent history.

“
This is Christopher Walker’s blood,” she said, rolling the towel in her hands. “I see a dark figure standing over his body. It’s the killer. I’m sure. I cannot see a face, but I sense this person is the very essence of evil. To know this individual, one cannot readily see the duplicity, cunning and deception within. I see this evil entity wrapping Chris’ liver in the towel, still warm and moist.”

“
Valerie,” said Michael. “I need more proof before I’ll believe in Doctor Lieberman’s culpability. Surely you can see this person. You have to know. Who is he? Where does he come from?”

Valerie remained stone-faced. “This evil derives from black magic,” she told the others, her voice void of emotion. “It is not of this sphere. It’s from another dimension of time and transition. This evil entity, it knows of our intentions to expose it and is committed to the destruction of our bodies and souls.”

Jean gasped at those words and staggered back against the rail of the gazebo. Shekina and Gordon, already flanking her sides, steadied her and eased her back into the circle.

“
Who is this evil entity?” Michael urged. “Is it Doctor Lieberman?”

Valerie’s eyes floated skyward. She stared unflinching into the moonlit night. “This evil entity is in the soul of the person to whom these towels belong. It has consumed the individual entirely, but for the physical being that now moves freely among us. We must send this individual to the Eighth Sphere or more will die.”

“
Goddamn.” said Gordon, gulping hard to force his heart back down his throat. “Did you hear that? She used the same phrase Leona used. She said he moves freely among us.”

“
We heard,” said Shekina. “She also said the entity is the one who owns the towels, and that’s Doctor Lieberman. What more proof do you need?”

“
Shhh! Let her continue,” Lilith snapped. “We mustn’t jeopardize her concentration. We can discuss everything after she’s finished. Go on, Valerie. Tell us what this entity wants with the livers. Why is he cutting them out and why does he only take the livers from those in the workshop? Does he do it for divination?”

Valerie lowered her head. Her hands clutched the twisted towel as though trying to wring the answers from it. “It’s the attraction of blood,” she said. “The entity takes the livers for physical consumption. Those attributes, which the blood contains, will so endure in he who consumes it. Thus is the law of contagion.”

“
Holy Cow,” Lilith cried. “Of course. Attraction of blood. How could I have been so stupid?”

“
What are you talking about?”

“
Attraction of blood, Michael. It’s the motive. Damn it. I should have seen it all along.”

Valerie stumbled forward before dropping the towel and falling into Michael’s arms. Gordon retrieved the towel from the floor and handed it back, but the distraction proved too great. Valerie lost her concentration and allowed the energy holding her to slip away.

“
Look,” Shekina complained. “What if Valerie can’t get back into her trance?”

Lilith snatched the towel from Valerie’s hand. “Doesn’t matter. She won’t have to. I know exactly what’s going on now.”

“
Great. Then maybe somebody can tell me, so I’ll know too.”

Lilith wadded the towel up and stuffed it back into the bag. “Sure, Gordon. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you all. It’s so obvious. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before.”

“
Realize what?”

“
Look. When Valerie did the psychometry thing with Barbara’s scarf, didn’t she say that Barbara came out of the building and stopped to look up at something in the sky?”

“
Yeah,” Gordon answered. “She looked at the full moon. She commented on how big and bright it looked.”

“
Right. And how about when we were watching Travis’ thought-form on the window? Did you notice the full moon in the background behind him?”

Again Gordon answered affirmative, and this time Jean, Michael and Valerie recalled that detail as well.

“
And this past Friday night with Chris?”

“
Full moon.” Shekina shouted.

“
Yes. Full moon. Each time members of the workshop were killed, a full moon hung bright in the sky.”

“
All right. All the murders occurred on a full moon. Big deal. What’s your point?”

“
Don’t you see? That’s the connection. What Valerie described is a phenomenon known as law of contagion, or attraction of blood. As far back as ancient times, people believed that one’s blood not only contained his life’s essence, but also the characteristics and qualities of that individual. The term attraction of blood comes from these beliefs and that if one consumes the blood of another, then he will acquire the characteristics and qualities of that individual. According to myth, that acquisition is amplified when consumption occurs on a full moon.”

“
Are you saying that Doctor Lieberman is a vampire?”

“
No, Michael. That’s not what I’m saying at all.”

“
Yes you are. You’re saying Doctor Lieberman comes out on full moons so he can drink the blood of his victims. That’s what vampires do.”

“
Okay, let me explain. A vampire sucks the blood from his victims because that is what he lives on. He simply needs blood, anybody’s blood, for nourishment. With attraction of blood, one consumes blood not for nourishment, but for the quality of that person contained within the blood; the quality he desires to obtain from another and does not possess himself. It’s a ritual, of sorts, once practiced all over the world and throughout the ages. Warriors of ancient Babylon, for instance, drank the blood of other warriors who fought and died, having displayed the greatest courage and fortitude. As recently as the late nineteen seventies we saw this. When the Reverend Jimmy Jones orchestrated the mass suicides of more than six hundred of his followers in the jungles of Guyana, the last members of the congregation still standing actually drank the blood of their beloved leader. They followed this ritual in hopes of being reincarnated with all the power and charisma of Jones, himself.”

Lilith paused to gauge the comprehension of her listeners. Heads nodded even after she stopped speaking, and so she assumed they were getting it.

“
In Doctor Lieberman’s case, I think he’s obviously looking to acquire the supernatural qualities of everyone in the workshop, and he’s willing to kill us all to get it.”

“
Good God,” Jean cried, reeling back squeamishly. “That’s barbaric. Doctor Lieberman is killing people just to drink their blood?”

“
Worse, Jean. Because the liver is the organ that purifies the blood, he’s actually eating it to insure maximum gestation of the benefits.”

“
So what are we going to do?” asked Gordon. “Go to the police?”

Akasha stepped forward and grabbed the towels from Lilith. “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do,” she said. “We are going to do what we have to. We will send the evil entity back to the Eighth Sphere like Valerie said.”

“
What is the Eighth Sphere?”

“
It’s not a what, Gordon. The Eighth Sphere is a where.”

“
All right. Where is the Eighth Sphere?”

“
It’s a place where the souls of the exceptionally evil are sent and destroyed once and for all.”

“
Really?” A nervous tic tugged at the corners of his mouth. He had already sensed the conversation’s direction, but against his better judgment he inquired anyway. “And how do we do that? I mean, exactly how do we send his soul to this place, the Eighth Sphere?”

Akasha replied simply. “We kill him.”

“
What?”

“
You heard me.”

“
You’re out of your mind. We can’t kill him. That’s crazy. Am I right, Guys?” Gordon’s eyes searched the faces of his shop mates for reinforcement, but found instead a shocking lack of outrage. “C`mon, guys. Tell her. It’s crazy. Isn’t it?”

“
I don’t know,” said Michael. “You think it’s crazier than killing people for their livers?”

Gordon tried, but couldn’t answer that. He knew that anything they did at that point might seem crazy, but not crazier. Michael set his hand on his shoulder.

“
Look Gordon. If we go to Detective Marcella with our story, there’s a good chance he’s not going to believe it. Even if he does, the evidence is no good since we removed it from Lieberman’s office. Of course, by then Doctor Lieberman will know we’re on to him. There’s no telling what consequences we’ll face after that. This whole thing may seem crazy to you, but still we’re sure of one thing. Doctor Lieberman killed six people, and logical deduction tells me that he intends to kill again, and next time it’ll be one of us.”

The night stood unnaturally still. The burden weighed heavy on each, as they absorbed the gravity of the situation. It had become a matter of life and death. There would be no more workshops after that. They knew it. What they didn’t know, what they could not know, was what would become of them once they took the irreversible step, once they took on the agent of evil and tried to send him back to the eighth sphere. It was better if they didn’t think of it at all. Better if they just did it.

Valerie came forward. “We need to do it. Damn the consequences. Lilith?”

Lilith hesitated, more so than anyone might have expected. “I don’t know, Val. It’s not in my blood.”