Whispers on the Wind (33 page)

Mary sat glued to Delaney’s
every word. Could terrible things have happened to her,
too?

Delaney took a sip of water
before he continued. “Wolfgang met Cindy on a train. She was
alone, as her parents didn’t have enough money for another ticket.
Wolfgang just happened to sit down next to Cindy. She was seventeen
and traveling to find a doctor to help her with the terrible
headaches she’d been having. Cindy knew she shouldn’t speak to
strangers, but she was lonesome so she started talking to Wolfgang.
Cindy told him her purpose for traveling to the city, whereupon he
replied that she was in luck because he was a doctor and could help
her.

“When the train stopped to
get coal, Wolfgang clasped Cindy’s hand and stared into her eyes.
He channeled so much mental command through that gaze that, after a
moment, Cindy felt as if she no longer had a will of her own. And
she didn’t. As I said, Wolfgang controlled her for the next seven
years, putting the poor woman though a hell that none of us would
want to go through. When Cindy was away from Wolfgang she lived a
pretty normal life. She even married. But those post hypnotic
suggestions kept Cindy returning to Wolfgang.

“Wolfgang began to resent
her husband, so Wolfgang suggested that she try to kill
him.

“After she tried to kill
her husband, he grew suspicious and knew something was wrong,
because Cindy wasn’t of a nature to kill people. However, every
time she went to the doctor, she came home and did weird things.
But Cindy couldn’t tell him the name of the doctor she was seeing.
Of course, he thought that was strange, so he went to the
police.

“After hearing what her
husband had to say, they called in Dr. Ludwig Mayer, the most
respected medical hypnotist in all of Europe. Dr. Mayer did not
believe that unethical hypnosis was possible. That is, until he
hypnotized Cindy. Then he found out the ugly truth. She’d had pain
induced by the evil doctor which could only be relieved by bringing
him money. Wolfgang used her as a whore and then gave her to his
friends. He suggested that she not only poison her husband, but
when that didn’t work, he suggested shooting the man. And she
remembered nothing until Dr. Mayer dove into her
subconscious.”

Delaney approached the
bench. “And that is what I want to do today, Your Honor. I want to
put Mary in a hypnotic state and hear from her own lips what
happened. I think I’ve found the signal that was used to put her
under.”

Judge Parker shook his
head. “This is most unusual, but you do have my interest, so please
proceed.”

Delaney glanced over at
Mary. “If you will take the stand, Mary.”

Mary was shaking so hard
that she could barely walk as she made her way to the witness
stand. She felt as though she were going to her own execution. What
Delaney had just revealed scared her. What if she’d done terrible
things like Cindy Berg had? The thought made her skin
crawl.

Finally, she made it to the
chair. Once she was seated, she glanced at Carter and saw the
sympathy in his eyes. That warmed her heart. But what if Delaney
could do as he claimed and then she divulged she’d done horrible
things? How would Carter react?

Delaney touched her hand,
drawing her attention. “I want you to relax, Mary.”

Mary gaped at the man as if
he’d lost his mind. He wanted her to relax when she was being tried
for murder. Yet, those very words sounded familiar, as if she’d
heard them before. However, Delaney had a calming effect on her.
She noticed that he was staring into her eyes, holding her so she
couldn’t glance away, and then he reached for his ear and
...

Mary’s head fell to the
side. Delaney looked at the judge. “You see, Your Honor, by tugging
on my ear, which was the previous cue she’d been given, Mary has
gone under, quickly. You see, if a hypnotist is attempting a
re-hypnotization and he uses the same induction or deepening
routine as the former hypnotist, progress will be substantial. Mary
is in a trance, but at the moment, it’s light.

“Look at me, Mary,”
Delaney said, and when she did, he tugged on his ear again. She
nodded, but she didn’t close her eyes as she watched him. “Can you
tell me what you remember?”

“No.”

“Your Honor, what good is
this doing?” Bryan protested. “She’s saying the same thing—she
can’t remember.”

The judge looked at Delaney
and waited for his answer.

“If you’ll just give me a
few moments. You see, the mind is very complicated. The person who
hypnotized her, who we believe is McCoy, has probably threatened
her unconscious with terrible things if she breaks the amnesia
ride. If she remembers forbidden information and betrays his
secret, someone could fall dead. First, I have to undo that
command.”

The judge
nodded.

“Mary, do you remember
anything?” Delaney asked in a very calm voice.

“No.”

“Watch me, Mary,” Delaney
instructed. “When I pull on my ear, nothing bad will happen to you
if you remember back to the night of the murder.”

“I will hang if I
talk.”

“No, Mary. You will feel
good for remembering the burden that you’ve carried around. You
will feel peaceful for telling us what happened, and when you wake
up you will remember everything that has happened to you.” He
waited for a moment, then said, “On the count of three. One, two,
three.” Delaney paused, making sure he had her full attention, then
he tugged on his ear again.

“I want you to close your
eyes and remember back to the day when you struck the vein of gold.
How did you feel?”

“I felt wonderful,” Mary
said with a smile, even though her eyes were still closed. “I
couldn’t wait to tell Jim.”

“And did you tell
him?”

“Yes. Jim was happy. He
said we’d have all the money we could spend in a lifetime. We
worked all day, side by side, until quitting time.”

“Then?”

Mary sighed. “We were
tired, so we headed home. I told Jim I was going to cook a big
supper, and he said, ‘Good.’ Then he told me there was a
possibility that his brother might come and have dinner. Jim said
his brother had just arrived at the camp.”

“What was his brother’s
name?”

“John McCoy.”

“You are doing fine,
Mary,” Delaney praised. “And with each thing that you remember your
burden will become lighter.” He paused. “Now, did he say anything
else about his brother?”

Mary nodded. “He said John
was his half brother and they had never been close. He said John
was more or less a vagabond and didn’t stay long in one place. He
wanted to come and help us in the mine, but Big Jim said once John
saw how hard the work was he’d change his mind.”

“And did John come for
supper?”

“Yes.” Mary nodded, her
eyes still closed. “I had just placed the last dish on the table.
Big Jim told me to stay dressed as a boy because his brother tended
to have a big mouth, and we didn’t want the other miners to know
that I was a woman.”

“
What
happened next?”

“John came into the cabin
and shook my hand. There was something about him that I didn’t like
right away. It was his beady eyes or something, but I had a hard
time looking away from him. We all sat down to dinner. Big Jim
excused himself to go out back to the outhouse. So I sat at the
table with John while we waited for Big Jim to return. John wanted
to know if I wanted to play a game that he knew. I thought he was a
little crazy, but he was a guest, so I humored him. He said that he
could make me fall asleep just by pulling his ear.”

She paused, her forehead
scrunching up as if she were trying to remember every little
detail.

“And,” Delaney
prompted.

All of a sudden, Mary
became agitated. “I can’t remember. If I tell, I will have pain so
intense that I will want to kill myself.”

“Mary, I am going to take
away your pain—all of it—but you must trust me,” Delaney urged. “I
want you to pretend that you are floating in the air and seeing
everything around you. You’ll be able to see everything, but you’ll
feel no pain as long as you listen to the sound of my
voice.

“Now you are back at the
supper table waiting for Big Jim to return. What did John
say?”

Mary took a deep breath.
“John told me to look deep into his eyes and not look away. He told
me I was sleepy, and I told him I was not, but then he repeated the
words and told me I would be asleep when he tugged on his
ear.”

“And?”

Mary began to shake her
head, as if to say, “No, no.” Delaney knew she was finally in a
deep trance, reliving something that had happened to her, and it
wasn’t pleasant She made pushing-away movements with her hands and
then she began to cry softly.

“For Christ’s sake, do
something,” Carter said, seeing how upset Mary was
becoming.

Delaney looked at Thunder.
“I’m going to have to bring her out for now.”

Thunder nodded.

“On the count of three,
you will wake and remember,” Delaney said. “One, two,
three.”

Mary’s eyes snapped open
from the trance and she looked around the room until her gaze met
Thunder’s. “Now I know. I know everything,” she sobbed.

Carter rushed to her as the
judge banged the gavel.

For a long time, Mary cried
in Carter’s arms. For so long she’d wanted her memory back and now
she had it

Mary remembered
everything.

Chapter Twenty-Two

When Mary had finally
calmed down, Carter returned to his chair.

The judge banged his gavel
against the desk and looked very flustered. “Order,” he demanded.
He hit the desktop again. “This is a most unusual case,” the judge
stated, rubbing the back of his neck, “the likes of which I’ve
never seen, but we must continue.” He turned sideways and asked
Mary, “Are you ready to proceed?”

She nodded.

“Since this is such a
sensitive issue, I’m going to leave everyone outside so you’ll not
be so nervous.” Judge Parker glanced at Thunder. “Mr. Bradley, do
you want to take over the questioning?”

Thunder nodded and came to
stand in front of Mary. “Tell us in your own words what you
now
remember. Take your
time.”

Mary glanced over at the
jury. It appeared as if each one of them had stopped breathing, and
all eyes were glued on her, waiting in anticipation for her to tell
them the truth.

Her memory had seemed like
a puzzle where she’d only had a few pieces, until now. However,
with the help of Dr. Delaney, she finally had the rest of the
puzzle. “Oh God,” she whispered to herself as she gripped the sides
of the chair. They were not going to like the story.

Mary swallowed hard. She
couldn’t look at Carter nor Thunder while she revealed the ugly
truth. So, knowing that the next few moments would be some of the
hardest she’d ever faced, she focused on a light in the back of the
room.

“John McCoy placed his
hand on my forehead,” she said softly.

“Speak up,” the prosecutor
shouted.

Mary jumped from the tone
of his voice, but her next words were indeed louder. “I had no
control of what I wanted to do. It was as if I were in a fog,
waiting for someone to guide me. My eyes were open, but I couldn’t
see.

“John told me, ‘Now, with
no will of your own, you will do anything I ask you to do. And you
will remember nothing of what happens here today. Do you
understand?’ He then told me to pick up Big Jim’s bowie knife and
slip it into the back of my breeches at the waist.

“When Jim returned from
outside, I was to let him begin eating, then get up to fetch
something from the cabinet so that I would be behind Jim,” Mary
said, then took a deep breath.

“I did as I was told. Jim
and John were talking when I pulled the knife from my breeches and
came at Jim from behind. Slowly, I raised my arm, knife poised,
ready to come down in the middle of Big Jim’s back.” A small sob
escaped Mary’s lips. She swallowed hard so she could continue. The
bile trying to rise in the back of her throat tasted terrible, but
she had to get everything out. Hopefully, the jury would understand
and the truth would set her free.

“But something happened.”
Mary felt the blood drain from her face as she
remembered.

“I stood there poised to
kill Jim, but I couldn’t move my arm. John hollered for me to do it
now! I tried to obey, but Big Jim swung around and, seeing the
weapon, caught my wrist. I remember screaming and struggling as Jim
swore. And then I saw Jim’s eyes ... the surprise in their
depths... the hurt. I’ll never forget the hurt.”

Mary choked on her words.
Several moments passed before she could contain her crying, and she
had to swallow a couple of times to calm her breathing. Finally,
she continued. “John yanked out his own knife and started stabbing
Jim over and over again. I remember screaming. ‘Don’t! Don’t do
this!’