Chapter 12 Chapter 12 The Unholy Grail
That evening, Owen Fitzstephan and I enjoyed another delicious dinner prepared by Frau Schindler - although I only had occasional bites between talks.He kept interrupting me with curious questions, asking me to explain this or that more clearly, and whenever I stopped to catch my breath or eat he would urge me to continue.
"You should have called me!" he grumbled before our soup was served. "I know the Haltons, you know—at least I've run into them once or twice at Leggett's. You can use this as an excuse to let me join, so that I have first-hand information about the cause and effect of the matter, and I don’t need to rely on your second-hand information, or the speculations made by the newspaper to please readers.”
"Mixers," I said, "I've had enough of one—Eric Collinson, I mean."
"No matter what trouble you and him caused, it is your own fault. Who told you to let such a good candidate like me go and find someone who is not right. But there is no need to mention this, buddy, I am still listening Let’s go. Let’s tell the story from the beginning, so I can teach you where you went wrong.”
"Of course," I agreed, "that's what you're best at. Well, the Haltons are originally actors. But most of what I can say is from her own words, so it can only be used as a reference. Fink Saying nothing; and what the other domestic servants—maids, Filipinas, Chinese cooks, etc.—knew didn't seem to help. None of them seemed to be involved in the game.
"Eronia Halton said that she and Joseph performed well as actors, but they did not become popular as they expected. About a year ago, she met an old acquaintance who had performed in the troupe, and the man said goodbye The stage was transferred to the pulpit of the church, and it became very popular, and now she travels in luxury Packard cars instead of cheap trains. This incident gave her some inspiration. Thinking about it in this direction, she will of course immediately think of, ,, and other news people who have made headlines. So at the end she thought: What if we try? They—or she, Joseph is just a lightweight supporting role—had a self-proclaimed revival of old Gale The mystical sect of London, from the days of King Arthur—anything like that."
"Well," said Fitzstephan, "initiative. You go on."
"They brought esotericism to California because they followed the crowd, and San Francisco because it wasn't as competitive as Los Angeles. They also brought a little guy named Tom Funk who was responsible for a lot of famous magicians. Mechanical props for shows with illusionists; and Mrs. Funk--as a woman, she was as strong as a country blacksmith.
"They didn't want to take in a rabble: few believers, but rich. The gang didn't do much at first, until they got Mrs. Roman. She's a big fish. They asked her for many of her apartment complexes She also paid for the redecoration. Fink, the stage technician, did the redecoration, and he did a great job. They didn't need the kitchens that were scattered throughout the building in every apartment, and Fink He knew how to use the scattered kitchen space to create secret rooms and cabinets. He also knew how to modify the gas pipes, water pipes and electrical wiring to match their tricks.
"I can't tell you the technical details right now, until we have time to tear down that den. That would be interesting. I've seen some of their tricks - and experienced it myself - with combined lighting to create a A phantom floated out in conjunction with the mist sprayed from the dark pipe, and the pipe protruded into the dim room from a hidden opening in the wall panel under the bed. The mist that was not illuminated by the light could not be detected at all in the dark, only visible. The illuminated part is a human figure, shaking and twisting, and it feels wet and realistic to the touch, but has no substance.
"I gotta say that's a pretty scary thing, especially since they had ecstasy in the room before they let it out to trick me. I don't know if they used ether, or chloroform, or something. They were very clever. I used some floral essence to cover up the original smell. This ghost——I had a fight with it, and I even thought it was bleeding. I didn't know that I broke the window to let the air in. I cut my hand while I was there--it was such a good move that it made my few minutes seem like hundreds of hours.
"Their schemes were flawless until the final moment when Halton went mad. They made the ceremonies of the public side of the occult as dignified and restrained as possible. All tricks were carried out secretly in the bedrooms of the victims. First, the poisonous gas mixed with fragrance is put into the room, and then the ghost of the mist with lights is entangled, and the voice is also transmitted from the same—or other—water pipes to give orders, or give some instructions. Shannon blurred the victim's vision and made his mind less suspicious, and weakened his willpower, making him more receptive to cues. The trick was brilliant; I bet they sucked a lot out of it.
"These visions were convincing because the victims were alone in the room, and the Haltons' mystification of the visions also contributed to the superstition. They did not strictly prohibit members from discussing the visions, but Nor is it recommended. These so-called ghostly meetings are supposedly private communications between the victim and God, too sacred to be boasted about. Unless there is a special reason to mention them, talk to anyone—even Joseph ——Talking about visions will be considered vulgar and indecent. Can you see how clever this trick is? The Haltons don’t seem to want to benefit from these supernatural phenomena, and they don’t seem to know what happened at the time. So there's no interest in knowing whether the victim is following the ghost's instructions. Their position is that it's a completely private matter between the victim and God."
"That's brilliant," said Fitzstephan, with a good laugh. "It's the exact opposite of what other sects do. Those so-called orthodox sects insist on confession, public witness, and other forms of preaching that Vision. You continue."
I want to eat something.But he asked again: "What about the believers and visitors? What do they think of this sect now? You must have talked to some people?"
"Of course," I said, "but what can you do with people like that? Half of them would still go with Eronia Halton. I showed Mrs. Roman a pipe that released a ghost. She He gasped, swallowed twice, and then proposed to take me to the Catholic Church to see the idols over there—including the one crucified on the cross. They are all made of something more real and mundane than steam. And she also asked us: if there is no real blood and flesh in the sanctuary-whether it is divine or not-can we use this as evidence to arrest the bishop? Olga is a devout Catholic, and I think he almost I'm going to give her a baton."
"The Cormans aren't there, are they? The Ralph Cormans?"
"Not here."
"Unfortunately," he grinned, "I'll have to ask Ralph. He's probably hiding now, of course, but it's worth looking for. Even if he does the most idiotic things, he can come up with the stupidest things." Reasonable and convincing. He's—" As if that would explain everything, "an advertising man." Fitzstephan frowned when he saw I was eating again, and urged impatiently, "Speak up, brother! Let's talk."
"You've met Halton already," I said. "What do you think of that man?"
"I've seen him twice, I think. Needless to say, the man is a fine man."
"He is," I agreed, "and he has the capital. Have you ever spoken to him?"
"No. I mean, limited to the 'nice to meet you' kind of exchange."
"Well, when he watches you talk, you get a shock inside. I ain't the easiest guy in the world to fool--I hope; but he did. I fuckin' till the end Almost believed he was God. He was young, in his thirties; they bleached the color of his hair and beard to make him look like Father Joseph. His wife said she used to hypnotize him before he went on stage Well, without hypnosis, he wouldn't be as contagious. Then he evolved to self-hypnotize without her help, and in the end that was the norm for him.
"Mrs. Halton didn't know her husband was interested in Gabriel until Gabriel went to stay at the temple. Until then, she thought Gabriel was as good to him as she was, but A customer—Gabrielle's troubles of late made her very appealing. But Joseph had her eye on her and wanted her. I don't know how much he worked on her, let alone how he did it. , but I think he controlled her by taking advantage of her fear of Dan's curse. In short, Dr. Rees later found out that something was wrong. He said yesterday morning that he would return for a return visit in the evening, and he did go, but he didn't see She; I didn't see him either—not then.
"He went to Joseph before he went upstairs to the girl's room, and happened to overhear Joseph telling the Funks about it. It wouldn't have been a bad thing, but something went wrong. Reece was so stupid that Joseph caught him stealing Listen, so Joseph took Reese prisoner.
"They've been working on Minnie Hershey since the beginning. She's mulatto, so she's not immune to that kind of tricks, and she's devoted to Gabrielle Leggett. They put all kinds of video The effect was all on the poor girl and it made her dizzy. Then they decided she was going to kill Rhys. They drugged Rhys, put him on an altar, and played tricks to make Minnie think he was Satan - this is no joke, they really did it - crawled up from hell to drag Gabrielle down from sanctification. Minnie has been brainwashed at this moment, so the first ghost said she Chosen to protect her lady, and she would find the anointed weapon on her table, she obeyed the order at once. She got up, took the dagger that lay on the table, went downstairs to the altar, and killed Reese.
"They pumped some gas into my room just to be on the safe side so I wouldn't wake up when Minnie did it. But I was so nervous all day, I was sleeping on a chair in the middle of the room, and It wasn't a bed that was very close to the gas pipe, so I woke up before it was too late at night.
"By this time Eronia Halton had discovered two things: first, that her husband's interest in girls was not entirely financial; He was under hypnosis all the time, and his thoughts, according to her, were unstable and completely out of control. The success of manipulating his disciples made him overwhelmed. He felt that he was omnipotent and lawless. She said that he He began to dream that people all over the world would be fooled by him and believe in his divinity; he felt that since he had fooled the group of people he had already fooled, it should not be difficult to fool the whole world. She thought he was even crazy enough to believe in himself He is really divine, but I disagree. I think he is very clear that he is not a god, but he thinks he can fool the whole world. These details don’t need to be pursued, the important thing is that he is crazy enough to think that his magic power is boundless.
"Eronia Halton said she only found out about Reese's murder after the fact. Joseph used the illusion to trick Gabriel downstairs to see the dead body on the altar steps. You see, he was originally It was part of his plan to try to get her with the 'rescue her curse with divinity' trick. Obviously he wanted to meet her there and then show her a trick. But Collinson and I interrupted his good business. Joseph and Gabriel heard us talking at the door, so Joseph backed away from joining her at the altar, and she came to the door to find us. So far Joseph's plan has been successful: the girl really believes that Reese died of a curse. She tells us she killed him and deserves her life for it.
"But as soon as I saw Reese's body, I knew she didn't kill him. He was lying flat and must have been anesthetized before the murder. Besides, I think the door to the altar was supposed to be locked." The door was open and she didn't know what the key was. It's possible she knew about the murder, but it couldn't have been done by herself, as she confessed.
"This place was originally arranged to facilitate eavesdropping. Both Halton and his wife heard her confession. Eronia hurriedly produced evidence to match her statement. She entered Gabriel's room and took her dressing gown, picked up the bloody dagger that I had taken from the girl and threw it next to the corpse, wrapped the dagger in the dressing gown, and stuffed it in a corner where the police could easily find it. Meanwhile, Joseph did the opposite He did what he said. Unlike his wife, he didn't want Gabrielle in jail or a madhouse. He wanted her. He made her believe that she was guilty and responsible for other people's deaths in order to control She, instead of sending her away, moved Reese's body—hidden in a secret locker—and let the Funks clean up the blood.
"He overheard Collinson talk me out of it, so he knew if I had to keep my mouth shut, the kid - the only other sane witness to the case - wouldn't.
"If you kill someone, sooner or later you'll find that you have to keep killing to get out of this situation. To that crazy Joseph, 'shut my mouth' was nothing more than killing another person. He and Fink The couple - though I don't see any way to prove their involvement - are going to play tricks and use Minnie again. She killed Reese well, why not kill me too? But you see, this serial murder was purely unplanned , poor preparation ruined their business. For example, there were no firearms at all, except me and a maid who each had a gun--they were kept in the dark; their only weapon was the dagger, which is why they rummaged Fished out of a pile of kitchen knives and utilities. And, I guess they're worried about the sleeping guests - if Mrs. Roman is woken up by her spiritual guides besieging a rough old detective, probably Wouldn't be very happy. Anyway, they were trying to lure Minnie to me and stab me with a dagger quietly.
"Then they found the dagger in the dressing gown, which Eronia had wrapped. So Joseph began to suspect that his wife had a double heart. When he later caught her on the spot putting that dead flower smell on Minnie's room the gas—so thick that even a host of ghosts couldn't wake her up to business—he decided she had been unfaithful; it was too much for him, so he decided to kill her."
"His wife?" asked Fitzstephan.
"Yeah, but what's the difference? Anyone can make sense. You don't really want to settle this stupidity in your head, do you? You know what the hell I'm talking about. It didn't happen."
"Then what happened?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"I don't know. I don't think anyone knows. I'm just telling you what I saw, plus the part of Eronia Halton's statement that matches what I saw. To match what I saw Well, most of what I just said is probably not far from the truth. If you want to believe it, you can, but I don't. I'd rather believe that what I saw was nothing."
"I'll talk about that later," he begged, "after you finish telling the story, you can add as many 'ifs' and 'buts' as you want, distort it as you like, make it cloudy and foreground Dim, whatever. But please finish it first, and before you start embellishing it, let me see it for what it really is at least once."
"You really believed the story I just told you?" I asked.
He nodded and smiled, saying that not only did he believe it, but he also liked it.
"Your mind is so immature," I said, "then I'll tell you about the big bad wolf that ran into the little girl's grandmother's house—"
"I've always liked that story too, but let's finish with this first. Joseph decided to kill his wife?"
"Well, it's not much anyway. When Minnie was unconscious, I broke into her room and tried to shake her awake so she could call for help. But before I could do it, I found myself in danger. I was full of poison gas. It must have been the Finks who sent the ghosts to scare me, for Joseph had probably taken his wife downstairs by then, intending to tie her up in the Bloodletting on the altar. He probably has a way of making the wife-murdering seamless, or just enjoys the gore show. Anyway, he should have brought Minnie to the ground floor while I was fighting ghosts in Minnie's room.
"The ghost scared the hell out of me. When I finally got out and fell into the corridor, the Funks jumped on me. They were right, I knew, but it was too dark to see the face. I shook them off, Grabbed a gun and went downstairs. Collinson and Gabriel were not where they were. I found Collinson: Gabriel sent him out and shut him out. The son of the Haltons—a Eleven or twelve- came to us and said his dad was going to kill his mom, and Gabriel was with them. I killed Halton, but almost missed. I fired at him Seven bullets. The .32 shells whizzed past without even a muffled thud, that was unreal. I did fire seven times—in his face and body, and nearly He didn't feel it when he was shot from a direct distance. He just hypnotized himself to that extent. I ended up wiping his neck with a dagger."
I stop talking.Fitzstephan asked: "And then?"
"Then what?"
"Then what happened?"
"Nope," I said, "that's the kind of story it is. I warned you, there's nothing logical about it."
"But what is Gabrielle doing there?"
"Hold down next to the altar and watch the wonderful show."
"But why is she there? What reason does she have to go? Has she been summoned again? Or does she want to go? How did she get there? What is she doing there?"
"I don't know. She was also baffled at the time. I asked her, but she didn't even know where she was."
"But you can always get something out of other people's mouths, right?"
"That's right," I said, "I'm telling you about this, mainly from Eronia Halton. She started a secret religion with her husband, and then he went crazy and started killing people. But what can she do? Fink refused to speak. He was indeed a mechanic, and he helped the Haltons set up the mechanism and was in charge of the operation, but he said that he didn't know what happened last night. He heard a lot of noises, but he didn't mind his business. He knew it had happened because the police had come to his door and it was bothering him. Mrs. Funk was gone. The rest of the staff probably didn't know anything, but I bet they couldn't figure it out. Little boy Manuel He was too afraid to speak—and even when he settled down, I don't think he would say anything. Now we have only one card in our hand: If Joseph is mad and kills with his own brain, others will If they assisted him in his situation, they would not be convicted. The worst thing would be to get a light sentence for participating in religious fraud. If they admit to knowing, they will not get away with murdering an accessory. No one would do that."
"I see," Fitzstephan said slowly, "Joseph is dead, and all the responsibility should be passed on to him. How do you plan to solve this problem?"
"I'm out of it," I said, "but the police will at least try. My mission is done, Madison Andrew told me two hours ago."
"But if, as you say, if you can't be satisfied with the incomplete truth, then I think you should—"
"It's not my fault," I said, "I still want to do something, but this time I was sent by Andrew to protect Gabriel while she lived in the temple. Now she's not there, and neither is Andrew." I don't think it is necessary to track down what happened there. Besides, if it is still necessary to guard her, her husband should be able to do it."
"Her what?"
"husband."
Fitzstephan slammed his clay glass on the table, spilling beer everywhere.
"Here you go again," he accuses. "You didn't mention it at all. God knows how much you haven't told me."
"Collinson took advantage of the chaos and took her to Reno. It's not like California where you have to wait three days to get the certificate. I didn't know until three or four hours later, when I was strangled by Andrew. Not happy with that, and that's why we've now terminated our employment."
"I didn't know he disapproved of Collinson as her husband."
"Not really, but he thinks they shouldn't choose this time and get married in this way."
"I can understand that," he said as we rose from the table, "Andrew always likes to have things his way."
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