CARNACKI: The New Adventures (12 page)

“I knelt down to let the trap reset and was about to turn my attention to the small box on the desk in front of me when the late magician’s wife brushed quickly past.

“I had been right about the pressure plates. Neither of them had been set off by the woman’s weight. This box was meant for Anastasia Renaldy alone.”

Carnacki directed the step of his pipe toward
s us gathered few.

“But why?” h
e said. “That was what was puzzling me. Why go to all this trouble to keep everyone from that box, but her?

“As she reached for the lid, I screamed, ‘Wait!’

“Anastasia paused with her hand on the box and a sly smile on her face.

“‘Mr. Carnacki,’ she said.
‘I thank you for your service, but I believe I can take it from here. Please send me the bill and I will pay you whatever you require for your service.’

“‘I require,’ I replied as I stepped forward and placed my ha
nd on the top of the box lid, ‘that you put your faith in me one last time.’

“The girlish turn of her mouth faded a little then and for a moment I could see the ag
eing woman beneath the young façade. ‘But, sir,’ she said, ‘we have won my late husband’s little game.’

“‘Have we?’ I asked.
‘Or are we still stepping to his plan?’

“She moved back from the box
, unsure, and my eyes searched the desktop. There, among documents and detritus, sat a large silver letter opener.

“Mrs. Renaldy’s eyes followed mine and she slowly plucked it up.

“I retreated a little as she held the silver knife at the edge of her reach and used the tip to throw back the box top.

“There was a release of air pressure as liquid sprayed up from the box and fell over the old chair that sat behind the desk.
The leather hissed as the liquid mist touched its surface, the acid eating away at the chair back in the same way it would have eaten Anastasia Renaldy’s face.

“Suddenly the voice of the dead magician started again.
This time I could hear the drop of the needle and scratch of the vinyl that identified the source as a gramophone.

“‘Did you think me blind, my d
ear?’ the dead man seethed. ‘Not to know that you were plotting my death, not to see that you and that damnable Mr. Shonks were planning my demise? Well, if you are hearing this, you must have gotten what you longed for. Yet I have also had my revenge. Your lover should be half the man he used to be.’ Renaldy laughed at his sick pun. ‘Though he was never even half the man I was.

“‘And you!’ The dead man's voice rose in vehemence.
‘You are now as ugly on the outside as ever you were on the inside.’ Another pause of laughter from the machine. ‘I hope you live a long and sad life, still getting the looks that have always come your way, but now the reason will be disgust and ridicule. The Great Renaldy’s final masterpiece—may it live in your mind forever!’

“With t
hat, the message ended,” said Carnacki.

“Mrs. Renaldy
, accused of killing her husband by a recording made before the incident had even occurred,” I said as I saw the gathered men shaking their heads in disbelief.

“What happened to the woman?” said Arkright.

Carnacki reluctantly went on.

“Mrs. Renaldy stood in silence as her dead husband laid out his indictment.
When it was finished, she looked from the box to me. As our eyes met, I could see that what her husband had said was true.

“For the briefest of moments we stood there, neither knowing how to proceed.
Then my eyes moved to the silver letter opener in her hand.

“Like a crazed cat, the woman lunged toward
s me. I did the only thing I could.

“I dived backwards to the floor.
I felt the pressure plate engage under me, and Mrs. Renaldy let out a fractured scream as the thin wire cleaved her head from her shoulders. Her body fell to one side of my prone frame, the head to the other.

“I rested there for a moment, sickened by the idea that I had found myself in a charnel house.
Then I rose and went out to alert the authorities.”

Carna
cki paused for a moment and stood from his great chair.

“So ends my story of the magician’s study.”

“You have not even had a moment to change your clothes?” I asked.

“The police kept me there until the very hour of our
dinner date,” Carnacki replied. “The details were presented over and over, along with the mechanisms. Then they asked me to dismantle the traps and find the phonographs.

“However,” he continued, “y
ou do remind me that I am a fright. I must have a bath and a good night’s sleep.

“Out you go!”
he said in his friendly fashion, using the recognised formula. Yet I believed I heard a crack in the Carnacki façade. He had seen something in the magician’s house. The man hunted ghosts, but rarely had he seen death so close up.

I wondered if he would get to sleep that night.
I knew I would not without a good stiff drink.

With a shake of hands and one more complaint about the unusual heat
, we retreated out into the quiet of the Embankment, and so to our homes.

London
England, September 1911

N
ow who can that be?” Carnacki said, looking up from the table where he had been fine-tuning the inner workings of the electric pentacle. Someone was knocking at the front door.

Carnacki checked his pocket watch as he walked to the foyer. The time was approaching six in the evening. Though
Dodgson, Arkright, Jessop, and Taylor were supposed to join him for dinner the following evening, he wasn’t expecting anyone on this particular night.

Carnacki opened the door to find his old friend Sir Hugh Collins standing on the doorstep of 427 Cheyne Walk in a very agitated stat
e. The tall, somewhat burly man’s wide shoulders were slumped, and the expression on his lined face told of some grave misfortune.

“Sir Hugh,” Carnacki said, “c
ome in. Whatever has happened?”

“I need for you to come back to
Norwich with me, Carnacki. You’re the only one who can help me. My driver is waiting to take us to Collins Thorpe House.”

“Wait, wait, my friend. Surely you can tell me what has
happened? I need some idea if I’m to help you.”

“It’
s my boy, Edward. Both he and his fiancée, Alice Mayhew, have been stricken by some dreadful wasting malady.”

“You know I’
ll do whatever I can, but perhaps a physician would be of more use?”

“I’
ve already brought in three different doctors. None of them can help. And from what Edward told me, this is no natural sickness. It’s as if the very life is being drained away from them both. Now please, come with me. We can’t waste any time.”

“Can you tell me why
Edward thinks this malady is of supernatural origin?”

“There’
s no time, Carnacki,” Sir Hugh said, grasping at Carnacki’s lapels. “I’ll tell you what I know on the way, but we must go.”

Carnacki could see that Sir Hugh was too distraught to be of much help. He said, “Very well. Let me gather some of my
equipment. I promise I’ll make haste.”

Carnacki hurried to his workshop and selected an
ything
he thought possibly useful and sufficiently portable, and put
the items into a travel case. He added the reassembled electric pentacle and was still stuffing objects into his pockets as he joined Sir Hugh on the front steps. The sun was already almost below the horizon, and a cold autumn wind made Carnacki button his overcoat. Soon both men were bundled into the spacious back seat of Sir Hugh’s automobile.

When the car was hurtling northeastward, Carnacki said, “I know this is distressing, Sir Hugh, but please tell me what you can.”

Sir Hugh produced a flask from an inner pocket and took a long drink. He took a deep breath and said, “You know that Collins Thorpe House sits near a large forest. The wood has never been of much use. Nasty tangled place, full of old trees. No good for hunting.”

Carnacki nodded. He recalled that the forest was i
ndeed a dark and foreboding place.

“Despite that,” Sir Hugh went on, “Edward liked to play there as boys will. Several years ago, when he was still a lad, he found an old stone circle. A Druid ring, as they’re sometimes known. I told him to stay away from the place, but I know that sometimes he and his mates still went there.

“Edward met Alice Mayhew at university, and it was love at first sight as they say. I would rather he waited until he was a bit older to marry, but youth calls to youth and all that. In any case, my wife and I like the girl and she comes from a good family. We invited Edward to bring her to Collins Thorpe House for a few days so we could all get better acquainted.

“Everything was going well until
Edward decided he would show Alice that damnable Druid ring. They went for a stroll in the woods yesterday afternoon. When they hadn’t returned by near sunset, I sent one of the servants to look for them. He found the couple lying senseless at the edge of the forest.”

“Were there any signs of violence?” Carnacki said.

“Not a mark on either of them,” said Sir Hugh. “We got them in the house and eventually managed to rouse them with smelling salts and brandy, but both of them remained very weak. I was able to get a story out of Edward, but it was so strange that I thought him delirious. I called in my personal physician, and though he could find nothing wrong with Edward or Alice, he told me that both of them seemed to be getting weaker by the moment. Their heartbeats and breathing were slowing, almost as if they were both very elderly and near death.

“I called in two more doctors, but both told me the same thing. They told me that if their condition continued to worsen both of them would be dead within two days. I don’t mind telling you, Carnacki, that I was beside myself. Edward is my only son, my entire world. It was then that I began to think about his strange story, and I thought to myself, what if the tale was true? Then I knew that I had to come to you.”

“And what was this strange story?” Carnacki said.

Sir Hugh drew in another long breath. “
Edward said that he and Alice made their way through the woods to the Druid ring, but when they got there, the sky looked like rain and they decided to hurry back. He said that as they walked through the woods the sky grew darker, so that under the trees it was like twilight. Though he had made the walk many times, Edward somehow lost his way and they ended up going around in circles.

“Then Edward saw someone approaching through the trees. He was glad for a moment, thinking perhaps the newcomers could help him find the way out of the forest; but as the pair got closer, he saw that there was something odd about them. Edward said that there seemed to be a weird glowing effect surrounding the figures, as if their very bodies were emanating a baleful light. As they came even closer, Edward and Alice saw that the other two pe
ople were their exact physical doubles. They were like twins of my boy and his girl.

“Both Edward and Alice said that they felt frozen in their tracks. They couldn’t move as the two duplicates came closer. Then the doubles passed through them like ghosts. That’s when Edward began to feel his strength ebbing from him. He and Alice found that they could move again, but they were both terribly weak. They stumbled around until they eventually found the edge of the forest and then collapsed almost within sight of Collins Thorpe House.”

“Doppelgängers,” Carnacki said.

“What?” said Sir Hugh.

“Something from German folklore. There are legends of people seeing their own doubles or that of some loved one. Usually considered a harbinger of bad luck.”

“Can such things be?” said Sir Hugh.

“That remains to be seen,” said Carnacki. “I have heard of such cases, but never encountered one. I try to keep an open mind about these things, neither believing nor disbelieving until I have seen evidence for myself.”

Darkness came well before they reached their dest
ination, so that by the time the car stopped in front of Collins Thorpe House, the manor was ablaze with light. Carnacki stepped out of the car and stretched. He said, “I’ll want to examine Edward and Alice and then I will have to go in search of this Druid ring. Is there anyone who can guide me to it? I don’t fancy my chances of finding it in the dark, given what you told me of the nature of the forest.”

“I’
ll take you there, myself,” said Sir Hugh. “But now I must see my son. I can only pray that he and his dear girl are still alive.”

Carnacki followed Sir Hugh into the front hall
, where they were met by Hugh’s wife, Matilda. The woman’s face told the story, and Sir Hugh didn’t have to ask if things had worsened.

“Oh
, Hugh,” Matilda said, “they are both so weak. I can’t bear to see Edward this way.”

“I know
, my dear, but we must push on. I’ve brought Carnacki back with me.”

“You have to help them,” Matilda said to Carnacki.

Carnacki said, “I’ll do all that I can. May I see Edward?”

Matilda nodded. “I put
Edward and Alice into rooms on the ground floor. Doctor Price is in with Alice. I left Edward sleeping.”

“This way, Carnacki,” Sir Hugh said, and he led Ca
rnacki towards the rear of the house. It had been close to a year since Carnacki had visited Collins Thorpe House. The manor was of Tudor vintage, but had been expanded and rebuilt over the years.

The men entered a small guest room.
Edward Collins lay on the four-poster bed. Even from the doorway, Carnacki could see that the young man’s face was almost as white as paper and that his cheeks looked sunken.

Carnacki spoke the youth’
s name. Edward’s eyelids fluttered, and then he looked up through half-lidded eyes.

“Don’
t try to speak, lad,” Carnacki said. “Your father has told me what you saw in the woods. I just wanted to check on you before setting out to see what we can do.”

Carnacki leaned over
Edward and examined his face more closely. Then he lifted each of the lad’s hands and looked at them carefully. There was a fresh cut on one of Edward’s fingers.

Carnacki said, “By any chance,
Edward, did you cut yourself on the ruins of the Druid ring?”

Edward
gave an almost imperceptible nod. Then, in a voice that was scarcely more than a whisper, he said, “The edge of one of the stones was sharp. I leaned against it and it cut me.”

Carnacki nodded. He had expected something of the sort. If he ha
dn’t found any sort of wound on Edward he would have examined Alice. He said, “Rest easy, Edward. Sir Hugh and I will sort this out.”

Carnacki turned and motioned for Sir Hugh to fo
llow. When they were in the hallway, Sir Hugh said, “How did you know that Edward would be wounded? It’s as if you were expecting it.”

“Let’
s say I had a strong suspicion that one of the young people would have some small injury. I can’t say more until I have seen the Druid ring. We must make all
haste to reach the spot, my friend. I want to have a quick look at Alice, and then we’ll go. We’ll need lanterns, and if you have a shotgun bring that along. It could prove useful.”

As Sir Hugh went to gather the requested items, Carnacki stepped into the other guest room. The girl, A
lice, who was of small frame and delicate bone structure, looked even more pale and wan than Edward. Dr. Price, who sat in a chair near the bed, was an elderly man with thin grey hair and a long face.

“How is she, d
octor?” Carnacki whispered.

Price left his chair and came to stand close to Ca
rnacki. “I fear she will not awaken from her sleep, sir. Lady Collins tells me that her parents are on the Continent. They have been contacted, but they are not likely to find their daughter alive when they arrive.”

Carnacki felt his stomach tighten at the news. H
e said, “Do what you can then, doctor, and I will do the same.”

Carnacki hurried from the room before the doctor could say anything else. He went outside to the car and retrieved his travel case. He removed a leather satchel from the case and put several items into it. Then he place
d his revolver into his pocket.

Sir Hugh came out the front door carrying two la
nterns and a shotgun. Carnacki took one of the lanterns and said, “Lead the way. We don’t have much time.”

Carnacki followed Sir Hugh across a wide expanse of lawn.
The forest lay beyond the well-tended grass, a line of darkness crouching there, waiting. The light from the house grew dimmer as they approached the trees and Carnacki and Sir Hugh opened their lanterns.

“There’
s a kind of a path that begins just here,” Sir Hugh said as they stepped into the trees. The heavy foliage blotted out the stars, and it seemed to Carnacki that they were entering the mouth of a cavern.

Sir Hugh made his way as quickly as he dared over the tangled underbrush and Carnacki followed. The light from their lamps threw wavering shadows that made strange patterns on the trees. Black moths, drawn to the glare, fluttered in the night air.

Even though they were out of doors, the atmosphere felt close, as if they walked the halls of some ancient and derelict house. Carnacki could see how Edward could easily have lost his way here, even in the day. He knew that without Lord Hugh, he would already be hopelessly lost.

After they had walked for some time, Carnacki thought he could detect a faint glimmering in the di
stance. He told Sir Hugh to stop, and both men closed the gates on their lanterns. The glow was more discernible, and it was coming towards them through the trees.

Now Carnacki could make out the shapes of two human figures. The glow emanated from them. When they were scarcely a hundred yards away, Carnacki saw that they had
the features of Jack and Alice.

“Good Lord
, Carnacki,” Sir Hugh said. “It’s true.”

“So it would seem. It’
s very important that you do as I say just now, Sir Hugh. We mustn’t let those phantoms touch us.”