Hell House (4 page)
Fischer came into the great hall carrying his flashlight. He had changed into a black turtleneck sweater, black corduroy trousers, and a pair of scuffed white tennis shoes. His steps were soundless as he moved toward the huge round table where Barrett, seated, and Edith, standing, were opening wooden boxes and unloading equipment. In the fireplace, a fire was burning.
Edith started as Fischer emerged from the shadows. "Need help?" he asked.
"No, it's going fine," said Barrett, smiling. "Thank you for the offer, though."
Fischer sat in one of the chairs. His eyes remained on Barrett as the tall, bearded man removed an instrument from protective excelsior, wiped it carefully with a cloth, and set it on the table. Fussy about his equipment, Fischer thought. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one, watching the gamboling deformity of Edith's shadow on the wall as she picked up another wooden box and carried it to the table.
"Still teach physics?" he asked.
"Limitedly, because of health." Barrett hesitated, then continued. "I had polio when I was twelve; my right leg is partially paralyzed."
Fischer gazed at him in silence. Barrett took another instrument from its box and wiped it off. He set the instrument on the table and looked at Fischer. "It won't affect our project in any way," he said.
Fischer nodded.
"You referred to the tarn before as Bastard Bog," Barrett said, returning to his work. "Why was that?"
"Some of Belasco's female guests got pregnant while they were here."
"And they actually-?" Barrett broke off, glancing up.
"Thirteen times."
"That's hideous," said Edith.
Fischer blew out smoke. "A lot of hideous things happened here," he said.
Barrett ran his eyes across the instruments already on the table: astatic galvanometer, mirror galvanometer, quadrant electrometer, Crookes balance, camera, gauze cage, smoke absorber, manometer, weighing platform, tape recorder. Still to be unpacked were the contact clock, electroscope, lights (standard and infrared), maximum and minimum thermometer, hygroscope, sthenometer, phosphorescent sulfide screen, electric stove, the box of vessels and tubes, the molding materials, and the cabinet equipment. And the most important instrument of all, Barrett thought with satisfaction.
He was unpacking the rack of red, yellow, and white lights when Fischer asked, "How are you going to use those when there's no electricity?"
"There will be by tomorrow," Barrett said. "I telephoned Caribou Falls; the phone is near the front door, incidentally. They'll install a new generator in the morning."
"And you think it will work?"
Barrett repressed a smile. "It will work."
Fischer said no more. Across the hall, a burning log popped, making Edith twitch as she walked to one of the larger wooden boxes.
"Not that one, it's too heavy," Barrett told her.
"I'll do it." Rising from his chair, Fischer walked to Edith and, stooping, lifted the box. "What is it, an anvil?" he asked as he set it on the table.
Barrett was aware of Fischer's curious gaze as he pried up the boards on top of the box. "Would you-?" he asked. Fischer lifted out the bulky metal instrument and set it on the table. It was cube-shaped, painted dark blue, an uncomplicated dial in front of it numbered 0-900, the thin red needle pointed at zero. Across the top of the instrument was stenciled, in black letters: BARRETT-EMR.
"EMR?" asked Fischer.
"I'll explain it later," said Barrett.
"This your machine?"
Barrett shook his head. "That's being constructed."
They all turned toward the archway at the sound of heels. Florence was approaching, carrying a candle in its holder. She had changed to a heavy green, long-sleeved sweater, thick tweed skirt, and low-heeled shoes. "Hello," she said cheerfully.
As she came up to them, her gaze ran across the array of devices on the table, and she smiled. She turned to Fischer. "Like to take a walk with me?" she asked.
"Why not?"
After they were gone, Edith saw a typed list on the table and picked it up. It was headed, "Observed Psychic Phenomena at the Belasco House":
Apparitions; Apports; Asports; Automatic drawing; Automatic painting; Automatic speaking; Automatic writing; Autoscopy; Bilocation; Biological phenomena; Book tests; Breezes; Catalepsy; Chemical phenomena; Chemicographs; Clairaudience; Clairsentience; Clairvoyance; Communication; Control; Crystal gazing; Dematerialization; Direct drawing; Direct painting; Direct voice; Direct writing; Divination; Dreams; Dream communications; Dream prophecies; Ectoplasm; Eldolons; Electrical phenomena; Elongation; Emanations; Exteriorization of motricity; Exteriorization of sensation; Extras; Extratemporal perception; Eyeless sight; Facsimile writing; Flower clairsentience; Ghosts; Glossolalia; Hyperamnesia; Hyperesthesia; Ideomorphs; Ideoplasm; Impersonation; Imprints; Independent voice; Interpenetration of matter; Knot tying; Levitation; Luminous phenomena; Magnetic phenomena; Materialization; Matter through matter; Metagraphology; Monition; Motor automatism; Newspaper tests; Obsession; Paraffin molds; Parakinesis; Paramnesia; Paresthesia; Percussion; Phantasmata; Poltergeist phenomena; Possession; Precognition; Presentiment; Prevision; Pseudopods; Psychic photography; Psychic rods; Psychic sounds; Psychic touches; Psychic winds; Psychokinesis; Psychometry; Radiesthesia; Radiographs; Raps; Retrocognition; Scriptograph; Sensory automatism; Skin writing; Skotography; Slate writing; Smells; Somnambulism; Stigmata; Telekinesis; Teleplasm; Telescopic vision; Telesthesia; Transcendental music; Transfiguration; Transportation; Typtology; Voices; Water sprinkling; Xenoglossy.
Edith put the list down numbly. My God, she thought. What kind of week was it going to be?
The garage had been built to accommodate seven automobiles. Now it was empty. As they entered, Fischer thumbed off his flashlight, enough daylight filtering through the grimy door windows for them to see. He looked at the greenish mist which pressed against the panes of glass. "Maybe we should keep the car in here," he said.
Florence didn't answer. She was walking across the oilspotted floor, turning her head from side to side. She paused by a shelf and touched a dirty, rust-flecked hammer.
"What did you say?" she asked.
"Maybe we should keep the car in here."
Florence shook her head. "If a generator can be tampered with, so can a car."
Fischer watched the medium move around the garage. As she passed close by, he caught a scent of the cologne she wore. "Why did you give up acting?" he asked.
Florence glanced at him with a fleeting smile. "It's a long story, Ben. When we've settled down a bit, I'll tell it to you. Right now, I'd better get the feeling of the place." She stopped in a patch of light and closed her eyes.
Fischer stared at her. In the dim illumination, the medium's ivory skin and lustrous red hair gave her the appearance of a Dresden doll.
After a while she returned to Fischer. "Nothing here," she said. "You agree?"
"Whatever you say."
Fischer switched on his flashlight as they ascended the steps to the corridor. "Which way now?" she asked.
"I don't know the place that well. I was here only three days."
"We'll just explore, then," Florence said. "No need-" She broke off suddenly and stopped, head twisted to the right, as though she heard a noise behind them. "Yes," she murmured. "
Yes
. Sorrow. Pain." She frowned and shook her head. "No, no." At length she sighed and looked at Fischer. "You felt it," she said.
Fischer didn't answer. Florence smiled and looked away. "Well, let's see what else we can find," she said.
"Have you read Doctor Barrett's article in which he compares sensitives to Geiger counters?" she asked as they walked along the corridor.
"No."
"It's not a bad comparison. We
are
like Geiger counters in a way. Expose us to psychic emanations, and we tick. Of course, the difference is that we are judge as well as instrument, not only picking up impressions, but evaluating them as well."
"Uh-huh," said Fischer. Florence glanced at him.
They started down the flight of stairs across from the chapel, Fischer pointing the flashlight beam at their feet. "I wonder if we're going to need the full week," Florence said.
"A full year wouldn't be too long."
Florence tried to make her sound of disagreement mild. "I've seen the most abstruse of psychic problems solved overnight. We mustn't-" She stopped, hand clamping on the banister rail. "This goddamn sewer," she muttered in a savage voice. She jolted in dismay and shook her head. "Oh, dear. Such fury. Such destructive venom." She drew in trembling breath. "A very hostile man," she said. "No wonder. Who can blame him, imprisoned in this house?" She glanced at Fischer.
Reaching the lower corridor, they moved to a pair of swinging metal doors with porthole windows in them. Fischer pushed at one of the doors and held it open for Florence. As they went inside, their footsteps sounded sharply on a tile floor and reverberated off the ceiling.
The pool was Olympic size. Fischer shone his flashlight into the murky green depths of it. He walked to the end of the pool and knelt at its corner. Pulling up the sleeve of his sweater, he put his hand in the water. "Not too cold," he said, surprised. He felt around. "And water's coming in. The pool must work on a separate generator."
Florence gazed across the glinting pool. The ripples made by Fischer were gliding across its surface. "Something in here," she said. She did not look to Fischer for verification.
"Steam room's down the other end." Fischer returned to her side.
"Let's look at it."
The ringing echoes of their footsteps as they walked along the edge of the pool made it sound as though someone were following them. Florence glanced across her shoulder. "Yes," she murmured, unaware that she had spoken.
Fischer pulled open the heavy metal door and held it ajar, playing the flashlight beam inside. The steam room was twelve feet square, its walls, floor, and ceiling tiled in white. Built-in wooden benches lined the walls, and spiraling across the floor like some petrified serpent was a length of faded green hose connected to a water outlet.
Florence grimaced. "Perverted," she said. "In there-" She swallowed as though to rid her throat of sour bile. "In
there
," she said. "But what?"
Fischer let the door swing shut, the thumping closure of it echoing loudly. Florence glanced at him; then, as he turned away, she fell into step beside him. "Doctor Barrett is certainly well equipped, isn't he?" she said, trying to lighten his mood. "It's strange to think he really believes that science alone can end the power of this house."
"What will?"
"Love," she answered. She squeezed his arm. "We know that, don't we?"
Fischer held open the swinging door for her, and they went back into the corridor. "What's over there?" Florence crossed the hallway and opened a wooden door. Fischer pointed the flashlight beam inside. It was a wine cellar, all its shelves and racks empty. Florence winced. "I see this room completely filled with bottles." She turned away. "Let's not go in."
They went back up the staircase and started along the first-floor corridor. As they passed the chapel door, Florence shuddered. "That place is the worst of all," she said. "Even though I haven't seen the entire house, somehow I have the feeling…" Her voice faded as she spoke. She cleared her throat. "I'll get in there," she said.
They turned into an adjoining corridor. Twenty yards along its right wall was an archway. "What have we here?" Florence walked beneath the archway and caught her breath. "
This house
," she said.
The ballroom was immense, its lofty, brocaded walls adorned with red velvet draperies. Three enormous chandeliers hung, spaced, along the paneled ceiling. The floor was oak, elaborately parqueted. At the far end of the room was an alcove for musicians.
"A theater, yes, but this?" said Florence. "Can a ballroom be an evil place?"
"The evil came later," Fischer said.
Florence shook her head. "Contradictions." She looked at Fischer. "You're right, it's going to take a while. I feel as if I'm standing in the center of a labyrinth of such immeasurable intricacy that the prospect of emerging is-" She caught herself. "We
will
emerge, however."
Overhead, there was a tinkling noise. Fischer jerked up his arm, pointing the flashlight at the parabola of heavy hanging crystal above them. Its pendants refracted the light, splaying colors of the spectrum across the ceiling. The chandelier was motionless.
"The challenge is met," whispered Florence.
"Don't be too quick to accept it," Fischer warned.
Florence looked at him abruptly. "You're blocking it off," she said.
"What?"
"
You're blocking it off
. That's why you didn't feel those things."
Fischer's smile was cold. "I didn't feel them because they weren't there. I was a Spiritualist too, remember. I know how you people find things in every corner when you want to."
"Ben, that isn't true." Florence looked hurt. "Those things
were
there. You would have felt them just as I did if you weren't obstructing-"
"I'm not obstructing anything," he cut her off. "I'm just not sticking my head on the block a second time. When I came here in 1940, I was just like you-no, worse, much worse. I really thought I was something. God's gift to psychical research."
"You were the most powerful physical medium this country has ever known, Ben."
"Still am, Florence. Just a little bit more careful now, that's all. I suggest the same approach for you. You're walking around this house like an open nerve. When you really
do
hit something, it'll tear your insides out. This place isn't called Hell House for nothing, you know. It intends to kill every one of us, so you'd damn well better learn to protect yourself until you're ready. Or you'll just be one more victim on the list."
They looked at each other in silence for a long time. Finally she touched his hand. "'But he who buried his talent-'" she began
"Oh, shit." Turning on his heel, he stalked away from her.