Graham Masterton - Manitou 01 by The Manitou

Author:The Manitou
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

By now, it was all up to Karen Tandy’s parents. No one else could pay the price of Singing Rock’s medicine, and no one else had the right to let him work it. I took Singing Rock back to my flat on Tenth Avenue, and he showered and drank coffee while I called up Karen’s parents. I told them who I was, and they invited me over for lunch. I just hoped their food wouldn’t stick in their throats when they heard what Singing Rock was suggesting.

We reached Mrs. Karmann’s apartment at one o’clock. The glazier had been around that morning, and the window that had been smashed during the seance was repaired. It was warm and expensive and cozy in there, but there was a distinctly awkward atmosphere.

Jeremy Tandy was a dry-looking, fair-haired man in his middle fifties. He wore a dark Nixonite suit, and his shirt was white and immaculate. His face had something of the elfishness of Karen, but it was matured and beaten into a harder and less compromising form.

His wife, Erica Tandy, was a light, slight woman with brown flowing hair and startlingly large eyes. She wore a black Dior suit, and contrasted it with simple gold jewelry. I was fascinated by her long gleaming fingernails, and her $5,000 Piaget wristwatch.

Mrs. Karmann was there, too, fussing around and trying to make everybody feel comfortable. She needn’t have bothered. We all felt awkward and odd, and no amount of small talk could do anything about it.

“I’m Harry Erskine,” I said, wringing Jeremy Tandy’s hand as firmly as I could. “And this is Mr. Singing Rock, from South Dakota.”

“Just Singing Rock will do,” said Singing Rock.

We sat down on chairs and settees, and Jeremy Tandy passed round cigarettes.

“Dr. Hughes told me you had an interest in my daughter’s case,” said Jeremy Tandy. “But so far he hasn’t told me who you are or what you do. Do you think you can enlighten me?”

I coughed. “Mr. Tandy — Mrs. Tandy. A lot of what I’m going so say now will sound far-fetched. All I can tell you is that I was just as skeptical as you when I first found out about it. But the evidence is so overwhelming that everyone who knows anything about your daughter’s illness has had to agree that this is probably — I won’t say definitely — the cause of it.”

Step by step, I explained how Karen had come to me and told me about her dream. I told them how I had tracked down the Dutch ship, and how Amelia had raised the spirit of the medicine man. I told them about the reincarnation of medicine men, and our visit to Dr. Snow in Albany. And then I told them about Singing Rock, and what he was going to try to do, and how much it would cost.

Jeremy Tandy listened to all this impassively. Every now and then he sipped at a glass of brandy, and he chain-smoked as he listened, but otherwise his face betrayed no sign of emotion.

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