The Flimflam Affair by Bill Pronzini

Author:Bill Pronzini [Pronzini, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780765394385
Publisher: Forge Books
Published: 2019-01-14T21:00:00+00:00

14

SABINA

Nearly a minute passed in silence while Vargas pretended to place himself in a mesmeric trance. Then he commenced a whispering chant in English punctuated by what Sabina took to be simulated Egyptian, in which he called for the door to the spirit world to open and the shades of the departed to pass through and reveal their presence. While this was going on, the lights began to dim as if in response to his exhortations. The phenomenon elicited a shivery gasp from Margaret Buckley, but there was nothing otherworldly about it. Gaslight in one room was easily controlled from another—in this case by Annabelle at a prearranged time or on some sort of signal.

The shadows congealed until the room was in utter darkness. Vargas’s chanting ceased abruptly; the silence deepened as it lengthened. Long minutes passed with no sounds except for the somewhat asthmatic breathing of Winthrop Buckley, the rustle of a dress or shuffle of a foot on the carpet. A palpable suspense began to build. Sabina could feel tiny beads of perspiration on her upper lip, not from any tension but from the overheated air. She was not given to fancies, but she had to admit that there was an eerie quality to sitting in total blackness this way, waiting for something to happen. Spiritualist mediums counted on this reaction, of course. The more keyed up their dupes became, the more eager they were to believe in the incredible things they were about to witness; and the more eager they were, the more easily they could be fooled by their own senses.

Someone coughed, a sudden sharp sound that made even Sabina twitch involuntarily. She thought the cough had come from Vargas, but in such stifling darkness you couldn’t be certain of the direction of any sound. Even when he spoke again, the words might have come from anywhere in the room.

“Angkar is with us.” His normally stentorian voice was muted now, almost a monotone. “I feel his presence.”

Mrs. Buckley stirred and her knee bumped against Sabina’s. The contact brought forth another of the woman’s shivery gasps.

“Will you speak to us tonight, Angkar? Will you answer our questions in the language of the dead and guide us among your fellow spirits? Please grant our request. All here with me are friends.”

The silver bell inside the jar rang once, soft and clear.

“Angkar has consented. He will speak, he will lead us. He will ring the bell once for ‘yes’ to each question he is asked, twice for ‘no,’ for that is the language of the dead. Will someone ask him a question?”

“I will,” Dr. Cobb’s voice answered. “Angkar, is my dear mother Elena Richmond Cobb well and happy on the Other Side?”

The bell tinkled once.

“Will she appear to us in her spirit form?”

Yes.

“Will she do so tonight?”

Silence.

Vargas said in his droning monotone, “Angkar is unable to answer that question yet. He asks for another.”

Mrs. Buckley obliged immediately. Yes, her beloved Bernice was still well and happy among the spirits. Yes, she was present.

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