Dan was certain that this was the ‘Howard’ whom Regine had mentioned.
‘This one too,’ Laura said, indicating another name on the list. ‘Sheldon Tolbeck. His friends call him Shelby. He’s a heavyweight, a psychologist and a neurologist, who’s done definitive research on various forms of dissociative behavior.’
‘What’s that?’ Dan asked.
‘Dissociative behavior? Psychological withdrawal, catatonia, autism — conditions of that sort.’
‘Like Melanie.’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ve reason to believe these three men were all involved with your husband and with Hoffritz in the research being done in that damned gray room.’
She frowned. ‘I could believe it of Koliknikov and Renseveer, but not Sheldon Tolbeck. His reputation is spotless.’ She was still looking at the list. ‘Here’s another. Albert Uhlander. He’s an author, writes strange—’
‘I know. That box I brought in from the car is full of his books.’
‘He and Dylan carried on an extensive correspondence.’
‘About what?’
‘Various aspects of the occult. I’m not sure exactly.’
She found no other familiar name on the long list, but she had identified every member of the conspiracy except that tall, white-haired, distinguished-looking man whom Regine knew only as ‘Daddy.’ Dan had a hunch that ‘Daddy’ was more than just a sadistic pervert, that he was more than just another member of Dylan McCaffrey’s ad hoc research team, that he was the key to the entire case, the central figure behind the conspiracy.
Dan said, ‘I think these men — Koliknikov, Renseveer, Tolbeck, and Uhlander — are all going to die. Soon. Something is methodically killing everyone involved with the project in that gray room, the something we’re calling a “ghost” for want of a better word. It’s something that they themselves unleashed but couldn’t control. If I’m correct, these four men don’t have much time left.’
‘Then we should warn them—’
‘Warn them? They’re responsible for Melanie’s condition.’
‘Still, as much as I’d like them all punished…’
‘Anyway, I think they already know something’s coming for them,’ Dan said. ‘Eddie Koliknikov left town tonight. And the others are probably getting out too, if they’re not already gone.’
She was silent a moment. Then: ‘And whatever wants them … once it’s gotten them … it’s also coming after Melanie.’
‘If we can believe the message that came through your radio.’
Melanie began to murmur again, and the murmurs quickly escalated into groans of fear. As the girl thrashed under the blankets, Laura got up and took a step toward the bed — but halted suddenly and looked around anxiously.
‘What’s wrong?’ Dan asked.
‘The air,’ she said.
He felt it even as she spoke.
The air was getting colder.
31
The late shuttle flight from LAX landed in Las Vegas before midnight, and Regine and Eddie went straight to the Desert Inn, where they had a room reserved. They were registered and unpacked by one o’clock in the morning.
She had been to Vegas with Eddie twice before. They always registered under her name, so she never learned his name from the desk clerks or the bellmen.
One thing that she had learned was that something about Vegas was a turn-on for Eddie. Maybe it was the lights and the excitement, maybe the sight and smell and sound of money. Whatever the cause, his sexual appetite was substantially greater in Vegas than it was back in L.A. Each evening, when they went to dinner and a show, she would wear a lowcut dress that he picked out for her, and he would put her on display, but the rest of the time he made her stay in the room, so she would always be available to him when he came back from a session at the craps or blackjack tables. Two or even three times a day, he would return to the room, keyed-up, his eyes a little wild, tense but not nervous, and he would use her to work off his excess energy. Sometimes he would stop just inside the room, standing with his back against the door, unzip, make her come to him, make her get on her knees, and when he was finished, he would push her away and leave without saying a word. Sometimes he would want to do it in the shower, or on the floor, or in bed but in weird positions that ordinarily would not have interested him. In Vegas, he found greater satisfaction in sex, approached it almost fiercely, and exhibited an even more delicious cruelty than he did back in Los Angeles.