Rudge started the tape recorder again.
“You said twins are the handiwork of demons.”
“Yeah. Not all twins, of course. Just certain special kinds of twins.”
“Such as?”
“Siamese twins. Some people think that’s the mark of a demon.”
“Yes. I can see how that superstition might develop.”
“And sometimes identical twins are born with both heads covered by cauls. That’s rare. Maybe one. But not two. It’s very rare for both twins to be born with cauls. When that happens, you can be pretty sure those twins were marked by a demon. At least, that’s what some people think.”
Rudge took the tape out of the player. “I’m not sure how that one fits in with what’s been happening to the three of you. But since there seems to be a dead ringer for Bruno Frye, the subject of twins seemed like something you’d want to hear about.”
Joshua looked at Tony, then at Hilary, “But if Mary Gunther did have two children, why did Katherine bring home only one? Why would she lie and say there was just one baby? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I don’t know,” Tony said doubtfully. “I told you that story sounded too smooth.”
Hilary said, “Have you found a birth certificate for Bruno?”
“Not yet,” Joshua said. “There wasn’t one in any of his safe-deposit boxes.”
Rudge picked up the fourth of the four cassettes that had been separated from the main pile of tapes. “This was the last session I had with Frye. Just three weeks ago. He finally agreed to let me try hypnosis to help him recall the dream. But he was wary. He made me promise to limit the range of questions. I wasn’t permitted to ask him about anything except the dream. The excerpt I’ve chosen for you begins after he was in a trance. I regressed him in time, not far, just to the previous night. I put him back into his dream again.
“What do you see, Bruno?”
“My mother. And me.”
“Go on.”
“She’s pulling me along.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know. But I’m just little.”
“Little?”
“A little boy.”
“And your mother is forcing you to go somewhere?”
“Yeah. She’s dragging me by the hand.”
“Where does she drag you?”
“To … the … the door. The door. Don’t let her open it. Don’t. Don’t!”
“Easy. Easy now. Tell me about this door. Where does it go?”
“To hell.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s in the ground.”
“The door is in the ground?”
“For God’s sake, don’t let her open it! Don’t let her put me down there again. No! No! I won’t go down there again!”
“Relax. Be calm. There’s no reason to be afraid. Just relax, Bruno. Relax. Are you relaxed?”
“Y-Yes.”
“All right. Now slowly and calmly and without any emotion, tell me what happens next. You and your mother are standing in front of a door in the ground. What happens now?”
“She … she … opens the door.”
“Go on.”
“She pushes me.”
“Go on.”
“Pushes me… through the door.”
“Go on, Bruno.”
“She slams it … locks it.”
“She locks you inside?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s it like in there?”
“Dark.”
“What else?”
“Just dark. Black.”
“You must be able to see something.”
“No. Nothing.”
“What happens next?”
“I try to get out.”
“And?”
“The door’s too heavy, too strong.”
“Bruno, is this really just a dream?”
“…”
“Is it really just a dream, Bruno?”
“It’s what I dream.”
“But is it also a memory?”
“…”
“Did your mother actually lock you in a dark room when you were a child?”
“Y-Yes.”
“In the cellar?”
“In the ground. In that room in the ground.”
“How often did she do that?”
“All the time.”
“Once a week?”
“More often.”
“Was it a punishment?”
“Yeah.”
“For what?”
“For … for not acting … and thinking … like one.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was punishment for not being one.”
“One what?”
“One. One. Just one. That’s all. Just one.”
“All right. We’ll come back to that later. Now we’re going to go on and find out what happens next. You’re locked in that room. You can’t get out the door. What happens next, Bruno?”