Mostly Murder (32 page)

Black looked up from the file. “I've got an idea, Claire. Something that might help.”

Usually his ideas were right on target, so Claire jumped on it. “What?”

“Let me hypnotize Gabe. See what we can pull out of his memory. It worked on you not so long ago. It might work on him. Maybe he'll remember the killer's face or something his mind is blocking out. Maybe he'll remember the fleur-de-lis.”

Jack said, “Would Gabe feel up to that? After all he's been through?”

Claire nodded. “I think Gabe would do anything to get the guy who put those scars on his back.”

Black said, “I have all the equipment we'll need back at the house. Gabe's still there. Let's go see if he'll agree to it.”

Everybody was all for that, and they headed out again to the French Quarter. Claire decided her interview with Yannick and Old Nat could just wait. She only hoped Gabe was up for a visit to his nightmarish past.

“Are you absolutely certain that you want to do this, Gabe? I have to warn you that it could bring up some things that you probably don't want to relive.”

“Yeah. I've been dealin' with stuff I don't want to relive my whole life.”

Nicholas Black sat in his desk chair inside his large home office on Governor Nicholls Street. It was equipped with all the video equipment needed to record Gabe's private session, which would allow him to remain in the house, since he was still suffering dizzy spells from his concussion. Gabe was lying in front of him on a tufted brown leather couch. Jack Holliday and Claire sat and watched from a nearby conference table. Nick remembered only too well the night he had put Claire under hypnosis. Lots of revelations had come out of her mouth, ones that had scared the hell out of both of them.

Tonight, however, Nick only hoped that he could pull something out of Gabe's subconscious mind that could help catch the sociopath who had been haunting his life for so many years. That's what he needed to do, because Nick was pretty sure that Gabe was experiencing post-traumatic stress and a good deal of suppressed anger issues as well. And now, after having talked at length and one-on-one with Gabe not an hour ago, he was absolutely positive Gabe was suffering a heavy dose of survivor guilt. But why wouldn't he? After what he had lived through, he certainly had good reason to suffer those syndromes and more. But he also feared that Gabe might be a time bomb, ready to go off at any moment. After all this was over, Gabe needed serious therapy, and Nick was going to make sure he got the treatment he needed

“Just a heads-up, Gabe. Everybody isn't suggestible to hypnotism. You may be in that group. This may not work at all.”

Gabe stared up at the ceiling. “I want to do this. Let's get started.”

“I can instruct you not to relive any scenario where you or your sister is being beaten or abused or hurt in any way. I can have you only focus on the parts where you're with or around your abductor, when and where he took you, that sort of thing. It'll be as if you're watching a movie, not like you're experiencing it again. You won't feel pain or fear or panic. Understand?”

“Whatever. Just get on with it.”

“Close your eyes and try to relax.”

Gabe heaved in a couple of deep breaths, shut his eyes, wiggled around a bit, and then lay still. Nick wondered if Gabe could withstand new memories of the trauma. It would not be good for him to be reminded of the abuse he'd suffered. Gabe had managed to survive the horror of what had happened to him somehow and become the decent man that he was. Nick didn't want to mess that up. He had to be careful about what he pulled out of him.

Nick took a cleansing breath himself and then began the session. He spoke softly and told Gabe how relaxed he was, how he was floating around on clouds, going back, back, back into the past, but he wasn't at all sure Gabe was going to be suggestible. Claire had been easy to hypnotize, to her own chagrin.

As it turned out, it didn't take long for Gabe, either. A half an hour later, Nick had managed to regress Gabe back to his childhood years and then to the abduction itself. “You are okay, Gabe. Nobody is going to hurt you. You are just watching what happens in that cellar. Tell me what you see.”

Gabe shifted around on the couch, as if uncomfortable, agitated. “It's very dark. Cold and damp and it smells funny. There's a boy in there. He's shivering and trying to keep warm. He's got his hands over his ears. The masked man didn't find him this time but he got his little sister. He got Sophie. She's upstairs with the monster now, screaming and crying and calling for him to come help her.”

“How did he capture the boy and Sophie?”

“He got them out on the bayou. He killed their mama and papa.” Gabe stopped, and despite Nick's instructions that he wouldn't feel the pain, he let out a muffled sob. Nick glanced at Claire, and her face looked absolutely stricken. She cared deeply for this man. It was an awful thing for her to have to watch. He had tried to persuade her to wait outside, but she wouldn't have any of it.

Nick leaned forward, spoke soothingly. “Remember, Gabe, it's just a movie you're watching. You are not there with them. You are not suffering. You are not afraid. You are just watching what happened to them a long, long time ago. It isn't real. Remember that, it is not real.”

Gabe quieted, tears still wet on his cheeks. “Okay.”

“Where are they now, Gabe?”

“They're still in the cellar, and the windows are all boarded up. It's so dark they can barely see each other. He keeps them down there, but they can hear him when he's coming back to scare them. They can hear him walking on the floor above them and making the boards creak.”

“Are they tied up? So they can't get away from him?”

“No, he didn't tie them up, but there's a bolt on the outside of the door. Sometimes he forces them to take pills that makes them go to sleep.” Gabe started shivering again and gave a low moan.

“You are not there with them, Gabe. Remember, you are just watching them from a distance. You are safe. You are perfectly fine. Nobody's going to hurt you.”

Again, Gabe settled down, but his breathing was coming fast and hard. “They are so scared when he comes for them. He's really mean and he hurts them. They try to hide when he opens the door at the top of the steps because he makes them go upstairs and that's where he hurts them.”

Nick glanced at Claire and Jack again. Neither one of them was handling Gabe's suffering very well. He should have insisted they wait outside. He didn't need for them to go to pieces, too. Jack, especially. Right now, Jack's hands were clenched so hard on the top of the table that his biceps were rigid. Nick turned back to Gabe. “What happens to them when he takes them upstairs?”

“It's dark up there. There are sheets and blankets over furniture and the windows are covered with boards. They hear mice and rats scuttling around and spiderwebs stick to them when they try to run, but they can't see anything.”

“Where is this house, Gabe? Do you recognize it? Do you know how to get to it?”

“It's close to a river. He takes them there in a boat. He tapes them up and then he puts a cloth over their face. It smells awful and makes them go to sleep.”

“Do you know how to get there?”

“No, it's dark when he drags them out of the boat. The boy hears the tree branches rustling and crickets singing, but he feels sick to his stomach from the cloth and he can't stay awake.”

“What happened when the boy first woke up?”

“He's scared because his arms are tied up over his head on the ceiling beam, and his little sister's taped to a chair. He can see where the man tattooed him. It hurts him real bad and it's bleeding. When he twists around on the rope enough, he sees that he did it to the girl, too. Then the man in the red mask comes back and he's hitting the boy with a whip that has lots of knotted ends on it. He hurts him awful bad. He likes to hurt him. He laughs when he hits him with his whip. He doesn't like the boy as much as the girl.”

Nick took another deep inhalation. Hell, he didn't want to hear the rest of this story, either. “Tell me about the little girl. What happened to her?”

“She stops yelling and crying for the boy after a while. Then it gets all quiet, and the boy's afraid she's dead, that he shot her with a gun like he shot their mama and papa.”

“Did the man ever tell them why he had them? Why he was doing the bad things to them?”

“He says the boy ruined his life. He says they're bad kids and he's got to punish them. He says he's their daddy now and they better get used to it.” Gabe started getting restless again, kicking out with his legs.

“Did he ever take off the red mask?”

“No. He changes it sometimes, but usually it looks like a snake with feathers on it.”

“Does the boy know the man?”

Gabe was quiet for a few seconds, while they all held their breaths.

“Sometimes, he thinks he does, thinks he knows the voice somehow, but then he's not sure.”

“Does the boy ever see his face without the mask? Even a glimpse of him?”

“No. He always wears it. He whispers and growls and screams at them.”

“What else did he do?”

“He paints his face to look like a skull and he makes a place with lots of candles around and ties them to chairs and makes them watch him kill animals. He pushes them into dark tunnels and makes them crawl through, and then he jumps out and scares them, or grabs them and shakes them or hits them with the whip.”

“Oh, God,” Claire muttered from across the room. She stood up. “I don't think I can listen to this.”

Claire now looked absolutely ashen, but it was Jack's face that troubled Nick. Jack looked like he was going to kill somebody with his bare hands.

“Do either of you want me to stop?”

“No, don't. We've got to do this. We've got to get him.” That was Jack, through gritted teeth and rigid with determination. He didn't look so hot.

Claire nodded, too, but she didn't look quite as sure as Jack. Nick looked back down at Gabe, who had quieted now and was lying completely still.

“Did they ever get outside the house? Can you see them escaping?”

“The boy gets up on his toes and tries to pull the boards off the window. He can't do it, because he's kinda sick, but then he finally he gets one off. He opens the window and pushes the little girl outside. And then he squeezes out, too, but he has trouble because he's bigger and he feels so weak and tired 'cause the man beat him and his back's bleeding. He takes the girl's hand, and they run as fast as they can. It's so dark in the woods, and bugs are bitin' them all over, and she's still sleepy from the pills she took. They stop runnin' away when they get to a brick wall. It's too high! They can't climb over it!”

Gabe was becoming agitated again, his voice loud and frightened. Nick said, “You aren't there, Gabe. You aren't there. You're just watching them, like a movie.” When Gabe grew quiet again and his breathing calmed, Nick said, “What do they do then?”

“The boy grabs her hand and they run beside the wall, and then they see the cemetery and the white crypts, and they get scared. The girl sees a white cross in the moonlight, and she runs to it and thinks Jesus has come to save them. It's on top of the crypt, and the boy pushes her inside and tells her to hide there, to hide and not make a sound and he's gonna go get help and come back and get her. Then he runs as fast as he can into the swamp and tries to find somebody to help them.”

When Gabe stopped his narrative, Nick hesitated, afraid to push him too far. “Did the man catch the boy?”

“He catches up to him and gets on top of him and chokes him and hits him in the face with his fists and hits him so long and so hard that the boy can't move anymore. Then he pushes the boy in the water and leaves him there in the dark.”

“What happened to the little girl? Did she stay in the crypt?”

“He doesn't know! He doesn't know! He's got to get somebody and go back and get her! He's got to find her before the man gets her!”

When Gabe cried out and writhed restlessly on the couch, Claire ran to him and put her arms around him. Gabe clutched her and wept hard, wracking sobs into her shoulder. “Bring him back, Black! Bring him out of it! He's had enough.”

Nick waited until Gabe calmed down a little, then he started to bring him out of the trance. “Gabe, listen to me. You aren't going to feel the pain, or the fear, or the cruelty committed against you or your little sister. You will not feel that, you will not remember that, you'll only remember how you escaped and if you ever saw the man's face or a fleur-de-lis carved into the porch banister. You will no longer feel guilt at surviving, Gabe. It was not your fault what happened to your sister. It was not your fault what happened to your parents. None of it was your fault. You will know you did everything you could to save your sister, but the man was bigger and stronger than you. You did all you could. You were just a child. You will be able to talk to us about what you can remember, without feeling rage or sadness or hopelessness or helplessness. I'm going to wake you up now. When you open your eyes, you'll feel good. You'll feel safe and calm and relaxed and all the guilt you've been carrying on your shoulders all these years will fade away. I will count backwards from five, and you'll wake up and feel free and wonderful and whole again. Do you understand me, Gabe?”

Gabe nodded. Black began to count, and Gabe opened his eyes on cue. Claire said, “It's okay, Gabe. It's okay now. You did fine.”

Leaning back against the sofa, Gabe said, “He wore masks the whole time. I never saw his face. He whispered in this terrible scary voice when he talked to us. He played cruel games with us. I got away, but Sophie didn't.”

“Can you remember anything about the house, Gabe? Anything at all?” That was Jack, pushing him, distraught and appalled because he now knew what his own sisters had probably endured.

Claire said, “Did you see any kind of carving outside the house?”

“I saw the fleur-de-lis. I saw it when he was carrying me over his shoulder that first night and his flashlight moved across it when he climbed the steps. Is that what you're talking about?”

“You were held inside Rose Arbor,” Nick told him. “I think that's pretty obvious now.”

Gabe looked around at them. “Where's that?”

Claire said, “Jack owns it now. That fleur-de-lis is still on the post out front. I noticed it myself. It's big and hard to miss when you walk up the front steps.”