“No, thank you.”
“I understand your concerns, Miss Flynn.”
“Call me Sarah.”
“Sarah, then. That key offers access to a terrible place, and that book contains terrible secrets.”
“That you were a part of.”
The old man nodded, his eyes sad.
“I came to psychiatry late in my life. I was over forty when I finished my Ph.D. and was offered a position at the Traverse City State Hospital. I was naïve, desperate to prove myself. But I promise you, I entered the world of medicine with the best of intentions. When Dr. Knight approached me about the Brotherhood, it was tantalizing. A secret society of doctors who studied the paranormal. He gave me an initiation of sorts, a battery of questions. They checked my background, even interviewed my family, I found out later, though they used a cover. Said it was a census or some such nonsense. To feel chosen, what an odd gift.”
Sarah thought of the stories in the Enchiridion and stared hard at the man before her. Whatever he looked like today, not so long ago he’d been a part of the torture and even murder of his own patients.
“I didn’t know it then, but they carefully chose which meetings I attended. The cases were intriguing, and the displays mysterious, but not harmful. They gave the patients standard medicines. I watched a man who could tell you your ailments by merely staring at your body. I believe they’re called medical intuitives today. I saw an old woman turn water to ice. They did not hurt the patients, they were not distressed. Some of them basked in the special attention.”
Sarah snorted.
“These sound like excuses for your conscience.”
“They may be that, but they are also true. It was carefully orchestrated, I understood later. The Brotherhood was dying, fewer members each year, a shift away from institutionalized care. They didn’t want to risk the loss of a member, so I was not invited to the cruel and barbaric showings in the beginning.
“By the time I witnessed one, I was so entangled, I could not escape. The Brotherhood had very wealthy, influential members. In my first year, they sent me on an all-expense-paid trip to Barbados - myself and my entire family. They told me to interview a medicine man during my visit and report on my findings.”
“How fascinating,” Sarah said dryly.
“A month after I returned from the trip, I saw a patient die in the chamber. She couldn’t perform, and her doctor was angry and embarrassed. He gave her some concoction until pink foam flowed from her lips.” He closed his eyes and frowned. “I can still see her face. I left the chamber and vomited. The doctor who brought me in was cold and angry when I confronted him later. He said I had signed a blood oath, and I would pay with the lives of my family if I left the Brotherhood.
“I suffered in silence. It was wrong. I will take that guilt to my grave and atone for my sins with my God. After the asylum closed, the Brotherhood continued meetings for a period, but the key holder - Dr. Knight, my original mentor - grew ill. He had cancer. I visited him on his deathbed and demanded the key. I told him it was his final opportunity before leaving this life to end the evil he had taken part in for so long. I would protect the chamber and its secrets. In return, he would claim to have thrown the key in the ocean at the bequest of an angelic visit as he neared death.”
“And he agreed?”
“He was feverish in his final days, and terrified. I told him I was being divinely guided in my requests. He obliged me.”
“Why didn’t you just throw the key into the ocean?”
Blackburn paused.
“A part of me feared the evil that lived in the chamber would find a way. That key would have been plucked from the sand by some wayward traveler. It would make its way into the hands of the Brotherhood once again. If I kept it, I could ensure that no one ever opened it.”
“The Brotherhood didn’t search for it?”
“Oh, they did. They unearthed Knight’s coffin months after his death; they desecrated his grave. They attacked his eldest son one night while he was leaving his job in the city. The Brotherhood wanted the key, but they never found it.”
“And yet a doctor in the Brotherhood pointed us to you.”
Glen nodded.
“Which concerns me, yes. I am fortunate, perhaps, that it was Kemper who put it all together. You see, Kemper, or Dr. Frederic, believes that everything must arise on the waves of energy. He cannot seek it himself, because it must be delivered to him by forces greater than our own. If he were to steal it, he would fear the action was cursed and he would surely lose it, or perhaps fall ill. However, if he were sought out, by you for instance, and you delivered him the key-”
“Which we did,” Sarah admitted grumpily.
“So, he has it then?”
Sarah shook her head.
“He had it, and honestly he might have kept it, but he decided to offer us as some kind of sick sacrifice. I smacked him on the head with his gun.”
“And you now have the key?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not safe as long as you have it. I ask that you return it to me.”
“Under one condition.”
Blackburn cocked an eyebrow.
“I need you to get us in one last time.” Sarah paused before her next words. But who could understand what they were facing more than this man? “My sister is possessed. I want to perform an exorcism within the chamber. That’s where this evil spirit originated, and I think that’s our only hope of releasing it.”
Blackburn blinked at Sarah, his blue eyes watery.
“I swore I would never step foot inside again.”
“Then don’t go in. Take us to the door, open it. After the exorcism, I’ll give you the key. Although I’m not sure you’ll be safe from Kemper.”
“I will. The police have arrested Dr. Frederic for first degree murder.”
“What? Who did he murder?”
Glen looked at a little 3-D model of a house on Sarah’s desk, his eyes troubled.
“He murdered a nurse at the asylum twenty years ago, when she threatened to expose him. During one of our meetings in the chamber, a patient saw the spirit of the dead nurse revealing how Frederic murdered her. She described where he hid the body and the murder weapon.”
“And you waited twenty years to tell anyone?”
“I had a family, Sarah. We could never bring the things that occurred in that chamber into the light. I believed that for a long time. Now it’s time to make amends. I know I’ll pay for my silence, and for my sins.”
Sarah shook her head, disgusted with the man but understanding if it ever came down to protecting those she loved or outing a murderer, she’d protect first.
“What about the rest of the Brotherhood? Won‘t they come after you?”
“In less than a month, I am moving with my family. We are leaving the country, and the chamber will be closed forever.”
“Where are you going?”
He smiled and shook his head.
“That, I cannot disclose.”
“Are you leaving out of fear?”
Blackburn shrugged.
“I’ve been having prophetic dreams. I feel it is time to relocate. My daughter is recently widowed. She would like to raise her son in another world.”
Sarah thought of Corrie, also newly widowed and left with a child to raise alone. The exorcism would rid her of the evil spirit, but it wouldn’t bring Sammy back. There would still be a long road ahead.
“Sarah, exorcisms are not to be handled lightly. The realms of spirit are as real as you and me, and if you release an energy, it seeks to go somewhere. I have seen it with my own eyes.”
“I’ve found someone who can do it. I just have to convince him. I read the accounts in the Enchiridion. You guys wanted the spirits channeled into other patients. You did it on purpose.”