Death Trance

Gilly ran her hand through her hair. 'We're sailing perilously close to Utter Hogwash here,' she said, tiredly.

'No,' said Edward. 'You're looking at the whole thing with modern eyes, with eyes that have been educated to believe only the rational and the non-magical. When you see David Copperfield on television, you don't believe for one second that any of the tricks he does is actual magic, do you? But in the days when the David Dark was sunk in these waters, in the days when Salem was right in the middle of all of its witch-trial frenzy, people believed in magic, and they believed in the devil, and they believed in God, and who are you to say that they were wrong? Particularly when you have John's testimony that he has actually been haunted by his dead wife; that he's actually seen her, and heard her, and talked to her.'

Forrest and Jimmy evidently hadn't been told about this, because they exchanged glances of surprise and disbelief.

Edward said, 'John's diving trouble today may have been a blessing in disguise. If Mrs Goult drowned herself close to the David Dark, then she could have pinpointed a wreck that it might have taken us years to locate, if we ever located it at all. You took the bearings, Dan?'

'Sure,' said Dan.

'In that case, we'll carry on diving for the rest of the afternoon, as near to the spot where you came across the body as we can. Dan, Jimmy, you take first search.'

'What about me?' I asked.

Edward shook his head. 'You've done enough for one day. It was pretty rash of us to let you go down at all. A few weeks' pool training, that's what you need, before you're out in the open water again.'

'And what about the body?' asked Gilly. 'Aren't you going to tell the coastguard?'

'We'll report it when we get in,' said Edward. 'There's not much we can do for Mrs Goult right now.'

Eighteen

During the afternoon, the wind got up again, and the weather steadily worsened, until at three o'clock, with heavy showers spattering against the wheelhouse windows, and the waves beginning to dance, Dan Bass called Edward and Jimmy up from the bottom, and told them to call it a day.

They had searched the area beneath us intensively and systematically, but found nothing, not even a scour-pit which might have told them that a wreck was lying beneath the mud. Dan had told me that any obstruction to the normal tidal stream causes the water to speed up as it flows around it, since water is almost completely incompressible; and, that the whirls and eddies which this speeding-up creates leaves a natural excavation in the ocean floor. Because of this tidal scouring even a wreck which has been completely buried by mud leaves an unmistakable trace of its presence: a ghostly image in the ooze.

But today, there was nothing. Only the sloping mud-bank which gradually and smoothly descended into the deeper roads of Salem Harbour. Only fishing-tackle, and nets, and rusted automobiles, and dinghies that had fallen apart into firewood.

Edward came up on deck and peeled off his wetsuit. His lips were blue against his beard, and he was shivering with cold.

'No luck?' I asked him.

He shook his head. 'Not a thing. But we can come out again tomorrow. We still have all of this eastern vector to cover.'

Forrest, who had given up diving about an hour before, and now sat in the wheelhouse in a polo-neck sweater and jeans, said, 'I don't think we're making any progress at all, Edward. I think it's time we did some echo-soundings.'

'Echo-soundings aren't going to tell us anything unless we have a rough idea where the wreck is located,' said Edward. 'Apart from the fact that we can barely afford to rent the equipment, especially if it takes us six or seven months to get any results.'

'I could help financially,' I told him. 'A couple of hundred dollars, if that's any use to you.'

'Well, it's a generous thought,' said Edward. 'But the problem is one of time, more than anything else. We can only dive at weekends, and at this rate it could take us forever to find the David Dark. We've been at it for over a year already.'

'Is there no record at all of where she might have gone down?'

'You know what happened. Esau Hasket made sure that every single mention of the David Dark was cut out of the record books.'

'How about the Evelith library? Do you think there might be something in there?'

'The Evelith library? You have to be joking. Are you joking?'

'Of course I'm not joking.'

'Well, let me tell you something about old man Duglass Evelith. He must be about 80 years old now, I've only seen him once, and these days he never comes out of that house of his. What's more, he won't let anybody else in. He lives with a Narragansett Indian servant, and a girl who may or may not be his grand-daughter. They have all their groceries delivered, and left at the lodge at the end of the driveway. It drives me crazy, to think of all the incredible historical material that one old man is sitting on, but what can I do about it?'

'You sound like you've tried to get in there,' I said.

'Have I tried! I've written, telephoned, and called up there five or six times. Each time: a polite refusal. Mr. Evelith regrets his library is private, and not open to inspection.'

The Alexis was puttering back towards Salem Harbour now, her diving-flag struck and packed away, her stern rising and falling as the tide surged in. Dan was singing a sea-song about Sally Free and Easy, who 'took a sailor's loving… for a nursery game.'

I said to Edward, 'Maybe you've been approaching Evelith the wrong way. Maybe you should offer him something, instead of asking for something.'

'What could I possibly offer a man like Evelith?'

'He's a collector, isn't he? Perhaps you could offer him an antique. I've got a portable writing-case in the shop that was supposed to have belonged to one of the members of the witchcraft trials jury, Henry Herrick. It's engraved with the initials HH, anyway.'

'I think you may have a good point there,' put in Jimmy. 'It's worth a try, anyway. People like Evelith hide themselves away because they think that everybody wants to lay their hands on their stuff. Look at the way he sells his pictures… anonymously, in case anybody finds out where they came from.'

Edward seemed a little put out that he hadn't thought of tempting old man Evelith with a bribe. But he said, as graciously as he could manage, 'Let's go up there this afternoon, shall we? It's only a half-hour's drive. Maybe it is a good idea.'

'I'm too tired to make it today,' I told him. 'Besides, I have my parents-in-law coming over to the cottage. How about tomorrow morning, about ten?'

Edward shrugged. 'Okay by me. How about you, Gilly? You want to come?' He wouldn't normally have asked her, but I sensed that he was trying to find out just what it was between Gilly and me, if anything. Gilly looked across at me with a direct expression on her face, and said, 'No thanks. I have to work in the shop, tomorrow. It's all go for us independent business ladies, you know. Can't relax for a minute.'

'Suit yourself,' said Edward.

We reached the harbour and tied up. As we stowed the diving gear away in the back of Dan Bass' station wagon, Forrest came over and clapped a friendly hand on my shoulder. 'You did well, this morning, for a first dive. If you want to put in some training, come on up to the Sub-Aqua Club Monday evening. When we find that son-of-a-bitch, you'll want to be down there to see it.'

'We'd better go tell the police and the coastguard about Mrs Goult,' I reminded him.

'Dan will do that. They know him over at police headquarters. The diving club is always coming up with suicidal mothers and drowned babies and unwanted dogs in sacks full of rocks.'

'Seems like the sea conceals a multitude of sins,' I remarked.