The Missing Medium Read online

  Anna looked to the doctor, but his head was buried in his newspaper. He had missed the whole scene. Unless she had imagined it. The doctor noticed her glancing at him.

  “Are you alright?” he asked with an expression of friendly concern. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

  “Something like that,” she replied and quickly glanced at the newspaper to deflect his question. “What has you so engrossed in the paper?” Lamb glanced from Anna to the paper and back.

  “Oh,” he said, indicating a small article on one of the interior pages. “There’s an article about Brian Teplow here. It says that his agent, Woody Frank, has not been seen in over a week. Unnamed sources suggest that he may have been the victim of foul play.” He pointed to the article, but Anna’s attention was attracted to an advertisement at the bottom of the page. Next to the “Church of Cosmic Understanding” was a familiar image.

  “Does that look familiar?” Anna asked, tapping the ad with her finger. Lamb’s eyes widened.

  “Arthur Cophen showed me that symbol when we first met at O’Malley’s church. He didn’t offer to help you until after we had said that we hadn’t seen it before.”

  “We will have to look into that after we meet with Mrs. Teplow,” Anna said. The doctor nodded his agreement as the lights from their train crept out from the tunnel to their left. They pressed into the crowd when the doors opened and boarded, but there were no seats available. They migrated to the open space in the center of the car.

  Ten minutes later, the train stopped at Canal Street. This time, Lamb ushered Anna and their luggage through the crowded car and onto the platform just before the doors closed. They were being herded with the mass of travelers toward the exit when Anna diverted the pair to a stairwell leading down. Once out of the steady stream of people, the noise level dropped significantly.

  “This way leads to the Brooklyn trains,” Anna said to the doctor. “We need to find the train that goes to,” she glanced at the sheet Feldman had given them before departing, “Halsey Street on the Broadway Line.”

  Descending the steps, they found themselves on a long, practically-empty platform, illuminated periodically by electric lamps in the ceiling. Painted on the wall beneath one were the words “BMT BRIGHTON BEACH LINE,” and beneath that was “EASTBOUND.” Another sign said “BMT BROADWAY LINE,” with an arrow indicating the far side of the platform.

  “Our train appears to be that way,” Lamb said, pointing at the sign. Anna casually lowered his hand. The doctor was acting like every tourist who came to the city and made an attractive target for unsavory elements. The two proceeded down the platform. The alternating light and dark seemed to make the platform extend continuously.

  They had progressed out of sight of both ends of the platform when an unseen man, his worn and disheveled clothing stained to match the dust-covered patina of the platform, burst up from the shadows, pointing at Anna and the doctor.

  “It can’t be!” he cried. “I saw you die! You and Khan-Tral and Deb-Roh.” The man rubbed his face with his hands neurotically. “At the mercy of Gho-Bazh!” He shuddered. “I saw you blasted by them Pointee bolts in the Dirge!”

  The man backed away in the direction the pair were heading. They continued down the platform, ignoring the man, who disappeared into a gap in the wall. As they passed, they saw him rummaging through a Great War-era backpack.

  “What an odd fellow,” Lamb said with curious expression. Anna was taken aback. She stopped and stared at the doctor with an expression of disgust.

  “After the war, New York was flooded with returning soldiers,” she said clearly and directly. “The war changed a great many men. Some of them found themselves shunned and made homes in the subway.” She was about to continue when the vagrant grabbed her shoulder and pushed his way between them. In his hand he held a weathered piece of animal skin parchment with an almost-lifelike black and white drawing of five people.

  “See,” the man said with a hopeful expression, his demeanor now amicable. “We were all there.” The figures in the drawing were dressed for an overland expedition in a mountainous terrain. “You remember me,” he said, pointing at one of the figures, “don’t you?” At their blank expressions, he added, “Ganon. Do you remember now?”

  “I’m afraid you have us confused with someone else,” Lamb said politely. Ganon put the drawing in front of his face and pointed.

  “That’s you, Nab,” he said, directing the doctor to a largish figure standing next to the figure Ganon had indicated as himself. “We were like this,” he said, crossing his fingers in the doctor’s face. Anna started to turn away when the man grabbed her wrist and thrust the drawing at her. “And that’s you, Nygof.” He pointed to the shorter of the two women in the group. “The five of us set out across the Endless Barrens in search of Khan-Tral and Deb-Roh.” He put his hands on their shoulders. “I thought I was the only survivor, but now that you’re here I can see my prayers were answered!” Anna took the drawing and moved near a lamp to examine it more closely.

  “You’re not going to entertain this man’s delusions, are you?” Lamb asked incredulously. Anna pointed to the woman. Stature-wise, it was the correct proportions for her, and the correct height in comparison with the figure identified as Lamb. The figures were barely visible, but the scars on the side of her face from the creature Cophen had banished in Wellersburg were plainly visible in the image. She turned to Ganon.

  “Ganon, yes?” The man nodded. “Where can we find you? I would like to continue our conversation later.”

  “You can’t be serious?” the doctor interjected.

  “I got nowhere to be, Nygof,” Ganon said with a smile. “I could come with you!”

  “My name is Anna,” she replied politely after glaring at Lamb, “and this is Harry. I’m afraid that we have an appointment to make, but I would like to see you later.”

  “I could come and wait outside…”

  “No, Ganon,” Anna said firmly. “We need to prepare for our meeting on our journey. Where can we find you later?” Ganon looked disappointed.

  “I’ll be here, I guess.” He thought a moment. “But you’ll be coming back, so I’ll wait on the other platform,” he said, pointing across the tracks.

  “That would be perfect,” Anna said calmly. “I do not know how long we will be, but we will come back later and find you.” Ganon nodded and bowed, sitting in the darkness against the wall, where his garments camouflaged him almost perfectly.

  They proceeded down the platform in silence, neither speaking to the other. Eventually they reached a stairway with a sign bearing “BMT BROADWAY LINE” with an arrow indicating to go up. Lamb led the way. Once they had ascended out of view of the platform, the doctor turned on Anna.

  “Are you insane?” he said emphatically, in a hushed tone. “Why did you encourage that man.”

  Anna glared at him. “First,” she said, holding up a finger, “a little compassion does not cost anything. Second,” she held up another finger, “it was clearly me in that drawing. It had my scars.” Lamb looked incredulous. “I have seen frescoes and paintings that were less exact than that drawing, Anna continued” Lamb was still not convinced. “And there is something about the names he used for us that reminded me of something, though I cannot place it right now.”

  “Fine,” the doctor conceded. “He probably won’t be there when we get back anyway. If we even come back through here again.” He turned and continued up the stairs.

  ◆

  At the top of the stairs, the platform was in between two tracks in each direction. A sign on a pillar indicated that the track to their right was eastbound, and the doors closed just as they reached the top of the steps. Lamb stepped forward to the nearest door, and set his suitcase down on the tiled floor. When he looked up, a woman inside the car started yelling and pointing at the doctor. As the train started moving she frantically continued toward the back of the car. Lamb could make out the words “behind you” as the train accelerated i
nto the tunnel.

  Lamb turned around to see a well-dressed man with a Homburg hat and briefcase standing a few paces behind him reading a newspaper. He did not seem to notice the doctor’s gaze. Anna approached a moment later.

  “Would you have left without me?” she asked with irritation. The man with the newspaper looked up and quickly stepped aside to allow her to pass. Lamb glanced at her suitcase and realized that she had probably struggled to get it up the stairs.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “No, I wouldn’t have left you here, Anna.” A few minutes later, an eastbound BMT Broadway Line train arrived at the platform. “Allow me to take your suitcase.” Anna resisted for a brief moment, and then agreed. They boarded the train and the doors closed.

  Chapter 3

  July 11, 1929

  It was nearly noon when Anna and Lamb found themselves on the steps leading up to the front door of a small, three-story house in the center of a row of identical houses. The lowest level was situated such that the barred windows flanked the brick staircase on either side. They were both sweating in Brooklyn’s July heat, and Anna stopped Lamb from pressing the button for the doorbell so she could remove a mirror and some foundation from her purse to touch up the covering of her scars. She did not want to scare Mrs. Teplow.

  Before she finished, the two were overcome by a cloud of fragrance as an older woman opened the door. She was dressed in an elegant green evening gown and held an unlit cigarette in a long holder. A large pendant hung from a necklace of shiny green stones that matched the dress.

  “Are you the man from the university?” she said to Lamb in a poorly-concealed Brooklyn accent. She acknowledged Anna’s presence with a brief nod.

  “Yes,” Anna quickly responded. “I am Dr. Anna Rykov, and this is Dr. Harold Lamb. We are from Reister University in Wellersburg.” She held out her hand. The woman was flustered, but quickly regained her composure.

  “Of course,” she replied. “I’m Maureen Teplow, Brian’s mother.” She took a breath and smiled. “Wow! A lady professor,” she said in her natural Brooklyn accent. Then she nodded, collected herself, and gestured inside. “Won’t you come in,” she added, attempting to hide her accent again.

  Anna and Lamb entered, and Mrs. Teplow directed them to a living room. Anna noticed scratches in the floor indicating where furniture had been moved recently. In the center of the room was a cherrywood coffee table on top of a tiger skin rug. Two expensive-looking leather sofas, too large for the room and incongruous with the tiger skin, flanked it on other side.

  Anna took a seat on the sofa facing the fireplace. On the mantle were curios from around the world, including a jade vase and an ivory figurine of an elephant. On the wall nearest the front door stood a large, gold-framed mirror that reflected the image of a famous oil painting that Anna recognized but could not identify, hanging on the opposite wall. Lamb walked around the back of the sofa and sat next to Anna.

  Mrs. Teplow returned from another room carrying a tray of finger sandwiches, as well as some crystal goblets and a matching decanter containing what looked like red wine. When she saw where her guests had sat, she grimaced, but then quickly adopted a gracious smile and set the tray on the coffee table.

  “May I pour?” she asked as she picked up the decanter and removed the stopper.

  “Mrs. Teplow,” Anna said with a smile as she put her hand over the top of the goblet nearest her, “you do not need to impress us. We are normal people just like you.” Lamb nodded with a smile. The older woman looked confused. Then she set the decanter and stopper down on the tray and slumped into the opposite sofa. All of her airs vanished, and the stressed, anxious woman beneath the facade was exposed. The doctor took a small notebook and pencil from his jacket pocket.

  “I’ve been so worried,” Teplow said, her hands rising to her cheeks. “Brian has been missing for two weeks!” She glanced from Anna to Lamb and back as tears welled up in her eyes. “The police have had no leads, and they haven’t told me anything in three days.” She started to bite at a fingernail.

  “Tell us about Brian,” Lamb said calmly. “When did his ‘gift’ first appear?” The old woman visibly relaxed having something else to think about.

  “Brian was a normal boy,” she said, looking about the room. “His father bought this house when I got pregnant. Of course, it wasn’t this nice back then.”

  “You have quite an eclectic collection,” Anna said. When Teplow looked confused, she added, “Your furnishings are quite varied in style.”

  “Well, yes,” Teplow replied. “Brian brought me back things from all of his travels.” Her face grew tense again. “The trips he’s taken since the second incident.”

  “What kind of ‘incident?’” Lamb asked politely.

  “When Brian was twelve he collapsed and was unconscious in the hospital for almost nine months.”

  “What caused the collapse?” the doctor asked more urgently.

  “We never found out,” Mrs. Teplow replied. “He had started having bad dreams a few months before that. At first he just tossed and turned, then he started talking in his sleep. One night he started shouting. I came to him and it looked like he was wide awake.” She put her hand to her face, looking blankly forward. “His eyes were wide open and his face was a fearful sight.”

  She started breathing heavily. Anna crossed to the other sofa, sat next to her, and gently took Mrs. Teplow’s hand. That seemed to restore the woman’s composure. All the while, Lamb wrote hastily in his notebook.

  “But he was asleep,” the old woman continued. “He stopped shouting after a while and closed his eyes, but when he didn’t wake up the next day I called a doctor, and Brian was taken to Brooklyn Hospital.”

  “And he was unconscious for nine months?” Lamb asked in a professional tone. “He never woke up in all that time?” Teplow thought for a moment. She held Anna’s hand tightly.

  “I think he came to a couple of times,” she said, “but not for a while. The first time was about a month later.” She looked forward in contemplation. “Yes. It was April 22nd, 1915. I remember, it was almost midnight, and we would have had to leave the hospital if he didn’t show any progress.” She smiled. “He woke up just in time.”

  “So Brian was allowed to stay in the hospital?” Anna asked.

  “Yes. He was lucky. A specialist from Manhattan had heard about his case and instructed the hospital to keep him there.”

  “What was his name?” Lamb asked.

  “It was Faeber. Dr. Gabriel Faeber.”

  “And what was his interest?” the doctor continued.

  “He wanted to hypnotize Brian and write down what he talked about.”

  “Indeed,” Lamb said skeptically.

  Anna glanced at him disapprovingly. “Interesting,” Anna said. “Dr. Faeber is a psychiatrist?”

  “Yes,” Mrs. Teplow replied. “He was a colleague of Sigmund Freud,” she added, visibly proud of this information.

  “And this Dr. Faeber is dead?” Anna asked.

  “No,” Mrs. Teplow replied. “He has an office in Manhattan. Brian went to see him there after his second episode. It was during one of those sessions with Dr. Faeber that his gift appeared.”

  “What happened?” Anna asked with interest.

  “Well, I wasn’t there. Brian told me about it later.” Mrs. Teplow looked to the ceiling for a moment, collecting her thoughts. “As I recall,” she began, turning back to Anna, “Brian said that it was at the end of the session. Dr. Faeber had just brought him back to wakefulness. Brian asked to see the pocket watch that he used to hypnotize him.

  “When Brian took hold of the watch, he said that details about the doctor’s father and grandfather, who they had never discussed, came to him.” She glanced at Lamb with a look of astonishment. The doctor’s expression remained neutral, but Anna was intrigued.

  “What kind of details?” she asked with interest.

  “Brian said he knew birthdays,” she strained to remember. “I thin
k he said he knew about Faeber’s dachshund, Wurst, and that it was named after his childhood pet.”

  “These are all things that could have come up in their conversations,” Lamb said dismissively. “Or he could have researched them in advance of the session.”

  “Are you suggesting that my boy is a fraud?” Mrs. Teplow fumed, all pretense of culture and civility gone. “He knew details about the doctor’s childhood home in Germany that Faeber had to contact relatives still there to verify!”

  “And this was the start of Brian’s fabulous career?” Anna said with enthusiasm to break the tension. Mrs. Teplow was disoriented for a moment before she turned back to Anna.

  “Yes,” she replied with a smile. “Somehow, Woody Frank heard about it and signed Brian up for a management contract.” Her enthusiasm waned. “Of course, he then went on tour, first on the east coast, and then Europe.” She sighed. “He was gone for three years.” Then a modest smile returned. “He sent me all these nice things from each of his stops,” she added, gesturing to the mismatched collection that filled the room.

  “You said that Dr. Faeber intervened when Brian awakened after the first incident,” Lamb asked, “and he continued to see your son after the second event. When was the last time they had an appointment?”

  “I don’t know,” Mrs. Teplow replied evenly. “Brian has been very busy. I haven’t seen him myself in almost six months.” She turned to Anna. “I’ve had to settle for telephone calls. The last one was about a month ago.”

  “Tell us about Brian,” Anna said with a smile.

  “As I said, Brian was a normal boy.” The older woman relaxed, thinking of pleasant times. “He was the shy and quiet type.”

  “Did he have a lot of friends?” Anna prompted.

  “No, he didn’t.” She conceded. “Not that he was strange or anything. He just wasn’t outgoing. He had a couple of friends in school, but only a few, at least that I knew about.”