Page 47 (1/2)

On his third call, he struck paydirt, although not as much of it as he had hoped to find Latha to talk The occultist had a nasal voice and a trace of an upper-class British accent

"I sold him quite a number of books," Hawthorne said in answer to a question from Joshua

"Just books?"

"That’s correct"

"That’s a lot of money for books"

"He was an excellent customer"

"But a hundred and thirty thousand dollars?"

"Spread out over almost five years"

"Nevertheless--"

"And most of them were extre to buy the to determine if the man was honest

"Buy them back? Oh, yes, I’d be happy to do that Most definitely"

"How much?"

"Well, I can’t say exactly until I see them"

"Take a stab in the dark How much?"

"You see, if the volumes have been abused--tattered and torn and marked and whatnot--then that’s quite another story"

"Let’s say they’re spotless How much would you offer?"

"If they’re in the condition they hen I sold them to Mr Frye, I’inally paid for thereat many of the titles in his collection have appreciated in value"

"How much?" Joshua asked

"You’re a persistent man"

"One ofyou to co offer Just an estimate"

"Well, if the collection still contains every book that I sold him, and if they’re all in priin of profit, of coursearound two hundred thousand dollars"

"You’d buy back the same books for seventy thousand h estimate, yes"

"That’s quite an increase in value"

"That’s because of the area of interest," Hawthorne said "More and more people come into the field every day"

"And what is the field?" Joshua asked "What kind of books was he collecting?"

"Haven’t you seen them?"

"I believe they’re on bookshelves in his study," Joshua said "Many of thes I didn’t realize there was anything unusual about them I haven’t taken time to look closely"

"They were occult titles," Hawthorne said "I only sell books dealing with the occult in all its e of my wares are forbidden books, those that were banned by church or state in another age, those that have not been brought back into print by our modern and skeptical publishers Limited edition items, too I have more than two hundred steady custoentle but books on Hindu mysticism A woman in Marin County has acquired an enor a dozen obscure titles that have been published in no language but Latin Another woht virtually every word ever printed about out-of-body experiences I can satisfy any taste I’o when I say that I’m the most reputable and reliable dealer in occult literature in this country"

"But surely not all of your customers spend as much as Mr Frye did"

"Oh, of course not There are only two or three others like hiot a few dozen clients who budget approximately ten thousand dollars a year for their purchases"

"That’s incredible," Joshua said

"Not really," Hawthorne said "These people feel that they are teetering on the edge of a great discovery, on the brink of learning some monumental secret, the riddle of life Some of the for spells and rituals that will bring them tremendous wealth or unlimited power over others Those are persuasive motivations If they truly believe that just a little et them what they want, then they will pay virtually any price to obtain it"

Joshua swung around in his swivel chair and looked out thegray clouds were scudding in from the west, over the tops of the autu down on the valley

"Exactly what aspect of the occult interested Mr Frye?" Joshua asked

"He collected two kinds of books loosely linked to the saeneral subject," Hawthorne said "He was fascinated by the possibility of cos, spirit voices, ectoplass, autoreatest interest, by far, lay in literature about the living dead"

"Vae letter in the safe-deposit box

"Yes," Hawthorne said "Vaet enough books on the subject Of course, I don’t mean that he was interested in horror novels and cheap sensationalism He collected only serious nonfiction studies--and certain select esoterica"

"Such as?"

"Well, for instancein the esoterica categoryhe paid six thousand dollars for the hand-written journal of Christian Marsden"

"Who is Christian Marsden?" Joshua asked

"Fourteen years ago, Marsden was arrested for the murders of nine people in and around San Francisco The press called him the Golden Gate Vampire because he always drank his victim’s blood"

"Oh, Yes," Joshua said

"And he also diss and heads"