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burned into their skin, under their hair, where it can’t be seen I mean, that’s what the True Believers think And twins That’s another sign of a demon at work"

"Twins are the handiwork of de I believe any of this I don’t It’s junk I’ you what some nuts out there believe"

"I understand"

"If I’ as you do"

Rudge switched off the recorder "One coed hiht it was just an intellectual exercise for hithen his mind to deal with his own problem I am sorry to say that I believed him when he said he didn’t take it seriously"

"But he did," Hilary said "He took it very seriously"

"So it see histo solve his own problem If he could find a way to explain the apparently irrational thought processes of far-out people like die-hard occultists, then he would feel ready to find an explanation for the tiny piece of irrational behavior in his own personality If he could explain occultists, it would be an easier matter to explain the dreaht he was doing But I rong Dae started the tape recorder again

"You said twins are the handiwork of demons"

"Yeah Not all twins, of course Just certain special kinds of twins"

"Such as?"

"Siamese twins Some people think that’s the ht develop"

"And sometimes identical twins are born with both heads covered by cauls That’s rare Maybe one

But not two It’s very rare for both twins to be born with cauls When that happens, you can be pretty sure those tere marked by a dee took the tape out of the player "I’ to the three of you But since there seeer for Bruno Frye, the subject of twins see you’d want to hear about"

Joshua looked at Tony, then at Hilary, "But if Mary Gunther did have two children, why did Katherine bring home only one? Why would she lie and say there was just one baby? It doesn’t make any sense"

"I don’t know," Tony said doubtfully "I told you that story sounded too smooth"

Hilary said, "Have you found a birth certificate for Bruno?"

"Not yet," Joshua said "There wasn’t one in any of his safe-deposit boxes"

Rudge picked up the fourth of the four cassettes that had been separated from the main pile of tapes "This was the last session I had with Frye Just three weeks ago He finally agreed to let me try hypnosis to help him recall the dreae of questions I wasn’t per except the dreains after he was in a trance I regressed hiht I put hiain

"What do you see, Bruno?"

"My "

"Where are you?"

"I don’t know But I’m just little"

"Little?"

"A little boy"

"And your o soyou?"

"Tothethe door The door Don’t let her open it Don’t Don’t!"

"Easy Easy now Tell o?"

"To hell"

"How do you know that?"

"It’s in the ground"

"The door is in the ground?"

"For God’s sake, don’t let her open it! Don’t let her put ain!"

"Relax Be calm There’s no reason to be afraid Just relax, Bruno Relax Are you relaxed?"

"Y-Yes"

"All right Noly and calmly and without any emotion, tellin front of a door in the ground What happens now?"

"Shesheopens the door"

"Go on"

"She pushes h the door"

"Go on, Bruno"

"She slams itlocks it"

"She locks you inside?"

"Yeah"

"What’s it like in there?"

"Dark"

"What else?"

"Just dark Black"

"You "

"What happens next?"

"I try to get out"

"And?"

"The door’s too heavy, too strong"

"Bruno, is this really just a dream?"

""

"Is it really just a dream, Bruno?"

"It’s what I dream"

"But is it also a memory?"

""

"Did your mother actually lock you in a dark room when you were a child?"

"Y-Yes"

"In the cellar?"

"In the ground In that rooround"

"How often did she do that?"

"All the time"

"Once a week?"