2 A Weird Disappearance
Early the next day, Inspector Chadwick looked up from his desk to behold the troubled features of Doctor Carl Fielding. Carl had not slept the night before, and his worry showed plainly on his face. Chadwick leaned back in his swivel-chair, and greeted him in a tone of mock seriousness.
“So you’ve come to confess? Well, turn over the jewels, and I’ll see that they make it easy for you. I’ll recommend hanging at the earliest possible date. How are you, Doc? Haven’t seen you since last spring. Been intending to get around to your office for a little chat. Heard you were engaged to be married. And from the looks of that long face of yours, you must already be hitched. Sit down, put your feet on the desk, smoke my cigars, and I’ll even go so far as to offer you a good drink of brandy just to show you my heart’s in the right place.”
This was Chadwick’s manner of treating everyone. He ran a continuous flow of conversation, annoying his subject with the enforced silence; but from this silence Chadwick often learned more than if he had permitted him to talk. Inspector Chadwick could see that Carl had not come to him for just a friendly visit.
Carl sat down heavily, and looked at the smiling, round face of his friend. He scarcely heard any of Chadwick’s rattling greeting.
“I thought I would—er——” Carl started to break into the Inspector’s incessant flow of chatter.
“Ask me to lend you five pounds?” Chadwick went right on talking. “There was a man in here the other day, had one glass eye, and one good eye. He offered to give me either one as security for a slight loan. You look like a sick canary. What have you been doing to yourself? I always said doctors were poor advertisements for their remedies. Try this brandy; it might put a little color into your face. Good idea there! I’ll play doctor, and you be the inspector for a while. If this Crayton case keeps up any longer, I’m going to be a first-class medico anyway. You know, it’s one of those very technical points; all about this and that. Practically have to understand medicine to get any sense out of the thing. Should be right up your alley. How do you like my American speech? Notice I talk more like an American than I do a loyal subject of the king? Need that effect. Been working on terms, tones, pronunciations. Oh, so much to change! How about having dinner with me?”
“See here, Chadwick, will you be quiet for a minute, and let me talk?” Carl finally blurted out.
Chadwick threw back his head and laughed, a hearty laugh that shook his broad shoulders and made his face redder than it already was. “Oh, so you want to talk? Well, well, fancy that! All right, Doc; you talk, and I’ll listen. But if it’s about me being best man at your wedding, that’s off. I don’t look right in formal dress. When is the wedding, by the way?”
“Unless I get some help, there may not be any wedding.” Carl looked soberly at him.
“Help?” Chadwick laughed again. “What do you want me to do, persuade the girl to marry you? I thought you had already proposed.”
“Chadwick, did you ever hear of a religious cult known as Moonerism?” Carl ignored his friend’s attempt at humor.
Chadwick became serious almost immediately.
“The Countess Donella Moonard?” he asked.
“Yes. Ruth, the girl I’m going to marry, has suddenly been seized with a desire to become one of her followers. Chadwick, there’s something uncanny about the Countess and her religion. You probably know more about her activities than anyone else in London. So I——”
“I’m afraid I know very little.” Chadwick rose from his chair, and walked restlessly about the office. The religion of Moonerism had been brought to the attention of Scotland Yard once before; however, investigation of the Countess Moonard had only revealed that she believed in a religion having to do with certain astral and planetary bodies. Those who gave themselves up to its teachings never revealed the secrets; and those who tried to learn more were either converted or by some strange manner suddenly and for ever frightened from attempting to obtain further knowledge.
“Surely there is something we could do about it.” Carl began walking back and forth with his friend. “You know how I feel about Ruth’s acceptance of such a strange faith. Besides, Chadwick, I have reason to believe that—well——”
The words stuck in his throat. He could not bring himself to believe that the Countess or anyone else really had supernatural powers; furthermore what he was beginning to suspect was beyond belief.
“Doc, there’s really nothing we can do about this, except to try and persuade your fiancée to use better judgment. There are many strange religious cults in London. As long as they do not break any of our laws, we cannot stop them. No one has ever found out enough about the Countess and her beliefs to justify a thorough investigation. Her following is comparatively small, mostly beautiful women—very beautiful women.”
“That’s just it,” Carl said excitedly. “All of them are beautiful and young in appearance. The Countess herself—she must be seventy if she’s a day, but look at her. Her face is ageless. Chadwick, you know that I would be the last person in the world to waste time over foolish beliefs in the supernatural; yet—well, I’ve noticed that Ruth has become—different. I see it in her face, in her actions, in——”
“Of course you do. All those religions require a certain amount of fanatical devotion. Ruth is young and impressionable. Perhaps if you took her away for a while?”
“But that’s just it! She seems to move as if controlled by another mind. Last night I was almost stabbed trying to keep her from staying with the Countess, and the affair left her entirely unimpressed with my danger.”
“Stabbed?”
“Yes, by one of the Countess’ servants. Look, Chadwick, you are clever at obtaining secrets. Why can’t you work on this, and really find out what happens to those who take up Moonerism?”
“I know what happens. They follow it to their death. Apparently they lead normal lives outside of their activities within the temple. What can Scotland Yard do about that? Today people have a right to worship as they please, you know.”
“Oh, you don’t grasp what I mean. I think there is something beyond the ordinary enchantment of a strange religious faith. Call it what you will, the Countess Donella Moonard has a power over the few people she contacts; and that power is transforming Ruth from a lovely girl into——” Carl shuddered.
“Come, come, Doc. You’re allowing this too much importance. I will admit the acceptance of the religion is bad enough; but after all, I know of at least fifty prominent women, in good society, who believe in Moonerism. They are not faring so badly.”
The telephone on Inspector Chadwick’s desk began ringing impatiently. He picked up the phone.
“This is Inspector Chadwick.” He smiled at Carl. “You say you want to speak to Doctor Fielding? Why, of course. He’s right here in my office.”
“No one knew I was here. Who——” Carl took the phone with an expression of puzzled fear. “Ruth! Yes, dearest. At once. Of course. Please try to control yourself. I’ll be there as quickly as I can.”
He banged the receiver down, and turned to Chadwick. “Ruth calling me. She’s talking strangely. Said someone put your phone number in her mind. She wants me at once. Come with me, Chadwick. Something’s wrong.”
“I’m on my way now!” Chadwick followed Carl out of the office.
Reaching Ruth’s apartment in record time, Carl was startled by the look of fear in her eyes. She looked as if she had just been awakened from a horrible nightmare, as she stood before him in her negligee; her light brown hair, usually so well-brushed and sleek, was now a wild mass of disorder.
“Oh, Carl! Carl! What has happened to me? Where have I been?” She ran to his arms.
“Why, Ruth, don’t you remember? I left you last night at the Countess Moonard’s. You insisted upon staying.”
“Yes, yes, I remember that. Then I went to sleep. The Countess said——”
Her eyes closed. She seemed about to faint.
“She said what?” Carl took her shoulders between his hands and shook her anxiously. “Ruth, what did she say?”
Ruth’s eyes opened. The fear came into them again, and she began crying hysterically. “Oh, it can’t be! Carl, I’m lost! Lost!” she sobbed.
“Ruth, you must get a grip on yourself and tell us what happened.”
Carl led her to a chair, into which she dropped, limp and helpless. Suddenly she started talking again, her eyes staring widely.
“I don’t know. I don’t remember what happened after I fell asleep at the Countess’. I should remember. I want to remember what she said to me, and I’m afraid now. I awoke here in my room. I heard a voice calling to me. There was no one here, no one with a voice like the one that was calling me. It’s calling now! It’s warning me, Carl, warning me not to go on. Listen! I can hear it so plainly. It’s a voice—a voice like that old man’s. The old man with the horrible face, and eyes, and—oh, Carl, Carl, what did I do? Now there are two voices. The Countess is telling me to come back—to sleep, to sleep. And that old man is saying: ‘Don’t listen to her; listen to me. I am your master. Moonere will take your soul to a hell beyond hell!’”
Her voice broke with uncontrollable sobbing. She began babbling insanely.
“There’s nothing I can do for her now, except to quiet her,” Carl said finally. “She needs sleep. A sedative, and perhaps we can get her mind back to normal.”
Under Carl’s care, Ruth was soon asleep; although her body convulsed with sudden spasms of fear that came even through her slumber, as if she were defending herself from unseen demons who were dragging her away. Gently closing the door of her bedroom, he returned to talk with Chadwick.
While Carl had been inducing her to sleep, Chadwick had discovered a small necklace upon the carpet. It looked as if it had been torn from someone’s throat with great violence.
“Ever see this before?” Chadwick held the glittering pendant out to Carl.
“Why, yes. Ruth was wearing it last night. It is something new she picked up.”
“No, nothing new about this.” Chadwick shook his head. “This is the symbol of Moonerism. I’ve seen them before. Never this close, however. Notice the pendant?”
For the first time, Carl observed the pendant closely. It was oval, about two inches and a half long, about an inch and a half wide, and apparently of some onyx-like substance. It glowed with an unearthly, blue-black light, faint but perceptible. At the upper side, and a little to the right, a small glittering stone was set; a stone that glowed as if it were imbued with some cruel, radiant life. From this stone, a thin line of light traced downward to the lower center of the oval, where another and larger stone was set. When the thin line of light reached this second sphere, it grew brighter and engulfed it in a consuming glow.
“Feel this thing,” Chadwick said, handing it to Carl.
“Why, it’s cold as ice!” Carl gasped.
“Wonder what that design means?” Chadwick took the necklace back again. “You know, Doc, it looks to me as if the Countess Moonard is going to be thoroughly investigated this time. As soon as Ruth awakens, we must try to get more information from her. No doubt she was hypnotized. But this old man she speaks of——”
“I know who she means. I’ll tell you about him; but first, I want to take another look at her. I think I had better get a nurse, and——”
Carl was moving to the bedroom as he spoke. When he opened the door, he let out a cry: “She’s gone!”
“What!” Inspector Chadwick made his way to the door in two leaps.
A hasty search of the room and the adjoining bath revealed nothing. The open window with the curtains blowing lazily was their only clue.
“Kidnapped!” whistled Chadwick. “Now this is a case for Scotland Yard. Come on; we’re going to pay a visit to the Countess.”
They were hurrying for the door when the telephone in the hallway began ringing.
“Answer it.” Chadwick turned upon his heels. “May be important.”
The voice Carl heard over the telephone made his face suddenly pale. It was the voice of Pierre Soret, saying: “Doctor Fielding, you must trust the fate of your fiancée to me. She is being taken back to the Temple of Moonere, but do not permit any rash blunders by the police to interfere. Her life will pay the penalty. I am your friend. Wait until tonight, and I will come to your office, if the stars permit.”