The Door to December

do I. But, somehow, in their experiments in that room, your husband and Hoffritz seem to have tapped into and then unleashed occult entities, some of which are murderous and some of which are at least benign enough to issue warnings about the bad ones. And until I can think of something better ... well, "ghosts" seems to be the best word for them.'
     They fell silent. They sipped the last of their coffee. The rain came down hard, harder. It roared.
     At the far end of the room, Melanie murmured in her sleep and shifted under the covers, then grew still and quiet again. At last Laura said, 'Ghosts. It's just ... crazy.'
     'Madness.'
     'Insanity.'
     He switched on the dim light over the table. From a jacket pocket, he withdrew the printout of the Sign of the Pentagram's mailing list. He unfolded it and put it in front of her. 'Aside from your husband, Hoffritz, Ernest Cooper, and Ned Rink, is there anyone on this list with whom you're familiar?'
     She spent ten minutes scanning names and found four additional people who she knew.
     'This one,' she said. 'Edwin Koliknikov. He's a professor of psychology at USC. He's a frequent recipient of Pentagon grants for research, and he helped Dylan make some connections at the Department of Defense. Koliknikov's a behaviorist with a special interest in child psychology.'
     Dan figured that Koliknikov was also the 'Eddie' who had been at Regine's house in the Hollywood hills and who had, by now, taken her to Las Vegas.
     She said, 'Howard Renseveer. He represents some foundation with lots of money to spend. I'm not sure which one, but I know he backed some of Hoffritz's research and talked with Dylan several times about a grant for his work. I didn't know him well, but he seemed to be a thoroughly unpleasant man, distant and arrogant.'
     Dan was certain that this was the 'Howard' whom Regine had mentioned.
     'This one too,' Laura said, indicating another name on the list. 'Sheldon Tolbeck. His friends call him Shelby. He's a heavyweight, a psychologist and a neurologist, who's done definitive research on various forms of dissociative behavior.'
     'What's that?' Dan asked.
     'Dissociative behavior? Psychological withdrawal, catatonia, autism — conditions of that sort.'
     'Like Melanie.'
     'Yes.'
     'I've reason to believe these three men were all involved with your husband and with Hoffritz in the research being done in that damned gray room.'
     She frowned. 'I could believe it of Koliknikov and Renseveer, but not Sheldon Tolbeck. His reputation is spotless.' She was still looking at the list. 'Here's another. Albert Uhlander. He's an author, writes strange—'
     'I know. That box I brought in from the car is full of his books.'
     'He and Dylan carried on an extensive correspondence.'
     'About what?'
     'Various aspects of the occult. I'm not sure exactly.'
     She found no other familiar name on the long list, but she had identified every member of the conspiracy except that tall, white-haired, distinguished-looking man whom Regine knew only as 'Daddy.' Dan had a hunch that 'Daddy' was more than just a sadistic pervert, that he was more than just another member of Dylan McCaffrey's ad hoc research team, that he was the key to the entire case, the central figure behind the conspiracy.
     Dan said, 'I think these men — Koliknikov, Renseveer, Tolbeck, and Uhlander — are all going to die. Soon. Something is methodically killing everyone involved with the project in that gray room, the something we're calling a "ghost" for want of a better word. It's something that they themselves unleashed but couldn't control. If I'm correct, these four men don't have much time left.'
     'Then we should warn them—'
     'Warn them? They're responsible for Melanie's condition.'
     'Still, as much as I'd like them all punished...'
     'Anyway, I think they already know something's coming for them,' Dan said. 'Eddie Koliknikov left town tonight. And the others are probably getting out too, if they're not already gone.'
     She was silent a moment. Then: 'And whatever wants them ... once it's gotten them ... it's also coming after Melanie.'
     'If we can believe the message that came through your radio.'
     Melanie began to murmur again, and the murmurs quickly escalated into