The man rubbed his chin for a moment and said, "You say Prosperine called him Lucas. I'm sure you appreciate the significance of that statement."
"I think so. The scenes that play out in the courtyard are driven by tormented spirits trapped in the building. The dominant figure is Prosperine, the scorned wife and serial killer. Two people were supernaturally drawn to the building — Tiffany, who in a past life was the servant girl and spy Caprice; and Jack Blair, who was Lucas, Prosperine's philandering husband. The scene Jack saw was from 1837, the year we know Caprice died.
"I promised Jack I'd do everything in my power to help him. I have a sympathetic ear inside NOPD, and if Dr. Little can recreate the true story, it'll prove his innocence."
The man leaned back in his chair. "Your proposal is fraught with danger. There is a fatal consequence to Mr. Blair if your hypnotist doesn't handle the regression with the precision of a surgeon's knife. Let me explain."
He departed ten minutes later, leaving Landry with his mind reeling. A man who couldn't be the person he claimed had not only given Landry permission to proceed at his own risk, he'd given him much more to consider. Empyrion's concerns and the possibility of losing everything including Jack were frightening.
Which was less formidable — the prospect of spending decades in prison or the possibility of dying two hundred years in the past? That decision was Jack's to make.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Landry sat alone in the conference room, berating himself for falling into the same old trap. Once more he faced his Achilles’ heel — his fatal flaw — his unbridled optimism. If an idea had a chance of succeeding, nothing else mattered. He’d push ahead, ignoring the pitfalls to himself and others, and with sometimes disastrous results. There were times he’d gotten himself and Cate into serious trouble by taking foolish risks. He blindly forged ahead if he believed he was onto something big, dragging everyone down into the pit with him.
It’s up to Jack, Landry told himself before admitting even now he wasn’t facing the truth. Landry was obligated to explain things impartially, even though this story was becoming more exciting by the minute. Jack had to weigh his options without Landry’s tipping the scales. Only then would it really be Jack’s decision.
Jack was working at his computer when Landry returned. When he thanked him again, Landry shushed him.
“What Cate’s father did was a blessing, but the burden is on us now. You’re facing enormous obstacles; your lawyer can delay things for a while, but we have to prove your innocence. Let me tell you who I just met with.”
Landry left nothing out. He described the frustrating way the man evaded answers about himself, and how concerned he was about the risks of another hypnosis session. He continued, “Then, after almost walking out on me twice, he told me we could conduct the session in ‘his’ building.”
“Am I missing something? The trustee has refused to allow the session. Now this guy appears, he somehow knows you want to hypnotize me at the building, and he says okay. We don’t even know who this guy is. Isn’t the trustee’s decision what counts?”
“I have an out-of-the-box thought about that, but first I want to talk more about the risks. Empyrion — let’s call him that for now — Empyrion pointed out a few important things. There are dangerous aspects to hypnotizing you, and I want to make sure you are fully aware of them before you agree.”
“Sounds ominous,” Jack said with a grin, but Landry wasn’t laughing.
“It is. Empyrion compared Dr. Little’s regressive therapy to a surgeon performing a delicate operation. He must be precise in the regression. He has to watch the times of day down to the minute, and that’s touchy because no one knows the exact times the crucial events happened.
“Tiffany survived her past life regression because Dr. Little took her to the very day when Prosperine killed the others. She watched and recounted the murders. There was a problem bringing her back, but everything turned out okay that time. I think it’s because she watched other murders, but not her own. That’s the critical part. She died later because she went back to the building and somehow regressed herself to the day of her own death, which was in 1837. That’s what the doctor must avoid. He must not take a subject back to the moment he himself died in a past life.”
“Is this what you and Empyrion discussed?”
“Yes, and here’s the important part. You say Prosperine called you Lucas. That means in a past life you were her philandering husband. Dr. Little took Tiffany back to February 2, 1832. If he took you back to that day and time — that precise moment — we would see Prosperine push her husband over the railing. He — who is you — would hit the flagstones and die. Mr. Richard thinks you — Jack Blair — would die at that moment, just like Tiffany did when Prosperine LaPiere killed Caprice.”
“I don’t get the logic,” Jack said. “Let’s say I was Lucas LaPiere. I lived and then I died, and now I am Jack Blair in the year 2020. If I apply Empyrion Richard’s logic, then I died long ago and therefore I can’t be alive today. None of this makes sense, but if it’s true, then Tiffany and I didn’t die when Caprice and Lucas died. We passed into some kind of void, where we remained until we were born. Or reborn, I guess you’d say.”
Landry shook his head. “That doesn’t work. You saw Caprice fall, and you saw Tiffany die on the pavement where she fell.”
“Okay then, you explain it.”
“I can’t, but
