The Six Messiahs - Mark Frost [137]
"And the Tikkunei, in Chicago, only weeks ago," said Stern.
"A trail that I'm confident would mirror the travels of this German collector," said Jack.
"Who, I think we can say with some confidence, is in the employ of your brother; during those first months after the Parliament he made contact with the Hanseatic League and commissioned the thefts," said Doyle.
"Exactly," said Jack.
"How would he have known about the League?" asked Stern.
"During his years in England, Alexander established knowledge of and contact with criminal organizations all over the world," said Doyle. "To conclude the League was among them is far from difficult."
"But why?" asked Innes. "Why does your brother want these books?"
Silence.
"That's a very good question, Innes," said Doyle.
"Thank you, Arthur."
"We can't answer that yet," said Jack, sitting apart from them.
"He hasn't attempted to ransom them, we know that much," said Presto.
"Perhaps he's searching them for... mystical information," said Stern.
"Hidden secrets," said Doyle. "Like the Kabbalah supposedly contains."
"Like that bit about how to build a golem," said Innes.
"Possibly," said Doyle.
"Stay away from that sort of speculation," said Jack sharply.
Silence again.
"Do we know where your brother is now?" asked Walks Alone.
"We know a telegraph line ran out of their office," said Presto. "Presumably that was their method of communication."
"Any way to trace the line?" said Doyle.
"Not now," said Jack.
"They would have used some sort of code," said Doyle. "And by now whatever link existed between them has surely been destroyed."
"The tower," said Walks Alone, with a flash of clarity. "That's where he is."
The thought startled everyone in the room, but no one quite grasped her point yet.
"The man in the dream, the one who looks like you," said Walks Alone to Jack. "Your brother; he was in Chicago; he saw the Water Tower, just as your father did before he made that drawing," she said to Stern.
"Good God," said Stern. "Maybe they met each other here; my father and Alexander; they could have, couldn't they?"
"Possibly. Go on," said Doyle.
"What if your brother is building this tower?" Walks Alone asked. "Patterned in some way on the one he saw here."
"Schwarzkirk, the Black Church," said Presto. "It falls together."
"Somewhere out west," said Walks Alone. "In the desert we have seen in the dream."
"Maybe that's where my father's gone," said Stern, excitement rising.
"You're suggesting this black tower you've all seen is an actual place, not just a symbol from the dream," said Doyle.
"Yes," said Walks Alone.
"Why couldn't it be?" asked Presto, excited by the idea.
"I don't know; I suppose it could," Doyle admitted.
"And if it is, how hard could it be to find a building of such size and singular design?" asked Presto.
"Not hard at all," said Doyle. "We'll wire rock quarries and masonries in every western city."
"He'd need a huge number of skilled workers," said Presto.
"And an enormous pile of money," said Stern.
"Supply houses, construction outfitters ..." added Presto.
"And newspapers; there'd be stories about such an unusual project," said Doyle. "Innes, make a list; we'll go to the telegraph office and start sending inquiries."
Innes took a sheet of stationery from the desk and began writing.
Doyle glanced over at Jack, sitting alone, staring at the floor, the only one not participating. "Can any of you remember more details from the dream that might tell us where the tower is?"
Jack did not acknowledge the question.
"Mary, you seem to have had the most revealed to you," said Presto.
Walks Alone nodded, closed her eyes, and directed her mind back into the world of the dream.
"Six people gather in a room under the ground," she said slowly.
"The temple; yes, I think I've seen that, too," said Presto.
"Each time the Black Crow Man rises from the earth, into the sky, out of the fire."
"Like the phoenix," said Doyle.
"Phoenix," said Stern.
His eyes met Doyle's as the thought struck them simultaneously.
"Phoenix, Arizona," said Doyle.