He tested the strength of his hold on them by adding. "To pay for the incidentals needed to conduct the service, I'll need two dollars from each of you."

The overwhelming response startled him, as the money quickly materialized on the table before him. A new confidence surged through him and he refused to let go until he had played it for all it was worth.

"Each participant at a Black Mass is required to wear a black cape. Nothing else!"

Mumbling ran through the group and he thought he may have gone too far. It turned out they didn't know where to get black capes and considered the case hopeless.

"For Chrisake… who's got a sewing machine?"

Kay Krauss answered with a raised hand.

"Can you make eight capes?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I could if you show me what they look like."

"Just a simple piece of cloth that wraps around the shoulders and reaches to the floor."

She was negative about the whole thing, but willing to cooperate. It was decided that Tom and Cynthia would go to her house to help her with the design. Everyone was to be measured and they had to donate more money. And surprisingly, no complaints from anyone. Not even Jay, who was always crying how broke he was.

"Okay, here's what we do next week… I'll set everything up. Alone! At eight o'clock I'll unlock the back door and you can all enter. No one is to enter before eight. Got that?"

Everyone nodded obediently. They stared with wide eyes, hanging on his every word, drawn deeper into the game by the complexity of the rules he was dictating.

"Everyone must be in the kitchen by ten after eight. At that time you lock the back door, Ed. Then the guys go into the room off the kitchen and put on their capes. All clothes are to be removed except shoes and socks…"