“True. As long as he had his lab, he was probably content.”
Abby smiled a secret smile.
He eyed her with suspicion. “What?”
“Nothing. It just occurred to me that Grady isn’t the only person around who is content so long as he has his lab.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not the one sitting in a psychiatric hospital.”
“There is something to be said for that.” Abby followed him into the house, put down the roll of Bubble Wrap and closed the door. When she turned around and saw the nearly empty space, she froze. Outrage heated the atmosphere around her.
“There’s hardly any furniture left,” she yelped. “Someone stole Grady’s stuff.”
“It’s possible,” Sam said. “Empty houses are magnets for thieves. But I think it’s more likely the landlord jumped the gun and started clearing out Grady’s things.”
“Bastard. I hope he wasn’t able to get into the shed in back. Grady will be crushed if his lab stuff is gone.”
Sam walked through the kitchen and opened the back door. The shed sitting in the yard looked like a ramshackle wooden fortress. The one window was boarded up. The gleaming new metal door was closed.
He walked across the weed-infested yard and examined the lock on the door. Abby followed him.
“Doesn’t look like anyone has gotten inside yet,” he said. “But it’s probably a good thing we’re here. Got a hunch the landlord will be taking a blowtorch to this door when he figures out that a regular locksmith can’t open it.”
He raised his ring to the dull, gray crystal embedded in the metal onthe wall next to the door. Cautiously, he focused a little energy through the Phoenix stone. He sensed the familiar tingling current of power. The lock crystal began to heat with violet-hued ultralight.
There was a sharp click as the lock disengaged. Sam opened the door.
“The kid’s good,” he said. “Very, very good.”
“And certainly not as crazy as everyone, including me, believed,” Abby said.
“Maybe not.”
He found a switch on the wall. The lights came on, revealing a battered metal workbench and a number of old metal cabinets. The concrete floor was bare.
He examined the lab with professional interest. The small space did not gleam with steel and polished equipment like the Coppersmith labs. There were no state–of–the-art computers. The chemistry equipment on the workbench looked as if it had been assembled from various do–it–yourself science kits and then seriously modified. An old burner designed for heating the contents of test tubes sat on one corner. A cumbersome, obviously hand-built laser occupied the far end of the bench.
“You know,” Abby said, gazing around the crowded room. “If anyone else, members of the media, say, or the shrinks at the psychiatric hospital, saw this place, the first words that would spring to mind would bemadscientist.”
“I was just thinking that this lab looks a lot like mine,” Sam said.
Abby cleared her throat.“Mmm-hmm.”
He went to the bench to examine the laser. “Not as high-end, but most of the basics are here.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
He glanced back and saw that her eyes were sparkling with amusement. He sighed. “Go get the boxes and the Bubble Wrap. I want to take a look around before we pack this equipment.”
“Okay.” Abby turned and hurried back up the steps.
When she was gone, he went slowly, methodically, through the shed, opening cabinets and drawers. He discovered a number of stones and crystals, most of which would have been overlooked by the averagerock hound. But with his senses mildly jacked, he could tell that several of the stones were hot.
He was holding one half of a split geode, studying the glittering crystals inside, when Abby reappeared.
“Find something interesting?” she asked.
“Nothing yet that would explain the voices that Grady heard.” He put the geode down and took another look around. “He said the voice came from a crystal.”
