“Whoever recorded the hypnotic message in this thing probably made sure the gun was conveniently at hand when Grady went to Vaughn’s house that day.”
“Poor Grady. That thing looks valuable.”
“It’s worth a fortune to certain people.”
Abby frowned. “Think it came from your competitor’s labs?”
“No.” Sam peeled off a strip of packing tape and secured the Bubble Wrap around the prism. “This didn’t come from the Helicon Stone labs.”
“You’re sure?”
“Trust me.”
“So who else is running a hotshot R–and–D lab that could turn out something like that prism?”
Sam looked at her. “Take a wild guess.”
“Oh, yeah, right. Coppersmith Inc.”
“Yes.”
“Oh, geez. This is not good.”
“No,” Sam said. “It’s not good.”
“You said the prism was valuable. Wonder why the guy who gave it to Grady didn’t come back for it?”
Sam picked up the bundled prism. “Maybe because he couldn’t get through the crystal lock on the door of this shed.”
Sam stowed the last taped and sealed box in the cargo bay of the SUV.
“Where are we going to store all of this stuff??” Abby asked.
“We’ll take it back to the Copper Beach house for safekeeping until we figure out how to spring Grady from the hospital.”
Abby looked at him. “We are going to get him out, aren’t we?”
“Yes. But right now he’s safer where he is.”
“What do you mean?”
Sam closed the cargo door. “As long as everyone assumes he’s crazy, he’s not a threat to whoever set him up.”
“Oh,” Abby said. “I see what you mean.”
Sam started toward the shed. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“I want to see if I can remove the crystal from the lock that Grady used to secure his lab door. It’s a nice piece of engineering. I’d rather not leave it behind.”
“Good thought.”
She followed him back around the house and checked her email while he studied the lock. He would have to dismantle the whole mechanism, he concluded, which meant using a screwdriver and some other tools.
He was in the process of removing the lock when he heard Abby’s sharp exclamation.
“Sam, we got it.”
