She turned a corner and disappeared deeper into the chamber. He caught up with her. The energy in the mirror panels seemed to be getting stronger as they moved toward the heart of the engine.
Judson looked into the depths of a nearby mirror and saw his own image repeating endlessly into a dark infinity.
“You said Ballinger concluded that the energy given off at death was not the way to fuel a mirror engine,” he said. “What did she use?”
“Crystals.” Gwen went around another corner. “But the original stones had to be tuned frequently. Luckily, she found someone right here in town who could do that, Louise Fuller.”
“The woman who makes the wind chimes?”
“Yes.” Gwen glanced back over her shoulder. “Evelyn said that Louise has some kind of paranormal affinity for crystals.”
“Sam will want to meet her.”
“Good luck with that. Louise doesn’t like people very much. She’s a very odd character. Eccentric and reclusive. The locals call her the Witch of Wilby. But she does make amazing wind chimes. Even with Louise’s help, however, Evelyn had a hard time keeping the mirrors working for more than a couple of hours at a time at the start of the project.”
“These mirrors are plenty hot and going strong today,” Judson said. “Were they tuned recently?”
“It’s no longer necessary. A couple of years ago, Evelyn bought a geode online. When it arrived she cracked it open. The interior was packed with crystals that turned out to be strong enough to power the whole mirror engine. What’s more, the crystals don’t require tuning, either.”
A chill of certainty iced Judson’s senses.
“Where is that geode now?” he asked sharply.
“I assume it’s still in here.” Gwen went down another short hallway. “It was Evelyn’s most valuable possession. She stored it in a steel box in the heart of the engine. I’m hoping that she hid whatever she wanted me to find in that container along with the geode.”
“Weird hiding place.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew Evelyn. She was convinced that almost no one could get far enough into the engine to find the container. Here we go.”
Judson followed Gwen around another corner and into a small, square-shaped space paneled in more mirrors. There was a small steel box in the middle of the room. The lid was closed.
Gwen unlatched the lid and raised it. Hot psi wafted out like the ominous smoke of a smoldering forest fire.
“Damn,” Judson said. He walked to the box and looked down at the split halves of the geode inside. “I don’t believe it.”
There was something else inside the box, as well—a folded map.
He ignored the map, his whole attention riveted on the geode.
“That’s the rock that fuels the mirrors?” he asked.
“Yes. It’s very strange, isn’t it? The interior is quite beautiful, and you can sense the power in the crystals. Evelyn told me that she had never seen anything like it.”
“I have,” Judson said quietly.
There was nothing about the outside of the dull, gray geode that gave away the secrets inside. It looked like any other rock. But the glittering crystals in the heart of the stone glowed in a paranormal rainbow of colors, casting eerie shadows across the spectrum of visible and invisible light. Currents of energy rose in disturbing waves. The ring on his finger heated in response.
“That’s interesting.” Gwen reached down to pick up the map. “Where did you see another geode like this one?”
“In the vault in Sam’s lab on Legacy Island.” He held up his hand to show her the amber stone in his ring. “This crystal came from a geode like that one, and it’s a good bet that both rocks came from the same place, the Phoenix Mine.”
“What’s the Phoenix Mine?”
“It’s a long story, but the short version is that this geode belongs to my family.”
Gwen frowned. “Hang on, Evelyn paid a lot of money for it and now it belongs to me.”
“Don’t worry, the Coppersmiths will pay you whatever you ask.”
“What if I don’t want to sell it?” she asked, clearly wary now.
“I’m afraid this is one of those offers you can’t—and shouldn’t—refuse. This geode is dangerous, Gwen. Trust me, you don’t want to put it on a shelf in your living room.”
“How dangerous is it?” she asked. She did not bother to conceal her skepticism and growing suspicion.
“That’s the problem,” Judson said. He reached down and secured the lid of the strongbox, cutting off the flow of hot energy. “No one really knows the answer to that question. But it’s safe to say that it’s just damn good luck that Ballinger didn’t blow up this lab and everyone who happened to be inside it at the time when she ran her experiments here in the mirror chamber.”
“I’m sure you’re exaggerating. Evelyn was very careful.”
“I doubt if she had any idea what she was dealing with,” Judson said. “This geode has to go into Sam’s vault for safekeeping. Like I said, we’ll make it worth your while financially.”
Gwen drew herself up and fixed him with a cool glare. “I’ll give your offer some thought.”
He was pushing her, and it was clear she didn’t like it. Gwen had every right to resent his actions. He was, after all, taking possession of her inheritance.
“Look, I’m sorry,” he said. “I realize I’m hitting you with a lot of information that is new to you. I give you my word that I’ll explain everything later. Meanwhile this strongbox is coming with us. The energy in this chamber is hot enough as it is. If the psi levels in these mirrors go much higher, this whole place could go up in flames. It’s a wonder that there hasn’t been an explosion already.”
“Hmm.”
She did not appear convinced, but at least she was no longer arguing with him. A fresh tide of intuition was riding him hard.
“There’s something else to consider,” he said. “This geode is worth a fortune to certain people. Hell, it’s priceless. I can guarantee you that there are folks who would kill for it.”
Gwen stared at him. “Are you saying that it might have been the motive for Evelyn’s murder?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Maybe that’s why she left the note on the back of the photograph that sent me here. She wanted to make sure I realized that someone was after the geode. But this map has to be important, too.” Gwen looked down at the folded map in her hand. “Otherwise she would never have hidden it here in the mirror engine. She was always very careful to keep this space free of any materials that could potentially interfere with her experiments.”