Free Lady Sativa by Frank Lauria Page A

he said, his lips pursed expectantly.
    Hannah nodded.
    He took the soft leather frame he was holding and held it close to his face. Then he turned it upside down and poked his finger inside the brace flap. In a moment, he extracted a metallic object. He tossed it on the table.
    “And there’s the key,” Maxwell said, “now where’s the door?”
    Hannah’s eyes were fixed on the key lying on the table. “It might be the key to that locked cabinet in the. lab,” she said slowly. “Carl never told me what he kept there.”
    “His thesis perhaps,” Hazer suggested. “It was the one thing he kept from all of us. Perhaps he finally wants us to have it.”
    Neilson picked up the key. “Will you show me to the cabinet, Hannah? As your attorney, you should have told me about it sooner. Carl may have important documents there.”
    Hannah shrugged. “I just don’t know, Nels. Come, I’ll take you there now.”
    As they left the room, Maxwell leaned over next to Lily. “Feel all right, love?” he whispered.
    “Yes,” she said, turning to Orient, “and thanks for your help. I was scared.”
    Orient smiled. “Happen often?”
    “Not for a few years.” Her amber eyes became smoky as she looked at him. She wet her parted lips with the tip of her tongue. “It’s only the third time ever, in fact. The first time was when my father died.”
    “The lunar phase is a risky time for you to participate in a séance.”
    She smiled. “Almost everything is risky when I’m at full tide.” She kept her eyes on Orient’s face. “But perhaps that can be changed.”
    “I agree with Hazer that Carl contacted us through you Lily!” Maxwell snapped. “You were the most sensitive link. I’m sure Neilson will find something.”
    “Yes,” Germaine said, “perhaps Lily has led us to Carl’s research thesis.”
    “She also predicted that a black wind was approaching the house,” Maxwell observed. “That’s something telepathy couldn’t do. Maybe we made the wrong choice, after all.”
    “Please Maxwell.” Lily’s eyes flashed with yellow streaks as she turned. “I don’t think that’s very funny.”
    “Lily is right,” Germaine put in gravely. “You’re compromising all of us with your humor.”
    Orient felt cold anger push through his calm. He was just about to speak when Neilson and Hannah came back into the room.
    “Empty,” the lawyer rumbled. “The key fit all right but there was nothing there.” He drew his head in between his hunched shoulders and peered around the table.
    “Yes, the key fit Carl’s cabinet.” Hannah’s voice was very low.
    “I don’t understand.” Hazer sucked at the end of his pipe. “Why would Carl go to so much trouble to contact us for no reason?”
    “Souls of the departed have been known to play pranks on the living,” Germaine suggested with a thoughtful smile.
    “But we solved the joke. It’s not fair,” Sybelle said.
    “It bloody well seems the joke’s on us,” Maxwell reflected. He held up his hand and examined the rings on his fingers in the light. “Absorbing to think that a sense of humor exists beyond life. Perhaps I’ll code that into Albertus, my computer. He’ll blow his main connection.”
    Neilson’s bullet head bobbed uncertainly. “Does this conclude the, er, proceedings?”
    “I’m afraid there’s not much hope of reaching Carl now,” Germaine told him. He folded his arms. “Unless one of you has a suggestion.”
    No one spoke.
    “In that case, it appears that our work here is finished.”
    “Are you sure you don’t want to come back to New York with me, dear?” Sybelle asked Hannah.
    “I think it’s best I stay.” She tried to smile. “I’ll settle Carl’s affairs and go away next month or so.”
    “Don’t worry,” Neilson assured them. “I’m right next door. I’ll come by every day to help Mrs. Bestman close up the estate. And then I’ll see to it that she goes on that trip.”
    “To Italy,” Hazer reminded