“If they are back together,” Jack said, “I’l bet they’re right here in town.”
Her eyes widened. “Where?”
“In the Lodge.”
“Why?”
“Because the Lodge is involved.”
Jack remembered what his brother had said about messing with the Lodge, how they had influence in high places. Tom wasn’t an ideal source, but he
seemed to know the score on the Lodge.
He added, “Maybe they’re doing it themselves, or maybe they’re just pul ing the strings, but they’re involved. Gotta be.”
Weezy was nodding. “You’re right. The Septimus Order has lodges al over the country—al over the world.” Her eyes narrowed. “You told Mister
Brussard that the pyramid had gone to U of P?”
“Yeah. Wednesday night when I showed it to Steve.”
“The Lodge must have someone inside. They might have tried to steal the pyramid there but found out it had been shipped to the Smithsonian. So they
had one of their people in Washington grab it from the mailroom. Then, after it’s stolen, someone starts digging up the mound, and while that’s going on,
someone steals the cube and everything related to it.”
“Not everything,” Jack reminded her.
“Right.” She smiled without humor. “I remember that look you gave me when I handed you the copies. You thought I was crazy.”
“Crazy, no. But definitely …” He searched for the word. “Eccentric.”
Another smile, this one warmer. “Eccentric I accept.” She sighed. “But just say al that’s true, what can we do about it?”
“Haven’t a clue. No way we can get into the Lodge for a look. The place is like a fortress.”
And even if he could find a way in, Jack doubted he had the nerve to make use of it. He had a feeling he might never get out.
“Helpless!” Weezy spoke through clenched teeth. “I
So did Jack, but he figured every obstacle had a way around it. You just had to find it. No such thing as an insurmountable object, just people who gave
up too soon.
Just then, a sheriff’s patrol car turned off the highway and cruised into town. Jack recognized Tim behind the wheel.
“Hey, Weez, want to report a theft?”
“No way. He could be a Lodger for al we know. And even if he’s not, you can bet someone above him is. Don’t waste your breath. Besides, we weren’t
supposed to have something from a crime scene in the first place.”
She had a point. But Jack wanted to ask Tim something, so he flagged him down.
“Hey, Tim,” he said as the car stopped.
“Hey, Jack. What’s up?”
“Lot of commotion in the Barrens last night.”
Tim frowned. “First I’ve heard about it.”
“Yeah. Couple of helicopters with searchlights hanging over the trees. I could be wrong, but it looked like they were concentrating on that place where
we found that body.”
“Helicopters? Probably from Lakehurst.”
“Didn’t look like it. These were black.” He motioned to Weezy who was hanging back by her bike. “Weezy saw them too, didn’t you, Weez?”
She nodded but said nothing and moved no closer.
“And then,” he added, “I saw some cop cars driving into the Pines—three state police cruisers.”
That last part wasn’t exactly true. The troopers had probably entered the Barrens without going through Johnson, but Jack
Tim’s frowned deepened. “Staties? The sheriff never mentioned any activity out here.”
Jack faked a relieved sigh. “Wel , then, I guess everything’s okay. But you know how it is. People see al that commotion and they start worrying about
some sort of escaped convict hiding out in the Pines.”
