Julie glanced over at Lionel Peterson, who closed his eyes and shook his head.
“I hope you’ll let us in on whatever Mr. Lonetree comes up with so it can be used on the air?” Peterson said.
Kennedy again didn’t answer Peterson; he turned back to Kelly instead.
“Do you foresee a problem with acquiring those items, or similar ones?”
“When you deal with Wallace Lindemann, you don’t foresee. You know. Yes, he will bitch and complain, but he’ll do what’s asked.”
“Good, because if he doesn’t, I’ll need you to get out there and steal the items I have asked for — it’s key to the overall assault plan on Summer Place.”
“Assault?” Peterson asked.
“Yes, that’s the only word that fits. We have to assault that house. Its defenses will be up, and I already know its offensive capabilities.”
Peterson smiled and shook his head again. “I hope you’re writing down everything Professor Kennedy is saying, Kelly. It should make for one hell of a script.”
Kelly looked up from her notepad. Before she could retort, Peterson nodded to Kennedy. “Continue, Professor.”
Gabriel walked around the table to Leonard Sickles, who was still doodling on the notepad in front of him.
“Leonard, we come to you. The Infra-Spectroscope — how’s it coming?”
Leonard felt the pressure of Gabriel’s hands on his shoulders — still the only man alive that Leonard trusted enough to touch him. The young man ripped the first four pages from his notebook and lifted them into the air. Gabriel took them and glanced over them. While they had thought the small black man was doodling, he had actually been working.
“Looks like these parts may be expensive,” Gabriel said.
“Nah.” Leonard looked toward Harris Dalton. “The network techs may have everything we need right here in this building. I might have to contact Sperry-Rand, or maybe GE, for a few things, but nah… It should be no problem.”
“May I ask just what Mr. Sickles is going to be building?” Peterson asked. When Gabriel looked his way, he quickly held up his hand. “I have budget concerns here, Professor — and I will ask whatever I want to ask regarding this show.”
“The Infra-Spectroscope is a device Mr. Sickles started developing when he heard about my rather curious investigation.”
“What kind of device is this, kid?” John Lonetree asked, visibly curious.
Leonard “Too Smart” Sickles looked absolutely delighted to be asked a direct question. He didn’t care about the network people, but was pleased to be accepted by Kennedy’s friends.
“Well, Mister Lonetree, it’s a cross between a night-vision scope and an air density accelerator. I can use it in several different ways. If it’s ghosts we’re looking for, I may be able to see them. I made a cheap version once and was able to catch a few things that Dr. K didn’t even believe.”
“They scared the hell out of me. I still don’t know what he caught on that damn thing.” Kennedy smiled at his young friend.
“Can this device be hooked into one of our remote cameras?” Harris Dalton asked, leaning forward in his chair.
“Yeah, man, I think so… if you can spare a few of your guys to do some experimenting.”
“You’ll have a team assigned to you from any division you want, if it means we might catch a ghost on camera,” Dalton said with a smile.
“Well, failing that, I know I can at least track the bastards.”
“You’re kidding?” Julie asked, looking from Leonard to Gabriel.
“Air density,” Leonard said. He grinned appreciatively at Julie, eyeing her up and down and not caring who saw him do it. “Anything that moves — I don’t give a damn if it’s invisible and weighs nothing — even a ghost has to push aside air in order to move from place to place. No matter what, it has to change its environment — air temperature, dust in the air, or even light refraction. And when it does, old Too Smart will have its ass.”
Leonard looked around the room with an I just ate the canary smile on his face. Lonetree nodded appreciatively.
The double doors opened and Jason Sanborn came through them holding a giant roll of paper. He laid the sheets on the conference table, almost burying George Cordero. George politely smiled and removed half of them from his lap, then shook spilled whiskey from his hand.
“Sorry, old man,” Jason said, removing his pipe from his mouth. “And you must be Gabriel Kennedy.” He came around the table and took Gabriel’s hand in his own.
“And you must be the producer.”
“Yes, Jason Sanborn…and I have something for you, Professor.” He released Kennedy’s hand and walked back around the table. “Excuse me, young man, can you hand me that schematic at your feet, please?”
Cordero looked from Sanborn to Kennedy. He smiled without moving. “Let me guess…You found the diagrams of the original specs to Summer Place?” he asked Sanborn.
“Yes, that is correct,” the producer answered. He replaced his pipe between his teeth and pushed his glasses up on his nose.
“That’s not really a stretch, is it, Mr. Cordero?” Lionel Peterson asked with a small smirk. “I mean, it’s is quite obvious that Mr. Sanborn was carrying architectural drawings.”
“That’s not the something he was talking about,” George said. Kelly and Julie were watching him, as if they both suspected that another of Kennedy’s prodigies was about to show off. George smiled at them, then closed his eyes and held up his right hand. With a mysterious hum, he shook the hand over the table. “He’s going to tell you that the original architect was none other than F.E. Lindemann himself.”
“That is correct,” Jason said. “How could you know that? These drawings weren’t listed with the county, but in the family wing at the Philadelphia museum.”
“I’m sure we’re impressed with this gentleman’s prowess at guessing games. Can we move on?” Peterson said, frowning.
“Well, George here just demonstrated his ability to feel things,” Kennedy said. “The same with Mr. Lonetree. Now we’ll use them to—”
“Professor, we get the gist. You can set up the details with Mr. Dalton later.”
Kennedy stared at Peterson for the longest time. Then he turned and sat in his chair. He looked from Kelly Delaphoy to Julie Reilly and fixed them with his blue eyes.
“This man is going to get people hurt,” he said.
Peterson didn’t say anything; he only smiled and raised his brows at Kennedy’s statement.
“If we rush in there without a plan, that house will literally chew us to pieces. This asshole doesn’t even believe the damn place is haunted. He thinks it’s nothing more than a pretty summer retreat for rich idiots like himself.”
“Lionel, it seems you’re upsetting a man we have just paid an awful lot of money to. May I suggest a little leeway here?” Julie said. She tapped her cell phone, on the table in front of her. Peterson didn’t begin to fathom the power she herself wielded at the network.
“When you have concrete plans, I’ll go over them with Harris. Until then, I’ll be in my office.” Peterson stood, buttoned his suit jacket and strode from the conference room.
“Thank you,” Gabriel said as he stood. “He didn’t need to be here for this, anyway. George, could you close the blinds please? Ms. Reilly, will you do the same on your side?”
They drew the blinds and Kennedy turned off the overhead lights. He walked over to Jennifer, who still sat quietly at the window, even though her view of the outside world had been cut off by the closing of the blinds. Her eyes were still fixed on the same spot. “Let me say this to you, and you may research it if you wish, but Dr. Tilden is the most brilliant anthropologist in the United States, if not the entire world.”