Ron Goulart - The Curse of the Obelisk

78 RON GOULART
Shaking his head, Inspector Swann said, "We found no coffin either."
"The dark lady returned after we took our leave," suggested the Great Lorenzo, "to do a bit of
tidying up."
"Sooner or later I'm going to catch her," said Harry.
Swann unfolded another sheet. "Here is the latest communication from Orchardson," he said.
"In your absence, M. Lorenzo, I took the liberty of intercepting this. It arrived last evening while
you were otherwise occupied at the castle."
"What's he want?" asked Harry.
Swann handed him the sheet of pale green notepaper. "See for yourself."
The note read:
The obelisk is to be delivered to the red hunting lodge on the north shore of Lake Langweilig at
4:00 p.m. this Friday. Miss Stowe will be turned over to you at that time. No tricks, if you
please.
"This particular lake," said Harry, "is about thirty miles south of here. As I recall from my map
studying of the other day."
"Twenty-seven miles, yes," said Swann.
"Okay, so we have three days to get everything ready."
"What do you have in mind?"
"First, we have to open up the obelisk," said Harry.
"The baron will never allow such a valuable—"
"When he hears what's inside, he will," Harry assured him. "Almost everybody's interested in
immortality."
"Eh? Do you mean such an awesome secret as—"
"That's what's inside the obelisk, yep."
"Even so, how are we to gain access to—"
"I've already arranged for that," said the Great Lorenzo, puffing on his cigar. "Thanks to
kindhearted Prince Rudy, and a few of my own local connections, I have both a crackerjack safe
blower and a gifted stonemason standing by. The latter fellow specialized in mournful angels for
high-class tombs, but he can saw through stone like—"
"We also have to put Professor Stowe to work on a device he was explaining to me on our ride
back from Lowen last night," said Harry.
"Another flying machine, monsieur?"
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