Fourteen
The telegram was brief but the message sent a feverish rush of relief and excitement through Clement Lancing. He stood beside the sarcophagus and read it twice to convince himself that the news was real.
He put his hand on the crystal lid and looked down at the woman floating in the Egyptian Water.
“He did it, Emma. That bastard Gage found the practitioner. You will never believe this, but she was working as a paid companion all this time. No wonder she was impossible to locate. We were looking in the wrong places. The strategy is moving forward again. Gage has taken the bait.”
The woman in the sarcophagus gave no indication that she heard him. Her sleep was too deep.
He noticed that the level of water had gone down again. Time to prepare some more of the formula. He went to the shelf that held his supply of chemicals. He was almost out of the salts, but then, he would not need them much longer.