by J. B. Tilton
"More than you know, Dr. Sloan."
They all looked up to see Conrad standing in the door to his room. He didn't have the haggard look he had worn since they had first met him. He actually was smiling. Something Jeremy hadn't seen him do yet.
"You seem better," said Jeremy. "How are the exercises coming along?"
"I've been practicing them all day. I didn't even stop to eat."
"So I've been told. Are they doing you any good? Remember, the more you practice them the better you'll get. It won't be too long before the pain will be quite manageable."
"It's gone," said Conrad, smiling from ear to ear. "There hasn't been any headaches for more than an hour. And I don't even have to imagine that waterfall like you taught me. It's like I found an off switch to it."
"That's incredible," said Jeremy taking Conrad's wrist to check his pulse. "Your pulse is normal. You say there's no pain at all?"
"None. It the first time I can remember not having a crushing headache."
"I never imagined you'd progress so fast. I was going to teach you some advanced techniques when you had mastered those basic ones but it seems I don't have to. They seem to have done the trick."
"So you still think I have this telepathy?"
"Yes," said Jeremy. "And as I said, I think it's what was causing the headaches. You've learned how to block out all the 'noise' from people's brains around you. But let's be cautious about this. This may only be a temporary situation. We'll have to see what the next few days bring. If you can keep the headaches away then I think there's a good chance you won't suffer from them again."
"Then what do we do?" Conrad asked.
"We teach you how to use your ability. You still have it. You probably always have had it. But teaching you how to use it is going to be trickier than getting rid of the headaches. I have absolutely no idea where to begin to teach you how to use an ability that, quite frankly, I don't understand."
"Well, maybe it's like that first exercise you taught me. I just pick one of the thoughts in my head and concentrate on it."
"You're still hearing things?" Jeremy asked.
"Some. Mostly it's kind of like in the back of my mind. You know, like someone's name you know that you know but can't quite remember what it is."
"Yeah, I understand. But for now let's not be concerned with teaching you to use your ability. Like I said, we have to see if you can keep the headaches away. Tell me. How are you able to keep the headaches from coming back?"
"Well," said Conrad thoughtfully, "I think about those thoughts I have. I concentrate on one. Sometimes I concentrate on more. Just one after the other. As long as I'm concentrating on the thoughts the headaches don't come back."
"Okay. So I want you to try something else. Don't concentrate on anything. Just kind of let you mind wander. See how that works."
"I'll try."
Conrad closed his eyes and Jeremy could see his eyes moving under his eyelids. As if he were watching a moving in his mind. Everything seemed okay for a bit. Then suddenly Conrad put his hand to his head and swayed slightly.
"Oh, the headache came back," he said.
"Well at least now we know how to keep the headaches away," said Jeremy.
"Yeah, while he's awake," said Janet. "What about when he goes to sleep and he can't concentrate on something? It looks like the headaches will come back as soon as he falls asleep."
"Well at least I'll be able to get to sleep," said Conrad. "Before I could never sleep more than a couple of hours at a time. It took me forever to fall asleep and eventually the pain would wake me up. Then it would take me forever to get back to sleep. Maybe this time I can stay asleep for more than a short time."
"I can get some sleeping pills that should help," said Jeremy. "You can take a pain pill and a sleeping pill before you go to bed. That should help you sleep and the pain pill should keep the pain away at least for a few hours."
"Thanks, Dr. Sloan. I'll let you know if I need them."
"Well, I'd better get going," said Scarborough. "I have a report to write. Now rest for the wicked, as they say."
"I'll see you tomorrow, Richard," said Jeremy. "Maybe we can have a look at some more of those names you guys have given up. They can't all be dead ends."
"I'll let you know," said Scarborough. "Conrad, take care of yourself. I'll stop by tomorrow and see how you're doing."
"Thanks, Agent Scarborough. I've never had so many people looking out for me in my life."
Jeremy just smiled and decided to watch some television for a while. He wasn't a big television fan, preferring movies, and mostly old movies at that. But television was a nice diversion once in a while.
Jeremy opened his eyes and looked around. Some news program was on the television and he picked up the remote and shut it off. It was morning out and he saw Conrad in the kitchen apparently fixing breakfast.
"Morning, Dr. Sloan," said Conrad. "You seem to have fallen asleep in front of the T.V. My dad used to do that."
"Yeah," said Jeremy, rubbing his eyes. "There was a marathon of some great silent movies on one of the channels last night. I guess I fell asleep watching it. Where are Kamalene and Janet?"
"Kamalene is in the other bedroom still asleep. Janet said something about running some errands."
"Oh, I'm not surprised. She's been busy with me for the past few days. She's probably let some of them go longer than she should have."
"Agent Scarborough called a little bit ago. He said he was coming over here in a bit. Had something he wanted you to see. He was all kind of mysterious and everything. Is he always like that?"
"Only when it comes to national security," said Jeremy walking into the kitchen. "An omelet. I didn't know you could cook."
"My mom taught me. Before I started getting the headaches. Since they started I haven't had the opportunity to do any of it. Why don't you take that one? It'll only take me a few minutes to whip up another one for myself."
"Oh, I don't think I could do that. You made this for yourself."
"I insist. After what you taught me it's the least I could do."
"How did you sleep?"
"Better than I have for a long time. I still work up from a headache but when I checked the clock it had been nearly 5 hours since I had gone to bed. The most sleep I've gotten at one time in years. I took another of those painkillers and went back to sleep and slept until morning. So far, no pain this morning."
"That's good. You're making better progress than I could have possibly imagined."
"Good enough to talk about that favor you want from me?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. First, we need to make sure you can control the headaches. Then, we need to see how well you can control your ability and how strong it really is. Besides, I told you. The two aren't connected. When and if we talk about it you'll be perfectly free to say no if you want to."
"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure it's little compensation for what you've done for me. You saved my life, Dr. Sloan. I have to find some way to repay you."
"Nonsense," said Jeremy. "I'm a doctor. It's what I do. I'm just grateful the techniques are working as well as they are. At least now you can go back to something of a normal life."
Just then the door opened and Scarborough came in. He looked around and found Jeremy and Conrad in the kitchen.
"Well, you look like something the cat dragged in," he said talking to Jeremy.
"Fell asleep in front of the T.V. Only woke up a little bit ago. Conrad said you called. That you had something to show me."
"Hey, Conrad, how are you doing?"
"Better every day, Agent Scarborough."
"That's good," said Scarborough. "That's right, Jeremy. Something interesting the research department came across while they were working on that list of names for you. Come on." He held up a DVD. "I got part of a program to show you."
Scarborough put the DVD in the player and turned on the television. When the picture cleared it showed a man dressed in a sui
t sitting at a table with an older woman dressed equally nice. There were other people moving around in the background and the man was currently holding what appeared to be a small silver tea set.
"Have you ever seen that show, Antiques Roadshow?" Scarborough asked. "People bring things in and the appraisers tell them how much they're worth."
"A couple of times," replied Jeremy.
"This is another show similar to it. It's called Hidden Treasures. The woman is names Agnes Costas. The man is Frank Doherty. He's one of the hosts of the show and he appraises all kinds of things on it. He also runs a small business appraising and authenticating objects for people. And I'm told he's very good."
"Okay. So you think he might have a special talent?"
"Just watch," said Scarborough, a look of anticipation on his face."
"What can you tell me about this tea service?" Frank asked Costas.
"Well," said Costas, "it was owned by one of my aunts. She kept it on the mantle of her fireplace. She claimed it was very old, dating back some 200 years or so. I inherited it from her recently when she passed away. She never had it appraised and I was just wondering how authentic it is."
"I see," said Frank. "Well, first of all, it's not silver. It's silver plated. It looks like underneath the plating it's actually pewter. Plating has been around for a very long time certainly well over 200 years. The entire tea service is in excellent condition. It's a little tarnished but that's to be expected with silver, even silver plating. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it's not quite as old as your aunt thought. You see this mark here, on the bottom?"
He turned it over to show a very faded mark on the bottom of the service. The mark was a word that was virtually illegible, inside a rectangular box. Several letters of the word could be seen more clearly.
"This was the mark of Paul Revere," continued Frank. "I'm sure you remember the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Well, Revere was a silversmith by profession. And he was quite prolific at it. This mark was one of the marks he used to identify his work.
"Unfortunately, this mark wasn't used on something as small as a tea service. It was used on much larger items. On something as small as a tea service he would use his initials, PR, usually in italic or block letters. Also I'm afraid that Paul Revere never worked in Pewter. So that's another indication that this isn't an actual piece made by Paul Revere or any of his apprentices.
"More than likely this is a replica piece made to commemorate his life. Many such pieces were made over the years and although not as valuable as those made by him, I'd still estimate the value of this piece at between $350.00 and $500.00. Of course the sentimental value is priceless."
"Thank you very much," said Costas. "My aunt had it for more than 30 years. It is a treasure heirloom even if it's not what she thought it was."
The woman picked up the tea service and walked out of range of the camera. Frank sat at the table for a moment and from off camera someone could be heard saying, "and we're clear". Frank began to remove the microphone attached to his tie.
"Poor woman," he said. "That's not a commemorative piece. It's an out and out forgery. Some guy in California made it and tried to pawn if off as the genuine article. Her aunt picked it up at a flea market in the late 60s in Milwaukee and when she saw that marking and just assumed it was from 200 years ago. Somebody sold her a bill of goods."
Scarborough shut the DVD player off and sat looking at Jeremy.
"Okay?" Jeremy questioned, not understanding what Scarborough was getting at. "So the woman had a fake artifact. What's that got to do with any special talents?"
"That's the unedited version of the show that will air soon," said Scarborough. "We tracked down Mrs. Costas and found out that Doherty was absolutely right. Her aunt did pick the tea service up in 1968 at a flea market when she was visiting her sister in Milwaukee."
"So. I'm still not seeing any connection."
"Well, according to the agent that spoke to Mrs. Costas, there's no way Doherty could have known all that. She never mentioned where her aunt got the tea service or when. And she never mentioned she got it while visiting her sister. So how could Doherty have known all that?"
"Maybe he learned it when they did the background information for the show," suggested Jeremy. "You know those types of shows always get background information so they can put on the best pieces for the show."
"We checked. Mrs. Costas never told anyone connected with the show about the specifics. She only said her aunt picked it up years ago. That's all. Doherty couldn't have known. He must have some ability to find that out. Maybe he's psychic or something. Look. Watch the show again. If he does have an ability maybe you can see it in his aura."
"It doesn't work that way," said Jeremy. "Unless the film is specifically made to pick up electromagnetic fields I can't see it on the film. But you might have a point. If she never told anyone all that information, how did he know it? I think Mr. Doherty bears checking out."
"So you'll go talk to him? See if he has a special talent?"
"As I've said before, I can't tell if he has a special talent unless he's using it when I 'look' at him. We'll need to get him to use it somehow."
"I can have the guys in research come up with something. Maybe he's like Conrad. Able to garner the information from their minds. If we had something for him to appraise, he just might use his ability when we take it to him."
"I have a better idea," said Jeremy. He walked over to his suit coat and removed a gold-colored pocket watch from it. "This was given to my father by his father. He gave it to me when I graduated college. It was made back in the 1600s by a master watchmaker and given to one of my ancestors. It's been a family heirloom ever since. We'll make up a story about how you came across it or something and see just how much Frank Doherty knows about it."
"What makes you think he won't have been able to research it or something?" Scarborough asked.
"The watchmaker died in the mid-1700s. All of his records were eventually lost and although it is know he made watches, this one doesn't have his mark on it like most of them did back then. There's no way to confirm that he actually made it. I only know about it because of my family history."
"So why do I have to give it to Doherty? Why not you?"
"Because I'll be standing nearby watching. If he does use an ability I'll be able to see it in his aura. I'll also be able to see if he's making anything up. Now all we have to do is get into the show and make sure he's the one who authenticates the watch."
"Getting in isn't a problem. I know where the studio is where they're filming the show. You just have to walk in. As for getting him to do it, I'll just say I want him to do it. I'm sure they won't have a problem with it."
"Well, all we can do is try. What time should we go there?"
"They begin taping at about 2:00," said Scarborough. "We'll need to be there at 1:00. Once we're in we'll see what happens. I'll come by again at 12:00 and pick you up."
"I hope this isn't another wild goose chase. I'm getting a little tired of meeting scammers and charlatans."
Scarborough just smiled as he headed for his car.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jeremy and Scarborough sat in the "waiting gallery" waiting for their turn to have their item appraised. It had been a long wait. More than once the production of the show had to be temporarily stopped while the crew rearranged the set or for some other technical glitch. Finally it would be their turn.
Scarborough had specifically requested that Doherty appraise the watch. The production assistant who had taken his information seemed quite comfortable with that. She said that many people had their "favorites" on the show and insisted that person do the appraising. Doherty was one of the most favorite and many people specifically requested him. But it also meant they had to wait a little longer before he could appraise the watch.
Finally the production assistant came over and told them they were next. Jeremy had been watching Doherty the entire time. Whenever he handled the item
he was appraising Jeremy noticed a change in his aura. A change that showed he was using whatever ability he had. The question was, just what was that ability? Finally the assistant came over and told Scarborough it was his turn.
"Well, what can you tell me about this very nice pocket watch?" Doherty asked, looking the watch over. Jeremy noticed the change in his aura again.
"Well," started Scarborough, seeming to be hesitant. "My grandfather found it in Germany during World War II. His platoon was holed up in this destroyed house and he found it lying in the rubble. He found it still worked so he brought it home with him. When he died my father inherited it and I inherited it from my father.