The Accidental Alchemist

by Gigi Pandian

  “Don’t remind me about my vivid imagination.”

  I hoped that was all it was …

  “I was following a smuggling investigation that led me here,” Max continued. “That’s why I think it’s possible that the kids may have seen something they weren’t supposed to when they were down here.”

  “What were people smuggling?” I asked.

  “It’s an ongoing investigation, Zoe. I can’t just tell you whatever I want to.”

  “No,” I said. “You just lie around your house drinking twelve-year-old scotch.”

  “I wasn’t—”

  “I smelled it on your breath when I got to your house. That’s something I’m sure anyone would have smelled, regardless of their herbal skills.”

  He sighed. “I had a bad night last night. I’m no good at sitting on the sidelines.”

  My flashlight flickered. “I could have sworn I put new batteries in this.”

  “I don’t want to get caught here in the dark. Not after what I’ve seen. Let’s get out of here.”

  We made our way back the way we came. Max walked especially quickly. I wondered if he was thinking of monsters.

  When we reached the entrance through which we’d climbed down, the sound of the rain echoed as it pounded on the metal door above. We were now in a section of the tunnels with electric light and earthquake-reinforced walls. Two empty soda cans littered the dusty floor. Max clicked off his flashlight.

  The string of electric lights was dim compared to the harsh flashlight beam, but it was reassuring to be in a section of tunnel that felt like civilization.

  “This is private, dry, and well-lit,” I said. “Tell me what you know about this smuggling operation. If Brixton and his friends saw something—”

  “There’s been a resurgence of interest in herbal remedies in recent years,” said Max, “especially in places like Portland.”

  It was one of the reasons I felt comfortable here. People wouldn’t look twice at a young woman growing strange herbs in her yard.

  “But herbs aren’t illegal,” I said. “They’re not regulated by the FDA.”

  He hesitated. “We think it’s tainted herbal remedies.”

  “You didn’t think to mention this before?” I felt my body shake with anger. “That’s why you were so suspicious when I detected poisons!”

  “Herbal poisons aren’t a common type of poison to use to kill someone,” Max said. “You were new to town and knew a lot about herbs and poisons …”

  If only we had been able to tell each other what we knew. “I understand why I might look suspicious, but why would someone sell herbs that were poisonous? That hardly seems like a good business model.”

  “The most educated guess we’ve pieced together is that these are tainted herbs coming in from China. The smugglers wanted to capitalize on this new herbalism craze, but they didn’t know much about herbs themselves. They bought a large, cheap shipment from criminals, hoping to turn a quick profit without paying any taxes. And the tunnels were the perfect place to store the supplies. They didn’t realize the herbs were tainted with poison until Anna became ill and killed herself. After that, they pulled back. We haven’t seen anything lately.”

  “You think Charles Macraith was involved in it?”

  “He had a work injury last year that made it impossible to work.”

  “I know,” I said. “He told me my house was his first real job in a while. He’d been hired by the agent who put the house on the market just to do a walk-through to make sure prospective buyers wouldn’t fall through any holes in the floors and sue her. He wasn’t up for more than that while he recovered. The real estate agent is the one who gave me his name.”

  “Charles had to have been hurting for money because of his loss of work,” Max said. “Sure enough, when we looked into him, we found a large sum of cash at his house.”

  “That’s why you think Blue blackmailed him. Because she was hiding from her past, and she only accepted cash at the teashop so she would have access to large amounts of untraceable money.”

  “It fits.”

  “How does it fit?”

  “He was known for being the kind of guy who inspires confidences,” Max said. “You haven’t been here long enough to know it, but even though Portland is a big city, its neighborhoods like ours have small-town characteristics—including the gossip. The community Blue created at her teashop fostered a lot of friendships, but Charles never gossiped about anyone. That’s the kind of person people open up to, sometimes unwisely.”

  I had to bite my tongue. That was exactly why I had hired Charles Macraith in the first place.

  “But it still doesn’t make sense,” I insisted. “Blue knows all about herbs. She would never buy tainted herbs. Even if I could believe she’d do something like that, she knows too much to buy and sell tainted herbs.”

  “I agree. I’ve known Blue for years. But that’s the way the facts point.”

  “Except that she’s under arrest, meaning it’s someone else on the loose who’s taken the kids.”

  “We don’t know they’ve been taken,” Max said. “They lied to their parents last night. All the facts point to the conclusion that they’re playing hooky today.”

  “That’s not what your gut says.”

  “No,” he said. “It’s not. The thing that’s bothering me most is that I can’t put my finger on why I think that.”

  “I know why,” I said, the reason dawning on me. “Their parents were irate last night. There’s no way the kids would do something stupid so soon after their last escapade. Something else is going on.”

  “I’m half-tempted to pull Sam out of school to get him to help us search the tunnels for the kids,” Max said, “since that’s where you found them last time. He teaches a section of his class on local history, including information about the Shanghai Tunnels. The students get really into it.”

  I frowned. “Brixton said he took them on an underground tour that involved sections of the tunnels not included on the tourist tours.”

  “That can’t be right,” Max said. “He wouldn’t have taken them anywhere off-limits.”

  “He’s the ‘cool young teacher’ who loves his students. Of course he would. But what I’m wondering is what else he knows.”

  “You’re suggesting Sam is somehow involved in this?”

  “I don’t know what I’m suggesting,” I said. “Something isn’t right, though.”

  “I know. I feel the same way. I hate that I can’t trust my own gut anymore. Ever since I saw that monster.” He winced. It could have been from his injury, but my guess was that it was his chagrin for believing he’d seen a monster.

  “I don’t think you saw a monster,” I said. The pieces clicked into place. Tainted herbs. My dream that had been hallucinogen-induced. The timing of the arrival of Dorian and his book. “When you saw ‘the monster’ the first time, it was on the smuggled herbs case, right?”

  “What does that have to do with it? It was the fall that disoriented me—”

  “I think,” I said, “you were given something tainted with a hallucinogen.”

  There wasn’t another creature like Dorian. Max had only equated the two after he caught a glimpse of Dorian. I let out a huge sigh of relief.

  “You’re relieved that I was drugged?” Max began to pace.

  “The police never determined if there were drugs in the dead girl’s system, right?”

  “It was determined to be suicide. The family had the body cremated before I was on the smuggling case, before I could see the two might be connected. So you’re right. We never learned if there was a hallucinogen in her system.”

  “Did the lab test for hallucinogens in the poison you found at Blue’s—”

  “God, Zoe, I’m not even on this or any case anymore!”

  We stared
at each other for a few moments. The close air of the tunnels felt stifling.

  “Fine,” I said. “I’ll find Brixton and his friends on my own. Have a nice life drinking good scotch alone in your house.”

  Max groaned. “Wait. Fine. Tell me more about what you were thinking about Sam. I didn’t know he was such an expert on the tunnels.”

  “I was thinking he could have found tunnels nobody else knew about,” I said. “But I’m grasping at straws now. Forget I said anything. There’s nothing to connect him to this. Lots of locals are interested in the tunnels.”

  But Max wore a strange expression on his face, caught between concern and anger. “Not everyone has a pile of medical bills for a sick aunt who raised him. That’s why Blue took him on at the teashop, to help him supplement the money he made as a teacher.”

  “I knew about that. But lots of people need money. They don’t go around poisoning people.”

  “Not only that. Olivia was in the hospital at the same time last year as Charles Macraith.”

  “And both with bills they couldn’t pay?” I asked, remembering what Olivia had told me about Sam taking on the second job at Blue Sky Teas to help with the bills.

  Max nodded, his face looking hollow in the dim light of the tunnel.

  “Wait, where are you going?” Max asked as I started up the ladder.

  “Sam is teaching and Olivia should already be over at Blue Sky Teas since she’s helping keep it open. I’m going to look around their house.” I’d dropped Olivia off at her house earlier that week. I didn’t remember the house number, but I’d remember the barren rose bushes and pink shutters.

  Max swore. “Zoe, you can’t go breaking into people’s houses. I need to get a search warrant.”

  I paused on the stair ladder to look over my shoulder. “You think you have enough to get one?”

  He didn’t answer immediately.

  “I thought so.” I continued climbing the stairs back to civilization.

  “Zoe!”

  Without pausing, I called over my shoulder, “If he’s using the tunnels, he’s got to have maps somewhere. I’m going to find them.”

  thirty-five

  Dorian narrowed his eyes. “You want me to climb into this suitcase?”

  “It’s a duffel bag. And yes. I promise it won’t be for long. You want to help Brixton and me find your book, don’t you? I don’t know how to pick a lock. You have to come with me.”

  The gargoyle grumbled several words of French that weren’t fit to repeat as he climbed into the duffel bag. Sam and his aunt Olivia’s house wasn’t too far from mine, but I wouldn’t make it carrying the heavy bag of gargoyle. I’d need to take the car. I didn’t like the idea of driving my distinctive car to a house I was breaking into, but I didn’t see any other choice.

  It was a good thing I’d added extra chia seeds and cocoa powder to my smoothie that day. I needed the extra energy to lift the heavy bag and place it in my truck. I tried to lift it gingerly, but it hit the door frame as I raised the bag onto the passenger seat.

  “Oomph.”

  “Sorry, Dorian.”

  Things would have been much easier if we could have waited until nightfall, but there wasn’t time. If the kids weren’t playing hooky, we needed to find them, and the tunnels were our best lead.

  “Wait here,” I said as I parked down the street from Sam and Olivia’s house.

  “Where would I go?” was the muffled response from inside the duffel bag.

  I did a quick circle of the house and found a side door. I let out a small sigh of relief. Even though the neighbors appeared to be at work, it was all I needed to be caught with a gargoyle picking a front door lock.

  I carried the bag to the side of the house and unzipped the bag.

  Dorian made quick work of the lock with his claws. I’d seen some thieves at work before, and those claws were better than lock picks.

  A vase filled with the white flowers I’d bought for Blue was displayed prominently on Olivia’s mantle.

  My cell phone buzzed in my pocket. Max’s name flashed on the screen. It was best if he didn’t know what I was doing. The phone went back into my pocket.

  “I do not see my book,” Dorian said.

  “No, but take a look at this.” I picked up a poster tube labelled “world map.” I popped off the top and looked inside.

  Rolled inside a laminated map of the world, tightly rolled thinner sheets of paper were visible. I pulled them out.

  “The tunnels,” Dorian said.

  My cell phone buzzed again. This was getting ridiculous. I pulled the phone out to turn it off, but along with Max’s name across the screen, I noticed something else. He had called five times.

  I must have missed some of the calls while I was lugging the heavy bag with Dorian inside.

  I picked up the phone, but I’d just missed him. I had a voicemail waiting for me. Dorian’s eyes grew wide as he watched me listen to the message.

  “Zoe,” Max’s voice said. “If you’re where I think you are, get out of there. I tried to get hold of Sam to see if he would voluntarily help us with his knowledge of the tunnels. But he wasn’t at school. He called in sick today, Zoe. He could be anywhere.”

  I hung up the phone, feeling my pulse race.

  “We need to go, Dorian. Now.”

  “Uh, Zoe. A young man is approaching the front door.”

  “I have to put this poster tube back where I found it.” I moved quickly as I did so, scanning the room to see if there was anything else we’d moved. I spotted papers strewn on the entryway table.

  “Zoe—”

  “One second.”

  “You do not have one second.”

  My ears pricked with the sound of a key turning in the door.

  Dorian pounced. Not on Sam, but on the door. He reached it right as the deadbolt began to open. With his strong hand, Dorian held the handle of the deadbolt, keeping it from opening.

  Sam twisted his key from the outside. “Come on …” he said. He must have thought the door was stuck.

  I moved as quietly as I could toward the desk we’d disturbed. I put all the contents back, then nodded at Dorian. He held up his free hand, asking me to wait.

  “Come on,” Sam said again from behind the door. He gave the doorknob a shake, then pulled out his key. We heard the sound of his keys rattling. While he searched for the right key, Dorian and I took our chance.

  We ran out the back and hurried around the side of the house. There was no time to get Dorian back into the bag. I peeled off my jacket and tossed it on top of him, then peeked around the corner of the house. Sam was shaking his head as he opened the front door.

  We didn’t stop running until we were inside the truck. I was glad I had the foresight to park my truck down the street instead of in front of the house.

  ———

  When we reached the hidden entrance to the tunnels, I dropped the bag at my feet, unable to hold it any longer. I had made Dorian crawl back inside the duffel bag for our walk from the truck to the entrance.

  Making sure there was no one around, I pulled open the iron grate.

  “Hurry,” I said to the duffel bag.

  “Grâce à Dieu,” Dorian stepped out of the bag. He glared at it with a look of disdain before coming to his senses about his exposed location and darting into the tunnel.

  I climbed down after him, closing the grate behind me. Dust from the tunnel floor wafted up to my nose, causing me to sneeze. My shoulder ached as if I’d been carrying a boulder. Which, essentially, I had been.

  I handed him a flashlight, but he shook his head. I spread out the map of the tunnels on the surface of a dusty wooden trunk, shining the light onto the sketch.

  “I think we’re here,” I said.

  “Oui,” Dorian agreed.

  “You
don’t happen to have a photographic memory, do you?”

  “Unfortunately, no. But I have explored the tunnels on my own and I see much better in the dark. I will lead.”

  Dorian scampered ahead. Though he moved quickly, one of his legs dragged behind, giving him an awkward gait. My flashlight bounced off the gargoyle, showing me that his whole leg up to his knee joint was now a solid mass of stone.

  I tucked the map under my arm and hurried to keep up with the limping gargoyle. The temperature in this section of tunnels must have been close to seventy degrees, but I felt myself shaking. It couldn’t have been the temperature making me shiver. It couldn’t have been poison, either. I had fully recovered from the effects of the small amount that had affected me.

  I knew what it was: fear.

  thirty-six

  At a juncture in the tunnels, Dorian turned and looked back at me.

  “This way,” he said.

  A few minutes later, we reached the door that had been purposefully disguised. What we hadn’t known until we found the map was that beyond that door there was a second disguised door. What looked like a load-bearing beam of wood was in fact a cleverly disguised entry to a hidden set of tunnels.

  It was the perfect setup for Shanghaiers. If someone happened to discover their first false door, the interloper would carry on straight ahead, never thinking to look for another hidden passageway.

  The two-foot section of thick wood stood directly next to the stone wall. It looked innocent enough, but we knew from the map that there had to be a way to make it move. It wasn’t a structural part of the tunnels at all. It was a narrow opening.

  I pressed against the wood from one side, and then the next. It didn’t budge. I pushed it forward. Nothing. I grabbed the sides and pulled. That didn’t work either.

  “Perhaps there is a trigger mechanism,” Dorian suggested.

  “It could be in one of the stones.” Dorian tapped on them with his fingers. “You are taller. Try the ones above.”

  I handed the map to Dorian so I could work the stones with both hands. I tried each of the stones surrounding the beam, quickly at first, and then more methodically after quick pushes didn’t do the trick. I was now sweating from apprehension. I peeled off the bulky sweater I was wearing over a cotton blouse.