Alchemy and Arson

by Lily Webb

  “Why am I not surprised to see you here?” Mueller asked me as he raked his eyes over us.

  “Believe it or not, I didn’t have anything to do with this one,” I said.

  “That’s what you always say,” Mueller said, though the hint of a smile appeared on his droopy, hound-like face.

  “I wasn’t far away when I heard the explosion so I ran over here to help,” I said.

  “Right, to help, of course,” Mueller said, his eyes twinkling.

  “It’s a good thing she did, otherwise Ms. Snow here might not have been so lucky,” Blaine said, nodding at Sage.

  “You know, Chief Hart, this fire looks an awful lot like the last one.”

  “They’re the same, no doubt about it. We don’t know how it started yet, but—”

  “It was an accident, I’m telling you!” Sage shouted, interrupting them. Why was she so intent on convincing the authorities of that when she’d suggested to me Lorelei might’ve started it? Was she trying to cover for Lorelei, or was she giving me a head start to find out why?

  Maybe Sage trusted me more to get to the truth than she did Mueller or anyone else in law enforcement. Based on their track record since I’d gotten to town, I couldn’t say I blamed her.

  “Well, save your story because you’re going to have to repeat it anyway when we get to the station,” Mueller said as he hitched his pants up by his belt. He’d lost weight and his face was more rugged than usual, no doubt both a result of everything going on in town lately.

  “I strongly suggest you have Ms. Snow looked at by a medical professional first. She’s had extensive exposure to smoke and Lilith knows what other airborne chemicals,” Blaine said and Mueller side-eyed him.

  “We have the resources at the station, don’t worry,” Mueller said. Blaine shrugged and stepped back like he wasn’t about to contradict Mueller. “Load her up, Barrett,” Mueller ordered and Ewan launched into action. Gently, he crouched down to help Sage off the ground.

  “We’ve gotta stop meeting like this,” Ewan whispered to me and I smiled. “All right, up you go, Ms. Snow,” he said as he hoisted Sage to her feet. He winked at me and walked her to the police cruiser.

  When they were gone, Mueller turned his focus to me.

  “She tell you anything? Or, did you, erm, hear anything?” Mueller asked, an obvious reference to my ability to hear people’s thoughts. Unfortunately for me, I hadn’t had the wits to think about reading Sage’s mind while she was still around, but I didn’t think she was hiding anything anyway.

  “No, not really. She swore she was minding her business doing inventory work when the shop exploded. She did say that she thinks it was an experimental formula gone wrong though,” I said.

  Mueller stared at me like he knew I wasn’t telling him everything, but I wasn’t about to give away my best lead to him or anyone else.

  “I might not know much about witchcraft, but I’m pretty sure there’s no formula that could’ve backfired and created something like this,” Mueller said. I’d thought the same thing. “If you find anything else, let me know.”

  “Of course,” I said. Mueller nodded and walked off toward the police cruiser, leaving Blaine and his crew to deal with the fire. If it was anything like the last one, they’d probably have to do their best to contain it until it ran out of tinder and suffocated itself.

  “I better get back to it. But between you and me, there’s no way this was an accident,” Blaine said as he mounted his broom.

  “I know,” I said. Blaine nodded and kicked off the ground, leaving me with nothing but his dust and thoughts of Lorelei Riddle swimming through my mind.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Head Warlock Heath Highmore’s gavel slammed against its sound block, silencing everyone in the room. The Council had called an emergency meeting to discuss the fire at Hypnotic Tonics, and even if I hadn’t been directly tied to the incident, I would’ve made sure Mitch allowed me to cover it — and to get face time with Lorelei.

  “Fellow citizens of Moon Grove,” Heath said from where he stood on the raised dais, his magically-amplified voice bouncing off the walls of the cavernous town hall. “It brings me no pleasure to assemble you all today.”

  Grunts and grumbles from the audience of reporters and townsfolk responded, but I was glued to my seat in the front row, pen and paper at the ready. Beau sat beside me smiling warmly as the room settled, probably grateful it wasn’t me facing questioning this time. I’d caught him up on everything before the start of the meeting.

  Lorelei sat at the left edge of the other Council members, straight-backed and stern while she avoided my eyes. Of everyone in front of me, she was the one I cared about most — and come spell or high water, I needed to get her alone at some point.

  “As you may or may not know, Hypnotic Tonics burned last night,” Heath continued over the last rustlings of people getting situated. “It is with great mourning I must report that Hilda Blackwood, the shop’s owner, passed away in the blaze.”

  Crickets. Either no one remembered who Hilda was or they just thought she was a crazy old hippy not worth caring about — or both. Though I didn’t dare turn around to check, I felt dozens of pairs of eyeballs on the back of my head. No doubt word had gotten around that I was at the scene, but I was just doing my job.

  “In an effort to communicate the circumstances to you and to further understand the situation, I’ve invited Sage Snow, Hilda’s shop assistant and apprentice, to join us to answer some questions this afternoon,” Heath said as he sat down and scooted his chair up to the dais.

  My eyes flitted to Sage, who sat in the same chair I’d occupied less than a week ago when all of Moon Grove’s scrutiny was laser-focused on me. Though Sage had done her makeup before the meeting, it’d already run down her face with her tears and the sleeves of her violet robes were stained where she’d wiped herself clean. Her hair laid loosely across her shoulders, tangled and unbrushed.

  It was difficult not to feel sorry for her.

  “Ms. Snow, thank you for joining us,” Heath said. Sage nodded without saying anything; she didn’t have much choice in the matter.

  “Before we get started, I want to be clear in stating that this meeting is simply that: a meeting. You aren’t in any danger, legal or otherwise, by being here. The Council only seeks information,” Heath said. Again, Sage nodded.

  “I understand,” she said, her trembling voice barely audible.

  “Good. Please begin by telling us the first thing you can remember about last night,” Heath said.

  “It was mundane. Hilda and I had just finished closing the shop for the night and I was in the storeroom taking inventory like I always do at the end of the day,” Sage said.

  “Inventory? I assume that means so you know what more to produce?” Heath asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Sage answered. “Nothing is outsourced. All of our tonics are made by hand.”

  “Impressive, and good to know. So, you didn’t see or hear anything out of the ordinary before the shop caught fire?” Heath asked. Sage stared at Lorelei and though Lorelei never moved, I felt her crawling out of her skin.

  “No, nothing,” Sage said. I knew she was lying — or at least she was based on what she’d told me about Lorelei storming into the shop — but what was I supposed to say? I couldn’t prove it anyway and the Council had heard more than enough from me lately.

  “I see. Then what do you think happened to cause a fire like the one last night?” Heath asked.

  “I’m not sure, sir, but I have a suspicion. Hilda and I have been working on a new tonic, something that could put out fires like last night’s, but we haven’t been able to perfect it.”

  “What was wrong with it, if I may ask?” Heath asked. Sage shrugged.

  “It was just as unpredictable as the fire it was designed to contain,” Sage said. She seemed oddly comfortable talking about it.

  “Then do you think that could have been what caused the fire?” Heath asked.

/>   “Yes. But it just as easily could’ve been something or someone else,” Sage said, her eyes locked on Lorelei. My entire body went rigid. Was Sage really about to implicate Lorelei in front of all her peers?

  “Such as?” Heath asked.

  “Her,” Sage said, jabbing a finger at Lorelei, who looked like she might explode. “Everyone knows she never wanted our shop to open.”

  “That’s a ridiculous accusation and far out of order,” Lorelei spat as she slammed her palms against the dais. “The only thing I was concerned about was making sure the consumers of your tonics were safe. Clearly, I had reason to worry.”

  “No, the only thing you cared about was your bottom line,” Sage snapped. Heath’s brows furrowed and all the Council members looked at Lorelei as she sputtered.

  “She’s inventing stories to distract from her own culpability,” Lorelei said as she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulders.

  “Is she?” Councilwoman Bloodworth asked, hunched over the dais to look Lorelei in the eye. She pushed her oversized glasses up her hooked nose with a trembling hand and waited for an answer.

  “She is,” Lorelei said as if that settled it.

  “No, I’m not,” Sage interrupted. “Councilwoman Riddle gave Hilda a loan to start Hypnotic Tonics in exchange for a slice of the profits and got scared of being found out when people started asking questions.”

  Well, the cat was out of the bag now.

  An audible gasp tore through the town hall and turned into a roar of conversation. Was this why Sage didn’t tell Mueller about Lorelei? If she wanted attention cast on Lorelei’s involvement, it’d worked. Heath slammed his gavel down several times to bring order back to the room.

  “That’s a serious accusation, Ms. Snow,” Heath said.

  “It is, and I would’ve had proof via the contract they signed if the Councilwoman hadn’t burned our shop to the ground,” Sage said to another roar of reactions. Stunned, I scribbled a note and elbowed Beau. His eyes were as wide as full moons.

  “If there were a contract, you’d have a copy yourself, would you not, Councilwoman?” Heath asked Lorelei. She squirmed in her seat.

  “No, because there is no contract. She’s lying,” Lorelei said, flustered, but it didn’t seem that way to me. Where Lorelei couldn’t sit still, Sage was like a rock: firm and unmoving while she stared at Lorelei.

  Heath didn’t look like he believed her either. Still, he must’ve known this wasn’t leading to anything productive because he hammered the sound block with his gavel again.

  “Based on this new information, I’m afraid we must call a close to this meeting for the time being while we re-evaluate,” Heath said to shouts of disapproval. “Ms. Snow, we’ll need to keep you in custody for now, as I’m sure you understand.”

  Sage nodded as two of the Council’s gargoyle guards approached to escort her out of the room.

  I couldn’t blame anyone in the room for being upset — I wanted information just as much as they did, and if they weren’t willing to give it to us voluntarily, I’d just have to weasel it out of them.

  Lorelei shoved back from the dais and set off in a hurry toward the exit without saying a word to any of her colleagues. I bolted up and tossed my pad of paper on the chair behind me to intercept her before she had the chance to get away for good.

  “Zoe, what are you doing?!” Beau shouted after me, but I ignored him. Lorelei had just reached the bottom of the dais’ stairs when I blocked her path, my arms crossed. Her face twisted and she made to step around me but I moved with her.

  “Get out of my way, Ms. Clarke, or I’ll have you removed,” Lorelei said and as if they’d been waiting, I felt stone-cold air rolling off the skin of two of another pair of gargoyle guards. Though a chill ripped through me and my heart fluttered in my chest, I wasn’t going to be intimidated by her or anyone else.

  “Look, you can either talk to me now and keep some amount of control over the story or you can let it run away from you with speculation at the reins. Your choice,” I said.

  Lorelei fumed, but as more people approached shouting questions, she nodded to the gargoyles. They carved a path for us through the sea of residents and held steady as we fought through to Lorelei’s office.

  With the two of us safely inside, the gargoyles slammed the door shut and the noise from outside ceased as if we’d stepped into a vacuum. Were the doors magically sealed to protect whatever the Council members wanted to talk about inside?

  “This is unbelievable,” Lorelei mumbled as she stepped around the various boxes lying on the floor. It looked like she hadn’t been in the office long — or if she had she hadn’t done a very good job of unpacking.

  She collapsed into the tired, torn office chair behind her littered desk and held her head in her hands. I’d never seen Lorelei so out of sorts before, not even when I showed up at her house. Like her daughter, Lorelei was normally as cold and hard as steel, but sitting across from me at that moment she just looked broken.

  “Is it true?” I asked, and she jumped like she’d forgotten I was there. She looked me in the eyes like she was looking through me rather than at me.

  “Is what true?” she asked.

  “Your loan to Hilda for Hypnotic Tonics,” I said. She withered in her chair and slowly nodded her head.

  “It is,” Lorelei said. “I can’t believe I’m telling you of all people this, but yes, it’s true,” she laughed, her hands thrown in the air.

  “Then was it you who firebombed the store? I know you were there yesterday demanding to know why Sage and Hilda had talked to me,” I said. No sense in beating around the bush.

  “Are you serious? If I gave someone my last few dollars to open up a shop with the expectation of making more money back, why would I blow it all up?” she asked. She had a point, but wait, her last few dollars? What reasonable person loaned all of their savings to an unproven business — and why?

  “More than that, I’m a newly-appointed member of the Council who’s already under scrutiny thanks to my daughter’s actions. My family’s reputation has suffered enough. I wouldn’t dream of doing anything to bring draw further suspicion on us,” she said.

  “Then why did you strike a deal you had to know was a major conflict of interest?” I asked.

  “I wasn’t yet on the Council when Hilda and I made the deal,” Lorelei said.

  “But didn’t you think it was a good idea to disclose that deal when you were appointed, just to be safe?” I asked.

  “No. The other Council members would never have voted to confirm my appointment if they knew,” Lorelei said.

  “Confirm you? How did you get on the Council anyway?” I asked. I’d always wondered since there wasn’t an election.

  “I was appointed. It’s rare, but the Head Witch and Warlock both have the power to bypass an election by appointing someone to the Council in the case of an emergency,” Lorelei said.

  Then why would Heath choose Lorelei of all people? He seemed far too cautious not to have noticed something was off about her — like the fact that her daughter was in jail for murdering a teacher and a fellow student.

  “Why didn’t the Council announce it? I had no idea you’d joined them until I came before you recently,” I said.

  “Heath didn’t want to make a scene of it. There’s been enough commotion politically and otherwise in this town, the last thing he wanted was to create more,” Lorelei said. Well, again, he sure chose an odd candidate for that goal.

  “He’s not wrong. Anyway, why did you make a deal with Hilda in the first place? You don’t seem like the impulsive type.”

  “No, far from it under normal circumstances,” Lorelei laughed. “But these are hardly normal circumstances. My family is broke, Ms. Clarke. I needed a way to make money, desperately, and I thought a small investment in a business that was sure to take off would pay, but none of it matters now because Hypnotic Tonics and Hilda both are cinders.”

  “How did your family go broke? Th
e Riddles are one of the oldest, richest families in this town,” I said.

  “Because of you, frankly,” Lorelei laughed. “The fines and legal bills involved with defending murderous daughters are quite high, as I’m sure you can imagine.”

  There wasn’t any point in telling her I was sorry because I wasn’t. As painful as it must’ve been for Lorelei and her family to go through, it was much better for Aurelia to be behind bars. She was too dangerous.

  But the more I talked to Lorelei, the less I believed she was murderous herself. I walked to her desk and sat down on the corner of it.

  “Then where did you get the money to invest in Hilda’s shop if you were so broke?” I asked.

  “It was the last of the inheritance Claudette left my husband,” Lorelei said. “At the rate we were burning through it, I knew the money would be gone in a matter of weeks. I thought I could make the last of it work for me by striking a deal with Hilda to share her profits, which I thought would be astronomical, but Lilith was I ever wrong.”

  “I’m confused. You loaned Hilda money so she could start her shop, but then somewhere along the way you became her biggest obstacle. What happened?” I asked.

  “Hilda happened,” Lorelei laughed. “I should’ve known better than to go into business with someone so disorganized.”

  “Was the business not doing well?” I asked. I already had the answer to that, but I wanted to hear it from her mouth.

  “The problem started long before the business opened,” Lorelei said. “It became clear to me very early on that Hilda had no idea what it took to get a business off the ground, much less turn it into a successful money maker.”

  “How so?”

  “Thanks to its legacy and age, there are strict restrictions on opening new stores and services within Moon Grove’s borders so new ventures are inspected and regulated within inches of their lives,” Lorelei said.

  “Interesting.”

  “More like infuriating, but thanks to my prior career as a businesswoman I’ve been around the regulation block a few times, so I thought I could help Hilda through the process. But each time she was inspected, she was either unprepared, a no-show, or fell flat on her face. I started to worry the shop would get shut down before it ever opened so I decided to try to, well, motivate her and Sage a bit more,” Lorelei said.