Cassidy Jones and the Secret Formula (16 page)

“Charlie and I have discussed the possibility of her being kidnapped, and, honestly, Drake, neither of us see that as likely. No one came through here without proper authorization. I know, because I was right here.” She tapped her nails on the desk. “Charlie and I both were. He only left when the fire alarm went off.” She paused. “But let’s say someone did sneak her out right under our noses. Charlie would be the one to talk to about theories of how that would be done. He’s worked here for twenty years and knows this building inside and out.” Her eyes moved to Emery. “Now, you probably know Charlie, don’t you? Isn’t he a good man?”

“Yes,
Charlie
is a good man,” Emery agreed.

Catching the emphasis, her smile grew. “Charlie is heartsick about your mother’s disappearance.” Pausing, she waited for him to respond. When he didn’t, her eyes shifted to Dad. “I wish I could have been more helpful, Drake. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the police find her soon.” Holding up a hand, she crossed her middle finger over her index finger, smiling.

“Ours are, too, Miss Heart,” Dad reassured, in a purposeful tone.

Without writing information down, she handed their licenses back to them. “Gentlemen, you should get moving. You don’t want to keep Detective Conlin waiting.”

As we ascended the stairs, Ben whispered to Dad, “I’ve met some trippy women in my time, but that one is a creep show.”

Dad laughed low. “She did set off all the alarms. I can’t imagine Bob didn’t check into her carefully.”

~~~

Standing in the lab’s doorway, my mouth dropped. Almost a third of the room was charred. A huge, blackened heap near what had been the professor’s desk looked to be the source of the blaze. Scattered around the heap were notebooks and files that had survived the bonfire, or at least, had partially survived.

The burnt smell hung heavy in the air. In the scorch, I picked out an unusual scent. It was strong, sweet, very distinct, and familiar. Unfortunately, I couldn’t put my finger on where I had smelled it before.

Detective Conlin waved at us to come in. Detective Reed and a police officer also stood in the room.

Quickly, Dad and Ben ducked under the yellow crime scene tape, entering the lab.

I glanced up at Emery’s face. He stared into the room.

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

He smiled, composed. “Ladies first,” he said, gesturing at the yellow tape.

Somehow, that answered my question. Being the only “lady,” I ducked under the tape.

After ducking under the tape himself, his eyes fixed on the torched heap to the left. Without saying a word, Emery briskly headed left, as I headed toward my crime scene on the right.

The stool lay on the floor, one leg collapsed, but the beakers had been removed from the counter. After a quick survey, I noticed them in the sink, filled with water. On the counter’s top, there were no rings to indicate something wet had pooled. Running my fingers across the laminate surface, it was smooth. Formula 10X had left no evidence behind. Lastly, I observed my blood staining the counter’s edge. There were also stains splattered on the floor.

Before entering the room, I had expected to experience a range of emotions. I thought, at the very least, I’d burst into tears. However, my eyes were dry and my emotions unstirred. Even breathing in the scent of my blood didn’t produce much of anything.

A throat cleared behind me. “We tested it and know it’s yours,” Detective Conlin said.

I looked up at him.

He smiled. “That’s a lot of blood. Like I said, you are a lucky girl.”

Yeah, real lucky.

Dad approached us. “Bob, I wanted to ask you about the security guard downstairs.”

Detective Conlin laughed. “I’m assuming you’re referring to the bashful one. When she flashed those baby blues at me, all my red flags flapped, too. We raked them both over. Nothing came up on either, and they both have airtight alibis.”

Detective Reed caught my attention. Standing near the door, he watched Detective Conlin nervously.

“No,” Emery suddenly said, so low that only I could hear him. “Not this.” Turning to him, I saw he sat next to the bonfire remnants. In his hands he held a severely seared notebook.

“I’ll be right back,” I mumbled to Dad and Detective Conlin, who continued their conversation. Moving quickly across the room, I knelt beside Emery. Glancing at the notebook he held, I observed only about a quarter of each page had been untouched by the fire. What survived was barely legible.

“Emery, what is it?” I whispered.

Staring at the notebook remnants, he shook his head slowly. “I told her to keep backups. She wouldn’t. She’s too old-fashioned. Now this is all that’s left. It’s gone.
Completely
gone,” he said in disbelief.

The hollow tone of his voice frightened me. “What, Emery?” I asked in a dry whisper. “What’s gone?”

Turning to me, his eyes were troubled, apologetic. “Cassidy, I’m so sorry, but this is all that’s left of Formula 10X.” He lifted the seared pages in his hands.

My thoughts were a confused swirl. “I don’t understand. Please, tell me what this means,” I pleaded, too loudly.

Suddenly, Ben stood over me. “What’s wrong?” he asked me.

Raising my chin to look at his anxious face, I shook my head. I couldn’t answer. I didn’t know how to answer.

Bending over me, his eyes narrowed on the notebook, trying to decipher the undecipherable.

“What did you find?” Detective Conlin asked, leaning over Emery’s shoulder. “What is that?”

Staring in my eyes, Emery answered him in an even voice, “This was my mom’s gene therapy notebook.”

The detective’s expression was blank, not comprehending the significance.

Squatting on Emery’s other side, Dad stared down at the singed page. His expression was apprehensive. “Is this her recent
research?” he asked.

Studying Dad’s face, Emery said, “You understand, don’t you, Mr. Jones? You understand this is the only reason someone would abduct her.”

“Why do you think that?” Detective Conlin demanded.

Turning his face up to the detective, Emery stated coolly, “This is the only thing that made her valuable. Don’t you see? They didn’t want her gene therapy. They only want her, and I don’t know why.”

Though I heard his words, processing them proved difficult with the words,
Cassidy, I’m so sorry,
screaming in the background.

Eleven

During the drive home, my mind began functioning, unfortunately. I understood that the scorched notebook Emery held had been my hope against hope. Formula 10X would most likely have to be recreated to help me. Now that it had been destroyed, I was all that remained of the secret formula.

Quietly nibbling on a tasteless chicken nugget, I realized hope wasn’t completely dead. There was still a glimmer. We just needed to find her.

I glanced at Emery next to me. Munching on an onion ring, he stared down at his Droid, reading another text message. He had been texting with Riley since we had gotten into the car.

Let’s see what she has to report
, I said to myself, pressing my back into the seat and tucking my chin so I could glimpse the Droid screen. My eyes followed along as Emery typed out a response. I wasn’t a master acronym interpreter, so it took me a second to decode:
Will hang tight for now
.

He’s leaving
, I realized, my throat tightening up.
He can’t leave!
Not now. Not me
. My eyes filled with tears, and I could feel sobs build up in my throat.
I don’t want to
be alone
.
What am I going to do?
Before I could stifle it, a small sob slipped out.

Emery turned his head to me. Seeing my expression, his became concerned. His eyes jumped to Dad and Ben, who were chatting in the front seat. Confirming the men were preoccupied, he dipped his head to my ear. “I won’t leave you,” he whispered, understanding the cause of my panic.

My head jerked in an uncertain nod.

His hand moved to my jaw. Surprised, I allowed him to turn my face to his. “I won’t leave you,” he repeated, looking steadily at me.

Staring into those sincere onyx orbs, I felt fear and uncertainty melt away. Suddenly, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could trust Emery. He took his promises very seriously. “Thank you,” I whispered, quickly brushing a tear from my cheek. “I know you won’t.”

A smile touched Emery’s lips as his hand dropped from my face. Then he moved away and settled back in the seat.

Crisis diverted
, I thought, watching him return to the text I had interrupted, as though nothing had just passed between us. The intensity of those seconds still had my heart thumping like a rabbit.

“You going to eat those fries?” Ben asked, interrupting my thoughts.

I looked at his grinning face and then down at the half-full container I clutched in my hand. I had completely forgotten about it. “Have at it.” I handed him the container. “And don’t forget the ketchup—you need your vegetables.”

~~~

As we walked through the front door, Batman greeted us. This costume was obvious because his black T-shirt had
BATMAN
plastered across the front.

“Hi there, Batman,” I said.

Not realizing he was labeled, Chazz grinned. “That’s right, Cassidy.” Pushing the black cape behind his shoulders, his face became solemn. “I’m glad you’re here. Joker and his henchmen have been giving me some trouble. Will you help me get them?”

I wanted to give his cute round cheeks a million kisses. “Taking out henchmen is what I do best.” I needed a diversion, even if that meant karate-chopping invisible bad guys.

“What about you, Emery?” Chazz asked in a deep voice.

“Yes, I’ll help. I need to see what the Joker looks like first. Do you have a comic book with him in it?”

Thrilled to have willing participants, Chazz replied enthusiastically, “Yep, I’ll get it. You and Cassidy go to the living room and wait.” With that, he dashed up the stairs with the black cape flapping behind him.

Emery motioned toward the living room. “We need to talk.”

“Yes, we do,” I agreed, walking into the living room.

I flopped down in one wingback chair, and Emery sat in the other.

“Your parents are in your dad’s office,” he said, looking at me. “Keep an ear out for them.”

“Ears are out,” I assured, leaning toward him. “Now, why were you going to leave?”

He smiled. “This wasn’t the discussion I had in mind. For time’s sake, we’ll have to get back to your question. It will take Chazz only minutes to find the Batman comic books on Nate’s dresser. They didn’t get put back with the rest.”

“You know where they are? Then why—” I began, and then thought,
Duh
. “Scary clever of you, Emery. So, tell me what’s going on.”