"Alchemy of Love"
by Belle Book

Author's notes:  In this section, Chase men-
tions a suicide, but it is not shown.

Part One

6 PM Paris time, Madrid, July 24, 2001

	Chase Devineaux wandered around
the grounds of the Royal Palace, quietly
thinking to himself.  Once it was the home 
of the Spanish Royal Family, and now it 
was a museum.
	It had been nearly a month since
that fateful day when Jaci nearly died be-
cause Carmen's bridge collapsed just before
she reached safety.  Nearly a month since
he kissed her.
	He could remember it so well, and
that was what was bothering him.  He had
decided that if he wanted to be a great
undercover detective, he would have to
not get entangled in serious romantic re-
lationships, especially with young women 
like Jaci.  But what had triggered his 
decision was something far more personal.
	

 he thought as thoughts of A-
melia came into his head.  Ever since the
time he kissed Jaci, he'd thought too much
about that young woman.
	"Hola, senor.  What's troubling
you?" a woman asked in Spanish.
	Chase turned -- to see a young wo-
man about his age standing beside him.  She
wore a brown jacket, a tan shirt, and tan
pants.  Her hair was black while her eyes
appeared green.
	Chase frowned.  He was definitely
not going to tell a stranger what was on
his mind.  Not when he was having such a
hard time thinking of whether or not he
should even tell Jaci of what was on his
mind.
	"What makes you think I'm trou-
bled?" he asked.
	"You looked like a young man who
is struggling with something and trying
to deal with it," said the woman.  "Why
don't you tell me what's troubling you?
Maybe I can help."
	"You're a complete stranger!" cri-
ed Chase.
	"You'd be surprised just how ma-
ny people are willing to confide secrets
to perfect strangers," said the woman.
	Chase frowned again.  Then he de-
cided.  "Are you a senora or a senorita?"
	"A senorita."
	"Well, you're right.  Something is
troubling me.  Something very personal."
	"A woman?" asked the stranger.
	"Sort of," admitted Chase.  "She
loves me, and I'm feeling something strong-
er than friendship for her.  But there's
a painful memory of another woman, and a
romance with her that went sour.  That's
all I can say."
	"How close are you to the woman
who loves you?" asked the stranger.
	"We're very good friends," Chase
said.
	"Why don't you tell her what is
on your mind?" she suggested.  "That might
help you figure out what you should do a-
bout your relationship with her.  Think
about it."
	And with that, she left Chase a-
lone, to think.
	He stared around him, and sudden-
ly, felt as if a foggy cloud had lifted, 
and for the first time he saw what he must 
do.
	But not tonight.  He must confide
in Jaci tomorrow.
	And before leaving Madrid via the
C-5, he spent some time thinking of just
how he'd confide in her.

***************************************************************************

10:27 AM Pacific Time, San Francisco, July 25

	Ivy and Zack had been at Acme HQ for
almost a half-hour now.  They were hoping
for some news as to what Carmen was up to.
	It had been a month since Carmen had
attempted to steal the excerpts for "La Vida
Breve" and failed, leading to the chase that
might well have killed Jaci if Chase hadn't
rescued her.  A whole month of absolutely
nothing from Carmen!  What was she up to?
Ivy had to know, and know soon.
	The C-5 opened up then, depositing
Globie, a fellow Acme agent from Canada who
was as obssessed with capturing Carmen as
Ivy was.  Perhaps even more so.
	"Globie!" cried Zack.  "What's up,
buddy?"
	"Well, you know that a few days ago,
Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France for
the third time, barely beating out Marco
Pantani?" Globie asked.
	"Sure do," said Zack.
	"Well, if you have nothing to do,
I'm going to see if I can get his auto-
graph," said Globie.  "Jaci got one when
he was in the Pyrenees, and I'd like to
get one.  Would you like to come with me?"

(Author's notes:  Globie's been pestering
me to get a famous person in this fic, and
one of the guys he's mentioned was Lance
Armstrong.  I can't really get him to ap-
pear in this fic, but I can mention him.
Since the fic is taking place in 2001, I
decided to write it as if he'd just re-
cently won the Tour de France.  If he
loses the Tour de France next year, it's
just fantasy, after all.  I decided to
mention Lance because I admire him for
coming back from cancer to win the Tour
two times in a row.)

	"Well, we have to be certain that
Carmen hasn't struck, but if she hasn't,
I see no reason why Zack can't come with
you," said Ivy.  "We're both glad that
he's done so well after that bout with
cancer."
	"Thanks!" said Globie.
	"Speaking of Jaci," said Zack, "I
don't know if you heard about this, but
she had a close call the last time we all
chased Carmen."
	"I heard something about it," said
Globie.
	"Well, Ivy and I have been wonder-
ing if there's something between Chase and
Jaci," Zack said.  "We saw Chase hug Jaci
very tightly, and they didn't even seem
to notice that Carmen was there until her
helicopter arrived."
	"I hate to cut this conversation
short, but this just came in from Crime-
net," said the Chief.  "Carmen's just been
spotted in the Kyoto University Museum!"
	"What did she steal?" asked Ivy.
	"That's what you three have to dis-
cover," said the Chief.  "Assuming you want
to accompany them, Globie."
	"I sure do!" cried Globie.  "I al-
ways want to capture Carmen!"
	"Looks like your trip's going to
have to wait until another time," said
Ivy.
	"You're not the only one who des-
perately wants to catch Carmen," said Glo-
bie.
	The C-5 corridor opened and Zack,
Ivy, and Globie disappeared inside it.

***************************************************************************

3:29 AM, Kyoto, Japan

	The detectives arrived at the Kyoto
University Museum, where they were greeted
by the director.
	"Konnichiwa," said Zack, who knew
Japanese (as well as a number of other lan-
guages).  "What happened?"
	"Carmen got away with a manuscript
that was from the year 1372.  It's a copy
of the world's first novel."
	"What novel?" asked Zack.
	"The Tale of Genji," said the dir-
ector of the museum.
	"What would she want with it?" ask-
ed Globie.
	"Want with what?" asked the Chief.
	"A copy of The Tale of Genji, from
the year 1372," said Ivy.
	"The copy's from the year 1372,"
said the director.  "The novel is from a
considerably earlier time, in the eleven-
th century."
	"Uh-oh!" said the Chief.  "If you
will excuse me, I have to get backup and
fast!"
	"Why do we need backup?" Globie
asked.
	"Because you don't recognize the
significance of what Carmen stole," said
the Chief.  "I do, and so will the backup
I'm getting."
	"Well, if our backup can help us
find out what Carmen would want with this
copy, then go ahead and get this backup,"
said Ivy.
	"All right!" said the Chief and
then he vanished.

*************************************************************************** 

Meanwhile, in Madrid --

	Jaci walked beside Chase toward the
Fountain of Cibeles.  She loved this place.
And she had loved the fact that Chase had
asked her to go to dinner with him.
	But now, she frowned as she notic-
ed Chase's nervousness.  He seemed like he
wanted to say something, but was having a
hard time saying it.
	She had to get Chase to tell her
what was wrong, but she knew she should
do so delicately.
	"Chase, is there something troub-
ling you?" she asked.  "If so, would you
like to tell me what it is?"
	Chase laughed, then took a seat
on a bench near the fountain.  Jaci sat
beside him.
	"Part of me doesn't want to, but
I think I should do so," he said.  "First,
I must tell you that ever since that kiss
in your office, I've been avoiding you."
	Jaci stared at him in genuine sur-
prise.
	Within the past year, unless Chase
had been working on an undercover case, he
had managed to spend time with her once a
month, just developing their friendship.
And she'd been so happy about confessing
her love to Chase that she hadn't consider-
ed the possibility that Chase might well
be disturbed by the fact that she'd fall-
en in love with him, or the possibility
that he might've fallen in love with her
as well.  But appparently she was mis-
taken.
	"Why?" she asked.
	"It's a long story," said Chase.
"You see, when I was seventeen, I was pair-
ed in one class with a girl who was about 
sixteen.  Her name was Amelia, and she was 
very beautiful, glamorously so, as a mat-
ter of fact.  This was the first class we 
had together at Acme Academy.  In short, we 
fell in love, and I thought things would go 
wonderfully.  But -- it didn't."
	"What happened?" asked Jaci.
	"Several things," Chase said.  "But
none of them until after graduation.  I was
going to be an undercover detective, and A-
melia was going into computer work -- she
was really great at it.  But I couldn't do
undercover work until I was twenty-one, of
course, so I was being trained by an expert
while being paired with another, more ex-
perienced detective."
	"Good idea," said Jaci. "I mean,
not letting you do undercover work until
you were twenty-one."  He nodded.
	"But Amelia was beginning to act
strange.  Paranoid, as a matter of fact.
She was accusing me of things I never e-
ven considered.  At first, she thought I 
was flirting with other girls, and consi-
dering breaking up with her.  I wasn't do-
ing either.  But then, she began to claim 
that one of the girls she thought was flirt-
ing with me was trying to kill her, and 
that I was in on it," said Chase.
	"We had a real argument about it 
one night.  And the next day, I had to take 
a case with my partner.  I was upset over 
the charges, and not thinking straight.  In 
short, I got myself captured by the gang of 
thieves we were investigating, and got shot 
in the shoulder before my partner got me a-
way from the thieves."
	"Oh, no," gasped Jaci.
	"The wound wasn't serious, and for-
tunately, my partner wasn't hurt by them,
but I had gotten the message," said Chase.
"I decided that I had to break up with A-
melia.  I also decided she had to get some
professional help.  The night Amelia came
to the hospital, I told her that she had to
get professional help, then told her that
I could no longer be her boyfriend as long
as she didn't get professional help.  The
next day --" he broke off, then turned a-
way.
	Jaci placed a hand on his shoulder,
and Chase turned back to her.  He then said,
"The next day -- Amelia killed herself."
	"Oh no!" Jaci cried now.
	"I won't go into details, except to
say that in her note, she blamed me," Chase
said.  "And indeed I felt responsible.  I
also decided to focus on my work, and not
let personal relationships get in the way.
When I became an undercover detective, that
extended to a determination not to become
involved with any woman beyond friendship."
	"And when I told you that I loved
you, you became alarmed?" asked Jaci.
	"Yes," said Chase.  "I'm not will-
ing to get romantically involved with a wo-
man.  Especially one like you."
	"And you're afraid that a romance 
will put you in danger during a mission," 
said Jaci.  Chase frowned, then nodded.
	"Actually, I'm afraid that a ser-
ious romance will put me in danger during
a mission," he clarified.  "I have had a
few casual relationships with women, but
I did let the women know I didn't want to
be serious with them.  But I can't do that
with you.  I don't want to have a casual
relationship with someone I'm very good
friends with and who loves me as deeply
as you do.  So I'd prefer to remain just
very good friends with someone like you."
	"I can understand why you'd think
that way, but you were probably still only
eighteen then," said Jaci.  "You're older
now, about thirty-two.  More disciplined.
Besides, from what I've heard, Amelia ap-
pears to have been mentally ill, possibly
suffering from schizophrenia or depress-
ion."
	"There was a history of both dis-
orders in her family," Chase admitted.
	"So, she may have had both prob-
lems," said Jaci.  "I don't.  True, you
may have been responsible for getting so
distracted that you got captured and shot,
but I don't think you're to blame for the
distraction, Amelia's illness was."
	Chase looked as if he didn't quite
believe her, so Jaci simply stepped closer
and hugged him.  He hugged her tightly in
return, trembling as he did so.
	Finally, his trembling ceased.  She 
lifted her head and asked, "Are you feeling 
better now?"
	"Yes," he said.  "Strangely so.  I
might as well tell you that I might not have
told you if last night, I didn't happen to
be on the grounds of the old Royal Palace
when some woman approached me and asked me
to tell her what was wrong.  I didn't tell
her everything, but I said enough that she
advised me to tell you what was on my mind."
	"What did she look like?" asked Jaci.
	"She wore a brown jacket, a tan shirt, 
and tan pants," said Chase.  "She had black 
hair and green eyes.  I think her hair was
tied back in a ponytail.  However, now that
I think of it, she seemed vaguely familiar."
	That's when Chase's communicator
beeped!  He let Jaci go, then activated it.
	"Chase Devineaux here," he said.
	The Chief appeared.  "Hot tip for
you!  Carmen Sandiego just struck at the
Kyoto University Museum!"
	Jaci frowned. 

she thought.
This was the second time she stole something
from that museum.  The last time it was a
copy of the Tale of Genji that was from the
year 1372.
	"Globie, Zack, and Ivy are there now,
and when I learned what she stole, I told
them I was sending for back-up.  And you two
are the back-up."
	Chase asked, "You mean she stole the
Tale of Genji copy again?"
	"That's right!" said the Chief.
	"We're coming then," said Jaci.  She
turned and said, "Player, C-5 us to the Land
of the Rising Sun!"
	The C-5 corridor opened and the two
detectives leapt into it as the Chief said,
"Ah, Japan, both one of the most modernized
countries in the world and one of the most
ancient countries in the world.  Paradoxical,
isn't it?  Kyoto was for many years the cap-
ital of Japan until the Meiji era, when the
capital was moved to Tokyo, then called Edo.
During the Heian era, Lady Murasaki Shikibu
wrote the first novel ever, called The Tale
of Genji, about the adventure and misadven-
tures of a young illegitamate prince called
Genji.  Hang on, next stop is the Kyoto Univ-
ersity Museum!"

_____________________________________________________________________________

To be continued