"Alchemy of Love" by Belle Book Part Six Back in the room -- As Chase leaned forward and bent his head down to kiss her, Jaci leaned forward herself, and they kissed as her eyes closed. Jaci's heart was beating very fast as she relaxed into Chase's embrace. When his arms tightened around her and he began to deepen the kiss, her heart began to beat wildly, and she began to tremble. He must have felt it, for she then felt him strok- ing her back with a soft, tender touch. For a few precious moments, the two kissed, then Jaci felt Chase lift his head. She opened her eyes, and saw him smiling tenderly down at her. That's when the communicator began to beep! Immediately the two drew apart, and Jaci saw Chase open his communicator, say- ing, "Devineaux here." Globie's voice burst out, "Are you two all right? We couldn't get a signal on you until just now!" "We're fine," Jaci said. "But we're locked in a room on the second floor, a cou- ple of rooms away from the stairs." "Ivy and I will be there right away," said Globie as he broke the connection. Chase then turned off the communica- tor, and turning, said, "You remember how we first met?" Jaci smiled. "Sure do, Chase," she replied. "I had just finished examining your file when I heard a polite cough and saw a shadow fall over me. I had already seen your picture by that point and knew that you were very handsome. So when I looked up, I saw that you were handsomer than your picture. "After we discovered we were well- suited to working together, I indicated my attraction, but you told me we should just have a working relationship if we were to become partners. I was disappointed, but I figured you had your reasons." "I'd heard a story of a psycolo- gist who fell in love with a patient of his the year before I met you," Chase ex- plained. "The scandal had ruined his ca- reer, and what was worse, he was a psych- ologist whom I'd known for years. He was a friend of my father's, you see. When I met you and realized we were mutually at- tracted, I didn't want the same thing to happen to us. That's why I put up those boundaries." "You never told me you were as at- tracted to me as I was to you back then," Jaci said. "I was afraid to," Chase said. That's when they heard the sounds of someone trying to break the door down! Turning, Jaci saw the door break open, and Globie and Ivy enter the room. "Chase! Jaci! Glad to see you're all right!" Ivy cried. "You'll also be glad to hear that the stolen goods are in this room," said Chase. He pointed to the table. "Glo- bie, why don't you get the manuscript of The Tale of Genji? Jaci, you can get the handwritten score of 'Tristan und Isolde', while I get the First Folio." "And then, we'd better go and join Zack and Jasmine, who are trying to decode a clue Carmen left for us," said Globie as he, Jaci, and Chase went to pick up the stolen goods. ************************************************************************* A couple of minutes later -- Chase looked at the clue Carmen had left attached to the Lovers Tarot card. Neither he nor Jaci were in the least bit surprised to see that Carmen had attached the clue to the Lovers Ta- rot card. After all, that was Carmen's theme the whole time. On the note was a bunch of num- bers between 1900 and 2000, the phrase Vulpes velox, and the quote, "I've grown accustomed to her face/ She almost makes the day begin." "Vulpes velox is the scientific name for the kit fox," said Zack. "It roams the grasslands and deserts of the western parts of North America." Suddenly, Jaci gasped. "What is it?" Chase asked. "This!" Jaci cried, pointing to the quote. "'I've grown accustomed to her face/ She almost makes the day be- gin'. It's from 'My Fair Lady'!" "Of course!" cried Ivy. "I've seen the movie a couple of times. It stars Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins and Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Do- little." The Chief said, "It was written by Lerner and Leowe from a stage play by George Bernard Shaw named 'Pygmalion'. The play is named after the myth about a sculptor named Pygmalion who falls in love with his creation, named Galatea. He prays to the goddess Venus to bring Galatea to life, and she does so." Chase then noticed something a- bout the numbers. "Who distributed the play?" "Twentieth Century Fox, I think," said Jasmine. "Why?" "The numbers," said Chase, point- ing to the numbers on the note. "Every number could correspond to a year in the 20th century!" "So Carmen's after something re- lated to 'My Fair Lady' at Twentieth Cen- tury Fox?" said Zack. "But why use the scientific name for the kit fox?" "Because Twentieth Century Fox has its headquarters in the Los Angeles area, and the kit fox is the most common fox in the area," said Jaci. "Chief, is there anything at the Twentieth Century Fox studios related to 'My Fair Lady'?" "The original copy's there," the Chief said. "That must be what she's after!" cried Globie. The next moment, a door across the room slammed open, revealing two dis- heveled henchmen with wide, staring eyes. It was Moe Skeeter and Lars Vegas. "The rats!" Moe cried. "The rats!" Lars echoed. "The horrible tap-dancing rats!" they cried together. Chase looked first at Jaci, then at the other detectives. He saw the same response, which if put into words, would mean, "Okayyy, let's get out of here." "Sounds like Sara Bellum's work," said Jaci. "I agree," said Chase. "But we have other things to worry about. Player, C-5 us to the Twentieth Century Fox stu- dio in California!" The C-5 corridor opened and all six detectives disappeared in it as the Chief said, "You're on your way from the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Salem, Mass- achusetts, to the home of Hollywood, Los Angeles, California." ************************************************************************ The Twentieth Century Fox studio, about 5:30 pm PDT -- Carmen smiled. It had been easy to get inside by pretending to be a tour- ist who had lost something in an earlier tour of the studio. And now she was heading for the place where the executives kept the ori- ginal copies of movies. The copy of "My Fair Lady" was there, and was the next object she'd steal -- if the detectives hadn't figured out her clue beforehand. Just outside the room, she got a call on her communicator. Sighing, Car- men opened it, saying, "Carmen here." "Sorry to bother you, Boss, but we have a problem," said Touriste Classe. "Moe and Lars are babbling something a- bout tap-dancing rats!" Carmen remembered Sara Bellum's rats at that moment, and she asked, "Is there anyone who knows what they're talk- ing about?" "Well, Frank M. Poster just came onto the dance floor, and he said this: 'They have offended the Mithtreth,'" Tour- iste said. "I'll deal with Frank as soon as I get back," said Carmen. "And I'll al- so have a chat with Sara. In the mean- time, is anybody with Moe and Lars at the moment?" "Sara Bellum's behind this?" ask- ed Touriste. "I should've known. Thanks for telling me this." "You're welcome," said Carmen. "Well, Sy Cologee, the staff ther- apist, came and took Moe and Lars some- where. As soon as you come back, he'll give you a preliminary report on them." "All right," said Carmen. "I'll be back as soon as possible. Carmen out." Carmen then went to work picking the lock, thinking as she did so, 'Note to self: never invite Sara to the same party as Moe and Lars'. Once the lock was picked, Carmen went straight inside, concentrating only on her mission. She went straight to where the original copy of "My Fair Lady" would've been -- when several flashlights turned on at once! Turning, she first saw Miss Mar- ple, then a short Sam Spade, then Indi- ana Jones, then Tituba, and finally, be- hind the area where "My Fair Lady" would be, Batman and Catwoman. "Hello, detectives," she said. "I see you figured out my clue and beat me to the scene of the crime." Indiana Jones, who was probably Globie, leapt forward, saying, "You'll pay for locking Chase and Jaci up!" But Chase said, "Hold on, Glo- bie! Jaci and I know why she did so." Carmen turned to Chase and Jaci, who had leapt over the box with all the original copies, and stood in front of it, facing her. "I wondered when you two would figure out my little game," she said. "We should've recognized your whole scheme much sooner," said Jaci. "Stealing three items which dealt with lovers or romantic adventures, ordering Batman and Catwoman costumes, luring us to a room which was done up like a roman- tic rendezvous -- you were trying to get Chase and I together!" "Very good," said Carmen, aware of the gasps of the other detectives. "Once I escaped from you the last time you two chased me, I began to think a- bout what happened on the rooftop after that close call. I soon concluded that you two had probably come to love each other, but the close call brought your feelings to the surface. I knew enough about you two to realize that while you would probably admit your love, Jaci, Chase probably wouldn't. Not without some help on my part." "So that's why you approached me in disguise in Madrid!" cried Chase. "Yes," said Carmen. "I had al- ready begun laying out my plans, includ- ing getting the House of the Seven Gab- les for the Costume Ball and ordering the costumes, when I began to search for you just to figure out if you had told Jaci how you probably felt for her or not. Not surprisingly, you hadn't. In fact, you seemed to be avoiding realiz- ing your love for her. That's when I began our little game." "Did that include sending Lars to flirt with me?" asked Jaci. "Yes," said Carmen. "I hoped that I wouldn't have to lock the two of you up for Chase to admit that he loved you. I hoped that if Lars aroused his jealousy by flriting with you, it would get Chase thinking about whether or not he did love you. Then by having the DJ play the song 'Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?', I hoped he'd figure that he did love you and then tell you so, Jaci. It almost worked, but Moe and Lars ruin- ed it by arguing and crashing into that table. Sometimes I wonder why I hired those two." "Speaking of Moe and Lars, did you hear what happened to them?" asked Chase. "I sure did," said Carmen, mov- ing toward the door, and slipping a hand in her coat pocket to make certain her smoke bomb was handy. It was. "They're currently being examined by the resident therapist at VILE. I think I might al- so have to send Sara to him." "I'd say you should," said Jaci. "But don't send Sara to him whenever you send Moe and Lars to him." "I will," Carmen promised. "I presume you got the stolen goods back? They were just bait for my plan anyway." "We did," said Chase. "And now we have something just for you," said Miss Marple (presumably Ivy) as she moved toward Carmen. Carmen was certain Ivy was go- ing to try to put the cuffs on her, so it was time to go. "I don't think so, Ivy," she re- plied, slipping a hand into her pocket and slipping the smoke bomb into her hand. She then threw the smoke bomb down in front of all six detectives and ran off, saying, "Until Next Crime, de- tectives." ************************************************************************** A couple of moments later -- The smoke cleared, revealing -- an open door. But no Carmen. Ivy was furious. Carmen was at- tempting to get away again! "After her!" she cried and all six detectives ran toward the exit. Once they were in the corridor, Zack asked, "Now what?" "I think Carmen will try to get to the outside," said Jaci. "Once out- side, she'll probably try to get away via her jet-copter." "All right," said Ivy. "Let's try outside first. If she's not there, we'll try inside." So they ran toward the outside, and there was Carmen, standing only a few feet away from the exit. "We've got you now, Carmen!" I- vy cried triumphantly. That's when Carmen's jet-copter arrived! It dropped down a dais. Globie leapt toward Carmen, de- termined to grab her before she could escape. Chase was right beside Globie, with Ivy right behind, then Jaci, Jas- mine, and finally Zack. But Carmen leapt onto the dais, and it lifted into the air. When they reached it, it was already a couple of feet into the air! But Globie leapt toward it, de- termined to grab hold of Carmen's leg. However, Chase managed to grab Globie and prevent him from reaching Carmen's dais as it lifted even higher into the air. "She's getting away!" yelled Globie furiously. "And if you'd grabbed hold of her leg, you might well have fallen and gotten seriously injured!" cried Chase. "You've got to think before you leap!" "You sound a lot like Jaci," grumbled Globie. "Chase is a bit more reckless than I am, but we do share a similar philosophy," said Jaci. Ivy said, "Look on the bright side, Globie. "We have the stolen ob- jects, and we still have to return our costumes before we go back to Acme HQ." So the detectives prepared to C-5 back to Salem. *********************************************************************** Acme HQ, an hour later -- Jasmine could finally relax now. They had returned to Salem, re- turned their costumes, then split into three groups. Zack and Ivy had return- ed the First Folio to Huntington, Chase and Jaci had returned the handwritten score of "Tristan und Isolde" to Bay- reuth, and she and Globie had returned the manuscript of The Tale of Genji to Kyoto. And now they were in Acme Head- quarters, where the Chief had listened to the whole story. "So, Carmen was attempting to play matchmaker, huh?" asked the Chief. "Yes," said Chase. "I should have seen the clues much sooner than I did." "We all should've seen the clues much sooner than we did," Ivy told him soothingly. "But Carmen's clever." "She's right," said Jaci. "At least we didn't run into any dangerous situations like we did last month." "True," said the Chief, shiver- ing at the memory. "Anyway, now that you're all done, you have a month off for vacation as payment for a job well- done! Where are you going?" Globie said, "Well, Lance Arm- strong will be in New York tomorrow, so Zack, are you still willing to go and see him with me?" "Sure!" cried Zack. "And then I can take you to see all of Mark McGwire's games," Glo- bie added. "Well, I'll be going to Jamai- ca to see my family and have a good time," said Jasmine. "I'm going to practice my ka- rate, and when I'm not doing that, I will probably do some hiking in the coastal mountains," said Ivy. "Jaci, are you a good swim- mer?" Chase asked. "Yes," said Jaci. "How about if we go scuba di- ving at the Great Barrier Reef?" ask- ed Chase. "And we could share some romantic time together as well." "I'd love it! Thanks!" cried Jaci. "Have a good time!" said the Chief as all the detectives prepared for vacation. ************************************************************************ VILE HQ, the following day -- "So, what's your diagnosis of Moe and Lars?" Carmen asked. After returning from Californ- ia, she helped prepare the House of the Seven Gables for the tour the follow- ing day. Then they left and returned to VILE HQ, where Carmen got some well- deserved sleep before tackling the twin problems of Moe and Lars, and of Sara and Frank. "They're suffering from an a- cute but temporary mental derangement caused by exposure to cheesy music and tap-dancing rats," said Sy. "Coherent speech should return in a week, and in time, they should recover fully, except for a case of musophobia or murophobia, which is actually the fear of mice, but since mice are related to rats, I think the phobia will apply to rats as well. Also, they will probably be afraid to go down to Sara Bellum's lab from now on." "I'm going to have to have a good chat with Sara and Frank," said Carmen, sighing. "I'll probably have to send Sara to you for treatment la- ter. At least the worst effects are temporary." "Yes," said Sy as Carmen left the office. Before Carmen went to talk to the two miscreants, she went to her computer and hacked into Acme to talk to the Chief. "Carmen!" cried the Chief. "Just wanted to find out how the two lovebirds are doing," said Car- men. "If you mean Chase and Jaci, I gave all the detectives vacation time and they chose to go scuba diving off the Great Barrier Reef and share some romantic time together as well," said the Chief. Carmen figured as much. She knew Chase and Jaci were perfect for each other. All she needed to do was help their budding romance along. "Glad to hear it," Carmen said. "I'll be leaving now. And no, please don't ask me to return just yet. I'm not ready to address that problem just yet." "All right," said the Chief, ve- ry reluctantly. "Just remember that if you ever decide to return, I'm willing to welcome you back." Carmen suspected as much. "I remember," she said. "Right now I have to do some talking with Frank M. Poster and Sara Bellum, and arrange an appoint- ment for Sara with the staff therapist. Until Next Crime." And with that, Carmen broke the connection, thinking, 'All's well that ends well'. The end