The Apothecary's Poison (Glass and Steele #3)(7)

The door opened and I hurried away, but their voices filtered out through the gap.

"You can't do this to me!" Hale cried. "I'm too important to—"

"Too important? Ha! You're nothing but an apothecary trying his hand at doctoring. Your skills as a physician are moderate, at best. Go back to being a pharmacist, Hale. If you can get employment, that is."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I've contacted the Apothecary's Guild and told them to watch out for you. They were very interested in the stunt you pulled here and your ridiculous claims of magic and miracles. I doubt they want a crackpot in their midst either."

The last thing I heard as we hurried along the corridor was Hale's protest. "I am not a crackpot! I am a magician surrounded by artless idiots."

Neither Matt nor I spoke until we reached our carriage. "The Cross Keys on High Holborn," Matt directed Bryce. He'd barely had time to settle on the seat opposite me when the coach lurched forward.

"It's unlikely Chronos will be there at this hour," I said, checking my watch. It was only ten forty-five.

"I'm not getting my hopes up that he'll be there at all." Matt's bright, clear eyes told a different story, however. He looked invigorated, healthier and more alert than I'd seen him in weeks. His health had grown progressively worse since I'd met him, his need to use his watch more frequent. No one had mentioned it, but I could sense everyone's worry.

"I think you're allowed to get your hopes up, Matt. This is the closest we've come to finding Chronos. I almost whooped like Willie when Hale confirmed he'd spoken to him." I wanted to reach across the gap and touch his knee, his hand, something to show him how relieved I was, because mere words didn't seem enough.

But I did not. Respectable women weren't raised to touch men, even if they could be considered friends. I'd never even held hands with Eddie, the man I'd once called my fiancé.

"We have to be prepared for him to run off when he sees us," Matt said with a shake of his head. "God knows why he ran when we saw him at the factory."

"You stand by the door at the Cross Keys, and I'll go inside. If I see the fellow who called himself DuPont, I'll signal to you. I think it's safe to assume that DuPont and Chronos are one and the same."

"What would I do without you, India?"

I rolled my eyes. "My plan is hardly clever. You were probably about to suggest the same thing yourself."

He grinned, proving me right. I smiled back, enjoying the sight of him in a positive mood. "Allow me to praise you every now and again. You deserve it," he said. "You did, after all, charm Dr. Hale, whereas I wanted to knock his head off, on more than one occasion."

"You weren't the only one, by the sound of it. First Chronos himself, after discovering Hale was an apothecary magician not a doctor, and then Dr. Ritter."

"And probably Dr. Wiley too, since Hale enjoyed reminding him that he declared that patient dead when he clearly wasn't."

"I would have dismissed Hale, too, if I were Ritter," I said. "He reminded me of something slimy you find at the bottom of a pond."

He laughed softly. "You can't dismiss someone for that. You can dismiss him for negligence or negatively affecting the reputation of the hospital. I don't know what Hale thought he was trying to achieve by using his magic on that patient and then talking about it to Barratt. He's a fool, and now he's paying for it."

"Or is he?"

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Perhaps he wanted to bring publicity to Dr. Hale's Cure All medicine. Having his name in the paper beneath the headline Medical Miracle will bring some attention to it, even though the medicine itself wasn't mentioned. He said himself that sales will increase."

"Perhaps. But he has also attracted the attention of the Apothecary's Guild and found himself unemployed. If he gets a percentage of sales from the Cure All then he might still consider it worthwhile, but if he was paid a set sum to have his name on the label, what good did it do?"

"Whatever happens to him," I said, "thank God for Hale, his magic, and his arrogance. Now we know where to find Chronos."

"Not to mention thanks to Oscar Barratt the reporter."

I'd wondered about Barratt and his interest in magic. It might be worth talking to him to find out if he knew of any timepiece magicians. Then again, if we found Chronos it wouldn't matter. We only needed the one.

High Holborn wasn't far from Worthey's clock factory in Clerkenwell where we'd seen DuPont. The Cross Keys looked as if it had sat in the same position for centuries, its wooden fa?ade and small paned windows inviting passersby in for a quiet ale. I clamped my hand to my hat to keep it in place as I tipped my head back and looked up. The bold gold writing against the black paint glinted in the sunlight, but it didn't hold my attention for long.

"It's no wonder Chronos drinks here," I said.

Matt followed my gaze to the large clock jutting out from the center of the building, one floor up. He smiled and opened the door for me. "Be discreet."

I touched the brim of my hat to hide as much of my face as possible and entered. Matt stood just inside the door beside the umbrella stand, his own hat pulled low at the front.