“What kind of rumors?”
“That he dug up bodies, brought them back to his laboratoryin the basement. That’s why it’s so haunted. That place creeps me out.”
“What about an antique medical cabinet?”
“You can have that back, if you want. Alastair Highbaugh gave me things he found—or dug up—at the mansion, and I sold them. Bones are easy to sell. Nobody wanted that big old medicine cabinet.”
“Where is it?”
“In a locked storage area, in the barracks basement. I’ve been keeping things down there—I didn’t think anyone would go that far down into the bowels of this place. Pesky kids.”
“Now you sound like those old Scooby-Doo mysteries. ‘I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those pesky kids.’ ”
Emerson looked blank. “What are you talking about?”
“Never mind,” said Harper. “I guess we watched different cartoons in our youth. Did anyone else know about your secret hiding place here?”
“Just Highbaugh. We used an abandoned shed on campus until the fire department set it on fire.”
“Will you show me?”
“Now? It’s gonna be wet down there.”
“If it’s wet, what happens to the medical cabinet?”
“It’ll be fine, it’s on a high shelf, wrapped in a tarp. I was about to go get it, matter of fact.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe this. It’s been a good hiding place for years…”
“Let’s go.”
He groaned but acquiesced. “Follow me.”
They entered the concrete structure, leaving their umbrellas at the entrance. It was so dim inside that Emerson switched on his flashlight and shone the beam down the long corridor, illuminating graffiti on the walls. Bits of wallboard, brokenglass, and linoleum chips crunched underfoot as they walked. At the end of the hall, Emerson yanked open a metal door and gestured inside.
“Right down there,” he said, standing back. “After you.”
Belatedly it dawned on Harper that this might not have been such a bright idea. She had her pepper spray in her pocket, but Emerson was not a crazed Asher in the middle of the night in her bedroom. He was a trained soldier whom she had threatened. And they were alone.
“You first,” she said.
He laughed. “Don’t trust me?”
“Not really.”
“All right, you wait here. I’ll go get it.”
He disappeared through the door. She heard a clanging sound, like metal on metal. And then his boots on the steps as he returned, carrying a large object wrapped in an old tarp. He set it on a dilapidated desk and removed the tarp. The wooden box was caked in dust and grime but otherwise appeared to be in good shape.
“Looks like Soren Perles’s medical cabinet,” Harper said to herself as much as to Emerson.
“Is that what it is? You think it’s worth much?”
“I think it’s a fascinating piece of history.” She studied the way the sides folded out, the little drawers, the stoppered bottles, some of which still contained mystery liquid. “But I doubt it’s especially valuable.”
“Highbaugh thought we could get some real money for it.”
“Did he? He owns an upscale art gallery—why was he involved in this?”
Emerson shrugged. “I guess it’s pretty expensive to keep that gallery going. Said he doesn’t make as much money as you might think selling artwork. And when his mother gotsick, he was desperate to find a cure. Delilah sent him home with all kinds of tinctures and teas she’d mixed up, claimed they would help.”
