Good Chemistry (22 page)

Bernie stepped aside and waved her in. Turning to face her was Andrew, as good as ever.

“I don’t understand? We all thought you died in the explosion.”

“We know, and we wanted everyone to go right on thinking that, until we could figure out who was trying to kill us.”

Debra’s quick mind put it all together. “Well, if you two are still alive then the two bodies in the lab must be Heidi and Rick.” Andrew looked at Bernie, obviously dumbfounded.

“We thought the military was after us for the explosives formula.”

“Explosives?” Debra honed in on Andrew.

“Yeah, it turns out that my formula is worthless as a love potion, but when coated on C-4 it amplifies the explosive factor by ten. I’ve been experimenting since the explosion trying to figure out why the blast was so large.”

“You mean you saw the explosion?”

“We both did. It happened on the day we got married.” Bernie’s smile glowed.

“So it’s not the military after us?”

“No. Heidi and her boyfriend Rick were both petty crooks with lengthy rap sheets.” Andrew flushed with embarrassment over his lack of good judgment.

“They were planning to rob the lab and then blow it up with C-4.”

“Oh no, if they took C-4 in there. . .” Andrew’s words trailed off as everyone put together what must have happened.

“Well, good news. If the military wasn’t after you before, they sure will be now. You guys are going to be rich.”

Andrew pulled Bernie in close like he never wanted to let her go again. “How can we ever repay you? Thank you so much.” Bernie hugged Debra tight.

“Don’t mention it. Just doing my job. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a flight to Belize I need to catch.”