Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

Chapter Five
Rubedo is the ascension of the red queen.
—Elias Ashmole,
Theatrum Chemicum Brittanicum 1689
Phryne pushed back her chair. She had lunched well and her young
lover appeared to be coming to terms with his new status. Simon
had refused cream soup but accepted lamb chops and pureed vegetables,
and was now eating new strawberries with enthusiasm.
‘What do you make of these, Simon?’ she asked, laying the
dead man’s notebook and the strange engravings on the table.
He puzzled over the black letters.
‘No, I can’t read them. It’s Hebrew, but it’s some sort of code,
or maybe just a jumble of letters. No, that doesn’t seem likely,
does it? But the parchments—I’ve seen something like them
before.’ He turned the picture of the red lion around, mouthing
the Latin. ‘It’s doggy enough, medieval, probably. I have it,
Phryne—alchemy.’
‘Alchemy?’ asked Phryne, sprinkling castor sugar over her
strawberries and applying cream liberally.
‘Yes. I don’t actually know anything more about it, but those
drawings apparently depicted chemical operations. Mercury
entered into it. And salt. I’ve got a friend who’s a real expert
on alchemy. His name is Yossi Liebermann. They call him Joe.