Nadine Book 4

58. Conflicting Injuries

I spend 4 days on the deck of the boat getting sun and enjoying the ocean. We swim a few times. We find the island we are searching for. But there is no treasure on it. I get over the processing and get off the medicine fully. It was a nice relaxing trip.

We eat breakfast together before the meeting. I'm fancy in my queen dress.

My 3 boys go up to Dipak's office and I get the servants to come and get a pair of 4-inch heels.

The servants seem happy. Slow and clumsy. But happy.

I sit down at the conference table. "Good morning everyone. The servants are in training heels today. Please cut them some slack. They are also moving slow. If you need anything fast, you should ask them to take their shoes off first."

Everyone but Tre and Frode are here.

"Elkie to see Nadia."

"ENTER."

"Do we get heels too?"

"You can get some. But don't wear them in the medical area until you get better."

She runs out. I shrug my shoulders.

Elkie runs back in. "That's not what I wanted." She hands me a folder. "Dr. Cruor wants a 2nd opinion when you get some time."

"Thank you Elkie." She runs out.

Dracul starts talking about something boring. I tune him out and open the folder.

Man presented with injuries from a cliff fall in a carriage. Rocks damaged his heart. Brought in already deceased. This seems easy enough. Not sure why I'm needed. I turn to the diagram of his body. The cuts are in groups of 3. All of them. There are cuts down his legs in groups of 3. Arms, groups of 3. Punctures on his stomach, groups of 3. 3 slashes down his face. 3 puncture slashes to his heart with a rock still imbedded in one of them. Not sure what my opinion is. I need to see the body. Maybe his pen was broken and making groups of 3 of everything.

I leave with my head in the papers.

I get my sword out and twirl it. I seem to do that when I'm deep in thought. I have never seen rocks in groups of 3 perfectly like that. But 1 of them was still in his heart.

"NADINE." There is a servant leaning on a wall by the entrance.

"WHAT?"

"PAINTER IS HERE WITH THE BALL PAINTINGS. 84 OF THEM. HE WANTS PAID."

"HOW MUCH?"

"42k."

"PUT THE PAINTINGS DOWN THIS HALLWAY. PROP THEM UP ON THE WALL. I WILL SEND SOMEONE WITH MONEY."

"THANK YOU."

I go back to my paper. I might have to see the rocks too. Maybe they are spaced like that. And there was 1 still in his heart.

"Sorry."

"Sorry Tre. I was focused on this."

"It's alright, I wasn't watching where I was going either." He pulls my sword out of the ceiling. "Did you spend 56k on something and forget to tell anyone?"

"No. Have you ever seen anything like this?" I show him by diagram.

"No."

"The painter needs 42k. He's waiting. They are setting the paintings up now."

"I'll bring it down in a second."

He takes off. "Tre, check with Tye about the 56k. He wanted something for the inn. He said it was going to be around 50k."

"The inn in the village?"

"No, on the island."

"I'll ask him. Thank you."

"TRE."

"WHAT?"

"DON'T FORGET THE PAINTER 42K"

"YEA I'LL GET IT."

I go back to my paper. If it's stuck in his heart, that is pretty definitive.

"Hi Nadine."

"Hi Johen. How are you? How is the cow?"

"Interesting. I've never had a cow."

"Me either."

"What are you doing?"

"Going to the medical area. I need to examine a body. What are you doing?"

"I need to talk to Dipak for a minute."

"He's up there now. Dracul is going on and on about something."

He chuckles. "Are you going to class this afternoon?"

"I don't know. I have to figure out this body thing."

"Let me see." I hand him the folder. "It looks like an attack." He hands it back.

"I'm on the fence. I need to see the body. I guess it could be an animal attack. That would explain a lot."

"I'm going up. You need anything?"

"Yea actually. Remind Tre to bring the painter 42k, or he'll never leave."

He laughs and walks away.

I turn the page. I guess an animal with 3 claws could do a lot of this damage. But what has 3 claws around here?

"UH HUM."

I turn to the 2 older Borin brothers, 2 advisors, and their dad. "Hi. How long have you been standing there and why?" I glance around. The servant escorting them is hanging on the wall taking very small steps.

Elek smiles. "Since you told them to prop the paintings up."

"Maybe I should put them in shorter heels to start."

All 5 of them and the servant say, "Yes." at the same time.

A servant carrying a painting nearly falls over. "DON'T WEAR HEELS AND CARRY THOSE."

"THANK YOU."

Kane comes from the other way. "I got the 56k for the painter."

I rub my eyes. "I'm about 1 minute away from murdering someone."

Everyone laughs.

"Kane, it's 42k for the painter. Come here." I take 10k off the top. "Give him a 4k bonus. I like his paintings. Maybe he'll do more for us sometime."

Now I got 10k, my sword, and the entire folder in my hands.

"Hold this." I hand the folder and money to Elek. I put the sword away and take everything back. "When escorting or summoning, do not wear heels. Carry them with you. I will get smaller ones made for everyone. Please make sure everyone knows this."

"I will thank you."

Kane is gone.

"Also give this 10k to someone sitting at the table. Tell them the paintings were 46k not 56k."

"We're not supposed to carry that much cash ever. It's a law." She hands it back to me.

I hand it to Elek. "I don't care. You figure it out. I'm going to the medical area now."

I finally get to the medical area. It's back on the 2nd level.

"Where is this body?"

"This way." Vitchen shows me right to it.

It was not a pen error. Everything is in groups of 3. A rock is broken off in the mans heart. The punctures and cuts are consistent with a rough jagged rock fall. In groups of 3. I have to go see these damn rocks.

"Please tell Dr. Cruor that I am doing more research before I give him my opinion."

"Will do."

I open the folder again and read. Maybe there's something I'm missing. I twirl my sword. I flip to the last page. There were 2 other people in the carriage. 1 of them was deceased upon arrival. Maybe I can find the

"WOMAN."

I throw my sword at the ceiling. Dipak, Frode, Daddy, Dracul, Bud, Tye, and Kane are staring at me. The Borin people are here too. Staring at me as well.

Dipak smiles. "What do you need?"

"Protection detail."

"To what?"

"See a cliff that a carriage went over. 2 people were brought in deceased with conflicting injuries. I need to see it."

"How far is it?"

I flip through the folder. "It's like 10 miles that way. I point out the window."

Tye gets up and takes the folder. "2 miles due east. We would have been looking for that cliff in farm land for a while, princess." Then he pulls my sword out and gives it to me.

The whole table chuckles.

"Did I get the direction right?"

"No."

"Tye and Kane, you 2 can go see the rocks." Dipak sits back. "If you fall..."

"I know, I know. Turn into a dragon before I go splat." They bust out laughing.

The boys take me right to the cliff. I fly up and down searching for 3 rocks like that. I can't find anything, but it's a big cliff. I do find the path they were on and where they went over. I can see the wheel mark. I fly slowly on the path I think it would have fallen. I land by a big rock. I find a few smaller pieces of wood from the carriage. I know my path was about right. I'm not putting it together. Maybe an animal did come out and attack him after he was already dead. Maybe it tried to pull him away. That would be why he had slashes up and down his arms.

I hand the folder to the boys. "Is there an animal around here that makes these marks?"

"Fly now. Back to the castle." Kane shoves the folder in his pants.

The look on Kane's face. I don't ask why.