Nadine Book 6

5. The Cow

We step onto Johen's parents front porch. I sit on the steps and the boys and Omar go over to the barn.

Thora sits beside me. "Do you think they would give me 10% like they gave you?"

"I don't know how hard or time consuming it is to make a candle. If it takes the servants forever, they would probably ask for more. But they'll give you a fair rate. If you think it's to high, we will go sexy and attack the table."

"That was fun."

Johen runs by us and into the house. Tye follows him. Neither of them say anything. The other boys are coming out of the barn. None of them seem happy.

"Something tells me the cow starved princess queen."

"I didn't even think about the poor thing before today."

"I didn't either."

We go towards the barn. Dipak grabs me and Marcus grabs her. They turn us around. "Go see the garden."

We go towards the garden and Johen's dad comes out of the house with Johen and Tye. They go past us.

I watch them. "Maybe something else happened?"

"I'm feeling that too."

We sit back down on the step. Then a carriage comes up the drive. A police officer gets out and we wave to him.

"Good morning ladies. We have a lost boy around the area and had reports he was seen coming here. Have you seen anyone?"

"We haven't seen anyone we don't know. Except you."

"I'm sorry girls. My name is Al. I'm a police officer."

"I'm Nadine. This is Thora. It's nice to meet you Al."

"What is going on here? They used to own the store in the village right?"

"Yea, they were going under. Not as much business being far away from the market with the other grocery's. They sold the shop a few months ago and moved over to my village. Johen, their son, was staying here watching everything. But a few weeks ago he was attacked. They brought him to the village too. So he could recover and everything."

"Is he alright?"

"He's fine now. Sadly, while he was recovering, no one thought about the cow. The poor thing starved. So, they are dealing with that. We're sitting here."

Johen's dad starts talking. I didn't even know he was behind us. "Yes, we lost the cow. But we have Johen. That's what's important. It was a bad attack. We were so worried about him, no one even thought about the cow."

"That's understandable. We had reports a missing boy was seen coming here. Have you seen anyone?"

"No sir, but we just got here. Someone said something about the cow and we rushed over. It's to late though. I've only made a quick pass threw the house. You're welcome to check it with me. The wife gave me a list of stuff to grab anyway. How long has the boy been missing?"

"He didn't come home last night. The young lady said you moved awhile back?"

"Me and the wife did yes. Johen was still here alone. We won't be doing that again."

"Was he attacked in the house?"

"No. He was in the village selling some vegetables out of the garden. He's a young man. He's not a boy."

"Out of curiosity, who said he was coming here? I mean, if a bunch of people seen him leave from the village or like 1 person said they seen him on the path?"

Thora scratches her head. "Why would that matter?"

"If it was a bunch of people it was definitely true. But if it was 1 or a group of friends, they could have made it up to have the police officer checking the wrong spot. Or he or they could go somewhere else and get away with something while they know where the police officer is." The officer's eyebrows shoot up and he takes a step towards the carriage.

"There can't be many of you out here. It's a whole bunch of farm land."

"If we do happen to see him. Where or what do we do? I mean, we won't be here long. But maybe we should do something with him. We can't leave him if he's young."

The officer shakes his head and steps backwards to the carriage. "He's an older teen. He'll be fine on his own as long as he's not causing problems. His parents are worried. If you happen to see him, try to take him to the station in the village, if he won't go. Come up and let us know."

"We can do that. No problem."

"Thank you ladies. Good day sir." He runs to the carriage.

The boys come over to us when the officer leaves.

"There's a dead boy in the barn isn't there?" They nod. "He was murdered in there wasn't he?"

"Yep."

"Whoever attacked Johen is trying to pin this on him aren't they?"

"More than likely."

"Who is the boy?"

Rick answers, "Someone from the other side of the village. Far away from here. I seen him and his parents a few times in passing. They were farmers too. They sold their stuff in the market. We had our shop. There was never any issues between us."

"You seen the officer ran out of here after you said a group of friends could be trying to get away with something while he was here. Whoever sent him, knew the boy was in the barn. He was 1 who killed him. He's trying to pin it on Johen."

"Why would anyone be killing farmers kids? What could anyone gain from that?"

Thora smiles. "Better question. What the hell are we going to do with a dead boy? And another one. Are you going to tell us who attacked you now?"

"Yes, it was a group of about 3 or 4 men. They have farms side by side on the east side, out of the village. I don't know their names. They never said why they attacked me. They took the money. I don't know why they would do this. It doesn't make sense."

Johen's dad nods. "Trying to collect land or trying to make a point that no one else can sell in the village."

Omar nods. "And now back to the dead boy question. What are we going to do about him? Let's figure that out first."

Thora smirks. "Then we can send in our investigators."

Dipak looks at us weird. "Who?"

I stand up. "A couple of real assholes."

Marcus laughs. "You and Kane."

"You are being promoted to real asshole too."

Omar rubs his eyes. "Dead boy." He points to the barn. "It's only a matter of time before that cop realizes he didn't see anything but a couple of pretty girls while he was here."

"Ok fine. But I'm making real asshole a patch."

"I want that one baby. I want to wear that."

"You'll have to talk to Dipak about that promotion."

"DEAD BOY IN THE BARN PEOPLE."

Thora crosses her arms. "Sink him in the ocean, bury him, burn the body, pick 1."

I sit back down. "What about his parents? I think they should know."

"UGH." She stares at the sky. "Stage the body to look like it died somewhere else. How bad is he?"

Dipak crosses his arms. "1 hit head trauma from the top."

"Is there a river around here?"

"About a mile away."

"Can you dive into it?"

"Yea I've done it."

"There you go. He went for a swim. He dove in and cracked his skull. The body washed up down the river."

"That'll work. That'll give the parents closure and peace. He was out for a happy swim and hit his head."

Tye sits beside me. "Thora hit a new level of scary."

"Don't piss me off boy."

"How are we going to get a dead body a mile?"

Dipak looks at Johen. "Can you get us a door anywhere near the river? I can conjure a door at the river. But I don't want to walk a mile. And I can't ride a dead cow. And I can't fly as a dragon right now."

"I can get us closer. There's a girl..."

Me and Thora jump up and cross our arms.

I point at him. "You are lucky I don't have a sword."

"I would be staging your death too."

"I know a boy too. It's a little further but it'll work."

Johen's dad and Omar crack up laughing.

"That'll work. Then we can go through any door to get back."

Me and Thora glare at Johen. Dipak grabs him and pushes him. "Make us a door quick."

Omar points at the barn. "Go figure out what to do with the cow."

"Humans eat them right?"

"Not the kind that have been dead for a week."

Marcus motions for them. "Come on you 2. We can figure this out."

10 minutes later, here comes the police officer. "Sorry to return so quick. I realized I never checked anywhere." There's a big loud crash in the barn. We turn towards it.

I turn back. "They're trying to figure out what to do with a dead cow. It's been dead a week and I'm guessing no one wants to dig a hole."

"They could burn it."

"We've been banned from the barn. Can you go tell them that. Before they break it down."

"Sure."

I connect to the feathers. "Hi babydoll. You ok?"

"Officer is about to go in the barn."

"Thanks for the heads up angel."

"I told him you didn't know what to do with a dead cow and no one wanted to dig a hole."

"You are 100% correct."

The officer goes in the barn and Johen and Dipak come out of the house. Me and Thora turn and glare at them. Johen kisses my head. "We seen no girls hun."

"We seen no one, sweetheart. That's a good thing, since we had a dead body."

"The officer is in the barn trying to figure out how to get rid of a dead cow with them."

They tilt their heads and then go to the barn.

"GET ME DOWN." Tye yells in my head.

"What are you guys doing?"

Marcus says. "Tye, how in the hell did you get stuck like that?"

"I was trying to climb down and my foot got caught in the rope."

"How in the hell did you even get up there?"

"CLIMBED. GET ME DOWN."

"Do you want to fall head first into a dead cow?"

Me and Thora lose it.

"He's your date tonight not mine. You're going to be picking cow guts out his hair."

"TYE DO NOT FALL IN THE COW."

"Give us a second to get the cow out of here Tye."

"Oh thank you. That was horrible."

They come out after a few minutes.

The officer smiles. "Does anyone mind if I check the house quick? Definitely seen enough of the barn."

Johen opens the door. "DAD YOU IN HERE?"

"YEA."

"THE OFFICER WANTS TO WALK THREW QUICK."

"SEND HIM IN. I'M TRYING TO GET THE s**t ON YOUR MOMS LIST."

Johen holds the door.

"Let's go get some wood around and light that thing up."

They stand there watching it burn for awhile.

The officer, Omar, Johen, and Rick come out of the house.

"I don't know. We haven't discussed it much. We may keep it as a vacation spot or sell it. We always loved it here. We're moving to more of a village life now. It's simpler in ways and harder in others."

"I can understand that. Well anyway, thank you for letting me check."

"No problem. I would hope everyone would do the same if my son went missing. I hope you find him quickly."

"Me as well."

Kane and Mary step onto the porch. "Time to go. You need lunch and... Showers. Before you get ready."

I stand up. "TIME TO GO."

"We can't leave it burning woman."

Kane shakes his head. "Go eat and shower. I'll eat and watch the fire for awhile. We brought a few brains to sit here. The place shouldn't sit empty incase they try something again."

"How do you know what happened you just got here?"

Kane smirks. "I can read your mind."

"No you can't. What am I thinking?"

"I'm lying."

My eyebrows shoot up and everyone laughs.

Omar rubs his eyes and makes us a door. "I went threw and filled him in. How do you think they even knew where we were. I'm worried about someone trying something. It'll be safer if they property is watched by the brains. We'll be alerted immediately if something is off."