[Mkguild] Life As We Know It XXXI

[Jack Moore]

Life As We Know It - XXXI

Four Hours Remaining
The Shoeshine Inn was as dark and warm as yesterday.  This time the front
counter was manned by a woman.  In this case a skinny woman, looking little
more than sixteen.  She smiled as the two of us ran in.  “Welcome to the
Shoeshine Inn, I am—“ I held up a hand.
“I spoke to a bear Kemper yesterday, you must be Sam?” She nodded.  “I am
Corporal Janelle of the Metamor City Watch.  I am, I mean I need to see
Chamomile’s room again.  I need to search it immediately.”
“Uhhhh…” Sam’s eyes went wide, “Maybe—
“Hey you’ll have to excuse Janie.” Remmie said, “She’s not good at people.
But we’re on a time crunch and we gotta get into there like really fast, so
can you unlock the door?”  I pity that poor girl having to deal with me in
a frenzy, I really do.  Sam nodded and grabbed the key ring.
Despite the sun having risen, Chamomiles room was so dark due to the odd
angles of the room that we had to light a candle just to see inside.  I
thanked Sam who left the two of us to attend the room.
“So we’re looking for what exactly?” Remmie asked.
“A journal, a notebook, any kind of parchment, anything at all.” I said.
Remmie nodded.  The two of us began tearing the room apart.
You might assume that because a room is small there aren’t many places to
hide something.  That is very foolish to assume.  Bed boards, undersides of
drawers, I once found a parchment wrapped around the base of a candle.
When searching a room you have to go over every inch, every crack and every
place you think they might have stored something.  And that was what me and
Remmie did.  In a room that tiny we searched for an hour, pulling out
drawers, tapping on floor boards and searching the mattress for any
journals.
“Janie I’m not finding anything.” Remmie said.  She sat down on the floor
panting.  “If there are notes here, I don’t know where to look for them.”
 I sat down beside her.
“We’ll need to clean this up later.” I swallowed.  “Nothing in the desk,
nothing in the mattress, no floorboards loose enough to pull up.  What are
we doing wrong?”  I rubbed my eyes.
“Maybe she stored her notes with someone.” Remmie said.
“Who?  She’s not been here long enough to know anyone.  They have to be in
here, somewhere.  Besides,” I stood up, “Let’s say I’m Chamomile.  I’m
controlling by nature and a scientist at heart.  I’m not going to get close
to anyone.”
“Because you might get emotionally attatched?” Remmie asked.
“Correct.  And I’m not going to give anyone my notes.  This is my project,
I’m not trusting anyone else with it.”
“Okay, so you take them with you.” Remmie said.
“Yes but she didn’t have them when we found her.” I said.  “So there must
have been some place she figured she could hide them; some place she was
sure they’d be safe.”  I turned back to the bed.
The bed was a heavy wooden thing, too heavy to turn over.  We’d searched
the underside of the bed boards and found nothing.  The bedposts were
solid, no false top to hide anything inside of.  I sat down on the edge of
the empty frame.
“We’re missing something.” I said.  “Something obvious, she’s going to put
it in a place she’d never forget but we’d overlook…”  My head dropped
between my knees.  “Eli I am so tired…” I turned my head.  “That’s odd…”
Remmie looked up.
“What’s wrong?” I gestured at her to come over, then pointed at the wooden
boards.  “Look at these scratches.”  Remmie crawled over to where I
pointed.  “They’re long, very long.”
“Yeah…they go…” She traced them across the floor until her hand bumped into
the bed post.  We both looked up.
“I’m sitting on her journal.” I grinned.  “I remember wondering why
yesterday the bed was pressed against the wall, how did I miss it!”  I lept
up and grabbed the bed.  With Remmie’s help I dragged the bed off of the
floor board.
'Please let this be it!' My fingers scraped along the edges of the board.
Too my relief, it moved as I pulled it up.  “I’ve got it!” I tossed the
board to Remmie and thrust my arm into the black hole.  Scrapping along the
bottom, my hand brushed against several objects.
>From under the floor I pulled out four hair samples and a leather journal.
Remmie embraced me as I stood up.
“Is that it?”  I gave her a withering look.  “I mean, yeah that’s it
but…well read it!”  I moved over to the desk and opened the book.
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