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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