Night 65: X-Ray Room

[damned_intercom]

Once again, a couple of bursts of static greeted Link as he entered the room, but there was no audio message waiting for him. Strangely, the drawing from last night remained largely intact, as if it had been impossible for their captors to remove. The only thing different was that the vibrant glow from before had diminished, and the image was mostly reduced to a faint, green outline.

But more than that, a companion clue had apparently been set up for whoever entered here. This one required a flashlight to fully examine, but a well-aimed beam would illuminate a framed oil painting hanging from the wall. Beneath that were words written in the same green, glowing paint from last night:

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

If that wasn't odd enough, though, whoever had arranged the clues also left a small pile of dried leaves beneath the painting. The leaves themselves were unremarkable, and were likely pulled from a common tree. Was it another message, perhaps?

Despite the cryptic clue, though, the person who had come before did not want the patients' troubles to go unrewarded. A first aid kit with these items was perched on the table in the center of the room.

Comments

[mirrorimage]

Nina nodded in response to Ryuuzaki's answer. "Mmm. I see," was all she said out loud, but if anyone glanced at her in the dark, they'd see her pursing her lips thoughtfully. The institute was a small, confined place, and news seemed to travel fast. That meant it was probably safe to assume that nobody had gotten in after all, right? Maybe not. Maybe it was never safe to assume anything at all.

Nina felt mildly guilty that a sick woman had to be the one to clear the room. She was well, after all. It should have been her. But Nina had no weapon that would be effective at such a thing, so she reluctantly acknowledged to herself that perhaps Lana was best for that task after all.

When the light from Ryuuzaki's flashlight hit the painting and then the area around it, Nina frowned and wandered over to get a closer look. It seemed like the leaves had been arranged there, so that must have meant they were part of the clue. But what could leaves mean? And the letters?

Nina stared at them next. "SHJB". Her mind raced, comping up with a few acronyms in German, English and Czech, but none of them made any sense in context. She frowned, frustrated, stumped. She hoped one of other two, more familiar with the institute and the surrounding grounds than she was, might know something more or be able to come up with something.

She was lost in her own thoughts until Ryuuzaki spoke. Then she turned to him. She bit her lip uncertainly, but her eyes lit up and her voice was laced with hope. "You do?" she said, when he said he would know where to go.

There was always a chance that he might be wrong, even though he was clearly intelligent, but Nina herself had no ideas, and even going to a wrong location was better than doing nothing all night. She looked over at Lana, searching the other woman's face for something, when he moved back towards the door. "What do you think?" Nina asked her. It was possible Lana might have an idea of her own, after all. But if she didn't, then letting Ryuuzaki lead the way was their only option.

[fourstonewalls]

Lana's fingers itched for a camera. Or, failing that, at least something to put the evidence in rather than Ryuuzaki's bare hands. Amateurs, she thought.

None of it added up. She wanted quiet, and precise diagrams, and a night or two to think about it; being the Chief did have some benefits when it came to scheduling. Basically, she could leave it up to Ryuuzaki, who was dangling the fact that he had a theory in front of them like a particularly informative carrot, or she could try to come up with something right now. Even if she hadn't been ill, she might have been hard-pressed to do so.

She answered, not with words, but with action. She stepped over and pushed open the door, holding it for Ryuuzaki to lead them through. Then she followed close on his heels.

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