One Shots 'The nursery nurse'

The King, the Poet and the Knight Part III

The Poet

Darkness had fallen over London. The streets were deserted, with a few lights still burning in the houses.

But work was still going on at the Nursery.

In the manager's office of the Sister Nursery, Reece found himself in the middle of a mountain of paperwork.

He rummaged through his father's documents, looking for loopholes to get rid of him.

A cup of coffee was placed on the table next to him.

"Aren't you going to call it a day?" Marjorie asked cautiously. She sat down opposite him on the other office chair.

Reece breathed heavily and took a sip from the cup.
" Marjorie.... My father has thought of everything..."

Marjorie looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

He handed her a document across the desk.

"Members of a family are not allowed to vote if another family member is the reason for the vote..." Reece said, he had already memorised the paragraph.

Marjorie looked at the paper, but didn't really seem to understand what it meant. "Reece, what exactly does that mean now?"

" Aut and I can't vote..."

" What?!"

Reece nodded.

Marjorie threw the document away.  " So only Mia and Siobhan can vote?!"

" And the silent partner..... who always votes for my dad anyway. 1 to 2, he remains the owner..."

"And you're sure that Siobhan might not vote against Roger?" Marjorie asked desperately.

"Unlikely........ we don't stand a chance. So it's back to telling ourselves the lie that this nursery was founded for the children and not to make my father rich." Reece rubbed his temples.

Marjorie put her head back and closed her eyes. How is this supposed to continue?

"Are you going to do the same? Keep telling yourself this lie until you forget it's a lie?" asked Reece.

"If we leave the lie behind, all that remains is the abyss of despair and madness..." whispered Marjorie.

"Madness is not an abyss... it's a stepping stone. Many don't dare to jump... They're afraid of the fall. But once you've done it. The world looks much clearer."

Marjorie remained silent. She had never heard anything like that from Reece, there was so much in him that she didn't know. So many words he didn't speak. She had only seen the tip of the iceberg so far.

"You sound like Siobhan..." Marjorie lifted her head and looked at him.

"Siobhan?"

" She was in my office a few days ago. You know, the day Charlotte's car tyre came off on the way to work..."

Reece stared at her. He knew it wasn't an accident. Mia had called him after the confrontation with his father. It was a threat and he was afraid of what was to come.

"What did she say?"

Marjorie ran her fingers through her hair. " Oh, she told me a riddle about a king, a poet and a knight..... She talked so much without saying anything really... But there is one thing I can't get out of my head...."

Reece looked at her intently.

" Even a small Nursery Manager can cast a very large shadow..... I don't know what she meant by that..."

A thought flashed through Reece's mind. He started digging through the documents again. "Gorgeous when did you start here?"

Now she looked at him questioningly. "First of September 2012, why?"

" And who else started back then?"

Marjorie sat up straight. "Well, Agnes, Oliver, Addam, Summer and then Charlotte a few months later. All but Charlotte have since left. Reece what are you getting at?"

Reece placed a document in front of her.

"The Silent Partner started back then, too. But he was already listed as anonymous back then. It must be one of then though..."

Marjorie looked at the list of members of the Board of Directors.
"Maybe this person doesn't exist and Roger is just using a fake employee..."

"Or the person doesn't know it themselves. So my father can always claim the vote for himself..."

Reece continued looking through the documents when something caught his eye.

He got up and went to his girlfriend. On the paper were the initials of the anonymous partner.

Marjorie looked at it for a moment, a strange feeling immediately spreading through her.

"MW...?" she whispered.

But Reece already knew the answer.
" Marjorie Warren. Honey, you're the silent partner..."