THIEF OF BREAN (VOL-1)|✓

INKLINGS- XXV

"So the reports by the infirmary were true. She did not have any drug in her?"

"Apparently so."

Carl drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair he was sitting. He was having a great deal of chaos going on in his mind. He wondered about the sketches he had drawn. It was surely the aftermath of the hops overdose. And smoking the bloodied cottons was above all kinds of drunken madness.

Carl's hands reached to his pocket for his pipe. The instant memory of Lily Freeman's blood had his gut make a sickening churn.

Giles crossed his hands against his chest and leaned in to whisper. "Taking Lily to custody isn't going to be that easy either," he said. "The Abbey will surely get in the way. They think we are doing it because we are incapable of doing anything better. Had she been admitted into a Manor hospital, it would have been a completely different story."

They straightened their heads when the Abbess, Janess Katriel, made her entry through the small white oak door.

"Officers," she said with a hint of smile. A forced-smile, as Carl perceived it to be. "I hope you haven't been waiting for too long?" she asked, looking away to the door across the room.

"Not at all," said Giles.

Carl narrowed his eyes at her fidgeting arms. "This way," she said and began walking even before they could rise to their feet. She ushered them across the anteroom that they were waiting to another door that opened to an open cloister.

The light snow of the noon was persistent and the frost was dusted over the dwarf blue spruces and the Catmints in the courtyard. The sharp minty fragrance of the air was relaxing. From somewhere far, he could hear din of little children. It made him nostalgic for the days of his childhood in Albine monastery.

"Mrs Freeman was very reluctant to let us know about the child," Carl told the Abbess.

Janess Katriel glanced back at him over her shoulders. "Well, you must understand she is a woman dealing a traumatic shock. Wounds on the inside are always intricate."

"How did you find him?"

"Soon after her husband had gone missing... Lily, had left the boy at one of her friends', poor her. The woman came to us this morning with the boy. The mother and son haven't met yet. With all her injuries and emotional upheaval, we thought it would be best if she stayed away from the kid for a while."

The hallway that she cut into was dim. The short walk in the dull light had led them to a bright and cosy dining-cum-play area for kids. Several short dining tables were spread across the longitudinal space with small sized comfy chairs circled around them. The bouncy little ones frolicked around the place with the nuns watching their backs, while the shy ones sat in the comfy chairs, busy with the plaything in their hands. The Abbess pointed at a little boy in a baggy sweater seated on the chair, pecking at his food and observing his surrounding with unease. A nun was seated next to him patting his head and talking to him. But he did not seem to be minding her a bit.

"I thought it was my duty to let you know about this," the Abbess told them.

"Thank you, Janess Katriel," Giles was full with gratefulness.

"Can we talk to him?" asked Carl.

She looked askance at him. "The boy is baffled. I don't think so it is a good idea—"

"We won't hound him, trust me." Carl set his foot forward while the Abbess was taking in a breath to word her objection.

Giles fell beside him. "Should we do this?" he asked in a whisper.