Коллектив авторов - Grantville Gazette 37

Neustatter grinned.

"Plus, since you came and got us," Hudson continued, "you already know that Gena's been teaching him martial arts. Now if you had someone who'd been blown away on Main Street or had a broken neck, Neustatter'd be a suspect. But a stabbing? Uh-uh."

"That's . . . an interesting insight," Meinhard acknowledged. He glanced at Georg.

Georg shrugged. "Don't look at me. That's not forensics. I think they call that profiling."

"Let's go check the clinic before it gets completely dark," Meinhard directed.

****

Lorrie Gorrell was finishing up with a couple sick kids while Maurine Kroll tried to keep the day's paperwork somewhat current. Someone banged on the door of the clinic. Maurine pushed back from the shelf pegged to the wall that served as a desk. Being on paperwork made her the receptionist, too. She opened the door to find her husband, daughter, and, well, probably not half of Erfurt standing there, but it seemed like it.

A quick glance didn't reveal anyone obviously in need of medical care. "What's going on, Gordon?" she asked. "Can I help you?"

"We hope so," said a man wearing the armband of the city watch. "There is a lot of blood in an alley near the university. We believe there were two men injured, and the blood trail led in this general direction. One of them would have been bleeding badly."

"Lorrie!"

The door to the examination room opened. Lorrie Gorrell ushered a woman and her two boys out. She was carrying the younger, who looked about six. The older was probably nine or ten.

"Keep giving them purified water and an aspirin morning, noon, and night," she directed, then asked, "What's going on, Maurine?"

"They're looking for a couple injured men, one bleeding heavily," Maureen told her. "They must mean Griesser and Unsinn."

Lorrie nodded. "Hans Griesser and Gerhard Unsinn came in this afternoon. Griesser had a deep laceration to his right arm, and Unsinn had a broken nose. I stitched up Griesser and did what I could for Unsinn's nose."

"Did they say what happened?" Meinhard asked.

To his surprise, Watchman Jost laughed softly. "I can guess. I know Unsinn, by reputation at least. He is a klutz."

"Yes," Lorrie confirmed. "Hurrying to bring a knife to his master."

Meinhard nodded. "I can see it. Not quite running, but moving fast. He slipped in the blood and stumbled forward just as . . . Griesser, you say? . . . came around the corner." He paused. "Where are they now?"

"They both lost a lot of blood," Lorrie said. "This isn't Leahy or Magdeburg Memorial. We don't give transfusions unless it's really life or death. I can't even give Sergeant Nagel's kids as much aspirin as I'd like to. I stitched them up and sent them to a tavern. At least they'll get some fluids back in their systems that way."

Maurine took a deep breath. "And I gave them some marijuana for the pain."

Gordon Kroll blinked a couple times. "You prescribed beer and pot?" he asked his wife.

"Yes. I told them to come back tomorrow. If they need it, we'll give them a pint of O negative and some chloram."

Kroll winced. "Let me talk to Dennis Stull and some others. We've got to see about getting you more medical supplies, especially if you're becoming the walk-in clinic for the city."

"Thanks, honey."

Meinhard cleared his throat. "Any idea which tavern they went to?"

"Probably The End of the Woad . It's closest."

"Thank you."

Maurine exchanged glances with Lorrie.

"Go with them," Lorrie said. "I'll close up here."

****

Outside, Meinhard gave a quick summary that caused most of the remaining onlookers to disperse. Potential murder had been interesting; a clumsy journeyman was not. That left just three watchmen, Georg, the two professors, Neustatter, Astrid, Schwartz, Huber, Gordon and Maurine Kroll, Gena, and Eric Hudson. They filed into The End of the Woad and filled the place up.

"May I help you?" the waitress asked.

"City watch," Meinhard said. "Looking for Hans Griesser and Gerhard Unsinn."

"Right over there."

Griesser's arm was bandaged, as was Unsinn's nose.. Both their shirts were bloodstained but they had cleaned themselves up.

Eric Hudson sniffed. "Must be our guys. That is definitely a doobie." Gena smacked him.

"Herr Griesser? Herr Unsinn?" Meinhard asked.

" Ja ."

"I'm Watchman Meinhard. Some citizens found a lot of blood in an alley, and they were afraid someone had been murdered."

"Ha! Not quite murdered, although Unsinn here stabbed me when he fell."

"Sorry," Unsinn muttered.

Griesser laughed. "He fell face-first into my tray of horseradish, too. Busted his nose and spilled the horseradish everywhere. Sorry, Unsinn, but I've had enough beer and das weed that it's funny now."

Unsinn had clearly had enough, too. He giggled. "I slipped in the blood."

Meinhard nodded. "We know. But where did the blood come from?"

The waitress came over with a platter of fowl and a pungent sauce.

"Some fool butchered some chickens in the alley. I saw some feathers."

Meinhard and Georg just looked at each other. Georg shook his head.

Neustatter clapped him on the shoulder. "This was good work, Georg. You could have a future in investigation." He turned. "And Huber? You wouldn't be on the CoC sanitation committee would you?"

" Ja . I've got work to do. Fraulein Krollin, I'd like to speak with you about quarterstaff lessons."

She nodded.

"Neustatter, I'll give you a decent fight next time." The Committeeman left.

"That explains everything," Meinhard said.

"Chicken with horseradish sauce?" Eric Hudson asked.

"Well, except that."

"That's easy," the waitress said over her shoulder as she passed by with a tray full of food. "The cook is determined to master the up-time turkey and dressing by the next kirmess . But he's not there yet."

****

January 1634, Grantville

Phillip "Lips" Kastenmayer stood despondently in front of the window, gazing at the unobtainable fashions on display. The mannequin that most drew his attention was dressed in T-shirt, leather jacket, blue jeans, and black leather boots-just like the hero in the movie he'd just seen. There was no price displayed, but then there wouldn't be, because those clothes were authentic up-time fashions, and if you had to ask, you couldn't afford them.

He stepped back so he could see his reflection in the window. Anything less like what was on display was hard to imagine. He was dressed in the uniform Mama believed suitable for the student son of a Lutheran pastor. It was drab, uninspiring, but long-lasting. So long-lasting that he expected to still be wearing them when he graduated from university.

He thrust his thumbs through his belt-how much he'd love to be able to thrust them into the pockets of his own pair of jeans or leather jacket-but that was just a dream. Papa could barely afford to send him and his brothers to university, let alone splash out on expensive up-time fashions. With a final sad glance at the fashions in the window, he set off on the five mile walk home.

May, 1635, the rectory, St. Martin's in the Field, South of Rudolstadt

Lips was happy that his sister was getting married, but he wasn't happy that he had to dress up just because she was getting married.

"Stand still," Salome Piscatora, his mama, demanded as she tried to straighten his collar.

Lips did as he was told while Mama dusted down his freshly starched collar-he could already feel it starting to itch. Then he felt her pulling a brush through his hair. Eventually he was tidy enough, and she sent him off to stand in a corner with his younger brother.