"The head injury wasn't severe, but we should avoid tiring her out too much to prevent potential vomiting," the druid who had taken care of Windi before said to Jorgen and Elin.
"What about Coersta's knee?" Elin asked.
"Just a minor scrape," Elin nodded. "Other than that, is she physically fine?"
"Some malnutrition, but overall, she seems perfectly normal for a fourteen-year-old human girl. I can't believe such a healthy girl has been stuck in a plague quarantine house for so long. Sometimes, I really don't understand the way you humans think."
"Neither do I," Elin turned to Jorgen. "Let's go in."
Coersta lay on her back on one of the beds, her head wrapped in bandages. Although her eyes were closed, it was evident that she hadn't fallen asleep. She was experiencing both physical and mental fatigue, but closing her eyes brought a sharp pain in her forehead that prevented her from drifting off. The window by her bedside was open, and the wind blew a tattered leaf onto her pillow.
Elin dragged a chair over and sat beside the bed, brushing away the leaf adorned with white spots.
"Coersta, it's me," Elin said.
Coersta quickly opened her eyes.
"Do you remember my name?" Elin asked.
"Elin," she continued. "Where's Amy?"
"She's not here."
"Where is she?"
"We don't know yet."
The girl lowered her eyes and bit her lip on the side, not saying anything more. Jorgen felt that perhaps due to amnesia, her mental age seemed several years younger than her physical age, like a child just about to explore the world, unaware of the proper ways to interact with people and express herself. There was no place less suitable for a child to grow up than the plague-stricken land. Amy's disappearance made her feel sad and anxious, and if she were alone, she might burst into tears. But in front of Jorgen and Elin, she had no idea how to react.
"I dreamt of her," Coersta said.
"Is that so?"
"I dreamt of her in a blaze, screaming for help, 'Help! Help!' There were other people around her, but I couldn't see who they were. Many people. They reached out to grab her, and she didn't dodge, but they couldn't catch her."
Elin and Jorgen exchanged a glance. It was unexpected for Coersta to calmly describe such a sinister and ominous dream. It might indicate the presence of some psychological issues, and it would be challenging to obtain reliable information about last night's events in this situation. Elin made a gesture to Jorgen, indicating that he would handle it, then turned to Coersta and said, "That was a nightmare."
"I'm scared."
"It's okay, everyone gets scared sometimes."
"Do you get scared too?"
"Oh, of course, I do. Let me tell you a story, Coersta. When I was three or four years younger than you are now, my family had over a hundred sheep. One day, my grandfather asked me to bring all the sheep back from the mountains. When I was halfway up the hill, I saw something strange in the bushes." Elin gestured with his hands. "It was a big bamboo basket-like thing, with red stuff oozing out of it, very eye-catching even from ten meters away. I kept thinking about what it could be, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt like it might contain human heads, because it was bleeding. For the next week, every day when I passed that spot while herding the sheep, that thing was still there. I had nightmares for the whole week. In my dreams, that thing grew eyes and stared at me, flying around in the sky. But then, from one day on, I never had a nightmare about it again. Want to know why?"
Coersta's eyes widened, waiting for the second half of the story.
"Because I decided to confront it head-on. I approached it and gave it a hard kick, almost breaking my toes because that thing turned out to be an oil can with a bamboo casing around it, convenient to carry with one hand. The red stuff was just paint. Coersta, if you don't want to have nightmares anymore, take a lesson from me and confront whatever is causing you to have nightmares."
Coersta sat up slightly. "What should I do?"
"I'll ask you some questions, and you answer with the first thing that comes to your mind. Remember, no hesitation, just answer immediately with the first thing that pops into your head. Because in a duel with nightmares, your actions have to be quick; taking your time won't work. If you hesitate for even a second in your response, the nightmare might linger in your mind for an extra second. If the question can be answered with a nod or a shake of your head, you don't need to speak to save time. Understand?"
Coersta nodded.
"Alright, let's begin," Elin rubbed his hands together. "First question: Did you go to bed on time that night, like you usually do?"
Nod.
It might seem like a strange question unrelated to the case, but Jorgen understood what Elin could gather from it: whether there was any unusual behavior that night and further deducing the possible time of the fire's outbreak. If they asked Coersta these questions in a traditional and formal manner, considering her current mental state, it would be challenging to get a rational and objective response. But having her nod immediately based on her first impression indirectly answered those two questions. Jorgen couldn't think of anyone else at the Agency who could handle the situation in this manner.
"Good girl. Next question, and remember to respond just as quickly. When you woke up, did you smell smoke?"
Nod.
There was no need to ask, "When did you wake up?" If she smelled smoke when she woke up, it must have been after the fire had started and before it engulfed the house in flames. Besides, Coersta had no means to discern an exact time frame.
"When we saw you, you were outside. Did you come out through the window?"
Nod.
"But I remember that the window was quite high, and you needed a step stool to reach it."
"I used one."
Elin skipped the unnecessary question of whether she felt there was a fire. She had smelled smoke, and perhaps more than just smoke, but the fire had already grown to the point where she had thoughts of escaping.
"There were wooden bars nailed to the window. If they were still there, you couldn't climb out. Are the bars still there?"
Shake of the head.
Elin pondered for a moment. "You're doing well, Coersta. Let's continue. You climbed out through the window, jumped down, and injured your knee that way. Is that correct?"
"I don't know."
"Don't know?"
"When I climbed out of the window, my knee hit the window edge, and then I fell down." Elin continued with a series of questions, guiding her back to that night. Coersta began to recount without restraint, "When I woke up, I felt my back was burning. It hurt so much." She lightly touched her head with two fingers from her right hand, "My body was moving on its own. Later, I realized someone was carrying me. I tilted my neck back so that I could see without their hands blocking my eyes. I saw myself getting farther and farther away from the house. The whole house was on fire... and I started crying. I couldn't see the person's face. Afterward, he stopped moving. I wanted him to put me down, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything. We stood there for a very long time..."
At this point, she furrowed her brow, tightly clutching the corner of the bedsheet, looking troubled, but she had to disclose the ending of the nightmare.
"He just stood there. He stood there until... I heard frightening sounds coming from the woods. Very scary sounds. Then he put me down and ran into the forest."
"Frightening sounds? Like this, perhaps?" Elin covered her mouth with her right hand, leaving some space between her hand and her lips. Then she slapped her right hand with her left, creating a double sound effect: "Slap—!"
Coersta jumped in surprise, her shoulders involuntarily shrugging. Her eyes widened, and she immediately nodded.
"Then you saw me. I ran to your side."
Another nod from Coersta.
"Well done, Coersta. You're a good girl. With this, the nightmares won't bother you again; I can assure you. Would you like to try sleeping now to test it out? Are you tired?"
Coersta lay down, bending her arms behind to flatten the pillow. She closed her eyes and then opened them again, saying, "Elin, I want to have the snacks from last time."
"No problem." Elin scratched the side of his nose.
"With rose-flavored syrup."
"If the chef knew you were still thinking about that snack, he'd be so happy that he'd forget how to bake bread. Remember that word, amnesia? Just lie down for a while, and when you wake up, the snack will naturally be there in front of you. I promise."
The two of them walked out of the ward.
"Rose-flavored syrup snacks?" Jorgen said, "What's that all about?"
"It's a long story... never mind, that stuff won't suit your taste anyway."
"Summarize what we just learned. The window, the high stool, I didn't know about them."
"Alright, here's the situation. The window she used to escape was originally nailed with wooden bars. When she woke up, she found the bars were gone. So either someone chopped or removed the bars after she fell asleep, or after the fire started."
"To help her escape."
"But the timing matters. If it happened before the fire started, then the person who removed the bars knew about the fire in advance. That person could be the arsonist or at least someone who knew about the arson plan. If it happened after the fire started, then it's more complicated. The person could be the arsonist, someone who knew about the arson plan, or someone who acted spontaneously after witnessing the fire."
"But that person is not Jemar."
"Of course not. She climbed out, fell down, hit her head, and lost consciousness for some time. I think at least five minutes, because when she woke up, the fire had spread to the point where it was beyond saving, roughly around the time I punched Flint. Then Jemar picked her up and carried her away from the fire. If he hadn't done that, she would have either burned to death or been crushed by the collapsing room. Let's put aside why Jemar decided to save the girl for now. In any case, Jemar carried her to the edge of the forest... and stopped. Coersta said he stood there for a long time, but I don't think it was too long, because she was very scared. Well, who wouldn't be frightened if they were being carried by a scar-covered Bloodscar Crusader they had never met before? Anyway, for whatever reason, Jemar stood there for a while."
"Perhaps he was considering his next move," Jorgen said.
"It's also possible that he had no choice but to stand there. Acting rashly could lead to trouble. I think it went like this: he was in a standoff with the sniper in the forest. Because he was holding a little girl, the sniper hesitated whether to shoot or not. Jemar also had similar concerns. In the end, the other party decided to shoot and hit him. That's how the bloodstains came about. Jemar knew that if he continued like this, both he and Coersta would be in danger. So, he charged into the forest to confront the person who shot him. We know what happened next. I think we can safely conclude that Jemar's involvement in the arson is unlikely. We should separate him and the sniper from the arson incident."
"Since Jemar stopped at the edge of the forest and waited, he should have known there was a sniper in the forest. It couldn't have been based on sight or sound but something he knew from the beginning. This person was following him, but their initial intention wasn't to kill him. Otherwise, they would have acted before he rescued Coersta."
"For example... they were ordered to act after Jemar showed signs of betrayal?"
"Let's not jump to conclusions too soon. We need to find a way to get something out of Jemar."
"Considering his attitude, we shouldn't have too high hopes."
"Why do you think he saved Coersta? They've never met before."
"Who knows," Elin glanced back at the door where Coersta had fallen asleep. "Maybe it was... 'conscience' or something like that?"
Unfortunately, conscience is never something that can be used as evidence. Jorgen said, "Whatever it is... you did a good job. The dream story was well crafted."
"You're hurting my feelings here, Jorgen. That was actually an important childhood memory of mine, though only half of it was true."
"So, which half was false?"
"The ending. It wasn't a paint can. The red stuff on the surface was real blood because someone had stuffed two dead goat fetuses inside. I was so scared, and the nightmare didn't end; it actually went on for another month. Let's hope this case gets wrapped up cleanly and quickly."