A/N: Shout out to my anonymous reviewer! You're right. Something isn't adding up. ;) Glad you liked it.
Chapter 28
By the morning, Zink had still not woken up. Elphaba had a meeting with the carpenter while Fiyero was giving his parents and Glinda an update. The green woman intended to visit Private Schultz and Sergeant Zeki after her meeting, hoping that both men were on the mend.
"Oh I…" the carpenter froze after Lieutenant Zetti showed him to the tent where Elphaba was waiting. It was what had been Sergeant Zeki's interrogation tent.
"Good morning sir. I appreciate you coming at such short notice. I have questions that I'm hoping you can answer," the green woman had stood from her seat and smiled at him; offering him a seat at the table with the floor board on it. Next to the floor board was a small tray with coffee pot and cups. There was some sugar cubes and cream as well.
"Ma'am, forgive me," he said sitting down across from her.
"For what? You haven't done anything wrong as far as I can tell," Elphaba was confused as she offered him coffee. He gratefully took a cup.
"I had built it up in my head that I'd be meeting Lady Glinda. Quite silly, I know," he said.
"Not silly at all. You'd been requested to come to the Palace by Gale Force. I know I would have thought so as well. Now before we go any further, what is your name? Lady Glinda will need to know that so you are compensated for your time," Elphaba smiled again.
"My name is Göksu. I come from a long line of carpenters. What may I call you, ma'am?" He seemed to relax a bit.
"Well most call me Miss Elphaba, if that works for you," she said.
"Very good, Miss Elphaba. That is a nice piece of pine you have there. I'm guessing that you want to talk about it?" Göksu wondered before sipping some coffee.
"Indeed I do. What do you normally coat this in, when it is part of a floor?" The green woman asked.
"Well some use wax. It's not a hard coating so it needs to frequently reapplied. There is Shellac. Another soft surface usually coated with wax. It might add another layer of protection against wear and moisture; I don't often recommend Shellac for floors. It's mostly a furniture or trim kind of application. The best thing is new and it's called varnish. It's much harder than wax and resists quite a bit of wear and tear. One drawback would be that it takes longer to dry," he explained. Göksu picked up the piece of wood and looked carefully at it.
"What is on this particular board? Also, what is in this varnish?" Elphaba wanted to know.
"Tung or linseed oil is what varnish is made of. I confess that I don't know much about either of them but I do know that the varnish is quite smelly when it is being applied. The windows in the home need to be opened and people probably shouldn't be hanging around when you do a floor," he told her regarding the varnish. She noted that he was intently staring at the board and had not answered her question about what was on it.
"What is it?" The green woman asked.
"Well this floor is old enough that varnish was not a thing. It looks like Shellac and wax but… the wax is colored. You don't use colored wax…" the confusion was evident by the look on his face.
"You don't?" Lieutenant Zetti spoke up.
"No. As the wax wears down the color could be transferred to the wood and ruin it. Typically I would use something that would be white because in liquid form it can become clear, with a thin enough coat, or stay white. The white doesn't transfer to the wood since it is a natural wax color. When you color wax, it can be made with many different kinds of dye; for instance, crushed bugs, flowers, or clay. Some don't realize that the bugs or flowers could be dangerous and when you mix it into the wax, then it could affect the wood beneath," Göksu grew concerned, now that he was sitting in the room. Something bad must have happened. Why else would he have been asked to the Palace?
"Is there any way to identify what kind of dye this is?" Elphaba wondered.
"No, I'm afraid not. If someone didn't want to pay for someone like me to do the floor waxing then they may have melted their own candles to do it," he said.
"Ah, I see. Well we appreciate your help," the green girl told him. The infection would have appeared to be an accident. Kahui must have done the floor waxing himself, not knowing what was in the candles he melted.
"Anytime. Please call on me if you need me again," Göksu smiled slightly. With that Lieutenant Zetti escorted him out of the tent and back to his business. Elphaba left to head to the medical tent. There she met up with Doctor Talib.
"Zink is still out, I'm afraid. I did find something interesting on the body of Corporal Morel though," the older man said.
"Oh? What?" Elphaba was surprised. The Doctor handed her a small piece of folded paper and she opened it. The piece read – "Meet at the old corn exchange, noon." There was no date on the note.
"I had better get Fiyero," she said.
To Be Continued…