The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell

Author:Craig Russell [Russell, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2019-03-05T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

He decided to visit the infirmary before he started his narcosynthesis session with Pavel Zelený, the so-called Woodcutter. Platner was off duty by the time Viktor arrived but his unsmiling assistant, Krakl, was there.

“I thought I would see how Nurse Horáková is doing,” said Viktor. “May I see her?”

Krakl shrugged. “This way.” He led Viktor along the infirmary corridor. “We’ve sedated her. Herr Dr. Platner cleaned and stitched the wound. Made a damned fine job of it too. She was making such a fuss about her looks. Stupid woman. So frivolous.”

“Frivolous?”

“Six inches lower and it would have been her carotid or jugular that got severed. She wouldn’t be worrying about her looks then.”

Viktor was about to say something, but they had turned off the corridor into one of the treatment rooms. The lights had been dimmed and the young nurse lay on the bed, quiet but not asleep, her gaze fixed on some point on the ceiling. A thick cotton pad, held in place by gauze and bandages, covered the wound, but Viktor could see her cheek was distended and swollen. Bruising had set in and was emphasized by the violet iodine staining on her skin showing from beneath the edges of the dressing.

She turned and smiled sleepily when she saw Viktor. The swelling of the cheek immobilized one side of her mouth and made her smile lopsided, twisted. Viktor wondered how much movement she would get back eventually. He took her hand and asked her how she was.

“I’m fine,” she said. She thanked Viktor for all he had done, and he replied by saying that she should thank Dr. Platner instead: that Dr. Krakl had told him what a good job he had done.

She looked past Viktor to Krakl and her eyes filled with something cold for a moment.

“Dr. Platner was very kind,” she said. “Do you think I’ll be badly scarred?”

Viktor ignored Krakl’s sigh behind him. “You’ll have a scar, but I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Dr. Platner’s skill will have minimized it and you’ll probably be able to disguise it with makeup.” He smiled to conceal the falsehood: he had seen the wound. “You just rest and get better.”

“Thank you again,” she said. “I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t—”

“It was nothing. You get some sleep now.”

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