Imprint of Heart. Illumination with love

There were special relaxation rooms where employees could come and discuss their problems, read the press, relax, and distract themselves. The shop buzzed electric motors, smelled of acetone and rubber. Workers, whose work was associated with harmful colorants, received milk in half a liter a day. When Lucy first got into her shop, she thought that she was in the hall of the palace. Wardrobes for clothes stood separately. At the end of the shift, they were required to wash themselves in the showers. For those wishing someone did a manicure. Before starting work, employees wore white robes and scarves or caps.

“There are twelve brigades in the workshop. Everyone is fighting for the title of the best. Two already wear the honorary title of the foremost percussionist,” Lucy said, stroking the guy’s hand. “I learned all this long ago, after a week of work. Let’s get back together, darling.”

“Who will be against? Have agreed!” Alexey smiled generously.

They met during the break to discuss the progress of the investigation into the murder of his aunt and current affairs, since they worked in one shift.

“The private police officer reported that all suspicions fall on people living in the area where the murder occurred. But the main suspect could be a person who knows her well and who had motives for committing this atrocity. This could be anyone who needed money or gold jewelry. Most importantly, the aunt had a set of emeralds in a ring and earrings of antique value, a chain with a diamond slash of a half carat, which she inherited from her sister. These ornaments in the amount of half a million rubles disappeared from the apartment, and the search for them on the body of the victim gave no results. They examined the scene of the incident, found the scattered things from the bag: a broken case for glasses with fingerprints of the victim, a pack of cigarettes, a notebook with notes and phone numbers of employees, a pen, a pencil for eyebrows and a lipstick of a well-known manufacturer, bought at the Ile de Beaute branch. In the database, fingerprints are of a formal nature. Belonged to any mortal, except for the murderer,” Alexey told, and the detective-Tanya was sent with him sms for more details.

“How is the investigation progressing,” Lucy asked in the foyer when he went out to smoke. “Or should I not ask about this?”

“There are many problems with the evidences, there is not a single witness, and even blood stains are barely perceptible on the victim. Detective Tanya is studying forensic expertise. Her character is too energetic and lively, she all leads with her emotional nature,” Alexis’s face expressed the most tragic mask among all the representatives of the human race. “She wants to make a search herself.”

“Were there any other relatives besides aunt Kate?”

“My parents died when I went to school, I cried for them. I was sent to a boarding school in the sixth grade. And my aunt Kate had come and visited me. She brought gifts: sweets, cookies to children. She had a daughter, Natasha, but she disappeared when she worked on the same post. I already told investigators…” Alexey plunged into a dejected silence.

“I remember such a thing. Natasha disappeared about three years ago. They said they went abroad to be treated. Somewhere in Germany or Switzerland,” Lucy confessed sadly. “Come on, quit smoking, they’ll be looking for us. Come to me today after work, we’ll sit and read the poetry of my old friend Izmailov Alexey.”

“You’re joking, I do not write poetry, but I’ll try to get back what I took to read last time. I liked it very much. Tell your friend, well done! Let her write further.”

“You will return with agreement that you will find for me a private publisher to print this book of poems in a separate volume. Next we will develop the ideal murder of your cousin in the logic of poem-sized iambic or horei, we do not care. But Ivanova will calculate thoroughly every step of the criminal and force him to begin the investigation against himself.”

“I am sure that she will be right, as she hinted at the former roommate – Skripal, when she was looking for Natasha’s remains in his yard. And she found a soil soaked in blood, of the same group as that of my aunt Kate. Probably someone buried the corpse of Natasha. The investigation resumed. It is believed that the owner of the house himself was hacked and buried in the hope of obtaining a hidden amount of money, and then disappears. But his plans failed because of the smallest detail: the headmistress’s child climbed under the table to look for his toy and found a bag of money,” Alexey ascertained and in return took Lucy’s hand and stroked it.

“It can not be,” Lucy continued to sort out her notes in the phone, stunned. “And is here your aunt Kate?”

“They were very interesting women and similar in psychology. However, Tanya-detective said that it is too early to draw any conclusions. You know, there are also interesting circles, own club, where you can watch a movie in your spare time. At the club there was a children’s dance group ‘Kalinka’ for the children of the workers of the enterprise,” he was distracted from the topic. “I was fascinated by the idea of leisure.”

“No less than studying at the university?” Lucy asked impetuously.

“The plant works around the clock in the same rhythm. In the assembly shop, there is night duty for the brigades. The number of products produced by the plant at night is not less than the number of products produced in the day. For work at night they receive an additional surcharge to the salary.”

“Engineering workers on night shift do not work. Our work is connected with research, sometimes creative work and requires special tension. According to the doctors, the creative brain should work during the day,” Lucy was offended.

“The medical commission will help you get a ticket to a sanatorium or a dispensary. Soon it will be the annual medical examination. Vouchers to holiday houses and camp sites are given through the trade-union. Local committee helps large families and lonely ones. To everyone who was on treatment,” Alexey distributed compliments to the right and to the left. “Are you not accidentally pregnant?”

“No, calm down. We’ll meet at the checkpoint at the end of the day. I’m running away.”

They went to workplaces, he – to his computer, she rose a floor above, sat down at the table and opened a laptop, brought from the warehouse.

The plant – the most common, like many hundreds of other plants, became for Lucy Uvarova a second home. She realized that to find out all the work should be worked out not one year and, perhaps, not one decade. She, as a young specialist, was impatient to be at the forefront. But she did not know much and, as a young specialist, and did not understand.

Nina Vasilievna Korbutova – deputy head of the workshop – gave many years to the plant. She has developed her own style of work and constantly kept Lucy under her control, was a very strict and categorical mentor; it was easy and curious to work with her. A tall, bright brunette, always dressed in the latest fashion, but not flashy, but elegantly and simply, without unnecessary jewelry. She also demanded from Lucy neatness in clothes.

“They are equal to us, we are the face of the plant,” she loved to repeat.

Nina did not have a personal life. She was lonely, she had no children of her own, but she found her vocation at the plant not only as a first-class engineer, but also as a wonderful mentor, an assistant to the youth. The chief of the shop was respected for these qualities, with whom he had already worked for ten years.

In the beginning, he grew up to a senior engineer, and then, after joining the trade union, was appointed head of the shop. Nina helped him in everything. The educational work in the shop lay entirely on her. She was the second mother of the assembly shop. Young technicians came for advice to her even home. She lived not far from the factory, ten minutes walk. She liked the role of the second mother. She was always happy to solve any problems that arise with young professionals. No wedding, no celebration took place without Nina. She was the pioneer of all intriguing undertakings.

“In the shop, the combat leaf is issued by the post of people’s control, where they criticized the scammers and loafers. They were few, and the combat leaf with the weapon of satire and humor struggled with them and not without result. So it helped to get to his feet completely drunk Sergey Levin. He even got into the forefront of production and was repeatedly awarded with the badge ‘For excellent work’, ” explained Nina Lucy, considering the main indicators of the brigades.

“To every holiday in the shop, I noticed, a wall newspaper is always posted. They are all on the site of the enterprise. There are reflected the events of the assembly shop: trips to the sponsored farm for harvesting potatoes and tomatoes, weeding out beds, working on building a hostel and school.

“That’s right,” Nina patted Lucy on the shoulder encouragingly. “The factory is the chief of the school of this microdistrict. A sports hall was built. Funds for construction released the plant. The specialists built themselves, because their children will go in for sports there. They are growing generation, new working hands, which are so necessary for us.”

“I know that there is a college on the basis of the plant,” Lucy remembered her studies.

“So do I, our current chief of the shop graduated from it. Then, of course, there was an evening university and an army. The main products of the plant are intravenous batchers, medregistrators, iPads, iPhones, calculators, plasma TVs, monitors, computers, air fresheners, air conditioners.”

“I’m amazed at such a huge number of household items and assortments,” Lucy put in caution.

In fact, in a specially designated place there were already ready-packed products. Gradually ready made items of production were sent to various cities and even abroad, their place was occupied by others. Engineering staff worked without white gowns, but if they went to the workshop they also put on white robes, because they demanded a clean workplace for associates.

“Once a week, usually on Saturday was sanitary cleaning of the premises. Every cooperator washes his place,” the deputy chief told.

Once Lucy had been appearing in the workshop, she was standing and wondering at everything. She had imagined the factory not so immense. Someone accidentally pushed her. She turned around. Before her stood a tall, light-haired girl in a white gown and a hat. In her hands she had an open laptop, where drawings and diagrams appeared. The girl looked then at the drawing, then on the already made circuit and checked whether the product was correctly executed. So it’s no surprise that she did not notice Lucy.

“Hi, you can call me Lucy. I’m your manager.”

“Hi, my name is Sveta Erengeld.”

The voice of Sveta was low and melodic with a slight accent. Lucy later found out that she was Latvian. With the husband they have arrived on a factory after the graduation of the Riga technical university.

“I would like to know what I need to do,” asked the newcomer.

“Now I do your work, that is, I check the correctness of the manufacturing and packaging.”

Sveta began to tell how to do it. Sveta’s husband worked as a replacement foreman, but in another shop, they had two children. She loved them very much. She often told about her little ones: a boy and a girl. Sveta’s children visited the “Sunny House” kindergarten near the plant. After the shift the girlfriends went to the children’s educational combine – for the kids almost the same age. Seeing their mother from the window, they jumped and laughed. Lucy befriended Sveta. By nature, she was calm and balanced, worked well, with knowledge and also helped at first. She was engaged in the manufacture of circuits, and Lucy watched that these schemes and drawings were introduced into production without defects, connected reality with the drawings. Prior to Lucy, this work was performed by Sveta, but with the advent of the girl, she could directly engage in engineering work, that is, with the construction, the invention of a new one. All the drawings made by Sveta were tested by Razumov, the senior engineer, whose workplace was in the room where Uvarova’s desk was. When they returned home on the first day after the end of the shift, Sveta asked a friend:

“Lucy, are you married?”

“It’s a strange question, no.”

“Why? Are you against marriage?”

And then, for the first time, Lucy was seriously thinking, and after all, she is already twenty-six, she has a higher education, she is cute, intelligent, she knows how to cook and wash, and even sew and knit and thoughtfully said:

“Once I get a family. Is it possible to live alone all my life? Father is not eternal. Maybe he has ten years left, or even more, but the years go by and you can miss them.”

“It’s logical,” Sveta agreed. “Then it will be difficult to find a person for the role of husband.”

Lucy suggested that it would not be bad if Alexey invited her to marry him. She knew him well enough. Especially she used to him and remembered Alex, and not someone else.

“In the end, I will make up my mind. Whoever Alexey will be a true companion and helper in life will understand and calm at a difficult moment,” Lucy mused aloud, looking at the nearby Sveta.

“Yes, you must decide. And if he talks about marriage, do not push him away, but give consent and get to know with your father if you have not yet introduced them.”

6. Father

Tanya, a private detective, phoned Kiryanov, hoping that the lieutenant-colonel would free himself from analyzing current affairs.

He was after his duty and was sitting at the table in the pose of the “Thinker” by French sculptor Rodin, trying to make the right decision to take the hostage in the face of private entrepreneur Ivanova, finally to put an end to all the crimes of the world. Her concerns were enough for all the confusion of this cunning crime.

“Glad to hear. How are you?”

“Take a couple of your guards, come to arrest Skripal. I found a private burial in his yard near the door. This is the employee of the post that was missing a couple of years ago – Natalia, I’m sorry, I do not remember the last name, and in the kitchen, under the stove, the decayed receipts from the pawnshop were littered for the amount of the robbery.”

“We’ve that case in our archive for a long time now. But as you say, we leave urgently. And where is the owner of the cemetery?”

“Sits under my supervision. A gunshot wound in the arm put an end to vandalism and blood loss. I think that, and the death of Natalia’s mother, Catherine Vdovina, this is a business of his hands. The evidence is minimal, but it can be proved by the blood group left on the tablecloth and knife injuries of the victim that he is guilty. He has a lot of knives here and even has a massive ax and a hammer at the same time. We must prove that his guilt is unquestionable, and then he will split in the second crime himself, in order to shorten his term with a frank confession.”

“With such an arsenal, I think he will have something to think about over the course of his life,” Kiryanov turned off the phone and the computer at the same time, and called through reinforcements through the officer on duty, who was immediately in the person of senior lieutenant Garik Papazyan, who for a long time was admirer of Tanya.

Kiryanov left with two riot police to the place of residence Zheka.

The foul of the room, despite a cool day, caused disgust at the neighbor’s cat, which scraped the fence, when ten minutes later Kiryanov entered the courtyard of this one-story private, multi-apartment anthill.

Seeing the aliens, the cat rushed headlong to the opposite side and was just next to Tanya, slipped between the legs of two high patrolmen from the department of especially important crimes and the lieutenant-colonel herself, began to arch her back and ruffle her tail to be stroked.

Tanya took a hungry animal in her arms and, stroking it, threw it back to a bowl, in which, besides the empty bottom, the Whiskas cubes appeared, as the detective put the food she had taken with her, and in the presence of witnesses they began to write a report on the detention.

The neighbors who did not see anything from their houses with high fences were witnesses, but they often heard threats from this shaggy subhuman.

In a car with flashers, suspected of particularly serious crimes with aggravating circumstances, the neighbor was taken to the police and left until the circumstances of the case were fully clarified. From there, in ten minutes later, when they made him a new dressing and recording in the book of regular customers of this serious institution, they sent to the pre-trial detention cell of the federal surveillance service – FSS – investigative isolator.

After a maximum of a week, when his guilt in the second crime is proved, he will be sent where he came from, that is, to wait for the court in a prison cell. This will continue until he confesses to the second atrocity.

The material evidences will appear as soon as there are witnesses who will be more than enough in consequence, as everyone saw and even heard screams, but were afraid to leave the post office.

The whole farce concerning money was thought out by Zheka in advance, but it was poorly planned, so he decided to kill both the daughter and the mother with a length of two or three years to avenge the shortfall in profits and developed by him robbery of a mail. The employee, who agreed with him, and who caused the fire, had to pay to the cashier of the institution, the money she had taken for false information about the origin of the fire.

For Lucy, this story became edifying and she was afraid to go out on the street even at six o’clock, when she was finishing the shift, and took with her to the escorted Sveta, then Alexey.

All September days have flown by unnoticeably for Lucy. Work on shifts, evenings reading, TV. The weather was amazing. On the shelves of shops and markets, there were a lot of fruits and vegetables. Lucy especially loved early autumn. It was not hot at all, but everyone was dressed in summer clothes. After a hot summer was somehow breathing easier, and everyone secretly thought about the coming winter. What will it bring…

Particularly good were the evenings. People went out for a walk in parks and squares. In some places you could see a yellow leaf. In the flower beds, fragrant tobacco, marigold, dahlias, and zinnia smelled in a peculiar way. They seemed to want to give the air their last, outgoing scent. All the colors of the summer have faded. Early autumn was painted in its colors – crimson, orange, yellow, and brown.

Lucya began to go out for the evening walks with Alex. He usually called her, and they met in the park, near the house, on a bench. Long talked. Alexey talked about work. They practically did not see each other at the factory. Sometimes on a break, when their shifts coincided, they went to dinner together at the cafe. Their relationship has improved. He regularly called, and she gladly met him. They shared their amorous plans, impressions that arose constantly.

At one of the meetings, Lucy looked very sweet and funny:

“Today you look like, as in the evening of our acquaintance. Your dress suits to the face perfectly,” he remembered the day when they received the award and decided to mark this fact under the guise of a birthday.

“Amazing, do you like me?” Lucya doubted his sincerity.

“Of course, this can not even be a question. Would I meet with you if you were not interesting to me?”

“Cute! But sometimes it seems that you are meeting with me just because of somehow killing time. And I would be here or someone else you do not care. Maybe you’ll buy yourself some kind of thoroughbred dog, you’ll walk with her instead of me,” Lucy’s voice grew harsh. “You do not listen to me!”

“You’re not right in many respects. You want to offend me, if you say so. Did I deserve such words?” he took her hand and held it to his lips.

She did not pull back. She was pleased with his fits of tenderness. But it seemed that he does it somehow as a duty and he does not want to kiss her at all. And, in general, it should not have started from the very beginning of these meetings, if he is indifferent to her. He politely continued:

“I like you, and I would like to be with you always together. In those hours when we are alone, is it worth to torment each other with distrust. You are in vain nervous. Do not quarrel over a trifle.”

She understood the sincerity of Alexey’s words and already repented that she did not believe him. Wanted to reassure and somehow encourage close friend, but words did not go into her head. Then she remembered that she had decided to introduce him to her father.

“I want to introduce you to my dad. You have been at my house several times during our friendship, but you still do not know him.”

Alexey smiled. It was evident that he liked the idea of acquaintance.

“If you insist, I do not mind,” he thawed. “But it offends me that you are not much interested in my relatives.”

“Why do you say that? I want to support you and distract you from worries. I bought my father a shirt, a tie and cufflinks in the capital’s hypermarket and a great gift for you. I dream of introducing you closer. Your tastes match. I saw beautiful snake skin belts at a high price. Look,” she took a box out of her bag and handed it to Alexey. “Do you like?”

Alexey unfolded the cellophane, opened a beautiful, blue, shiny plastic box, picked up the belt, returned her the box, and unrolled his belt. The skin of a black viper flashed in his hands, and there were two buttons in place of the eyes. He tried on the belt.

“Ok, I’ll wear it,” he took off his belt and put it back in the package. “Bunny!”

“Tell me a secret, how is the investigation going on? But since you are silent, then you do not want to talk.” She put her hands on his shoulders.

“The investigation is over. Kiryanov referred the case to the prosecutor’s office. And I did not talk about him because when I meet you, I admire you and forget everything.”

Lucy thought for a moment. The gift cost her fabulous amount – $300. Alexey saw that she had tears in her eyes.

“As for the rest, you know everything. I had to punch my way myself, without anyone’s help.”

At these words of her friend, she blushed profusely, she thought that he hardly knows how to cook food, realized why he is always so calm, it is difficult to get out of balance. He has his own special, established opinion. She felt so small; quite a child compared to him and decided to postpone her acquaintance with her father until a more convenient opportunity, which immediately appeared.

Usually, the father returned from work tired and would hardly have reacted positively to the acquaintance. On Sundays, he usually rested: he read or listened to plays and did not approve of his daughter’s choice. He got used to the idea that she was alone, and he would not like Lucy’s plan to marry, especially since her health, as her father thought, “did not allow pulling all the household affairs and taking care of her husband.” In a word, it was necessary to wait.

In early October, when Lucya had already decided to bury the idea of her father’s acquaintance with Alexey, and the investigation was finally confused in the papers, who was the main defendant in the murder of Aleksey’s relative, the father warned his daughter:

“In three days I will have time off for work on the second shift. So do not worry, when I return home later than usual. I replace the ill teacher of history.”

Lucy estimated that after a day off, Saturday and Sunday will follow. So, the day of the meeting can be scheduled for Friday, since the father did not like any guests at the weekend. So, it was decided. Now it remained to warn Alexey about the day and hour so that he does not schedule any other events for Friday.

On Thursday, Lucy called him to work to arrange a meeting; she was on the second shift. He did not take the phone for a long time, probably it was urgent work.

“Hello, I’m listening,” he said distinctly and clearly. “I have an urgent task; I must do it before lunch. Debug new equipment sent from Germany.”

Something was jammed in the receiver and it was difficult to talk.