The Racer

Ines was seventeen years old. She, and twelve-year-old Rebecca, were youthful versions of their mother, except that they did not have as thick eyelashes. For days on end she studied the works of Freud, Jung, Fromm, Le Bon and Bekhterev, preparing to enter the psych department at Princeton. Since childhood, Ines had a keen interest in observing people, studying their manners, voices, gestures, facial expressions, and she was especially interested in how different people react to the same external stimuli. For her, a person has always been a certain object of research and an experimental sample, from whose behavior certain conclusions can be drawn. Ines was especially interested in cold reading grounded in science. When meeting a new person, each time she tries to assess the person’s appearance as quickly as possible and from this make a description of the psychological portrait, so that later, as the acquaintance develops, she can compare her primary conclusions with verified facts.

Giselle had already climbed the stairs to the workshop, which was located on the third floor. As soon as she was out of sight, Ines immediately came up behind the chair in which Carter was sitting, leaned over, touching his shoulder with her loose brown hair, and asked in a soft voice:

– Dad, can you clean the sink?

– Now, honey. I’m almost there.

Ines leaned even lower, hugged Carter’s neck with both hands, pressed her cheek to his and said:

– Please. I’ll play for you.

Sitting in another chair, which was a couple of meters away, Saul looked at his granddaughter from under his brows and said:

– Ines, it’s better for you not to start. God forbid you get hooked. Your father and I have fought the gambling itch all our lives. Cards, checkers, backgammon, chess, racing are our curse. Can’t resist betting on something.

Carter added:

– Our happiness is that we are father and son. Otherwise, one of us would have been bankrupt a long time ago.

All three of them laughed, looking at each other.

– Well, I must inherit something from my dad – said Ines, which caused Saul to laugh out loud, and Carter proudly said:

– That’s my girl.

After a couple of seconds, another number appeared on the screen. Carter looked at the ticket and realized that he would not have time to cover all the numbers.

– Damn it – he said and got up from his chair, going to the basement to get some tools.

Ines approached Saul, kneeling down and folding her hands on the armrest. She asked, looking at the ticket:

– Grandpa, what do you have?

Staring tensely at the screen through half-closed glasses, Saul replied, maintaining his concentration:

– Let’s see.

The number flashed on the screen and Saul shouted:

– We won!

Ines hugged her grandfather tightly and kissed his bearded cheek. Without getting up from his chair, Saul hugged his granddaughter to him with both arms and added:

– Three hundred fourteen dollars. God, it’s been a while since I hit such a jackpot. – Then he handed the ticket to Ines and said: – Here, sweetie. Share with Rebecca.

Then, hearing footsteps coming from the direction of the stairs, Saul turned half sideways and shouted:

– Carter!?

Carter appeared in the hall with a set of tools.

– Yes?

– You’re a loser.

Opening his arms, Carter said sarcastically:

– Thank you, dad. Real supportive.

12. Attention! Smoking kills!

Fourteen’s not the age to come clean about smoking to your parents. Despite the fact that classmates Gordon and Quentin tried to hide and smoke without prying eyes, they nevertheless held a cigarette quite professionally. They tried all types of tobacco products: strong, weak, filtered, unfiltered, Marlboro, Camel, Winston, Bond Street. At the initial stage, when preferences haven’t settled, you try the entire range. But as the lungs gain experience, a completely conscious choice arises. For Quentin and Gordon, the choice fell on Marlboro.

They were motivated to become intimately familiar with tobacco smoke by Nicolas Cage in the film “Wild at Heart”. To be more precise, it was a scene in which he and Laura Dern tear up the dance floor, with Cage, all fired up, boxing the air in front of him, then doing some vigorous kicking. But what was most memorable was how effectively Nicolas Cage got rid of his cigarette before laying out a guy pestering his girl. These were the shots that predetermined Quentin and Gordon’s passion for cigarettes.

It was a day off, but not a day off for their smoke session. They usually did this after school, but on weekends and vacations they gathered in a variety of places. However, the diversity was not due to their desire to somehow dilute the scenery, but simply due to the fact that in most places someone was constantly looming: either some young mother with a stroller, or old ladies gossiping about everyone in the area, or young punks will gather on the playground, or lovers of a healthy lifestyle will set up a running track. So they had to rush around all sorts of nooks and crannies. This time fate turned out to be more favorable to Gordon and Quentin and there was no one in central park. But it would be strange to meet someone in the park at ten-thirty at night who would like to get some fresh air. The teenagers walked deeper into the park and, once again making sure that there was no one nearby, began to light up. They took a drag on their cigarettes and continued walking, moving towards the playground.

– Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh… – Gordon said with a face as if he had experienced ecstasy, exhaling tobacco smoke. – No, it’s impossible without this. Dude, how are we going to get off this? – he asked, looking at Quentin walking next to him.

– Who is forcing you to quit?

– Dude, if my father finds out, he’ll kill me, and before that he’ll make me quit this crap.

– Oh, well, yes – answered Quentin. – Well, here’s an incentive for you to try not to get caught. So watch your back to not get caught.

Gordon took a long drag and even before exhaling said:

– Why should everything that is addictive be prohibited?

– Everyone thinks that this is supposedly harmful to health.

– Why then was it necessary to invent? All the lame stuff’s allowed, but all the things without which you begin to experience withdrawal are immediately banned. Damn, no logic. Why are there no harmless drugs?

Exhaling smoke, Quentin replied:

– Who said that they don’t exist?

– For example?

– Hmm… – Quentin smirked, and then added: – Sex. What is it not a drug? True, without safety precautions there are consequences.

– Dude, that’s what I’m talking about! To hell with cigarettes and alcohol. People came up with them on their own. But SEX! Where a person is not involved at all, nature itself punishes with syphilis, herpes, or knocking someone up.

– You’re dropping truth – answered Quentin, looking at the tree crowns dissolving in the darkness.

They approached the balance swing.

– There are pitfalls everywhere in this life – Gordon stated.

– Hey, what is this? – Quentin said in a muffled voice.

– Where? – Gordon asked, narrowing his eyes.

Quentin stuck out his index finger, pointed into the darkness and said:

– Over there.

Without sitting on the balance swing, the friends walked a little further to the merry-go-round. With each step the darkness became less dense, and the picture became more clear. They came close and took a better look. Quentin put his hand on it, shook it slightly and said:

– Hey, you okay?

A few seconds later, Quentin was already tugging at her shoulder, but there was no reaction.

– Quentin? – Gordon said frozen. Having received no answer, he repeated without looking away: – Quentin?

– What?

– Check your pulse.

Hearing about this, Quentin seemed to be overwhelmed and uneasy.

That evening Father Benetti stayed at Bernard Hughes’s house. It was common practice for him to occasionally visit homes where a family had suffered a loss. And in every home Leonardo Benetti became a welcome guest, especially in such difficult days. Martha topped up the tea every time the cup was empty, as bartenders do with alcohol, so that a client keeps going. She didn’t want the priest to leave. His presence softened the mental pain and Father Benetti understood this, but he also could not sit endlessly.

The next morning, a funeral ceremony for Gloria Nelson was to be held and it was necessary to get some sleep, although such a series of unnatural deaths plunged the priest into depression, which resulted in insomnia. At the same time, the craving for sleep arose unexpectedly and several times a day. Against this background, the Father sharply increased the dose of coffee he consumed, which he now drank every five to six hours. And all of this in total was already beginning to affect him.

Before leaving the Hughes family home, he asked for a cup of coffee when he felt sleepy again. It is possible that thanks to this, the priest noticed in time a boy who had jumped out onto the road, waving his arms above his head and shouting something. The figure of a teenager suddenly appeared in front of the car’s headlights and the Father managed to brake. He jumped out of the car in a hurry and didn’t even have time to utter a sound when the boy began to shout through his gasping breaths:

– Fa… Father Benetti! Help!

– What? What’s happened?

– Th… There… – Gordon was breathing deeply and couldn’t really say anything coherent. He simply pointed his finger towards the park and called for the priest. Father Benetti put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and said:

– Let’s go.

From Gordon’s appearance, he understood that it was easier to follow him than to wait until he calmed down and the ability to formulate thoughts returned to him.

Two minutes later they found themselves on the playground, where Quentin was squatting, hidden behind a tree, looking fearfully out of the corner of his eye towards the beam carousel. Gordon never managed to bring him to his senses enough to force him to go with him. Father Benetti came up to him, sat down and, placing one hand on Quentin’s shoulder, said:

– Look at me. Hey. Can you hear me?

– Father Benetti – Gordon said nervously, grabbing the priest’s hand. – It’s there. Come on.

Gordon led the priest through the darkness, which was thickening literally every minute and it was already possible to navigate only by bare outlines. Gordon felt the frame of the swing with his hand and said:

– Here. She is here.

Father Benetti took a lighter from his pocket, which he always kept with him in case he needed to light a candle, and lit it in front of him. The corpse of Ursula Minton appeared before him. She was lying on her back between the handrails, and her legs were hanging from the centrifuge. Her braided hair fanned out around her head, which was tilted to the right side. Her skin color still retained a slight shade of pink, but she was already cold. The priest put his hand to his lips, which began to tremble. This sight shattered him as quickly as it did the teens.

A minute later, Father Benetti pulled himself together, took a handful of coins from his pocket, handed Gordon a few pieces and said:

– Run, call the sheriff.

– I’ll be fast – Gordon said, sprinting to the payphone.

Fourteen and a half minutes later, tires screeched as the sheriff’s car stopped. Next came Jenna and forensic scientist Larry Green. A van has already been sent from the morgue.

Desmond ran up to the beam carousel with the flashlight on and asked:

– Father, you didn’t touch anything?

The priest moved his lips silently for a while, but then he shook his head and answered:

– No-no. I… I just sent the boy to call you at the office, and I stayed here.

– Fine.

After a short silence, Father Benetti said with a trembling voice:

– What is it? God, she’s still a child.

Jenna came up to him and took him to the nearest bench, sitting down next to him. She stroked the sobbing priest’s shoulder, trying to calm him down just as he had helped her find calm.

13. Chance, coincidence, pattern and fate

– Some sick bastard has started up in my town! – Desmond snarled furiously as he and Jenna stormed into the office.

Harry, on duty that night, snapped to attention, listening to the sheriff’s voice.

– When did this happen!? What kind of monster does that!?

Late at night, Desmond, Jenna, and Harry speculated about the killer’s motives – if there were any. The four victims had no connection. There were no injuries with a common pattern. It looked like different people committed the murders, and some could pass for accidents. Deductively, it was pure chaos.

The sheriff doubted anyone local did this, so he ordered Jenna and Harry to call Heartstone’s only hotel and three motels. He was sure it was an outsider’s work.

Calls to motel and hotel managers came up empty. No one stayed longer than a day. After jotting down the names of guests from the past five days, Harry and Jenna found no repeats, like the killer was switching places to avoid being tracked.

When the motel and hotel managers couldn’t help, the sheriff ordered Jenna and Harry to canvass in the morning every café, restaurant, bank, post office, train station, shop, supermarket, gas station, hospital, and other busy places. If anyone spotted someone remotely suspicious who’s not local, they were to report it to the sheriff’s office immediately. Desmond also ordered them to notify everyone to report anyone who moved to Heartstone in the last year, in case he’d missed something.

14. Always in touch

Ever since Rebecca started reaching for the phone mounted on the wall in the kitchen, she constantly tried to be the first to pick up the receiver. No one in the family could figure out which parent the girl, who loved to talk for hours, took after. In such cases Saul always joked, saying that it was not necessary to be like their parents, thereby hinting that the granddaughter took after her grandfather, who firmly believed in the great power of her gift of gab, which never rested. Rebecca was even jokingly called “Radio” at home. If a call rang and Carter was closest to the phone, and he was too lazy to leave his seat, he called Rebecca: « Radio, you are being called”. Even if Rebecca was in the basement or on the veranda, this did not stop her and she ran towards the phone. But this trait explained her success in learning languages, and not only English. When Rebecca was eight, Giselle noticed that the girl picked words apart and dove into their meanings. This led to her frequently correcting adults when someone used a word in an inappropriate manner. By eleven she could speak fluently in Spanish and a little French. Rebecca was bothered by her thick French accent. Carter gave her a collection of French hits from recent years, which the girl listened to from morning to evening. She didn’t get rid of her accent completely, but she began to understand some slang words better. Everyone understood that in the case of Rebecca the issue of choosing a profession had already been resolved.

Around noon the phone rang. Rebecca picked up the phone in the living room.

– Hello?

– Heartstone, Boston speaking. Can you hear me? – said Roger.

He was the eldest of Carter and Giselle’s three children. Roger studied at Boston University to become a surgeon. When Roger decided on his choice of profession, that evening, while lying in bed, Carter said to Giselle: “Well, we can breathe a sigh of relief. It’s not for nothing that he loved watching horror films since childhood. Turns out, our boy was training his nerves so his hand wouldn’t shake cutting people. And most importantly, it’s legal”. Since the eighth grade, Roger deliberately focused his attention on biology and chemistry. His knowledge of chemistry was truly appreciated by Saul when, five years ago, his grandson assembled homemade explosives, with which he helped his grandfather get rid of the withered trunk of an old cedar tree. Saul patted his grandson on the shoulder and said that he saved him a lot of time, effort and nerves. That tree had long been an eyesore for Saul. True, Carter and Giselle did not appreciate such talents of their son and Carter forbade Roger to even try to mix everything that in total could be explosive, but without specifying, because he had no idea what exactly and in what proportions his son mixed; and at the end Carter added: “I forbid you to even make flaming cocktails”. For some time after this, Ines called her brother “dynamite”. True, Giselle soon saw how useful Roger’s knowledge was when he removed a stain from a white tablecloth that no detergent could touch.

Growing up, Roger was more easygoing than most boys until thirteen. Carter or Giselle didn’t have to work very hard to influence their son, even though he was less flexible than the two sisters. But after the process of adolescence was in full swing, Roger’s character changed greatly. He was bursting with energy that needed an outlet. He did long distance running and some swimming. But he was especially interested in cycling. Having become a student, in his first year he joined the university cycling team. Roger didn’t get cycling’s appeal until Kayla dragged him to the track.

Kayla Freeze was the only daughter of Carter’s maternal cousin, Vanessa. Kayla’s parents were in a car accident when she was four years old. A couple of weeks after the funeral of Vanessa and her husband, Saul was going to offer his son custody of the girl, but Carter got ahead of his thoughts. So Carter and Giselle raised Kayla as their own daughter. If she called Carter and Giselle aunt and uncle, then Saul became her grandfather, because while she remembered her parents, at least very vaguely, she never knew her grandparents. Kayla was three years older than Roger and became that big sister to all three of them, helping them with homework, flying a kite, teaching them how to play chess, ride a bike, and shoot a basketball. When Giselle began teaching Kayla to draw at an early age and saw her success, she was delighted and decided that she had revealed the girl’s talent and determined the business to which Kayla would devote her life. But since from time to time Carter loved to pick fights with his wife just to mess with her, he immediately bought a piano and hired a tutor, because he knew about Kayla’s love for musicals. Then he bet with his wife that his niece would become a musician. The subject of the dispute was the choice of place for a summer holiday: Giselle dreamed of Barcelona, and Carter dreamed of Monte Carlo, although he did not intend to spend money in a casino. So the husband and wife waited for the day when their niece would graduate from school and decide on her choice of profession. As a result, both lost because Kayla decided to become a cardiologist.

They studied at the same university as Roger and shared a rented apartment. Overall, their lives have changed little. Kayla kept the apartment running – cleaning, cooking, and ironing. Roger spent a little more time at the university because he was part of the cycling team. Kayla was involved in swimming, but did not strive to reach any sports or professional level, but rather did it for her own pleasure.

– Heartstone is listening – Rebecca answered.

– Radio, how are you?

– Fine. Should I call mom? Oh wait…

Ines answered the phone, after which Rebecca ran back to the TV.

– Hello – Ines greeted. – How is it?

– Fine. Better tell me why Rebecca left me?

– Um… don’t pay attention. The commercials are over.

– What does she watch?

– “One Hundred And One Dalmatians”. Hold on a sec. – Ines turned in the direction of the open window and shouted:

– Mom!

– Yes?

– Boston’s on the line!

– I’m coming now!

Ines returned to the conversation:

– So, what news?

Roger sighed and replied:

– News? I haven’t won a gold medal yet. I still haven’t cut up the patient. I didn’t meet my love either; no one worth dating. And so everything remains unchanged.

– How’s Kayla?

– Like at a resort – Roger said and looked at Kayla standing at the stove, who showed with a sarcastic facial expression: « I’ll deal with you later, you total freeloader”. This brought a slight smile to Roger’s face.

Giselle answered the phone.

– Roger?

– Hi, Mom.

– Hello dear. How are you?

– All according to plan.

– How was it at the university?

– Well, it seems they are not going to kick me out yet.

– This is good, because if they kick you out of the university, then dad and I will kick you out of the house. – Giselle said, deadpan, though she chuckled inside. She always understood Roger’s humor in a way that the three girls did not. How is Kayla?

Roger looked at his cousin.

– Kayla? Experimenting with food again. And at the same time, over my stomach, taking this opportunity.

At that moment, a dishrag flew at Roger and he let go of the receiver as soon as Giselle said:

– Pass the phone to her.

Kayla turned down the heat on the gas stove and walked over to the phone, straightening her long, wavy, chocolate-colored hair.

– Hello?

– Hi dear.

– Hello Aunt Giselle. How are you doing there?

– Alive and healthy. How are you?

– Everything is great. How is grandpa?

– Grandpa in a chair on the veranda. Basking in the sun. I didn’t wake him up.

– No-no. Let him rest. Kiss him for me.

– Necessarily. What are you cooking?

– I’m frying minced meat for julienne.

– You are my golden one. How’s the budget? Send more?

– It is not necessary. We have enough.

– Listen, Kayla, what about the holidays?

– Aunt Giselle, I have some difficulties. – Every year, Kayla and Roger took their exams earlier than scheduled so they could leave early and be in time for Giselle’s birthday. – We probably won’t make it on time and will be a couple days late. You won’t be too mad, will you?

– What are you talking about, sweetie? Of course not. Decide your affairs calmly and take your time.

– How’s Uncle Carter?

– All at work. They have something to do with a shortage of granaries there. He is engaged in the construction of a warehouse. The season is in full swing.

– As always. Say hi to him.

– I’ll definitely pass it on.

– How are things going with your paintings? Haven’t finished your collection yet?

– No, what are you talking about? There are still a lot of things that need to be finalized. But I think I’ll meet the deadline. – Giselle took a deep breath and said: “Okay, honey.” I will not distract you. Keep cooking.

Kayla smiled and replied:

– Fine. A big hello to Ines and Rebecca.

– I’ll definitely tell them, honey. Love you. Bye-bye.

15. Beach, moon, sea of blood

Jerry Ings and Alexa Monroe decided to spend a late evening on the beach by the lake. To do this, Jerry requisitioned his father’s van. As the school year neared its end, their dates picked up. Apparently, this summer Jerry and Alexa will go to universities located on different coasts of the country. A year ago, they seriously expected to enter the same university. But things turned out differently. They saw separation as worse than any nightmare. Deep down, they both understood that parting for such a long period would probably mean the end of their love story. Years at different universities, surrounded by thousands of students, would likely lead them to new partners, as a result of which they will forget about their four-year whirlwind romance. But in their hearts, hope was still far from dying.

They parked close to the boat station. Stopping right on the sand, Jerry put the handbrake on the van, after which his fingers released the lever and lay on Alexa’s smoky caramel hair, lowering down to her neck, casting a gaze into her honey-colored eyes. Alexa wrapped both hands around Jerry’s forearm and pressed it to her cheek. She was about to lean towards him, but suddenly stopped and said:

– Let’s go to the lake. The heat has already subsided.

– Let’s go.

They stopped a few meters from the water and sat down on the sand. Alexa leaned against Jerry’s chest, wrapping her arms around his waist like a little girl cuddling a teddy bear before bed. Glancing somewhere into the distance between the stars and the lake, the opposite shore of which was too far to see even during the day, Alexa began to think deeply.