Fly Hunter: The Story of an Inquisitor - страница 44

– Eri! And you're here! Such a bright mind… Mamad! What did you do to deserve this? You wouldn't hurt a fly…

Reaching the end of the list, the old man whispered his son's surname, first name, and patronymic, then repeated them louder and suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, a strength difficult to imagine coming from his frail, feeble body.

– No-o-o!.. No-o-o! He promised me! I gave him everything: my honor, my house, my wealth… I paid such a ransom… And he's been dead for a whole year…

The old man cried bitterly, like only little children cry, wiping his eyes with his fists.

– Savages!.. Are these people? Worse than beasts, even beasts are better… That's why he appears to me every night as a child: reaching out his little hands and laughing…

The old man howled. His terrible cry poured out through the open window and startled all the nearby dogs, who also howled in response. Gulshan paled with fear; tears of pity streamed from her eyes, but there was no one left to confess to, the old man had gone mad; he began to laugh joyously and happily, reaching out to his apparent little son and gently calling out to him:

– Come to me, darling, come braver, only the first step is difficult, the main thing is not to fall after the first step, the main thing is not to fall…

The old man reached forward and fell, his eyes froze. Gulshan recoiled from him in horror. The old man was dead. He had lived with only one hope, and with his death, there was nothing left for him to do on this earth. Gulshan hastily grabbed the lists and fled from the room of the man she had killed. In her own room, she carefully cut out the perfectly forged piece with scissors, burned it, and returned the lists to their place in the study: who knows, maybe someone would dig them up. However, in all her time as a secretary, no one had ever asked about them, no one had shown any interest…

Aman-Jalil arrived and went to work the next day.

Seeing Gulshan, he snapped:

– Started drinking?.. I'll beat you!

Gulshan burst into tears. All the pain and resentment, all the horror she had endured spilled out and flooded the room. Aman-Jalil recoiled from this outpouring and shut himself in his office. After a while, he summoned Gulshan to him.

– Everything remains the same for us. Don't be upset!.. Remember: we have a son! What happened to you?

– The old man died.

– I know, they told me… It's all for the best. I never figured out how to tell him that his son has been dead for a year…

– And you knew about it? – Gulshan was horrified by the coincidence.

– An agreement was made, but I simply didn't have time to help his son: he fled the island, tried to swim across the ocean strait, and was torn apart by sharks; they specifically breed them there, feeding them the bodies of prisoners.

– And you kept silent? – Gulshan stared at him in fear.

– Am I a fool to miss out on such a benefit? Something came your way too, I did it for you. And the old man lived another year, married a young woman, what's wrong with that?…

– His death is on me!

– Forget about it! One less person on earth, one more… "You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs!" There are plenty of people.

Gulshan was about to leave the office but stopped at the door and said:

– There's more! The driver is making lewd propositions. Yesterday, I had to beat his face with a stick; he almost raped me.