A person who loves the rain - стр. 5

"…shots from a hunting rifle from a distance of one hundred meters… both were killed…"

– "One was killed at a distance of one meter… Bullets of a certain caliber," he read aloud.

– "Hmm," he thought. "That means there were at least three people there, maybe four. One of them killed another, and the others were finished off by shots from a hundred meters."

– "Nonsense!"

Closing the file, he decided to inspect the house from the outside. Grabbing a long stick, he started parting the bushes that had grown thick around the house. Apart from a few tin cans and an empty vodka bottle, he found nothing. He picked up the bottle from the ground, glanced at the year printed on the label, and recalled how, back in those days, the word "vodka" was decoded as "Here He Is, Kind Andropov." Such a nickname had been earned by the general secretary for lowering the price of the popular drink. He stuffed the bottle into the bag he had brought with him. As he was about to head back inside the house to grab his jacket and the file, his gaze fell on a chunk of plaster, nearly falling off the wall. Picking it out with his finger, he found a bullet lodged in the wall. Tapping the wall with the stick he had found earlier, he discovered several more bullets embedded within. It was clear that the shattered windows were the result of gunfire, not because someone had broken in. After all, there was nothing worth stealing inside, and if it had been vagrants or hooligans, the house would be a mess.

– "So what exactly happened here thirty years ago?"

Collecting all the bullets into his bag, he took his things and headed to the place where the bodies had been found.

Wandering around for a while, he initially found nothing. Not surprising—so many years had passed. He circled one tree, then another, but there was nothing. Then he stumbled upon an object. Alexei bent down—it was a knife, possibly a hunting knife, with a rusted blade and a handle caked in dirt. He pulled a bag from his pocket and dropped the knife inside. Soon, he found a couple of shell casings as well. That was the end of his discoveries. He walked around the area a bit more but found nothing else.

Then his phone rang.

– "Lyonya, are you coming?" Filatov asked, amid some background noise. It was clear that the initiation party for the new member of the team was in full swing.

– "Lyonya… No, I'm on my way," Alexei realized it was better to agree rather than endure a long conversation with his friend about why he should come to the party.

– "Drop everything and get over here! There's a girl here… I’d totally hit that…" Filatov said, his voice now much quieter over the phone.

– "Fine… I'll be there soon. You dog," Alexei muttered as he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

Looking around once more, and after a moment of thought, Alexei headed towards the local administration building, asking the villagers for directions along the way.

The administration building was U-shaped and two stories tall, with a recently updated facade. The prosperity of the administration was evident—Mercedes and BMWs were parked all around. Alexei quickly bounded up the stairs and opened the doors. Walking down the long hallway, he approached a door labeled "Reception."