on the kitchen set and added: – She’s been gone for two hours now.
– Come on – John answered, cutting the nutria’s ribs with pruning shears. – As if you don’t know how much she loves to talk. Shop across the street. She didn’t go to the other end of the town. I’ll finish now and go get her.
Deborah finished drying the dishes and looked at the watch once again. Then she turned to husband:
– John, go get her. I’ll cut up the nutria.
John handed the pruning shears to his wife and went into the hallway. He looked at the marks that were left on the T-shirt from the meat and decided to wear a shirt instead.
He went outside and thought about how suspiciously cool the nights were this summer. Having lived in Heartstone all his life, he didn’t remember anything like this. It seemed to him that if he had known in advance what the temperature was outside, he would have wanted to throw on something warmer. But it was not far to go. John crossed the road and entered the supermarket, which was soon to close. Entering the trading floor, he saw one working cash register, on which Cassandra Bello was dozing. He walked up to her and gently placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder. But she still got scared and jumped up with a slight exclamation:
– No, no, I don’t… I don’t, it’s…
– Quiet, quiet.
Only then, having looked a little closer, she said in a calmer tone:
– Oh, Mr. Minton. It’s you.
– Don’t sleep, Sandra. Yann could show up at any second.
She looked at her wristwatch, counting down the minutes until the end of the work day.
– Yes. It’s good that it turned out to be you – Cassandra answered, trying with Homeric difficulty to lift her lead-filled eyelids.
– I’m picking up Ursula.
– Yes, okay – Cassandra said, not quite recovering from sleep. But suddenly she said: – Wait, Mr. Minton. Didn’t she come home?
– No.
Cassandra began to strain her memory.
– She went through the cash register. Well, yes. I remember exactly. Yes, she also took yeast.
– Are you sure? – the girl’s father asked, narrowing his eyes.
– Quite. But I couldn’t have dreamed it. Just a second – Cassandra added at the end and went deeper into the trading floor.
She approached her partner.
– Raymond.
Having finished arranging the bottles of mineral water, he responded:
– Hm-yes.
– Is the boss nearby? – Cassandra asked in a whisper.
Raymond looked back and said:
– Relax, friend. What’s happened?
Raymond began unpacking the lemonade box while listening to Cassandra.
– Was Ursula in the store?
He looked at his partner and said:
– Well, yes. I chatted with her for another ten minutes. As usual, we chatted a little, then she took something from the shelf near the powdered sugar and walked towards the cash register. Did you fall asleep and now you don’t understand whether you dreamed or in reality? – Raymond said the last words with a slight smile.
– Mr. Minton has arrived. He says she didn’t return home.
Raymond thought about it. After a short pause, he broke the silence:
– Kind of weird. It’s right across the road. What could have happened?
– That’s what I think.
Soon Cassandra returned to the checkout, where Ursula’s father was still waiting.
– Sorry, Mr. Minton. – Then Cassandra began to speak, concentrating on one point somewhere to the side, as if she was recalling a poem she had learned by heart: – Ursula was definitely here. She definitely took the yeast and paid at the checkout. We exchanged words before saying goodbye, and after that she left.
John touched his closed eyelids with his fingers, then lowered his palm, closed his lips and opened his eyes. One could read a state of complete confusion on his face.
Noticing this grimace, Cassandra asked:
– Are there any friends nearby that she could meet and hang out with?
John silently shook his head and then asked for a phone to call the sheriff’s office.
Leonardo Benetti watched through tears as Ursula Minton’s corpse in a body bag was loaded into a van that would take the body to the morgue. Her identity was identified after Harry reported on the radio that he had received a call from a man who reported his lost daughter. The description – height, age, hairstyle, hair color and clothing – everything matched.
Lowering his head and burying his face in the ground illuminated by spotlights, Sheriff Desmond Poe said in a faded voice:
– We need to tell the parents.
After these words, Father Benetti seemed to cheer up. He said:
– Sheriff, trust me with this. I know the Mintons. Especially John. I will try to soften this blow for the parent’s heart, if this is at all possible.
The sheriff did not object. He doubted that he could find the words to convey such terrible news to the girl’s parents.
Father Benetti hurried back to his blue ’77 Chevrolet Nova, which he had left on the side of the road, started the engine and hurried to the Minton family home. Along the way, the padre ran a handkerchief over his face twenty times, wiping away tears. Having driven halfway, he noticed that the eyes already looked normal. All that was left were reddened areas of skin around the eyes.
Soon the priest’s Chevrolet was parked in front of the Minton family’s home. He looked in the rearview mirror again, took in as much air as possible, exhaled sharply and glanced at the windshield. He wanted to wait another minute to let his heart calm down a little. But John Minton appeared ahead, leaving the supermarket building and crossing the road very slowly and with short steps in the dim light of the street lamps. Father Benetti hurried out of the car and headed towards John.
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