her husband or one of her daughters always called her at work, realizing that such a delay by Gloria looked suspicious and that perhaps something had happened.
She usually finished her work day between 18:00 and 18:10. This time she left the transport company office at 20:42. If Gloria usually warmed up the engine for five minutes before leaving the parking lot, this time she immediately released the handbrake and went home.
Gloria looked exhausted, but not so much because of the delay at work, but because of the damned receipt that frayed all her nerves. She was going to come as usual, cook dinner, and now she didn’t even have time to stop at the supermarket for food for dinner and asked her husband to do it. She then had to iron and hang two of the nine curtains. Next she had to take a bath. Following this, she planned to read the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters of The Night Cabby1. Gloria always set a deadline for reading a book, estimating the number of pages and chapters, distributing an average plan for each day, thus calculating the time in which the book should be read. Now, in her busy evening, she could barely fit in a quick dinner, or rather a snack, and a bathroom, or rather a shower, because she still had to be in bed on time.
When the light turned red ahead, Gloria decided to slow down and approach the traffic light slowly, so that at the moment when the light turned green, she could simply press the gas pedal a little harder and thus spend less time accelerating.
Now every second counted. Her white Ford was barely rolling, and the yellow one still didn’t want to light up.
But in the rearview mirror a black Dodge was rapidly picking up speed. Its slightly scarlet headlights grew larger in the mirror every second. The roar of the engine grew. But Gloria was so absorbed in waiting for the yellow traffic light that she didn’t even notice the growing noise outside her car.
But then the yellow light came on and Gloria stepped on the gas. By the time she arrived at the traffic light, it had already turned green. The needle on the Ford’s speedometer began to creep up and it seemed to Gloria that she was gaining precious seconds without wasting time on the brake, clutch and gear shift. She saved a lot of time. By the standards of her attitude towards managing time, this was a lot.
Gloria was in a hurry to accelerate to the maximum permissible speed as quickly as possible. But there was no speed limit that evening because there was the Dodge on the road. At a speed of one hundred and seventy-one kilometers per hour, it drove into the rear of the Ford and added speed that this car could not develop on its own. By this moment, a slight rise loomed ahead and the Ford lifted off the asphalt for a second, making a short flight. Gloria didn’t have time to realize that something was wrong. She didn’t waste time stopping at traffic lights or wearing her seat belt. Her head first suddenly stuck to the headrest, and then sharply rushed forward. The Ford logo in the center of the steering wheel was the last thing Gloria saw, but she didn’t even have time to realize it. The Racer driving the Dodge did not provide time for this.
8. Day of bread and shamelessness
Carter Beckran attached special symbolism to the end of each month. For him it was like a flag at the start, like a green traffic light or a command to go ahead. This was the moment when many of his employees seemed to break loose and turn into ancient Romans during an orgy. Considering the fact that his company’s employees received salaries three to four times higher than the average in Heartstone (this is in the off-season), they allowed themselves to forget on payday that they were people and acted like animals; others stocked their refrigerators with the most expensive delicacies; someone went to Gomorrah and preferred to get lost somewhere between alcohol and women’s bodies.
Chief engineer Seth Crawford for the last four years, after each paycheck, he visited the most expensive, most elite and most sought-after whore in Heartstone, which he bought for the night, although for all other clients the payment was hourly.
The economist, accountant, logistician, storekeeper and agronomist finally set aside the necessary amount for Las Vegas so that during a joint vacation they could indulge in sin without knowing any boundaries.
Among Carter’s employees was a security guard who fulfilled his dream and bought an eleven-year-old Porsche 911, and repaid the loan in a year and a half.
The head of the HR department, a lady of forty-seven years old, always bought herself some kind of jewelry at various intervals. Over the course of a couple of years, she accumulated so much jewelry that the work team began to say that it was better to give up the New Year tree at the end of the year, because they had their own walking tree that sparkled from top to bottom. No matter what day she came to work, her neck, earlobes, wrists and fingers were thoroughly hidden under a decent layer of gold and precious stones.
Another lady of mature years, a deputy chief accountant in her fifties, also had her own hobby. She set aside money every six months for her biggest expense item. Every vacation she went to a Mexican resort, which was especially popular with divorcees and wives disillusioned with family life, where they were seduced by dozens of gigolos who were ready, for the money of rich women who were old enough to be their mother, to make any of their fantasies come true.
Every birthday, bachelor party, bachelorette party or any other event requiring a wild celebration, where the culprit is a person working for Carter Beckran, turned into a feast for the stomach and a test of strength for the liver, because in these cases the amount of alcohol and exotic dishes was greatly exceeded usual meanings for Heartstone. The whole town knew what you could achieve by working for Carter Beckran, and so working for the Beckran & Co. was a dream for most Heartstone residents.
In conversations at home with his father, although Carter joked, saying: “I sense that soon they will have to cut their salaries, otherwise they will soon spend all their savings on alcohol and whores”, – he himself was not against indulging in something from time to time. However, what was noteworthy was that all his pranks regarding spending money were either completely insignificant or truly homeric. Sometimes it was a bottle of the most expensive alcohol he could find. But one day Carter bought a Cadillac Commando armored personnel carrier and drove it for six months until he got tired of it, after which he sold it to a private military company.
9. Dancing with death
Leonardo Benetti has already forgotten the last time he had to hold two funeral services in one day. After the coffin with the body of Norman Hughes is taken out of the church, the farewell ceremony for Dana Host will begin. Father Benetti did not sit down from the moment the coffin was carried into the church. He approached each of those who were close to the deceased. Relatives, neighbors, acquaintances, friends, his classmates and school teachers. When Father Benetti came up to express his condolences to Norman’s mother, she hugged the priest tightly and did not let go for about fifteen minutes. Father Benetti stood patiently and patted Martha Hughes on the shoulder, uttering comforting words that few could find in such moments. But Leonardo Benetti knew how to do this and could speak mournful speeches without stopping, trying to alleviate the mental suffering of the mourners. It’s unlikely that anything can comfort the souls of those grieving after the loss of a loved one, but when there is someone whose hugs and words of sympathy give at least a drop of warmth, it becomes very important. It was this kind of warmth that emanated from Father Benetti.
More and more people were arriving at the funeral every few minutes. Norman was buried in a closed coffin. His identity was identified using the results of a genetic examination, comparing the DNA of the corpse with the DNA of Bernard Hughes, Norman’s father. The closed coffin gave some the impression that a ghost was being buried here today.
Desmond, Jenna and Harry crossed the threshold of the church. The sheriff and his deputies arrived in the same car. Each of them had a bouquet left in the car, which was to be laid at the cemetery. In addition to the red carnations, Desmond bought a wreath on which was written: “To the bravest guy in Heartstone from his colleagues”. Although Desmond paid for the wreath entirely out of his own pocket,