is interesting to work at the plant. I’m used to rhythm. You helped me, suggested. Appealed for advice to the chief of the shop, he invariably said: “Get used to, learn, and everything will go back to normal. You will understand how to work. Not all at once is obtained by newcomers,” Lucy has shared painfully, understanding that to study it is necessary to work, to be the person.
“Did not you think about going to postgraduate studies?” Alexey asked simply.
“No, but I am doing my English on my own. I read fiction. By the way, gradually I was loved in the team. I’m sociable and I’m not afraid to help beginners,” her eyes were shining, looking at a friend. “Remember, at first time I worked exclusively during the day, but after two months they instructed the workshop and the second shift…”
“The second shift is more difficult and at the same time easier. More responsibility, since you are for the boss,” said Alexey, reaching out to his girlfriend, kissing her cheek, looking with reverence, and she herself wanted to be better, worthy of respect. “Do not forget to work on yourself, take from the library books on electronics, electrical engineering and physics. The plant continues to grow. A new building is being built, a hostel for singles and from rural areas.”
“I remember earlier they said: “We will fulfill the five-year plan for 4 years,” she answered with enthusiasm and passion. “We are beautiful even at night!”
The sixth assembly workshop, where Lucy worked, was in the yard of the plant and occupied the entire first floor of one of the buildings. Large windows illuminated the room, but despite this, each place has its own electric, energy-saving light bulb so that the worker can turn on the light.
In the evening, in addition, the upper lighting was switched on – “daylight”. The workshop – long and spacious – resembled an operating room, but many times larger. Everywhere cleanliness, the walls are lined with white tiles, the ceiling, the lathes are also white, rather not even the lathes, but, as was customary called, the workplace. The windows here and there are flowers. But it was impossible to set many plants, so as not to block daylight.
There were special relaxation rooms where employees could come and discuss their problems, read the press, relax, and distract themselves. The shop buzzed electric motors, smelled of acetone and rubber. Workers, whose work was associated with harmful colorants, received milk in half a liter a day. When Lucy first got into her shop, she thought that she was in the hall of the palace. Wardrobes for clothes stood separately. At the end of the shift, they were required to wash themselves in the showers. For those wishing someone did a manicure. Before starting work, employees wore white robes and scarves or caps.
“There are twelve brigades in the workshop. Everyone is fighting for the title of the best. Two already wear the honorary title of the foremost percussionist,” Lucy said, stroking the guy’s hand. “I learned all this long ago, after a week of work. Let’s get back together, darling.”
“Who will be against? Have agreed!” Alexey smiled generously.
They met during the break to discuss the progress of the investigation into the murder of his aunt and current affairs, since they worked in one shift.
“The private police officer reported that all suspicions fall on people living in the area where the murder occurred. But the main suspect could be a person who knows her well and who had motives for committing this atrocity. This could be anyone who needed money or gold jewelry. Most importantly, the aunt had a set of emeralds in a ring and earrings of antique value, a chain with a diamond slash of a half carat, which she inherited from her sister. These ornaments in the amount of half a million rubles disappeared from the apartment, and the search for them on the body of the victim gave no results. They examined the scene of the incident, found the scattered things from the bag: a broken case for glasses with fingerprints of the victim, a pack of cigarettes, a notebook with notes and phone numbers of employees, a pen, a pencil for eyebrows and a lipstick of a well-known manufacturer, bought at the Ile de Beaute branch. In the database, fingerprints are of a formal nature. Belonged to any mortal, except for the murderer,” Alexey told, and the detective-Tanya was sent with him sms for more details.
“How is the investigation progressing,” Lucy asked in the foyer when he went out to smoke. “Or should I not ask about this?”
“There are many problems with the evidences, there is not a single witness, and even blood stains are barely perceptible on the victim. Detective Tanya is studying forensic expertise. Her character is too energetic and lively, she all leads with her emotional nature,” Alexis’s face expressed the most tragic mask among all the representatives of the human race. “She wants to make a search herself.”
“Were there any other relatives besides aunt Kate?”
“My parents died when I went to school, I cried for them. I was sent to a boarding school in the sixth grade. And my aunt Kate had come and visited me. She brought gifts: sweets, cookies to children. She had a daughter, Natasha, but she disappeared when she worked on the same post. I already told investigators…” Alexey plunged into a dejected silence.
“I remember such a thing. Natasha disappeared about three years ago. They said they went abroad to be treated. Somewhere in Germany or Switzerland,” Lucy confessed sadly. “Come on, quit smoking, they’ll be looking for us. Come to me today after work, we’ll sit and read the poetry of my old friend Izmailov Alexey.”
“You’re joking, I do not write poetry, but I’ll try to get back what I took to read last time. I liked it very much. Tell your friend, well done! Let her write further.”
“You will return with agreement that you will find for me a private publisher to print this book of poems in a separate volume. Next we will develop the ideal murder of your cousin in the logic of poem-sized iambic or horei, we do not care. But Ivanova will calculate thoroughly every step of the criminal and force him to begin the investigation against himself.”
“I am sure that she will be right, as she hinted at the former roommate – Skripal, when she was looking for Natasha’s remains in his yard. And she found a soil soaked in blood, of the same group as that of my aunt Kate. Probably someone buried the corpse of Natasha. The investigation resumed. It is believed that the owner of the house himself was hacked and buried in the hope of obtaining a hidden amount of money, and then disappears. But his plans failed because of the smallest detail: the headmistress’s child climbed under the table to look for his toy and found a bag of money,” Alexey ascertained and in return took Lucy’s hand and stroked it.
“It can not be,” Lucy continued to sort out her notes in the phone, stunned. “And is here your aunt Kate?”
“They were very interesting women and similar in psychology. However, Tanya-detective said that it is too early to draw any conclusions. You know, there are also interesting circles, own club, where you can watch a movie in your spare time. At the club there was a children’s dance group ‘Kalinka’ for the children of the workers of the enterprise,” he was distracted from the topic. “I was fascinated by the idea of leisure.”
“No less than studying at the university?” Lucy asked impetuously.
“The plant works around the clock in the same rhythm. In the assembly shop, there is night duty for the brigades. The number of products produced by the plant at night is not less than the number of products produced in the day. For work at night they receive an additional surcharge to the salary.”
“Engineering workers on night shift do not work. Our work is connected with research, sometimes creative work and requires special tension. According to the doctors, the creative brain should work during the day,” Lucy was offended.
“The medical commission will help you get a ticket to a sanatorium or a dispensary. Soon it will be the annual medical examination. Vouchers to holiday houses and camp sites are given through the trade-union.