A stretcher and a bag were brought to the spot, waiting for Larry to finish his part of the job. The crane and tow truck also began to look for a way to get as close to the place as possible.
Meanwhile, the sheriff said:
Okay Larry. For now, you work, and so as not to waste time, well go and see whats up there.
Accepted.
The sheriff and Jenna reached the official car and returned back to the highway. They drove to the section of the road that was closest to the scene of the incident.
Jenna walked up to the bump stop and drew the sheriffs attention:
Look!
And youre big-eyed said Desmond, slightly lifting the visor of his hat with his index finger. Well done.
They began to trace the scratch, which only lasted a couple of meters.
What do you think? Jenna asked. What speed must be developed to cover such a distance in the air?
Yes, this is an interesting question. But even more interesting is why?
Its unlikely he fell asleep if he was flying at high speed. Maybe he was chasing someone? Someone was driving in the oncoming lane and didnt notice the bump stop?
The sheriff considered the assistants words.
I like the way you think. If he was chasing someone and managed to catch up, then he could not go to the right, and to the left there was an obstacle that was not visible due to the darkness and the headlights of an oncoming car.
Accident?
The sheriff shook his head and said:
I dont know, Jenna. Let Larry finish the job, then well inspect the car. Maybe well find something. In the meantime, take a photo of the scratches on the bump stop to attach to the case.
7. Account is closed
That evening, thirty-six-year-old Gloria Nelson was late at work and it was bad for her. Gloria constantly strived to lead a pedantic lifestyle, where everything was scheduled almost to the minute. As a rule, she managed to maintain the usual order of things at the usual time. But sometimes the schedule that had been fine-tuned over the years went to hell and it terribly infuriated her. That day was exactly like that. Because of one lost receipt, she was unable to prepare preliminary figures for upcoming reporting. This could have been done the next day, but for Gloria it was fundamentally important to bring together all the numbers every day, so that after a couple of months she would not have to look for a lost couple of dollars that do not match the documents and rummage through a stack of papers to find documents for the required period. Compiling numbers every day was a guarantee for Gloria that the work would go like clockwork and there would be no problems with accounting in the future. Gloria spent an extra hour and a half searching for the receipt, which forced her to be delayed and significantly spoiled her usual schedule. In such cases, 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 didnt 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 didnt 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 didnt 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 Fords 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 didnt have time to realize that something was wrong. She didnt 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 didnt 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 companys 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 womens 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 Carters 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 Normans 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. Its 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, Normans 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, he nevertheless considered it necessary to present it on behalf of the entire team. Jenna bought ten red roses from herself. Having crossed the threshold of the church, she remembered how she had recently buried Pierce, and this made her feel doubly bad. Harry admitted that he doesnt understand anything about flowers and asked Jenna to help him choose. She picked out a dozen roses for him in a soft scarlet hue. Leaving the flowers and wreath in the trunk, they entered the church, heading straight to Normans family. They shook hands and hugged Bernard, Martha, and Normans twenty-nine-year-old sister Sabrina. Martha reacted the same way to hugs from her sons colleagues, not letting go of each of them for several minutes. Wrapping her arms around Desmonds neck and pressing herself against his shoulder, Marthas crying became stronger. Seeing Sabrinas face pink from endless tears, Jenna fell into an even greater sense of grief and, hugging her, did not let go of her for some time. Next came relatives who came from Austin, Houston and Oklahoma.
The number of people grew faster and faster as the time at which the farewell ceremony was scheduled to begin approached.
Soon Father Benetti began to walk around the arrivals and invite them to sit down so that they could begin.
The first eight rows on both sides were jam-packed. Silence reigned in the church and Father Benetti began his speech:
Today we have gathered here because there is one less son in this world. There is one less brother. Sometimes life ends suddenly, and the more painful this loss becomes
Riggan Brooks sat by the phone in the sheriffs office. When cases arose that neither the sheriff nor any of his deputies were in the office, Desmond asked Riggan to sit on the telephone as the person on duty. In this sense, he enjoyed the trust of the sheriff, which he occasionally allowed himself to show off in front of his acquaintances. The feeling of being alone in the law enforcement office with the approval of the sheriff himself caused him to experience a sharp increase in self-esteem and self-confidence. Now he is in charge here, albeit without official authority.
Before leaving, Desmond warned Riggan not to go into the corridor with the temporary holding cells where Spencer was sitting, who, if he found out that there was a young boy on duty, could blow his brains out, hoping for something there. The sheriff made such warnings all the time, although he did not doubt the guy.
In all this time, Riggan had never had to take any kind of emergency call about an incident, although deep down Riggan felt that this was exactly what he needed to complete the sensations, to realize that he was in a real office of a real sheriff, especially that this time there is also a prisoner in the cell.
That day, Riggan just had a day off. While the sheriff and his deputies were at the funeral, he reclined more comfortably in Harrys chair, folded his legs on the table and unfolded a magazine dedicated to events in the world of cinema in front of him. Riggan was stuck on an article that described the details of the filming process for Gone in 60 Seconds, which had been released a year earlier. Having read it to the end, he once again looked at the photographs from the set and a joint photograph of Dominic Sena and Jerry Bruckheimer. Next was a biography of Clint Eastwood with a dozen photographs in different images in which he was filmed, arranged in chronological order. After it there were articles about new technologies in the field of visual effects, analysis of the film market, articles by film critics, plans of Hollywood studios, and on the back there was a table with a schedule of world premieres of some films in the coming months, which, according to surveys, are the most anticipated. After the article about Gone in 60 Seconds Riggan lost interest in the magazine and took the latest issue of Playboy out of his backpack, immediately after which the day ceased to be languid. After half an hour Riggan began to notice that the reaction to naked female bodies was too strong and he decided to return to the film magazine. He ran through the movie schedule and noticing The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring on the list, thought about taking his girlfriend to the cinema, but when he saw that the premiere was still six months away, his enthusiasm immediately faded.