Roman realized that he was lucky with this Maria, even if temporarily. The woman’s voice on the phone promised decent money for simple work. This opportunity should have been enough to find a new position.
Of course, he found it convenient to work as an orderly at the hospital, but he no longer wanted to put up with the behavior of the department head. It remained a mystery why the others tolerated his antics. It was as if the salary was so high that it was worth enduring. By the way, no bonuses were ever paid during his entire time there, although they clearly should have been, but apparently, they settled somewhere along the way.
The last straw was the department head’s suggestion to economize on bandages and reuse them. This completely threw Roman off balance, and he couldn’t hold back. He told everything to the department head and filed a complaint.
Of course, the complaint didn’t progress beyond the chief physician, and the complainant was fired the same day. It happened very inconveniently, as Roman had only been employed there for six months when his stepfather declared that he was interfering with his life. Then Roman rented an apartment and tried to come home only in the absence of his mother’s new husband.
The phone rang.
«Hello, is this Roman? Sorry to bother you, it’s me again.»
«Yes, Maria, I’m listening.»
«I wanted to warn you that besides me, my father has no relatives. But sometimes he imagines that he has a son or that a deceased wife will appear from somewhere. It rarely happens, but still.»
«Understood, Maria, I won’t take everything to heart.»
«Good, I’m glad we understand each other. You’ll be with dad tomorrow, right?»
«Yes, of course. If any questions arise, call, I’ll try to drop by.»
«Noted.»
Roman pondered. All of this was strange. Why was Maria calling for the third time today repeating that her father would talk about imaginary relatives? And her nervousness was noticeable. Although, of course, it’s understandable, since her sick father is about to die, and nothing can be done.
Pushing aside thoughts, Roman decided to prepare food for several days ahead, as he had to work from the next day.
Initially, Roman thought Aleksey Ivanovich was insane. He just rolled his eyes and blinked. His medical diagnosis was unknown—according to Maria, it was simply the wear and tear of the body after a hard life. On the second day, the patient seemed a little better. And on the third day, he started talking.
«So, they’ve put you with me?» Aleksey Ivanovich began, staring intently at Roman. «So, Masha sent you! Are you going to poison me?»
Roman smirked.
«I’m not planning to poison. Only the prescribed medications: mostly vitamins.»
The old man quietly laughed.
«Sometimes Masha amazed with her abilities, which even made me proud. Her talent for skillfully manipulating people was a real talent,» said the old man.
Each conversation completely drained his energy. On the third day, their discussion dragged on, but Aleksey Ivanovich no longer mentioned Masha and seemed to sink into deep sadness. They even discussed poetry, and Roman felt that Aleksey did not resemble the madman he was thought to be.
This inspired him to read about symptoms of similar old age diseases over the weekend. Roman himself had been interested in medicine early on, preparing to apply to university to become a surgeon, but he never told anyone, not even his mother, who was immersed in her own affairs.
The weekend flew by quickly, and Roman was again in a hurry to work. He read everything he could find but didn’t find anything resembling Aleksey Ivanovich’s symptoms. He decided that he needed to ask him directly. For some reason, his reluctance to turn to Maria hadn’t passed.
Surprisingly, Aleksey Ivanovich was again in a semi-conscious state, barely focusing his gaze. During Roman’s absence, his condition had worsened significantly, and Roman had to keep a constant watch on him. By evening, Aleksey had slightly recovered and said with a smile:
«Well, I’m still alive and well. Masha doesn’t quite like that.»
Roman didn’t rush to conclusions, relying on the words of the mad old man.
Everything repeated on his next day off. Roman didn’t understand why, when he left, he left Aleksey in a normal state, but upon returning, the old man was unrecognizable. The third time it happened, he decided to talk directly.
«Aleksey Ivanovich, I can’t understand why you sometimes feel so bad. Can you tell me what your diagnosis is? I’m very interested because I’m planning to go to medical school, but I couldn’t find anything similar,» he asked.
Aleksey Ivanovich, smiling sadly, replied:
«If I tell you, will you believe me? Since we’ve already started this conversation, listen. Masha is not my own daughter but the adopted daughter of my second wife. With her mother, Lena, things ended badly. I left my first family—my wife and son. Lena forbade any communication with them. I realized my mistake, tried to find them, but was too late. Now the documents say that I’m insane. Masha knows everything but distorts the facts so much that everyone believes I’m crazy.»
Roman was stunned by what he heard. Aleksey Ivanovich continued:
Lena used to add something to my tea. Perhaps that’s what undermined my health. I was so close to getting back to my first family, but illness destroyed all plans… Lena is relaxing somewhere on the coast, and Masha is slowly poisoning me,» Aleksey Ivanovich said bitterly. «It sounds incredible, but that’s exactly how it is.»
For Roman, this seemed too fantastic, but who could know for sure? In life, the most incredible things sometimes happen, especially if they are bad.
«How far have you gotten in your search? What do you know about your family?» Roman asked with genuine curiosity.
Aleksey Ivanovich’s eyes lit up with hope.
«If you can find them, I would be very grateful, even if it happens after my death. The main thing is that everything I leave goes to them. Open that box, the key is under the carpet, there are all the documents and the will that Masha doesn’t know about.»
Roman actually found some papers.
«I’ll take this home with me,» he said.
«Take it, it’s our chance. You could just throw it away, but maybe you won’t,» replied Aleksey Ivanovich and added, «If all this ends up in Masha’s hands, there will be no chance.»
After that, Roman, without saying a word, installed a small camera in Aleksey’s room, which had been lying around unused for a long time. He himself did not know exactly why he did it, but an inner voice suggested that this way he might find answers to many of his questions.
When Roman returned after another weekend, he was greeted by a familiar sight: Aleksey Ivanovich was restlessly tossing and turning in bed, groaning. After connecting the camera to his phone, Roman saw Masha on the recording. A man approached and skillfully administered an injection to Aleksey, who immediately calmed down, though he had been waving his arms and trying to say something before that.
After the man left, Masha pulled out a syringe and medicine, and gave another injection, stabilizing the patient’s condition once again. Then she disappeared into the bathroom.
Suspecting something was wrong, Roman left his phone and hurried to the bathroom, deciding to check his guess. Turning on a flashlight, he carefully examined the setting inch by inch. Finally, he found a loose tile in the corner that was not apparent at first glance. Behind the tile was a tiny niche, and in it—a packet of ampules.
The medication was for treating psychiatric patients. The components of the drug caused gradual paralysis of the nerve endings with prolonged use. Since the substance did not accumulate and was excreted from the body, nothing would have been detected during an autopsy.
The situation clearly required police intervention, but who would listen to him?
Roman spent the whole day reading documents and contacting whoever he could…
Aleksey Ivanovich watched Masha leave with a sad gaze, realizing that there was little time left. His hands almost did not obey him, and he felt his legs not at all. The sound of a slamming door rang out—it was probably her boyfriend, who helped when Aleksey resisted.
«Listen, daddy, if you had kept quiet, you would have lived a week or two longer. But mom got tired of waiting, she has a new suitor, and she dreams of freedom to marry him. And for that, she needs to become a widow,» Masha said with an icy smirk.
Masha turned to her boyfriend. For Aleksey, time seemed to stop: soon that state would return when the world seemed meaningless and he wanted to end it all. Usually, at such moments, he thought of Nastya, his first wife, and the son he left at the age of seven. How long ago it had been, how many years had flown by while he was gathering money, which now, it seemed, had turned against him!
No injection followed, but unclear noise and Roman’s voice filled the room. The sound was unexpected.
«Aleksey Ivanovich, are you asleep? Or have they already done something?» Roman’s voice was full of concern.
«Roma? Roma, how are you here? They are dangerous, you could get hurt…» Aleksey looked around the room confusedly.
«Relax, everything is under control. No one else will hurt you,» Roman reassured him with a smile.
Aleksey’s gaze wandered around the room: police officers, Masha with a red face in handcuffs, an unfamiliar young man, and…
…Nastya—his first wife.
The woman approached. The years had not affected her kind eyes and gentle smile.
«Hello, Lyosha,» she said quietly.
«Nastya. Nastenka,» Aleksey whispered, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. «Forgive me, all this time I have been restless. I realize…»
«Later, we’ll discuss that later. Do you want to talk to your son?» she pointed to the young man.
Aleksey looked at him, and he smiled slightly.
«Hello, father.»
Tears again streamed down Aleksey’s face. He cried, holding his son’s hand and looking at Nastya. Then he was gently placed on a stretcher.
«Where are we heading?» he asked quietly.
«First to my clinic for a check-up. Then, based on the results, we’ll decide what to do next,» his son Mikhail explained. «Try not to be upset, but a psychiatrist will work with you. We need to remove your status as incompetent.»
«Thank you. That’s all unimportant. The main thing is that I see you again,» Aleksey smiled. «Now I’m not afraid. Roman has all the important documents, everything is left to you.»
But Mikhail just shook his head, smiling:
«We don’t need anything, we are quite well-off. I worked and studied to prove—we manage fine without you.»
As Aleksey was placed in the car, Mikhail turned to Roman:
«Thank you so much. I’ve dreamed of this meeting with my father for years. I thought that if I ever met him, by that time I would certainly be rich and successful. To prove to myself, and especially to him. I’ve realized now that it’s not the most important thing, health and happiness are more valuable. I’ll do everything to make him recover. If it weren’t for you, we might never have crossed paths.»
«No thanks needed,» Roman replied. «It usually seems like such stories only happen in movies, but here they are in real life too.»
«Yes, life can have strange plots. You worked in medicine, right?»
«Yes, but not now. I couldn’t find common ground with management. Imagine, they fired me because I disagreed with reusing bandages.» Roman smiled.
«Come to my clinic tomorrow. We’ll find you something to do. I think we’ll work well together. I value those who are ready to stand for truth and justice.»
Mikhail shook his hand, and the car drove off.
Roman stood there smiling. He was lucky that Maria had invited him to this job. He not only helped a person but also found a new and worthy job.
