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The rest of the day I spent doing the usual afternoon tasks—making phone calls, writing emails, helping around the church. I completely forgot about the cats, the ring and the task a la Sherlock Holmes on my hands. Shortly after 3 p.m., I called Irina and invited her for dinner—the treat was on me. There was nothing special—that would be Superstore's 'Big Bird' leftovers and I was going to cook some rice and prepare organic zucchini from the church's small garden squeezed between the sidewalk and the parking lot. I was one of the volunteers who in mid-May cleaned the area around the church and prepared the soil for gardening. All summer, at least once a week Barbara, a church's member who was in charge of this little plot of land, kept bringing to me or giving away three-four large zucchinis. It happened that in the morning she discovered a zucchini that somehow managed to stay unnoticed for apparently quite some time and grow as big as a Little League's baseball bat. Whoever saw it was amazed and it was impossible not to fool with this thing. We suggested different ideas what use this gargantuan zucchini could be put to. Baseball bat was too obvious. Finally, we agreed that it could be a nice non-lethal weapon—"I have a zucchini here and I am not afraid to use it!"—and fantasized the police force being armed with it. It was childish to picture zucchinis being treated same way as guns—"you are responsible for your zucchini; never leave it unattended; use your zucchini with the utmost caution only in the extreme situations when all other means are exhausted; make sure to keep it locked in the specially designated place; etc."—but it was funny. Luckily, I had fresh zucchinis from the previous week and that giant was spared.
Around 5:30 p.m. Irina came to the church from work. The dinner was ready, the table was set. I was going to give her half-an-hour briefing on my search efforts including the PowerPoint presentation, but she said she would like to see the crime scene again and if possible to talk to the witnesses and suspects. We entered my room—that was the first time I was there since I had left it before noon. S.&O. didn't hide their delight to see Irina—they greeted her with adoration and the deepest respect. They had probably figured out that as long as they were around this beautiful woman with a soft and kind voice they were in no danger. "There it is," said Irina, picking the ring up from the floor about an inch away from a dinner table's leg which was ten feet off the computer desk where she had left the ring two days earlier. She beamed with a joy and immediately put the ring on, "I found it." "I don't know how come that we didn't see it yesterday or I didn't notice it today. It's impossible," I was relieved and disappointed at the same time—I worked so hard, but there would be no reward for my bed-lifting and crawling on the floor, and I had to kiss good-bye my powerful briefing and presentation. "Case is closed. I'm ready for dinner," Irina was heading to the kitchen. I followed her and before closing the door I looked back. Santosh was sitting in the middle of the room. He had a Mona Lisa smile on his face.
Around 5:30 p.m. Irina came to the church from work. The dinner was ready, the table was set. I was going to give her half-an-hour briefing on my search efforts including the PowerPoint presentation, but she said she would like to see the crime scene again and if possible to talk to the witnesses and suspects. We entered my room—that was the first time I was there since I had left it before noon. S.&O. didn't hide their delight to see Irina—they greeted her with adoration and the deepest respect. They had probably figured out that as long as they were around this beautiful woman with a soft and kind voice they were in no danger. "There it is," said Irina, picking the ring up from the floor about an inch away from a dinner table's leg which was ten feet off the computer desk where she had left the ring two days earlier. She beamed with a joy and immediately put the ring on, "I found it." "I don't know how come that we didn't see it yesterday or I didn't notice it today. It's impossible," I was relieved and disappointed at the same time—I worked so hard, but there would be no reward for my bed-lifting and crawling on the floor, and I had to kiss good-bye my powerful briefing and presentation. "Case is closed. I'm ready for dinner," Irina was heading to the kitchen. I followed her and before closing the door I looked back. Santosh was sitting in the middle of the room. He had a Mona Lisa smile on his face.
To be concluded.
