The Price of Innocence (COMPLETED)

Chapter 13

"How can i help you" Sveta asked in bewilderment staring at Rustam sniffing as if something bad has happened. "My name is Rustam. Can we sit down and talk for a few minutes?" Rustam asked. "Talk about what?" She asked immediately. " Gulyana is my acquainted. As far as i know, she is your close friend too" Rustam said a little bit smiling. She was still frowning and staring at Rustam. "Do you know what happened to her?" Rustam asked. " Are you a police officer" she asked without answering to Rustam's question. " No, i'm not a police. She is my acquainted too. I'm here on personal purposes. Want to find out the things about her murder" Rustam said. "Murder?!" She mumbled in her mouth staring on the ground. "Didn't you know she was killed 5 days ago inside her flat?" Rustam asked raising his voice. " We have not been talking for the last 6 months. I'm shocked. Who killed her?! How that happened?" She asked and tears came down on her cheeks. "It's still unknown who killed her. Her parents were also attacked. Her father Mikael has died, her mother Sara is still alive, right now lying unconsiously in intensive care unit. They also were attacked in their flat" Rustam came closer to her saying these "Can we sit down and talk? I have a few questions for you to ask. You can actually help the investigation immensly" he continued. Sveta turned around absentmindedly and headed to her room without saying anything. She was thinking about something even when she walked. Rustam followed her inside the room. She sat down again in bewilderment. " Who are you? How do you know Gulya?" She asked out of the blue. Rustam did not want to tell her the whole truth of course. He thoughy telling the truth was not actually important in that situation. "I was a friend of her. If you answer my questions, we will probably leap off a few steps ahead to find her killer" Rustam said seriously. Sveta raised her head and stared attentively to Rustam's face as if trying to remember something.

Gulamov came to his room after the interrogation with Siraj. He felt upset. He had spent almost 4 hours of his day going to Siraj's workplace , asking him questions and coming back, but he could not get any new shocking fact about the family. There was no pressure to him about solving the mystery, but he felt more uncomfortable inside as another unlucky day passed by. He called Bandarenko and asked to come in. It took 10 minutes for Bandarenko to come. "Any progress , boss?" Bandarenko asked smiling. " Does this seem funny to you?" Gulamov exclaimed furrowning. " We have been living very silently almost for the last 10 years. These kinds of massacres did not happen and we had not to use our brains to solve any mystery. We have turned into rusty investigators" he continued without giving Bandarenko a chance to answer. " Nothing new. I asked Siraj Valiyev a few questions. Nothing special. Only a slight news about the relationship between Gulyana and Mikael. The father was furious about his daughter after her divorce ftom her husband. He thought she was the one whom to be blamed for. Siraj told me that" Gulamov said desperately rolling his pen on the table in front of himself. "What we are doing next?" Bandarenko asked. "I think that guy Rustam will come us again with another result. Shit! The kid is better than us in investigating this case" Gulamov said smiling ironically. " He has a lots of unofficial ways to find out many things unlike us. Anythimg we do unproperly, someone will record us and put on internet. Times are changing" Bandarenko said in response. " One more thing. Rustam afraids of his life. He has handprints over their flat and...... hence, he is as interested as us. He wants to save his life by helping us. Imagine if he had studied the police academy and be one of us. He could do very well" Gulamov said smirking. " Anyway, there is no pressure on us. But, we have to find the family's more acquainteds. Find them and ask questions. They have been killed by someone they knew. That's for sure.Such a weird people they are. They have more money, less acquainteds. Full contradiction" Gulamov explained.

"I don't know you. I have never seen you around Gulya" said Sveta after staring at Rustam's face for a long time. "You said you have not been talking for six months. I met her in the last three months" Rustam said in response. "Did you know everyone around her?" Rustam asked his first question. " As far as she told me" Sveta said. She began to feel better. Her confidence came back to her. Unlike Gulya she did not seem as a naive one. She looked sexy, but tough. "As far as i know , she had a boyfriend two years ago. Have you seen him? Did you know his name? Rustam asked. He could not wait to ask the next question. Asking questions was his natural talent ever since childhood. He always used to ask his older cousins weird questions about everything around which they even could not answer. " How do you know this? " she raised her voice. She was not definetely the same person that she had been 10 minutes ago. She screamed mischievously. " A girl named Ramila used to work together with Gulya. Now she works together with me. She told me that" Rustam said. " Did you just know Gulya or......?" She did not complete her sentence. "Have you come here in your own desire? Who hired you? Just because you knew her, you are inquiring people?" She said with irritating face and voice. Rustam began to get furious about her."It should not concern you what kind of relationship we had?! All i can tell you , is we were friends.For the sake of what you had in the past, just answer my questions please!" He said trying not to loose his control. He needed her for the information. "So , she had a boyfriend back then. Did you know him?" He asked her again. Rustam noticed her again looking at him dumply. "They say the fiy was a student" Rustam tried to give her a tip telling this. " Yes, she was chatting with that student back there" She said. " Just chatting? Nothing else?" They have met a few times. Gulya always told that he was too young for her.
" Were they still meeting?"
"She did not mention his name. Probably they were meeting"
"I thought you were very close, did not keep secrets from each-other"
"I did not ask much and she did not tell"
Rustam felt that she was lying. He decided to ask questions anyway till the end. "How close you were? Why you have not heard about their tragedy? He asked. " We used to live together in Russia. We have grown up together. We even came here together. But, our fathers had a quarrel six months ago. We stopped to see each-other. We were family friends. Everything stopped out of the blue" she finally began to explain the things without consecutive questions. " Why your fathers had a quarrel?" Rustam asked. " They always did when they were drunk. They were accusing each-other about the business ventures in Russia. One said because of him they made money, another one said because of him. But, the last quarrel crossed the lines. They got into verbal altercation when we were at their flat as guests. After that we stopped even to communicate" she said.
"Do you have an idea who might kill them?" Rustam asked. She looked down on the floor, stared there for a few seconds. " I have no clue who might he be" she said. "Were they buried?" She asked suddenly. " It's been already a week. Of course they were" Rustam responded. " I'd like to visit their graves. Especially Gulya's. Tell me the address of cemetery" she said standing up.
" I don't know the adress. You give me your number and i'll get the address and send you"
"My parents will be very upset knowing this. Especially my father. He will regret for the quarrel with uncle Mikael"
"Sara is still alive. But, she is in intensive care unit. Doesn't have life response"
"Which hospital?!"
"They don't tell anyone. It's an investigation secret" . Rustam waited a few seconds , but she asked no more questions." Ok, Mrs Sveta , thank you very much for your answers. I'll go "he stood up to exit the room. "Here is my number" she flicked her business card from her bag and pointed it to Rustam. Rustam took the card and turned around to go. Suddenly he remembered one last question to ask. " What was that student's name that she was meeting?" He asked suddenly. " His name was Rashid". Rustam got surprised. His brother also had come to Baku two years ago. She also was a student. He did not think that was his brother, but asked another question just in case. " What was the name of the university that he studied?" Rustam asked. " Baku State University" Sveta responded. Holy shit! Too much coincidence. "What was he studing" he asked next. "I don't know exatly. Never intetested" she said.
" Can you recognize him if you will see him?"
"Of course i can"
"Are you sure that his name was Rashid?"
" yes, of course. We even had met a few times when they met with Gulya at the cafe. We used to sit down together and talk. Gulya took him a few times from Baku State University. That's why i know for sure his name and his university" she explained. Rustam wanted to flick his cell phone from his pocket and show her his brother's photo to make sure if that was him or not. But, did not want to scare Sveta and drag himself into the center of the suspects list. He just left the place and hurried back home to ask a few questions from his brother.

On his way back home Rustam had astonishing feelings. Hus brother always got along very well with the other people. Finding a way among the people through his nice attitude and friendly manner was his style. Befriending even with the girl's friends and sitting down with them in the cafes was also his style. As Svetlana Alkhasova told Rustam they had sat down a few times and talked three of them together. She also told that he was a nice guy. But, killing people was not his brother's style. He was always afraid of breaking rules. An ordinary man like Rashid could never kill anyone for money. Suddenly , Rustam remembered Rashid's last conversation with their father about money. He looked and sounded unusual last days. As he reached their flat, Rashid was not at home. His parents were sitting in the kitchen and talking. "Do you think i can find a job like a driver or something like that in Baku?" His father asked Rustam. Rustam felt dorry for his father as he heard this. Two years ago it was impossible to hear such a question from his father. Two years ago his father would never sit at home for three consecutive days and talk to his mother. He would just go out and spend some money everyday. This is life and everything could happen Rustam thought to himself. " I don't know. I have been living in Baku myself for a month still. You are a Russian citizen. Would be hard to find a legal job for you. They demand the citizenship or at least permit to work in this country if you are a foreigner" Rustam said in response to Abdulgadir's question. Abdulgadir looked even sadder. "Is everything so bad? How money you have left" Rustam asked suddenly. He had never asked such a question from him before. "I only have 1500 dollars" he said sadly. It was at least ten times fewer than he had in previous time. Rustam looked at him and understood that , his father did not think about going back to Russian Federation again. Because, he had lost everything in there. He was desperate till his toe. "You still have money. Have a rest. Pay attention to the things that you have not paid before. I'm working. We can still afford a simple life. Don't worry! Just relax a little while" Rustam said to him. Abdulgadir looked at Rustam in bewilderment. He had beem a troublemaker always, throughout his life. Never got along with him before. But, now in hard times he doesn't turn his back to him. He is a man of truth and hard times Abdulgadir thought looking at Rustam. "Rashid's tuition has to be paid" Sharaf exclaimed suddenly. "How much is that?" Rustam asked. "One thousand, eight hundred manats" Sharaf said. "Ok, thousand dollars is equal to the amount you say" Rustam said implying his father to pay it with his money that he has. Rustam suddenly remembered aboyt Rashid. He decided to call him and to ask where is he. He was at the university and already was on his way back home.

Svetlana Alkhasova sat down in her cabinet sadly thinking about something. Of course she did not tell Rustam everything about Gulya. She covered many things. Gulya told her everything about her life, relationships. Sveta did not have to ask her.Gulya just told her everything absentmindedly. She was a lonely girl. She felt stressed so often and Sveta was an only one whom she called in hard times. She always admired Sveta for being so cool about everything. Sveta never felt lonely, never complained about her life even in spite of Gulya had much more living condition than her. Gulya had a car, separate flat from her parents. Gulya was obsessed with forming a family of herself. Kids, workaholic husband who comes home tired in the evening and she serves him like a housewife. She was always talking her dreams about family to Sveta. At the end, she always got emotional. Her psychological age was not 24, but 54 probably. Sveta suddenly waked up from daydream. She had to call her parents and tell them everything about the tragedy that she heard today. But, she changed her mind and decided to tell them when she would go home.

Rustam decided to meet Rashid outside and to talk to him. He did bot want his parents to hear anything. He began to hang around the building they lived for the first time. He did not know anyone in there except an old, tall man who always used to hand around slowly, taking a fresh air. How can a man get old in here, on the concrete asphalt?! He thought to himself observing the old man. Old men in his village were busy with cattle breeding, playing dice. They were always outside, in the nature. He felt sorry for that old man.
He saw Rashid from the distance. "I have to ask you a few questions. Promise me you will tell me the truth. I'll be always on your side. Just tell me the truth" Rustam said as Rashid came close. Rashid looked at him furrowning. "What's going on?" He asked. " Did you know a girl named Gulyana?" Rustam asked. Rashid looked at Rustam in bewilderment. He did bot answer for 5 seconds. "Yes, what's wrong?" Rashid asked. " She was twenty four years old , devorced one. Mother russian. That one?" Rustam asked. " Yes, but what's wrong?" Rashid asked again. " She was found dead at her flat four days ago. Police says she was strangled to death. The problem is she had a sex before death. She was killed by someone whom she slept with" Rustam said raising his voice. Rashid looked frightened. How the hell his brother knows about Gulyana?! What he has to do with all of these?! Is he suspect of murder case? He began to scroll thousand questions through his mind.