Song By Unreality

Chapter 6

"Do you regret any action? Would you take the opportunity to go back in time and correct mistakes?"

"I am an ordinary person, so I was wrong. But I wouldn't fix anything. Because by changing the past, I wouldn't be who I am."

(from Rina's interview with the portal 'Celebrities speak')

They were silent for most of the rest of the way. Nikolai thought gloomily that meeting with the ghosts of the past usually doesn't bode well. Vika, seeing that he was thoughtful and frowning, didn't get involved with conversations. But the moment Nikolai looked at her, she broke the silence.

"Kolya, what are we going to do with the singer? I watched the news a little and noticed that they were talking about Rina cautiously. I think the fact is that people from Lebedev's team track the news and immediately delete everything scandalous."

Nikolai shrugged his shoulders, because he didn't think about the singer: he talked to her friends and forgot for a while. He and Vsevolod haven't even signed the contract yet.

"You're not interested in this case," Vika correctly interpreted his gesture.

"It's not that it's not interesting..." he said reluctantly. "But I'm busy with something else right now. And, if we take up the search for a singer, there is a risk that Lebedev's people will put a spoke in the wheels."

"But Dimitri should be interested in finding Rina!"

Nikolai shook his head vaguely.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure about it."

"What do you mean?"

"Only that, Vika, I don't know his plans, nor what orders and to whom he gave. Why do journalists write about the disappearance of the popular singer 'carefully', and not trumpet at every corner? Why do Lebedev's people censor everything written about her so harshly? Is it because of the businessman's unwillingness to shine in his personal life or for another reason?"

Nikolai wanted to close the topic about Rina – at least for a while, because there was nothing left to get to the right place, but Vika, on the contrary, shifted briskly in her seat.

"There are rumors that Rina and Dimitri have broken up. And before that, she canceled all performances and tours."

"Yes, yes, her friends told me..."

"Kolya, are you really not interested in this case? Do you want to give it up?"

"I haven't decided yet. If it wasn't for Gennadiy Sergeevich, I would have given this case to someone else. I've already told you why."

"Kolya?" Vika called after a short pause.

He looked at her questioningly and noticed that she was biting her lip, as if she wanted to ask something else, but did not dare.

"Speak," Nikolai hurried with a slight irritation. The right signpost appeared ahead, and his soul involuntarily pricked. He didn't think that he would ever return to this dead village and that returning here would be so difficult.

"You're not an ordinary detective, are you?" the assistant asked, and Nikolai involuntarily grinned.

Vika came to his detective agency eight months ago, sympathizing with the fact that she was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. And although she quickly realized that Nikolai sometimes takes on cases that are atypical for a detective, she didn't ask unnecessary questions.

"I mean that you aren't an ordinary detective who collects evidence of infidelity of spouses or searches for a missing lapdog of some old lady. And you obviously didn't study at law school."