The Wizard

Chapter 8 part 2

Igor's first move was to research the cities with the lowest probability, all of them municipalities with less than thirty thousand inhabitants. He took the opportunity to rent properties in each of them, but they were always shacks in the poorest regions. He hoped, with that, to create an escape route that would be able to deceive the adversary. Then, he found for sale a very poor farm, with about one hectare just ten kilometers from Santa Sofia and bought it. It was maybe a hundred meters from a small highway, somewhat hidden and with an abandoned appearance, which suited his intentions. The house was falling apart, a real shack in ruins, but he paid the exorbitant price that was requested by the owner without arguing. With these preparations, he lost almost ten days, but thought it was time well spent to ensure a possible evacuation taking his bride.

With everything planned and checked, he went to the city of Santa Sofia and rented a small apartment in the suburbs, once again in the poor part of the town. In the first days he began by getting acquainted with the local geography and consulting the library, looking for all the tourist and commercial points of the city.

Igor heard about the existence of a reclusive millionaire and even tried to find his house, discovering that it was a real fortress and nothing there could prove that the rich man was Samuel, but he thought that the guy did not have a very clear conscience to keep so many guards.

Once well settled, he began his search wandering at random through the city. Santa Sofia had about fifty thousand inhabitants, quite small, and it was a very rich municipality. The streets were clean and spacious, but crime proliferated in plain sight, although there was no significant poverty.

Igor went almost every day to the cinema and used to have lunch at the most frequented restaurants. On the third day, he had the first clue, when he stopped at a restaurant to eat.

"Welcome back, sir," said the waiter, wiping the table and smiling. "I hope you have a good appetite."

In an instant reaction, Igor created subtle changes in his appearance, but that maintained the feeling of strong resemblance to himself.

"Sorry," he said, forcing a foreign accent and looking straight into his eyes, "but I have never been to this city before."

The waiter looked at him more closely and ended up saying:

"Oops, it's just that you look a lot like a customer who used to come here, sorry," he smiled and added. "And then, what will you have? The house suggestion is filet mignon, with mashed potatoes, peas and salad. It's very tasty and the price is very reasonable."

"It can be the house suggestion," said Igor. "So I look like this guy?"

"Yes, very much. He always came with some weird guys, but lately he hasn't shown up."

"Maybe he got a girl to distract himself," said Igor, laughing to see if he could fish for some information.

"Maybe," commented the waiter. "He never showed up with a girl, but he wore a ring. What will you drink?"

"Orange juice, please," answered Igor, thoughtful.

The attendant left and the wizard kept reflecting non-stop. It must be Samuel, but he didn't show up with Eduarda in his business and, for her sake, the young man preferred from the bottom of his heart that it was like that.

He decided that he would spend more time in that region, which was the central one and the only one with the highest concentration of commerce.

― ☼ ―

Eduarda woke up that morning with a strange feeling that mixed an infinite sadness with a love and nostalgia that she could not explain. She lived in luxury and wealth, in a beautiful mansion and with no reason to complain about anything, but all she felt was complete aversion to her way of life. Her husband was not in the room and she felt relieved because what she most wanted was to get rid of him, but every time she came to that conclusion and looked at Samuel's face, something happened and her will was undermined, no matter how much she fought against it.