(Detective story)

It was dark outside. It seemed dense shaggy clouds swallowed not only the stars but the whole Moon. Fog descended from the rooftops and spread in long streams down the street. Andrew looked out the foggy window of the apartment. A strange anxiety captured his thoughts.

He took up this business after a long hiatus. After that incident with fanatical cultists, Andrew needed a rest. The profession of a private detective always needs some rest. Things can seem hopeless, tangled like a ball without threads. His current case also seemed like that.

The girl is missing, the little girl. The family is inconsolable, where she could go. Andrew took a long time to pace the surrounding areas of her house. Her mother begged him to help for any money. Her father gloomily remained silent.

Now Andrew was standing in the girl’s apartment, looking out the window. The city at night was noisy in the distance; the neighbors swore furiously. The girl’s name was Lisa. Suddenly the detective remembered something. Forgotten shards of the past that lurked in the shadow of his thoughts. The whole thing reminded him of his… past.

The times when he ran away from home, when his parents quarreled. And they quarreled roughly. Then little Andrew hid in the attics of high-rise buildings, even made his own place there… This could be the answer.

Without any waiting, the detective entered a flight of stairs. He quickly climbed upstairs, straight to the attic. The girl’s mother followed him. There, in the attic, he found a door, it was locked but not completely. Through the crack he saw a light. Liza was sitting there on a heap of blankets with a flashlight and a children’s book. Away from the rubbish, she could feel calm. Andrew cautiously walked away from the door and met face to face with the girl’s mother.

“She ran away from you,” he said shortly.