Page 24 of Capuleto

"It's lesbian, mom. A Bolivian is a woman from Bolivia."

"Whatever it’s called, you knew what I meant."

My mother was not very understanding of same-sex relationships.

"Let's recap. You read her diary, and? Have they kissed? Has he made advances? Have they dated?"

"No! But I saw Olga's father's name with a heart around it."

Freud would have had a field day with my mother.

"Pfff. Look, mom, we all fantasize about one teacher or another during our school days. That doesn't mean we throw ourselves at them. And maybe she drew a heart thinking of someone else. Besides, what does this have to do with her kidnapping?" Again that gesture. She was so nervous she couldn't help but do it. And then I knew it. "No, no, no, no." As soon as I uttered the negatives, she looked at me like a deer caught in headlights. "Don’t mess with me. Tell me you weren't the mastermind behind the kidnapping. You've done twisted things, but to have your own daughter taken..."

She raised her brow arrogantly.

"I did what a good mother would do," she replied haughtily, "trying to prevent that scatterbrain from moving in with an unmarried man over twenty years her senior, whom she believes she's in love with." This was unbelievable, I couldn't believe it.

"That’s insane, mother! How could you?!"

"I just wanted to scare her so she would see that the most sensible thing was to stay here in Marbella. That man could take advantage of her!"

"He's her music teacher and the father of her best friend! His record is spotless!"

"That doesn’t exempt him from falling into temptation and wanting to teach Sarka the art of playing the trombone." I felt like strangling her.

"This is surreal. Olga’s father is a highly respected teacher. I went to that school, I attended his classes, and back then, he was a recent graduate. There has never been a scandal involving him."

"And what does that matter? At that time, he was married, until his wife suffered that fatal accident that left her in a coma. Maybe he caused the accident because he was fed up and now he wants fresh blood."

"You've watched too many movies. That man is not Count Dracula, mom."

"Say what you want, you'll see we'll end up regretting it."

A sharp pain pierced my temples. Someone should invent a painkiller against Jelena Koroleva. I breathed several times to relax a bit.

"So, did you orchestrate everything so they would take her?"

"You pushed me." Great, now I was responsible for her madness. "Those men assured me it would be like sewing and singing, there would be no injuries. The plan was simple, they would distract Andrey, take her away, and then release her somewhere she could ask for help. I would pretend they had asked for a ransom, that I had paid it, and that would be it. Something simple that would cause panic in Sarka. She was supposed to want to stay and you were to believe it was the best option to keep her under surveillance."

"For heaven's sake!" I couldn't stop thinking about how she could have come up with something like that. "Where did you find these people, mom? Who introduced you to them? Was it Massimo?" I interrogated her.

"No! I found them on my own," she explained proudly. "Through an ad."

"An ad? You're not telling me you found them on a dating app? Or worse... did you put up a 'wanted: experienced kidnappers' on Google?" She huffed, indignant.

"I have more contacts and smarts than you think."

"I doubt that. Who were they, mom? I need to know. Andrey killed those guys!"

"Another mistake, because what they were carrying were blank guns."

"Blanks?" Things were going from bad to worse.

"I told you it was a staging."

"I'm asking you again and this time answer. Where the hell did you find them?"

"From an ad for unemployed movie specialists. They were offered for risk scenes." I facepalmed.

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