Past imperfect

Chapter 1

"Hermes" was uncommonly crowded today. Lera virtually hopped into the busy office and beamed at everyone.

"Ciao tutti!" she blurted out, searching for a free hook on the coat rack.

"Hola!" Lena was the first to respond.

"Grüß!" The elfish Tasia replied after her.

"Hi!" miniature snub-nosed Alissa waved her hand.

Greetings in different languages came from all directions. Lera shook off the snow from her shoulders and tried to dust it out of her hair. Her mood was great. You bet it was! Today it was the last working day of the year and, let's face it, it wasn't really much of a working day.

Even half an hour before the start of the working day, it was impossible to find sufficient space to as much as drop an apple. Frankly, their work as simultaneous interpreters is done not in the office, but rather while travelling. And, generally speaking, freelance staff do written translations right from home. Therefore, usually, "simultos" appear in the office only for a short period of time, just to sign documents.

Well, sometimes Vasilisa can be found here, with her Greek, which is a very refined language but not very popular. Or Karina, who specializes in North Germanic languages could be here. Lera, on the other hand, rarely visited the office as she works with Romanesque languages. She simply never had enough time.

In general, two tables were usually more than enough for the entire staff. However, today, the stars aligned in such a way that almost every employee was gathered in the office. After all, with the end of the year approaching and the long weekend coming up, it was time to extend the fixed-term contracts. So, Irina Konstantinovna gathered everyone together in one day to, as they say, kill all birds with one stone.

"Salut!" their regular sylph, Sveta, exclaimed, a little out of breath.

Sveta's cheeks, chilled by the frost, turned rosy, giving her a fleeting resemblance to Degas' delicate dancers. The girl unwound her huge scarf and, standing shoulder to shoulder with Lera, carefully inspected the hanger filled with jackets, coats, and fur coats. The December day had turned out to be cold and the lack of a proper wardrobe had suddenly become very noticeable.

"Impossible!" Sveta said thoughtfully.

"Sono d’accordo!" Lera replied gloomily, and the girls turned and walked harmoniously towards the "changing room".

The "changing room" was a separate tiny chamber that housed a collection of formal wear, evening gowns, cosmetics, and hair styling products. At the dawn of Hermes's existence, the boss ordered the decoration team to fence off and equip a dressing room. She motivated this decision by saying that her employees should always be ready to perform any job in an any event dressed in an appropriate fashion.

The girls giggled at the idea. Lera could not recall a single instance of anyone ever getting ready for a business meeting in the office. However, Irina Konstantinovna was adamant about not expanding other areas at the expense of the "changing room".

Despite this, no one objected, as if the employees were ashamed to take dresses without permission, it was still a privilege for the girls to prepare themselves here for a date. As a result, the supply of cosmetics was gradually dwindling, which only reinforced Irina's belief in her decision.

Lera squeezed into the "changing room" and hung her coat on the hangers, carefully pushing aside the silk dress next to it to avoid getting the expensive fabric wet from the melting snow. The Sylph glided in after her and also hung her coat. The ephemeral Sveta had an amazing quality – she didn't make the tiny "changing room" feel any smaller with her presence.

"How are you?" Sveta asked with a smile.

"Fine, thanks! What about you? Do you have any plans for the holydays?" Lera replied.

"Oh, yes! I'm going to the countryside, to a cabin in the woods. I'll wrap myself in a warm scarf and sit by the fire and just be quiet for a whole week!"

"Isn't that boring?" Lera smiled.

"Bof! It's better to get bored than get myself into the same thing that I had last time! I'm deliberately going to get as far as possible to be definitely out of cellphone range. You know, Irina Konstantinovna would find anyone of us with satellites from space if there was even the slightest chance."

"You are probably right," Lera drawled.

Sveta's indignation was understandable. Last year, during the New Year weekend, their boss dragged her out of a quiet vacation with her husband in Marseille for some work trip to Normandy. Sveta caught a terrible cold there, and then spent two weeks in bed suffering with the flu.

Of course, Irina Konstantinovna then categorically declared that it was Sveta's own fault, because she should have dressed more warmly. Sveta in her turn objected, quite reasonably, saying that she had clothes only for the weather that she had actually expected. They didn’t agree, the boss was unshakable, but she still paid Sveta a more than enough fee to demonstrate that the company was not going to shirk its responsibility.

"And what about you? Are you going anywhere?"

Lera smiled dreamily and said, "Yes, I'm leaving tomorrow."

Sveta opened her mouth to say something else, but then they heard the sound of heels clicking in the hallway.

"That's how fate knocks on the door!" Lera said, and the two girls burst into laughter.

It was easy to recognize the boss – even her walk was somehow unmistakable. It was time for them to leave the "changing room" and wait near the boss' office so they wouldn't miss their turn to sign the contract. For some reason Irina Konstantinovna didn't hand out copies of contracts for the staff to sign at their own workplaces, but called them in her room individually. Every year.

Sveta was the first to leave. Lera checked herself in the mirror and saw a red-haired, wide-eyed version of herself staring back at her with bright turquoise eyes. After a long ride on the Moscow subway, Lera felt quite disheveled, curly red hair sticking out in all directions, and her beige outfit made her look like a lit matchstick. Smoothing her hair while walking, she hurried to the common area.

"Lera, here is… for you… again…" Lena said from the corner of the office.

The girl was holding a small box in her hand. Lera sighed and walked towards her. The other girls around began to chat with interest:

"Again?"

"Who is it anyway?"

"Maybe pretty-Marat?"

"Nah, he wouldn't be shy."

"Then Kostya, maybe?"

"Which Kostya?"

"Yeah, the driver of Irina Konstantinovna…"

"It doesn't match. He's only been working here for six months, and Lera's been receiving gifts for more than a year…"

Lera ignored the usual banter. With a soft, tired sigh, she took the box, untied the ribbon and looked inside. At the bottom was a little velvet case evidently brought from a jewellery store. Lera froze.

Karina asked impatiently, "What's there?"

Lera shuddered, but she did not take her eyes off the case. Jewellery? Well, this was too much! At first, she was even pleased with those presents. She and her colleagues wondered who could be so shyly courting her.

Lera even tried to catch the glances of her male colleagues, but they answered her with polite curiosity. None of them looked away shyly or blushed. Lera quickly became convinced that the secret admirer was not a colleague, which didn't bring her any closer to understanding who it could be.

She didn't really get along with men. A couple of male friends who tried to date her somehow faded away. This was also the same at university. A few attempts at dating, which never worked out. Lera had never had a serious boyfriend, or even an unserious one. It was like she was in a bubble, where only women seemed to be allowed. The thought of a woman sending those gifts made Lera uncomfortable. That would have been too much.

Basically, the list of suspects was very short and consisted of exactly zero people. For a while, Lera was suspicious, but then she just got tired of worrying about it. The stalker didn't show himself in any other way, except for those small, meaningless gifts. Lera gave up and simply left the flowers on her desk or took them home. She also treated her coworkers to sweets that appeared out of nowhere.

But this!.. Lera pulled out a velvet case and looked at her colleagues with a somewhat anxious expression. The girls fell silent and responded to her with wary glances.

"It looks like Romeo is taking things to the next level," Alissa drawled.

Lera stammered, "Girls, I don't know what to do with this… I just can’t take it…"

Tasia said darkly, "Open it. Maybe there's just a pe

Please, not the ring! Lera swallowed hard. She had a bad feeling about it. She didn't want to open the case, but Tasia was right. If it was just some small item that was being pushed at the jewellery shop as the change or some free gift, then that would be fine. It would be no worse than a box of chocolates, maybe even cheaper. However, such trinkets are usually packed in plastic bags, not cases. But she could hope, right?

Finally, Lera snapped open the lid and gasped. The girls stood up and stared inside. On a cushion of dark blue velvet lay earrings, shaped like bird wings or laurel branches. The noble gleam of reddish gold was barely visible behind the sparkle of countless definitely non-glass stones. Lera shut the case with a snap and threw it onto the table, as if it had stung her. The girls watched Lera intently and in silence.

"Well, at least it's not a ring," Tasia said almost plaintively.

"If it were a ring, it would be a good time to be scared," Sveta agreed.

"And now? Isn’t it a good time?" Lera asked nervously, not addressing anyone in particular. "These earrings are worth more than my monthly salary! No one makes such expensive gifts without serious intentions!"

"I agree," Karina nodded.

"Maybe you should go to the police?" Vasya said uncertainly.

To her own surprise, Lera liked the idea very much. The gift had, frankly, scared her. Suddenly, Irina Konstantinovna's voice rang out from the door, stern and authoritative.

"What do you all have here? Why are you huddled together like kittens around a bowl of milk?"

The girls jumped in surprise and turned around. They really looked like naughty preschool kids. The boss, stood in the doorway. She was a stern, gray-haired ski

Without waiting for a response, Irina Konstantinovna marched into the room. Having adjusted her glasses on her nose she looked at the centre of the spontaneously formed circle where the ill-fated case lay. She didn't share her employees' reverence for jewellery gifts so she snapped the lid, then she blinked and chuckled after a barely noticeable astonished pause.

"And who is the lucky one?" the boss said after having managed to control herself.

All eyes instantly turned to Lera, unwittingly giving her away. Lera's cheeks flushed treacherously. Like many redheads and pale-ski

"A rich admirer?" the boss asked a little more dryly. "Remember, Larina, if you go on maternity leave…"

"Irina Konstantinovna, I don't know who this gift is from," Lera said hastily, with fervour.

For some reason, Lera was very embarrassed because Irina Konstantinovna thought she was openly being given expensive gifts. The woman's eyebrows rose in disbelief, and then she took a closer look at the girl's concerned face, she chuckled again and drawled.