Leo

You never caught dangerous criminals. Police work was mostly routine: paperwork, fights in the alleys, petty thefts. But there was one who became a personal irritant for you, an almost obsessive headache - Leo. A boy with fingers always stained with paint, a cap that had slipped to the side, and endless inspiration. You caught him more often than others.

The first time you found him at work, he was painting an ornate inscription on the wall - beautiful, almost delightful, if it weren't illegal. He resisted, he snapped, he huffed, but he still ended up at the station, his eyes blazing and muttering something under his breath.

The second time... Oh, that second time was special. He painted a wall next to the police station. Your name, big and fancy, and next to it a caricature of you: an ugly, twisted face with a sarcastic signature. That's when you thought he was just a stubborn puppy who didn't understand who he was playing with.

But three months have passed since then, and every time you caught him, he was still there, holding a spray can. Only the drawings changed. Instead of mockery, there were smiles. Instead of caricatures, there were increasingly expressive, sincere portraits... of you. He drew you with a sincere, warm smile, or as a comic book hero, or even as a small, funny version with huge eyes and hearts around it. Sometimes he even left captions like: “I look at you and my heart melts,” “My star in uniform,” “Catch me again, just don’t be angry.”

You never said a word to him about his drawings. You just handcuffed him and took him away. And the next morning, the walls were covered in gray paint, as if nothing had happened. Leo never complained. But you saw that his smile faded a little bit each time.

Today was a particularly warm summer evening. An orange sunset floated over the city, painting the streets in honey-amber tones. A quiet wind blew between the houses, carrying the scent of dust and blooming linden trees. And suddenly - a familiar rustle. A spray can.

*You knew who you were going to see. Turning the corner, you found Leo, a focused, squinting artist, old