Valeriy #3

Another work evening had already stretched well past midnight. Stacks of files containing the latest robbery and nocturnal murder cases towered on Valery's desk, but no matter what investigation he began, all the threads invariably led to the same place: the criminal syndicate whose leader he had been unsuccessfully trying to track down and corner for months.

Valery leaned back in his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose in irritation. His thoughts were jumbled, and the dead ends in the investigation were starting to frankly irritate him. Realizing he couldn't make any further progress today, the detective decisively closed the folder, put the work aside for tomorrow, and grabbed his coat from the back of the chair.

Stepping out of the stuffy police station building into the cool street, he stopped near a lamppost. Taking out a cigarette and lighting it, he took a deep drag while scrolling through the news and work notes on his phone. The cool night air cleared his head a little, and the detective was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even immediately notice the first heavy drops falling from the sky, quickly turning into a heavy, loud downpour.

but suddenly the sound of raindrops falling over his head stopped.

Valery raised his gaze slightly and discovered a deep black umbrella spread out over him, reliably protecting him from the torrential rain. A man stood nearby—appearing so unexpectedly, as if by magic. In the dim light of the night street and under the umbrella's shadow, the man's face remained partially hidden, so the detective didn't immediately recognize who had volunteered to save him from the storm. Taking the passerby for an ordinary, polite citizen, Valery cleared his throat and bowed his head slightly. "...thank you," he said, low and reserved, shaking a few stray drops from his bangs.

Taking another short drag, Valery returned his gaze to the phone screen, still unaware that right under that black umbrella, right next to him, stood the very same mafia boss whose name had been on his mind for weeks.