She usually went out for a snack around three, buying a pastry at the nearby kiosk. Was this meant for her? Was Semyon supposed to hit her, but she never showed up?
Her hands started to tremble. Marina sat down on a chair in the staff room, trying to calm down. Sveta looked at her with concern.
— Why are you so pale? Are you not feeling well?
— I’m fine. Just tired.
— Maybe you should go home early? I can cover for you here.
— No, no, I’m okay.
Marina spent the rest of the day in a daze. She continued to perform her duties, but inside, she was seething with fear and confusion. Why would someone want to hit her? For what? Or was she overreacting, and it was just an accident, a coincidence? But there are no coincidences. Vera Ivanovna had warned her not to use the main entrance. And it was right there that the incident with the car, driven by the guard, happened. The guard who had been talking strangely with the head doctor in the morning, looking at his watch, waiting for something.
When the workday was ending, Marina couldn’t take it anymore. She went down to the first floor and started looking for Vera Ivanovna. She found the old woman in the utility room, folding clean rags.
— Vera Ivanovna, I need to talk to you. Now.
The old woman turned around. Her face was gray, her eyes red, as if she had been crying.
— Let’s go, dear. But not here.
They went up to the third floor, to the farthest end of the corridor where the empty, unused wards were. Vera Ivanovna entered one of them, closed the door, and leaned her back against it, as if afraid someone might come in.
— Marinochka, I have to tell you everything. I can’t stay silent any longer.
Marina went to the window and turned to face the old woman. Her heart was pounding somewhere in her throat.
— Go on. I’m listening.
Vera Ivanovna sank heavily onto a chair by the wall. Her hands were trembling, and she clasped them together, trying to calm herself.
— Three nights ago, — she began quietly, — I was cleaning the head doctor’s office. He usually goes home at seven in the evening, and I come to clean his office around nine, when no one is there. It’s more convenient for me that way, I don’t bother anyone.
Marina nodded, not interrupting.
— That evening, as usual, I came with my rags and bucket. I opened the office door and was about to go in, but I heard voices. They were coming from the small room next to the office, where the head doctor sometimes rests, he has a sofa there. The door to that room was ajar, and I heard Oleg Viktorovich talking to someone.
The old woman paused, swallowed, then continued:
— I didn’t want to eavesdrop, honestly. I was going to leave and come back later. But then I heard a phrase that stopped me. Oleg Viktorovich said: ‘We need to do something about this nurse. She saw the documents.’ And I realized he was talking about me or one of the other girls.
Marina felt a chill run down her spine.
— I quickly stepped back into the utility closet, — Vera Ivanovna continued, — which is next to the office. It’s where the mops and cleaning supplies are stored. I closed the door almost completely, left a tiny crack, and listened. My God, I was so scared! I thought my heart would jump out of my chest.
The old woman took a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her sweaty forehead.
— There, in that room, besides Oleg Viktorovich, there were two others. One was the security guard, Semyon, I recognized his voice. The other was some stranger, he spoke with an accent. They were discussing you, Marinochka. The head doctor said that two weeks ago you went into his office for forms and saw documents about donor organs on his desk. He said you might have read something you shouldn’t have and now you pose a threat.
Marina leaned against the wall. Her legs felt like jelly.
— That stranger asked if the head doctor was sure you understood anything. Oleg Viktorovich said he wasn’t sure, but they couldn’t risk it. The matter was too serious, huge amounts of money were involved. He said they couldn’t let you go to the police or start asking questions. And then that man asked: ‘So what do you suggest?’ And the head doctor replied: ‘We need to make her silent forever. But in a way that looks like an accident.’
The silence in the ward was so thick that Marina could hear her own breathing.
— Semyon said he could arrange it, — Vera Ivanovna’s voice became a mere whisper. — He suggested hitting you in the parking lot by the main entrance. He said it would look like an accident, like he lost control of the car. Oleg Viktorovich agreed. They arranged for it to happen tomorrow morning, meaning today, when you would be arriving at work. Semyon said he knew your schedule, knew you always came by eight o’clock and used the main entrance, crossing the parking lot. He would wait in the car, pretending to park, and when you walked by, he would ‘accidentally’ hit the gas and run you over.
Marina covered her face with her hands. This couldn’t be true. It was some kind of nightmare.
— I stood in that utility closet and didn’t know what to do, — Vera Ivanovna continued through her tears. — Come out and say I heard them? They would have killed me too. Stay silent? But then they would kill you. You did so much for me, Marinochka. You saved my life when you gave me money for medicine. I would have died without insulin. How could I let them kill you?
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