"Have you seen David?" Sebastian and Jarek, who for some reason instead of picking up girls were chatting among themselves in a corner sipping beer, looked at asking Philip.
"He was there, with Kaśka," Jarek replied, pointing in the direction. "But Kaśka is with someone else now... Why, do you need him for something? Isn't a phone call enough?"
Jarek rummaged in his pocket and took out his smartphone. A big message about the lack of coverage informed him that they had a problem.
"Damn, I forgot we were in a dead zone," he said.
"Seriously, did something happen? Can I help you look for it?" offered Sebastian. He was the tiniest of their group. He had short-cropped light brown hair and freckles. He was Jarek's very distant cousin, about in the fifth generation, so no one treated them like family anymore, but they had somewhat similar faces. Apparently, the genes of the same distant ancestor had grown in them.
"No, nothing happened," explained Philip, incidentally David's second-generation cousin, although they didn't resemble each other at all. David one hundred percent stepped into his mother's family, at least in appearance, and it was their fathers who were brothers. "I just saw Berenice..."
"Are you kidding?" Jarek jumped up all the way. "Where?"
"There," he pointed to the center, where people were dancing. "She came together with some guy..."
Maybe this sensational news should arouse their curiosity, but all three hung their noses. They all knew that David had been gushing about her since elementary school, only afraid to tell her. They encouraged him to be bold, warned him that Berenice might find a boyfriend. They assured him that David would not lose anything if he confessed his love for her. He, however, was stubborn as a donkey. Well, and he lived to see it, poor guy, Berenice was at the disco with other man, probably her boyfriend. David was their buddy, so although the mere fact of Berenice's presence at the disco was a sensation, all three felt as if a time of mourning had come. Poor David.
"No girl will wait indefinitely," sighed Jarek.
"But if it's nothing serious, then maybe David will understand that this is the last chance for him" Sebastian suddenly became enthusiastic. It was just like him. "You know, in the face of loss, maybe this boy will be a bucket of cold water for him and he will finally confess to Berenice that he likes her."
"That's why I'm looking for him," Philip announced. "This way or that way, this idiot has to make some decisions. After all, he can't drag this out indefinitely."
"Let's look for him," suggested Sebastian. "Let's split up. It'll be faster that way."
So they started combing the area occasionally asking some acquaintance. Since Kaśka was the last person David had been seen with, Philip approached her as well.
"David?" she blinked her eyes. I guess she was hoping Philip had come to ask her to dance. "Sure, I danced with him, but I don't know where he is now. Ah, wait," she recalled. "He remembered that he didn't do something at the palace and was terribly concerned about it. Maybe he ran to the palace?"
"Idiot! After all, I'm the one with the car," he muttered irritated at his cousin's stupidity. "Thanks!"
Would David be stupid enough to walk five kilometers just because he forgot to do something? He would be, Philip stated with pain. Especially if it was about the palace and the park. But the idiot should come to him and ask for a ride. After all, both their fathers were involved in the project. Admittedly, Philip personally had nothing to do with it, he knew nothing about construction or gardening, but in the end it was his family's business too.
Knowing David, he surely forgot everything, even the fact that he came here in his cousin's car and ran through the fields thinking of nothing but the palace. It was silly, even pathetic, but charming in its own way. Philip didn't know anyone his age who was so dedicated to work as to leave the disco abandoning those girls and run to work. If he ran through the fields, Philip wouldn't find him, but if he took the road, he'd meet him on the way, put him in the car, tap him on the dumb head and, as David did what he was supposed to do, drive him back.
Philip was just walking toward the exit when he accidentally overheard some high school girls talking.
"David, the gardener's son," it was these words that caught Philip's attention. He stopped started looking around to see which one of them was talking.
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed a blonde girl. "Did they really go together?"
"Who went together?" Philip couldn't stand it anymore and had to ask. "David and who?"
"Don't pry, it's our business," one of the girls replied snidely.
"Sorry, but I need to find David. It's important."
"Calm down," reassured her friend. She seemed familiar to Philip, but he couldn't remember her name. "I know him, we went to the same elementary school, but he's two years older. He's David's cousin. It seems that David needed a lift and caught up with Jagoda. Her friend got drunk and..." The girl shrugged her shoulders as if the further statement was so obvious that it didn't need to be said.
"Oh, thanks, I know her. Well, I won't bother you any more!"
Uf, Philip was really relieved. Their neighborhood was quiet and peaceful, but different people came to their parties, and they weren't always just about innocent dancing with girls. Some preferred to have a different kind of fun, and every now and then there were riots. Once three guys ended up in the hospital and the police had the place under close observation for a month. Admittedly, Philip was a greaser from elementary school at the time and had not yet come here, but he had heard about the case. After that, there were a few riots, too, only quieter, with no police involvement.
Philip, however, was most concerned about something else. David was a little too pretty for a boy. Usually they were amused when someone hit on him by taking him for a girl, but that was probably because they were all together at the time and could turn everything into a joke. But if someone didn't understand what 'no' meant and tried something when David was alone. Or, God forbid, if those guys were a group and David was alone....
They were the same age, yes, but David was a bit like a younger brother to Philip. Sure, he was a grown man, but that didn't mean something bad couldn't happen to him. That's why he was relieved when he learned that his cousin had been given a safe ride by a girl from the village where the palace stood.
***
The grounds of the palace, which consisted of a park, the main building and several smaller buildings, were very extensive and a wedge decorated with a clock turret cut into the village. Part of the two-meter-high white wall that constituted the property's fence bordered the main village road, while the other wall of the wedge contained residential houses. Most of the wall, however, had no neighborhood other than meadows and farmland. A wide metal gate specially made from archival photos to resemble the original as closely as possible was located by the main road, where the girls had dropped David off, and was locked with a chain and padlock. The gate was also locked, but with a key. A side gate on the side of the village buildings and a large gate "from the back" still led to the property. All of them were decently locked, so that no unauthorized person could wander the grounds of the just-renovated palace after night. All the keys, main and spare, were in David's house.
For the 20-year-old, however, this was not a problem. He had been working since early spring on renovating the house and bringing the garden into relative order, so he knew literally every corner and every structural deficiency. He knew that the small wicket easily snapped shut, but all it took was a slight lever and a jerk to the side of the lock for it to open. He approached it, looked around to see if anyone was looking, and tugged. The gate gave way. He slammed it shut as soon as he entered the property.
Although no street lights reached the area, the full moon made it easy for him to see his surroundings. From this point to the main house, where he had left the washers, was about two hundred meters, which he covered in no time. The grass beneath his feet drenched his shoes decently and a passing stream of water sprayed his pants.
Well, beautiful, he thought angrily at himself for not noticing and avoiding the stream. Those were his best pants. However, the weather was so nice and the night so warm that the pants would soon dry out and there would be no trace on them.
He quickly dashed to the control box located on the wall by the watchtower and turned off the device.
Mission accomplished, he smiled with satisfaction. For a moment he regretted that he had missed the rest of the fun at disco, but he still had to get home early. Now he faced a two-kilometer walk along the main road. In twenty minutes he will be there. Earlier, if he moves with a more nimble step.
Walking toward the gate, he saw a tool case lying on the ground. He cursed under his breath annoyed at himself for forgetting this today as well. But it had been so hot during the day, and he was so looking forward to tonight, that he was a little distracted. Fortunately, he remembered about the sprinkler. If the new owner found such a mess on the property, he might not want to continue working with them.
He picked up this case and headed for the tool shed.
Booty, something smacked him in the back and he suddenly plunged face first into the wet grass. Something caved in between his shoulder blades and pressed him to the ground so that he felt a sharp pain and couldn't move....