He heard voices.
"His condition has stabilized. He had gotten lucky. If he had pulled out the knife, we might not have had enough time to save him."
"When will he wake up?" a familiar female voice asked.
"Perhaps today."
"Dia, five more minutes…" Cord muttered "sleepily" and then broke into a smile.
Silence.
"He's joking! Such a jerk!"
Cord opened his eyes and saw that at his bedside stood the doctor, Fiddler, and Chief. Dia, in her dressing gown, sat on the edge of the bed.
"How are you feeling?" asked the doctor.
"Not bad. I will live. Probably."
"I'll give you 'probably'!" Dia slapped him lightly on the leg. "You can't die at all now!"
"Why?"
"Guess!" the girl winked.
Cord glanced sideways at Fiddler.
"Have I become a father?"
Fiddler smiled enigmatically.
"Hmm," Chief interrupted. "If you don't mind, I have something to discuss with Cord tet-a-tet."
"Of course, good," Dia nodded and left the room with Fiddler.
Having examined Cord and asking him several questions about his well-being, the doctor went out next. Chief watched him go.
"You could have warned me you were seeing the daughter of Tsar himself," reproached Chief.
"Private life is a personal matter," Cord retorted, "but in case you're curious, my alibi on the night of the hospital massacre was a dinner party at Tsar's. I just didn't want to spread the news about him: you never know how the attitude towards me might have changed."
"Hmm. Reasonable. However, I never doubted your intelligence, and I hope you will accept the news stoically. I have a lot of news for you, but the doctor demanded that I not bother you too much today. You see, sonny, there are some difficulties with the Force case—"
"What?"
"Well, as you know, the one who attacked you was not Mort, so it was a different person. During this time, we have held an innocent man, and the problem is…" Chief sighed. "You accused him."
"Why? After all, Crane and I—"
Chief waved Cord to silence.
"The investigation is now in a tough position. The inquiry is at a standstill, and the letter has only anchored it there."
"What letter?" Cord asked, "surprised".
"This letter." Chief pulled out a blood-stained piece of paper from his pocket. "They found it pinned to your chest. Read it."
Cord took the letter carefully and read it slowly—twice, so as not to arouse suspicion. Then he frowned.
"Have you found the author?"
Chief shook his head.
"I need to ask if you saw the person who tried to kill you." The boss pulled out the recorder and inserted the cassette.
Cord frowned, "remembering".
"I was waiting for Dia by the birch, where we had our first date. Then I heard a rustle behind me and turned around. I thought it was her, but it turned out to be a stranger. Mmm… Tall, wearing a denim cap and dark glasses, in a shirt, white, with thin black stripes. I did not pay attention to the rest."
"He looked neat?"
"Hmm… Well, not dirty for sure. He did not look like a bum, but neither did he look like a businessman. He looked usual, I would say."
"What happened next?"
"Realizing that it was not Dia, I turned away. I thought it was just a dude looking for a place to relax since that day the park was crowded… By the way, how long have I been lying unconscious?"
"About a day. Now," Chief threw a glance at the clock, "seven fifteen in the evening, May 25. I stopped by after work… So what happened after the man came to the clearing?"
"Ah. He came up and stood right in front of me and said something in greeting. I thought the man wanted to ask about something, and then he simply stabbed me. I hadn't even noticed that he had had something in his hands. Now it suddenly occurred to me that this was how he had killed Flaminga."
Chief nodded.
"The doctor said you were very lucky. The knife passed a few millimeters from your heart."
"Huh. At first, I didn't even understand anything, but I instinctively grabbed the knife. The man let me go and then left, but I… I remember nothing further."
Chief nodded.
"We found shoe prints in size forty-seven. You rightly drew attention to the fact that the man was really tall."
"But shoe size does not correlate with height…"
"This size is almost always an indicator," objected Chief and sighed. "My son had the same size." Then he coughed and returned to his formal tone. "Can you remember anything else?"
Cord "thought" for a moment and shook his head.
"Good. Thanks for the testimony. Enough for now." Chief clicked the button, and the recording stopped. "Unfortunately, this is not all that I wanted to talk to you about." Chief sighed heavily, thinking on how best to present the information. As usual, he decided to speak bluntly. "I hate giving bad news, but… Cord, you're fired."
"Wh-what?!"
"You don't work for us anymore or in the police, either. There is no possibility of changing that."
"But… Why?" Cord was devastated.
"Due to the fact that you and Force could not figure out who the Villain was, due to the death of Force and the attack on you. This was just the last straw. From the top, they believe you discredited yourself as an investigator and failed in the Villain case."
"Then who will investigate?"
"We'll finish with the attack on you, and in the case of another murder, we will give it to the Royal Gendarmerie. Then we will try to wash away the scandal and forget the matter of the Villain like a bad dream."
Pause.
"Okay, Cord," Chief finished. "We'll talk more at the Department. You will sign the papers, take your things, and that's it. It's over."
Cord nodded grimly.
"Goodbye." The ex-boss left the room without glancing back.
It turned out as Cord had expected, but he was still sad. He wanted to quit nicely, but he delayed it, and it turned out like this, all because he had decided to see if Force would turn him in. Which led to getting stuck in the Flaminga murder investigation and then the tragedy with Force… Well, it happened, how it happened.
***
Five minutes after Chief's departure, the door opened again, and Fiddler entered the room. Cord chuckled.
"Yes, I'm in the spotlight today!"
"You don't say. How do you feel?"
"I was fired."
Fiddler walked over to the bunk and looked worriedly at Cord.
"I asked about the wound."
"It hurts a little, but I don't care. I survived." Cord lowered his voice to a half-whisper. "Did you get rid of your boots?"
"Yes," Fiddler answered just as quietly. "I did everything as you said."
"Great. You worked well."
Fiddler nodded and smiled at his friend.
"Congratulations, by the way, on the beginning of paternity."
"Who was even born?"
"Dia asked me not to tell you," Fiddler said mysteriously.
"What a goat," Cord smiled warmly. "I'm lying here thinking: it was worth it. All the suffering, the tragedies… Now I will begin a normal family life. Do you think I will become a good father?"
"Well, if you don't start killing people in front of the child, I think so."
"Hey!"
Fiddler chuckled.
"Well, I say: you are a dark man, but still good. I think you will be an excellent father. By the way, Sky and Peace promised to come tomorrow. They were seriously alarmed by what happened to you."
"Didn't you tell them what really happened?"
"Of course not."
"Good. Let them remain in the dark."
The door opened again, and a happy Dia entered the room.
"Well, I have to go," Fiddler was getting ready. "I need to return to my own."
After saying goodbye to their friend, Dia sat down on the bunk again.
"Come on, who was born?" demanded Cord.
"I will not tell!" slyly squinted his wife. "Dad will come, and you will see for yourself."
"Hey, that's not fair!"
"Okay, you have one try!"
"Good. There is one question by which it is easy to identify sex of a baby. Did she scream when she was born?"
"Of course!"
"So, a girl."
"Wait, but boys shout too…"
"As I said, it was determined by one question."
Dia frowned in bewilderment, then exclaimed:
"Again you got me, you jerk!"
"That trick could fool a first-grader," teased Cord.
"Scoundrel!" Dia slapped him lightly on the thigh.
"How are you feeling? What happened in the park, anyway?"
"Ha-ha! Completely unexpectedly, I decided to give birth."
"But I told you that you shouldn't have gone," Cord chided his wife.
"I'm a fool; what did you expect from me?" Dia smiled cheerfully. "But everything turned out well!"
***
They chatted a little more about all sorts of things. Soon Tsar, almost glowing with joy, came into the room. In his hands, he carefully held a small bundle.
"Look, granddaughter, this is your dad!"
Tsar went to Cord and handed him the package. The father carefully accepted his child. The girl looked at him and… smiled?
"Hello, daughter," Cord smiled back at her.