Sunlit oak tree

Augustine was awakened by a bell. Having arrived from their outing with Alex and Irene, he fell asleep. He was feeling very sleepy, and besides, he had a long way to go. But, judging by the call late in the evening, the party learned that Arthur was missing. The voice on the phone spoke confusedly and uncertainly. Augustine was called into the office immediately. Augustine quickly got ready and arrived, along the way trying to think through what he would say to his superiors. It was necessary to clearly monitor the situation. Choose every word. He was already planning to leave tonight, but he would have to come up with another plan if he was suspected of something. Entering the building, Augustine at first thought that there was no one here now — surprisingly, it was unusually quiet and lifeless. He knocked on the first office; The private stood up and saluted, as befits a senior. — What’s happening? “It’s as if everyone has died out here,” Augustine said half-jokingly. “They just gathered everyone in the main hall and called them in one by one.” — And what happened? — Augustine pretended that he didn’t know. — Herr Standartenführer has disappeared, they are finding out where he is. — Who told you? — His adjutant sounded the alarm — yesterday he came running, his eyes were huge, no one could understand what he wanted, he was screaming, they barely sat him down and only half an hour later they realized what was what. Augustine nodded and left; They work quickly, however. He was detained at the entrance — two officers had to explain that he, like the others, had been called in for questioning. They let him through. The common room was buzzing like a beehive, everyone was unhappy that they were abruptly pulled into the office in the middle of the night. Augustine quietly sat down in the far corner and waited for his turn. Time passed slowly. Augustine looked at the others; There was silence in the office. The door opened abruptly and a man entered, shouting the desired surname in alphabetical order. Augustine’s name should be heard soon. All that was left was to guess and watch how people with pale faces left the hall and returned back with glassy eyes. Arthur was unable to gain the approval of all his subordinates, but he managed to force himself to hate the entire headquarters very well. Every now and then Augustine heard snatches of unflattering exclamations towards the head of the department — everyone in unison washed Arthur’s bones: — Lord, why do we have to sit here? The boss left and maybe he decided to just run away, how do we know? “He was a terrible boss and person.” “He came to us and disappeared so quickly.” Apparently, someone couldn’t stand it anymore and finished him off. “Or if by good grace a car runs over him, I don’t want him to come back.” Augustine just grinned. This is a record — to turn almost the entire headquarters against you so quickly in just such a short time. At this time, Julius sat down next to him. They greeted each other, and Julius quietly asked how Augustine’s life was going. Augustine noted that it could have been worse. Out of politeness, he asked how Julius was doing, but he just waved him off: — Better not ask. Once you were transferred, you became completely bored, and Arthur was playing around as best he could. A nightmare for everyone. Bribery began to flourish in our country, and departments that had not worked very well before collapsed. In general, we were all ruined here,” Julius made a gloomy statement. — Is everything that bad? — Augustine, he turned everyone here against himself and against each other. He turned out to be the man who needed to be removed. They say that maybe his superiors removed him, or maybe one of his own killed him. — What if this is partly true? No, I’m not joking, Julius, look, what if it’s true that someone killed him? — Augustine decided to look at Julius’s reaction. “Well then, we will all bow to him, since he finally saved us from this monster.” Augustine remained silent. Julius was called in for questioning. At this very time, Augustine was constructing dialogue structures in his head and thinking about what to say. But he knew that sometimes the best defense is not even an attack, but to pretend to be a gray mouse. For the first time in a long time, my heart began to tap dance; Augustine kept asking himself why things turned out the way they did, and why he ended up getting caught up in this conflict. But there was no more time to think; he was called to leave the hall. The same office as before: gray wallpaper and an old chandelier. Augustine sat in front of the investigator. Thank you for not being in the torture basement. — Augustine, you were… — The investigator rummages through the papers, but does not find the necessary paper about his dismissal, he whispers something in the ear of the person sitting next to him, and he leaves. “I was transferred to another job,” Augustine intervenes, and he looks at him carefully. — To work as a driver for the Standartenführer, or, more precisely, his wife. — Augustine is unemotional and colorless as a moth. The investigator nods in gratitude. — There is no document about your transfer. — The investigator hesitates; he, like an aspen leaf, sways and is a little confused — young, you can see right away. Augustine realizes that it will be very easy for such a person to confuse and confuse. “I was transferred shortly before this incident. — Augustine relaxes; investigators, they are like wolves — as soon as fear passes through your veins, they will immediately sense it. — About two weeks ago, I think. I do not remember exactly. — What kind of relationship did you have with the Standartenführer? Augustine hesitates. — Workers, we communicated at the subordinate-boss level. He asked me to be his driver. Well, I agreed to this position — I took his wife to galleries and shopping. Judging by your ring, you are married, so you know for sure where women need to go. — The investigator smiled lightly. Augustine managed to blur this moment and divert attention from Arthur to Irene. The fact that he does not know about their relationship is immediately obvious — otherwise he would have started bombarding him with questions and would have immediately become hooked on their relationship with her husband — whether Augustine knows something or not. —Where did you and his wife go last time? “To a party of her friends, I brought her at eight in the evening — maybe it was already half past eight — and stayed there all night. In the morning I took her home and went to rest myself: the hostess gave me a day off. The investigator finds something and looks first at the paper, then at Augustine. — And how many times have you done this? — No, this is the second one. — Was this after the Standartenführer’s departure? — Yes, after. — Augustine hesitates. — Did you take his wife anywhere else after this event? Augustine looked thoughtful. — No, she was sitting at home, and I was in my garage. I usually arrived in the morning at the time appointed by her — she always tells me in advance when and where she needs to go. —Have you communicated with the Standartenführer in any way? You took him to the station, didn’t you? Augustine narrowed his eyes slightly; damn, it’s true. And here you have to get out. If they wanted to blame him for holding a grudge against Arthur, it didn’t work out. Although his entire department knew about his dismissal, Augustine presented this news as simply a transfer to another position. Augustine understood perfectly well that you need to be careful with people, how carefully you need to communicate with them, because you never know what will be directed against you. “It was supposed to be me, but in the end another person drove him.” — Augustine said this calmly and evenly. “And you didn’t notice anything about it?” — What should I have noticed? He is my boss, and I should not care why he decided to change me to another driver. The investigator tenses up, but later slows down: — Well, I don’t know, for example, something suspicious? — No, definitely not. — Gruppenführer, you used to be the head of the statistical department, right? — Augustine comes to his senses. — Yes it’s true. I previously worked in a different position. — We did not find a document about your transfer. Why did you leave your post? Augustine waits — damn, how can we play out the situation so that this petty investigator has no questions left, and he no longer touches on this situation? — I was transferred. The Standartenführer, after my inaccurate report, decided that I would be more useful in another post, and transferred me closer to his family. He added that I am a very good specialist, but I am not sitting in the right place. That’s the whole story. The data was not very correct — I did not do enough work because Julius, my colleague, did not keep up with the informants. — Tell me, did you notice that anyone was opposed to him — maybe someone was talking behind his back? — No, I was transferred from this position quite quickly, so no, I don’t know. Maybe you should ask someone who has been in my shoes? “There was no one in your place—your department was disbanded and the people who worked under you were also transferred or laid off,” the investigator responded coldly. — You hardly think that these two moments are somehow connected. — Augustine smiled, but this smile was cold and cruel. “You don’t know the details of the relationship between the Standartenführer and his wife?” Maybe there was a conflict situation between them before the trip? “You know…” Augustine decided to cheat, seeing that the investigator was somehow hesitating. “He was upset—I don’t know, maybe he had a quarrel with someone, but he was not happy about the upcoming trip. Perhaps he was planning to do something else, or perhaps he wanted to get on a different train. But to answer your question: I don’t know if he quarreled with his wife. I never got involved in their relationship. Besides, why do I need this? — Well, you know, drivers, like adjutants, know a lot about those they serve. — No, I’m not like that. Moreover, in such a short service life it would hardly be possible to learn anything even with a strong desire. “Augustine suddenly became a boy who doesn’t understand anything. The investigator wrote something for a long time. Augustine looked at him with a soft gaze and was finally released. — Okay, thank you, you are free, we have no questions for you. Augustine got out and quickly headed to the train, he needed to get ahead of the investigators. He gave a tip to investigators, but this lie will not help him for long. We need to warn Irene — at least say goodbye to her. However, why hurt her even more? He doesn’t know whether they will definitely see each other and what will happen next. Although, of course, he will write to Irene under a different name and at a different address. He knew that Irene would still miss him. Augustine took his suitcase with him and left the apartment, changing into civilian clothes. It was impossible to wait any longer; in the depths of his soul he hoped that his sister would not be too indignant about his departure for an indefinite period of time. How he wished he could be eleven again. Augustine dreamed of once again sitting under the oak tree with a book and smelling the poppy seed buns that Edith carefully baked. But ahead of him was Austria with its investigators, who would probably comb the country — or maybe not. How does he know?