It was the first day off before the beginning of the vacations, and Sigismunda Yakovlevna was expecting her beloved granddaughter Vita to visit again. As usual she prepared something delicious for her favorite granddaughter. But now it was not baked goods, because Vita had to watch her figure. Her life has changed a lot, she is now a performer. Together with her friend Sofia Vita has created a band, and now she and three other girls give every free minute to this business. Now Sigismunda Yakovlevna calls and asks:
- How's our star? Is she coming?
But, of course, Vita is always happy to see her favorite grandmother. And now, even though Vita's group is about to have its first important performance - a concert at the local culture house, Sigizmunda Yakovlevna is still waiting for her favorite girl to visit. And then Sigizmunda Yakovlevna's phone rang. It was Vita.
- Ba, please open up, it's me.
Sigizmunda Yakovlevna was surprised that her granddaughter, who had her own key for a long time, was asking to open it, but went to open it anyway.
There was indeed Vita standing outside the door, and she was as pale as death.
- Vitochka, what's wrong? - Sigismunda Yakovlevna had just time to ask before her granddaughter threw herself on her neck.
- Grandma, Barney's dying! - she sobbed.
Barney was Vitya's friend Sofa's dog, he was a big bully, and anything could happen to him.
Sigismunda Yakovlevna handed her granddaughter a glass of water and said:
- Here you go, honey, have some water. Feeling better? Now you and I will go to the room and you'll tell me everything.
In the room, Vita said a little more calmly:
- Grandma, Barney's in a coma!
- Why is he in a coma? - Sigizmunda Yakovlevna asked.
And Vita finally began her story.
***
- Yesterday we had our last rehearsal. We got together at Sofa's. Everything went great, and then Aunt Lena came in and said:
- Well, since you're so good, I suggest we grab a bite to eat.
And I brought a cake.
- What kind of cake? - Sigismunda Yakovlevna asked.
Vita shrugged.
- It's a regular cake, a bit like Carrot-top, but with nuts, I think.
- So you haven't tried it? - Sigismunda Yakovlevna was wary.
- No one had time to taste it," Veta sighed, "because almost immediately Barney came running and ate almost all of Sofina's piece. And almost immediately he got sick - in less than an hour he was unconscious. - Vita almost cried again, but her grandmother hurried to calm her down:
- Don't be afraid, my dear, the doctors will definitely help Barney - And, when the granddaughter calmed down, she asked:
- You said neither of you ate the cake? - Veta nodded - Where did it go then?
- When my mom found out about it," Veta answered, "she told me to put the rest of the piece that Barney didn't finish in a bag and give it to you so that you could send it for examination. - and with these words Vita took the bag out of her backpack.
- Well done - praised Sigizmunda Yakovlevna and added - so we will help Barney even faster - and quietly added - and not only him.
***
Left alone, Sigismunda Yakovlevna began to think: who had poisoned Barney after all? Now only one thing was known about the poisoner: he wanted to poison not a dog at all, but some of the girls, perhaps even all of them at once. And since Sigismunda Yakovlevna knew everything about Vita, she decided to compile a dossier on the other girls. Here's what she got:
1. Shuvakhina Sofya Ivanovna, aka Sofa. Vita's best friend, studies with her at the same school. A calm, modest and good-natured girl. Absolutely non-conflicted. She studies quite well, she has never had any problems with her studies. She has no other friends except relatives and girls from the group, but no one has ever offended her in class. Her favorite subjects at school are Russian language, literature and history, and this is mainly thanks to her grandmother, who lives far away, sees her granddaughter rarely, but Sofia likes to visit her, and says that she and her grandmother always read a lot, and her grandmother often tells Sofia about how they used to live. Sofia does not know what she will become, but she is sure that she will be a writer.
Sigismunda Yakovlevna reread what she had written. Yes, the unconflicted and quiet Sophochka certainly had no enemies. So, the cake was not planted for her. We must look further.
2. Alexandra Nikitichna Efimova. A classmate of Sofya and Vita. Not a bad girl, very cheerful and hyper-talkative, funny and kind, but she has one serious flaw: she doesn't follow her speech at all.
Having written it down, Sigismunda Yakovlevna thought. Could it be that Sasha had done something wrong, and because of that the others were in trouble too? Maybe, maybe... In any case, this version should not be discounted.
3. Kryukova Daria Vyacheslavovna, a third cousin of Sigismunda Yakovlevna's granddaughters on her grandfather's side. A very unusual girl. Always was not of this world, but at the same time the most creative of all. Even her parents can not remember the exact number of types and directions of creativity, which Dasha tried since elementary school. Everyone who knows her is sure that Dasha will definitely choose a creative profession.
4. Kryukova Taisiya Vyacheslavovna. Dasha's own sister. She is also a very difficult person. Since childhood has a keen sense of justice, and is ready to fight for it with anyone, even with adults. Straightforward and honest. Always ready to stand up for the small and weak. Very fond of animals and is a mountain for his family and friends.
Sigismunda Yakovlevna wondered. What if the straight and independent Tai had a conflict, because of which her sister (although Dasha is much calmer) and friends were caught? After all, this someone could have decided to take revenge on them all...
And then Sigismunda Yakovlevna remembered another detail that had seemed suspicious to her from the very beginning. Of course, dancers and singers are given various gifts, and cakes and pastries are rare but not uncommon among them. But no one gives an artist (even an amateur) a gift BEFORE the performance. And the girls had only a dress rehearsal, they have to perform next week, and everyone knew about it. It turns out that someone either mixed up the dates, or wanted the girls to refuse to participate in the concert. Very badly. And maybe they're all in a lot of danger.
The next day something changed. First, in the morning Sigismunda Yakovlevna went with a piece of cake to the laboratory. It turned out that Sofina's mother had also taken the cake to the laboratory, and it was already being studied. But the piece that Sigizmunda Yakovlevna had brought was also taken, explaining that there are cases when certain pieces of cake, or even just one piece, are poisoned.
And then Sigismunda Yakovlevna went to talk to Sofia's mother. After all, it was clear that no one could have poisoned the already prepared cake at Sofia's house, and the store does not sell poisoned cakes. It turns out that someone poisoned a ready-made cake, and planted it at Sofia's house under the guise of a gift. And Sofina's mom knew exactly who did it.
The girls were just at school, and that was to Sigismunda Yakovlevna's advantage, who didn't want Sofya to know anything about it. She was lucky, she met Sofina's mother on the street. They got to talking, and Sigizmunda Yakovlevna asked:
- How's Barney?
- Oh, he's better," Elena sighed, "but the doctors told us that if we'd had a small one instead of a spaniel, there would have been no one left to save. And Barney wouldn't have survived if his stomach hadn't been pumped right away.
- Lena," Sigismunda Yakovlevna suddenly asked, "how did you end up with a poisoned cake in your house?
- Our grandmother gave it to us..." Elena began to mumble. But Sigismunda Yakovlevna stopped her.
- Don't lie to me. I know very well that Sofia has one grandmother, who lives in the village, and very rarely comes here. She hasn't come anytime soon, and neither has your grandfather. And she wouldn't poison her favorite granddaughter's dog. So I repeat the question: Who brought the cake?
- N-Nasty K-K-limova's mom - stammering, Elena whispered - but where she got it, I don't know.
- Thank you - thanked Sigismunda Yakovlevna coldly - you may go.
Sigismunda Yakovlevna remembered this Nastya Klimova, although she had not studied with any of Vita's friends and close acquaintances and had not socialized with them. And Nastya was very strange. No, she wasn't mean, but she seemed to be either sad or bored all the time. She was not untalented - she had an ear, a voice too, but it seemed to Sigismunda Yakovlevna that Nastya was not interested in music at all. As if someone had forced her to go to music. But who? Sigizmunda Yakovlevna knew Nastya's mother Natalia, and she was not the kind of parent who would force a child to do something he was not interested in. And yet...
- We should talk to her, Sigismunda Yakovlevna thought.
Fortunately, Sigizmunda Yakovlevna had the numbers of the parents of many of Vita's acquaintances from the regular and music school. Although Vita had no contact with Nastya, Sigizmunda Yakovlevna had her mother's number. She dialed the number.
- Hello, Natalya Markovna! This is Sigismunda Yakovlevna, Vita Eremina's grandmother. Are you busy now? Can you talk?
- Yes, I can. Hello, Sigismunda Yakovlevna. Is something wrong?
- It happened. The thing is that the performance of my granddaughter and her friends was jeopardized, and the dog of one of them, Sofa, was hospitalized with severe poisoning. - and Sigismunda Yakovlevna told me what had happened.
- I understand everything," Natalia said in a low voice. It's her again. Her tricks!
- Who is she? Whose tricks? - Sigismunda Yakovlevna didn't understand.
- Yes, of course, who. - My mother-in-law, Elvira Egorovna. For her there has always been only one correct opinion - hers. And she had long ago reached the point of absurdity, if not to say madness. When Nastya was just making her first steps, she already predicted her career as an athlete or dancer. Although Nastya is even less interested in all this than in music. We've been dancing to her tune all her life, but what happened to Sofochka's dog is too much. Let her do what she wants with me, but now I won't let her anywhere near Nastya.
- And be sure to ask Nastya where she wants to go. - Sigizmunda Yakovlevna added - maybe she wants to go to an art studio, for example, or she doesn't want to go anywhere at all, it can happen. I hope everything works out for you, goodbye.
Hanging up the phone, Sigismunda Yakovlevna said:
- Good. Now we just have to wait for the results of the study.
***
It didn't take long to get the result. It turned out that Elvira Egorovna had poisoned Barney with a heavy and rather expensive sleeping pill, which, most likely, she had taken herself. These sleeping pills are not available without a prescription, they should not be given to children at all, and adults could also take them with great caution. When Nastya found out what her grandmother had done, she stopped all communication with her. By the way, she really didn't go to music school anymore.
This story could not be forgotten for a long time by everyone who knew the girls.
- Wow," they said, "we thought that only our own "copper pipes" test, but it turns out, and someone else's!
But most of all everyone was glad when Barney recovered. And he himself was glad to see Sigismunda Yakovlevna and the others.
- Well, hero? - She asked with a smile - Are you going to take it off the table again?
- Wah-wahf! - answered Barney, and wagged his tail.
The end