Chapter 5

Mark. His name was Mark. He was Annette’s neighbor and had been watching her for a long time. At first it was simply passion. Annette teased Mark’s sense of beauty with her unbearable, tormenting loveliness. The man was struck by the magnificence of his neighbor and the starry radiance of her eyes. Over the years, this passion, which he fed with secret observation, turned into mania.

A little about Mark? Very well. He read a great deal, listened to classical music, practiced transcendental meditation. And at twenty-six, he was still a virgin.

Watching Annette, Mark was amazed that she could be the wife of some dry-hearted banker interested only in earning money! Working for the police, he had learned everything about Annette’s family, about Annette herself, and about her husband. Mark felt that he understood the beautiful woman far better than her spouse did, that her place was with him, with Mark, not with Yuri! At the same time -- believe it or not -- the police officer did not even think about sex with Annette. He would have been afraid to touch her! Does a worshipper think of possessing the goddess he worships? Mark felt Annette was not for that; to engage in low physical coupling with such a woman would be a vice, a mistake, a desecration! She had to be worshipped, she had to be loved, she had to be listened to!...

That was why the man with the ridiculous haircut was stunned when Old Martha came to the precinct and said that Anna Lazar had had sex with an undocumented janitor in plain sight! It was because of Old Martha’s statement that Omar was taken into custody; otherwise, no one would have known about his undocumented status. And Annette was left alone ... because Mark stood up for her. He personally asked that she not be arrested and guaranteed that nothing like this would happen again. Given the minor nature of the offense, and the fact that the undocumented man would be deported anyway, Mark’s request was granted.

That was how the man with the ridiculous haircut protected an angel. But he could not stop thinking about what Old Martha had written in her statement. That supposedly the dirty janitor, without even removing his work clothes, had possessed the goddess right by the front steps of the building, bending her over doggy-style! He slapped her on the ass, grabbed her by the hair, and brought her to a base, vulgar orgasm!!! Such a desecration of the sacred was something he could not wrap his head around! And at the same time ... for some reason, he wanted to think about it again and again! Mark, prone to obsession, imagined the janitor and the goddess together in every detail. He raged and ... became aroused. He began to sleep little, eat badly ... And then Annette herself came to the precinct.