Summary

In the section "November," Valentina Nikolaevna worries over a blister on her chest. Though she does not know how it originated, she attributes the blemish to garden work at her family’s countryside dacha months prior. She thinks staying at the dacha will keep Diana out of danger after the abduction.

She decides to go to the doctor for the blister. He tells her it is dangerous, urging her to go to the hospital immediately. She calls work to say she will be out the rest of the day. Her colleague says Lieutenant Ryakhovsky called. Valentina presses her for information, asking if Ryakhovsky said anything about the case; he did not. On her way to the hospital, Valentina is convinced she has cancer and will die. In the waiting room, she is on edge, surrounded by the poor and sick. The nurse...