About the book: 2009 / Ksenia returned to her hometown, hoping to find peace of mind. Instead, troubles fell upon her one after another... Does her old rival still hate her that much? Yakov Matveevich showed weakness many years ago and is now doomed to keep someone else’s secret. But why did the neighbor's guest suddenly become interested in that old story? Private detective Makar Ilyushin came to this town to treat his back at a local sanatorium. But why do the owners of the house where he rented a room behave so strangely? “Don’t believe your eyes,” says popular wisdom. But what to do if it’s impossible not to believe? And how to see the truth in a distorting mirror?..