Child 44 Chapter 14 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • Iliyana arrives at Basarov's restaurant. Shifts are ending at the "car assembly line" and the place is full of potential customers (3.14.1). We think you can guess what Iliyana's occupation is...
  • Iliyana meets a man in his mid-forties. He refuses to tell her his name, but he offers her a sizeable gold nugget as payment for her services.
  • Iliyana and the man leave, and the man leads her to the train station. Though Iliyana is sketched out, she follows the man into an isolated maintenance cabin. Nonchalantly, she asks him if she can leave her coat on.
  • Suddenly, he swings a metal tool at her, which connects "with the side of her face" (3.14.55). Panicked, Iliyana spits in the man's face and runs out of the cabin.
  • Iliyana tries to get away—even dodging a moving train in the process—but the man catches up and pins her to the ground. Is this guy the killer?
  • Suddenly, the man stops and "began to retch" (3.14.68). Iliyana doesn't understand until she turns around and sees it: a young blonde girl's corpse, naked and cut apart.