To me vengeance, I will repay. Alexander Kolosov
‘We didn’t even know where he had been for the last three days. The police called me and said they had found him dead in our country house. Before he ran away from home, he made a scene and told me and my daughters that he would disinherit us, because his daughters were discussing who would inherit what when he died. It made him mad. I knew right away he was having a schizophrenic episode. This had happened to him sometimes, he had been diagnosed with flaccid schizophrenia at one time. I wanted to put him in an inpatient facility for a couple of weeks to get him back to normal. If he hadn’t run away, he’d be alive now.
– And what was the cause of your husband’s death?
– He died of a stroke. The medical examiner confirmed it, and we were issued a death certificate. Otherwise, how could we bury him?
– And who is Pronyakin and where did he come from?
– Valera, who’s Pronyakin?’ Maria was surprised, ‘It was you who introduced them to Sergei. So tell me, why did you do it?
– Oh, Masha, I didn’t know how this was going to end. In a word, Anna, you need to figure out for yourself who he is and what he’s up to. By the way, he hired a detective, a certain Beetle. He already called me, asking me to meet him.
– What’s the detective’s name?” asked a rather surprised Anna, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.
– Andrei Zhuk. That’s how he introduced himself. It’s a very rare name for our country, – answered Orlovsky, looking at his watch, – Any more questions for me? Because I have some problems that must be solved urgently. I would like to clarify, are you ready to take our case? We will pay you well.
– Just so you know, your Pronyakin hired my ex-husband. Once I was stupid to make a mistake by marrying him. And even took his last name.
– So you’re also a Beetle?” draws Milutina, with undisguised interest looking at
Anna, as if she saw a natural anomaly in front of her, “How interesting.
– It’s so interesting, it’s hilarious. I don’t know how I can deal with Pronyakin, but I want to hurt Zhuk as much as he hurt me.
Chapter 3
– The rich are called rich because they live richly,’ Varsonofyev moved the ashtray on the table closer to him and crushed the butt of his cigarette in it, ‘I don’t know what you want to find, Andrei, but you won’t get anything here. We don’t kill the rich in Istra, the rich die here.
His voice is heavy, hoarse, and kind of slow. For the past hour Andrei Zhuk has been trying to find out if the captain found anything suspicious during his examination of the place where Milyutin died, and instead of answering his questions, Varsonofyev successfully shares his life experience with him:
– I gave you the coroner’s report, I showed you the inspection report. What more do you need?
– There was a call that Miliutin had been killed, wasn’t there?
– I think it was one of his neighbors who called. Came into the lot when he
saw the gate was open. Then into the house, because it wasn’t locked. Found a dead man and called, in a panic, thinking he’d been murdered. And then ran away because he was a coward. People in this village are nervous because they have money and they’re afraid of everything. We didn’t find any traces of violence on
the corpse and nothing was missing from the house. The deceased’s wife confirmed it. And the autopsy showed that he died of a brain haemorrhage. He’s lucky he didn’t die in agony. Otherwise we would have had to take him to the hospital, he would have been lying there like a vegetable, demanding care, and then he would have presented himself anyway. But this way, he’s off the hook and right in the dungeon. I mean, to the cemetery.
– Did he have any papers with him, a will or a note?
– We found him at a table with nothing on it but an empty glass. Apparently he drank some water and gave up. It happens,” Varsonofyev lit a cigarette, blew a
puff of smoke in Andrei’s direction, closed his eyes tiredly, “is it okay that I smoke?
– Oh, Silych, Silych, you didn’t help me as a cop, you didn’t give me a single clue. What am I going to tell my client now, who is convinced that Miliutin was killed?
– And you tell him the truth, then you won’t have to lie.
***
“Well, it’s all over, and thank God!” was the first thought that came to Andrei Zhuk when he told Pronyakin the whole truth that it was impossible to prove the murder of Miliutin, just as it was impossible to challenge the conclusion that his death was a natural cause.
They met in the same place where they had met the first time, at the Second Breath tavern. He handed him a copy of the medical examiner’s report and waited with undisguised interest for his client’s reaction. When he had finished reading it, Pronyakin nervously crumpled the paper into a small lump and tossed it on the table toward Andrei with the words:
– Well, no so no. Then find the will. I’m sure whoever stole it is responsible for Milutin’s death. Can you do that, cowboy?
– Do you have any ideas, Kirill, who could do it?” quipped Zhuk, surprised that Pronyakin didn’t fire him right after he failed to collect the evidence.
– I know for a fact that it was the widow and her daughters,’ said Proniakin, tapping his knuckle eloquently on the table and pointing to the crumpled-up death certificate; ‘and she must have had help from one of Milyutin’s many enemies. And he had a lot of enemies. Start making a list of them.
– And who will tell me their names?’ asks Andrei, ‘The list must be long, long, long?
– We need to find the artist Okhaltsev. And talk to him. Properly, heart to heart. I’ll give you his number. Call him, but be sure to call him,’ he throws 500 rubles on the table, ‘I’ll take a piss, and you buy us something to drink and eat.
“If they send you to get a drink, then it ‘s time to tell the customer to go to hell. Otherwise it will be even worse. But 10% of 7 billion is not lying on the road. For that kind of money you could clean the floors here.
In the end, self-interest trumps pride, and Andrei buys two shots of vodka and two herring sandwiches.
***
– You didn’t cheat me, thank God, you didn’t. You ordered exactly what you were supposed to order. Let’s drink to it,’ Pronyakin greedily downed a shot of vodka and then savored his drink with a sandwich with herring and chopped green onions, ‘How I miss it,’ he closed his eyes and sniffed greedily, ‘I love such places of power, where people don’t pretend. You and I are completely different, but our goal is the same – to escape from here, never to return. I don’t know about you, but people make me sick. I want my own ivory tower and nobody around. I want complete solitude.
– Tell me, Cyril, what will you do with the paintings after we find the will and they become your property?
– I might as well burn them. In public. That would be an act of conscious vandalism. All five thousand paintings, including the famous Shtyrev. I may be cursed into eternity, but it would be more glorious than Herostratus.
– May I join your company,” the painfully familiar woman’s voice made Andrew’s whole being shudder. In front of him stood