yet you yourself seem intent on becoming one.»
«What?» a touch of anxiety flashed across the psychiatrist’s eyes.
«You will find very interesting people to talk to in our holding cell, Dr. Krasin. There’s enough material there for several monographs.»
Krasin snorted several times, nervously imitating laughter.
«I understand. A professional jest.»
«If you understand, then please start answering my questions. I asked you about Inna Maltseva’s fits of rage.»
«The prescription is lying right there in front of you, Detective Petelina. It is for a very potent substance, but one that is absolutely justified in this case. If Inna was taking her pills regularly, loss of control would have been impossible. But if she forgot a dose, her organism may have rebelled. Unfortunately, I can only ensure that the medicine is being taken at the in-patient facility. Mrs. Maltseva stayed with us for two weeks. After that, I monitored her only as an outpatient.»
«Okay, let’s assume she missed a dose. What then?»
«Depends on the circumstances. Though, her illness predisposes her more to making a scene.»
«Did you talk to Dmitry Maltsev regularly?»
«Naturally. It is impossible to improve a person’s mental condition without familiarizing oneself with their family and surroundings.»
«And what was the relationship like between husband and wife?»
«It was fractured. But it could not have been otherwise. They had to deal with the endless attempts to get pregnant followed by the struggle to keep the baby, culminating each time with failure.»
«Take a look at this photograph.» Elena offered Krasin the photo of the three-year-old girl. «Do you recognize this girl?»
«No. I’ve never seen her before.»
«Mrs. Maltseva had it in her purse.»
The psychiatrist became pensive.
«A strong, obsessive idea always manifests as something concrete. It is possible that Inna imagines that her unborn child looks exactly like this girl. It is vital for her to have a real image of her fantasy. As for the photo itself, she could have found it anywhere.»
«We discovered Mrs. Maltseva beside the body. Everything points to her guilt. She behaved calmly, maintaining that she did not kill her husband, but as soon as she saw that the dead man wasn’t him, she fainted. She hasn’t said a word today. She refuses to speak.»
«Did you take her medicine away?»
«Yes. She is not allowed to have it in the holding cell with her.»
«You cannot leave Inna without her medicine,» Krasin began to fret.
«I can have her transferred to the prison hospital.»
«God no! Do you know what kind of doctors are working there? There aren’t any psychiatrists there, are there? I hypothesize that, due to severe stress, Inna’s memory has blocked out any horrible recollections. Even with the help of medicine, you won’t get anything out of her.»
«What should we do then?»
Krasin entwined his fingers self-importantly and furrowed his brow.
«There is one surefire way to bring someone back to reality.»
«What’s that?»
«Hypnosis.»
The detective looked at the psychiatrist incredulously.
«Yes, that’s right, hypnosis. Hypnosis alleviates fear and dismantles internal barriers that the unconscious mind uses to defend itself. The subject becomes truthful and regains its memory. Hypnosis is a form of treatment. I tried a couple sessions with Inna. They yielded favorable results.»
«Interesting.» Elena traced a large spiral with her pencil on the sheet of paper before her. When her mind was occupied with something, she would often draw mindless doodles that would surreptitiously depict her state of mind. At the moment, Elena remembered that hypnosis – as a method of influencing a person’s psyche in order to bring their memory back – had long since been used by the special services of the developed world. It had been employed in Moscow as well, just not in her division.
She decided to risk it:
«And if I were to ask you to perform a session here, in my presence? What would you say?»
Krasin looked around.
«I think we can easily do it right here in your office.»
«When?»
«Detective Petelina, I am a busy person – as are you. Since I am already here, why put it off?»
10
Marat Valeyev noticed his partner’s large figure a block before the intersection. He braked and waited while Mayorov crammed himself into the passenger seat.
«How did the train welcome go?» asked the captain.
«The car attendant recognized Dmitry Maltsev. At the time of the murder, he was on the train getting drunk.»
«He did more of the same on the return leg. I’ve already delivered the flabby product of last night’s libations to Petelina.»
«Why waste all that money on tickets?» sighed Vanya recalling his unenviable salary. He noticed that the captain was not heading back to the division. «Where to now?»
«Back to our former haunts. We never found that janitor, remember.»
«Oh. Man, the Noose just doesn’t let up, does she? Other operatives don’t even have to go to the crime scenes. They’re allowed to stay in the office writing reports – »
«It’s Detective Petelina to you. Got it?» Marat would have preferred it if Lena Gracheva, the valedictorian of his class, had remained Gracheva, instead of getting hitched with Sergey Petelin, with whom he used to scuffle in school.
«What are you getting on my case about? Have you any idea how they bitch about her back at the Investigative Committee? She’s constantly setting back deadlines, requesting additional tests and ordering field operatives to go here and there, back and forth…»
«She may order us around, but it’s for a good reason. As for deadlines, the entire reason we’re going to find the janitor right now is to speed things up. Oh, and did you not get an award last quarter?»
«Yeah, something like that.»
«There you have it. And thanks to whom? Petelina!»
«I didn’t even understand how we got so many merits.»
«A detective gets merits on his record for each criminal case that goes to court, but us operatives get them for each episode. Episodes constitute
