Kobzon.”
“Well, why would Kirkorov and Kobzon argue?” Colonel asked, feeling pleased from making a good joke.
“Drunk Kirkorov fell asleep in the bathroom with an open tap. The bathroom overflowed and water went over the edge. Kirkorov did not respond to Sophia Lazarevna's knock, so she called the district police officer.”
“Okay,” Colonel interrupted impatiently. “What about the knife?”
“The knife was in Kirkorov’s room, stuck in a loaf of bread. He…”
“Where did he get it?” interrupted Stasov.
“Kirkorov explained he found it on the street. He was walking in the evening and saw it in a tree. No one needed the knife, so he took it home.”
“When? Was it the same day?”
“Kirkorov does not remember the exact date, but he seems to be telling the truth.”
“Seems to be! How many times should I tell you: there should be no inaccuracies in our job like “seems”, “probably” or “maybe”. “That is, we can’t even build versions?” Asked Captain Kudinov in a cold voice.
“You can, Andrei Vladimirovich,” Stasov answered without looking at the Captain. “But you have to rely on facts, not on something like that. Do you understand, Captain Kudinov?”
“If all the facts were known, our work would have lost its meaning,” Andrei Vladimirovich answered. Colonel Stasov left these words unanswered and again turned to Rublev: “What else do you have?”
“I think it was the same person in both cases. Probably they are knives from the same collection.”
“Captain Rublev, you will think later,” Colonel's irritation grew. “First we must listen to everyone, find out all the facts, and then we’ll be able to express our opinions and thoughts. Captain Kudinov has not yet spoken to us. Captain, do you have something to report?” Captain Kudinov hid a smirk and began:
“I found out that professor Leonid Alekseevich Izmailov, Clara Yurievna’s fiance, was in the laboratory during the first attempt, where he received a call from her.”
Colonel Stasov grimaced. “Received a call. Sounds like receiving an order. Can’t he just talk in a more simple language? This Kudinov is always showing off,” he thought, and said out loud: “But we are more interested in the second case.”
“Today he was also at the institute, but so far no one can confirm this. Bychkova did not call him immediately, but somewhere in an hour and a half. At that time he was at the department. But in an hour you can get to the institute from home.”
“Does he have a reason to kill her?”
“I don’t know. Ekaterina Yurievna, Clara Yurievna’s sister, had an alibi both times. On the seventeenth of June, she was having guests – her school friends. Today she was in Suzdal with her friends.”
“Are the names of all friends set?”
“Yes. I can list.”
“No need to do that. Why did you start checking her sister's alibi? You could have checked the alibi of her father and mother then.”
“I have,” Andrei Vladimirovich answered calmly. “Both times, Clara Yurievna’s father was in the office of his company. He spends a lot of time there. This is confirmed by the guards,” – Captain named their last names, first names and patronymics, “the manager”, he called his name, “the cleaner”, his name. “The wife of Yuri Vladimirovich, Clara Yurievna’s stepmother, has no alibi. Both times she was at home. She was sleeping during the assassination attempt yesterday.
“Stepmother? Have her father remarried? What about the first wife?”
“She died when his first daughter, Clara, was about two years old. The other daughter was born in the second marriage.”
“Got it. Who else have you checked? Neighbors?” Kudinov calmly answered:
“One neighbor, Nona Ivanovna Chizhova, retired, was at home at the time of attempt. She immediately went to a scream. But the second neighbor, Tatiana Vladimirovna Barysheva, apartment number one hundred and ten, was walking these morning hours.” Captain emphasized the last words and, knowing that Colonel would interrupt him with a question, fell silent. Colonel immediately said:
“Walking? Did she walk her dog?”
“No, she doesn't have a dog. According to her, she was just walking.”
“I see. Who else did you check? Neighbors at Bychkova’s previous address did not interest you?”
“They did,” Kudinov answered smoothly, “but I did not have time to check them.”
“Shit, he is mocking me,” Stasov thought, asking:
“Is that all?” Captain answered in the affirmative. Sitting still, Colonel clasped his fingers, grouped, took a deep breath, held it for a while, exhaled noisily and, looking around but speaking to no one, said:
“So, what do we have. Someone has been trying to kill Clara Yurievna Bychkova twice. The method of murder is unusual, I would even say, original. Now,” Colonel turned to Captain Rublev, “you can build your own versions, even the most absurd. What do you think, Captain Rublev?”
“First of all, it is obvious that the killer is not a professional, as he has already made two mistakes. He got nervous. Today he threw a knife at a woman, not even having time to examine her properly.”
“Correct, but it is clear even to the fool. What about knives?”
“The killer probably has a set of knives. I think the next attempt will be committed with the same knife.”
“Next attempt? You think…”
“Yes, I'm sure the killer will repeat his attempt, because he probably knows he killed the wrong woman. These knives, in my opinion, are a work of art. I don’t know much about it, but I think these are antique.”
“Give the knife for examination,” Colonel ordered.
“You know the result of the examination,” Major Cheredkov recalled, “the killer used gloves.”
“I'm talking about another examination,” Colonel grimaced in irritation, “knives should be shown to art historians.”
“I handed the first knife to Florensky, antiquarian,” Major said, “he promised to show it to professionals and find out something. In general, I think they didn’t want to kill Bychkova, they just wanted to scare her. Maybe this is someone from TAKHO. She said that last year, when she was checking another company, she had also been threatened and called.
“Did they fulfill their threat?”
“No, they just scared her. Maybe they’re scaring her now.”
“What do you think, Captain Kudinov?” Colonel sharply turned to Andrei Vladimirovich.
“I admit all the proposed versions. We’re working on it, Colonel.”
“Good. Major Cheredkov,
