“I can’t breathe. All right, all right. Let it be as you want, but let me breathe. Please.” The guard removed Post from the room.
“Finally, he has accepted his guilt,” said Rusty, making a sweet yawn. “He finally gave himself up. I did it in a very clever manner. I gave him all these facts.”
“He did not even deny the woman in black,” inserted Dukovsky. “But I can’t forget about this Swedish match. I can’t stand it any more. Good-bye. I have to go.”
Dukovsky put on his hat and left.
Rusty started interrogating Annie. She said that she did not know anything.
“I only slept with you, and no one else,” she said.
At six o’clock that evening, Dukovsky came back. He was more excited than he had ever been. His fingers were trembling to such an extent that he was not able to undo his coat. His cheeks were burning. It was clear that he brought very important news. “We are done with the case,” he said, arriving in the Rusty’s office and dropping into the armchair.
“I can swear on my word of honor that I am a genius.”
“Listen, you damned devil! Listen to me carefully, and you will he surprised, my dear friend. It is both funny and sad. We already have three people involved in this case, and I have found the fourth person; to be exact, the fourth woman, because she is a woman. And what a woman! I would have given away ten years of my life, just to touch her shoulders, she is so beautiful. But listen. I went to Banks’s estate and started making circles around it. I went to all the country stores, drug stores, pubs, and restaurants, asking for Swedish matches everywhere. Everyone said no. I searched all day, until night came. I lost hope at least twenty times, and twenty times I had it again, entering the next place. So, I spent the whole day like this, and finally, about an hour ago, I found what I was looking for. The place is not far from here, maybe three miles or so. They gave me a package with ten boxes of matches, one box was missing. So I asked the owner who had bought the box. He told me about this woman, and named her. He said, ‘She liked them, so she burned them one after another.’ My dear friend, Nikolai Ermolaevich. Look at me, and you will see what kind of a man a school dropout can become! You won’t believe it! Today, I have found my self-respect. Well, well, let’s go now!”
“Where are we going?”
“We have to go to the fourth member of the gang. We have to hurry. Otherwise, I will burn with impatience. Do you know who she is? You’ll never guess, never! She is the young wife of our doctor, the old man. Her name is Olga Petrovna, that’s who she is. She bought this box of matches.”
“My friend, you are completely crazy.”
“Listen to me. First of all, she smokes. Secondly, she was completely, madly in love with Banks. He rejected her love for this peasant woman, Annie. It was her revenge. Now I remember that once I saw them hiding behind the kitchen curtain. She swore that she loved him, and he took a drag from her cigarette and blew the smoke in her face. But it is getting dark, my friend, let’s go faster.”
“Have I become so foolish that I would allow an idiot like you to bother a noble and honest woman in the middle of the night?”
“Do you think that she is noble and honest? Then you are a spineless wimp and not a detective! I have never scolded you before, but now I have to speak my mind. You are a coward with no willpower! My dear, Nikolai Ermolaevich.”
The detective motioned him away and spat on the floor.
“Please, let’s go! I am not asking this for my own benefit, but in the interest of the law. I am begging you. Please, do me this favor, just once in your life! Look, I can kneel in front of you! Dear Nikolai Ermolaevich, please be so kind, please. You can call me stupid, if I am wrong about this woman. But this is such an outstanding case. You will be famous all over the country. They will make you a special investigator for the most important cases. You must believe me, old man.”
The old detective frowned, and slowly and reluctantly moved his hand to his hat.
“Damn it! I will have to go with you,” he said.
It was dark when the detective’s carriage arrived at the entrance of the doctor’s house.
“We are swine,” said Rusty, ringing the doorbell. “We should not be troubling people at this time.”
“This is nothing. Don’t be afraid. Tell her that your carriage is broken.”
A tall, plump woman, about twenty-three years old, opened the door for Rusty and Dukovsky. She was a lush brunette, with shining hair and full red lips. It was Olga Petrovna herself.
“Oh, this is so pleasant,” she said. “You have come just in time for dinner. My husband is away on business. But we can have dinner without him. Have a seat, please. Did you come from your investigation?”
“Yes, you see, my carriage has broken next to your house,” said Rusty, entering the living room and taking a seat in an armchair.
“Tell her at once. Scare her!” Dukovsky hissed. “Scare her! Do it now!”
“The carriage, yes. We just decided to drop in.”
“Scare her at once!” Dukovsky whispered again. “Otherwise, if you procrastinate, she will guess that we know.”
“Leave me alone,” Rusty murmured, standing up and going to the window, “I can’t do it! You started this, so you will have to finish it.”
“Yes, the carriage,” said Dukovsky, coming to the woman and wrinkling his long nose. “But we haven’t come to have dinner, or see your husband. We came here to ask you, dear lady, where is Mark Ivanovich, whom you killed?”
“What? Which Mark Ivanovich?” mumbled the woman, blushing all over. “I don’t remember anything.”
“I am asking you in the name of the law. Where is Mr. Banks? We know everything.”
“From whom?” asked the woman, unable to stand Dukovsky’s piercing glance.
“You must show us where he is.”
“But how did you find me? Who told you?”
“We know everything. I insist, in the name of the law!”
The detective, encouraged by the woman’s embarrassment, came to her and said,
“Lead us to his body, and then we will leave. Otherwise, we will have to take legal measures.”
“Why do you want him?”
“Why? Are you asking us questions, dear lady? We should be asking you the questions. You are trembling, and you are embarrassed. Yes, he was murdered, and he was killed by you. You are one of the participants, and the other gang members have given your name to us.”
The doctor’s wife became pale.
“Let’s go,” she said in a quiet voice, clasping her hands.
“I hid him in the bathhouse at the end of our property. But please, I implore you, don’t say anything to my husband. He won’t be able to stand this news.”
The woman took a big key from the nail on the wall, and brought her guests through the back entrance, first to the kitchen and then to the backyard. It was dark outside. A light rain was drizzling. The woman went forward. Rusty and Dukovsky followed her, stepping through the tall grass, smelling the damp scent of the wild weeds and some food scraps which crunched under their feet. It was a big backyard. Soon the garbage ended, and their feet felt the freshly ploughed soil. They saw the figures of the tall trees in the dark, behind the trees they saw a small house with a slanted chimney.
“This is the bathhouse,” the woman said. “But please don’t tell anyone, I implore you.”
As they came to the bathhouse, Rusty and Dukovsky saw a huge lock hanging on the door.
“Prepare your matches,” said the detective to his assistant. The woman opened the lock and led the two guests into the bathhouse. Dukovsky lit his match and the light fell into the bathhouse. There was a small table in the middle. Next to it, there was a small, heavy teapot, a bowl of cold soup, and a few other plates with the remains of some sauce.
They went into the second room, the sauna itself. In the middle, there was another table. On the table, there was a big plate with ham, a bottle of vodka, some plates, knives, and forks.