Verkhotsev bowed.
‘And with reinforcements,’ added Porfiry, staring pointedly at the other two gendarmes accompanying the major. ‘Is there some significance to your choice of apparel?’
‘Murin. We have come for Murin.’
‘But he is my murderer, or so you have declared.’
‘Ah, but he was my agitator first.’ Verkhotsev smiled winningly, and twirled his moustache. ‘Besides, you do not need him any more. You have enough to write your report. Do you not have an appointment with the Tsar this afternoon? Imagine how pleased he will be to discover that you have solved the case.’
‘I have not solved the case!’ protested Porfiry. ‘The body of an escaped political prisoner was dumped outside the headquarters of the Haymarket District Police Bureau. If Murin is indeed our child-murderer, and we have only the supposed allegation of anonymous criminals to suggest that he is — if he is, then his identification as such owes nothing to me. I had not begun to suspect him. Indeed my suspicions were directed in an entirely other direction.’
‘It is perhaps just as well that his body turned up when it did.’ Verkhotsev charged his words with dark significance. ‘Otherwise you might have made an embarrassing blunder, Porfiry Petrovich. At any rate, whether you claim the credit for solving it or not, the case is closed. You must be thankful for that, as well as relieved. Now you are free to concentrate your efforts on bringing Yelena Filippovna’s murderer to justice.’
‘Perhaps I will be presented with her murderer in a similarly miraculous way,’ remarked Porfiry with bitter irony. ‘But I am frankly astonished to hear you say that the case is closed. How can the delivery of a corpse outside a police station signal the end of our work? Surely it is merely the prelude to further investigation?’
‘You are not seriously intending to go after Murin’s killers? The criminal fraternity has, in this instance, done us and the whole city of St Petersburg a great service. They have delivered justice. Rough justice, admittedly, but justice all the same. And we should be thankful that that depraved individual can no longer harm our children.’
‘I confess that I am mystified by this outcome, and by your acceptance of it,’ Porfiry countered with force. ‘I had understood that Murin was a political agitator. Why does a political agitator engage in child murder? Especially when his victims are drawn from the class whose interests he purports to further?’
‘Is it not obvious? The ring is the key. His aim was to incriminate the regime. He would have us believe that a Romanov was behind the crimes. And admit it, he very nearly succeeded in convincing you, Porfiry Petrovich.’
‘You must be aware that yours is not the only interpretation that the facts permit. But even if what you say is true, I was not aware that the Tsar put his legal reforms in place only for us to surrender the judicial process to criminals. For whoever has murdered this man is a criminal, Pyotr Afanasevich. Be in no doubt about that.’
‘But you have no hope of finding his murderer,’ said Verkhotsev flatly. ‘You must see that. The criminal fraternity will close ranks. There will be no witnesses. There will be no leads.’
‘You speak with remarkable confidence.’
‘This man Murin is no ordinary criminal. He is a revolutionary. As such, he has placed himself outside all society, even the society of criminals. He has no friends amongst them. He is looked upon with contempt — disgust even, considering the foul nature of his crimes. In addition, when all else is taken into account, our criminals — our ordinary criminals — always remain Christians. It is natural that they would look upon the slaughterer of children with the greatest revulsion. In them there is a fundamental decency beneath the layers of acquired dishonesty. How could they tolerate one such as Murin? I vouch you will not find one among their number prepared to assist you in the execution of your justice when they have already meted out their own.’
‘It is not a question of my justice. There is only justice. And it is certainly not dispensed by criminals.’
‘Our spies in the underworld inform us that criminal society is highly organised. You may be assured that he was tried and found guilty in one of their courts. And that his sentence was duly executed.’
‘So, is that the justice you defer to? Because I do not.’
‘But the Tsar will be content. St Petersburg will be content. The murderer you have been hunting is disposed of. I urge you to be content too, Porfiry Petrovich.’
‘He confessed to a fellow! You expect me to be content with, He confessed to a fellow?’
‘I grant you it is somewhat lacking in style.’
‘It is not the lack of style that concerns me but the lack of substance. Allow me to present my alternative interpretation of the facts, Pyotr Afanasevich. The four children were not murdered by this Murin. But by someone else. A person whose identity is as yet unknown to me, but whom I presume to be in some way associated with the house of Romanov. Perhaps this individual has been prevailed upon to desist from his murderous activities. And in the meantime this Murin has been delivered up to us. My murderer. Your agitator. It smacks rather too much of killing two hares with one shot, does it not?’
‘What are you suggesting, Porfiry Petrovich?’
‘Oh, come now, sir! Surely you do not need me to spell it out for you. You gentlemen of the Third Section are more subtle than that. A man who can put on and take off a uniform at will does not need things spelled out for him.’
‘I almost feel you are insulting me.’ Verkhotsev made the remark lightly, almost delightedly.
‘You came here pretending to be Maria Petrovna’s father!’
‘I am Maria Petrovna’s father!’
‘In name only. You claimed to be interested in the truth. And yet you have colluded in a charade. This man Murin was not executed by common criminals.’
‘And what makes you so certain of that, Porfiry Petrovich?’
‘I am not certain of anything. I admit it. That is the way of the Third Section. In the end, no one can be certain of anything.’
Verkhotsev gave a half-apologetic shrug.
‘Your daughter is distraught. She thinks that whoever has been killing those children will come after her.’
‘She has nothing to fear.’
‘You will tell her that? You will take her hands in yours, look into her eyes, your own daughter’s eyes, and tell her that her fears are at an end?’
‘Without hesitation.’
‘But how can you be so sure? Do you not at least want to talk to this fellow to whom Murin supposedly confessed? I warn you, Pyotr Afanasevich, if Murin is not the killer, if there is some other person being protected, then there will be more bloodshed. No matter what assurances have been given, such an individual cannot be contained, however watchful his custodians, however noble his family.’
‘You are once again venturing into dangerous waters, Porfiry Petrovich. Why, you talk as if you almost wish it were a Romanov who had committed these crimes!’
‘That is not true. But I do know that you cannot sweep these things under the carpet.’
Verkhotsev took a moment to consider Porfiry’s words. ‘Let us talk openly, man to man.’
‘There is nothing I would like more.’
‘You suspect the Tsarevich, why not say it?’
‘I certainly would like to put some questions to the Tsarevich, but so far that has not been possible. I was granted an audience with the Tsar, however. That was a gracious condescension on His Majesty’s part, for which I am grateful, but perhaps it served a purpose of his own.’
‘Which was?’
‘To impress me. And thereby to control me.’
‘You are too modest. I am sure the Tsar knows you are not a man to be controlled.’
‘He said he found me something of an imbecile.’
‘Ah! A certain bluntness of discourse is one of the more regrettable aspects of autocracy, even amongst its most liberal examples. I am sure you were soon able to convince him of your mental acuity.’