At ten minutes to four I returned to the Big House, where I found Nikolai and Sasha typing up their reports, and they told me what had happened when they visited the dead Georgian's apartment.
Vaja Ordzhonikidze had lived on the seventeenth floor of a block of flats in an enormous housing estate across the Neva, to the north-west of Peter, on Vasilyevsky Island. Seen from the sea, these high-rise buildings presented an unbroken line of grey stone that resembled nothing so much as a range of sheer and unscalable cliffs. This impression of inaccessibility was uncomfortably reinforced for the two detectives by a creaking laundry-basket of a lift that broke down while they were in it, leaving them in complete darkness between the ninth and tenth floors. Or they thought it had broken down until, two or three minutes after coming to an almost complete halt there was some movement on the cable that supported the platform the doors opened a crack and a small boy's face appeared near the lift cabin's ceiling.
Hoi, mister,' he said, how much to switch the power back on?'
Nikolai Vladimirivich, uncomfortable in confined spaces at the best of times, spoke angrily: You'll be in trouble if you don't,' he barked.
Being rather more pragmatic than his larger colleague, Sasha took out his wallet and thumbed out a small bank note.
How about five roubles?' he said holding the money up to the urchin's face.
Ain't you got no hard currency?' the boy asked disappointedly. No dollars, no deutschmarks?'
I'll give you hard currency,' snarled Nikolai. You don't know how hard. When I've paid you, you won't sit down for a week.'
Sasha took out his cigarettes and added two to the offered ransom.
Five woods and a couple of chalks, you little '
Done,' said the boy. Shove 'em through.
The doors closed behind the price extorted, returning the lift cabin once again to darkness.
Didn't they teach you anything at the Pushkin Police Academy?' said Nikolai. You should never give in to blackmail.'
At which point the light flickered on and the lift assumed its rusty, shuddering ascent.
When they rang the Georgian's bell the door was answered by a heavily made-up girl of about twenty wearing a black silk dressing-gown and an equally dark scowl. She looked like the sort who could have smelled hard currency inside a bottle of aniseed. A whore who knew these men were militia from nothing more than the squeak of their shoe-rubber.
He's not here,' she said, gathering the gown over her generous chest and chewing her gum defiantly.
That much we know already,' said Nikolai and pushing her aside he ambled into the apartment.
The furnishings were expensively gaudy, with an abundance of electrical equipment, some of it still in the boxes.
Oh yes,' said Nikolai with obvious admiration, very comfortable indeed.'
Sasha went over to the window. A large telescope mounted on a wooden tripod was pointed out to sea.
Check the view,' he said and ducked down to try the telescope. Nikolai joined him at the window. Panoramic, or what?'
The girl finished lighting her cigarette and snatched it angrily from her crimson-coloured mouth.
Have you got a search protocol?'
To look out of the window? said Nikolai. 'I hardly think so.
So what's this all about, eh?'
She sat down on an imitation leather sofa that creaked like the sound of falling timber. Her dressing-gown slipped away to reveal a long white thigh but she made no move to cover herself. The girl knew that militiamen were easier to handle when they had something to distract their eyes. She shifted her bottom and let some more of the gown slide away until she was satisfied that they could see her flimsy underwear.
Are you Vaja's girlfriend?' Nikolai squatted down in front of a compact-disc player and began to amuse himself by pushing the automatic disc drawer in and out. Or just his business associate?'
Could be I'm his bloody astrologer,' she sneered. But what's it to you?'
Nikolai turned away from the disc player and looked with undisguised discrimination at the girl's crotch.
You should have been keeping a closer eye on his chart, sweetheart,' he said. Your Georgian friend's planetary aspect just took off for another galaxy.'
The girl frowned and, sensing that something was wrong, started to cover herself.
Look, is Vaja in trouble or something?' she said.
Not with us, he isn't,' said Sasha and went into the kitchen.
I'm afraid he's dead, love,' said Nikolai.
She let out a sigh and then crossed herself. Nikolai picked up a bottle of vodka from the drinks trolley and waved it in front of her face. The girl nodded. He poured one into a square-shaped tumbler and handed it to her.
In the kitchen Sasha found a short length of washing-line hanging above the sink. On it were pegged three condoms, washed and hung out to dry like odd socks. They were recognisably foreign, of a quality unattainable in their Russian counterparts colloquially known as galoshes and therefore worth the trouble of recycling. An expensive leather handbag lay open on the kitchen table. Sasha rummaged through it and found the girl's identity card. When he returned to the other room he handed it to Nikolai and looked quizzically at the girl.
Those rubbers in the kitchen,' he said. You on the game or something?'
Get stuffed,' she snarled, on the edge of tears.
Now, now,' said Nikolai, no need for that.' He glanced at the girl's ID. Galina Petrovna Zosimov,' he said. Galina. That's my mother's name.'
How would you know that?' said Galina.
Nikolai grinned patiently. Say what you like, if it makes you feel better,' he said.
She swallowed some more of her drink and stared back at him.
So what's the story?' she said.
The story? Well, Galina Petrovna, to tell the truth, we're not exactly sure. But the Zelenogorski Militia found him down in the woods early this morning. He'd been picnicking with some mean little teddy bears who tried to make him catch some bullets with his teeth. You know the kind of thing like maybe they thought he was an informer.' He paused for effect. That sort of behaviour is standard practice among a certain rougher section of our society.'
Galina tossed the rest of the vodka back.
That's the girl, said Nikolai. Takes the edge off the grief a bit, doesn't it?' She held up her glass and let Nikolai pour her another. He checked the label. It was good stuff, not the kind you needed to sprinkle pepper in to take care of the impurities. I'd join you myself, only I make a point of never drinking good vodka these days. I might acquire a taste for it again, and then my wife would have nothing to trade.'
He pulled up a stool and sat down opposite her, so close that he might have slipped her mule off and smothered her little foot with kisses.
So where was I? Ah yes, I was suggesting that Vaja might have been a pincher.'
Galina shook her head firmly. Leave it out. That wasn't his style at all. He was a lock, a top man.' She snorted contemptuously. I think you'd better point your cheap suits in some other direction.'
Someone thought he was pinching,' said Nikolai. The guy who shot him wasn't trying to drum up business for dentists, I'll tell you that much.
Did he have any enemies among the Georgians that you know about?' said Sasha.
Galina lit another cigarette. She took a hard drag with narrowed eyes and shook her head.
Maybe Vaja was giving it to one of his pals' wives,' Nikolai suggested. Well, you know what these Georgians are like. They're always chasing pussy. Or some old family feud maybe. Bad blood lasts a long time with these Georgian boys. How about it?'