There were fewer people here. Standing some distance away, about fifty paces, was an express train – the one that had managed to slip across the bridge just before the collapse. The passengers were gathered in little knots beside the carriages.
On the surviving section of the bridge and beside the water, men in civilian clothes, all dressed differently but all, nonetheless, as alike as brothers, were swarming about with a businesslike air. Among them Fandorin recognised Evstratii Pavlovich Mylnikov, with whom he had once worked in Moscow.
A gendarme corporal in a wet, torn uniform was standing rigidly to attention in front of Mylnikov – it looked as if his report was already in full spate. But the court counsellor was not looking at the corporal, he was looking at Fandorin.
‘Bah,’ he said, throwing his arms wide, as if he was about to embrace the engineer. ‘Fandorin! What are you doing here? Ah, yes, you’re in the RGD now, they told me. Sorry for invading your territory, but it’s an order from the very top: investigate as a matter of emergency, involve all the contiguous departments. Got us up out of our feather bed. Go get ’em, they said, pick up that trail, you old bloodhound. Well, the part about the feather bed’s not true.’ Mylnikov bared his yellow teeth in what should have been a smile, but his eyes remained cold and narrowed. ‘When would humble sleuths like us ever see our feather beds these days? I envy you railway sybarites. I spent the night on the chairs in the office, as I usually do. But then again, as you can see, I got here first. Look, I’m interrogating your lads, to see if it was a Japanese mine.’
‘Mr Engineer,’ the corporal said excitedly, turning to Fandorin, ‘tell His Honour, will you? Do you remember me? I’m Loskutov, I use to work in Farforovaya, on the crossing. You inspected us in winter and you were well pleased. You gave orders for me to be promoted. I did everything all right and proper, just like we’re supposed to! I climbed over the whole lot myself, ten minutes before the express. It was all clear! And how could the enemy have crept through on to the bridge? I’ve got sentries at both ends!’
‘So it was completely clear?’ Fandorin asked to make certain. ‘Did you look carefully?’
‘Why, I… Just look at that…’ The corporal choked and tugged his peaked cap off his head. ‘By Christ the Lord! Seven years… You ask anyone you like how Loskutov does his duty.’
The engineer turned to Mylnikov:
‘What have you managed to find out?’
‘The picture’s clear,’ Mylnikov said with a shrug. ‘The usual old Rooshian nonsense. The express train was travelling in front. It stopped at Kolpino and was supposed to let the special with the field guns go past. Then this telegraph clerk passes on a telegram: Carry on, the special’s delayed. Someone messed things up somewhere. As soon as the express has cleared the bridge, the army train catches up with it from behind. A heavy brute, as you can see for yourself. Should have shot across at full speed, as required, then nothing would have happened. But it must have started to brake, and the supports caved in. The railway top brass will be in for it now.’
‘Who sent the telegram about the special b-being delayed?’ asked Fandorin, leaning forward eagerly.
‘Well, that’s just it. No one sent any such telegram.’
‘And where’s the telegraph clerk who supposedly received it?’
‘We’re searching. Haven’t found him yet – his shift was already over.’
The corner of the engineer’s mouth twitched.
‘You’re not searching hard enough. Get a verbal portrait, a photo if you can, and put him on the all-Russian wanted list, urgently.’
‘The telegraph clerk? On the all-Russian list?’
Fandorin beckoned the court counsellor with his finger, took him aside and said in a quiet voice:
‘This is sabotage. The bridge was blown up.’
‘How do you make that out?’
Fandorin led the sleuths’ boss across to the break and started climbing down the dangling rails. Mylnikov clambered after him, gasping and crossing himself.
‘L-look.’
The hand in the grey glove pointed to a charred and splintered sleeper and a rail twisted like a paper streamer.
‘Our experts will arrive any minute now. They are certain to discover particles of explosive…’
Mylnikov whistled and pushed his bowler hat on to the back of his head.
The detectives hung there above the black water, swaying slightly on the improvised ladder.
‘So the gendarme’s lying when he says he inspected everything? Or even worse, he’s in on it? Shall we arrest him?’
‘Loskutov – a Japanese agent? Rubbish. Then he would have run for it, like the Kolpino t-telegraph clerk. No, no, there wasn’t any mine on the line.’
‘Then how’d it happen? There wasn’t any mine, but there was an explosion?’
‘That’s the way it is, though.’
The court counsellor frowned thoughtfully and set off up the sleepers.
‘Go and report this to the top brass… Now won’t there be a real song and dance.’
He waved to the agents and shouted:
‘Hey, get me a boat!’
However, he didn’t get into the boat, he changed his mind.
He watched Fandorin walking away towards the express train, scratched the back of his head and went dashing after him.
The engineer glanced round at the sound of tramping feet and nodded towards the motionless train.
‘Was there really such a small distance between the trains?’
‘No, the express halted farther along, on the emergency brake. Then the driver reversed. The conductors and some of the passengers helped to get the wounded out of the water. It’s not so far to a station this side as on the other. They drove a farm cart over and took them off to hospital…’
Fandorin summoned the conductor-in-chief with an imperious gesture and asked:
‘How many passengers on the train?’
‘All the seats were sold, Mr Engineer. That makes three hundred and twelve. I’m sorry, but when can we get moving again?’
Two of the passengers were standing quite close by: an army staff captain and an attractive-looking lady. Both covered from head to foot in mud and green slime. The officer was pouring water on to his companion’s handkerchief from a kettle, and she was energetically scrubbing her mud-smeared face. Both of them were listening to the conversation curiously.
A platoon of railway gendarmes approached at a trot from the bridge. The commanding officer ran up first and saluted.
‘Mr Engineer, we’re here at your disposal. There are two platoons on the other bank. The experts have started work. What will our orders be?’
‘Cordon off both sides of the bridge and the banks. Let no one near the break, not even if they hold the rank of general. Otherwise we renounce all responsibility for the investigation – tell them that. Tell Sigismund Lvovich to look for traces of explosive… But no, don’t bother, he’ll see that for himself. Give me a clerk and four of your brightest soldiers. Yes, and one more thing: put a cordon round the express train as well. Let none of the passengers or train staff through without my permission.’
‘Mr Engineer,’ the captain of the train’s crew exclaimed plaintively, ‘we’ve been standing here for over four hours.’
‘And you’ll b-be standing here for a long time yet. I have to draw up a complete list of the passengers. We’ll question all of them and check their credentials. We’ll start from the final carriage. And you, Mylnikov, would do better to turn your attention to that telegraph clerk who disappeared. I can manage things here without you.’
‘Of course, right enough, it’s your move,’ said Mylnikov, and he even waved his arms, as if to say: I’m leaving, I’m not claiming any rights here. However, he didn’t leave.
‘Sir, madam,’ the conductor-in-chief said to the officer and lady in a dejected voice. ‘Please be so good as to return to your seats. Did you hear? They’re going to check your documents.’