Elena Speranskaya - Alibi for the hero. Detective novel

He was often visited for advice from abroad by his colleagues, medical doctors, when they were intensively searching for evidence of guilt, with whom he practiced on the autopsy of corpses.

“Traces of struggle, bruises or extravasations were on the victim?”

“There is plenty of this kind. One might think that the old man fought with the last of his strength with a devilish nature,” replied the expert in anatomy with a strong southern accent.

“What the hell is that? Is this how it should be understood? Retribution of heaven,” the investigator announced, having collected the will into a fist.

“Nature is omnipresent. It can manifest itself in various forms and matters… Our business is to observe and draw conclusions. Well, you can find a criminal, based on the biography of the victim. Try to look into his past. Often it keeps a guess on all the questions…” advised the expert.

“No one will allow us to do the exhumation of his parents,” the investigator joked to defuse the situation.

He was used to the profound arguments of the expert, but he decided to find a solution in the personal matter of the murdered man to let his colleague – detective Regimov know that he had been justified for the incident on his watch, or their common acquaintance, the private police officer – Alice Korablevskaya, whom they charged the most complex and intricate ones business. The competition between them flashed constantly, as an incentive, to get another promotion through the ranks. They were completely different in character and style of work. Seregin acted recklessly, and Regimov crept like a fox, sweeping his tracks, digging in the most incomprehensible egregious criminals, studying all the pros and cons of the characters.

“Yes, I’m not talking about this at all. He was not an artifact and not an idol, but a real person with good physical training,” angered an expert who, when nervous, began to practice in foreign languages.

“We are not looking for the Grail, but for a real individual. Guilty in this matter will have to search with a magnet. It is necessary to apply the deductive method of Sherlock Holmes, hire an experienced stylist, make-up and get used to the sanatorium staff. I’m afraid that the answer lies precisely there,” the investigator retorted.

“Your right,” Granatov noted delicately, taking off his rubber gloves, which had a gold ring of the highest standard with a large diamond that he had bought for dollars during the exhibition of the stones of the deposit in Yakutsk, where the International Conference of Forensic Experts was held, on the ring finger of his right hand.

“Well, now is not the time to argue. Thank you.”

Granatov went deep into reading his notes and entering information into the notebook brought from home.

Seregin dialed his colleague’s phone number:

“It is necessary to get acquainted with the case. There is something to think about, to find something for the investigation.”

The investigator took from the table a sheet of paper in the A-4 format with a post mortem stamped diagnosis and went to his office, which he shared with detective Regimov.

At the same time, Nikifor Naumovich was sitting at the table, writing down the variants of the figures that he used to open the code lock of the suitcase. But the lock did not succumb. Now he was waiting for his colleague, Seregin, who could advise him or help him. Suddenly he phoned the morgue on the local telephone and called the forensic expert at the attendant paramedical orderly sitting at the entrance.

“The medical examiner listens,” Granatov said irritably, as he did not like bureaucratic delays. “I just gave the document to Seregin. He is already on his way…”

“I’m there,” Nikifor Naumovich confirmed. “Can you join us to discuss our versions?” asked an operational policeman from a competent specialist.

“Request an excerpt from the patient’s medical history so that all documents can be sent to the police at the place of residence of the victim. So it will be easier for all of us to find the main suspected person. I’ll be right in a few minutes.”

“The sooner, the better,” added the brutal Regimov, rubbed tensely his forehead with his left hand and hung up.

“Maybe it’s revenge. Do I need to find a new victim of violence in the archive of former prisoners?” the question suddenly arose in the brain of the meticulous minded investigator.

“Atypical murder… A person could be seen respected in a certain environment, lived a difficult life, surrounded himself with the care and attention of doctors. Someone, obviously, had to prove that his existence was harmful to society or the destruction of old accounts… But it’s easy to smear the gate with tar. Maybe the reason is the sharing of inheritance, apartment, and car, any real estate, including a country house, a private company or a large sum of money, brought in a suitcase. Let’s take the working version: robbery for the purpose of profit.”

Nikifor Naumovich slowly removed all the papers from his desk into a cardboard folder. He put the suitcase on top of the fresh local newspaper spread out, bought on the way to the service at the kiosk with advertisements and fresh press. He would like to close for a month, while there was an investigation, the release of all publications, so as not to panic among tourists.

The investigator always bought one copy of the “Resort”, which printed invitations to work, renting habitation and all rubbish. When Seregin appeared on the threshold with an important document, Nikifor Naumovich in his presence again tried to try different combinations of figures and write down the used variants on the sheet. Finally, in fifteen minutes, he easily opened an intricate lock with a cipher, using the same digital set used by the Soshin in hotel when he locked his property from prying eyes.

Nothing complicated to find the appropriate code, Nikifor Naumovich did not seem, since repeatedly he had to turn to conjurers and fakirs, when he was investigating a case in the circus, where several dozen people were robbed by a visiting burglar. The policeman was familiar with the technique of fooling citizens with thieves, thimble rigger, fortune-tellers, hackers, marriage swindlers – all those who made money from the air. He knew the places where they lived, and the devices they used.

“How was the interrogation of the maid suspected in the murder?” asked Nikifor Naumovich, laying out of the suitcase, on a standing chair, clothes of the victim, mixing Seregin’s cards to spend a day in the cool near the waterfall and to enjoy the mountain air.

“Topilko filled out the questionnaire, she left us passport data, but she did not say anything concrete. Although accidentally found out that she, oddly enough, from the same city as the dead old man. They arrived on the same day, the same train. According to her, she at first thought that he was just drunk, and someone pushed him into the pantry to sleep. There is no evidence of her guilt. I dismissed the unfortunate woman with a written undertaking not to leave the place, but asked to inform all employees of the sanatorium, to appear with us to give testimony and fingerprints.

“I think she is beyond suspicion, looking at her growth and frail external data. The case is rather confusing. It is necessary to make an inventory of the objects in the suitcase. I’ll get things one by one, and you make a list, and then, as always, put the list of things in the computer in the appropriate quantity and quality columns.”

“In the same form for all the exhibits in our storage room,” the police officer said.

“I hope you have enough patience?” Nikifor Naumovich asked, opening the plastic box for Rolex watches, but not finding what he was looking for.