Elena Speranskaya - Alibi for the hero. Detective novel

“What are the problems?” Seregin, concerned with the inventory, glanced fleetingly at the manipulation of his colleague.

“Look, there are no clocks in the box.”

Nikifor Naumovich turned the velvet side toward Seregin’s desk, already writing in the computer on a new page of archival files.

“There is not much personal property here,” Regimov hastened to stand up for the male half of humanity.

“Let’s not argue, all right,” Seregin responded enthusiastically, considering what the next would be presented to him by the meticulous investigator for particularly important cases of the department for combating organized crime and corruption in the economy.

“The killer did everything to confuse the investigation. There is no evidence. It seems that an invisible force has entered the deadly battle, as Granatov suggested, which you already managed to report to him,” Nikifor Naumovich said pathetically, sighing heavily, realizing all the responsibility, the tasks assigned to them, and taking the necessary preemptive measures. He did not want to understand the strange, old, shabby clothes, but it could not be ignored, so he diligently examined all options for completing the investigation. On the chair began to appear shabby shirts, jeans, trousers, change of linen, socks, a pair of summer shoes, an electric shaver, a set for washing.

“Pay attention,” Regimov said, turning to face Seregin, who was sitting in civilian clothes by the open window, from where the fresh gusts of the summer breeze came.

“The contents of the wallet, the newly arrived guest who has just arrived to the sanatorium, do not… Do you think how much money could there be?”

Seregin, tearing himself away from the screen of the monitor, saw in the hands of a colleague a folded light brown leather wallet with a dark brown cord, woven into the edge.

“Usually they take some money to buy souvenirs and excursions to memorable places… Sometimes they find a stash hidden from their wife, in the amount of a pension for a month or holidays with a bonus for visiting museums or pubs. Is there something else?”

“Although, here there are two credit cards with different ciphers. It is necessary to check in Savings bank, what deposits there? This I will take care of myself and then write off to you in your Talmud. Have we agreed?”

“As you have said.”

Seregin followed with attention the actions of lieutenant-colonel Regimov, who was examining the personal belongings of the victim. Suddenly, at the very bottom in his side pocket, the lieutenant colonel groped for a paper bundle. He unfolded a yellow, wrapping, rustling paper and saw a black cardboard box from under the expensive iPhone. Easily opened and discovered there the usual glass mercury thermometers in the amount of ten pieces. He was very surprised by the strange find and showed Seregin in perplexity.

“The heaters are intact, without chips. Mercury is a liquid metal that can cause severe illnesses if you inhale its vapors. But here everything is in order. And what if this story takes its toll in a sabotage or subversive organization whose activities were associated with the murdered?” asked Regimov, who graduated in addition to the law faculty of the university, a school of scouts, hoping that the doctors of the sanatorium come in handy a dangerous find.

“Speculation of medical equipment is not in vogue now. Although everything can be…”

The policeman neatly laid out the thermometers separately on the table.

“We can not yet affirm this. As far as I know, mercury can have toxic effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, as well as on the lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes,” Seregin agreed, looking at a medical instrument for measuring temperature.

“It seems that the old man was going to cure us of a cold or take up medical practice in a sanatorium,” Nikifor Naumovich grinned.

“Perhaps it was eliminated by WHO representatives who view mercury as one of the ten major chemical agents or groups of chemicals that pose a significant threat to public health,” Regimov contributed to the study of the heavy metal, finishing the examination of the suitcase and packing things back.

“Here’s the list is ready,” Seregin showed in the computer that he noted how much he liked the wardrobe of the victim, or rather, pointed out every little thing.

“Granatov will be right now. You have to ask him about the properties of mercury. While he is not there, we can not say anything concrete,” Nikifor Naumovich sincerely suggested, rubbing his hands, installing a closed suitcase on the floor, leaving a box of thermometers on the table open.

A swiftly talented and prudent expert appeared in the police officers’ room in his whip-white dressing-gown buttoned up, and on his feet shining Italian shoes, custom-made in the leather goods firm Sergio Rossi.

Granatov has always been very scrupulous in choosing accessories. The genealogical tree of the expert went back to the Tatar dynasty, which moved to the Caucasus. Methods of his diagnosis were liked by all police officers of the State Security Committee, as he never made a mistake in ascertaining the posthumous diagnosis of victims of crimes. He had a good reputation as a connoisseur of medicine. With a Ph. D. thesis, he continued to work in the police. Everyone in his family was a doctor, including his elder brother, a doctor of science, educated in the United States and involved in projects of global importance. He headed a clinic in Miami, Florida, where often visited the younger sibling from this eminent family with numerous medals for inventing implants for hip joints in operations on the femoral neck in elderly women.

All the elite of the show business of this state visited their sponsor when he arranged picnics in his luxurious country villa located on the Atlantic coast. Often the whole company they flew with a return visit to New Orleans, where meetings and parties were held by his friends near the pool with warm water or on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. Many popular and Oscar-winning filmmakers and movie actors such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolly with her offspring, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Leonardo DiCaprio, Keith Winslet, James Cameron, were present as guests, enthralled by political tycoons, collecting millions of dollars in donations for talented writers, architects and artists from Russia, Germany, Italy, France and Poland.

“I’m away for a minute. What questions for me?” asked Granatov. “I’ve been too busy yesterday but today am just the same have a lot of things to do,” he joked, flaunting his perfect knowledge of the English language, which he acquired, visiting the United States on vacation, studying and working in international youth camps as a paramedic. He usually, ignoring the rules of the police, appeared at work an hour earlier, in order to better prepare for the routine of the working day, and in the remaining assignments was punctual and fulfilling.

“What can you say about such a find in the suitcase of the victim?” Regimov asked the forensic expert, pointing to the thermometers, and Seregin said nothing in a sign of mutual approval of the words of his colleague and comrade-in-arms.

“Mercury in the Middle Ages was treated with a turn of the intestines and syphilis, but later recognized that such methods did not bring the required fruits.”

Granatov, proud of his scientific knowledge and precise statements, waved his head back and smoothed his gray hair with his hand.

“I can say that this is a chemical element of the Mendeleev system with atomic number 80, which belongs to the zinc subgroup. In general, mercury is extracted from rocks in Transcaucasia, in the Urals from cinnabar. They are used to produce ingots of gold by washing slags. It is a polluter of the environment. Especially dangerous are discharges into the water, and the vapors are extremely poisonous,” Granatov was inspired and quickly rapped out his information, just pulled from the Internet, sitting down on the edge of the chair.