efforts at deduction.
‘The sadistic client theory c-could have been taken as the primary one, if not for the s-similarities between this crime and the two that preceded it. The extermination of every l-living thing. That is one. The use of torture. That is t-two. The same district. That is three. And in addition ...’ He pulled the shirt up off Tashka’s bare legs and took a magnifying glass out of his pocket. Senka turned away quickly and started coughing to get rid of the lump in his throat. ‘Mmm, yes. No s-signs of rape or sexual violence. The killer’s interest in his v-victim was not sensual in nature. Let us t-take a look at the lips . . .’
Masa walked over, but Senka didn’t look.
There was a quiet rasping sound – that must have been Erast Petrovich tearing the plaster off Tashka’s mouth.
‘Yes, just as I thought. The plaster was pulled off and stuck back on several times. The torturer kept asking about something over and over again, but the girl didn’t answer.’
Senka didn’t think it was very likely that Tashka didn’t answer a fiend like this. She would have answered him all right, loud and shrill, with her choicest words. But here on Khokhlovsky Lane, no matter how loud you yelled and what filthy words you used, no one would come, no one would rescue you.
‘Now this is interesting. Masa, l-look at her teeth.’
‘Goo’ for her,’ the sensei said, with an approving click of his tongue. ‘She bi’ his finger.’
‘Ah, what a shame we d-don’t have a laboratory.’ The engineer sighed. ‘We could take a particle of the criminal’s b-blood for analysis. The Moscow police have p-probably never heard of the Landsteiner method . . . But even so, we have to d-draw the investigator’s attention to this l-little detail somehow ...’
Masa and Mr Nameless leaned down over Tashka, and Senka started striding round the room, just to give himself something to do. There were three white daffodils in the window. Did that mean ‘I love you’ in the language of flowers? Or maybe it was ‘you can all go to hell, you bastards’? No one would translate it for him now ...
‘Ah,’ said Senka, reproaching himself out loud. ‘I should have come earlier, before dark. I was being too careful, so I got here too late.’
Erast Petrovich glanced round briefly. ‘Before dark? The murder was committed at least two days ago, most probably three. So you were a lot later than you think, Senya.’
That was true enough. The daffodils in the window were all wilted.
But this was Khitrovka, so no one had noticed anything. If anyone died, they just lay there till the neighbours caught the smell of rotting flesh.
‘If it’s not a loony, what did he want from Tashka?’ Senka asked, looking at the dead flowers. ‘What could he get from her?’
‘No “what”, b-but “who”,’ the engineer replied, as if he was surprised at the question. ‘You, Senya. This stubborn gentleman wants you very b-badly. And you know why.’
‘That’s a disaster!’ Senka exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. ‘I told Tashka about you and Mr Masa. And I told her you live on Asheulov Lane too. If this killer’s so stubborn, he’ll find out where we moved to, for sure. He’ll find the cabbies who moved the things and intelligate them! We’ve got clear out!’
‘Not “intelligate”, b-but “interrogate”,’ the engineer said strictly, pulling on a pair of thin rubber gloves. ‘And we’re n-not going to run anywhere. For two reasons. We are not afraid of this f-friend of yours, let him come – it will m-make things easier for us. That is one. And then, your low opinion of Mademoiselle T-Tashka is an insult to her. She did not give you away, she d-did not tell her killer a thing. That is t-two.’
‘How do you know she didn’t give me away?’
‘Do not f-forget that I had the honour of being acquainted with this exceptional individual. She was a true c-comrade to you, a “good mate”. And apart from that, if she had t-told him, the plaster would have been removed from her m-mouth. It was not, which means that she remained s-silent to the very end.’
And that must have been when the time for deduction came to an end, because Mr Nameless’s intent, matter-of-fact expression disappeared, and his face was suddenly immensely sad.
‘I feel s-sorry for the girl,’ Erast Petrovich said, and put his hand on Senka’s shoulder.
The shoulder instantly started trembling, all on its