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.
“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