Penny Criminal Case. Alexander Cherenov

a policeman!” Starkov didn’t even raise the voice: he was carried away by the version again.

      Petin made a face and spread their hands, turning their palms “face out”.

      “So, about that, about this… He asked me about where I was, what I was doing… and so on.”

      “What case?”

      “I don’t remember”, Petin shrugged his shoulders, as if surprised at the inconsistency of the investigator. “He told about some kind of theft, but I don’t remember, what kind of theft it was: I was drunk…”

      “Where was you on the day of the murder?” Petrov barely waited for his turn.

      Petin “peeled off his eyes” from the floor slowly.

      “And when was this day?”

      “The day before yesterday.”

      Remembering, Petin several times rode a dirty palm over the overgrown cheek.

      “The day before yesterday?..”

      The palm “was already going back”, when suddenly it changed its mind and worked on her forehead with a resounding slap.

      “So in fact, it… we drank!”

      “What a “wonderful alibi”! The lieutenant colonel grinned. “You are “getting drunk” every day!”

      “No, no, chief!” Petin put his hand to his heart, as if he had sworn. “The day before yesterday, the advance was given! I work at a construction site as a concrete worker! We have an advance the twentieth of each month always! Twentieth – advance payment, the fifth – pay! You can ask anyone!”

      “We’ll ask, do not worry.”

      Petrov did not like the answer of the defendant clearly: the “strong version” gave the first crack.

      “And what: did you drink all the day?”

      Petin “embarrassed”, even sniffed.

      “Well, why ‘all the day’, chief?.. Well… we started after lunch… after getting an advance…”

      “After lunch” – is it still during working hours?” Starkov grinned: upset Petrov chose to keep silent.

      “Well, what about that?” Petin “opposed” only slightly.

      “And who drank?”

      “The whole team!” the defendant has cheered up.

      “And where did you drink?” Starkov was amused also: at least, this is some variety. “Or, as in the song of Vysotsky: “then in the garden, where children’s “mushrooms”, then I don’t remember: I reached “to the point”?”

      “Something like this, Petin twitched his cheek. “We started, as they say, without departing…”

      “From the cashier?” Starkov laughed.

      “No, we moved far from the cashier,” Petin appreciated the humor. “We started drinking at a construction site. Then we went to visit Markov – this is our brigadier… Then we moved to me, then we walked along the street…”

      “You drank near the fence,” Starkov “corrected”.

      Women took us home.“In the bushes,” Petin clarified the correction. “There we fell asleep… Women took us home after midnight.”

      Starkov turned to Petrov. In his view, there was no expected question, but the lieutenant colonel was already “utterly pleased” with the testimony of Petin. As a man of direct and frank, he did not intend to “save the face”, so he immediately “went on the code”.

      “Okay, Petin, now the investigator will write down your testimony, we will check them, and if you did not lie, then you will go home.”

      “Downgraded to the real rank”, Starkov quickly recorded testimony in the protocol and pushed it to Petin. He did not even read, and, casting an indifferent glance at the protocol, boldly put a clumsy painting next to the “Starkov’s check marks”.

      “Take him in, captain,” the lieutenant colonel said with distress.

      Already in the office there was neither Petin, nor Andreev, but the lieutenant colonel still continued to lament. His grief was genuine: everything “burst”, that could “burst”, and nothing came to replace it, nor did it come to mind.

      “Now what, bro?”

      To his surprise, more than disappointment, Starkov did not connect to the three-day party, nor to think about the future, so bleak in Petrov’s view.

      “We will work out dad.”

      “This dad?” the lieutenant colonel, perplexed, jabbed his finger at the door. Starkov shook his head.

      “I mean Kotova’s dad, or rather, stepfather.”

      “That’s not bad!” Petrov caught fire immediately. “This is a classic: stepfather and adult stepdaughter!”

      He immediately mercilessly “subjected” the selector key to his index finger.

      “Koval? Run to the Kotovs immediately… No, we do not need them: ask their neighbors about stepfather! Yes: all the ‘dirty laundry’, which only you will find! Collect it ‘in the bag’ and immediately back! Like a fly!”

      “Boris!” Starkov glanced at the door expressively – with a clear hint of recent visitors to the office.

      “Oh, yes!” Petrov slapped himself on bald head with annoyance. “Koval, do you hear me? So: on the way, look to a certain Markov – this is the brigadier and neighbor of Petin the elder! Find out the details of all, with whom they celebrated getting an advance the day before yesterday! Understood?.. Well, come on!”

      He returned his eyes to Starkov’s face.

      “Is that all now, bro? Then let’s wait for the results…”

      CHAPTER NINE

      The efficient Koval worked as Figaro: half a dozen sheets of paper, only half written up in a small but legible hand of a senior lieutenant was lying on the Petrov’s desk after two hours.

      “Is everything here?” Petrov’s eyebrows were raised menacingly – it will not be superfluous.

      “Everything is here, comrade lieutenant colonel. This are…”

      Koval put aside five sheets.

      “… explanatory from neighbors…”

      Explanatory – not protocols – are disorder in a criminal case, but Starkov did not criticize Koval: the main thing is that they benefit.

      “… and here it is the data of the participants of drinking. By the way, I interviewed Markov also: the man confirms, that on that day they drank until midnight and ‘got drunk like pigs’.”

      Looking at Starkov, Petrov gave a sigh of chagrin and spread his hands with regret.

      “Do not worry, bro!” Starkov did not “sprinkle ashes” again. “A negative result is a result also, especially since you and I are not counting on another. A version, no matter how flimsy it is, needs to be worked out. And I will do it myself. Now I am more interested in what is there – by stepfather?”

      The lieutenant colonel instantly switched his eyes – already “on the road” demanding – to Koval. Senior lieutenant crept a little, but he could not resist and snorted.

      “What?” the lieutenant colonel frowned in displeasure: he did not tolerate “free-thinking” from his subordinates, even if it was not in the ranks.

      “Our stepfather seemed to live up to our expectations,” Koval said, not grinning. “Two neighbors said, that they had heard – and one of them had even seen –