To me vengeance, I will repay. Alexander Kolosov

to me. No, not so I said, he was just a part of me, and I will not rest until I get my revenge. I have hired a detective and he will prove how these ungrateful women killed their father and husband.

      – Valera, do something, shut him up.

      – P-a-a-a-a-a-r-a-a-a-s-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h- h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h. Immediately!’ Orlovsky jumps up from his seat and runs towards Pronyakin, clenching his fists in fury, ‘I will not tolerate an impostor here, Pronyakin! Friends, do not listen to him,’ he says to those at the table, ‘He is a common malicious slanderer. There is no testament that our dear Sergei Milyutin left all his property to his son Ivan and to Pronyakin! I was the deceased’s lawyer for 20 years, and I know what I’m talking about.

      – He lies, he lies,’ Orlovsky’s daughters followed Orlovsky in shouting and pointing their fingers at Pronyakin, ‘he is an impostor. Impostor.

      When he reaches Pronyakin, Orlovsky tries to hit him, but he easily parries the blow and hits the lawyer back in the solar plexus, after which the latter, bent in

      half, falls to the floor.

      – So you are a fighter,” says Pronyakin contemptuously through his teeth to the lawyer, while at the same time several strong men, friends of the family, rush up to him and force him out of the room.

      – We’ll hire a detective, too,” the widow shrills loudly and shrilly, running up to Orlovsky. We’ll sue him,” she says to everyone present, “for slander and hooliganism. We will defend our honor. No matter what it costs us.

      ***

      Andrei Zhuk was small in stature, puny in build, with three days’ worth of stubble on his chin, eyes as small and quick as a ferret’s, and a cowboy hat on his head. The meeting with Pronyakin did not begin at all as he had planned, but he managed to win this client over, promising that he would be able to find him the missing will.

      They met at the Second Breath Liquor House, where nobody cares about anybody. This place is at the bottom of society, where there is no place to go

      below: both aristocrats and degenerates come here to recover from their hangovers. From furniture there are only round tables at which you can only stand, and from snacks there are sandwiches with zucchini caviar or herring. That is why people do not linger here. Have a drink, have a snack, go away. An ideal place for business negotiations, especially if things are dark.

      And Pronyakin was clearly a man with a dark past and greedy for money. That’s one thing, but in his career as a detective, Andrei had learned to understand people very well.

      – I’ll pay you if you make me rich. And I will be rich only when I get my will back,” said Pronyakin for the umpteenth time, tapping his index finger knuckles on the table. Understand? I like you.

      “And you don’t,” Andrei answered to himself and began to explain to his client once again that he had to pay for the current expenses during the investigation, regardless of the amount of the agreed fee, at his first request.

      – Include your expenses as an extra line in your contract,’ Pronyakin disagrees, ‘But I’ll pay them only when I get my will. I’ll get billions, and you’ll get your 10% of everything I inherit. You’ll be a millionaire in no time. So take a chance, that’s what it’s all about! Look around you,’ said Pronyakin, ‘What have you got to lose? This?

      – All right,’ having realized that it was impossible to agree on his own terms with Pronyakin, he decided to take the risk, ‘let’s do as you say. Tell me again everything you know about the will and about Miliutin.

      – On the day of his death, he himself called me in a terrible agitation, screaming that he had been ordered.

      – Was it just like that, shouting “ordered”?

      – Just like that, he shouted that it was his wife and daughters who did it. And all because he disinherited them. He bequeathed all his money to his son Ivan, and his collection to me. All this he formalized and signed all the necessary papers. He said that when he died, everything should go to Vanya and me.

      – What is included in the collection?

      – About 5,000 paintings worth more than 7 billion rubles. And this is not my speculation, all of his paintings have been valued by the bank and insured. And also the building of the art gallery on Ovchinnikovskaya Embankment. That’s not even less than half a billion if you sell it. After all, it’s not far from the Kremlin.

      But when I asserted my rights yesterday, at the wake, lawyer Orlovsky declared me a liar.

      – And who is he, Orlovsky?

      – Miliutinsky’s personal lawyer, he handled all of his cases. If anyone should know about the will, it was him. One of two things: either Orlovsky is lying, or he doesn’t know anything, because Miliutin didn’t let him know about it. I’m sure Orlovsky is lying because he’s in cahoots with the widow. I think they’re having an affair. In a word, adultery.

      – But this is a criminal offense. If this is true, he risks going to jail.

      – For adultery?

      – No, for cheating on the will.

      – Well, prove it! That’s why I hire you.

      ***

      When Anna entered the room, a burly woman in silk pajamas was sitting in the small living room with a defiantly dressed girl who looked just like her, listening

      to her read her poetry.

      The first thing that came to Anna’s mind was to say, “A nuthouse on the road,” but then she was introduced to the lady of the house, Mrs. Milyutina.

      – This is Anna Vladimirovna, a very experienced detective with terrific references,’ Orlovsky said to the woman. ‘Her friends recommended her to me, in whom I have absolute confidence. We have a delicate case, you know. Anna used

      to work as an investigator in the prosecutor’s office, now she works for herself. She will help us expose the scoundrel Pronyakin and deal with his casus belli.

      – Valera, I trust you,’ Milutina said languidly, stretching her words as she looked at Anna, ‘Just imagine, Marfa has decided to become a poet. She was just reading her poems to me.

      – And how many poems has she written?

      – Only two, but it’s just the beginning,” exclaimed Miliutina enthusiastically.

      – Well, when we have a hundred or two poems, then we’ll publish the book. In the meantime, let’s return to our sinful land. We’ll have to make an agreement with Anna and get her up to speed.

      – Ah, why all the antimonies, if all can be expressed in one word – we want to get screwed.

      – And who wants to fuck you?’ Anna enters the conversation, ‘What is he blackmailing you with and what is he trying to achieve?

      – What does he want? Money, of course,’ Miliutina stood up, all flushed with indignation, ‘Oh, don’t remind me of that scoundrel Pronyakin. My blood pressure immediately spikes and my heart beats like a bird in a cage. All my husband’s life he was surrounded by shady characters who wanted to profit at his expense. And now that he is dead, one of his so-called friends has accused me and my daughters of killing him!

      – And you didn’t kill him, of course?

      – Valera, what does it all mean?’