ROSTNIKOV: Then that is what you should do. Have you given the description to Kriskov?
ELENA: Yes. He had no idea of who it might be. Nor, apparently, does his wife.
SASHA: Porfiry Petrovich, our Elena has a few other ideas, one of which makes sense, the other … I leave to you.
ROSTNIKOV: Have you? …
SASHA: I’ll call Maya and the children tonight, when I get home. I shall probably wake them and she will probably comment on my bad timing and insensitivity.
ROSTNIKOV: You do not sound concerned, Sasha.
ELENA (in English): He is in a state of inexplicable euphoria. I don’t know which is worse. This near-Buddhist placidity or the old morose and sullen Sasha.
ROSTNIKOV (in English): This too shall pass.
SASHA: You are talking about me.
ROSTNIKOV: Yes, but it is with concern. I have learned that one can be manic and depressive at the same time. It is a paradox, but it is true. The problem is that one will eventually dominate if you do not deal with Maya.
SASHA: Perhaps Elena will tell you now, in Russian, what she feels intuitively.
ELENA: I think it possible that the money was just a ruse to deter us from the real purpose of this theft. I think it possible that the real goal was to find an excuse for murdering Yuri Kriskov and make it look as if it were being done because he failed to deliver the demanded money. The threat was always there.
ROSTNIKOV: And why would our thief want to kill Kriskov and make it look like retaliation?
ELENA: Possibly, and I add that it is only possible, to conceal the real reason for killing him.
ROSTNIKOV: And what might that be?
ELENA (after a very long pause): Yuri Kriskov is not a very pleasant man. He abuses those who work for him and keeps a mistress, about whom everyone around him knows. His wife has been at his side, consoling, attentive, holding his hand, touching his shoulder, bringing him tea. She is nearly a saint.
ROSTNIKOV: And so?
ELENA: I think she is acting. She was an actress. I don’t see love and concern in her eyes. I see someone acting.
ROSTNIKOV: You believe she is conspiring to kill her husband.
ELENA: I believe it is one possibility that should not be overlooked. I could well be wrong. I am probably wrong, but it is what I …
SASHA: If you could speak French, Porfiry Petrovich, I would say this in French so that Elena Timofeyeva would not understand, but I say it in Russian, knowing the consequences when we hang up. Vera Kriskov is a very beautiful woman. Perhaps Elena is suspicious of Kriskov’s wife because she is a bit-
ELENA: No. And, I repeat, no. I may be wrong, but it is not-
ROSTNIKOV: It will not hurt to follow her. See what happens. You are getting an artist’s sketch of the chess player, Kon?
SASHA: It is being done. I saw the first crude sketch. It is a bit, I don’t know, generic. It could be almost anyone we see on the street. He looks like a Russian. We know he is short, young, built, as the beggar put it, like a small bear.
ROSTNIKOV: Find him. Hope that he has not destroyed the negatives. It is unlikely that he will give up that possibility of wealth even if his plan is murder, but one never knows. Now, hang up, have your inevitable argument, and go home to bed.
ELENA: And how does it go with you?
ROSTNIKOV: The czar and his family were buried today in St. Petersburg. I have been told that it was a moving ceremony. I should like to have seen it. I was told that it was something to tell one’s grandchildren. Iosef is well. He may be sleeping or reading or thinking.
SASHA: I believe Inspector Timofeyeva is blushing.
ROSTNIKOV: Hang up. Fight. It will do you good, Sasha.
SASHA: I don’t feel like fighting.
ROSTNIKOV: Try it.
They hung up.
There was no problem finding Emil Karpo. Rostnikov could imagine him in his room, a room he had seen only twice, sitting in front of his computer, notebooks behind it, a single light over his shoulder.
ROSTNIKOV: Emil Karpo, how was your day?
KARPO: We have a suspect. We have evidence.
ROSTNIKOV: A suspect?
KARPO: A scientist, a specialist in dreams: Boris Adamovskovich.
ROSTNIKOV: And you have discovered why he committed this murder? Was he walking in his sleep? Did he use one of his experimental subjects to move in a somnambulistic state to commit murder, like Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari?
KARPO: Am I to take that as one of your humorous attempts?
ROSTNIKOV: No, only a flight of fancy and fantasy. The full moon brings it out in me. Sometimes you remind me of that somnambulist, the one in the German movie. You even look a bit like him.
KARPO: I gather that is not a compliment.
ROSTNIKOV: It is an observation. Did you do anything you enjoyed today? What about tomorrow?
KARPO: I am having lunch with Paulinin.
ROSTNIKOV: The epitome of a good time. Will you do something for me, Emil?
KARPO: Whatever you wish.
ROSTNIKOV: Turn your head to the left and look at the painting of Mathilde Verson.
KARPO: I would prefer to discuss the case at hand.
ROSTNIKOV: I asked. You said you would do as I asked.
KARPO: I am looking at the painting.
ROSTNIKOV: What are you feeling?
KARPO: I don’t understand.
ROSTNIKOV: When I hang up, look at the painting as if it were just placed on the wall.
KARPO: I look at it frequently.
ROSTNIKOV: I know, but this time with fresh eyes. Let her teach you. Don’t lose the lesson of life, the gift she gave you.
KARPO: You are being especially whimsical tonight.
ROSTNIKOV: Yes, I have learned that I cannot and do not wish to deny my sentimental nature. I think it is this wilderness that brings it out in me.
KARPO: Adamovskovich denies his guilt.
ROSTNIKOV: And?
KARPO: The evidence condemns him, but I think he may be innocent.
ROSTNIKOV: Intuition?
KARPO: Intuition is simply a conclusion drawn from experience, both environmental and genetically guided. His shoes had the victim’s blood on them. He disliked the victim, but then almost everyone at the center disliked him. He suggests that someone came into his laboratory when he was in a deep sleep and wore his shoes to commit the murder.
ROSTNIKOV: And you find that plausible?
KARPO: I find it possible. We have both seen far stranger things, and the people who work in that center are quite strange.
ROSTNIKOV: And that, Emil Karpo, is why I gave you this assignment. You recognize the strange. You are not taken in by it. Imagination does not get in your way. That is your strength and weakness.
KARPO: You have more than sufficient imagination for both of us.
ROSTNIKOV: Humor, Emil. A touch of irony?
KARPO: An observation.
ROSTNIKOV: Is Zelach of any help?
KARPO: Zelach has become an object of great interest on the part of one whom I consider a suspect, a Nadia Spectorski. She believes Akardy Zelach has psychic powers.
ROSTNIKOV: Our Zelach has abilities that lie below the surface. Iosef tells me that he can also kick a soccer ball seventy yards. Perhaps he missed his calling. The Russian national team might well use a psychic fullback.
KARPO: Another joke? They are wasted on me, Porfiry Petrovich.
ROSTNIKOV: I don’t think so. Allow me to keep trying.
KARPO: You do not need my permission.
ROSTNIKOV: Good night, Emil. I’m going to call my wife now. Is there anything you want me to say?
KARPO (after a long pause): Please tell the young girls that I wish them a good night.