I look at his anxious, eager face. “I don’t want to give you false hope, Mr Bukin. It was General Aristarkhov who decided to send Miss Neale, Captain Sirko and me away from St Petersburg. I don’t know why, but he seems suspicious about all three of us. I don’t think he would pay any attention to a letter from me.”
“I’m not asking for money from the general, Miss Frocester. All I am asking is that he remember a loyal servant of the imperial family – from a time when he too was such a loyal servant. You see, I am a reasonably wealthy man, if only I can get access to my money. If you could ask General Aristarkhov to drop a word to the right people, regarding my bank account, then I’d be eternally in your debt.”
I remember long ago, standing in Mr Bukin’s office, and the nasty word he used about me. But I smile at him.
“Of course I will do that. I will write to General Aristarkhov. But please don’t raise your hopes too much. And, there is something you can do for me, in return.”
“I’m not in a position to help anyone, I’m afraid. But once I have access to my money—”
I but in gently. “It’s not money or favors I need, Mr Bukin. It’s information. You were there, weren’t you? You were at Tri Tsarevny, on the day Svea Håkansson was murdered. Can you tell us your own account of that day?”
Yuri grins at me. “‘Your own account of that day’ – that’s the sort of thing real detectives ask, Agnes. Now you are being a proper Sherlock.”
Mr Bukin begins, slowly. “Yes, you are correct, Miss Frocester. I was at Tri Tsarevny on the day of the murder. When we first met, I didn’t mention that fact to you and Professor Axelson.”
“Because General Aristarkhov told you not to?”
“No – in fact, at first the general wasn’t even aware of your presence in Russia. You and Professor Axelson only came to his attention while you were actually at Tri Tsarevny. You were spotted by an Okhrana informer when you arrived at Ivangorod. The informer saw that two strangers were being taken by boat to Tri Tsarevny, and he passed that information and your descriptions to the general. You will recall that General Aristarkhov was not pleased to find out about your visit.”
“I remember it very well. But why, Mr Bukin, did you avoid telling us that you were there, on the day of the murder?”
“Discretion, Miss Frocester. In my work – my former work – it is always best to tell everyone as little as possible. It becomes a habit, a way of life. But now, of course, I can tell you all about what happened to me on the day of the murder. It is quite a simple story.
It started as a normal, uneventful day. I remember it was beautifully sunny, and I even had half an hour to myself, for a walk, early in the morning. Everything was very peacefuclass="underline" the lake was like a mirror, and there was a kind of stillness in the air. Almost like a magic spell was cast on the place. I walked along the causeway, and in the gardens, and I thought to myself about the old story of the princesses and Ivan the Fool, and the bottomless lake. Then I had some paperwork to do, which occupied me for the rest of the morning.
Just after lunch, the Tsarina sent me a message, asking to speak to me in private, in the main Dacha library. I was surprised, as my orders normally came through General Aristarkhov. I lived down at the First Princess house, and hardly ever went up to the main Dacha. Even my meals were brought to the First Princess, by servants.”
Yuri nods. “I remember the system well. It was as if we were unworthy to be allowed into the main Dacha. Even Aristarkhov spent almost all his time in the First Princess. Only occasionally would he go up to the main Dacha to receive the Tsarina’s instructions. Then he would come back, with orders for us.”
Bukin nods. “Yes – that’s exactly how it was.” Yuri smiles; he can’t help adding some details.
“The instructions Aristarkhov gave us, following his chats with the Tsarina, were often absurd. For example, there were many guards patrolling the woods around the lake. One day the general ordered me to go and find every one of them, and inspect all their kit, even though they had a perfectly capable sergeant in charge of them. I was also told to go and inspect those two guards down at the stone quay. Hardly anyone came to Tri Tsarevny: those two men were bored out of their minds. They passed their time making tea for each other, and telling stories.”
I look at Bukin, who himself seems to have drifted off into a trance while Yuri was speaking. Gently, I say to him “So, Mr Bukin, that’s what you did on the morning of that day. But what happened in the afternoon?”
Bukin smiles slowly at me, as if waking from a dream, and resumes. “As I say, the Tsarina summoned me up to the main Dacha. So at two o’clock, the Tsarina and I were in the library of the Dacha – alone.
She said that she did not want to spread alarm among the servants, but she was worried. Rasputin had seen prowlers, at night. She asked me to order additional guards, for increased security. I told her I would do so, but that it was unlikely that any new guards would be able to arrive until the next day. She seemed worried by that and she told me to ask you, Captain Sirko, to patrol the grounds yourself that night. Of course, I never got round to asking you, because by that evening, the damage was done.
While the Tsarina and I were talking, we heard a faint noise, like a single knock on the door of a distant room. The window of the library was closed, but the noise seemed to come from outside. So we opened the window, and we both looked out. We could see the garden, the lake and the islands. But we could see nothing out of place or suspicious.
A few minutes later, General Aristarkhov came into the library. He looked alarmed. He had heard the noise, and thought it sounded like a gun firing. He said he was upstairs in the main Dacha when he heard the sound, so he had immediately checked Prince Alexei’s room, and the boy was safe and well. I recall the Tsarina’s anxious question.
‘General, did Alexei himself hear the shot? Was he frightened?’
The general’s reply was reassuring, but despite that, the Tsarina sent me to check on Prince Alexei. So I went up to his bedroom. The prince seemed perfectly fine – but by that time, a commotion among the servants had made it clear to the Tsarina, the general and me that something serious had indeed happened out on the lake—”
A waiter is standing over us, coughing politely to interrupt our conversation. We all look up at him.
“Is one of you Captain Yuri Sirko?”
“That’s me.”
“You are requested to go to the hotel reception desk, sir. It’s important.”
Yuri gets up and leaves us. In two minutes, he returns – and I recoil in shock as I see that he’s flanked by four policemen. They wear the uniforms of regular police, but they all have red arm bands on their sleeves. One of them links arms with Yuri’s plaster cast. Then my mouth drops open, as I see that another of the policemen is holding a gun to Yuri’s side.
The police say nothing, but Yuri speaks quickly and firmly.
“Mr Bukin. Pass me my coat – but before you hand it to me, take the wallet out of my pocket. The money the Bolshevik Party gave me is in there: take it all, please. Buy yourself some accommodation and food.”
He pauses a moment, then looks significantly at me. “Agnes, and Emily – I have to go. But if you ever need friends in Russia, seek out the Astrakhan Cossack Host.”
Despite the policemen, he manages to bow to us. With his free arm, he takes my hand, and kisses it. I stare at him.
“What is happening, Yuri?”
Another of the policeman now grips Yuri’s free arm. And another, who appears to be in charge, starts to speak in a monotone.
“Captain Yuri Sirko. You are under arrest for the murder of Svea Håkansson. We will now take you to the Butyrka Prison for interrogation. We advise you for your own sake to co-operate fully with us, because we are authorised to use force at the prison, in order to obtain a full confession. You will be questioned until you give us the information we need.”