Then, quite could finish Rosenthal and guests from Stashenko's funeral. According to our information, he never paid them the penalties.
Relatives of the dead, mutilated by bandits after the scandal at the funeral, were eager to take revenge on Rosenthal. Grandfathers, which saw Valerka, were eager revenge. I don't think they calmed down that fast.
In addition to the candidates for murder, competitors from other funeral homes were added – Rosenthal's Bureau, despite all efforts, continued to work. It was impossible to forget about possible revenge for Nina's and Sveta's murders. We didn't know anything about their connections yet, but there was no doubt that Rosenthal was responsible for their murders – we had our suspicions.
As I tossed down the stub of my cigar and listened to the dogs under the balcony chewing excitedly at its landing, I realized that the only way out of the situation was to immediately find the Professor of history, of whom we had heard so much but had never seen him.
He had to hurry. Everyone connected with this case is dying too fast.
* * *
We were lucky: Professor Sharoiko lived at the place of residence.
Stolen by hackers from the pension Fund computer database from which anyone could find phone numbers, addresses and passport numbers of residents of St. Petersburg, I bought on the radio market on Kazakov for a hundred. Until sought, from whom cheaper, me times twenty-have proposed porn with girls, boys, grandparents, different zveryushkami and at all with than anywhere. There were sadistic shows, sex with pregnant women, movies for pedophiles, zoophiles, gerontophiles, autopsies, circumcisions, castration, defloration, sex change operations, and in General a lot of interesting things... I was curious, do I look like a novice maniac,or do they offer everyone.
- I stood for a while near one stand, considering disks ... Others didn't offer.
- Professor V. M. Sharoika found almost immediately, although Charoen the city was about fifty. There were only two initials, but the second could only be a student. Vladimir Sharoika, fifty-two years, lived almost next door, on Iskra. I called and was very glad that the Professor was still alive.
- "It's from the Crime capital. I hear you have some interesting research on scams. It would be great to know more... Can I come? Great, me and my colleague... two Hours? Okay, wait.
- Description of "goat a goat" purveyor-agent misconception about Professor gave well a clear. He reminded me of gross.
- Fighting specialists like Moriarty or the ever-present Challengers had probably only been around in Conan Doyle's time... although, oddly enough, there was a spearfighter's blowgun and flippers on the wall in the hall, and a photograph in the living room of the Professor himself, looking through a swimming mask, was about the same age as he was now. His round belly seemed to give him good buoyancy, and his aggressively protruding beard scared off hungry sharks. The Professor himself was in a good mood, talking incessantly, and a bespectacled man of about twenty-five, whom he introduced to us as his graduate student Kostya, sat silently in the corner of the sofa and stared at everyone.
- The Professor's apartment was nothing special. A lot of books, sea-green Wallpaper, several models of ships on the shelves, seascapes on the walls, a cage with a Guinea pig.
- – I love the sea, in the family I had a lot of sailors-explained the Professor. PhD I defended the achievements of the Russian Navy – Sharoika and pour into liqueur glasses. (Bottle brought a colleague, it only give a reason.) – But a doctorate has already been on the history of crime.
- I take it you're interested in nineteenth-century crooks?" Congratulations, a worthy choice of topic. Without them, history, especially in Russia, would be as pale as an underexposed photograph.
- Most crimes are of no interest to the scientist in themselves. Someone had robbed someone, killed someone, even raped someone. So what? What conclusions can the historian draw from this? Mostly none. The murder of a notable historical figures are usually interesting political intrigue, the causes and consequences of what happened – say, the balance of power in the Palace coup, the impact on subsequent events, the causality of the previous one. And the crime itself fades and moves into the background, its course is set out in the documents dry and uninteresting.
- Fraud is a very special case. What is fraud? "Theft of another's property or acquisition of rights to it by deception or abuse of trust..." the basis of fraud is that the victim must believe, I emphasize, believe the offender. Do you see what I'm getting at?" Stabbing someone would have been the same yesterday as it was a thousand years ago. But can you imagine that the theme, which bred suckers a hundred or two years ago, without any adjustments would be today? What other crime is so important features of life, mentality, structure of society, the current situation?
- To develop an original, beautiful and trouble-free idea of fraud, the criminal is not enough to be a subtle psychologist and a deep thinker... He must be a man of his time. What was plausible a hundred years ago will seem to you complete nonsense now, and Vice versa…
- The Professor finally noticed the glass in his hand.
- "Here's to trust." As long as it exists, the intellectual elite of mercenary crime will not be supplanted by banditry, robbery, extortion, theft and other nonsense. Let people believe each other.
- The Professor poured a second. The gleam in his eyes reminded me eerily of my colleague at his worst, and a few unopened bottles glinted behind a partially closed door on the wall. I realized that I would have to drive again today. Besides, it was possible that everyone would get drunk and the conversation would never get to the right topic.
- Professor, that's the way of credibility... We recently I went to the village, Malakhove – can be heard? And one local grandfather told us about the legend, which in his youth loved to scare children. I can't imagine anyone would seriously believe that ... the Legend of Prince Rosenthal. Do you know?"
- The Professor uttered a cry of joy:
- "Rosenthal, you say?" This guy could make anyone believe anything if he wanted to. It is not surprising that his name is still remembered... Fog, he managed to unleash. Fog and fear. And after his death, related the horrors of the divorced, even more than in life