Читать книгу To me vengeance, I will repay - - Страница 3

After the funeral and before the wake, Pronyakin had a feeling similar to that experienced by young men before a battle. His heart was pounding and his

thoughts could not stop at anything. The funeral was attended by a great number of people, from the nouveau riche, to whom Miliutin had supplied paintings and antique furniture, to the unknown artists who came out of curiosity to see the burial of the richest collector in the city. After the funeral was over, Milutin’s close

friends and the entire family gathered in the central exhibition hall in his gallery in

Zamoskvorechye for a memorial service.

The wake was presided over by Orlovsky, an old family friend and part-time personal lawyer of the deceased. He sat proudly at the head of a huge table in the middle of the room, surrounded on both sides by Milutin’s daughters and his widow, dressed for the occasion in all black, giving the floor to those who wished to speak. It looked as if Orlovsky were holding an auction, drawing numbers in line for the right to speak in praise of the deceased.

Pronyakin waited patiently for his word, and all the time he felt that this evening must be a decisive one in his destiny. At last it was his turn. Orlovsky beckoned him to speak by a wave of his hand. Pronyakin stood up, looked round the huge table, and, overlapping the disorderly murmur of their voices and the clatter of knives and forks on their plates, uttered a loud and distinct voice:

– Miliutin has been murdered, gentlemen! And his family did it to him.” There was an ominous silence in the air. The sound of a fly hitting the window-glass and the roar of a heavy car’s engine in a lane somewhere in the distance were heard.-So they took their revenge on him, for he had bequeathed all his property and money

to his son Ivan, and had given me his collection of pictures and this building, where we were now remembering our dear Serezha with the kindest words. It was

a matter of honor for me to punish his killers, for he was not just a friend to me. He

was a brother 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?’ Milutina was sincerely indignant, ‘Does she doubt my innocence?

– Masha, she’s on our side. It’s just the way it is,’ Orlovsky reassured her, ‘answer everything you know.

– Yes, of course not!’ cried Miliutina nervously, and looked at Anna angrily, like a mistress at a guilty servant, ‘We didn’t even know where he had been for the last three days. The police called me and said they had found him dead in our country house. Before he ran away from home, he made a scene and told me and my daughters that he would disinherit us, because his daughters were discussing who would inherit what when he died. It made him mad. I knew right away he was having a schizophrenic episode. This had happened to him sometimes, he had been diagnosed with flaccid schizophrenia at one time. I wanted to put him in an inpatient facility for a couple of weeks to get him back to normal. If he hadn’t run away, he’d be alive now.

– And what was the cause of your husband’s death?

– He died of a stroke. The medical examiner confirmed it, and we were issued a death certificate. Otherwise, how could we bury him?

– And who is Pronyakin and where did he come from?

– Valera, who’s Pronyakin?’ Maria was surprised, ‘It was you who introduced them to Sergei. So tell me, why did you do it?

– Oh, Masha, I didn’t know how this was going to end. In a word, Anna, you need to figure out for yourself who he is and what he’s up to. By the way, he hired a detective, a certain Beetle. He already called me, asking me to meet him.

– What’s the detective’s name?” asked a rather surprised Anna, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.

– Andrei Zhuk. That’s how he introduced himself. It’s a very rare name for our country, – answered Orlovsky, looking at his watch, – Any more questions for me? Because I have some problems that must be solved urgently. I would like to clarify, are you ready to take our case? We will pay you well.

– Just so you know, your Pronyakin hired my ex-husband. Once I was stupid to make a mistake by marrying him. And even took his last name.

– So you’re also a Beetle?” draws Milutina, with undisguised interest looking at

Anna, as if she saw a natural anomaly in front of her, “How interesting.

– It’s so interesting, it’s hilarious. I don’t know how I can deal with Pronyakin, but I want to hurt Zhuk as much as he hurt me.