Galina Vladimirovna Romanova

Strong Woman's Law

- In terms of? - pretended not to understand Samokhin. - Walking alone at night?

- In the sense that I saw them off and walked home. Rather, on rented apartment, - Voronov answered in an expressionless voice. - The corner of her house was visible from a stop, according to the same classmates.

- Did you check? - the colonel specified.

That Voronov did not follow Samokhin's lead and did not become angry, he liked it. It means that it controls itself. Or is there no strength after yesterday's binge?

- Yes, - Voronov nodded. - The corner of the house is really visible from a stop. And walk down the lighted street there. There are a lot of people at this time, the session has just ended.

- Not bad already. What do we need to do? - Long thin fingers Colonel shot across the tabletop. - We need to check if there are cameras on this street. Sift everyone who followed her. Or towards. Or just stood there. Interview everyone who attended this session. It is necessary to contact the residents through the mass media.

"Already," Voronov nodded grimly. - The local crime channel will launch an announcement today. But…

- But what?

- I think he did not appear either in the cinema or under the cameras, Comrade Colonel. We have already worked in this direction - it's empty. He's very, very careful.

- But where could he catch her then? Near the entrance? At the apartment door? In the apartment itself?

- This is out of the question, Comrade Colonel. There is a camera at the entrance, it is impossible to enter unnoticed, plus there is a coded lock on the door. The code is confusing, the tenants did their best. In the apartment - is also excluded. Malakhova rented a room, lived with the hostess. She got worried and started calling her friends. And when I found out that they had parted for a long time, I called the police.

- I hope, in the light of recent events, she was not sent for three days?

“Not at all, Comrade Colonel,” Samokhin interrupted immediately. Wow, he twisted his thick neck towards the authorities at an unthinkable angle. - The outfit was sent, they examined the yard and all the approaches to it. Malakhov was not found. And no signs of a struggle in the yard either.

- In the courtyard that evening, young people were hanging out - they celebrated the imminent farewell to the army of one of the tenants. They claim that Veronica did not enter the courtyard, they did not see her, - Voronov interrupted Samokhin. - We haven't seen any girls at all.

And for the first time during the meeting, he frowned in displeasure at Samokhin. Apparently he got it too.

- What do we do? - The colonel looked inquiringly at Voronov.

Deliberately, he looked expressively at him, making it clear that the answer was expected from him, from no one else. But Samokhin did not understand. Or not. Or did not recognize any ranks at all.

- There is a place, Comrade Colonel. He lifted his fat ass and handed the chief a hand-scribbled map of the area. - Between the two houses, a plot of ten by ten meters. Completely immersed in darkness. I think this is where the perpetrator watched the victim.

- He thinks! The colonel snorted angrily.

Took a sheet of paper from Samokhin's hand and looked. I thought with annoyance that the plan was well done. Compliance with all scales. He reproached the crown of Voronov's head with a glance. He lowered his head and did not look at anyone now.

- What does this mean, in your opinion, Ilya?

“This could mean that the offender was aware of her movements. He might have known her. - Samokhin's full cheeks turned pink with pleasure. - And he was watching her there.

“He might not have met her,” Voronov responded immediately. - I could just watch her for a long time. And he knew about her habits.

- Rather, it is, - agreed the colonel and gave Samokhin his plan. - All previous victims are not related in any way. Not at all. No mutual acquaintances, no relatives, no acquaintances. We didn’t go to the same clinic, we didn’t go to the same camps. They lived far from each other, studied and worked in different places. The stores were different. What is this telling us, Volodya?

“The choice of victims is random, Comrade Colonel. He just stares at someone, begins to observe, chooses a convenient moment. And kills.

- Is his psychological portrait ready?

“Ready,” Voronov answered with a heavy sigh.

The colonel understood why he was sighing. Voronov did not really trust psychologists. In his memory, they were wrong more than once or twice. And now he believed that the assumption, they say, that the killer, in addition to problems with potency, has some kind of physical injury, may well turn out to be erroneous.

- In general, Comrade Colonel, he can be handsome. No flaws! The victims could go with him themselves, because they liked him. And he raped them not with foreign objects, as experts suggest. He's just very careful, so he doesn't leave anything behind. No thread, no saliva, no sweat.

- And why then such a handsome man all this? - Samokhin was indignant and mechanically pressed his fat belly against the table. - If it is flawless? He's a freak! Freak specific!

- When I spoke about the absence of flaws, I meant physical data, colleague, - Voronov sternly. - The fact that his brains are on one side is one hundred percent. But as for the appearance and everything else - I have doubts.

- How would you describe him, Voronov? You’re a first-class psychopath! - bared small teeth Samokhin, seemingly smiling. And then he was falsely frightened: - Oh, confused! I wanted to say - a psychologist!

The office became quiet. Everyone immediately recalled last year's case when Voronov, unable to control his nerves, knocked out a tooth for the stepfather of a little girl, whom he seduced that day in the absence of his mother. The colonel had to do great work to hush up the scandal. Voronov had to visit specialists so that he would not be removed from work. It was then that he flared up with dislike for all brainwaves at once.

- No one can read my mind! No one! - he was indignant, sitting over a bottle of vodka with his friend Nikita Sizov, the best criminalist of all times and peoples, according to Voronov. - Yes, they can, according to my habits and manner of dressing or speaking, form some kind of idea about me. But!..

- What? - Nikita looked as if spellbound: he always considered Voronov the smartest opera.

“But I can pretend. I can change my habits every week. I can change my wardrobe. Answer, walk, speak differently! Nobody, Nikita, nobody can get into my brain and understand what is there!

- Why? Nikita blinked drunkenly.

- Because sometimes I myself do not know what is there. I don't know what I want, with whom I want and how I want! How can they? ..

- So how would you describe him, Voronov? - Samokhin sat down to him half-turned, caring little that he turned out to be with his back to the colonel. - Can I hear your wonderful thoughts on this matter?

Everyone was quiet again. Even the colonel wondered what he would answer.

Voronov got up, tugged at his tunic with a lower button dangling on one nozzle. As in a lesson - lifted his chin, stared out the window, muttered:

- My opinion is that he is physically normal. This creature even likes women. None of the victims showed signs of a struggle on their bodies. Nobody put them to sleep, did not turn them off by any means. They walked with him voluntarily. He is handsome! This is the first thing. Second: he knows how to observe. Long before the murder, he chooses a victim and leads her. Third: he knows how to frame a crime. The place is chosen in advance. One where there is no one, where no one bothers him. And it's always on the street! I dare to assume that he does not live alone. He may even have a family. Or he just doesn't want to shit at home. Therefore, the street. It's always just the street. Only vacant lots. He knows this city well. Fourth: he masterfully owns a knife. But not as a commando or a butcher. But as a person with medical skills.

- Are you saying that he is a doctor? - Samokhin gasped with indignation. - Are you really, or what, Voronov? During the day he cuts patients on the operating table, and at night on the street?

- Captain Samokhin! The colonel pulled back and made an imperious gesture with his hand. - Sit down properly.

Samokhin jerked abruptly in his chair, turned away from Voronov. A frightened glance darted towards the chief and immediately floated across the office, across the faces of those present - in search of support. But nobody reacted. Everyone listened to Voronov with interest.

“Go on, Voronov,” the colonel ordered.

- He can be a medical practitioner. Or maybe dismissed, deprived of practice. There could be an accident in his life, the death of a patient. Rather, the patient. It knocked him out. Or…

- Or? Why did you stop talking, Volodya? - the Colonel hastened.

He liked Voronov's thoughts. He considered his report to be a breakthrough. It was evident that the guy thought about all this not for a day or two. Despite the binges that happened, it is a sin to conceal, after the divorce from his wife.

“Or he liked it, Comrade Colonel. He might just enjoy it. A pleasure to kill! He could have killed the patient on purpose.

Current page: 1 (total of the book has 4 pages) [available passage for reading: 1 pages]

Galina Romanova
Strong Woman's Law

© Romanova G.V., 2017

© Design. LLC "Publishing house" E ", 2017

Chapter 1

In this part of the city it was so deserted, so quiet and still, that everything seemed to be painted on an old rough canvas by a lover of ominous landscapes. No cars rustled, no rustle in the dead grass. No steps are heard. The powerful trunks of the old trees that led the narrow alley all the way to the river could hardly be seen in the darkness. Stone fence the old park on the left, a lonely lantern somewhere ahead. The light was barely guessed as a blur in the leaves of the tall poplars. The black eye sockets of the windows of the two-story old houses along the road looked like bottomless holes. For some reason, the neon sign of the pavilion where the fruit was sold during the day did not burn. Probably saving, she decided. Now everyone is saving.

Why did she turn here on this old street? How did you get into this abandoned world? It was bright and crowded where she came from. But there was no place for her even in the courtyard of her house. The carousel, on which she usually sat until midnight after each scandal with her husband, was occupied by a couple in love. And the bench under the old linden tree was also occupied. I had to walk away from the yard, then from the crowded street, where they walked, skated, laughed, smoked, drank beer. She walked for a long time, hardly noticing where she was going. And suddenly I found myself here. In the old town, where it was quiet, deserted, dusty and a little scary.

Why is she here? Do you want silence, loneliness? Or was it just her legs that carried her to the river by themselves? Why go there?

“And there, dear, you once became a woman,” whispered Arina bitterly. - And I didn’t regret it at all.

She regretted much later, when she married a man with whom she had lost her innocence. I really regretted it. Almost immediately. He turned out to be an outstanding lover, but a rather mediocre husband. His temperament, tenderness, tolerance and tirelessness, it turns out, were limited to the territory of the bed. As soon as he left this territory, he turned into an evil, unbalanced cattle. Because of him, because of this bastard, she was now wandering around the city in her slippers. She didn't even have time to put on her shoes - her husband flew at her from the kitchen with his fist raised to strike. She didn’t want to fight him, so she ran away.

- Overconfident bitch! Arrogant self-confident bitch! He yelled at her back as she raced down the stairs. - You should fail, you bastard!

She was not afraid of him. And she could easily fit on both shoulder blades. And then give it a good shot. She was strong, athletic. And although she almost abandoned the gym, she still retained a wonderful shape. A couple of weeks ago, when her faithful intended to once again teach her obedience, Arina threw him over herself with such force that he had to correct the back of a friend's chiropractor.

And what is disgusting: nothing could teach him to treat her with respect. He seemed to believe that, losing her innocence with him, Arina had lost her dignity.

“It won’t be like that,” Arina said firmly, rubbing a warming balm into her husband’s lower back. - I will not give in, Sash, do not think. You dare not beat me. For these purposes, you had to look for another.

- I do not need another. I love you, - the husband muttered, burying his nose in the pillow.

- So love normally! Without these things of yours! Why?! Why do you need all this ?!

“You make me so angry sometimes, Arinka,” the husband admitted with a sigh and groaned when she pressed hard on the sore spot. - So sometimes you pissed off! Everything is perfect in bed with you and me. I just can't imagine who else I would feel so good with as with you. But it's worth getting out from under the covers ...

- What is wrong with me, Sasha?

Arina carefully turned her husband over onto his back, wrapped him up with a thick woolen blanket. She stroked his clean-shaven face. She ran her hand over his head. She loved that face. Swarthy, with a hard mouth line, brown eyes, a masculine graceful nose. When these eyes looked at her from the next pillow, they were filled with tenderness, passion, but how quickly it all disappeared, as soon as Arina and Sasha began to argue.

She repeated:

- What is wrong with me for you?

- I do not know. I can't figure it out, ”he said weakly after a pause. - Maybe ... Sometimes it seems to me that you are too smart for me, or what ?! You and I are sometimes like foreigners! As if speaking in different languages! Body language is clear to you and me! And that's it! Then some kind of gibberish begins! ..

Abracadabra has been going on for almost ten years.

They met for five years. Everything was beautiful! Very nice! They could not breathe on each other, could not get enough of each other. They didn't even need to talk to each other. Everything seemed so simple and straightforward.

Five years later, they got married, and it turned out that they had nothing to talk about. More precisely, the need for dialogue arose constantly, but the dialogue did not work out. Quarrels ... Constant quarrels for the first three and a half years. Then Sasha began to try to raise his hand to her. She only forgave the first two slaps in the face. Then she began to give change. Once their fight attracted the attention of neighbors - two elderly sisters from the apartment opposite, and they called the police. Words cannot express how ashamed Arina was to answer the questions of the patrolmen who had arrived.

- Did you really hit him in the eye area ?! The senior sergeant repeated endlessly and shivered cautiously, looking at the enormous hematoma under Sashka's left eye.

- But can a woman do that? - the patrolman was surprised. - A weak woman ...

- I'm not a weak woman. I'm a master of sports, ”she answered with a sigh.

And I tried not to notice the prying eyes of the neighbors. Those who called the police did not deny themselves the pleasure of being present at the showdown. And they burst into their apartment with the patrolmen right in their night pajamas and shaggy sneakers with cat muzzles.

“Since you are a master of sports, you had no right to use your skills on your husband,” the senior sergeant said sternly. - You had no right to attack your husband!

- I didn't attack. I defended myself.

“But you don't have a single scratch. And the spouse has an injury! - and the sergeant turned to Sasha with the question: - Will you write a statement, victim?

- No. - Sashka shuddered. - Fucked up, or what ?! Anyway, Sergeant, take these two clowns and end this circus. We will figure it out ourselves ...

Since then, Arina began to run away from home. As soon as the atmosphere in their house heated up to the maximum permissible level and Sashka flew at her with his fists, she jumped out the door. And she sat on the merry-go-rounds until the light stopped burning in her windows. The extinguished light was a sign that Sashka had surrendered. Climbed under the covers. So there was no need to be afraid of losing the appearance of a weak, defenseless woman, turning into a fighter.

Today she will miss the moment of surrender. Favorite swing was busy. The bench under the old linden tree too. She won't come home in the dark in the right time... Will not fit under the covers of her husband while he is still awake. And he will not hug her carefully and will not whisper in her ear:

- Sorry, darling. For God's sake, forgive your monster ...

She sometimes did not know which of the two was more monstrous: he - who wants her obedience, or she does not want to obey.

Arina stepped carefully in house slippers with soft rubber soles along the alley. Her footsteps were not heard at all. She did not walk, but seemed to slide like a ghost. In this part of the city, all sounds seemed to have died. She felt uneasy. She seemed to be deaf in both ears. Silence, no life around.

Arina quickened her pace and after a few minutes clearly heard the splash of water. The river is nearby. In twenty meters there will be a descent to the river. On steep slope year after year someone cut neat steps into the ground. They went down them with Sasha many years ago, when she decided for herself that everything was enough to torment him. Everything will happen today! She went down them more than once afterwards and without him. And a couple of months ago I was here. True, it was raining then and it was cool. Arina was freezing and did not sit for a long time on the overturned boat; she returned to the courtyard long before the lights went out in her windows.

It was quiet today, relatively warm for the beginning of autumn. Today she had time to listen to the lapping of the waves about steep coast... Sasha was simply unrecognizable today. He just went crazy! He will not calm down soon.

The alley ended, the curb buried in a mound of sand and rubble. Three meters down the stairs. Arina climbed a mountain of rubble when she heard this.

Wheezing? Moan? Sob? Or a gurgle? Maybe someone is drowning? Or someone fell asleep in the bushes, densely overgrown along the shore, and snores?

She squatted down and froze. I listened. The strange sound was repeated. It was wheezing. Like wheezing, not snoring. But somehow strange. The one who wheezed as if choking. And he certainly wasn't drowning. The sound came from the bushes, not from the river. From the bushes, a couple of meters from the place where Arina was hiding.

“You see how everything is going well,” a man's voice suddenly rang out. Quiet, almost affectionate. - You thought that nothing would come of me, but everything worked out for me, girl.

Her heart pounded desperately. Does this person see her? Is he talking to her? Why does his voice sound familiar to her? It can't be Sasha! No! The voice seems familiar to her because the man speaks in a whisper! And in a whisper, all voices are alike. And he is definitely not addressing her - not to Arina, because afterwards the man whispered loudly enough:

- You're dying, girl, dying. This is your fate, yes. We don't choose her, do you understand? Someone chooses it for us. And someone chose for me ...

"A strange series of murders that swept through the city, we dare to assume that a maniac is walking along our streets ..."

The lines from the publications danced before her eyes. Her temples throbbed with such force that she was momentarily blinded. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

“They won't find you today, baby,” the murderer continued to whisper a couple of meters from Arina. - But they will certainly find it. You shouldn't look at me like that. Don't reproach me. It should be so. So it was necessary, understand. And then from there, from above, you will also say thank you to me. I did it for you, I made you happy! You will then understand that I made you happy! ..

The girl, who was dying very close by, almost quieted down, the wheezing with a strange gurgling stopped, and now Arina heard only a faint vulture. Soon he died down. A scary man kept talking, talking. He urged his victim to accept death as deliverance. He almost begged her and then burst into tears. Arina clearly heard his sobs and unintelligible babble. And then clothes rustled.

Is he changing clothes? Or he just takes off everything so that ... So what? Rape a dead body? She seems to have read something like that in the newspapers. All the victims found were throats cut and raped. Only it was not specified whether the killer did it before or after the girl stopped breathing.

After! He did it after!

She heard characteristic movements, his moans. And I understood that something had to be done! The moment was incredibly convenient. She could grab him. She is strong, sturdy, she is a master of sports. She will be able to grab him and take him to the station so that the terrible murders stop. To the young pretty girls, and he chose just such, they stopped dying. She did not need awards, and words of gratitude were also unnecessary. The only one she thought of when she got up in full height and making a desperate leap to the side where the terrible happened - this is about Sasha.

Maybe he will now change his attitude towards her? Maybe a little respect will be added to his strange love now? And he will stop considering her uncontrollable, unbearable and rebellious?

It did not appear unnoticed. She had to push her way through the bushes, making an incredible noise, and that was enough for the killer to react. When Arina jumped out into a small clearing, he was already standing in full growth next to the body. Tall, muscular, naked. He stood, hiding from her with a heap of clothes. The moon was there to help her. Arina clearly saw how remarkably complex he was. And strong, she thought immediately. She will have to tinker, trying to knock him off his feet.

The man was young. And perhaps cute, but one could only guess about it. A black mask was pulled over the bastard's head, with slits for the eyes and mouth. In his early thirties, she thought, glancing over him once more, straining his muscles. And she made a careful lunge to the left. It was there, on the left, in the thickets of bushes, a gap was visible. Apparently, he came from there and intended to escape there.

- Stay where you are, you freak. - Arina took a stance, clenched her fists, habitually covering the lower part of her face.

- Brave! The killer whispered without moving.

- Which have! - Arina slowly, very slowly closed the distance between them. - Certainly not such an abomination as you!

She needed to come another meter for her blow to reach the target. But the killer knew about it too. Teeth flashed through the slit in the mask. He smiled.

“Don't, baby,” he asked in an affectionate whisper, standing motionless and not making a single attempt to escape or attack her. - Enough for me today. You will be superfluous. Besides, I don't like those brave like you.

- And what do you like, freak ?! - Arina clearly heard the grinding of her teeth.

- Lovely, pliable, uncomplaining. It's good and not troublesome with them. He seemed to be smiling again. - And with people like you, one hassle, believe me. It is impossible to convince or persuade people like you.

God! He now almost word for word repeated everything Sasha said in today's scandal! It is not clear why, but she again carefully examined the naked body of the killer.

No! Out of your mind, huh? This is not her husband's body! And the voice is not his! Although it is impossible to understand who this muffled whisper belongs to. The male whisper has almost no shades. It's just a man's whisper, and that's it!

- Why are you doing this to them, you bastard? - she gradually closed the distance, concentrating on his hands, busy trying not to drop his clothes. - Why are you killing them?

“It gives me pleasure,” he replied simply, and again seemed to smile. - And what gives you pleasure, baby? Where do you find incredible joy for yourself? Work? House? A family?

Honestly? His question caught her off guard. She could not immediately answer even to herself that for her in life there is true joy and pleasure. Work is work. It has always been a way for her to make money. What pleasure can there be in getting up on alarm clocks, rare weekends, constant unpaid overtime? Home, family? Last years two sometimes she did not want to go back there. Sashka turned it sacred place into the battlefield, into the ring.

- Do you want me to answer for you? The murderer asked insinuatingly, and again his teeth gleamed in the slit of the mask. - Do you want me to tell you what makes you happy?

- Back off! - Arina cut him off abruptly and moved another ten centimeters, still covering her stomach with her elbows and her face with tightly clenched fists. - Get dressed, creature, now we go with you to the police.

He didn't seem to hear. He shook his head and laughed barely audibly.

- You, baby, love to win! This is your calling. You probably won't calm down until you put your man on the shoulder blades. A? I'm right? Defeat him in an argument! Defend your point of view! Make him agree with you! Force is the key word! This is your calling - to win!

- What makes you think that I generally have a man? - she rudely cut him off and decided that on the third exhalation she would hit him with her left foot in the groin, and right hand hit the back of the head when he bends.

Bad thoughts were rolling in her head. This criminal bastard was well versed in psychology. He didn't know her. I probably didn’t know, but somehow very quickly and accurately compiled her psychological portrait, on the creation of which her husband was still desperately and fruitlessly working.

- What makes you think that I have a man? Am I lonely?

First inhale-exhale, complete concentration. The second inhale-exhale, longer, deeper.

- You have a ring, baby. Wedding ring.

A moment, a brief moment, she spent only a couple of seconds to mechanically open her right hand to her eyes and look at her ring finger. That's right, the ring was not there. She takes it off whenever she takes a shower. And leaves it on the shelf in the bathroom to put it on in the morning after taking a shower. Where is he from…

This couple of seconds, for which she so stupidly lost her vigilance, was enough for him. A sharp swing of a strong male leg, a push to the chest, which spread Arina on the ground. In the next instant, he was already sitting on her stomach, placing his feet on her knees and pressing with force. Heavy, bastard! Impossible to move! Her wrists ended up in his strong hands... His fingers felt like iron. One consolation - while his hands are busy, he will not be able to cut her throat. She won't let him! He would never allow himself to be done what he did to this poor girl, whose body was now cooling a meter away from her. She will fight for her life!

“You see, baby, how simple it is,” he whispered, tilting his face over hers. “All your strength and dexterity are useless. Everything fades before the banal curiosity of women. Even such invincible and strong-minded athletes lose, right?

- Let me in! - she fiddled under him, but it turned out badly. - Bloody brute! What, does not rise on the living, right? Do you need to bathe in someone's blood to get it out? You need no one to breathe under you, right? Buy yourself a rubber doll, you nasty pervert! Let me in!

“Wow…” His whisper turned angry, the pressure of his body impossible. - Which bad girl... We'll have to punish you! We'll have to punish you for a long time. For a very long time ... And only then will you understand what real happiness is!

- And when ?! - She could hardly pronounce, it became more and more difficult for her to breathe. - When will I understand ?!

- When you know that tomorrow will come for you ...

Chapter 2

“We have one more…” The colonel tried to find a replacement for the word “corpse”, but nothing came to mind. “This is the fourth victim since May.

“Kills a girl a month,” someone helpful suggested.

The colonel did not understand who exactly, but it did not matter to him. He knew without prompts that this was so. The maniac went to work as scheduled.

He looked at Volodya Voronov. The best opera in his department. What will he say? How will he react to the news? Nothing, survived, did not start. The complexion of the best opera, however, did not please. Either he got sick, or got drunk yesterday, the latter is more likely. After Voronov's wife left, taking his son and everything that was in the house, he often drank for two or three days. True, I went to work regularly. But what's the use of this obligatory walk? There was no sense.

"Voronov, report," the colonel demanded harshly. The time has passed for pity and indulgence.

“The victim is a nineteen-year-old pedagogical student. Quiet, calm, not drinking.

- He does not dirty himself with whores, - the same prompter snorted angrily.

The colonel understood who it was. Samokhin, Ilya Valerievich Samokhin. Voronov's eternal opponent and foe. It is clear what he was doing. The signing of the order on the appointment of the head of the criminal investigation department was postponed and postponed. Voronov drank because, besides him, the colonel had no candidates. Samokhin, apparently, decided that he would fit, so he prompted, smart guy.

Voronov didn’t react, as if he hadn’t heard. He ran his hand through his short-cropped blond hair. The hand was shaking - a bad sign. So he drank yesterday, the colonel decided.

- I parted with my friends at the bus stop after watching a movie at the Maestro cinema. At half past ten in the evening, the friends got on the bus and left. Veronika Malakhova went on foot. She was a couple of blocks away from home. Friends say that she always did this.

- In terms of? - pretended not to understand Samokhin. - Walking alone at night?

- In the sense that I saw them off and walked home. Rather, to a rented apartment, - Voronov answered in a toneless voice. - The corner of her house was visible from a stop, according to the same classmates.

- Did you check? - the colonel specified.

That Voronov did not follow Samokhin's lead and did not become angry, he liked it. It means that it controls itself. Or is there no strength after yesterday's binge?

- Yes, - Voronov nodded. - The corner of the house is really visible from a stop. And walk down the lighted street there. There are a lot of people at this time, the session has just ended.

- Not bad already. What do we need to do? The colonel's long slender fingers traced the tabletop like a shot. - We need to check if there are cameras on this street. Sift everyone who followed her. Or towards. Or just stood there. Interview everyone who attended this session. It is necessary to contact the residents through the mass media.

"Already," Voronov nodded grimly. - The local crime channel will launch an announcement today. But…

- But what?

- I think he did not appear either in the cinema or under the cameras, Comrade Colonel. We have already worked in this direction - it's empty. He's very, very careful.

- But where could he catch her then? Near the entrance? At the apartment door? In the apartment itself?

- This is out of the question, Comrade Colonel. There is a camera at the entrance, it is impossible to enter unnoticed, plus there is a coded lock on the door. The code is confusing, the tenants did their best. In the apartment - is also excluded. Malakhova rented a room, lived with the hostess. She got worried and started calling her friends. And when I found out that they had parted for a long time, I called the police.

- I hope, in the light of recent events, she was not sent for three days?

“Not at all, Comrade Colonel,” Samokhin interrupted immediately. Wow, he twisted his thick neck towards the authorities at an unthinkable angle. - The outfit was sent, they examined the yard and all the approaches to it. Malakhov was not found. And no signs of a struggle in the yard either.

- In the courtyard that evening, young people were hanging out - they celebrated the imminent farewell to the army of one of the tenants. They claim that Veronica did not enter the courtyard, they did not see her, - Voronov interrupted Samokhin. - We haven't seen any girls at all.

And for the first time during the meeting, he frowned in displeasure at Samokhin. Apparently he got it too.

- What do we do? - The colonel looked inquiringly at Voronov.

Deliberately, he looked expressively at him, making it clear that the answer was expected from him, from no one else. But Samokhin did not understand. Or not. Or did not recognize any ranks at all.

- There is a place, Comrade Colonel. He lifted his fat ass and handed the chief a hand-scribbled map of the area. - Between the two houses, a plot of ten by ten meters. Completely immersed in darkness. I think this is where the perpetrator watched the victim.

- He thinks! The colonel snorted angrily.

Took a sheet of paper from Samokhin's hand and looked. I thought with annoyance that the plan was well done. Compliance with all scales. He reproached the crown of Voronov's head with a glance. He lowered his head and did not look at anyone now.

- What does this mean, in your opinion, Ilya?

“This could mean that the offender was aware of her movements. He might have known her. - Samokhin's full cheeks turned pink with pleasure. - And he was watching her there.

“He might not have met her,” Voronov responded immediately. - I could just watch her for a long time. And he knew about her habits.

- Rather, it is, - agreed the colonel and gave Samokhin his plan. - All previous victims are not related in any way. Not at all. No mutual acquaintances, no relatives, no acquaintances. We didn’t go to the same clinic, we didn’t go to the same camps. They lived far from each other, studied and worked in different places. The stores were different. What is this telling us, Volodya?

“The choice of victims is random, Comrade Colonel. He just stares at someone, begins to observe, chooses a convenient moment. And kills.

- Is his psychological portrait ready?

“Ready,” Voronov answered with a heavy sigh.

The colonel understood why he was sighing. Voronov did not really trust psychologists. In his memory, they were wrong more than once or twice. And now he believed that the assumption, they say, that the killer, in addition to problems with potency, has some kind of physical injury, may well turn out to be erroneous.

- In general, Comrade Colonel, he can be handsome. No flaws! The victims could go with him themselves, because they liked him. And he raped them not with foreign objects, as experts suggest. He's just very careful, so he doesn't leave anything behind. No thread, no saliva, no sweat.

- And why then such a handsome man all this? - Samokhin was indignant and mechanically pressed his fat belly against the table. - If it is flawless? He's a freak! Freak specific!

- When I spoke about the absence of flaws, I meant physical data, colleague, - Voronov sternly. - The fact that his brains are on one side is one hundred percent. But as for the appearance and everything else - I have doubts.

- How would you describe him, Voronov? You’re a first-class psychopath! - bared small teeth Samokhin, seemingly smiling. And then he was falsely frightened: - Oh, confused! I wanted to say - a psychologist!

The office became quiet. Everyone immediately recalled last year's case when Voronov, unable to control his nerves, knocked out a tooth for the stepfather of a little girl, whom he seduced that day in the absence of his mother. The colonel had to do great work to hush up the scandal. Voronov had to visit specialists so that he would not be removed from work. It was then that he flared up with dislike for all brainwaves at once.

- No one can read my mind! No one! - he was indignant, sitting over a bottle of vodka with his friend Nikita Sizov, the best criminalist of all times and peoples, according to Voronov. - Yes, they can, according to my habits and manner of dressing or speaking, form some kind of idea about me. But!..

- What? - Nikita looked as if spellbound: he always considered Voronov the smartest opera.

“But I can pretend. I can change my habits every week. I can change my wardrobe. Answer, walk, speak differently! Nobody, Nikita, nobody can get into my brain and understand what is there!

- Why? Nikita blinked drunkenly.

- Because sometimes I myself do not know what is there. I don't know what I want, with whom I want and how I want! How can they? ..

- So how would you describe him, Voronov? - Samokhin sat down to him half-turned, caring little that he turned out to be with his back to the colonel. - Can I hear your wonderful thoughts on this matter?

Everyone was quiet again. Even the colonel wondered what he would answer.

Voronov got up, tugged at his tunic with a lower button dangling on one nozzle. As in a lesson - lifted his chin, stared out the window, muttered:

- My opinion is that he is physically normal. This creature even likes women. None of the victims showed signs of a struggle on their bodies. Nobody put them to sleep, did not turn them off by any means. They walked with him voluntarily. He is handsome! This is the first thing. Second: he knows how to observe. Long before the murder, he chooses a victim and leads her. Third: he knows how to frame a crime. The place is chosen in advance. One where there is no one, where no one bothers him. And it's always on the street! I dare to assume that he does not live alone. He may even have a family. Or he just doesn't want to shit at home. Therefore, the street. It's always just the street. Only vacant lots. He knows this city well. Fourth: he masterfully owns a knife. But not as a commando or a butcher. But as a person with medical skills.

- Are you saying that he is a doctor? - Samokhin gasped with indignation. - Are you really, or what, Voronov? During the day he cuts patients on the operating table, and at night on the street?

- Captain Samokhin! The colonel pulled back and made an imperious gesture with his hand. - Sit down properly.

Samokhin jerked abruptly in his chair, turned away from Voronov. A frightened glance darted towards the chief and immediately floated across the office, across the faces of those present - in search of support. But nobody reacted. Everyone listened to Voronov with interest.

“Go on, Voronov,” the colonel ordered.

- He can be a medical practitioner. Or maybe dismissed, deprived of practice. There could be an accident in his life, the death of a patient. Rather, the patient. It knocked him out. Or…

- Or? Why did you stop talking, Volodya? - the Colonel hastened.

He liked Voronov's thoughts. He considered his report to be a breakthrough. It was evident that the guy thought about all this not for a day or two. Despite the binges that happened, it is a sin to conceal, after the divorce from his wife.

“Or he liked it, Comrade Colonel. He might just enjoy it. A pleasure to kill! He could have killed the patient on purpose.

- What are we now, all the suspended doctors in the city to sand? - Samokhin was indignant. - Who pulled out a tooth wrongly, who took delivery unsuccessfully ... Do you know, Voronov, how many of them can there be? And if he came here as an accomplished freak?

“It’s necessary, Samokhin, so you’ll start looking all over the country,” the colonel sternly cut him off. And he turned to Volodya: - What have you already done in this direction?

“The guys are checking all the medical institutions, Comrade Colonel. So far to no avail. I cannot but agree with Captain Samokhin: this man could have come here from somewhere. And then…

- Then we can look for him for years. Until he gets caught. Or until we have a witness.

Attention! This is an introductory excerpt from the book.

If you like the beginning of the book, then full version can be purchased from our partner - distributor of legal content LLC "Liters".

© Romanova G.V., 2017

© Design. LLC "Publishing house" E ", 2017

Chapter 1

In this part of the city it was so deserted, so quiet and still, that everything seemed to be painted on an old rough canvas by a lover of ominous landscapes. No cars rustled, no rustle in the dead grass. No steps are heard. The powerful trunks of the old trees that led the narrow alley all the way to the river could hardly be seen in the darkness. A stone fence of the old park on the left, a lone lantern somewhere ahead. The light was barely guessed as a blur in the leaves of the tall poplars. The black eye sockets of the windows of the two-story old houses along the road looked like bottomless holes. For some reason, the neon sign of the pavilion where the fruit was sold during the day did not burn. Probably saving, she decided. Now everyone is saving.

Why did she turn here on this old street? How did you get into this abandoned world? It was bright and crowded where she came from. But there was no place for her even in the courtyard of her house. The carousel, on which she usually sat until midnight after each scandal with her husband, was occupied by a couple in love. And the bench under the old linden tree was also occupied. I had to walk away from the yard, then from the crowded street, where they walked, skated, laughed, smoked, drank beer. She walked for a long time, hardly noticing where she was going. And suddenly I found myself here. In the old town, where it was quiet, deserted, dusty and a little scary.

Why is she here? Do you want silence, loneliness? Or was it just her legs that carried her to the river by themselves? Why go there?

“And there, dear, you once became a woman,” whispered Arina bitterly. - And I didn’t regret it at all.

She regretted much later, when she married a man with whom she had lost her innocence. I really regretted it. Almost immediately. He turned out to be an outstanding lover, but a rather mediocre husband. His temperament, tenderness, tolerance and tirelessness, it turns out, were limited to the territory of the bed. As soon as he left this territory, he turned into an evil, unbalanced cattle. Because of him, because of this bastard, she was now wandering around the city in her slippers. She didn't even have time to put on her shoes - her husband flew at her from the kitchen with his fist raised to strike. She didn’t want to fight him, so she ran away.

- Overconfident bitch! Arrogant self-confident bitch! He yelled at her back as she raced down the stairs. - You should fail, you bastard!

She was not afraid of him. And she could easily fit on both shoulder blades. And then give it a good shot. She was strong, athletic. And although she almost abandoned the gym, she still retained a wonderful shape. A couple of weeks ago, when her faithful intended to once again teach her obedience, Arina threw him over herself with such force that he had to correct the back of a friend's chiropractor.

And what is disgusting: nothing could teach him to treat her with respect. He seemed to believe that, losing her innocence with him, Arina had lost her dignity.

“It won’t be like that,” Arina said firmly, rubbing a warming balm into her husband’s lower back. - I will not give in, Sash, do not think.

You dare not beat me. For these purposes, you had to look for another.

- I do not need another. I love you, - the husband muttered, burying his nose in the pillow.

- So love normally! Without these things of yours! Why?! Why do you need all this ?!

“You make me so angry sometimes, Arinka,” the husband admitted with a sigh and groaned when she pressed hard on the sore spot. - So sometimes you pissed off! Everything is perfect in bed with you and me. I just can't imagine who else I would feel so good with as with you. But it's worth getting out from under the covers ...

- What is wrong with me, Sasha?

Arina carefully turned her husband over onto his back, wrapped him up with a thick woolen blanket. She stroked his clean-shaven face. She ran her hand over his head. She loved that face. Swarthy, with a hard mouth line, brown eyes, a masculine graceful nose. When these eyes looked at her from the next pillow, they were filled with tenderness, passion, but how quickly it all disappeared, as soon as Arina and Sasha began to argue.

She repeated:

- What is wrong with me for you?

- I do not know. I can't figure it out, ”he said weakly after a pause. - Maybe ... Sometimes it seems to me that you are too smart for me, or what ?! You and I are sometimes like foreigners! As if we speak different languages! Body language is clear to you and me! And that's it! Then some kind of gibberish begins! ..

Abracadabra has been going on for almost ten years.

They met for five years. Everything was beautiful! Very nice! They could not breathe on each other, could not get enough of each other. They didn't even need to talk to each other. Everything seemed so simple and straightforward.

Five years later, they got married, and it turned out that they had nothing to talk about. More precisely, the need for dialogue arose constantly, but the dialogue did not work out. Quarrels ... Constant quarrels for the first three and a half years. Then Sasha began to try to raise his hand to her. She only forgave the first two slaps in the face. Then she began to give change. Once their fight attracted the attention of neighbors - two elderly sisters from the apartment opposite, and they called the police. Words cannot express how ashamed Arina was to answer the questions of the patrolmen who had arrived.

- Did you really hit him in the eye area ?! The senior sergeant repeated endlessly and shivered cautiously, looking at the enormous hematoma under Sashka's left eye.

- But can a woman do that? - the patrolman was surprised. - A weak woman ...

- I'm not a weak woman. I'm a master of sports, ”she answered with a sigh.

And I tried not to notice the prying eyes of the neighbors. Those who called the police did not deny themselves the pleasure of being present at the showdown. And they burst into their apartment with the patrolmen right in their night pajamas and shaggy sneakers with cat muzzles.

“Since you are a master of sports, you had no right to use your skills on your husband,” the senior sergeant said sternly. - You had no right to attack your husband!

- I didn't attack. I defended myself.

“But you don't have a single scratch. And the spouse has an injury! - and the sergeant turned to Sasha with the question: - Will you write a statement, victim?

- No. - Sashka shuddered. - Fucked up, or what ?! Anyway, Sergeant, take these two clowns and end this circus. We will figure it out ourselves ...

Since then, Arina began to run away from home. As soon as the atmosphere in their house heated up to the maximum permissible level and Sashka flew at her with his fists, she jumped out the door. And she sat on the merry-go-rounds until the light stopped burning in her windows. The extinguished light was a sign that Sashka had surrendered. Climbed under the covers. So there was no need to be afraid of losing the appearance of a weak, defenseless woman, turning into a fighter.

Today she will miss the moment of surrender. Favorite swing was busy. The bench under the old linden tree too. She will not return home in the dark at the right time. Will not fit under the covers of her husband while he is still awake. And he will not hug her carefully and will not whisper in her ear:

- Sorry, darling. For God's sake, forgive your monster ...

She sometimes did not know which of the two was more monstrous: he - who wants her obedience, or she does not want to obey.

Arina stepped carefully in house slippers with soft rubber soles along the alley. Her footsteps were not heard at all. She did not walk, but seemed to slide like a ghost. In this part of the city, all sounds seemed to have died. She felt uneasy. She seemed to be deaf in both ears. Silence, no life around.

Arina quickened her pace and after a few minutes clearly heard the splash of water. The river is nearby. In twenty meters there will be a descent to the river. On a steep slope, year after year, someone cut neat steps into the ground. They went down them with Sasha many years ago, when she decided for herself that everything was enough to torment him. Everything will happen today! She went down them more than once afterwards and without him. And a couple of months ago I was here. True, it was raining then and it was cool. Arina was freezing and did not sit for a long time on the overturned boat; she returned to the courtyard long before the lights went out in her windows.

It was quiet today, relatively warm for the beginning of autumn. Today she had time to listen to the lapping of the waves on the steep bank. Sasha was simply unrecognizable today. He just went crazy! He will not calm down soon.

The alley ended, the curb buried in a mound of sand and rubble. Three meters down the stairs. Arina climbed a mountain of rubble when she heard this.

Wheezing? Moan? Sob? Or a gurgle? Maybe someone is drowning? Or someone fell asleep in the bushes, densely overgrown along the shore, and snores?

She squatted down and froze. I listened. The strange sound was repeated. It was wheezing. Like wheezing, not snoring. But somehow strange. The one who wheezed as if choking. And he certainly wasn't drowning. The sound came from the bushes, not from the river. From the bushes, a couple of meters from the place where Arina was hiding.

“You see how everything is going well,” a man's voice suddenly rang out. Quiet, almost affectionate. - You thought that nothing would come of me, but everything worked out for me, girl.

Her heart pounded desperately. Does this person see her? Is he talking to her? Why does his voice sound familiar to her? It can't be Sasha! No! The voice seems familiar to her because the man speaks in a whisper! And in a whisper, all voices are alike. And he is definitely not addressing her - not to Arina, because afterwards the man whispered loudly enough:

- You're dying, girl, dying. This is your fate, yes. We don't choose her, do you understand? Someone chooses it for us. And someone chose for me ...

"A strange series of murders that swept through the city, we dare to assume that a maniac is walking along our streets ..."

The lines from the publications danced before her eyes. Her temples throbbed with such force that she was momentarily blinded. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

“They won't find you today, baby,” the murderer continued to whisper a couple of meters from Arina. - But they will certainly find it. You shouldn't look at me like that. Don't reproach me. It should be so. So it was necessary, understand. And then from there, from above, you will also say thank you to me. I did it for you, I made you happy! You will then understand that I made you happy! ..

The girl, who was dying very close by, almost quieted down, the wheezing with a strange gurgling stopped, and now Arina heard only a faint vulture. Soon he died down. And the terrible man went on talking, talking. He urged his victim to accept death as deliverance. He almost begged her and then burst into tears. Arina clearly heard his sobs and unintelligible babble. And then clothes rustled.

Is he changing clothes? Or he just takes off everything so that ... So what? Rape a dead body? She seems to have read something like that in the newspapers. All the victims found were throats cut and raped. Only it was not specified whether the killer did it before or after the girl stopped breathing.

After! He did it after!

She heard characteristic movements, his moans. And I understood that something had to be done! The moment was incredibly convenient. She could grab him. She is strong, sturdy, she is a master of sports. She will be able to grab him and take him to the station so that the terrible murders stop. So that young beautiful girls, and he chose just such, would stop dying. She did not need awards, and words of gratitude were also unnecessary. The only thing she thought about, standing up to her full height and making a desperate jump to the side where the terrible happened, was about Sasha.

Maybe he will now change his attitude towards her? Maybe a little respect will be added to his strange love now? And he will stop considering her uncontrollable, unbearable and rebellious?

It did not appear unnoticed. She had to push her way through the bushes, making an incredible noise, and that was enough for the killer to react. When Arina jumped out into a small clearing, he was already standing in full growth next to the body. Tall, muscular, naked. He stood, hiding from her with a heap of clothes. The moon was there to help her. Arina clearly saw how remarkably complex he was. And strong, she thought immediately. She will have to tinker, trying to knock him off his feet.

The man was young. And perhaps cute, but one could only guess about it. A black mask was pulled over the bastard's head, with slits for the eyes and mouth. In his early thirties, she thought, glancing over him once more, straining his muscles. And she made a careful lunge to the left. It was there, on the left, in the thickets of bushes, a gap was visible. Apparently, he came from there and intended to escape there.

- Stay where you are, you freak. - Arina took a stance, clenched her fists, habitually covering the lower part of her face.

- Brave! The killer whispered without moving.

- Which have! - Arina slowly, very slowly closed the distance between them. - Certainly not such an abomination as you!

She needed to come another meter for her blow to reach the target. But the killer knew about it too. Teeth flashed through the slit in the mask. He smiled.

“Don't, baby,” he asked in an affectionate whisper, standing motionless and not making a single attempt to escape or attack her. - Enough for me today. You will be superfluous. Besides, I don't like those brave like you.

- And what do you like, freak ?! - Arina clearly heard the grinding of her teeth.

- Lovely, pliable, uncomplaining. It's good and not troublesome with them. He seemed to be smiling again. - And with people like you, one hassle, believe me. It is impossible to convince or persuade people like you.

God! He now almost word for word repeated everything Sasha said in today's scandal! It is not clear why, but she again carefully examined the naked body of the killer.

No! Out of your mind, huh? This is not her husband's body! And the voice is not his! Although it is impossible to understand who this muffled whisper belongs to. The male whisper has almost no shades. It's just a man's whisper, and that's it!

- Why are you doing this to them, you bastard? - she gradually closed the distance, concentrating on his hands, busy trying not to drop his clothes. - Why are you killing them?

“It gives me pleasure,” he replied simply, and again seemed to smile. - And what gives you pleasure, baby? Where do you find incredible joy for yourself? Work? House? A family?

Honestly? His question caught her off guard. She could not immediately answer even to herself that for her in life there is true joy and pleasure. Work is work. It has always been a way for her to make money. What pleasure can there be in getting up on alarm clocks, rare weekends, constant unpaid overtime? Home, family? For the last two years, she sometimes did not want to return there. Sashka turned this sacred place into a battlefield, into a ring.

- Do you want me to answer for you? The murderer asked insinuatingly, and again his teeth gleamed in the slit of the mask. - Do you want me to tell you what makes you happy?

- Back off! - Arina cut him off abruptly and moved another ten centimeters, still covering her stomach with her elbows and her face with tightly clenched fists. - Get dressed, creature, now we go with you to the police.

He didn't seem to hear. He shook his head and laughed barely audibly.

- You, baby, love to win! This is your calling. You probably won't calm down until you put your man on the shoulder blades. A? I'm right? Defeat him in an argument! Defend your point of view! Make him agree with you! Force is the key word! This is your calling - to win!

- What makes you think that I generally have a man? - She rudely cut him off and decided that on the third exhalation she would kick him in the groin with her left leg, and hit him on the back of the head with her right hand when he bend over.

Bad thoughts were rolling in her head. This criminal bastard was well versed in psychology. He didn't know her. I probably didn’t know, but somehow very quickly and accurately compiled her psychological portrait, on the creation of which her husband was still desperately and fruitlessly working.

- What makes you think that I have a man? Am I lonely?

First inhale-exhale, complete concentration. The second inhale-exhale, longer, deeper.

- You have a ring, baby. Wedding ring.

A moment, a brief moment, she spent only a couple of seconds to mechanically open her right hand to her eyes and look at her ring finger. That's right, the ring was not there. She takes it off whenever she takes a shower. And leaves it on the shelf in the bathroom to put it on in the morning after taking a shower. Where is he from…

This couple of seconds, for which she so stupidly lost her vigilance, was enough for him. A sharp swing of a strong male leg, a push to the chest, which spread Arina on the ground. In the next instant, he was already sitting on her stomach, placing his feet on her knees and pressing her firmly. Heavy, bastard! Impossible to move! Her wrists were in his strong hands. His fingers felt like iron. One consolation - while his hands are busy, he will not be able to cut her throat. She won't let him! He would never allow himself to be done what he did to this poor girl, whose body was now cooling a meter away from her. She will fight for her life!

“You see, baby, how simple it is,” he whispered, tilting his face over hers. “All your strength and dexterity are useless. Everything fades before the banal curiosity of women. Even such invincible and strong-minded athletes lose, right?

- Let me in! - she fiddled under him, but it turned out badly. - Bloody brute! What, does not rise on the living, right? Do you need to bathe in someone's blood to get it out? You need no one to breathe under you, right? Buy yourself a rubber doll, you nasty pervert! Let me in!

“Wow…” His whisper turned angry, the pressure of his body impossible. - What a bad girl ... I'll have to punish you! We'll have to punish you for a long time. For a very long time ... And only then will you understand what real happiness is!

- And when ?! - She could hardly pronounce, it became more and more difficult for her to breathe. - When will I understand ?!

- When you know that tomorrow will come for you ...

Chapter 2

“We have one more…” The colonel tried to find a replacement for the word “corpse”, but nothing came to mind. “This is the fourth victim since May.

“Kills a girl a month,” someone helpful suggested.

The colonel did not understand who exactly, but it did not matter to him. He knew without prompts that this was so. The maniac went to work as scheduled.

He looked at Volodya Voronov. The best opera in his department. What will he say? How will he react to the news? Nothing, survived, did not start. The complexion of the best opera, however, did not please. Either he got sick, or got drunk yesterday, the latter is more likely. After Voronov's wife left, taking his son and everything that was in the house, he often drank for two or three days. True, I went to work regularly. But what's the use of this obligatory walk? There was no sense.

"Voronov, report," the colonel demanded harshly. The time has passed for pity and indulgence.

“The victim is a nineteen-year-old pedagogical student. Quiet, calm, not drinking.

- He does not dirty himself with whores, - the same prompter snorted angrily.

The colonel understood who it was. Samokhin, Ilya Valerievich Samokhin. Voronov's eternal opponent and foe. It is clear what he was doing. The signing of the order on the appointment of the head of the criminal investigation department was postponed and postponed. Voronov drank because, besides him, the colonel had no candidates. Samokhin, apparently, decided that he would fit, so he prompted, smart guy.

Voronov didn’t react, as if he hadn’t heard. He ran his hand through his short-cropped blond hair. The hand was shaking - a bad sign. So he drank yesterday, the colonel decided.

- I parted with my friends at the bus stop after watching a movie at the Maestro cinema. At half past ten in the evening, the friends got on the bus and left. Veronika Malakhova went on foot. She was a couple of blocks away from home. Friends say that she always did this.

- In terms of? - pretended not to understand Samokhin. - Walking alone at night?

- In the sense that I saw them off and walked home. Rather, to a rented apartment, - Voronov answered in a toneless voice. - The corner of her house was visible from a stop, according to the same classmates.

- Did you check? - the colonel specified.

That Voronov did not follow Samokhin's lead and did not become angry, he liked it. It means that it controls itself. Or is there no strength after yesterday's binge?

- Yes, - Voronov nodded. - The corner of the house is really visible from a stop. And walk down the lighted street there. There are a lot of people at this time, the session has just ended.

- Not bad already. What do we need to do? The colonel's long slender fingers traced the tabletop like a shot. - We need to check if there are cameras on this street. Sift everyone who followed her. Or towards. Or just stood there. Interview everyone who attended this session. It is necessary to contact the residents through the mass media.

"Already," Voronov nodded grimly. - The local crime channel will launch an announcement today. But…

- But what?

- I think he did not appear either in the cinema or under the cameras, Comrade Colonel. We have already worked in this direction - it's empty. He's very, very careful.

- But where could he catch her then? Near the entrance? At the apartment door? In the apartment itself?

- This is out of the question, Comrade Colonel. There is a camera at the entrance, it is impossible to enter unnoticed, plus there is a coded lock on the door. The code is confusing, the tenants did their best. In the apartment - is also excluded. Malakhova rented a room, lived with the hostess. She got worried and started calling her friends. And when I found out that they had parted for a long time, I called the police.

- I hope, in the light of recent events, she was not sent for three days?

“Not at all, Comrade Colonel,” Samokhin interrupted immediately. Wow, he twisted his thick neck towards the authorities at an unthinkable angle. - The outfit was sent, they examined the yard and all the approaches to it. Malakhov was not found. And no signs of a struggle in the yard either.

© Romanova G.V., 2017

© Design. LLC "Publishing house" E ", 2017

Chapter 1

In this part of the city it was so deserted, so quiet and still, that everything seemed to be painted on an old rough canvas by a lover of ominous landscapes. No cars rustled, no rustle in the dead grass. No steps are heard. The powerful trunks of the old trees that led the narrow alley all the way to the river could hardly be seen in the darkness. A stone fence of the old park on the left, a lone lantern somewhere ahead. The light was barely guessed as a blur in the leaves of the tall poplars. The black eye sockets of the windows of the two-story old houses along the road looked like bottomless holes. For some reason, the neon sign of the pavilion where the fruit was sold during the day did not burn. Probably saving, she decided. Now everyone is saving.

Why did she turn here on this old street? How did you get into this abandoned world? It was bright and crowded where she came from. But there was no place for her even in the courtyard of her house. The carousel, on which she usually sat until midnight after each scandal with her husband, was occupied by a couple in love. And the bench under the old linden tree was also occupied. I had to walk away from the yard, then from the crowded street, where they walked, skated, laughed, smoked, drank beer. She walked for a long time, hardly noticing where she was going. And suddenly I found myself here. In the old town, where it was quiet, deserted, dusty and a little scary.

Why is she here? Do you want silence, loneliness? Or was it just her legs that carried her to the river by themselves? Why go there?

“And there, dear, you once became a woman,” whispered Arina bitterly. - And I didn’t regret it at all.

She regretted much later, when she married a man with whom she had lost her innocence. I really regretted it. Almost immediately. He turned out to be an outstanding lover, but a rather mediocre husband. His temperament, tenderness, tolerance and tirelessness, it turns out, were limited to the territory of the bed. As soon as he left this territory, he turned into an evil, unbalanced cattle. Because of him, because of this bastard, she was now wandering around the city in her slippers. She didn't even have time to put on her shoes - her husband flew at her from the kitchen with his fist raised to strike. She didn’t want to fight him, so she ran away.

- Overconfident bitch! Arrogant self-confident bitch! He yelled at her back as she raced down the stairs. - You should fail, you bastard!

She was not afraid of him. And she could easily fit on both shoulder blades. And then give it a good shot. She was strong, athletic. And although she almost abandoned the gym, she still retained a wonderful shape. A couple of weeks ago, when her faithful intended to once again teach her obedience, Arina threw him over herself with such force that he had to correct the back of a friend's chiropractor.

And what is disgusting: nothing could teach him to treat her with respect. He seemed to believe that, losing her innocence with him, Arina had lost her dignity.

“It won’t be like that,” Arina said firmly, rubbing a warming balm into her husband’s lower back. - I will not give in, Sash, do not think. You dare not beat me. For these purposes, you had to look for another.

- I do not need another. I love you, - the husband muttered, burying his nose in the pillow.

- So love normally! Without these things of yours! Why?! Why do you need all this ?!

“You make me so angry sometimes, Arinka,” the husband admitted with a sigh and groaned when she pressed hard on the sore spot. - So sometimes you pissed off! Everything is perfect in bed with you and me. I just can't imagine who else I would feel so good with as with you. But it's worth getting out from under the covers ...

- What is wrong with me, Sasha?

Arina carefully turned her husband over onto his back, wrapped him up with a thick woolen blanket. She stroked his clean-shaven face. She ran her hand over his head. She loved that face. Swarthy, with a hard mouth line, brown eyes, a masculine graceful nose. When these eyes looked at her from the next pillow, they were filled with tenderness, passion, but how quickly it all disappeared, as soon as Arina and Sasha began to argue.

She repeated:

- What is wrong with me for you?

- I do not know. I can't figure it out, ”he said weakly after a pause. - Maybe ... Sometimes it seems to me that you are too smart for me, or what ?! You and I are sometimes like foreigners! As if we speak different languages! Body language is clear to you and me! And that's it! Then some kind of gibberish begins! ..

Abracadabra has been going on for almost ten years.

They met for five years. Everything was beautiful! Very nice! They could not breathe on each other, could not get enough of each other. They didn't even need to talk to each other. Everything seemed so simple and straightforward.

Five years later, they got married, and it turned out that they had nothing to talk about. More precisely, the need for dialogue arose constantly, but the dialogue did not work out. Quarrels ... Constant quarrels for the first three and a half years. Then Sasha began to try to raise his hand to her. She only forgave the first two slaps in the face. Then she began to give change. Once their fight attracted the attention of neighbors - two elderly sisters from the apartment opposite, and they called the police. Words cannot express how ashamed Arina was to answer the questions of the patrolmen who had arrived.

- Did you really hit him in the eye area ?! The senior sergeant repeated endlessly and shivered cautiously, looking at the enormous hematoma under Sashka's left eye.

- But can a woman do that? - the patrolman was surprised. - A weak woman ...

- I'm not a weak woman. I'm a master of sports, ”she answered with a sigh.

And I tried not to notice the prying eyes of the neighbors. Those who called the police did not deny themselves the pleasure of being present at the showdown. And they burst into their apartment with the patrolmen right in their night pajamas and shaggy sneakers with cat muzzles.

“Since you are a master of sports, you had no right to use your skills on your husband,” the senior sergeant said sternly. - You had no right to attack your husband!

- I didn't attack. I defended myself.

“But you don't have a single scratch. And the spouse has an injury! - and the sergeant turned to Sasha with the question: - Will you write a statement, victim?

- No. - Sashka shuddered. - Fucked up, or what ?! Anyway, Sergeant, take these two clowns and end this circus. We will figure it out ourselves ...

Since then, Arina began to run away from home. As soon as the atmosphere in their house heated up to the maximum permissible level and Sashka flew at her with his fists, she jumped out the door. And she sat on the merry-go-rounds until the light stopped burning in her windows. The extinguished light was a sign that Sashka had surrendered. Climbed under the covers. So there was no need to be afraid of losing the appearance of a weak, defenseless woman, turning into a fighter.

Today she will miss the moment of surrender. Favorite swing was busy. The bench under the old linden tree too. She will not return home in the dark at the right time. Will not fit under the covers of her husband while he is still awake. And he will not hug her carefully and will not whisper in her ear:

- Sorry, darling. For God's sake, forgive your monster ...

She sometimes did not know which of the two was more monstrous: he - who wants her obedience, or she does not want to obey.

Arina stepped carefully in house slippers with soft rubber soles along the alley. Her footsteps were not heard at all. She did not walk, but seemed to slide like a ghost. In this part of the city, all sounds seemed to have died. She felt uneasy. She seemed to be deaf in both ears. Silence, no life around.

Arina quickened her pace and after a few minutes clearly heard the splash of water. The river is nearby. In twenty meters there will be a descent to the river. On a steep slope, year after year, someone cut neat steps into the ground. They went down them with Sasha many years ago, when she decided for herself that everything was enough to torment him. Everything will happen today! She went down them more than once afterwards and without him. And a couple of months ago I was here. True, it was raining then and it was cool. Arina was freezing and did not sit for a long time on the overturned boat; she returned to the courtyard long before the lights went out in her windows.

It was quiet today, relatively warm for the beginning of autumn. Today she had time to listen to the lapping of the waves on the steep bank. Sasha was simply unrecognizable today. He just went crazy! He will not calm down soon.

The alley ended, the curb buried in a mound of sand and rubble. Three meters down the stairs. Arina climbed a mountain of rubble when she heard this.

Wheezing? Moan? Sob? Or a gurgle? Maybe someone is drowning? Or someone fell asleep in the bushes, densely overgrown along the shore, and snores?

She squatted down and froze. I listened. The strange sound was repeated. It was wheezing. Like wheezing, not snoring. But somehow strange. The one who wheezed as if choking. And he certainly wasn't drowning. The sound came from the bushes, not from the river. From the bushes, a couple of meters from the place where Arina was hiding.

“You see how everything is going well,” a man's voice suddenly rang out. Quiet, almost affectionate. - You thought that nothing would come of me, but everything worked out for me, girl.

Her heart pounded desperately. Does this person see her? Is he talking to her? Why does his voice sound familiar to her? It can't be Sasha! No! The voice seems familiar to her because the man speaks in a whisper! And in a whisper, all voices are alike. And he is definitely not addressing her - not to Arina, because afterwards the man whispered loudly enough:

- You're dying, girl, dying. This is your fate, yes. We don't choose her, do you understand? Someone chooses it for us. And someone chose for me ...

"A strange series of murders that swept through the city, we dare to assume that a maniac is walking along our streets ..."

The lines from the publications danced before her eyes. Her temples throbbed with such force that she was momentarily blinded. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

“They won't find you today, baby,” the murderer continued to whisper a couple of meters from Arina. - But they will certainly find it. You shouldn't look at me like that. Don't reproach me. It should be so. So it was necessary, understand. And then from there, from above, you will also say thank you to me. I did it for you, I made you happy! You will then understand that I made you happy! ..

The girl, who was dying very close by, almost quieted down, the wheezing with a strange gurgling stopped, and now Arina heard only a faint vulture. Soon he died down. And the terrible man went on talking, talking. He urged his victim to accept death as deliverance. He almost begged her and then burst into tears. Arina clearly heard his sobs and unintelligible babble. And then clothes rustled.

Is he changing clothes? Or he just takes off everything so that ... So what? Rape a dead body? She seems to have read something like that in the newspapers. All the victims found were throats cut and raped. Only it was not specified whether the killer did it before or after the girl stopped breathing.

After! He did it after!

She heard characteristic movements, his moans. And I understood that something had to be done! The moment was incredibly convenient. She could grab him. She is strong, sturdy, she is a master of sports. She will be able to grab him and take him to the station so that the terrible murders stop. So that young beautiful girls, and he chose just such, would stop dying. She did not need awards, and words of gratitude were also unnecessary. The only thing she thought about, standing up to her full height and making a desperate jump to the side where the terrible happened, was about Sasha.

Maybe he will now change his attitude towards her? Maybe a little respect will be added to his strange love now? And he will stop considering her uncontrollable, unbearable and rebellious?

It did not appear unnoticed. She had to push her way through the bushes, making an incredible noise, and that was enough for the killer to react. When Arina jumped out into a small clearing, he was already standing in full growth next to the body. Tall, muscular, naked. He stood, hiding from her with a heap of clothes. The moon was there to help her. Arina clearly saw how remarkably complex he was. And strong, she thought immediately. She will have to tinker, trying to knock him off his feet.

The man was young. And perhaps cute, but one could only guess about it. A black mask was pulled over the bastard's head, with slits for the eyes and mouth. In his early thirties, she thought, glancing over him once more, straining his muscles. And she made a careful lunge to the left. It was there, on the left, in the thickets of bushes, a gap was visible. Apparently, he came from there and intended to escape there.

- Stay where you are, you freak. - Arina took a stance, clenched her fists, habitually covering the lower part of her face.

- Brave! The killer whispered without moving.

- Which have! - Arina slowly, very slowly closed the distance between them. - Certainly not such an abomination as you!

She needed to come another meter for her blow to reach the target. But the killer knew about it too. Teeth flashed through the slit in the mask. He smiled.

“Don't, baby,” he asked in an affectionate whisper, standing motionless and not making a single attempt to escape or attack her. - Enough for me today. You will be superfluous. Besides, I don't like those brave like you.

- And what do you like, freak ?! - Arina clearly heard the grinding of her teeth.

- Lovely, pliable, uncomplaining. It's good and not troublesome with them. He seemed to be smiling again. - And with people like you, one hassle, believe me. It is impossible to convince or persuade people like you.

God! He now almost word for word repeated everything Sasha said in today's scandal! It is not clear why, but she again carefully examined the naked body of the killer.

No! Out of your mind, huh? This is not her husband's body! And the voice is not his! Although it is impossible to understand who this muffled whisper belongs to. The male whisper has almost no shades. It's just a man's whisper, and that's it!

- Why are you doing this to them, you bastard? - she gradually closed the distance, concentrating on his hands, busy trying not to drop his clothes. - Why are you killing them?

“It gives me pleasure,” he replied simply, and again seemed to smile. - And what gives you pleasure, baby? Where do you find incredible joy for yourself? Work? House? A family?

Honestly? His question caught her off guard. She could not immediately answer even to herself that for her in life there is true joy and pleasure. Work is work. It has always been a way for her to make money. What pleasure can there be in getting up on alarm clocks, rare weekends, constant unpaid overtime? Home, family? For the last two years, she sometimes did not want to return there. Sashka turned this sacred place into a battlefield, into a ring.

- Do you want me to answer for you? The murderer asked insinuatingly, and again his teeth gleamed in the slit of the mask. - Do you want me to tell you what makes you happy?

- Back off! - Arina cut him off abruptly and moved another ten centimeters, still covering her stomach with her elbows and her face with tightly clenched fists. - Get dressed, creature, now we go with you to the police.

He didn't seem to hear. He shook his head and laughed barely audibly.

- You, baby, love to win! This is your calling. You probably won't calm down until you put your man on the shoulder blades. A? I'm right? Defeat him in an argument! Defend your point of view! Make him agree with you! Force is the key word! This is your calling - to win!

- What makes you think that I generally have a man? - She rudely cut him off and decided that on the third exhalation she would kick him in the groin with her left leg, and hit him on the back of the head with her right hand when he bend over.

Bad thoughts were rolling in her head. This criminal bastard was well versed in psychology. He didn't know her. I probably didn’t know, but somehow very quickly and accurately compiled her psychological portrait, on the creation of which her husband was still desperately and fruitlessly working.

- What makes you think that I have a man? Am I lonely?

First inhale-exhale, complete concentration. The second inhale-exhale, longer, deeper.

- You have a ring, baby. Wedding ring.

A moment, a brief moment, she spent only a couple of seconds to mechanically open her right hand to her eyes and look at her ring finger. That's right, the ring was not there. She takes it off whenever she takes a shower. And leaves it on the shelf in the bathroom to put it on in the morning after taking a shower. Where is he from…

This couple of seconds, for which she so stupidly lost her vigilance, was enough for him. A sharp swing of a strong male leg, a push to the chest, which spread Arina on the ground. In the next instant, he was already sitting on her stomach, placing his feet on her knees and pressing her firmly. Heavy, bastard! Impossible to move! Her wrists were in his strong hands. His fingers felt like iron. One consolation - while his hands are busy, he will not be able to cut her throat. She won't let him! He would never allow himself to be done what he did to this poor girl, whose body was now cooling a meter away from her. She will fight for her life!

“You see, baby, how simple it is,” he whispered, tilting his face over hers. “All your strength and dexterity are useless. Everything fades before the banal curiosity of women. Even such invincible and strong-minded athletes lose, right?

- Let me in! - she fiddled under him, but it turned out badly. - Bloody brute! What, does not rise on the living, right? Do you need to bathe in someone's blood to get it out? You need no one to breathe under you, right? Buy yourself a rubber doll, you nasty pervert! Let me in!

“Wow…” His whisper turned angry, the pressure of his body impossible. - What a bad girl ... I'll have to punish you! We'll have to punish you for a long time. For a very long time ... And only then will you understand what real happiness is!

- And when ?! - She could hardly pronounce, it became more and more difficult for her to breathe. - When will I understand ?!

- When you know that tomorrow will come for you ...

Strong Woman's Law Galina Romanova

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Title: The Law of a Strong Woman

About the book "The Law of a Strong Woman" Galina Romanova

Men do not like strong women - it seems that this is what mothers still say to their daughters. Arina does not know how to be weak, timid, submissive, and more recently, her husband admired and was proud of her. Maybe he was just tired of this eternal duel, of a life like a ring in which you prove to yourself every day that you know how not to give up? But it is this power that will save Arina when she is in real danger. And it is the unwillingness to go to the knockout again that will make her husband become stronger - in order to finally learn to accept victories and defeats in any fight ...

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