The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (1979–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Episode #1.1 - full transcript
Vladimir Konkin as Sharapov
Vladimir Visotskiy as Zheglov
in
MEETING PLACE
SHOULD NOT BE CHANGED
Part 1
Could you tell me the way to Room 13?
- Here is the door.
- Shut up, Yerokhina. Don't you dare!
Come on...
Operative investigator, senior
lieutenant Sharapov reports for duty.
Well, hello, Sharapov.
People from HR have
already called me.
You are just the way
we thought you would be.
An ordinary man.
Well, right. And we need such
ordinary soldiers from the front.
Do you know what we do here?
Murders, gang wars, robberies.
It's all very serious, brother.
- Are you a scout? - Yes, sir. I was
a leader of a reconnaissance unit.
Then you'll get used to our work. We'll
send you to the training school in spring...
Sharapov!
Hi.
My name is Zheglov.
- Stay away from my table.
- I did a little work here.
I told the boy
about our department.
I see you have already made friends.
Sharapov, let me introduce this great man
to you. His name is Grisha Ushivin.
And his nick is "6x9".
He is an unsurpassed photographer
and a grandson to Baron Von Munchausen.
Hey, Zheglov, I am sick and tired of your
insults. Are you looking for trouble?
Good God, no! You may be promoted
to become our commanding officer.
- Have a seat, Sharapov. Sit down.
Anything new? - Senka...
He's one of our own. Meet Sharapov,
a new member of our team.
- Sharapov.
- Nikolay.
Senka Tuzik called me.
Gangsters have made an appointment.
Well, that's the way
it should be then.
Don't you worry, comrade captain.
Everything will be just perfect. A checker
will get crowned in a split of a second.
Well, Vekshin.
Calm down, Nikolay... Have a seat!
We summoned you from Yaroslavl...
...so that not a single man
could identify you.
We don't need any
improvisation, got it?
Got it.
And don't you play
any criminal elite.
You are a petty small fry,
an errand boy, right?
- Yes.
- Good.
Your boss wanted to know
if they are ready to rob a bank...
...where you've got an informer. Then
he'll meet them himself. Understood?
And what if they ask:
Why do you need us?
Because there are few of us.
And we've got only one gun.
And what if they ask
why the boss didn't show up?
And what if they lead cops to him?
Our boss is as smart as theirs.
You are not afraid of any cops
because you are clear.
And you can't tell any details
of this bank thing.
Because you don't know anything.
Well and why not
capture this gangster...
...and talk to him so that
he would tell us everything?
Well, well...
It's no front-line here,
my dear friend.
We don't need any prisoners
for interrogation.
Why so?
Because a prisoner you capture in
the war is an enemy and it's clear.
And here even if you seize a gangster,
...you should prove he's a criminal. Or
else he'll just walk away, cursing you.
But a prisoner must
answer our questions.
And we may prove his guilt later.
What would you do to a prisoner
who tells you nothing at the front?
Well, as they say,
according to the war-time regulations...
That's right. And why?
Because he is an enemy soldier
who turned his weapon against you.
- And his guilt is obvious, right?
- But a gangster is also armed, isn't he?
He may come to this meeting
unarmed.
And so what?
There is no records that
he is a gangster in his passport.
Just the opposite.
He's an honest citizen.
Living in some Crooked Alley.
And he's got a Moscow residence permit.
So try to catch him, can you?
- Have you got a gun?
- I always carry it with me.
You should leave it.
You won't need it there.
Well, as they say,
let's sit down before a long journey.
Well, Sharapov, it's a real
wonder of the world!
It's a self-propelled car.
It moves on its own.
- Come on, stop it.
- Let me introduce you to each other.
- Kopytin.
- Sharapov.
I need two more tires to the back...
...and "Ferdinand" would be
absolutely priceless.
Who?
The guys nicknamed the car.
They say it looks like a German
self-propelled gun. You saw them.
- Come on, Kopytin, let's go.
- Coming.
- Let's go.
- Well, come on...
Let's go!
A quarter to the hour...
He jumped off the rolling tram.
Well what's going on there?
They are saying good-bye
to each other.
Call the ambulance.
One moment, please.
Will you hold him?
Some fingerprints may be
left on the handle.
What is this "Black cat" gang?
We have been looking for
them for 2 years.
But we can't pick up their tracks.
If I were a novelist
I would write a book about it.
What is there to write about
if there are no tracks?
Well, there will be some.
Though they are really sly.
What do they do?
They loot shops,
...rich apartments, warehouses, banks.
And they stab and
shoot people for nothing.
Wherever they come,
...they draw a black cat
or leave a black kitten.
- Why so?
- They want to show off.
As though they are making fun of us.
It's their trademark.
All right.
Vanya Pasyuk, you'll take
Vekshin's body to Yaroslavl.
You'll bid him last farewell
on behalf of us all.
Try to console his mother.
Though is it really possible?
Damn it all!
Sharapov, Taraskin, tomorrow you'll
go on duty around the city with me.
And me?
Of course. What else
can I do with you?
And now go get some sleep.
Immediately.
Where can I get you
another 3 rubles?!
- Well, Volodya, can you believe it?
- Fighting again, are you?
He wants another three rubles!
Your personal policeman has arrived.
Come on, arrest me...
- Good morning, Mikhail Mikhailovich.
- Hello.
- He needs another 3 rubles in the morning.
- Would you like some potatoes with onions?
- He never stops drinking.
- This food is rich in vitamins.
Some poignancy and a public challenge
are the things I need in my life.
No, Mikhail Mikhailovich, let me give you
some omelet I made from an egg powder.
No, you need it more.
You are a young boy.
You must be constantly hungry, right?
Right. I really am.
Though you are not a boy anymore.
You were in the war.
You are a man.
- How old are you?
- 25.
25.
Venechka was younger than you.
You went to the war and he attended
his classes at the conservatoire.
I remember he bought flowers to his mother
every time he got his scholarship.
Who has ever bought flowers
in our apartment?
He was so myopic.
Are you happy?
Yes, I am. The war is over.
There are so many things to do.
I was also happy at your age.
My happiness was overwhelming.
And then it started shrinking
and shrinking...
And it became so tiny...
Like a calculus in a kidney.
Mikhail Mikhailovich, why torment
yourself living in Moscow all alone?
You have got relatives in Kiev.
You'd better move to them.
They are too old.
Old people should not live together.
They should stick to the young.
Then their existence
makes some sense.
Volodya, bring me your laundry.
I'll do it.
It's all right for now. Thanks.
Well, here you are, daredevils!
Hello, good morning.
Well stay away from the table.
Stay away.
Well, lucky boy, turn a little.
I'll shoot you for our paper.
And make an appropriate commentary.
Well, guys, why? Stop it.
- I did not do anything special.
- He's got so shy all of a sudden.
Your pretty eyes are not the reason
we want to take a picture of you.
It's a political thing.
Well, attention, please.
- Get ready, everybody. All right.
- Zheglov, come here.
Shooting!
Gleb! Gleb, come here! Quick!
Well, tell us how people
become millionaires.
You won't believe it.
I have already told the guys.
Yesterday I decided to check up the
results of the lottery to kill the time.
And so I see, the series
number is the same.
So I won 50 rubles. It's good.
- Well? - And I am afraid
to check up the card number.
No wonder. "And the rest
of the lottery cards have won..."
I put the paper aside
and went to have a smoke.
And my heart was banging.
So I called Zina.
- Which one?
- Well, she's my wife.
She's always lucky. So I told her:
Zina, check up the number.
And it was also the same.
Well, not everyone gets that lucky.
Life is no stupid.
You must have deserved this luck.
And how will you spend the money?
When you have got money,
you'll find a way to spend it.
No, Petyunya, tell us.
You know, you should approach it
seriously. I'd better think it over.
- For example, Fedya Melnikov.
- From the guards regiment...
Yes, he won a "ZIL-401" car
before the war.
- And so?
- He did a good thing.
He though it impossible
to have a personal car
in those hard times.
- Well... - Well, he donated it
to the Defense Assistance Society.
That's it.
The war is already over.
The state has arranged this lottery
to make the life of the people easier.
We suffered a lot during the war.
OK, comrade Zheglov.
And the Defense Assistance
society is long gone.
So, comrade Zheglov, you and I are smart
people and should understand it.
No, Solovyev, it's you who are smart.
And I was just passing by.
Operative Investigator
Sharapov speaking.
Yes, I can hear you.
What instructions
are you waiting for?
Catch the bastards red-handed
and that's it.
Hello! Operator, 37 department,
please.
Hello! Sharapov from
Moscow Criminal Police.
It's about that gold.
Don't you rush it...
You'd better not do it offhand.
I am just a novice here.
Well, don't rush it.
We might do something wrong.
I'll go and ask advice
from my colleagues.
Don't hang up. You hear me?
Don't try to make me pity you.
When you come to the restaurant
behave yourself.
And what were you doing?
You were shooting eyes at people,
making advances.
And then they started fighting over you,
broke the window, turned everything...
...upside down. You'd better go to school
not to the restaurants, Kuzina!
Taraskin, can I speak with you?
Kuzina, wait outside.
Workers found a jar with golden coins
in the wall and took them home.
I ordered to detain them.
All right.
The treasure...
...hidden in the ground
or in the wall...
...belongs solely
to the state.
Its misappropriation is illegal.
So you were right.
Kuzina, come in! Kuzina!
Yes.
On fire?
A wooden one?
A heavy fire?
You think it will burn down
before we arrive?
Until it's no criminal act,
we have nothing to do with it.
May brave fire brigade
work there.
It was a great idea
to split the directorate.
One department would fight gangsters,
the other one - pickpockets.
But they keep on flooding us
with some petty things.
And we've got no time
to think about real crimes.
Though we still work in the GFD - the
Gangsters Fighting Department, don't we?
Well, you see what
we have to do instead.
Have you studied all these books?
Well, more or less.
Justice demands accuracy, my dear.
Any wrong interpretation of the law
twists somebody's life.
- Wow.
- What did you graduate from?
Me? From a 9 year school
and 3 corridors of this building.
You study a lot quicker
investigating real criminal cases.
Hi, Petyunya,
wasting your time again?
Where did you get
this great sugar, Petyunya?
I don't remember it in our rations.
Well, confess, where
did you get the sugar?
Stop nagging me.
My sister-in-law sent it from Kokand.
- Oh...
- You are so pesky, Zheglov.
I am not pesky but fair.
No one gets that lucky but you.
You won the lottery.
And you have got
a great sister-in-law.
And what about us, Sharapov?
We are all alone in this world.
And a game of dominoes
is the only thing we win.
We do the godly work but
can't have a cup of good tea.
Now for the conclusion!
Be humane and not greedy.
Give us a little sugar.
Well, pour it and stop shaking.
You'll have more scattered around.
That's it.
Don't be impudent, Zheglov.
We didn't agree on bread.
Neither did we on sugar.
See you, Petyunya.
Cheer up, Sharapov!
You'll see, we'll do away
with these bastards,
And then we'll enter
some college to study a little.
- Do you know what they call
our business? - What is it?
It's jurisprudence.
All right.
Now go get some sleep.
I'll need you tomorrow morning,
young and handsome.
Where do you live?
In a hostel half an hour
by tram from here.
Listen, let's go to my place.
- And where do you live?
- Not far from here. It's Ordynka street.
Well done. It's a nice place.
Let's go, shall we?
They'll never let you have...
...a good night's sleep in the hostel.
It's noisy all the night through there.
If I had a chance, I would surely...
...sleep some 30 hours
in spite of any noise.
- By the way, have you got a shower?
- I have, but the water is cold
I don't give a damn. The water has been
out in the hostel for a week already.
Is there anyone else
living at your place?
No. And I'll let you sleep
on a nice sofa.
- Let's go, shall we?
- Yes.
Well, let's go.
I wish I had some cigarettes.
- Hi, soldier.
- Hello.
- Have you got a cigarette?
- Sure.
Can I have one, please?
Wow, a trophy of war.
No, these are from allies.
Really?
"Camel"
Thanks.
Why are you sitting here?
Have you got no place
to stay at night?
Let's go to my apartment.
There's enough room for everyone there.
Thanks. I've got one day
to spend in Moscow.
I want to see the city.
I saw Berlin and Warsaw
but I have never been to Moscow.
- Do you like it?
- It's a nice city.
High and huge.
- Well, see you then, soldier.
- Thanks, again.
He's got an accordion.
Good bye.
- All the best to you.
- Good bye.
- Well, we could not seize him... - Hush
or the neighbours would make a fuss.
Come in.
Wow, what a mansion.
It's a real mansion of a landlord.
Well, it's nice.
I tell you it's great.
Well, Sharapov, I'll stay here
for a week.
It's 10 minutes on foot
from our office.
And it's so stupid to waste
an hour and a half...
...to get there from my hostel, right?
Who is he, your dad?
Well, deal, Sharapov?
- Sharapov?
- Deal.
All right.
Listen, Gleb, why do you succeed
in everything no matter what you try?
I wish I could do it as well.
You should learn to work
with witnesses.
- With witnesses? Why?
- Of course.
Because even if the plans of
a criminal are absolutely secret,
...there is always some little man
who heard something...
...saw something, knows something,
...remembers or suspects someone.
And you have to get
this information out of him.
Gleb, and why can you...
...get this info out of a witness,
and, say, Kolya Taraskin can't?
Because Kolya Taraskin is too young.
And besides Kolya Taraskin
doesn't know...
...the 6 rules of Gleb Zheglov.
All right, I'll tell you.
Well, Rule 1.
Keep it in mind.
I won't repeat them.
Learn these rules by heart
like an army drill manual.
Speaking with the people,
...you should smile, got it?
They like it.
And if an operative can't penetrate
into the soul of a witness...
...he gets his rations
all for nothing.
- Got it?
- Yes.
Well, and now Rule 2.
You should be kind to the people...
...and try to induce them
to talk about themselves.
- And how can I do it?
- How can you do it?
You should use Rule 3.
Find a subject he is interested in.
It's not easy if he's
a complete stranger.
And then you should use Rule 4,
which reads:
Take a real interest in a witness.
Try to understand him,
learn his priorities.
Of course it's difficult.
You will sweat over doing this.
But in case you manage
he will tell you everything.
Well, Senka Tuzik, for instance.
He assembled crystal receivers.
And I... Thanks.
I gave him some induction coils.
It's all right with the boots.
And in return he...
In return for this...
In return for this he...
Shot in the head. You may begin.
Taraskin, get some witnesses!
Quickly!
Then ask the neighbours. They
may have seen or heard something.
Don't touch anything!
Larochka was so talented.
She dreamt of becoming an actress.
So she went to the drama theater
to work as a costumier.
She took drama lessons
in her spare time.
She learnt all the parts by heart.
- And so...
- Have you seen her long ago?
- What do you do, Nadya?
- Why do you want to know?
- I am a ticket collector in the metro.
- Do you get tired?
- Yes.
- You hardly see your sister.
And you just call her, right?
I called her yesterday. She had a tough
conversation with some visitor.
Do you think so?
- Or did she tell you about it?
- Yes she told me herself
that she's got a tough conversation
and asked me to call back.
When was it?
About 7 p.m. My shift ends at 7.
And who is her husband?
You see they got separated.
Really? Why?
- How can I put it?
- Just the way it really is.
- Ivan Sergeyevich is a doctor.
- Right.
He didn't approve of Larochka's passion
for the theater.
For the theater.
You can't go in there.
Have a seat, please.
So, the passion for the theater.
What else?
You know, the theater life
is subject to specific laws.
- It's hard for you to grasp it.
- Well, I'll try.
- The performances end late at night.
- Right.
She had late dinners, flowers.
- And admirers, right?
- Yes, probably.
But don't think
it is that serious.
Though lvan Sergeyevich
could not put up...
...with a most innocent flirt.
Did they get divorced?
- No, they didn't have time to do it.
- Why?
Larochka didn't want to rush it.
And lvan Sergeyevich
never insisted on it.
- Especially since...
- Especially since what?
It's not my idle curiosity, Nadyusha.
I need to know all the circumstances to
capture the murderer as soon as possible.
I understand but I don't keep
anything back.
I know it.
- Ivan Sergeyevich found
some other woman. - Right.
And Larochka didn't like it
though she no longer loved him.
- Gleb.
- Right.
Have a look. What
an interesting note.
Please.
Thank you.
Can we continue?
Do you suspect anybody?
My God, who can I possibly suspect?
Gruzdev lvan Sergeyevich,
for instance.
If I got it right, Larisa
did not agree to divorce him...
...and he wanted to marry another woman?
- No, you are wrong.
Ivan Sergeyevich is not capable
of such a thing.
He 's a good man.
Well, Nadya, I wish I could foresee
people's capabilities.
What about their relationship lately?
- Their relationship?
- Yes.
Is it possible when people are about
to get divorced?
- All right. So they hardly got along.
- No.
Though their relations
were far from ideal.
But Larisa told me that
intellectuals get divorced...
...in their own way.
- What does it mean?
- Their divorces are peaceful
and without any rows. - So what?
Lvan Sergeyevich kept on...
...getting food for Larisa.
He gave her money,
...paid her rent.
- Does this apartment belong to him?
- Yes, it does.
- Right.
When they got separated,
...lvan Sergeyevich
thought it improper...
...for Larochka to move to my place.
And so he went to his
new wife, right?
They rent some room in Losinka.
So the newlyweds have got no apartment
of their own and they rent a room, right?
What did they plan to do next?
They wanted to exchange this apartment
for two communal flats.
Do you recognize this handwriting?
Lara, why don't you answer me? Make up
your mind, or I'll take care of it myself.
- Ivan Sergeyevich wrote it.
- Do you know what he meant here?
I think it's about the exchange.
He found something but Larochka...
...was not satisfied. - She didn't
want to arrange the exchange herself.
- No, she wasn't that practical. - Does
he threaten her here? What would you say?
- No, why?
- Don't rush it. Think it over.
You know what.
Come in the room and
have a look around.
Probably something has disappeared.
Or just the opposite.
Some new things have probably arrived.
Please.
Hi to the public prosecutor.
- Hello, Gleb Georgiyevich.
- Hello, Pavel Vladimirovich.
- Glad to see you, Sergey lpatyevich.
- Hi, Zheglov.
Well, let's proceed.
- Yes, it's high time.
- Let's start with it then.
Right.
Sharapov, write it down.
The room is examined in the daytime,
...the weather is dull,
the illumination is natural.
The room is rectangular, with
a bay window and 3 regular windows.
Its size is 6.70 by 3.50.
The entrance door, the windows
in the room and in the kitchen...
...bear no signs of breaking.
Well, Gleb Georgiyevich,
here is the bullet. Your opinion.
What would you say, scout?
It's an ordinary bullet
from a handgun.
- I wish we found the case. - Finding
the handgun would be even better.
Right. So.
The bullet was shot
from a foreign handgun.
The caliber is 6,35. It's "Bayard"
or, maybe "Omega".
- What suggests so?
- The bullet does, Sergey lpatyevich.
6 vertical marks to the left.
Here they are.
- The feature is quite unique.
- And what would you say?
- Judging from the marks,
the case is Soviet-made. - Is it?
- Where did you find it? - To the left
of the body where it should be.
- The slide worked well.
- Yes, it's a domestic case.
Well, one more riddle to solve.
And still we must find the gun.
- Nadya, did they keep some weapons
at home? - I don't know.
There is a round table
in the center of the room...
...with a 0,75 I bottle of Azerbaijan
wine "Kurdamir" on it.
There are 2 glasses with the wine,
...a bar of chocolate
with a piece bitten off,
...a crystal ash-tray...
...with 3 "Deli" cigarette-butts with
the cigarette paper specifically squeezed.
The room is tidy, there are
no signs of any disorder.
The sister of the deceased declared that
all the belongings are at their places.
There are things I can't find.
She had a large yellow suitcase.
I can't find anywhere.
- And what about personal belongings?
- Some of them are also gone.
The seal-like fur-coat,
a red velvet dress.
- Write it down, Sharapov.
- Writing.
- A dark blue suit.
- Right.
And some jewelry is gone.
What jewelry did she have?
- A gold watch, earrings with turquoise,
and a snake. - What snake?
It's a silver bracelet.
A snake with an emerald eye.
Right. A precious ring
she got from our granny.
- Did she wear it?
- Yes.
- Did the deceased wear a ring?
- No.
- Please, don't cry now.
- Gleb Georgiyevich, here they are.
Have a look.
- "Bayard"! - That's right.
But all the cartridges are here.
That's OK. We'll keep on looking and
find something, right, Sergey lpatyevich?
And you, Sharapov, never give way
to despair. Quit this bad habit.
Ivan is looking through the letters.
Go help him.
- These are personal letters.
- It doesn't matter now.
They may give us a lead.
Read them all, Sharapov.
You'll summarize them for me later.
Citizen Gruzdev is here. Comrade
Lieutenant Colonel, may I come in?
You have already.
What?
What is it?
Nadya, Nadya, Nadya!
My God, what a disaster!
It's awful. Nadya, Nadya,
later, Nadya.
Nadya!
What?
- Why are you looking at me in such a way?
- In what way? I'm just looking.
No. You are looking at me
as if you suspect me.
Let's quit it, citizen.
And let's not get distracted.
Don't touch it!
Tell me when was the last time
you saw the victim?
Some 10 days ago.
- Where?
- Here.
We were about to exchange the apartment.
I got some new proposals.
We shall check it up.
Ivan Sergeyevich,
do you suspect anyone?
One should have grounds for suspicion.
I've got none.
Probably, there is some person
we should check up?
What do you think?
Unfortunately, a lot of such people
have been at Larisa's side lately.
Nadya, I warned her.
This Melpomena life
would lead to no good.
You mean her company at the theater?
What about your living conditions?
Are they all right?
They are not, they are not!
But it has nothing to do with this case.
Who knows...
Have you got a gun?
No.
- It can't be... I didn't think about it.
- What didn't you think about?
Is it?
I was awarded with a gun.
Did they shoot her with it?
- Did you find it?
- Show the place where you kept it.
Here.
- It's gone.
- And when did you take it?
I didn't take it, believe me.
OK.
And do you recognize this thing?
Citizen Gruzdev,
does your wife smoke?
Or did she - to be more precise?
Did she smoke cigarettes?
No, she could not stand a smoke.
I always went to the kitchen.
- Then how would you explain...
- Wait a minute.
Citizen Gruzdev, you live with another
woman. Would you give me her address?
I hope, you're not going to interrogate
her. She's got nothing to do...
We'll see. Sharapov, write it down.
Will you dictate it?
Losinka, Bebel street, 12.
But please don't tell our landlady.
We want to stay there.
- You must consider it.
- I can't promise you a thing now.
- Excuse me...
- We began the investigation. Zheglov!
OK, I am leaving. When you finish here,
come to my office.
Excuse me, I'm no expert,
but it seems to me that...
...you are paying too much attention to
my humble self. And the work has stopped.
Why you? We investigate
the murder the way we should.
You try to take me in?
You are suspecting me.
Nonsense.
Did she smoke or did she not? Is it my gun?
Now you will take the cigarette-butts.
Don't you worry so much,
comrade Gruzdev.
We understand you and even feel sorry for
you. But you should also understand us.
We don't work for pleasure.
We'll check everything out.
Sharapov, come on, I'll give you
some instructions.
Don't get angry, lvan Sergeyevich.
You'd better help our man to check,
if everything is in place.
OK, legal eagle! Enough for your
wise questions for now, got it?
You are Number 16 here. Shut up and
watch. Right? Shut up, I tell you.
You saw the cigarettes. Great.
I also did but I gave no sign of it.
And keep it in mind, my dearest.
- Inquiries cost dearly in our trade.
- And what...
You should ask questions at the proper
time, to shoot the bull's eye out, got it?
Well, it's not that easy.
I'll explain it to you later.
And for now watch the others, take
good notes and follow me. Got it?
- Yes, sir, comrade Captain.
- That's good.
- And let's keep from any improvisation,
deal? - Yes, sir.
Grisha Ushivin got some handsome there.
Let's have a look, shall we?
All right, so I was coming back.
I entered the front door...
...and saw lvan Sergeyevich
going down the stairs.
So we met.
I saluted him and he told me:
"Hello, Fyodor".
Comrades, why are crowding here?
Go to the stairwell,
Comrade, would you go to the kitchen
with us, if it's all right with you?
Well, I... No problem,
comrade commander, anywhere you want.
This way.
Have a seat, comrade.
- Have a seat, please.
- Thanks a lot.
- So when was it?
- Yesterday in the evening.
I just woke up after the night shift.
- Put the potatoes to boil...
- Comrade, we are from...
...the Gangsters Fighting Department. My
name is Zheglov. You must have heard it.
And I am Lipatnikov.
Fyodor Petrovich.
Comrade Lipatnikov, we should clear up
the question of an utmost importance.
I see, you are a conscientious man
that's why you should be very precise.
Here is my question:
...Fyodor Petrovich, are you sure?
Was it yesterday or
probably some days ago?
Why, no, comrade Zheglov.
I am a sober man,
...and not good-for-nothing
like the others.
As they say I never confuse
today and yesterday.
- It was yesterday, I swear.
- All right. And when did you meet him?
I can't tell you that.
Excuse me I don't know.
And I don't need it. There is no clock
at my place. That one broke down...
- I can't find the time to fix it.
- Then how do you wake up to go to work?
I never miss it.
I have always gotten up with a lark.
Besides the radio is on.
I get up in time.
- It will never let you miss the work.
- Is it on around the clock?
Yes, it doesn't bother me.
No one switches it off,
so it's constantly on.
I see.
Fyodor Petrovich,
...do you remember what was
on the radio when you met Gruzdev?
It was a football game.
A broadcast from the "Dynamo" stadium.
So you and me are football fans.
Fyodor Petrovich, what half was it?
Sorry, I am not interested in football.
I just heard it over the radio.
Fyodor Petrovich, Grinin moving forward,
delivers a blow...
No, the football game
was already over.
- Are you sure it was over?
- Yes, I am.
- Well, absolutely sure?
- It was over.
They said that the football game is over
and started playing some music.
Grisha, who played yesterday?
Red Army vs. "Dynamo". We won 3:1.
- They had to score the fourth one, but
the penalty kick... - Wait a minute.
The game started at 17:00. Two 45 min.
Halves plus 15 minutes... Around 7 p.m.
- So you met Gruzdev around 7 o'clock,
right? - Yes, I think so.
Do you get it, Sharapov?
Nadya called Larisa at the same time
and she asked her sister...
...to call back because she's got something
important to discuss with some visitor.
Right. And who was that visitor
she talked to?
Comrade Gruzdev, try to remember
where you were at 7 p.m. Yesterday?
- Yesterday at 7 p.m. I was at home.
- At home?
I mean, in Losinka.
You are just wasting your time with me.
And the investigators got informed that
yesterday at 7 p.m. You were here.
Stop it! The investigators...
You want to shut a person in
no matter who he is.
You shouldn't put it this way. The
neighbours saw you at 7 p.m. Why deny it?
They saw me at 4 p.m.
And not at 7 p.m.
Really? But before that you told me
that you came here 10 days ago.
- I didn't say it.
- What do you mean you didn't say it?
I said that I saw Larisa 10 days ago.
- And what about yesterday? - I didn't
see her yesterday. She was out.
Can they confirm in Losinka that you
were at home yesterday all day long?
- Of course.
- Who can?
Both my wife and my landlady
if you wish.
- Are they at home right now?
- I hope so. Where else can they be?
All right.
We should seal the apartment.
Finish your work.
Let me have a key, lvan Sergeyevich.
But I don't have it, of course.
Try to understand
that a decent man...
...would not keep keys from
the apartment of an estranged woman.
An estranged one, you get it?
And again you shouldn't say it
in such a way, lvan Sergeyevich.
You have to go with us
to 38, Petrovka street.
We need to clear it up.
This way, citizen!
Vanya!
Get a search warrant
in the prosecutor's office.
Then go to Losinka.
Turn his house upside down,
take anything we might use.
Especially his personal letters.
Understand?
Ask the landlady and his wife
what he was busy doing yesterday.
Every minute, all the day long.
Then trot back. Got it?
All right. Come on.
Please come in.
Kolya! Come in, have a seat.
Sit at the table, please.
Sit down.
Please write down all the details...
...of your relationship
with Larisa Gruzdeva.
And give me your ideas
on her murder.
Well, I also want to know...
...about her friends -
the people you know.
Besides that, write down
what you were busy doing yesterday.
Every minute of every hour.
The relationship with Larisa
is my private life.
As for her new friends, spare me.
Find some other people
ready to inform you against her.
Look here! You are no informer.
You are a witness to the murder.
At least for now.
And you must give the information
the investigators need!
So write it down.
What shall I call this paper
and who shall I address it to?
Address it to the Chief
of Moscow Police.
If he tells a lie, it would be
the general he deceives.
Hope, he'll be clever enough
not to do it.
- What would you say about Gruzdev?
- He did it. No doubt.
The evidence is obvious.
He is a nervous and weak guy.
Soon enough he'll break down...
...and make a confession.
I made tougher guys speak out.
I remember one fellow
feigned a robbery.
When we came to his place,
his wife was dead.
He was in the neigbouring room.
Tied and gagged.
The place was in a mess.
All the valuables were gone.
He started crying. "I can't live
without her. I'll kill myself."
- And then... Here you are.
- Thanks.
That's it.
- And then?
- Then?
Then I learnt that he's got a mistress.
I suspected him.
And so I told him right in his face: "Why
did you kill your significant other?"
I wish you could see
what happened to him.
He sent complaints against me
to everybody. Including M.I. Kalinin.
- And what about you?
- And what about me?
I arrested him so that
he calmed down.
And kept him without any
interrogations for 5 days.
Meanwhile I got his mistress talking.
She bought a house.
But where did she get the money?
She tried to lie
but soon she confessed.
Her lover gave her
30 thousand rubles.
Vanya.
Any news?
Here is the search report.
And here are the interrogation notes.
Anything interesting?
Nothing special.
His wife said that...
...he came home at 18:00.
And the landlady?
The landlady said that last time
she saw him in the morning.
And it was quiet in their room
in the evening.
That's all. He went to the station in the
morning. And she didn't see him anymore.
- So he wasn't there.
- And what about his wife?
You are so naive. Is there any wife who
wouldn't make an alibi for her husband?
- And what else "nothing special"
did you find? - Here it is. All right.
- I don't get it.
- What don't you get?
How could an educated man,
an intellectual,
...and a doctor kill his wife?
Well, an ex-wife.
Why? For some
lousy apartment?
Not out of jealousy or malice,
but for an apartment.
Vanya, have a look, if this writer
has finished his book.
Taraskin.
Listen, I can't understand it.
All Larisa's valuables are gone.
- The jewelry...
- So what?
What? It does not make any sense.
Sharapov, there are no
unprecedented crimes.
Somewhere something like that
has already happened to somebody.
That's the basis of our work.
The similarity of the circumstances.
The same motives.
The same tricks.
Here you are. It all happened...
...not once or twice.
A man catches his wife with a lover.
He goes out of his mind, his heart
jumps out. Bang, bang - 2 corpses.
Then he calms down and runs here
to make a confession: "Well, people,
...arrest me. I killed my own wife."
And sometimes it's just
the other way round.
A man thinks it all over. He knows what
to do, the way to avert the suspicion...
...or to direct it to somebody else,
which is much worse.
He prepares everything, kills a man
in cold blood and hides away.
"I don't know a thing
and I can't help you, people."
"But you, dear investigators,
do your best...
...And find the murderer of my dear
and the love of my life."
So he took the staff away
to feign a robbery.
Good thinking, Sharapov.
Maybe he doesn't need these things.
But he wants to mislead us.
And maybe he needs them.
You know, I thought about it
when they found the gun.
Some other man would get rid of it...
...lt's evidence.
But he hid it away.
So he is anxious about things,
he takes care of them.
Besides that, Nadya said...
...Larisa wore a ring of a great value
on her finger.
She inherited it from her granny.
Here it is.
- It's not much you have written.
- I've got work to do.
- May I go?
- No!
OK, I see, citizen,
...that you don't want
to tell us the truth.
Pity. Everything happened
some other way.
You aggravate your fault
with all these lies.
Dare you not speak to me this way!
I am no thief!
I heard that you treat them
with undue familiarity here.
But I am a doctor! After all...
I am a MD.
- I will file a complaint!
- A complaint?!
Well I have already heard about it.
Many times.
As for the thief...
You are right. You are no thief.
You killed this woman.
Yes. I got it.
Got it.
Come on, guys.
A night guard from a warehouse called. He
went to warm himself to the street cleaner...
...opposite his warehouse. When
he came back, the lock was in place...
...but the light was
on inside the warehouse.
Well, he didn't come in, of course.
- He saw someone is inside, so
he called us. - The Black cat.
God knows. To the right here.
Turn off the lights.
Quiet. Get ready with your guns.
Vanya, do you remember
about your money?
- What money?
- Well, if I learn once again...
...that you hide a 100 rubble banknote in
the barrel of your gun, you are in trouble.
Gleb Yegorovich, I can't hide
a thing from her.
She should work with us
with her intuition.
Last time I hid it in the holster.
She found it!
The gun is the only thing
she is still afraid of.
OK, shut up.
- Where are they?
- There. There, boys.
- Are there any other exits?
- There is a street door.
Sharapov! Wait in the street at the
office. All the rest, follow me.
Is the lock intact?!
End of part 1
Vladimir Visotskiy as Zheglov
in
MEETING PLACE
SHOULD NOT BE CHANGED
Part 1
Could you tell me the way to Room 13?
- Here is the door.
- Shut up, Yerokhina. Don't you dare!
Come on...
Operative investigator, senior
lieutenant Sharapov reports for duty.
Well, hello, Sharapov.
People from HR have
already called me.
You are just the way
we thought you would be.
An ordinary man.
Well, right. And we need such
ordinary soldiers from the front.
Do you know what we do here?
Murders, gang wars, robberies.
It's all very serious, brother.
- Are you a scout? - Yes, sir. I was
a leader of a reconnaissance unit.
Then you'll get used to our work. We'll
send you to the training school in spring...
Sharapov!
Hi.
My name is Zheglov.
- Stay away from my table.
- I did a little work here.
I told the boy
about our department.
I see you have already made friends.
Sharapov, let me introduce this great man
to you. His name is Grisha Ushivin.
And his nick is "6x9".
He is an unsurpassed photographer
and a grandson to Baron Von Munchausen.
Hey, Zheglov, I am sick and tired of your
insults. Are you looking for trouble?
Good God, no! You may be promoted
to become our commanding officer.
- Have a seat, Sharapov. Sit down.
Anything new? - Senka...
He's one of our own. Meet Sharapov,
a new member of our team.
- Sharapov.
- Nikolay.
Senka Tuzik called me.
Gangsters have made an appointment.
Well, that's the way
it should be then.
Don't you worry, comrade captain.
Everything will be just perfect. A checker
will get crowned in a split of a second.
Well, Vekshin.
Calm down, Nikolay... Have a seat!
We summoned you from Yaroslavl...
...so that not a single man
could identify you.
We don't need any
improvisation, got it?
Got it.
And don't you play
any criminal elite.
You are a petty small fry,
an errand boy, right?
- Yes.
- Good.
Your boss wanted to know
if they are ready to rob a bank...
...where you've got an informer. Then
he'll meet them himself. Understood?
And what if they ask:
Why do you need us?
Because there are few of us.
And we've got only one gun.
And what if they ask
why the boss didn't show up?
And what if they lead cops to him?
Our boss is as smart as theirs.
You are not afraid of any cops
because you are clear.
And you can't tell any details
of this bank thing.
Because you don't know anything.
Well and why not
capture this gangster...
...and talk to him so that
he would tell us everything?
Well, well...
It's no front-line here,
my dear friend.
We don't need any prisoners
for interrogation.
Why so?
Because a prisoner you capture in
the war is an enemy and it's clear.
And here even if you seize a gangster,
...you should prove he's a criminal. Or
else he'll just walk away, cursing you.
But a prisoner must
answer our questions.
And we may prove his guilt later.
What would you do to a prisoner
who tells you nothing at the front?
Well, as they say,
according to the war-time regulations...
That's right. And why?
Because he is an enemy soldier
who turned his weapon against you.
- And his guilt is obvious, right?
- But a gangster is also armed, isn't he?
He may come to this meeting
unarmed.
And so what?
There is no records that
he is a gangster in his passport.
Just the opposite.
He's an honest citizen.
Living in some Crooked Alley.
And he's got a Moscow residence permit.
So try to catch him, can you?
- Have you got a gun?
- I always carry it with me.
You should leave it.
You won't need it there.
Well, as they say,
let's sit down before a long journey.
Well, Sharapov, it's a real
wonder of the world!
It's a self-propelled car.
It moves on its own.
- Come on, stop it.
- Let me introduce you to each other.
- Kopytin.
- Sharapov.
I need two more tires to the back...
...and "Ferdinand" would be
absolutely priceless.
Who?
The guys nicknamed the car.
They say it looks like a German
self-propelled gun. You saw them.
- Come on, Kopytin, let's go.
- Coming.
- Let's go.
- Well, come on...
Let's go!
A quarter to the hour...
He jumped off the rolling tram.
Well what's going on there?
They are saying good-bye
to each other.
Call the ambulance.
One moment, please.
Will you hold him?
Some fingerprints may be
left on the handle.
What is this "Black cat" gang?
We have been looking for
them for 2 years.
But we can't pick up their tracks.
If I were a novelist
I would write a book about it.
What is there to write about
if there are no tracks?
Well, there will be some.
Though they are really sly.
What do they do?
They loot shops,
...rich apartments, warehouses, banks.
And they stab and
shoot people for nothing.
Wherever they come,
...they draw a black cat
or leave a black kitten.
- Why so?
- They want to show off.
As though they are making fun of us.
It's their trademark.
All right.
Vanya Pasyuk, you'll take
Vekshin's body to Yaroslavl.
You'll bid him last farewell
on behalf of us all.
Try to console his mother.
Though is it really possible?
Damn it all!
Sharapov, Taraskin, tomorrow you'll
go on duty around the city with me.
And me?
Of course. What else
can I do with you?
And now go get some sleep.
Immediately.
Where can I get you
another 3 rubles?!
- Well, Volodya, can you believe it?
- Fighting again, are you?
He wants another three rubles!
Your personal policeman has arrived.
Come on, arrest me...
- Good morning, Mikhail Mikhailovich.
- Hello.
- He needs another 3 rubles in the morning.
- Would you like some potatoes with onions?
- He never stops drinking.
- This food is rich in vitamins.
Some poignancy and a public challenge
are the things I need in my life.
No, Mikhail Mikhailovich, let me give you
some omelet I made from an egg powder.
No, you need it more.
You are a young boy.
You must be constantly hungry, right?
Right. I really am.
Though you are not a boy anymore.
You were in the war.
You are a man.
- How old are you?
- 25.
25.
Venechka was younger than you.
You went to the war and he attended
his classes at the conservatoire.
I remember he bought flowers to his mother
every time he got his scholarship.
Who has ever bought flowers
in our apartment?
He was so myopic.
Are you happy?
Yes, I am. The war is over.
There are so many things to do.
I was also happy at your age.
My happiness was overwhelming.
And then it started shrinking
and shrinking...
And it became so tiny...
Like a calculus in a kidney.
Mikhail Mikhailovich, why torment
yourself living in Moscow all alone?
You have got relatives in Kiev.
You'd better move to them.
They are too old.
Old people should not live together.
They should stick to the young.
Then their existence
makes some sense.
Volodya, bring me your laundry.
I'll do it.
It's all right for now. Thanks.
Well, here you are, daredevils!
Hello, good morning.
Well stay away from the table.
Stay away.
Well, lucky boy, turn a little.
I'll shoot you for our paper.
And make an appropriate commentary.
Well, guys, why? Stop it.
- I did not do anything special.
- He's got so shy all of a sudden.
Your pretty eyes are not the reason
we want to take a picture of you.
It's a political thing.
Well, attention, please.
- Get ready, everybody. All right.
- Zheglov, come here.
Shooting!
Gleb! Gleb, come here! Quick!
Well, tell us how people
become millionaires.
You won't believe it.
I have already told the guys.
Yesterday I decided to check up the
results of the lottery to kill the time.
And so I see, the series
number is the same.
So I won 50 rubles. It's good.
- Well? - And I am afraid
to check up the card number.
No wonder. "And the rest
of the lottery cards have won..."
I put the paper aside
and went to have a smoke.
And my heart was banging.
So I called Zina.
- Which one?
- Well, she's my wife.
She's always lucky. So I told her:
Zina, check up the number.
And it was also the same.
Well, not everyone gets that lucky.
Life is no stupid.
You must have deserved this luck.
And how will you spend the money?
When you have got money,
you'll find a way to spend it.
No, Petyunya, tell us.
You know, you should approach it
seriously. I'd better think it over.
- For example, Fedya Melnikov.
- From the guards regiment...
Yes, he won a "ZIL-401" car
before the war.
- And so?
- He did a good thing.
He though it impossible
to have a personal car
in those hard times.
- Well... - Well, he donated it
to the Defense Assistance Society.
That's it.
The war is already over.
The state has arranged this lottery
to make the life of the people easier.
We suffered a lot during the war.
OK, comrade Zheglov.
And the Defense Assistance
society is long gone.
So, comrade Zheglov, you and I are smart
people and should understand it.
No, Solovyev, it's you who are smart.
And I was just passing by.
Operative Investigator
Sharapov speaking.
Yes, I can hear you.
What instructions
are you waiting for?
Catch the bastards red-handed
and that's it.
Hello! Operator, 37 department,
please.
Hello! Sharapov from
Moscow Criminal Police.
It's about that gold.
Don't you rush it...
You'd better not do it offhand.
I am just a novice here.
Well, don't rush it.
We might do something wrong.
I'll go and ask advice
from my colleagues.
Don't hang up. You hear me?
Don't try to make me pity you.
When you come to the restaurant
behave yourself.
And what were you doing?
You were shooting eyes at people,
making advances.
And then they started fighting over you,
broke the window, turned everything...
...upside down. You'd better go to school
not to the restaurants, Kuzina!
Taraskin, can I speak with you?
Kuzina, wait outside.
Workers found a jar with golden coins
in the wall and took them home.
I ordered to detain them.
All right.
The treasure...
...hidden in the ground
or in the wall...
...belongs solely
to the state.
Its misappropriation is illegal.
So you were right.
Kuzina, come in! Kuzina!
Yes.
On fire?
A wooden one?
A heavy fire?
You think it will burn down
before we arrive?
Until it's no criminal act,
we have nothing to do with it.
May brave fire brigade
work there.
It was a great idea
to split the directorate.
One department would fight gangsters,
the other one - pickpockets.
But they keep on flooding us
with some petty things.
And we've got no time
to think about real crimes.
Though we still work in the GFD - the
Gangsters Fighting Department, don't we?
Well, you see what
we have to do instead.
Have you studied all these books?
Well, more or less.
Justice demands accuracy, my dear.
Any wrong interpretation of the law
twists somebody's life.
- Wow.
- What did you graduate from?
Me? From a 9 year school
and 3 corridors of this building.
You study a lot quicker
investigating real criminal cases.
Hi, Petyunya,
wasting your time again?
Where did you get
this great sugar, Petyunya?
I don't remember it in our rations.
Well, confess, where
did you get the sugar?
Stop nagging me.
My sister-in-law sent it from Kokand.
- Oh...
- You are so pesky, Zheglov.
I am not pesky but fair.
No one gets that lucky but you.
You won the lottery.
And you have got
a great sister-in-law.
And what about us, Sharapov?
We are all alone in this world.
And a game of dominoes
is the only thing we win.
We do the godly work but
can't have a cup of good tea.
Now for the conclusion!
Be humane and not greedy.
Give us a little sugar.
Well, pour it and stop shaking.
You'll have more scattered around.
That's it.
Don't be impudent, Zheglov.
We didn't agree on bread.
Neither did we on sugar.
See you, Petyunya.
Cheer up, Sharapov!
You'll see, we'll do away
with these bastards,
And then we'll enter
some college to study a little.
- Do you know what they call
our business? - What is it?
It's jurisprudence.
All right.
Now go get some sleep.
I'll need you tomorrow morning,
young and handsome.
Where do you live?
In a hostel half an hour
by tram from here.
Listen, let's go to my place.
- And where do you live?
- Not far from here. It's Ordynka street.
Well done. It's a nice place.
Let's go, shall we?
They'll never let you have...
...a good night's sleep in the hostel.
It's noisy all the night through there.
If I had a chance, I would surely...
...sleep some 30 hours
in spite of any noise.
- By the way, have you got a shower?
- I have, but the water is cold
I don't give a damn. The water has been
out in the hostel for a week already.
Is there anyone else
living at your place?
No. And I'll let you sleep
on a nice sofa.
- Let's go, shall we?
- Yes.
Well, let's go.
I wish I had some cigarettes.
- Hi, soldier.
- Hello.
- Have you got a cigarette?
- Sure.
Can I have one, please?
Wow, a trophy of war.
No, these are from allies.
Really?
"Camel"
Thanks.
Why are you sitting here?
Have you got no place
to stay at night?
Let's go to my apartment.
There's enough room for everyone there.
Thanks. I've got one day
to spend in Moscow.
I want to see the city.
I saw Berlin and Warsaw
but I have never been to Moscow.
- Do you like it?
- It's a nice city.
High and huge.
- Well, see you then, soldier.
- Thanks, again.
He's got an accordion.
Good bye.
- All the best to you.
- Good bye.
- Well, we could not seize him... - Hush
or the neighbours would make a fuss.
Come in.
Wow, what a mansion.
It's a real mansion of a landlord.
Well, it's nice.
I tell you it's great.
Well, Sharapov, I'll stay here
for a week.
It's 10 minutes on foot
from our office.
And it's so stupid to waste
an hour and a half...
...to get there from my hostel, right?
Who is he, your dad?
Well, deal, Sharapov?
- Sharapov?
- Deal.
All right.
Listen, Gleb, why do you succeed
in everything no matter what you try?
I wish I could do it as well.
You should learn to work
with witnesses.
- With witnesses? Why?
- Of course.
Because even if the plans of
a criminal are absolutely secret,
...there is always some little man
who heard something...
...saw something, knows something,
...remembers or suspects someone.
And you have to get
this information out of him.
Gleb, and why can you...
...get this info out of a witness,
and, say, Kolya Taraskin can't?
Because Kolya Taraskin is too young.
And besides Kolya Taraskin
doesn't know...
...the 6 rules of Gleb Zheglov.
All right, I'll tell you.
Well, Rule 1.
Keep it in mind.
I won't repeat them.
Learn these rules by heart
like an army drill manual.
Speaking with the people,
...you should smile, got it?
They like it.
And if an operative can't penetrate
into the soul of a witness...
...he gets his rations
all for nothing.
- Got it?
- Yes.
Well, and now Rule 2.
You should be kind to the people...
...and try to induce them
to talk about themselves.
- And how can I do it?
- How can you do it?
You should use Rule 3.
Find a subject he is interested in.
It's not easy if he's
a complete stranger.
And then you should use Rule 4,
which reads:
Take a real interest in a witness.
Try to understand him,
learn his priorities.
Of course it's difficult.
You will sweat over doing this.
But in case you manage
he will tell you everything.
Well, Senka Tuzik, for instance.
He assembled crystal receivers.
And I... Thanks.
I gave him some induction coils.
It's all right with the boots.
And in return he...
In return for this...
In return for this he...
Shot in the head. You may begin.
Taraskin, get some witnesses!
Quickly!
Then ask the neighbours. They
may have seen or heard something.
Don't touch anything!
Larochka was so talented.
She dreamt of becoming an actress.
So she went to the drama theater
to work as a costumier.
She took drama lessons
in her spare time.
She learnt all the parts by heart.
- And so...
- Have you seen her long ago?
- What do you do, Nadya?
- Why do you want to know?
- I am a ticket collector in the metro.
- Do you get tired?
- Yes.
- You hardly see your sister.
And you just call her, right?
I called her yesterday. She had a tough
conversation with some visitor.
Do you think so?
- Or did she tell you about it?
- Yes she told me herself
that she's got a tough conversation
and asked me to call back.
When was it?
About 7 p.m. My shift ends at 7.
And who is her husband?
You see they got separated.
Really? Why?
- How can I put it?
- Just the way it really is.
- Ivan Sergeyevich is a doctor.
- Right.
He didn't approve of Larochka's passion
for the theater.
For the theater.
You can't go in there.
Have a seat, please.
So, the passion for the theater.
What else?
You know, the theater life
is subject to specific laws.
- It's hard for you to grasp it.
- Well, I'll try.
- The performances end late at night.
- Right.
She had late dinners, flowers.
- And admirers, right?
- Yes, probably.
But don't think
it is that serious.
Though lvan Sergeyevich
could not put up...
...with a most innocent flirt.
Did they get divorced?
- No, they didn't have time to do it.
- Why?
Larochka didn't want to rush it.
And lvan Sergeyevich
never insisted on it.
- Especially since...
- Especially since what?
It's not my idle curiosity, Nadyusha.
I need to know all the circumstances to
capture the murderer as soon as possible.
I understand but I don't keep
anything back.
I know it.
- Ivan Sergeyevich found
some other woman. - Right.
And Larochka didn't like it
though she no longer loved him.
- Gleb.
- Right.
Have a look. What
an interesting note.
Please.
Thank you.
Can we continue?
Do you suspect anybody?
My God, who can I possibly suspect?
Gruzdev lvan Sergeyevich,
for instance.
If I got it right, Larisa
did not agree to divorce him...
...and he wanted to marry another woman?
- No, you are wrong.
Ivan Sergeyevich is not capable
of such a thing.
He 's a good man.
Well, Nadya, I wish I could foresee
people's capabilities.
What about their relationship lately?
- Their relationship?
- Yes.
Is it possible when people are about
to get divorced?
- All right. So they hardly got along.
- No.
Though their relations
were far from ideal.
But Larisa told me that
intellectuals get divorced...
...in their own way.
- What does it mean?
- Their divorces are peaceful
and without any rows. - So what?
Lvan Sergeyevich kept on...
...getting food for Larisa.
He gave her money,
...paid her rent.
- Does this apartment belong to him?
- Yes, it does.
- Right.
When they got separated,
...lvan Sergeyevich
thought it improper...
...for Larochka to move to my place.
And so he went to his
new wife, right?
They rent some room in Losinka.
So the newlyweds have got no apartment
of their own and they rent a room, right?
What did they plan to do next?
They wanted to exchange this apartment
for two communal flats.
Do you recognize this handwriting?
Lara, why don't you answer me? Make up
your mind, or I'll take care of it myself.
- Ivan Sergeyevich wrote it.
- Do you know what he meant here?
I think it's about the exchange.
He found something but Larochka...
...was not satisfied. - She didn't
want to arrange the exchange herself.
- No, she wasn't that practical. - Does
he threaten her here? What would you say?
- No, why?
- Don't rush it. Think it over.
You know what.
Come in the room and
have a look around.
Probably something has disappeared.
Or just the opposite.
Some new things have probably arrived.
Please.
Hi to the public prosecutor.
- Hello, Gleb Georgiyevich.
- Hello, Pavel Vladimirovich.
- Glad to see you, Sergey lpatyevich.
- Hi, Zheglov.
Well, let's proceed.
- Yes, it's high time.
- Let's start with it then.
Right.
Sharapov, write it down.
The room is examined in the daytime,
...the weather is dull,
the illumination is natural.
The room is rectangular, with
a bay window and 3 regular windows.
Its size is 6.70 by 3.50.
The entrance door, the windows
in the room and in the kitchen...
...bear no signs of breaking.
Well, Gleb Georgiyevich,
here is the bullet. Your opinion.
What would you say, scout?
It's an ordinary bullet
from a handgun.
- I wish we found the case. - Finding
the handgun would be even better.
Right. So.
The bullet was shot
from a foreign handgun.
The caliber is 6,35. It's "Bayard"
or, maybe "Omega".
- What suggests so?
- The bullet does, Sergey lpatyevich.
6 vertical marks to the left.
Here they are.
- The feature is quite unique.
- And what would you say?
- Judging from the marks,
the case is Soviet-made. - Is it?
- Where did you find it? - To the left
of the body where it should be.
- The slide worked well.
- Yes, it's a domestic case.
Well, one more riddle to solve.
And still we must find the gun.
- Nadya, did they keep some weapons
at home? - I don't know.
There is a round table
in the center of the room...
...with a 0,75 I bottle of Azerbaijan
wine "Kurdamir" on it.
There are 2 glasses with the wine,
...a bar of chocolate
with a piece bitten off,
...a crystal ash-tray...
...with 3 "Deli" cigarette-butts with
the cigarette paper specifically squeezed.
The room is tidy, there are
no signs of any disorder.
The sister of the deceased declared that
all the belongings are at their places.
There are things I can't find.
She had a large yellow suitcase.
I can't find anywhere.
- And what about personal belongings?
- Some of them are also gone.
The seal-like fur-coat,
a red velvet dress.
- Write it down, Sharapov.
- Writing.
- A dark blue suit.
- Right.
And some jewelry is gone.
What jewelry did she have?
- A gold watch, earrings with turquoise,
and a snake. - What snake?
It's a silver bracelet.
A snake with an emerald eye.
Right. A precious ring
she got from our granny.
- Did she wear it?
- Yes.
- Did the deceased wear a ring?
- No.
- Please, don't cry now.
- Gleb Georgiyevich, here they are.
Have a look.
- "Bayard"! - That's right.
But all the cartridges are here.
That's OK. We'll keep on looking and
find something, right, Sergey lpatyevich?
And you, Sharapov, never give way
to despair. Quit this bad habit.
Ivan is looking through the letters.
Go help him.
- These are personal letters.
- It doesn't matter now.
They may give us a lead.
Read them all, Sharapov.
You'll summarize them for me later.
Citizen Gruzdev is here. Comrade
Lieutenant Colonel, may I come in?
You have already.
What?
What is it?
Nadya, Nadya, Nadya!
My God, what a disaster!
It's awful. Nadya, Nadya,
later, Nadya.
Nadya!
What?
- Why are you looking at me in such a way?
- In what way? I'm just looking.
No. You are looking at me
as if you suspect me.
Let's quit it, citizen.
And let's not get distracted.
Don't touch it!
Tell me when was the last time
you saw the victim?
Some 10 days ago.
- Where?
- Here.
We were about to exchange the apartment.
I got some new proposals.
We shall check it up.
Ivan Sergeyevich,
do you suspect anyone?
One should have grounds for suspicion.
I've got none.
Probably, there is some person
we should check up?
What do you think?
Unfortunately, a lot of such people
have been at Larisa's side lately.
Nadya, I warned her.
This Melpomena life
would lead to no good.
You mean her company at the theater?
What about your living conditions?
Are they all right?
They are not, they are not!
But it has nothing to do with this case.
Who knows...
Have you got a gun?
No.
- It can't be... I didn't think about it.
- What didn't you think about?
Is it?
I was awarded with a gun.
Did they shoot her with it?
- Did you find it?
- Show the place where you kept it.
Here.
- It's gone.
- And when did you take it?
I didn't take it, believe me.
OK.
And do you recognize this thing?
Citizen Gruzdev,
does your wife smoke?
Or did she - to be more precise?
Did she smoke cigarettes?
No, she could not stand a smoke.
I always went to the kitchen.
- Then how would you explain...
- Wait a minute.
Citizen Gruzdev, you live with another
woman. Would you give me her address?
I hope, you're not going to interrogate
her. She's got nothing to do...
We'll see. Sharapov, write it down.
Will you dictate it?
Losinka, Bebel street, 12.
But please don't tell our landlady.
We want to stay there.
- You must consider it.
- I can't promise you a thing now.
- Excuse me...
- We began the investigation. Zheglov!
OK, I am leaving. When you finish here,
come to my office.
Excuse me, I'm no expert,
but it seems to me that...
...you are paying too much attention to
my humble self. And the work has stopped.
Why you? We investigate
the murder the way we should.
You try to take me in?
You are suspecting me.
Nonsense.
Did she smoke or did she not? Is it my gun?
Now you will take the cigarette-butts.
Don't you worry so much,
comrade Gruzdev.
We understand you and even feel sorry for
you. But you should also understand us.
We don't work for pleasure.
We'll check everything out.
Sharapov, come on, I'll give you
some instructions.
Don't get angry, lvan Sergeyevich.
You'd better help our man to check,
if everything is in place.
OK, legal eagle! Enough for your
wise questions for now, got it?
You are Number 16 here. Shut up and
watch. Right? Shut up, I tell you.
You saw the cigarettes. Great.
I also did but I gave no sign of it.
And keep it in mind, my dearest.
- Inquiries cost dearly in our trade.
- And what...
You should ask questions at the proper
time, to shoot the bull's eye out, got it?
Well, it's not that easy.
I'll explain it to you later.
And for now watch the others, take
good notes and follow me. Got it?
- Yes, sir, comrade Captain.
- That's good.
- And let's keep from any improvisation,
deal? - Yes, sir.
Grisha Ushivin got some handsome there.
Let's have a look, shall we?
All right, so I was coming back.
I entered the front door...
...and saw lvan Sergeyevich
going down the stairs.
So we met.
I saluted him and he told me:
"Hello, Fyodor".
Comrades, why are crowding here?
Go to the stairwell,
Comrade, would you go to the kitchen
with us, if it's all right with you?
Well, I... No problem,
comrade commander, anywhere you want.
This way.
Have a seat, comrade.
- Have a seat, please.
- Thanks a lot.
- So when was it?
- Yesterday in the evening.
I just woke up after the night shift.
- Put the potatoes to boil...
- Comrade, we are from...
...the Gangsters Fighting Department. My
name is Zheglov. You must have heard it.
And I am Lipatnikov.
Fyodor Petrovich.
Comrade Lipatnikov, we should clear up
the question of an utmost importance.
I see, you are a conscientious man
that's why you should be very precise.
Here is my question:
...Fyodor Petrovich, are you sure?
Was it yesterday or
probably some days ago?
Why, no, comrade Zheglov.
I am a sober man,
...and not good-for-nothing
like the others.
As they say I never confuse
today and yesterday.
- It was yesterday, I swear.
- All right. And when did you meet him?
I can't tell you that.
Excuse me I don't know.
And I don't need it. There is no clock
at my place. That one broke down...
- I can't find the time to fix it.
- Then how do you wake up to go to work?
I never miss it.
I have always gotten up with a lark.
Besides the radio is on.
I get up in time.
- It will never let you miss the work.
- Is it on around the clock?
Yes, it doesn't bother me.
No one switches it off,
so it's constantly on.
I see.
Fyodor Petrovich,
...do you remember what was
on the radio when you met Gruzdev?
It was a football game.
A broadcast from the "Dynamo" stadium.
So you and me are football fans.
Fyodor Petrovich, what half was it?
Sorry, I am not interested in football.
I just heard it over the radio.
Fyodor Petrovich, Grinin moving forward,
delivers a blow...
No, the football game
was already over.
- Are you sure it was over?
- Yes, I am.
- Well, absolutely sure?
- It was over.
They said that the football game is over
and started playing some music.
Grisha, who played yesterday?
Red Army vs. "Dynamo". We won 3:1.
- They had to score the fourth one, but
the penalty kick... - Wait a minute.
The game started at 17:00. Two 45 min.
Halves plus 15 minutes... Around 7 p.m.
- So you met Gruzdev around 7 o'clock,
right? - Yes, I think so.
Do you get it, Sharapov?
Nadya called Larisa at the same time
and she asked her sister...
...to call back because she's got something
important to discuss with some visitor.
Right. And who was that visitor
she talked to?
Comrade Gruzdev, try to remember
where you were at 7 p.m. Yesterday?
- Yesterday at 7 p.m. I was at home.
- At home?
I mean, in Losinka.
You are just wasting your time with me.
And the investigators got informed that
yesterday at 7 p.m. You were here.
Stop it! The investigators...
You want to shut a person in
no matter who he is.
You shouldn't put it this way. The
neighbours saw you at 7 p.m. Why deny it?
They saw me at 4 p.m.
And not at 7 p.m.
Really? But before that you told me
that you came here 10 days ago.
- I didn't say it.
- What do you mean you didn't say it?
I said that I saw Larisa 10 days ago.
- And what about yesterday? - I didn't
see her yesterday. She was out.
Can they confirm in Losinka that you
were at home yesterday all day long?
- Of course.
- Who can?
Both my wife and my landlady
if you wish.
- Are they at home right now?
- I hope so. Where else can they be?
All right.
We should seal the apartment.
Finish your work.
Let me have a key, lvan Sergeyevich.
But I don't have it, of course.
Try to understand
that a decent man...
...would not keep keys from
the apartment of an estranged woman.
An estranged one, you get it?
And again you shouldn't say it
in such a way, lvan Sergeyevich.
You have to go with us
to 38, Petrovka street.
We need to clear it up.
This way, citizen!
Vanya!
Get a search warrant
in the prosecutor's office.
Then go to Losinka.
Turn his house upside down,
take anything we might use.
Especially his personal letters.
Understand?
Ask the landlady and his wife
what he was busy doing yesterday.
Every minute, all the day long.
Then trot back. Got it?
All right. Come on.
Please come in.
Kolya! Come in, have a seat.
Sit at the table, please.
Sit down.
Please write down all the details...
...of your relationship
with Larisa Gruzdeva.
And give me your ideas
on her murder.
Well, I also want to know...
...about her friends -
the people you know.
Besides that, write down
what you were busy doing yesterday.
Every minute of every hour.
The relationship with Larisa
is my private life.
As for her new friends, spare me.
Find some other people
ready to inform you against her.
Look here! You are no informer.
You are a witness to the murder.
At least for now.
And you must give the information
the investigators need!
So write it down.
What shall I call this paper
and who shall I address it to?
Address it to the Chief
of Moscow Police.
If he tells a lie, it would be
the general he deceives.
Hope, he'll be clever enough
not to do it.
- What would you say about Gruzdev?
- He did it. No doubt.
The evidence is obvious.
He is a nervous and weak guy.
Soon enough he'll break down...
...and make a confession.
I made tougher guys speak out.
I remember one fellow
feigned a robbery.
When we came to his place,
his wife was dead.
He was in the neigbouring room.
Tied and gagged.
The place was in a mess.
All the valuables were gone.
He started crying. "I can't live
without her. I'll kill myself."
- And then... Here you are.
- Thanks.
That's it.
- And then?
- Then?
Then I learnt that he's got a mistress.
I suspected him.
And so I told him right in his face: "Why
did you kill your significant other?"
I wish you could see
what happened to him.
He sent complaints against me
to everybody. Including M.I. Kalinin.
- And what about you?
- And what about me?
I arrested him so that
he calmed down.
And kept him without any
interrogations for 5 days.
Meanwhile I got his mistress talking.
She bought a house.
But where did she get the money?
She tried to lie
but soon she confessed.
Her lover gave her
30 thousand rubles.
Vanya.
Any news?
Here is the search report.
And here are the interrogation notes.
Anything interesting?
Nothing special.
His wife said that...
...he came home at 18:00.
And the landlady?
The landlady said that last time
she saw him in the morning.
And it was quiet in their room
in the evening.
That's all. He went to the station in the
morning. And she didn't see him anymore.
- So he wasn't there.
- And what about his wife?
You are so naive. Is there any wife who
wouldn't make an alibi for her husband?
- And what else "nothing special"
did you find? - Here it is. All right.
- I don't get it.
- What don't you get?
How could an educated man,
an intellectual,
...and a doctor kill his wife?
Well, an ex-wife.
Why? For some
lousy apartment?
Not out of jealousy or malice,
but for an apartment.
Vanya, have a look, if this writer
has finished his book.
Taraskin.
Listen, I can't understand it.
All Larisa's valuables are gone.
- The jewelry...
- So what?
What? It does not make any sense.
Sharapov, there are no
unprecedented crimes.
Somewhere something like that
has already happened to somebody.
That's the basis of our work.
The similarity of the circumstances.
The same motives.
The same tricks.
Here you are. It all happened...
...not once or twice.
A man catches his wife with a lover.
He goes out of his mind, his heart
jumps out. Bang, bang - 2 corpses.
Then he calms down and runs here
to make a confession: "Well, people,
...arrest me. I killed my own wife."
And sometimes it's just
the other way round.
A man thinks it all over. He knows what
to do, the way to avert the suspicion...
...or to direct it to somebody else,
which is much worse.
He prepares everything, kills a man
in cold blood and hides away.
"I don't know a thing
and I can't help you, people."
"But you, dear investigators,
do your best...
...And find the murderer of my dear
and the love of my life."
So he took the staff away
to feign a robbery.
Good thinking, Sharapov.
Maybe he doesn't need these things.
But he wants to mislead us.
And maybe he needs them.
You know, I thought about it
when they found the gun.
Some other man would get rid of it...
...lt's evidence.
But he hid it away.
So he is anxious about things,
he takes care of them.
Besides that, Nadya said...
...Larisa wore a ring of a great value
on her finger.
She inherited it from her granny.
Here it is.
- It's not much you have written.
- I've got work to do.
- May I go?
- No!
OK, I see, citizen,
...that you don't want
to tell us the truth.
Pity. Everything happened
some other way.
You aggravate your fault
with all these lies.
Dare you not speak to me this way!
I am no thief!
I heard that you treat them
with undue familiarity here.
But I am a doctor! After all...
I am a MD.
- I will file a complaint!
- A complaint?!
Well I have already heard about it.
Many times.
As for the thief...
You are right. You are no thief.
You killed this woman.
Yes. I got it.
Got it.
Come on, guys.
A night guard from a warehouse called. He
went to warm himself to the street cleaner...
...opposite his warehouse. When
he came back, the lock was in place...
...but the light was
on inside the warehouse.
Well, he didn't come in, of course.
- He saw someone is inside, so
he called us. - The Black cat.
God knows. To the right here.
Turn off the lights.
Quiet. Get ready with your guns.
Vanya, do you remember
about your money?
- What money?
- Well, if I learn once again...
...that you hide a 100 rubble banknote in
the barrel of your gun, you are in trouble.
Gleb Yegorovich, I can't hide
a thing from her.
She should work with us
with her intuition.
Last time I hid it in the holster.
She found it!
The gun is the only thing
she is still afraid of.
OK, shut up.
- Where are they?
- There. There, boys.
- Are there any other exits?
- There is a street door.
Sharapov! Wait in the street at the
office. All the rest, follow me.
Is the lock intact?!
End of part 1