"Telegram from the Other World" by the Vainer brothers, summary Automatic translate

This book is a profound psychological detective story, written by Arkady and Georgy Vainer in 1986. The story is part of the well-known series about investigator Tikhonov. The plot focuses on the moral degradation of society rather than a bloody crime. The authors show how an ordinary piece of paper becomes the weapon of cold-blooded murder. The work explores the limits of human conscience and indifference.

In 2016, the story of the ill-fated dispatch was successfully adapted into a film. The eighth episode of the Russian television series "Investigator Tikhonov" was based on the story.

The Death of an Old Teacher

Moscow criminal investigator Stanislav Tikhonov is awakened by a phone call. Before awakening, he has a vivid dream of levitation and telekinesis. His sense of omnipotence ends abruptly. Larisa, the daughter of his former schoolteacher, Nikolai Ivanovich Korostylev, tearfully reports the death of her father. The seventy-three-year-old man died of a heart attack. She repeats into the phone, "He was killed." Tikhonov travels to the town of Ruzayevo near Moscow with his friend Galya. The investigator experiences the profound grief of loss. For many years, Korostylev had been a father figure to him, teaching him the fundamental truths of life.

The investigator arrives in Ruzayevo after the funeral. At the cemetery, he meets a young teacher, Nadya Vorontsova, who lived next door to Korostylev. Nadya gives Tikhonov a telegram. The old man had received the telegram the day before. The text stated that Korostylev’s daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren had died in a car accident. After reading the terrible news, the ailing veteran died of a heart attack. Tikhonov quickly realizes the presence of malicious intent. He is determined to find the sender of the deadly letter.

School intrigues

A diverse group of people gathers at the wake. Tikhonov watches the guests closely. He notes a depressing alienation and hidden tension surrounding the school’s vice principal, Ekaterina Sergeevna Vikhot. The investigator goes out for a smoke with the school’s principal, Oyushminald Butov. He’s a good-natured but weak-willed mathematician of enormous stature. Butov persuades the detective to avoid making a fuss and launching an official investigation. The principal is terrified of damaging the school’s reputation with a high-profile scandal. Tikhonov categorically refuses to hush up the crime. He intends to identify the specific person who orchestrated the vile persecution of the old teacher.

Tikhonov contacts the local police department. Deputy Chief of Investigation, Captain Zatsarenny, responds in a deep bass voice and refuses to open a criminal case. Zatsarenny cites the law and argues that it’s impossible to prove intent to commit murder. The local detective is simply afraid of ruining the city’s crime detection statistics with a hopeless cold case. The detective counters his arguments with legal provisions and decides to conduct an unofficial search. He calls Konovalov, the duty officer at the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, and asks for details of the dispatch. A reply soon arrives from the Voronezh Region. The fake form was filled out in the small town of Mamonovo.

Search for evidence and motives

Moscow police report the sender’s description of the telegram. The text was sent by an unknown young blond man in a gray suit. Tikhonov is certain of a telephone connection between the Mamonov hitman and the client in Ruzayevo. Together with Nadya Vorontsova, he checks the receipts at the local public call center. A telephone operator friend finds the necessary receipts. It turns out that someone made two long-distance calls to the city of Uryupino. The calls were made from a telephone installed in the school office. The suspect pool is quickly narrowed to the school’s teachers and their immediate family members.

The investigator interrogates the young physics teacher, Alyosha Sukhov, and the local mechanic, Konstantin Saltykov. Disparate facts coalesce into a clear motive. Nikolai Ivanovich Korostylev categorically refused to give tenth-grader Nastya Saltykova a passing grade. The old man considered the girl shallow and cynical and did not want to allow her to attend the teacher training institute. Korostylev was afraid to entrust the education of his future children to such a man. Because of the veteran’s firm stance, Nastya was unable to take her final exams. The solution to the problem rested on the old teacher’s intransigence.

The mother of a troubled student, Klavdiya Saltykova, works as the director of the local House of Commerce. This tough woman wields enormous influence in the city. She is accustomed to resolving any issues with bribes and scarce goods. Klavdiya is friends with the school’s vice principal, Vikhot. Both women have long hated the straightforward Korostylev. The vice principal frankly warned Klavdiya that the stubborn old man could not be persuaded or bribed. The detective visits Saltykova’s lavishly furnished apartment. The headmistress is defiant, threatening Tikhonov with collective complaints, and displays complete contempt for the deceased.

Meanwhile, Tikhonov’s long-standing conflict with Galya escalates. Galya completely fails to understand the investigator’s obsession with his investigation. She strolls around the city and accidentally meets Vikhot and Saltykova. The influential headmistress immediately sells Galya an expensive imported suit from under the counter. Tikhonov is enraged by this veiled bribe. He harshly forces Galya to return the clothes to the store. That evening, the investigator puts his offended companion on a bus and sends her to Moscow. Korostylev’s son-in-law, the successful diplomat Vladilen, also refuses to support Tikhonov and prepares to leave.

Exposing the criminals

Tikhonov analyzes the collected data. He notices Klavdiya’s partner, a young man named Pyotr Esakov. This young man used to work as a physical education teacher, but Korostylev fired him for brutally beating a child. The local police chief, Lieutenant Colonel Vorobyov, who has returned from a business trip, comes to Tikhonov’s aid. The officers intercept Esakov on the street. Vorobyov reports that the Uryupinsk police have already detained the sender of the telegram. He turns out to be an old football friend of Esakov’s, named Pelekh. Many years ago, both athletes were kicked off the team for selling a match.

The criminals’ motive turned out to be cynical and primitive. Saltykova and Esakov had no intention of physically killing the old man. They simply wanted to frighten Korostylev with a fictitious accident and lure him out of town for a few days. Without the veteran’s presence, the teachers’ council quietly and quickly admitted Nastya Saltykova to the exams. Lieutenant Colonel Vorobyov sternly explains the concept of eventual intent to a trembling Esakov. The accomplices were obliged to foresee the fatal consequences of their terrible deception for the sick, disabled war veteran. The police chief promises to bring all the defendants to justice.

The Legacy of Columbus

Before leaving, Tikhonov visits Nastya Saltykova. The girl greets him with hostility, but quickly succumbs to the weight of the truth. The investigator urges Nastya to move in with her honest stepfather, Konstantin, and start a new life. He tells the schoolgirl about the "Columbus Testament." Korostylev often showed this yellowed parchment to his students. The main idea of this ancient document boiled down to a simple rule: a human life is worth exactly as much as the good deeds done for others. Nastya begins to cry bitterly, finally realizing her guilt in the death of her teacher.

Vice Principal Vikhot sincerely regrets her cowardice. She cries in the school office, recalling her past with Klavdiya. The vice principal admits that easy money and permissiveness have completely destroyed her friend’s soul. Tikhonov takes in Korostylev’s orphaned dog, Bars. The investigator keeps Columbus’s paper will for life and promises Nadya Vorontsova that he will definitely come again. The detective races along the night highway to Moscow. All the way, he mentally repeats the immortal humanistic lessons of his old mentor.