"The Testament of Columbus" by Arkady and Georgy Vainer, summary Automatic translate

This book is a detective story about a crime without a gun, written in 1987. The investigation into the death of an elderly schoolteacher is led by his former student, now a detective with the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department. Death here occurs through cruel deception, a forged telegram. The title alludes to the legend of Christopher Columbus. The great navigator, facing shipwreck, entrusted the ocean with news of his discovery of the New World. He firmly believed in the value of good deeds for the benefit of others.

Investigator Stanislav Tikhonov awakens early Saturday morning to a phone call from Larisa. It’s the daughter of his former schoolteacher, Nikolai Ivanovich Korostylev. Through tears, Larisa reports her father’s death in the town of Ruzayevo from a heart attack. She adds a chilling phrase about murder. The detective’s heart sinks with anxiety. Tikhonov borrows a car from his old school friend, Alexei Kormilitsyn. He and his friend Galya set off for Ruzayevo. Along the way, the detective recalls Korostylev’s lessons. The old man has become a father figure to him.

On the way, Galya tries to empathize with Tikhonov. She constantly demonstrates her willingness to share his grief. However, the detective is irritated by her false insistence. Galya doesn’t understand the investigator’s true feelings. He longs to be alone. He wants to lie in silence for a long time and remember his old friend, his amazing wisdom and honesty. The car races through the verdant forests of the Moscow region toward Ruzayevo. Tikhonov dreads the prospect of facing the death of a loved one.

Arrival in Ruzayevo and a strange telegram

Late for the official funeral, Tikhonov and Galya arrive at the local cemetery. The teacher’s relatives look tired and dejected. The investigator sees Larisa, her husband Vladilen, and their sons. A young neighbor, Nadya Vorontsova, takes Tikhonov aside. She reveals the real reason for his sudden death: a crumpled telegram from the town of Mamonovo. The text mercilessly informs the old man of the deaths of his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren in a car accident.

The old man’s heart couldn’t bear the terrible news. He lost consciousness before the postman’s eyes and died soon after. At the funeral, Tikhonov sits stunned at the table. The detective watches the guests closely. He is absolutely certain that one of his assembled colleagues is guilty. Someone deliberately delivered the fatal blow from afar, by someone else’s hands. The detective is determined to find the villain.

Tikhonov begins an unofficial investigation. He goes to the telephone office of the Communications House. There, the detective asks the local operator, Anya Veretennikova, to connect him with the MUR duty officer. The investigator instructs his Moscow colleagues to urgently check the Mamonovo post office. They are to interview witnesses and find the sender of the form. Then the investigator goes to the city police building to speak with the deputy for investigative matters.

Captain Zatsarenny flatly refuses to open a criminal case. The policeman, in a deep bass voice, cites procedural subtleties. He argues that it’s impossible to prove the hooligan’s malicious intent. Zatsarenny fears jeopardizing his crime-solving statistics with a hopeless case. Tikhonov is outraged by such indifference to the death of a good man. The detective bluntly declares to the captain his intention to conduct an independent investigation.

School intrigues and long-standing conflicts

After leaving the police station, the detective catches up with the school’s vice principal, Ekaterina Sergeyevna Vikhot, on the street. She speaks of Korostylev with open hostility. The teacher accuses the old man of being too soft on his students and of religious propaganda. The vice principal trots heavily, avoiding direct answers at all costs. Tikhonov notices her extreme nervousness. The imperious woman is clearly afraid to say too much. She skillfully conceals the true cause of her disagreements with the late principal.

That evening, Tikhonov visits Nadezhda Vorontsova and her mother, Dusya. Over a cup of strong tea, Nadya recounts a long-standing conflict. The head teacher openly favored the lazy and rude tenth-grader Nastya Saltykova. The schoolgirl’s mother helped Vikhot obtain scarce goods. Korostylev had no patience for hypocrisy. He planned to give the student a failing grade for the year. The just teacher refused to allow the ignorant girl into the pedagogical institute.

In the morning, Tikhonov arrives at an empty school. Geography teacher Margarita Petrovna and young physicist Alyosha Sukhov are clarifying the details of the feud. Korostylev once publicly supported Nastya’s father in court. Mechanic Konstantin Saltykov wanted to take his daughter away from his ex-wife, Klavdia. He sought to save the child from a corrupting influence. Klavdia Saltykova works as the director of the House of Commerce and wields enormous unofficial power in the provincial town.

Returning to the teacher’s house, Tikhonov finds Galya wearing a fashionable new outfit. She joyfully announces the purchase of a hard-to-find imported suit through the vice principal Vikhot and Klavdiya Saltykova. A furious Tikhonov immediately understands the meaning of this generous gesture. The influential headmistress attempted to bribe him through a friend. The investigator forces Galya to return the suit to the store and immediately sends her on a bus to Moscow.

Meeting with the all-powerful headmistress

Tikhonov visits mechanic Konstantin Saltykov, who is repairing a motorcycle in the yard. The man speaks with unbearable pain about his daughter. Her mother is irrevocably corrupting her with easy money, fashionable clothes, and her connections. The mechanic confirms Klavdiya’s fierce hatred of Korostylev for his honesty and incorruptibility. Upon learning these details, Tikhonov heads straight to Saltykova’s lavishly furnished apartment.

The apartment’s landlady greets the detective with feigned indifference. Klavdiya acts haughtily. She cynically discusses her abilities and attempts to threaten Tikhonov with complaints to higher-ups. She is confident of her complete invulnerability. The detective harshly rebukes the presumptuous landlady. He promises formal interrogations at the prosecutor’s office. Saltykova turns pale with anger, denying any involvement in the old teacher’s death.

The investigator begins to form a clear picture of the crime. The only thing missing is evidence linking Ruzayev to Mamonov. Tikhonov and Nadya return to the telephone exchange. They check long-distance call receipts. A startling detail emerges. In the days before the fake telegram was sent, someone made two calls to the town of Uryupino in the Volgograd region, directly from the school office. The chain of events is complete.

At the Vorontsovs’ house, the detective meets Pyotr Esakov. He is Klavdiya’s young partner and a former high school physical education teacher. Several years ago, Korostylev had shamefully fired him for brutally beating a student. Esakov is behaving brazenly, openly flaunting his physical strength and complete impunity. The former physical education teacher scoffs at the investigator’s suspicions, confident that there are no legitimate charges.

The denouement and a bitter confession

Suddenly, the local police chief, Lieutenant Colonel Vorobyov, arrives at the house. He informs Tikhonov of new intelligence from Moscow. The ill-fated telegram was sent by an old friend of Yesakov’s named Pelekh. He lives in Uryupin. Vorobyov sternly reprimands the insolent man. The experienced policeman threatens to prosecute the gym teacher for murder with indirect intent. He cites an old arson case as an example.

A frightened Yesakov instantly loses his composure. The coward breaks under the weight of the evidence and reveals Klavdia Saltykova’s plan. The all-powerful merchant ordered a terrifying telegram sent. She wanted to urgently lure Korostylev out of town for a few days. Without his crucial presence, Klavdia easily pushed her daughter through the final teachers’ council meeting. No one expected the ailing old teacher to have a heart attack.

Tikhonov goes to see Nastya Saltykova. He tells the tearful and confused girl an ancient legend about Columbus’s last will. The detective urges her to move in with her father. The girl mustn’t become like her unprincipled and cruel mother. Vice Principal Vikhot is overcome with guilt. She tearfully confesses to the investigator. Vikhot had long known about Klavdiya’s plans to disrupt the teachers’ meeting. The cowardly woman was afraid to stop her friend.

The culprits have been exposed and will face severe punishment. The next morning, Korostylev’s son-in-law packs his car. He’s preparing to leave for a long business trip abroad. A sleek and well-fed Vladilen speaks with indifferent calm about the futility of searching for the truth. Tikhonov takes back the shaggy dog named Bars, abandoned by his relatives. He takes Columbus’s ancient parchment as a souvenir and leaves Ruzayevo forever. His duty to his teacher has been honorably fulfilled.