Sister Pelagia and the Red Cockerel by Boris Akunin Page B

them as a sign that the kingdom of heaven is near at hand. There’s an entire philosophy to it, although, mind you, it’s rather primitive in nature. A few distorted quotations from the Old Testament. They reject Christ and the Gospels, since they wish to be Jews. But let me repeat, this is all extremely vague and indefinite. As far as I am aware, Manuila didn’t concern himself overmuch with ministering to his new ‘Jews.’ Once he turned some simple soul’s head, he moved on, and these poor wretches try to think for themselves what they should do now and how they should live. As far as that goes, you’re probably right. Manuila’s death won’t change very much. Ah, Sister …” The investigator’s face hardened. “That’s the way times are. The fishers of souls have embarked on a great hunt. The longer it continues, the more numerous they will become, the more abundant their harvest will be. Remember what it says in Matthew: And false prophets shall abound, and they shall deceive many’”
    “And from the multiplication of lawlessness, love shall grow cold in many,” said Pelagia, continuing the apostolic citation.
    Dolinin started and gave the nun a strange look, as if he had just heard those words for the first time, or perhaps had never really thought about their meaning before. “Never mind about love,” he said dourly. “The thing is to save the souls from the fishers.”
    “Without love?” Pelagia almost asked, but she didn’t, because the moment was not appropriate for abstract discussions. However, she did take note of one thing: apparently in the sphere of love, all was not well with the judicial reformer’s life. She wondered whether he was married.
    But aloud she asked about something different: “Is it all right for you to let them all go?”
    “Let them sail on. At the very first port of call, several agents of the criminal police will go onboard the Sturgeon— I forwarded instructions by telegraph. I can’t exclude the possibility that Mr. Ostrolyzhensky might yet surface out of some nook or cranny. A steamer’s not a shed, you can’t examine every little corner. And if our explanation is mistaken and Mr. Glass-Eye is not involved …”
    “How can he not be involved?” Pelagia retorted. “Then where has he gone?”
    “Let’s suppose he was killed. And thrown into the water. Perhaps he saw too much. Such cases are not rare … Well, then, if the killer is not Ostrolyzhensky, but someone else, after my departure this individual will relax and let his guard down a bit. The agents have been instructed to pay special attention to anyone who disembarks sooner than he should according to his ticket. And to anything else that is in the slightest degree suspicious. They still have a long journey ahead of them to Tsaritsyn. If the killer’s on the steamer, we have plenty of time to arrest him.”
    Pelagia said nothing, impressed by the investigator’s judicious prudence.
    “And in the meantime I’ll take a ride to Stroganovka and back again,” Sergei Sergeevich continued. “I’ll check this Shelukhin’s identity. And perhaps at the same time there might be some kind of trail to be picked up there.”
    Then suddenly, without the slightest pause or transition, he continued in the same businesslike tone of voice: “Dear Sister, I have a request to put to you. An unusual request, absurd in fact. But somehow I feel that you won’t resent it and, if I am lucky, you might even agree …” He coughed and blurted out, “Will you agree to accompany me?”
    “How do you mean?” the nun asked, confused.
    “I mean, will you join me on the journey to Stroganovka?” Dolinin said, and before the nun could say no, he continued quickly: “Although this Manuila forswore the faith of his fatherland, he was still a baptized soul. It doesn’t seem right to transport the body without a member of the clergy. They’ll give me some sour monk as an escort. It would be incomparably more