How It All Goes Down
18 March
- Leo is standing outside of the local hospital, going over the details from Larisa's autopsy. He still can't make sense of it.
- Leo enters the hospital and asks to be taken to the morgue. Although the receptionist is skeptical, he introduces Leo to Doctor Tyapkin, "who agreed to show Leo down to the morgue" (3.21.12).
- Tyapkin is a recent arrival in Voualsk as well: he was sent there after Stalin's recent purge of Jewish professionals. Still, he's come to enjoy his life in the town.
- Tyapkin walks away and returns with Larisa's body. The soil has already been removed from her mouth, but Leo notices a string tied to her ankle.
- The doctor tells Leo that the girl's stomach was cut out of her body. Though the killer must have had some experience, the cuts are too "ragged, not surgical" for him to be a doctor (3.21.56).
- Suddenly, Nesterov enters the room, interrogating Leo about his ties with the MGB. Before leaving, he threatens to kill Leo if anyone in the militia is convicted as part of the investigation.