red moscow

Chapter 2694

With the cooperation of several police officers, remains were fished out from the manhole one by one. The forensic doctor laid out several pieces of oilcloth nearby and placed the remains neatly on them.

Although Sokov was not a criminal policeman, when he saw the skeletons wrapped in silt that were fished out, he knew that these skeletons had nothing to do with the missing Bakharov and others, and they must have been thrown here a few years ago.

The deputy director was directing the salvage work. He turned around and saw Sokov standing in front of the tarpaulin, staring at the skeleton on the tarpaulin and whispering something with Victoria. He walked over quickly and said to Victoria, "Major, you are not from our bureau. This case has nothing to do with you. You can leave."

Victoria actually didn't want to stay here for a long time, but as a police officer, she encountered a case again. If someone higher than her said nothing, she really couldn't just leave. Hearing what the deputy director said, she quickly agreed and dragged Sokov away from the scene.

But before leaving, Sokov still found the lieutenant and said to him politely: "Lieutenant, if you have any news about my friend, please remember to inform me in time."

"I see." The lieutenant stared at the manhole not far away where corpses were being removed and said impatiently, "I'll call you if I have any news."

Just after getting into the car, before Sokov started the car, he received a call from Anna: "Misha, are you okay?"

"What can happen to me?" Sokov said, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

"Why do I hear sirens over there?" Anna asked nervously, "Have Khabarov and the others found them?"

"The police are operating in the Hovlin Hospital, so there are more police cars." Sokov replied: "Khabarov is indeed missing. The police have conducted a carpet search, but still cannot find their whereabouts."

"When can you come back?" Anna asked, "I feel uneasy when I can't see you."

"Anna, don't worry, I'm getting ready to go home." Sokov started the car and said to Anna, "Tell Lena that I'll close the shop and go home when the time comes."

After hanging up the phone and driving away from Hovlin Hospital, Victoria smiled and said, "Misha, your girlfriend is quite concerned about you. Seeing that you haven't returned yet, she called to ask about you."

"Vika, this is normal." Sokov turned his head and glanced at Victoria. "If your boyfriend knew that you came to a place like Hovlin Hospital with horror legends, I'm afraid he would not feel at ease and would keep calling to find out what happened."

Victoria smiled bitterly: "I don't have a boyfriend."

Sokov realized that he had said the wrong thing and quickly changed the subject: "By the way, Vika, you said that seven or eight years ago, you were still studying at the police academy in St. Petersburg. In such a short period of time, you were promoted from a cadet to a major. The speed of promotion is a bit too fast."

"To be precise: I was not studying at the police academy at the time, but attending training there." Victoria explained to Sokov: "According to relevant regulations, cadets who have been in the police force for more than three years and have performed well can participate in training in St. Petersburg. After completing the training, there will be opportunities for promotion."

"What was your rank when you attended the training?"

“Sergeant,” Victoria replied. “After the training, I returned to the police force and was involved in two major cases in a row. A year later, I was promoted to lieutenant.”

Sokov calculated in his mind that Victoria had completed the training at the police academy seven years ago, and a year later, she was promoted to second lieutenant. In other words, in six years, she had served as a lieutenant, a captain, a captain, and now a major. Her promotion speed was quite fast. You know, many uniformed police officers have been police officers for their entire lives, and when they retire, they are still corporals or sergeants.

"Vika, your promotion speed is quite fast." Sokov said with emotion: "If it was during the war years, according to your promotion speed, by the end of the Great Patriotic War, it is possible that you would become the first female general."

"Misha, you think too simply." But Victoria shook her head and said, "If you say something like a female colonel or a female lieutenant colonel, I would believe it. After all, my great-grandmother retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. But when it comes to female generals, I think it's impossible. Our country's first female general, Valentina Tereshkova, entered space on the Vostok 1963 spacecraft on June 6, 16, becoming the first female astronaut in human history. During her space flight, she overcame difficulties such as physical discomfort, equipment failure and psychological pressure, successfully completed the mission and returned to Earth. Due to her outstanding contributions, she was awarded the honorary title of 'Soviet Union Hero's' wife, and was promoted to the rank of major general in 6, becoming the first female general in our country's history."

Perhaps worried that Sokov would not believe her, she continued, "For example, during World War II, there was the famous female sniper Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko. She killed 309 German soldiers in the war, but when she retired, she was only a naval lieutenant commander, a rank lower than that of my great-grandmother."

Hearing Victoria mention Lyudmila, Sokov couldn't help but recall that when he set up the sniper school, he invited Lyudmila, Vasily and the 90-year-old Morozov to serve as instructors, and trained a group of excellent snipers in a short period of time.

"Misha," Victoria saw Sokov's slightly raised mouth corners and asked curiously, "What are you laughing at?"

"I heard you talk about Lyudmila, and some memories about her came to my mind."

Sokov's answer aroused Victoria's interest: "Misha, is there any memory of Lyudmila in your past life? Did General Sokov have any emotional disputes with Lyudmila?"

"That's not the case." Sokov quickly shook his head and denied it. "But in the later stages of the war, he set up a sniper school and invited Lyudmila and Vasily to be instructors. There was also a man named Morozov from Leningrad. Although the old man was already in his early nineties, he had an extraordinary talent for sniping, so he also became one of the three instructors in the sniper school."

"Ah, a 90-year-old man is also an instructor at the Sniper School?" Victoria showed a shocked expression on her face: "Is everything you said true?"

Sokov nodded and told Victoria about Morozov. She exclaimed in amazement. She probably never dreamed that an old man in his nineties, about the same age as her great-grandmother, could perform so well on the battlefield.

After Sokov finished speaking, she asked tentatively: "Misha, what happened to the old man named Morozov?"

"I don't know." Sokov shook his head and said, "I remember that I lost contact with the old man after I was transferred to the Belarusian Front. I don't know what happened to him later."

"What a remarkable old man," Victoria said with some emotion, "If he is so remarkable, why have we never seen any description of him in history books?"

"Not only him, but even the General Sokov I remember, there is no trace of him in history books." Sokov said unwillingly, "Although I have seen descriptions of him in the diaries left by some people before, it is difficult to confirm whether it is true or not. It was not until I met your great-grandmother that I learned that this person did exist and had achieved many brilliant achievements during the Great Patriotic War."

"Misha," Victoria waited for Sokov to finish speaking, then asked tentatively, "Do you want to collect information about this general?"

"I can't find any information about him online. How can I collect data?"

"My great-grandmother said that she met a photojournalist named Kopalova in the 1950s. There was a child next to her who looked a bit like General Sokov." Victoria suggested to Sokov, "Why don't we go find this reporter? Maybe we can get some useful information from her."

"I called the newspaper where she used to work, but the person who answered the phone said that they had never heard of such a person." "Who did you call?"

"I looked up the newspaper's phone number on the Internet and called them directly to inquire."

Victoria didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this: "Misha, you should call the newspaper's HR department to see if they can find the information you want."

"I don't know the HR department's phone number, how can I contact them?"

"That's easy." Victoria said carelessly, "Do you know the name of the newspaper where Kopalova's photojournalist used to work? Let's go directly to the newspaper."

"I remember it was Izvestia."

"What a coincidence." Victoria pointed to the road ahead and said, "On our way home, we will pass by the editorial office of the Izvestia newspaper. We will go directly to their editor-in-chief and ask him to find a way to help us check and see if he can get any useful information."

Ten minutes later, Sokov parked his car in the parking lot outside Izvestia.

When he got off the car, he asked Victoria anxiously, "Vika, is this really okay?"

"With me here, what are you afraid of?" Victoria slapped Sokov on the back and said, "Just follow me."

After entering the editorial office, a man who looked like an editor looked at the two and asked, "What do you two need?"

"I'm Officer Victoria." Victoria showed her ID. "I need to talk to the editor-in-chief about something. Where is his office?"

The editor quickly pointed to the side and said, "Go down this corridor and you will soon see a staircase. Go upstairs and turn right, and you will see the editor-in-chief's office."

After Victoria thanked the editor, she took Sokov to the second floor.

Just then, she met a young woman wearing glasses. Before Victoria could ask, she frowned and said, "Officer, this is an important area of ​​the newspaper office. Outsiders are not allowed to enter casually."

Victoria took out her ID again and said to the woman with glasses, "I'm Officer Victoria. I'm here to get some information. Where is your editor-in-chief's office?"

Hearing that Victoria wanted to see the editor-in-chief, the girl with glasses did not dare to neglect her. She quickly led the two to the door of an office and said to the girl with short blond hair sitting inside, "There are two people here who want to see the editor-in-chief."

The blonde came out of the office, looked at Victoria and asked, "Officer, I'm the editor-in-chief's secretary. What can I do for you?"

"Hello, Secretary!" Victoria said politely, "I have something to ask and need to see the editor-in-chief. Can you inform him for me?"

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No." Seeing the secretary's expression of keeping people at a distance, Victoria quickly added, "We have an old case from many years ago involving an employee of the newspaper. I hope to get some information from the editor-in-chief."

After hearing what Victoria said, the female secretary didn't know what to say. She could only say, "Please wait a moment. I'll go ask the editor-in-chief."

The female secretary returned to her desk, picked up the phone, and said, "Editor-in-chief, there is a police officer outside who wants to see you. She said that the case she handled involved an old employee of ours, and she wants to know some details from you."

"Let them in."

The female secretary put down the phone, came to Victoria and Sokov, and made a gesture of invitation: "You two, please follow me!"

Sokov followed the female secretary into the office and found that it was a suite with the secretary's office outside and the editor-in-chief's office inside.

The female secretary came to the closed door, knocked twice, pushed the door open, and said to the inside: "Editor-in-chief, they are here!"

After hearing the reply from inside, the female secretary took a step back, stepped aside, and stretched out her hand to make a gesture of invitation: "You two, please come in!"

Sokov and Victoria walked into the editor-in-chief's office and saw a bald middle-aged man sitting behind a large desk facing the door. He looked up when he heard someone come in, then said nonchalantly, "I'm the editor-in-chief. I'm very busy at work. If you have any questions, just ask."

"Hello, editor-in-chief." After greeting the other party, Victoria did not beat around the bush and asked directly: "I came here today to ask you about a photojournalist named Kopalova."

"Kopalova?!" After repeating the name, the editor-in-chief frowned and said, "We don't have many photographers in our newspaper, and I know almost all of them, but I don't think there's anyone with this name. Did you make a mistake?"

"I'm sorry, editor-in-chief, I didn't make myself clear." Victoria continued, "This Kopalova worked for the newspaper in the 1940s and 1950s."

"After the Great Patriotic War, she went to Austria as a member of the Vienna press bureau."

"What? He worked in our newspaper in the 1940s and 1950s?" The editor-in-chief looked embarrassed when he heard what Victoria and Sokov said. "You are asking about old employees from 1960 or 1970 years ago. I am not sure about that."

"Mr. Editor-in-Chief, where can I find information about these old employees?"

"If you really want to know more about this old employee, you can only go to the archives. Maybe there will be information about her there." The headquarter said sympathetically, "I'll ask my secretary to take you to the archives. There you can look up information about employees who worked at our newspaper in the 1940s and 1950s."

(End of this chapter)