red moscow

Chapter 2706

When a case like this happens in the market, the market owner naturally has to report the case to the police.

The police who received the report immediately rushed to the scene to understand the situation. The person leading the team happened to be Victoria.

Although Sokov, who was standing at the door of the store, saw Victoria directing the work on the scene from afar, he did not go over to greet her so as not to affect her work.

Lena also saw Victoria. Seeing Sokov standing still at the door, she quickly nudged him with her elbow and said, "It seems that the leader is Officer Victoria. Why don't you go over and say hello to her?"

Sokov shook his head and said, "Forget it, she is working, so don't bother her. If she is free, she will come to my place."

Just as Sokov guessed, after asking about the case, Victoria asked her men to return to the bureau first, while she herself came to Sokov's shop leisurely.

When Lena saw Victoria coming over, she quickly poured her a cup of coffee and handed it to her: "Vika, come and have a cup of coffee."

"Thank you!" Victoria took the coffee from Lena and looked at Sokov and asked, "You should know about this case, what do you think?"

"On the surface, it seems that two scammers used counterfeit banknotes to defraud goods, but I don't think it's that simple."

"I guessed that you must have other ideas." Victoria smiled and asked, "Then tell me, what is so complicated about this matter?"

"We all call that shop owner the tailor," Sokov said. "He used to be a tailor who repaired furs and various clothes. To be honest, ever since he switched to the fur business, the old merchants on this street are disgusted with him."

"Why do you dislike him?" Victoria asked puzzled.

"The employees hired by the merchants on this street are either Russians or Ukrainians." Sokov explained to Victoria: "The employees of these two countries are hardworking and loyal. The tailor's wife is from Tajikistan. Since she came, the employees of the merchants have gradually become mainly Tajikistan people, basically her fellow countrymen or friends. To be honest, some of these new employees are of low quality and have dirty hands."

Sokov's words sparked Victoria's interest: "Misha, tell me why these people are so dirty."

"I won't talk about petty thefts and taking advantage of others. I'll tell you a true story." Sokov said, "The owner of the shop two shops away from me is named Kong. After the tailor's family changed to fur business, the tailor's wife introduced him to an employee who was said to be from the same village as her. But he turned out to be a thief.

Xiao Kong's store has a batch of expensive American black sable skins. Because the price is too high, almost no one buys them, so Xiao Kong packed these clothes and put them in the corner of the store. Some time ago, someone wanted to buy high-end goods. Xiao Kong pulled out the woven bag in the corner, but after opening it, he found that the American black inside had turned into worthless rotten sheepskin. "

"Is there any surveillance in his store?" Victoria asked.

"Yes." Sokov nodded and said, "After discovering that the goods were missing, Xiao Kong immediately checked the surveillance. But unfortunately, the location where the package of goods was placed happened to be a blind spot for the surveillance, and nothing was captured. But after repeatedly checking the surveillance, Xiao Kong discovered one thing: when the employee came every day, he carried a bulging plastic bag, and when he got off work, he left with the bag.

According to the surveillance video, it was probably his employees who brought a piece of rotten sheepskin into the store every day in a plastic bag. When he was not in the store, they secretly took out the American black in the woven bag and stuffed the rotten sheepskin in. In this way, they replaced the American black in the woven bag with worthless rotten sheepskin piece by piece.

After Sokov finished speaking, Victoria asked, "Has that Xiao Kong never noticed the unusual behavior of his employees?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "Xiao Kong is young and has a playful personality. Since there are employees watching over his store, he spends most of his time visiting other people, playing chess, chatting, playing games, etc. And that employee took advantage of his absence and secretly replaced his good goods."

"Why didn't he call the police?"

"Will calling the police be of any use?" Sokov shook his head and said, "Even if you come to investigate the scene, the chances of solving the case are basically zero. Perhaps for this reason, he did not report the case."

“How much damage?”

"There are fifteen American blacks in there," Sokov said. "A conservative estimate is about fifty thousand dollars."

"Fifty thousand dollars?" Hearing this number, Victoria's eyes widened in surprise: "Isn't that a bigger loss than the one we just visited?"

"There are only a few valuable clothes in the tailor's house." Sokov shook his head and said, "I'm afraid all the goods in his room are not as valuable as the batch of goods that Xiao Kong lost."

"What about the employee?" Victoria continued, "Where did she go?"

"I don't know. She worked for Xiao Kong's family for about 20 days, and then she suddenly disappeared." Sokov explained to Victoria: "Xiao Kong found that the goods had been swapped and the employee was nowhere to be found, so he hurried to find the tailor's wife. After all, she introduced the employee and she was from the same village as her."

"How did the tailor's wife respond?" Victoria asked this question, and before Sokov could speak, she answered herself: "Based on my understanding of them, they would definitely say that they were not familiar with the man, right?"

"Yes, you guessed right." Sokov nodded and said, "Faced with Xiao Kong's questioning, the tailor's wife insisted that the woman was not her fellow villager at all, but she just met her on the way to work. At that time, the woman was looking for a job, and she thought of Xiao Kong who was looking for an employee, so she introduced the other party to him."

"This reason is so far-fetched." Victoria shook her head and said, "You won't just believe it, will you?"

"Whether you believe it or not, it doesn't really matter." Sokov said with a wry smile, "Anyway, the person has been lost, which means that no matter how the tailor's wife answers, she will not be able to recover the lost goods."

Victoria picked up the coffee and took a sip. "You continue to analyze why today's case is not simple."

"I think you should have seen the fake money." Seeing Victoria nod, Sokov continued, "When the tailor's wife is in the shop, there are always many people looking for her. The composition of these people is quite complicated, and they have an ambiguous relationship with the tailor's wife, and often flirt with her in front of the tailor."

"And what was the tailor's reaction?"

"Every time he saw these people coming to see his wife, the tailor would either go outside to chat with someone, or hide in the inner room and not dare to say a word." Sokov said, "I seriously suspect that the two people who came to sell goods today were called by the tailor's wife, and then they colluded to stage a drama, took away more than 30 pieces, and sold them at a low price, and used the money to live a carefree life for a while." "Well, what you said makes sense." Victoria said, "Just now I asked the tailor where his wife was, and he told me that his wife was missing and couldn't get through on the phone. Maybe it's really like you said, he cheated the goods, and then went to find a place with those two people to sell the goods and divide the spoils."

After Sokov chatted for a while, he suddenly thought of Khabarov's matter and asked quickly, "By the way, how is the rescue operation at Khovlin Hospital going now?"

"Misha, I was just about to tell you this." Victoria said, "Before we came here, the lieutenant called me and said that a passage had been dug for people to enter and exit, and professional rescue workers had already gone in to rescue people."

"Thank God, Khabarov and the others were rescued!" Lena, who was standing next to her, exclaimed and then made the sign of the cross on her chest.

"It's too early to say they've been rescued." But Sokov knew very well that it would be very difficult to rescue the people inside by just digging a passage for people to enter and exit: "The rescuers who have entered the underground can only provide food and water to the trapped people and count the number of people. It will probably take quite a long time to rescue them."

"I'm going to call the lieutenant now." Victoria put down her coffee and took out her phone: "See how the rescue work is going over there."

Victoria dialed the number first, but the other party didn't answer. She dialed twice more, and the lieutenant finally answered the phone: "Major, it's me! What can I do for you?"

"Lieutenant, I wanted to ask how the rescue efforts are going?"

"It's not going well, Major." The lieutenant sighed and said, "After the rescuers entered the underground, they searched carefully and only found nine people. Four of them had no signs of life. Only three girls and two boys survived, and their conditions are not optimistic."

After hearing what the lieutenant said, Sokov's heart skipped a beat. He quickly whispered to Victoria, "Vika, ask him if he has found Khabarov among the people he found?"

"Lieutenant, I want to ask, among the nine people you found, is there one named Khabarov?"

"No." The lieutenant said in a positive tone: "Our rescue personnel have carefully questioned the survivors and asked them to identify the four bodies of the victims. They did not find the so-called Khabarov. He should be trapped somewhere else with the other two."

Originally, Sokov heard that rescue workers had entered the underground and thought they would definitely find Khabarov. However, the result was that no one was found, alive or dead. Khabarov and the other two disappeared, and even the rescue workers could not find their whereabouts.

Seeing Victoria looking at him, Sokov quickly asked again: "Did the rescued people say how they were trapped?"

"Lieutenant," Victoria continued to ask into the microphone, "Did the rescued people say how they were trapped?"

"I'm sorry, Major, I can't answer your question for now." The lieutenant apologized, "Those people have not been rescued yet. We only provided them with food and water, and some medical assistance. It may take some time to rescue them."

Victoria understood what the other party wanted to say, so she asked tentatively: "Lieutenant, are you trying to say that you will only record their statements and find out why they were trapped underground after they are rescued from underground?"

"That's right, Major. That's exactly what happened." The lieutenant was probably worried about being criticized by Victoria, so he emphasized, "You know, I have to face people when I'm recording their statements. I can't just lie at the entrance of the cave and shout at them. If the shouting causes a new landslide, not only will the trapped people not be rescued, but the rescuers might also be killed."

"Okay then." Victoria said helplessly, "Please inform me in time when you have any news."

After Victoria finished the call, Sokov asked her seriously, "Vika, what do you think will happen to the three missing people?"

"I think there is basically no hope of survival." Seeing Sokov's gloomy expression, Victoria explained to him, "The underground environment is complicated. The fact that they are trapped underground and unable to escape means that there are many landslides, blocking the way they thought of. If Khabarov was with the majority of people and everyone encouraged each other, there might be hope of survival. But now he and the other two have disappeared without a trace, which means that they are in great danger."

After saying this, Victoria stood up and said to Sokov, "Misha, it's getting late. I have to go back to the bureau. If you have anything, just call me."

"Okay." Sokov nodded: "If there is anything, I will call you."

After Victoria left, Lena came to Sokov and asked tentatively: "Misha, so Khabarov and the others have no hope of survival?"

"From the current situation, it is indeed the case." Sokov sighed and said, "But the police have not made a final conclusion yet, maybe there will be a turn for the better."

"I hope so." Lena looked at her watch and said, "Misha, it's already lunch time. I'm going out to eat now. Do you need me to bring you lunch?"

"You go eat, you don't have to bring me food."

Sokov took out his cell phone and called Anna: "Anna, have you had lunch?"

Anna's lazy voice came from the phone: "I'm sleeping and don't want to eat. Have you eaten?"

"I didn't eat either." Sokov was silent for a moment and then said, "Vika just left not long ago."

"Vika went to your place again. Was it about Khabarov?"

"No, a crime happened here." Sokov told Anna what happened this morning, and then continued, "So far, the rescuers who entered the underground have only found five survivors and four bodies, while Khabarov and the other two are missing."

Upon learning that Khabarov was missing, Anna exclaimed in surprise, and then said with emotion: "Misha, it's a good thing that you didn't agree to go on the adventure with Khabarov and the others, otherwise you would be one of the missing people today. By the way, did the survivors tell us how they were trapped underground?"

"Right now, the rescuers have only gone deep underground, but have not yet rescued the survivors, so it is not clear why they are trapped."

(End of this chapter)