All of Petrograd is alarmed by the mysterious murder of General Medvedeva. Assumptions of the most varied nature contradict one another. The crime was discovered by a maid who, as usual, brought the general's morning coffee. Entering the lady's boudoir and not seeing her there, the maid approached the bed and suddenly, to her horror, saw a bare leg sticking out from under the blanket. The entire detective police was raised to their feet. The investigation established that the murder was caused by suffocating the sleeping woman with pillows, and since the iron cash register was open, everything suggested that the murder was committed with the intent to rob. The first thing they did was arrest the servants. After a futile search for the murderer, the chief of the detective police, Putilin, came up with a brilliant idea: to involve Sonya, the Golden Hand, as a detective to solve the crime, on the grounds that criminal natures like Sonya easily navigate complex crimes. No sooner said than done! We see Sonya in a new role - a detective. Having negotiated favorable terms for herself, Sonya began to solve this complicated case. With the permission of the prosecutor's office, Sonya inspects the crime scene and first of all pays special attention to the fact that it was not money that was stolen from the cash register, but various documents. From interrogating the servants about the intimate life of their mistress, Sonya learns about the general's wife's affair with engineer Gzhimalovsky, the husband of the general's niece. Without putting the matter off for too long, Sonya uses her tricks and starts an affair with the engineer. Since Sonya has become quite skilled in "love affairs", the engineer soon falls into her love nets. During one of her dates with the Grzymalovskys, Sonya finds a compromising letter from the general's wife. The first step has been taken. The ball of thread unravels more and more, and soon its end is in Sonya's hands. One day, during a date in a restaurant office, Sonya leaves the engineer asleep in wine fumes, stealing a bunch of keys from him, and enters his apartment, where she gets the necessary documents. Among the papers, she finds Medvedeva's will, according to which all property should go to the monastery. It is clear that the killer is none other than Grzymalovsky, who committed the crime in order to destroy documents drawn up to the detriment of his wife. Having brilliantly conducted the investigation of the case, Sonya, according to the proverb: "No matter how you feed a wolf, he always looks to the forest", commits a robbery and, in order not to arouse suspicion, hides a hundred-ruble note in the maid's pillow. During Sonya's report on the brilliant outcome of the Medvedeva murder case, Putilin suggests that Sonya take on the task of solving a major theft that has taken place. And so Sonya, essentially the real culprit of this theft, conducts the investigation with the most imperturbable look. Sonya's witty combinations are successful, she involves completely uninvolved people in the theft and in the end, having worked on "two fronts", she comes out, as usual, dry from the water: her debut as a detective was brilliantly successful, and the major theft took place without consequences.
SF. 1915. N ° 19/20. 129
