The Cleansing Flames Read Online Free PDF

his eyes appear disproportionately small, do they not? Distinctively so, we might say. We can only hope that someone will be able to piece together these distinctive features, prompted perhaps by the disappearance of a friend or loved one.’
    ‘It would be difficult to love that,’ commented Virginsky.
    ‘Show some respect, Pavel Pavlovich. You will be dead yourself one day. I doubt it will be a pretty sight.’ The heat of Porfiry’s ill temper was genuine.
    He turned away from the corpse and looked up. The sky was cornflower blue, an effortless, meaningless expanse of breathtaking colour. He sniffed the vernal air savagely. Spring changed the scent of the city; the thaw released the moisture from the waterways, and the breezes carried wafts of lilacs and bird cherry. But today it was all overpowered by the swampy smell emanating from the corpse. It brought to mind another powerful stench that would soon overwhelm the city. Porfiry wrinkled his nose and settled his gaze on Virginsky. ‘Dear God, it will soon be summer.’
    ‘But Porfiry Petrovich, the ice has only just begun to melt.’
    ‘Today the ice melts. Tomorrow the drains are stinking and the flies are back. You know how it is. It all comes around too quickly these days. A sign of getting old, I know. You don’t need to say it.’
    ‘I wasn’t going to.’
    ‘So the ice melted and the body floated to the top? Is that how it was, Sergeant Ptitsyn?’ Porfiry demanded sharply.
    ‘Not exactly, your Excellency. A group of sailors swimming –’
    ‘ Swimming? ’ Porfiry stared down at the water, which was still dotted with slabs of ice. ‘In that?’ He glanced incredulously over at a handful of men in naval uniforms, who were standing watchfully at a short distance. He was sensitive to their proprietorial manner, as if they considered their claim over the body greater than his.
    ‘Is it so different from you taking a cold plunge at the banya ?’ wondered Virginsky.
    Porfiry did not deign to answer, except to blink rapidly, as if the question was a piece of grit in his eye.
    ‘I have taken statements from the sailors,’ said Ptitsyn. ‘But I ordered them to remain, in case you wished to speak to them yourself.’
    ‘You did well,’ sighed Porfiry, as if it pained him to pay a compliment. ‘You men,’ he called out to the sailors. ‘Which of you discovered the body?’
    The men scowled back, little inclined to answer. Then the youngest of them nodded hesitantly and broke away to approach Porfiry.
    ‘That would be me.’ He was glum but not hostile, but neither was he particularly respectful.
    ‘And you are?’
    ‘Apprentice Seaman Anatoly Ordynov.’
    Porfiry took out an enamelled cigarette case and flicked it open towards Ordynov. The young sailor took a cigarette and allowed Porfiry to light it for him. Porfiry then lit his own and the two men smoked in silence for a while.
    ‘A nasty shock, I imagine, on a fine spring day?’ Porfiry ventured, conversationally.
    The young sailor nodded, Right enough .
    Porfiry read the name on the sailor’s cap tally. ‘You serve on the Peter the Great ? A fine ship.’
    The junior sailor gave the most minimal of nods as he inhaled.
    ‘The most modern ship in the Baltic fleet,’ remarked Porfiry.
    ‘The most modern ship in the world,’ corrected Ordynov. His pride was a fierce glimmer in his eye.
    ‘When do you have to be back on board?’
    ‘We have a couple more days in the capital while she undergoes repairs. But now that the ice is melting, we are clear to sail.’
    ‘Two days? Then I am truly sorry we have had to detain you. You will naturally want to make the most of every hour, every minute you are here. You will be off to the fair, I shouldn’t wonder.’
    The boy gave a shrug, non-committal.
    ‘Still, you have time to smoke a cigarette with me, I dare say. And if I ask you a few questions while we smoke . . .’
    Another shrug. ‘It’s all the same to me.’
    ‘Just tell me how you