Trace

It was back in the turbulent 1990s, when yours truly was working in the homicide department. My partner and I were late for work one day—he worked in the motor vehicle theft department, the so-called "motorcycle theft." It was around 1 a.m. We were getting ready to go home, when the duty officer came in: "Guys, something crazy is going on at the warehouse on Angarskaya Street. The alarm went off several times, but no one was seen. You should go and take a look." So we went in my car—the duty team was somewhere else.

We arrived and were met by a stunned security guard. He said, "I can't figure anything out. The alarm goes off, I run out—there are footprints... I follow them, but they disappear... When the OVO (non-departmental security department) arrives, there are no footprints, nothing." It must be said, it was winter, a light snowfall, and there was a cemetery not far from the fence. The tracks, like the guard's footsteps, were all visible, no other tracks. We scratched our heads, checked the warehouses—everything was closed. We decided to wait a bit, thinking, "maybe he'll come back." And sure enough, the alarm went off. As we'd agreed, I immediately ran toward the warehouses, and my partner, Vitya, ran toward the cemetery. I saw fresh tracks in the snow, about the size of a .42 caliber—someone had just run fast. I pulled my PM from its holster and ran after them, and I saw Vitya running toward me, also holding a pistol...

And then a slight blur came over us. Just imagine—the single trail I was running along suddenly ends, and all that's left in the snow is a dog's tracks. Vitya didn't see anyone and didn't pay any attention to the dog track, although he heard something growling. Well, there were a lot of dogs there, so he didn't pay any attention. We followed the tracks a few meters, and they began to melt before our eyes, as if they had never been there...

We didn't report anything to the authorities, of course, but facts are facts. We were practically sober; a bottle shared in those days was like a shot of salt for an elephant. Believe it or not, but such things happened.