“No. Contact him and say one of his sources in the militia needs to speak to him
urgently. A major tip-off. I need his mobile number. I’ll call you back in five.”
On the second call he obtained the number of Pamfilov’s mobile phone and reached him in his car outside the senior police officers’ apartment building.
“Mr. Pamfilov?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“I had to lie to get your phone number. We don’t know each other. But I may have something for you. There was another attack last night. On the residence of the Patriarch. An attempt to assassinate him.”
“You’re crazy. An attempt on the Patriarch? Rubbish. There’d be no motive.”
“Not for the mafia, no. Why not get over there?”
“The Danilovski Monastery?”
“He doesn’t live there. He lives at Number Five Chisti Pereulok.”
Pamfilov sat in his car listening to the whine of the disconnected phone. He was stunned. Nothing like this had ever happened in his career. If it was half true, it was the biggest story he would ever handle.
When he arrived at the side street he found it blocked off. Normally he could flash his press pass and walk past the cordon. Not this time. Fortunately he spotted a militia detective inspector whom he knew personally and called out to him. The man walked over to the cordon.
“What’s going on?” asked the reporter.
“Burglars.”
“You’re Homicide.”
“They killed the night watchman.”
“The Patriarch. Alexei, is he safe?”
“How the fuck do you know he lives here?”
“Never mind. Is he safe?”
“Yes, he’s away at Zagorsk. Look, it was just a burglary that went wrong.”
“I have a tip they were after the Patriarch.”
“Bullshit. Just robbers.”
“What’s to rob?”
The detective looked worried.
“Where did you get that from?”
“Never mind. Could it be true? Did they steal anything?”
“No. Just shot the guard, searched the house, and ran.”
“So they were looking for someone. And he wasn’t there. Boy, what a story.”
“You be bloody careful,” warned the detective. “There’s no evidence.”
But the detective was becoming worried. He became even more so when a militiaman beckoned him over to his car. On the phone was a full general of the Presidium. Within a few sentences he began to hint at the same thing as the reporter.