C-something decides to investigate her impartially and goes to the leader and suggests that Anna Arkus’ seizure be lifted. He took the advice of some friend and decided not to tell Morchanov what he knew about Anna and Yezhov.
C. told Anna Arkus that, according to Reinhold, he had met secretly with several other members of the joint headquarters at her house several times between 1933 and 1934. But Anna was reluctant to believe that Reinhold could really be talking such nonsense. Yes, Reinhold and his friend Pickle had been to her house several times a few years ago, but the last time had been before 1932. She was sure that Reinhold would admit that she was telling the truth if she confronted him face to face. When the interrogator said that he was not as optimistic as she was, Anna Alkus was not convinced and said that she was absolutely convinced of Reinhold’s integrity and that she would not argue with him if he repeated his confession even in front of her.
Those interrogators who know each other very well, talk about the conversation is often straightforward. But on other occasions, especially when the two parties did not share the same rank, they talked about the upcoming trial in a very different way, as if they both believed that an anti-Stalinist conspiracy existed. The investigator C thought that this was the attitude that had to be adopted when talking to Chertok, who was taking up Reinhold’s case. Chertok’s reputation is already known to the reader. His qualities were no secret to Investigator C. In any case, interrogator C. called Chertok and told him that his interrogatee, Anna Arkus, categorically denied the truth of Reinhold’s confession that he had been to her house in 1932 and asked to be confronted with him, and C. asked Chertok to interrogate Reinhold again on the subject and, if the latter insisted on his confession, to confront him with Anna Arkus.
Of course, there was a danger: Reinhold, who had sold his conscience to Yerev and was desperately working for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, would repeat his false confession without blinking an eye. But interrogator C. seized the remaining time to create a “public opinion” in favor of Anna Arkus among the influential staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For this purpose, he invited his friends to watch the interrogation of Anna Arkus. Among these friends was Belman, to whom Morchanov often obeyed, and a staff member who had a personal relationship with Agranov.
It is obvious that Anna Arkus did not realize the danger of her situation. She didn’t even bother with the interrogators. Once, Boris Berman, in a conversation with her, unhappily mentioned Grigory Arkus, calling him a “pervert”. When Anna heard this, she suddenly turned pale and snapped, “Aren’t you and your superiors perverts? Do you think that no one in Moscow knows which woman you are chasing?”
Time passed, and Chertok always postponed her confrontation with Reinhold. This was a good indication that he was in some kind of trouble. Finally, he was forced to admit that Reinhold had refused to prove the truth of his confession about Anna Kirkus. C reminded Chertok that in such a case he could only rewrite the transcript of Reinhold’s interrogation to remove the words about Anna Arkus. But Chertok replied that this was not possible at all. Reinhold’s confession had already been submitted to Stalin for approval. Chertok, perhaps to excuse himself in front of C-so, added specifically, “You should understand that this is a political case!”
Although not quite expecting success, C-something continued his efforts to save Anna Arkus from Yerev’s reprisals. He drafted a formal conclusion recommending the termination of the Anna Arkus case for lack of criminal composition. He approached Molchanov with this conclusion. After reading it, the latter asked C. if he knew that Anna Arkus was arrested solely because of Yerev, and C. answered in the affirmative.
“And do you intend to report this case to Yerevan personally?” Morchanov asked again, and C. said that he had such an intention.
But the next day C. was suspended without cause. He was ordered to hand over the Anna Arkus case to Boris Berman, and he himself was not allowed to intervene in the case. Apparently, Molchanov did not dare to risk raising the issue of Anna’s release with Yezhov.
The end of the case was that Berman and Molchanov finally reported their views to Yezhov. When Yerev heard that there was a possibility of releasing Anna, his face was distorted. He muttered viciously. “This bitch should be shot. Sentence her to five years. There must be no mistakes ……”
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