Stalin's Ghost

     ‘Zoya Filatova wore her hair severely trimmed as if to defiantly display the bruise beneath her eye.
     "Your husband did that?" Arkady asked.
      "You'll be safe with us," Victor reassured her. "Animals like that shouldn't be allowed on the street."
      "All he does is drink and take my money. When I try to stop him he hits me. I warned him this was the last time."
      "So now you want him...."
      "Dead and buried."
      "Dead and buried." Victor grinned. The detective liked a woman with zeal.
     Arkady said they'd have to think about it.’


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