- As surgeons labor to save the Sniffer, events of his and Viktor's investigation into the beheaded bodies of a senior investor and a petty thief show what lead up to the life-threatening shooting.
- Viktor runs alongside a bleeding man rushed down a corridor to a hospital emergency room where doctors await. It's the Sniffer on the gurney, whose side Viktor does not leave till forced to by the attending medical staff. As surgeons begin their work, Victor looks at his hands, soaked and dripping with his friend's blood.
Time jumps back to events leading up to this dire circumstance.
Viktor watches forensic expert Nikolay Ivanovich pack. He's been reassigned and offers his unwanted gift of candy to Viktor. Thinking of the General's beautiful secretary (with whom he often flirts), he takes the candy and leaves to see the General, only to find a new, handsome male secretary in her place. Not only is Viktor disappointed, but the new young guy doesn't recognize Viktor nor have his name on any of his admittance charts. Waving the box of chocolates, Viktor claims it a "personal" visit, deliberately leaving the young man to wonder about the General's personal life.
Inside, Viktor delivers the candy as a present from Nikolay. The General claims not to know the name. Talk turns to Nikolay's replacement - I. A. Nortin, who'll soon take over Nikolay's duties. The General indifferently dismisses Viktor.
Viktor finally asks about the General having a new secretary. The General says Svetlana left on maternity leave, then asks Viktor if he's responsible. It's a joke. Svetlana left to get married. It's clear to Viktor that her rejection of his advances were always genuine. The General is amused at his disappointment and dejection.
A young thief strolling through a rooftop parking garage busts a window to nab an abandoned handbag. Unfortunately it's medical examiner I. A. Norton's first day on the job, who, still in running shoes and very capable of physical action, runs the delinquent youth to ground.
Elsewhere in the city among waste lots, a horrified woman finds her missing bulldog hungrily lapping at blood from the neck of a decapitated man (one of two decapitated men lying there).
With police called in, Ballistics officer Anatoliy Borisovich accepts coffee for Viktor from a subordinate but then takes the coffee for himself. As the Sniffer looks over the bodies, Viktor strolls along with his hamburger, noting the close proximity of Police Station #47 just on the other side of two wire fences.
Through his remarkable nose, the Sniffer determines the events: A non-smoking man of athletic build, thirty to thirty-five years of age, shot the men, cut off their heads with a sheet of steel, bagged the heads in plastic then walked away with them. He sniffs out the location of the steel sheet used for decapitation, where they find one victim's briefcase that smells of sand, latex paint, and documents, but still no heads.
With I.D. in his pocket, one victim isn't hard to identify: Leonid Petrovich Kostitsky, a senior investigator.
Why take their heads, if not to hide their identities? No money was involved, which rules out robbery. Not a ritual killing either.
Medical Examiner Norton arrives - a woman, blonde, leggy, exceptionally pretty and obviously in her reproductive prime! She reports directly to Viktor and apologizes for being "held up in traffic." Viktor, unable to release her handshake, is obviously attracted. She suggests they get to work and begins her examination.
Computer expert Gena discovers the second body's identity: Petr Valeriyevich Shilov, twice convicted for theft and robbery and released from prison eight months ago
Viktor and the Sniffer visit Kostitsky's office. His wife, Svetlana (not the General's former secretary), has not yet been informed.
Checking through the CCTV cameras, Viktor spots Kostitsky and Shilov leaving together. Kostitsky's superior reveals that Shilov was helping them out under an immunity agreement. "It's the American way" chimes in underling investigator Borisov, for which the chief permits his exit. Leafing through the report, Viktor discovers eight pages missing, which the chief finds remarkable and promises to investigate. He leaves his card before excusing himself. He lies - the Sniffer can smell he had gone through the papers just the day before.
In prison, Igor's attorney brings papers to sign prior to Igor's parole in a few weeks. Tatyana's request for divorce remains valid. By law, she can do this without his consent, since his conviction exceeded three years, which infuriates Igor. The attorney says it could be for the best considering where she now lives.
Yulia visits a convalescent home, spraying herself all over before throwing away the bottle and entering with a birthday present. Inside, she brightly greets Tatyana, who sits with tears running from her eyes.
Viktor reports to the General. Kostitsky and Shilov were looking into the unsolved case of Marina Viktorovna Chernyshova, killed by home invaders half a year ago. Komarov was robbing her apartment when she returned early. Surprised, he killed her. A neighbor lady saw and identified Komarov but later recanted. The case fell apart, and Kostitsky was reprimanded. Shilov claimed to have information about the murder. He and Komarov were robbing the place together. Shilov got away while Komarov lingered due to his fetish for light fixtures. Shilov would testify against Komarov for a lighter sentence.
This still does not explain what Kostitsky and Shilov were doing among the waste lots, nor why their heads were removed and taken. The General puts out a warrant on Komarov and asks that all witnesses be re-questioned - especially that neighbor who recanted. He wants a quick resolution as the case has become famous.
Yulia shares dessert cake with Tatyana, but Tatyana won't eat. Yulia brings Tatyana her magazines to read, for which she's grateful, but the mere mention of seeing "her man again" causes Tatyana to leave the table, unable to talk about it.
Viktor interviews Svetlana Kostitsky. Had her husband enemies? None she can think of. The only conflict at work was with his boss. He was climbing the career ladder so fast that his boss poked his nose into all his cases and reprimanded him often, afraid he would crack a high-profile inquiry and replace him.
Smelling latex paint, the Sniffer asks if she's renovating. Yes. An apartment she and her husband had just purchased.
Over at Marina's apartment building, neighbor woman Tamara Stepanova begins to feed her cats when the doorbell buzzes. She admits a policeman whom she recognizes. He looks about as he inquires if anyone has asked about Marina's case. No. He notes an expensive lamp and expensive cat food, then drops a spoon load of cat food onto the floor, shying away a cat before mashing it down with his foot and declaring it slippery. He then says he's sorry but he can't take risks.
Later, with Tamara Stepanova dead on the floor, Viktor's team waits at the apartment building as he finishes clearing the room of cats. The Sniffer finally arrives but notices a cat hair on Viktor. Viktor denies the presence of cats, but the Sniffer's nose knows better and, angrily (due to his severe allergy to cats, established in an earlier episode), he leaves breathing through his handkerchief. The team will have to deal without him.
As an officer finds a stash of cash in one of Tamara's wooden knick-knacks (an obvious incentive for changing testimony), Nordin declares the woman's death staged to look accidental. Interesting that she should be killed just before Viktor could question her.
At the rest home, the doctor tells the Sniffer that it would be good for Tatyana to face her trauma, otherwise she'd always be ruled by PTSD. The Sniffer detects her earlier visitor and wonders why anyone would pour a whole flask of cheap perfume over herself. He enters Tatyana's room.
His presence triggers her to relive her terrifying abduction anew. Unable to cope, she runs out of the room and away from him. Outside, an orderly tries to console her, which the Sniffer watches through a window.
The Sniffer returns to his new apartment, where he sits alone and lonely.
Viktor makes another attempt at seducing Irena Nordin by bringing her coffee in the morgue. The coffee shop or his place would make for better surroundings. He'll pick her up at eight, but she returns that if he doesn't remove his hand from her shoulder she'll break it. He leaves and she reminds him to take his coffee with him.
Finding Officer Borisovich working, Viktor leaves him the rejected cup of coffee. Borisovich is touched, mistakenly complimenting him for his appreciation of subordinates. A call from the main room announces the arrival of the late Marina's brother for a re-interview.
The brother (Chernyshov) reports that the whole apartment complex had a problem with the neighbor lady and her stinky cats, not just his sister; he last saw Kostitsky in a face-to-face when they let her killer, Komarov, go; he does not recognize Shilov from photographs. The Sniffer detects nothing contradictory and they let him go. A dead end.
As Officer Maxim receives a new lead, the Sniffer detects that Viktor's coffee cup had been in the morgue to see Irina Nordin - twenty-nine to thirty years old, non-smoker, not married, with no children or boyfriend. The odds of a relationship are in the cup's favor. Irritated by this, Viktor grabs the cup and trashes it.
Maxim reports the new lead, sending Viktor and the Sniffer to a landfill where its old guard recognized the two headless men from their photographs in the paper. The men had searched his lot for three hours seeking something they never found. Kostitsky asked about cars on the lot and about April 5th - the day of Komarov's release. The log says the guard himself was on duty that day but states that nothing out of the ordinary occurred.
The Sniffer detects something. His nose leads him to a muddy, yellow junker with an un-muddied key broken off in the trunk lock. Inside lies a desiccated corpse. The guard confuses Viktor by asking why the reporters who always go with them are late.
The widowed Svetlana Kostitsky enters her unfinished apartment and looks around.
Back at the junkyard, Viktor's team finally extricates the body from the trunk.
Smoking, Svetlana leafs through her wedding photo album and discovers the missing eight pages of Shilov's testimony.
Reporters arrive at the junkyard, which Viktor calls Maxim to handle. It's obvious that the old guard called them in, seeking his five minutes of fame. As the guard claims credit on camera for finding the body, Gena identifies the corpse as Komarov, their main suspect.
Viktor and the Sniffer answer Svetlana's call to the new apartment over the missing pages of Shilov's testimony. Viktor reads: Shilov was to pick up his friend Komarov from detention but saw him leave handcuffed with a police captain whom he did not know. It seemed strange, so Shilov followed them to the scrapyard where the police captain slugged Komarov before strangling him to death. Shilov made a sound and was almost caught himself but for a feral cat that suddenly ran out, getting credit for the noise.
The testimony further states that Shilov saw this same captain at the 47th police station. Kostitsky apparently brought Shilov to the waste lots so he could identify the captain surreptitiously at the 47th police station. They must have been spotted, but why remove their heads?
Svetlana enters with tea. She states her husband wanted to solve the case for the sake of the murdered woman, not for any advancement. She now wishes he was like everyone else.
The Sniffer detects a different kind of sand on hand, but Svetlana says they had not but one kind. It doesn't match the sand found in the briefcase. The Sniffer deduces that the sand in the briefcase fell from the murderer and probably came from the nearby construction site where he buried the two heads.
At the site, Viktor digs while explaining plans for outing the mysterious, murderous captain. Just as he discovers the heads, they are interrupted by the murderous, self-identifying Capt. Shevtsov himself. Guns are soon drawn. Shevtsov shoots the Sniffer. Viktor shoots Shevtsov. After a short gunfight, Shevtsov runs off and Viktor turns to find his friend shot twice in the chest.
At the hospital, Viktor runs alongside the gurney as the Sniffer, bleeding, is rushed down a corridor to a hospital emergency room where doctors await. Viktor does not leave his side till forced to by the attending medical staff. As surgeons begin their work, Victor looks at his hands, soaked and dripping with his friend's blood. (Camera backs away to reveal a steady blood trail on the floor leading to him.) The Sniffer has indeed lost a lot of blood. His heart stops but the surgical team is able to revive him after several attempts. Now they can work to remove the bullets lodged inside him.
Viktor waits. Time passes slowly. A custodian mops the blood from the hallway floor. Two bullets are finally and successfully removed. The surgeon takes a smoke break as his team closes up.
On the phone, Viktor calls for a complete investigation of Capt. Shevtsov, every detail. As he finishes, Yulia arrives, demanding to see her ex and asking why he's on the operating table and not Viktor, who should have protected him. The head surgeon enters and Yulia introduces herself as the patient's wife. She looks back at Viktor; he doesn't object. The surgeon reveals that a lung was shot but not the heart. Results are good. Yulia leaves, telling Viktor not to tell her ex that she came by. The surgeon hands over the bullets to Viktor.
Back at the station, ballistics reveal that the bullets from the Sniffer's chest match those from the heads of the decapitated men - that's why the heads were taken, to prevent bullet identification. They all belong to a Makarov service pistol owned by Capt. Shevtsov.
Fact gathering reveals Shevtsov as a "ghost," a man of unknown identity who moved up the ranks to captain under a false name. The real Sergei Ilyitch Shevtsov died in 2001.
Somewhere in a deserted building (or one under renovation), Capt. Shevtsov, his cover blown, meets with a man who gives him money to get away. A passport will come in another day. The man? Dead woman Marina Chernyshova's brother. They sit at a table and drink together. Chernyshov thanks Shevtsov for avenging his slain sister.
Back at the station, Viktor tells the General of four other cases that look exactly the same as Komarov's, all connected to Shevtsov.
Potentially "out of the game," Shevtsov worries what's to become of him. A siren howls. He moves to a window. Returning to the table, he steps on a mirror from an abandoned door on the floor; a reflective shard reveals a hidden gun secured under of the table. He has only a moment to react, realizing Chernyshov is to shoot him dead. Shevtsov dives out the window as Chernyshov shoots. Shevtsov lands hard on the pavement a story or two below.
As a crowd gathers about Shevtsov in the rain, Chernyshov collects the money and sets the table on fire from the liquor bottle (to obliterate all evidence of their meeting, no doubt).
Surprisingly, Shevtsov isn't dead. Paramedics arrive and take him away, which catches Chernyshov's notice. He follows on his motorcycle.
Wanting to live, Shevtsov tells the paramedics to announce they have Capt. Shevtsov and to call forth an enhanced guard.
Viktor receives word of this and heads with a SWAT team (or its Ukrainian equivalent) to the hospital.
Outside the hospital, the ambulance suddenly has a flat tire. The first paramedic heads out for a look. A gunshot is heard. Chernyshov appears at the back of the ambulance and guns down the second paramedic with nine shots (overkill). Shevtsov, helplessly strapped to the gurney, has no defense. Chernyshov shoots him ten times (more overkill). Blood flows.
Police arrive, surrounding Chernyshov and the ambulance as blood mixes with water from the downpour of rain. Viktor wants him alive. With all weapons trained on him, including a sniper on the roof, Chernyshov has no chance of escape and shoots himself through the mouth to his brain and falls down dead.
The sniper reports that both are dead. As police close in to take in the grim scene, the sniper packs up and asks for a new target.
Yulia sits beside her ex-husband, who's still unconscious. She kisses him and exits. His eyes open.
The sniper receives an image of his next target - the Sniffer. He exits the roof.
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