Gorky Park

- Who found them? - He did.

He was on patrol.

He left the path for a pee, and …

Three lost souls.

Almost like an execution, Pasha.

How long have they been here?

Arkady.

Greetings, Comrades.

I bring you hot water bottles.

Good. We were wondering why you came, Comrade Major Pribluda.

This is a simple matter for militia.

There’s no reason to think state security’s involved.

Of what interest is this to KGB?

KGB decides what interests KGB.

So, who are they?

What’s it look like? Drunks, or what?

If you want the case, Major, welcome.

We, militia, can go back to our beds.

A wonder you ever left them.

Comrade Major, you’re disturbing the evidence.

Holy Mother.

Look at this.

Look.

No face.

Sliced right off. Good God.

This one, too.

Butchered.

Jesus.

Faceless.

All three of them.

Who are they?

I think you’ve disturbed enough of the evidence.

Stop complaining.

I’ve done some of the dirty work for you.

Yes, I know.

You always do, Comrade.

One day, Renko,

this could be you.

All right, let’s leave these policemen to it.

The cold has made them inhospitable.

Comrade Major.

Are you sure you want militia to investigate this?

- What do you mean? - It does seem like a KGB case after all.

Bodies carved up in the middle of Moscow. Who knows where it could lead?

A body this size stays like stone for days.

I’d say they’d been there from three weeks to a month.

I’m about to make an incision into the chest wall.

This is disturbing you?

Well, I’m glad I had no breakfast.

I’m sorry, Arkady, I’m used to dealing with the dead.

The only emotion I feel about one of these

is a faint hope it may be a party official.

Be careful, my friend.

You don’t want this case.

Please. You don’t want this case.

How were they killed, Comrade Chief Pathologist?

The males were shot in the head at contact range.

All three were shot in the chest.

They were all in their 20s.

Go on.

Arkady,

whoever cut off their faces knew what he was doing.

He was an expert.

And who are the experts, Levin?

I’m not listening.

They were on the scene almost as soon as we were, Pribluda and his gang.

Why? And who told them?

You’ve got an informer in your office, haven’t you?

Anything else for me?

The smaller male dyed his hair. Its natural color is red.

Possible indication of anti-social activity.

Or maybe he was a black marketeer.

Or …

Or a foreigner.

Arkady, please,

I don’t like to get mixed up with KGB work.

Don’t worry.

If one of these really is a foreigner, it’s out of our hands anyway.

I’ve just got to find enough

to make KGB take over the case.

And the quicker I can do that, the safer we’ll all feel.

Chest incision.

I can’t understand it, Iamskoy.

Dead bodies in Gorky Park.

What the hell are they doing there?

Yes, it passes belief, General.

Chief Investigator Renko reporting, Comrade General.

Have you shaved this morning?

Comrade General, I was …

The General wishes to know your initial reaction …

A fellow should keep hair off his face, you know.

Your initial reaction to this murder.

Now, what are the prospects for an early resolution?

With the world’s finest militia, and the enthusiastic support

of the peaceful Soviet peoples, I am confident

we will apprehend the criminal elements involved, Comrade General.

Yes, yes, yes, I hope so, young man.

Your father, General Renko, he was always clean and tidy,

even when he was killing Germans.

It’s nearly four hours since the three bodies were uncovered.

Now, who are they?

The bodies have no marks of identification, Comrade Prosecutor.

What? No papers, here in Moscow?

The bodies were badly mutilated.

No papers, no fingertips,

no faces.

They were clean shaven, General, quite literally.

Well.

Your father was just as insolent. But then, he …

He could afford to be. He was very good at his job, Renko.

Cut. Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.

For God’s sake, Yuri, can’t you concentrate?

Your button, man. Your tunic button. It’s hanging off.

Wardrobe!

Irina. Irina, please.

Okay, now, let’s set up again from the top.

Remember, you’re tired, you’re frightened.

Napoleon has you on the run.

Be careful, Misha.

Show me that barn door again.

Okay, opening positions everybody.

Quiet, please.

Let’s get ready to do this.

All right, ready to roll.

What does a Chief Investigator want with me?

We found your skates.

Your name was scratched on them.

Oh, those.

I lost them months ago.

Actually you reported them missing on February 4,

but you said you’d lost them on January 31.

You didn’t know they were missing for four days?

That’s how it is, you don’t miss something till you need it.

They were found on a dead girl.

There is justice after all.

Please, don’t be shocked.

You have no idea how long it took me to save for those skates.

Look at my boots.

See?

Split.

She was murdered.

The girl wearing your skates.

The director of that film promised me a pair of new boots

if I went to bed with him.

Think I should?

Winter is almost over.

Exactly.

And me, a Siberian, I am used to the cold.

Is your heart cold, too?

What?

The girl wearing your skates, about your age.

Two others were found with her, also murdered.

Their faces were cut off.

What has this to do with me?

What do you want?

Think back. Any idea who took your skates?

I suspect everyone.

So do I.

Well?

Are you going to arrest me for losing my skates?

- Perhaps not. - Good.

Then please leave me alone.

It’s cold.

We’ve been skating, but we’ve left the skating paths

for the clearing. Why?

- To talk. - To eat.

That’s why anyone goes skating. To stop, have a meat pie

and pass around the vodka.

So, I’ve brought food.

There’s vodka in our bellies, we’re feeling good, relaxed.

Then …

You shoot, from your pocket.

Shoot your own foot that way.

Forensic found traces of leather in the bullet wounds.

A bag.

You brought the food in a leather bag with the gun.

We’re friends, enjoying ourselves.

We leave the paths for a secluded place.

We are all alone.

I am handing out the food from the bag.

And I don’t suspect a thing as you lift the bag close to my chest.

But the noise. What about the noise?

Wouldn’t the other two call out? Wouldn’t they run?

Well, they don’t know what’s happening.

But the noise.

Hey!

Hey!

The noise would make them run.

It would make them …

What?

What did you say?

Arkady, you know what you just did?

We’re missing something.

Yes, you just went through a red light.

Concentrate. Each with no fingertips and no face. Why?

Obviously to make identification difficult.

But then the killer shoots the two men in the head. Why?

You’re right. And he risks making even more noise.

Yes, but if he sliced off their faces,

what’s the point of shooting them in the mouth?