Valery Borisovich Ladeinikov was in love only once in his life. But Elena disappeared as if dissolved, and Valery couldn’t find her. He began teaching at the university, married a graduate student, and soon divorced—but all of it turned out to be only a shadow of real life… And real life began one morning with a phone call. The investigator invited Valery Borisovich to identify his former wife. In the morgue, Ladeinikov felt sick. So sick that he identified the woman he saw as his wife—though she was completely unfamiliar to him. However, the murdered Varvara Nikolaevna bore the surname Ladeinikov and was married to him. That was confirmed by the stamp in her passport. And soon it turned out: she left Valery Borisovich two huge apartments and valuable securities for a considerable sum. Attempts to learn more about the mysterious “wife” became the first link in a chain of attempts and murders… Someone has started a terrible game with Valery—but he must win. After all, the finale holds a prize worth any fortune…