"Marina Polyakova, my potential client, called me an hour ago and said that one colleague—whom I helped a couple of years ago—recommended she contact me. Marina worked as a doctor at a dental clinic, and I remembered that I had indeed investigated one case at the request of a young man from there, so I agreed to meet. And now Marina has been sitting in my room for about fifteen minutes. During this time, I managed to learn that her friend, Aleksandra Kalchinskaya, disappeared somewhere a few days ago. Marina couldn’t say exactly when it happened. She only learned that Asya took leave from work without pay for five days, and the day before yesterday she was supposed to return—but she never appeared. Her home phone was silent, and her cell phone was turned off."