The wife of a capital official, Aida Krokhina, was killed for the purpose of robbery. Yuri Sergeevich Krokhin himself, according to his testimony, was sitting in a bar at the time of the crime. Crime reporter Aristarkh Rusakov met with an inconsolable widower, trying to find out what was happening in his apartment a few hours before the woman’s death. Suddenly, the private detective Cipriani, who was investigating the case, intervened in the conversation. He began to convince the reporter that Yuri Sergeevich had a cast-iron alibi that could be confirmed by witnesses. Perhaps Aristarchus would have agreed with this statement if the next day he had not learned that another murder had occurred with a robbery, and this time the victim was the wife of that same detective Cipriani. A strange coincidence led Aristarchus to a completely stunning conclusion...