Retired admiral Bogatyrev and his wife were brutally murdered in their own apartment. The admiral's ceremonial jacket with valuable orders was stolen, including two very rare and expensive orders of Ushakov. The investigation was entrusted to MUR officer Captain Ulanov. The detective soon found out that shortly before the murder, a young man and his girlfriend came to the admiral several times, introducing themselves as students of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. They were allegedly instructed to write an article about the admiral for the anniversary book. It was not difficult for Captain Ulanov to find Mark Adler, a student at the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University, who was assigned to write an article about the admiral. But, oddly enough, this student not only did not write any article, he never even met the admiral. And then the detective realized that even though he had followed the wrong trail, it was still a clue...