Anonymous letters with threats to merchant Nikodim Kretov, arson of his barge, robbery of convoys, and a riot at the factory in the taiga town of Tesinsk — all suggests that someone wants to create discord among the Kretov brothers.
Indeed, suspicion immediately falls on the younger brother, Mikhail Kretov, — during the arson of the steamboat "Amur" and the warehouses at the factory, he was supposedly seen.
But Mikhail has an ironclad alibi. And the detective police agent Alexey Polyakov, who arrived in Tesinsk disguised as a mining engineer, can confirm this alibi.
During the warehouse fire, he was in the merchant's house with the local teacher and his niece Masha, who was injured by a bolt from a crossbow, clearly intended for Mikhail…
Moreover, Alexey himself had previously been caught in a landslide, seemingly staged by someone.
In all this, a skilled hand is evident…
