Scene 8

Ruslan's apartment at Stremjannyi Per looked just as it had done two years earlier, when Maille had last been on assignment in Moscow. Nothing had changed in the kitchen: there was the same electric stove, the same old yellow tiles, the same dented pans, the same cherished knick-knacks on the wall. It even had the same slightly sour air – the smell that makes you screw your nose up when milk turns rancid. Nobody would ever imagine that this space housed one of the best chefs in Russia.

Maille cooked the mushrooms soft, fileted the salmon, chopped the onions, a bit of ginger and pushed them all through the mincer. He made tiny heaps of the stuffing and placed every heap on one side of a separate, circular piece of dough, proceeding to wrap one half of the dough over the meat and press the ends together – so that each piece looked like a half moon. He laid out the half moons on a wooden board sprinkled with flour. Then he roasted the breast of veal, sliced the pickled vegetables and beetroot into strips, washed the potatoes, opened the red wine and finally laid the table, complete with pretty tablecloth and candles. The canapes were ready for Ruslan. At first Maille had considered surprising his host with a Lemusan meal but he had been unable to obtain the ingredients. So he had decided to prepare some Russian dishes that he had learned to make from Ruslan himself. Well, how would the master react?

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