Definitely Maybe Chapter 4 - Coffee with Vecherovsky

Chapter 4 is where Malianov finally talks to someone with a clear head. And honestly, after the chaos of the last few chapters, it’s a relief.

Picking Up the Pieces

So Zykov the investigator just left. He took the cognac with him, by the way. That detail cracked me up. The guy shows up, asks questions about a dead neighbor, and walks out with the good booze. Classic.

Malianov is alone again. He eats something, feeds Kaliam the cat, and tries to make sense of what just happened. His brain is doing that thing where you replay every conversation and try to find the catch. Was Zykov a con man? But no, Snegovoi really is dead. The sealed apartment door is right there across the hall. You can’t fake that.

Then he remembers something. Snegovoi had warned him about Lidochka, the woman who showed up with groceries and cleaned his kitchen. But Irina’s note seemed real. The handwriting checked out. And here’s the weird part that bugs Malianov: why would someone dangerous do the dishes? If the whole thing was some kind of setup, who bothers scrubbing pots?

I love this detail. It’s so human. In any thriller, you’d have guns and chases. In a Strugatsky novel, the mystery is about who cleaned the kitchen.

Nerves and Empty Rooms

Malianov tries calling Weingarten. Line’s busy. He tries again. Still busy. This is the 1970s Soviet Union, remember. No cell phones, no texting. If the line is busy, you just sit there.

And then his nerves really start going. He hears coughing in the empty apartment. Phantom sounds. The kind of thing that happens when you’re alone and scared and the silence gets too loud. His wife and kid are at the dacha. His neighbor is dead. The summer heat is pressing down on everything. It’s a pressure cooker.

So he does the only smart thing he’s done all day. He goes upstairs to see Phil Vecherovsky.

The Man in the Suit

Vecherovsky lives on the 8th floor and he’s a piece of work. A mathematician. Brilliant. But here’s what gets me: this man is wearing a full suit and tie. At home. In a Leningrad heatwave. Everyone else in this book is melting in shorts and undershirts, and Vecherovsky looks like he’s about to give a lecture at the Academy of Sciences.

I knew people like this in the Soviet Union. Professors who would never be seen without a proper jacket. It was a point of pride. You could be standing in a communal kitchen with peeling walls and a broken faucet, but your suit would be pressed and your shoes would be polished.

Vecherovsky makes Viennese coffee. Perfect coffee. In the middle of all this madness, the man grinds beans and serves it properly. There’s something calming about that. And I think that’s the point. Vecherovsky is calm. Methodical. He’s the opposite of Malianov’s panic.

The Right Questions

This is where the chapter gets really good. Vecherovsky doesn’t just listen to Malianov’s story. He starts working through it like a problem set.

First thing he does? Picks up the phone and calls to verify that investigator Zykov actually exists. And he does. He’s real. So that rules out one theory. Nobody’s running a scam on Malianov.

Then Vecherovsky starts questioning everything in detail. The phone calls. The grocery delivery. Weingarten’s strange visit and sudden interest. He’s methodical about it, like debugging a program. Check each input, verify each assumption.

And then he hits the key question. How did Weingarten know Snegovoi’s name? Think about it. Weingarten had asked Malianov about Snegovoi specifically. But how would Val know about him? Snegovoi was Malianov’s neighbor, not part of their friend group. Where did that name come from?

Malianov doesn’t have an answer. Neither does Vecherovsky. But at least now they both know it’s the right question to ask.

Work as Medicine

Here’s the advice Vecherovsky gives: “When I feel bad, I work.”

That’s it. No grand theory. No plan of action. Just go home and work on your astrophysics.

I’ve heard this advice from old Soviet scientists before. Work was the answer to everything. Scared? Work. Depressed? Work. The KGB is watching you? Work harder. There’s something both admirable and a little sad about it. But also, in Malianov’s case, it might be exactly right. His research is at the center of all this weirdness. Maybe pushing through is the only way to find out why.

The Open Door

Malianov goes back downstairs. He tries Weingarten one more time. No answer. Fine. He heads home.

But when he reaches his landing, his apartment door is open. And he hears voices inside. A man talking. And a child.

Not his child. Not anyone he knows.

The Strugatsky brothers are so good at this. They end chapters like someone pulling a chair out from under you. Everything was calm for a few pages. Coffee, conversation, rational analysis. And then you’re standing in front of your own open door listening to strangers inside your home.

Chapter 5 is going to be wild.

Previous: Chapter 3 - The Investigation and the Disappearance Next: Chapter 5 - Weingarten’s Alien Story

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