Captain Vašátko has died. Standing over his coffin in a small rural cemetery, Horác recalls their first case together. They met ten years ago at a country guesthouse, where Horace had come at the invitation of his former college friend Štěpán Novák. Novák had gathered his former classmates from the academy at Mr. Šimáček's guesthouse, where he regularly stayed. It had been 25 years since graduation. Of the five classmates, three remained: one had died, another had emigrated to the US.