Now in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the Bureau follows Natasha's leads that indicate suspicious activity somewhere in the city, which could be connected to the security breach performed by SOMBRA in the previous case. There, they decide to visit a Estate belonging to Russian billionaire Dmitri Lermontov, where they find the body of civil notary Mikhail Karamazov with his skull cracked open.
Tropes:
- Absurdly High-Stakes Game: While drunk, Dmitri bet his whole state and personal possessions to Mikhail, which led to him losing them.
- Activist-Fundamentalist Antics: Agrafena Raskolnikova, an activist you meet in this case, isn't above publicly celebrating the deaths of the people she hates and sending computer viruses with her own photo at government official. It's not surprise that Carmen mentions how she was in prison before.
- Agent Scully: Practically everyone in this case doubts about Sveta's psychic powers, with Marina even calling them lame in her own face when she attempts to divert attention from her with a fake séance.
- Amoral Attorney: The victim, a civil notary, tried to Blackmail Anastasia into marrying him or else he would reveal to everyone she wasn't an actual duchess, often trespassed into Dmitri's estate and even stole a Fabergé egg
from it, then cheated on a card game after making Dmitri bet said estate while drunk, unfairly winning it. And as cherry on top, he was helping Russian senators draft a law that would let the government spy on people from space with impunity. - Bludgeoned to Death: Mikhail was killed by having his skull bashed in with a brass pestle.
- Born in the Wrong Century: Carmen can't help but notice how half of suspects in this case behave like they were in an old Russian novel, from Dmitri dressing in 19th century clothes to Anastasia pretending to be the descendant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia and talking with some very outdated mannerisms.
- Computer Virus: Agrafena sent one of these to the victim, which made a photo of her appear on his computer whenever he tried to do something else, basically rendering it unusable. According to Agrafena, she's planning to do the same with the senators trying to pass an espionage law.
- Cope by Pretending: Marina manages to deduce that "Duchess Anastasia" was a personality created by Irina Tsvetaeva so she could cope with her parents' deaths, to the point she became the mask and started to assume she really was the descendant of Grand Duchess Anastasia. During the Additional Investigation, you help her face reality and assist to therapy so she can stop living in a delusion.
- Crusty Caretaker: Ivan Vysotsky, the caretaker of Dmitri's estate, is old-fashioned, grumpy, and likes chasing off trespassers with his shotgun for a hobby.
- Crystal Ball: Sveta Rasputina uses one as part of her Phony Psychic persona.
- Eccentric Millionaire: Dmitri Lermontov, the owner of the Lermontov Estate, is a billionaire who dresses like he's in the 19th century and likes to pretend he's living inside of a mystery novel, even exclaiming how exciting it is that you're laying out the evidence during his arrest.
- Family Honor: The victim insulted Ivan's family by metaphorically spitting on them, which according to Dupont is a big no-no in Russian culture and gives Ivan a big motivation to kill.
- Fortune Teller: One of Sveta's many "skills" as a Phony Psychic.
- Honor Before Reason: One of the reasons why Dmitri killed Mikhail was because he wanted to defend Anastasia's honor, since Mikhail was blackmailing her into marriage.Dmitri: If you think this was about money, you couldn't be more wrong! I killed him for HONOR!
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Dmitri murdered Mikhail because he was Blackmailing Anastasia into marrying him, and Dmitri was in in love with her as well.
- Oh, Crap!: Natasha's reaction when she finds out Darya sold launch codes to SOMBRA, which could mean SOMBRA is in possession of either a missile or a rocket.Natasha: Oh no... this can't be happening... SOMBRA couldn't have...
- Outdated Outfit: Carmen mentions how Dmitri dresses like he's in the 19th century.
- Phony Psychic: Sveta Rasputina, one of the suspects, pretends she's a psychic as part of her job, and had been insisting the victim about legalizing her psychic permit so she could make her business legitimate, which he refused to do.
- Road Apples: The player is forced to dig through horse manure as a clue.
- Running Gag: Two of them carried from the previous case: Angela making Matryoshka dolls of people in the team (this time of Carmen), and someone telling Marina to drop off her mommy issues with Natasha (Carmen too).
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Implied by Carmen, who has her doubts about Dmitri serving his full 25-year sentence since he's one of the richest men in Russia.
- I See Dead People: Sveta. Not that anyone believes her, anyway.
- Shout-Out:
- The case's title comes from a quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky: "Everything passes, only truth remains."
- The victim, Mikhail Karamazov, is named after The Brothers Karamazov.
- Dmitri Lermontov resembles Macaulay Culkin.
- Duchess Anastasia pretends to be a descendant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, and her real name, Irina Tsvetaeva, comes from Marina Tsvetaeva.
- Agrafena Raskolnikova is a parody of Inna Shevchenko, and she is named after Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov.
- Sveta Rasputina is named after Grigoriy Rasputin.
- Carmen mentions The Brothers Grimm when you find the body.
- Angela mentions both The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.
- In the Russian Cafe scene, there is a bust of Mark Twain.
- Snarking Thanks: Carmen to Angela after she shows the Matryoshka doll she made of her.Carmen: Ok... thanks... you made me look really angry...
- Soapbox Sadie: Agrafena Raskolnikova, the most (in)famous Russian activist, claims that all the governments are bad and should be brought down, and isn't above selling computer viruses to people she disagrees with. Fittingly, Agrafena is a parody of Inna Shevchenko.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: During her "séance", Sveta (who was pretending to be channeling the victim's spirit), calls himself a "Sad excuse for a human being. A petty, sniveling, conniving cretin that deserved to die."
- Spooky Séance: Subverted. Sveta tries to make you believe she's performing one of these to divert the attention away from her, as she supposedly channeled the victim's spirit to make it look like she wasn't the culprit. Of course, no one believes her.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Anastasia insists on being called Duchess.
- Upper-Class Twit: Duchess Anastasia is rather cocky and bossy around "lesser" people. Later Subverted when we find out she isn't upper class at all, since she's pretending to be one as part of her coping method.
