“Not particularly. There’re several people I know in town who are into making their own brew, and they’re rather fanatical about it. It’s not my cup of tea, but to each his own.”
“When I had the brief conversation with the Netherlander basketball player, he told me he was a microbiological technician who worked at an academic medical center in Amsterdam. To tell you the truth, it surprised me. Since I’d heard he’s here as a militiaman, I naturally assumed he would be involved in a more military oriented field rather than medical. When you originally went out there, did you happen to learn what any of their vocations were?”
“I didn’t,” Bill admitted. “Like you, I assumed it had to have something to do with the military, but there was no reason for me to ask.”
“Okay, enough speculation about our visitors!” Bob said, getting to his feet. “What do you say about everybody refreshing their drinks while I put the meat on the grill. I don’t know about you, but I’m famished.”
There was a universal murmur of approval as everyone stood up in unison.
Chapter 13
Wednesday, July 23, 9:15p.m.
Bennet Estate
Hamilton County, New York
“This might have been our best dinner since we’ve been in Essex Falls,” Viktor said as he leaned back contentedly in his high-topped chair. They were eating at the island in the kitchen for convenience’s sake. Occasionally when they’d made one of their special meals, like the dinner they’d just had, they used the formal dining room. But on this particular night with Alexei and Dmitry slotted to head out on their quest to find and bring back Ethan Jameson’s body, they opted for the efficiency of eating in the kitchen.
“Your Stroganoff was superb,” Nikolai agreed, causing Alexei and Dmitry to exchange a knowing glance. Nikolai was such an ingratiating sycophant.
“I know,” Viktor said unabashedly, with a contented smile. “Your borscht was first class as well.”
“Thanks to my mother,” Nikolai said.
“I just had an idea,” Dmitry said, interrupting Viktor and Nikolai’s self-congratulating exchange.
“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” Viktor said, looking over at Dmitry and garnering a guffaw from Nikolai. “Let’s hear it.”
Dmitry held himself in check before saying: “I think I have a better idea of what to do with Ethan Jameson’s body than putting it into the icehouse. We don’t know whether any of the maintenance people go in it or not, which could be a disaster. What’s in the icehouse? Does anybody know? I’ve never even looked in there.”
“Not much,” Viktor said. “I looked inside back when we first got here. It’s mostly just empty shelving on one side with some dusty old cardboard boxes. On the other side are mostly a bunch of old, louvered outdoor shutters. There are no gardening tools or anything like that. But you are correct. We don’t know for certain whether anyone goes in there. What’s your better idea?”
“To take advantage of the lake,” Dmitry said. “I don’t know about any of you, but when I’ve used the diving board, I’ve been amazed at the difference between the water temperature near the surface and just a meter or two down, where it feels like the Baltic Sea.”
“So, what’s your idea?” Viktor questioned.
“There’s rope in the barn and there are those old building blocks in the back of the house,” Dmitry said. “With one of the building blocks as an anchor, we can just toss the body off the diving board. Hell, it’s plenty deep enough, and I can imagine its darn near freezing at the bottom. Besides, the fish will love it. They’ll probably have the corpse down to bare bone in no time.”
For a moment, Viktor stared at Dmitry before nodding and saying: “Brilliant. I like it.”
“Thanks,” Dmitry said.
“All right,” Viktor said. He pushed back and stood up. “Here’sthe plan: Nikolai and I will take charge of the cleanup tonight for a change while you boys do your run into town to get the damn body. I like this new idea, I like it a lot, and the sooner we get it out there in the lake to feed the fishes the better. And needless to say, don’t get caught. Am I clear?”
Both Alexei and Dmitry said yes in unison but then rolled their eyes for each other’s benefit.
Twenty minutes later with Alexei behind the wheel of the Dodge Ram and Dmitry riding shotgun, they turned left from the Bennet Estate driveway onto the Indian River Road and headed toward Essex Falls. The only thing they’d brought with them were several small flashlights they’d found in the kitchen miscellaneous drawer.
“Is it just me or are you getting tired of how Viktor and Nikolai are treating us?” Dmitry asked. He and Alexei had both been caught up in their own thoughts since they’d gotten into the truck.
“To be honest, I haven’t liked their condescension from day one,” Alexei said with obvious emotion.
Dmitry cast a quick glance over at Alexei. Alexei had surprised him because in his presence Alexei had always been nothing but strictly respectful to the superiors. “We need to get out of here and back to Russia,” Dmitry added as a statement of fact.
“We should have left Monday,” Alexei agreed. “Staying here to do another harvest is a stupid idea, taking a huge risk for no benefit.”
“Is there any way you can speed up the theta prion harvest?” Dmitry asked.
