“Starting where?”
“What do you know about what Nika did in the time between her arrival in the U.S. and moving into your house?”
Alice looked out the kitchen window. The colors were seeping back into the forest, the blue of the sky lightening. “Like I say, she hardly mentioned her past, even her recent past. I did ask for references before she moved in. She gave me the name of a wealthy Russian guy she’d been working for as a translator, before her diagnosis. A live-in position. He was a businessman in New Jersey. I called him but, yeah, it was hard to get much out of him without a translator. I decided to go with my gut instead. Because that’s just how I roll.”
“Please tell me his name was Yakov.”
“Anatoly-something, sorry. I remember the business name. Swan Property Developments.”
He studied her intently, then grabbed his phone from the bedside table and dialed a number. “Hey, Mom!” Alice caught a tinny response but couldn’t make out the words. To Alice, he said quieter, “She’s just going somewhere more private.”
“You threw away my phone and now you’re calling yourmother?”
“No one’s gonna be trackingherphone, well not this one.”
“Oh.She’sthe woman you were talking about yesterday—the one you go way back with.”
He grinned. “Alice, were you jealous of my mother?”
“Not at all. In fact, I feel sorry for her.”
“As you should. She’s always on at me about being the prodigal son who still hasn’t quite made it home… Oh, hey Mom… No, just … somebody… Yeah,thatwoman… Yeah, sheispretty, but emotionally unavailable.” He looked straight at Alice as he spoke, and then shook his head slowly. “No, Mom, that does not make us perfect for each other. The opposite, in fact. Anyway,” he said, standing, “I have some favors to ask. First, I need you to track down Randolph Jeffson. Then find a Russianguy in New Jersey… Yeah, yeah, I know you’re not my secretary, but if you ever want me to come and visit again… Seriously? You’re negotiating terms on whether you help your only child escape a murder charge?… Okay, sure, I’ll come to the lake with you this summer.” He rolled his eyes, for Alice’s benefit. “Yeah, for an entire week, whatever you want… I promise I won’t find an excuse to leave early… No, I’m not gonna bring her… No, you cannot talk to her… Mom! Do we have to get into this now? I’m kind of in a situation here. Wait, how did you know that Alice is ‘pretty’?” He ran his fingers through his hair, listening. “Holy shit! I think that’s what they call burying the lede, Mom… Okay, here are the details of the guy…”
When he got off the phone, Alice looked at him expectantly. “What’s the news?”
“You’ve been named. A ‘person of interest’ in the investigation into the Moscow murder.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re an interesting person. Not that I’m saying you weren’t before.”
“I really wasn’t. I mean, I’m not.”
“Stop selling yourself short. I find you very interesting.”
“I’m happy not being interesting, if ‘interesting’ means being a wanted woman. Are they going to arrest me?”
“You’re not ‘wanted.’ Not that I’m saying you’re notwanted. I’m sure there are plenty of people who want you. But there’s no arrest warrant yet, for either of us.”
“Quite happy not to be wanted, in this case.”
“It doesn’t really mean anything—they keep it deliberately vague. Mostly an excuse to scare you. The main problem now is that your name and photo are being circulated too. So it’s going to be harder for us to buy lunch.”
“Lunchis your concern?”
“Eating and drinking are up there with the fundamental needs for human survival, and, like you say, surviving is winning, so yes, eating is my number one concern, given that we can take breathing for granted, for now. Besides, lunch is my favorite meal. You can go either way—waffles are acceptable, but so is steak. And beer.”
“Are you making jokes to stop me panicking about being the next worst thing to a wanted woman?”
“Hey, come here,” he said, crossing the room and cupping her face. “Don’t look so terrified. You’re handing yourself in today, remember?”
“Handing myself in? You make it sound like I’m going to be face-down in handcuffs with people shouting at me. I don’t like being shouted at.”
He let her go, grabbed a granola bar from their stash, and unwrapped it. “I’m reasonably certain they won’t do that to you, but it is possible they’ll play hardball. They may want to scare you into telling them everything you know.”
“Which is nothing. I can pretty much tell them three words: Tatiana, Yakov, and kompromat.”
“There must be more that you know—all those conversations you had with Nika… I doubt anyone knows yet what piece of information is going to be decisive in this—except for the person with the guilty conscience, who will want to make sure it doesn’t come out.”
