Nineteen
With Rachel settledand the sheets in the dryer, I finally found time to call Mendoza to tell him what had happened.And, of course, got his voice mail.He was probably still sitting in on the interviews with Konstantin and Yuri and the Russian girls.
Boy, was he in for a surprise when he picked up his messages.
“It’s Gina,” I said.“You’ll never guess what happened.I picked up Rachel from the hospital and took her to the house in Hillwood to recuperate, since they wouldn’t let her leave unless she had someone to stay with.I’ll get Zachary, too, when they let him out—probably tomorrow morning—and we’ll all camp out here for a few days.And speaking of camping out… you’ll never guess who we found when we got here.”
I took a breath, both because I needed one, and to prolong the suspense.
“Steven and Anastasia!Set up, as pretty as you please, in two of my guest rooms.She pulled a gun on me when I walked through the door, although we got that part of it straightened out.And she says—they both say—that they didn’t shoot Mrs.Grimshaw.I can’t think of a reason why they would have shot Mrs.Grimshaw, but I told them you’d need to test the gun, and if they hadn’t shot Mrs.Grimshaw, then they had nothing to worry about.Anastasia said that someone else shot her, and then that someone tried to get into her house.Anastasia’s house.Or Araminta Tucker’s house, I guess, but the house where Anastasia was staying.She said they were coming through the back door, and she ran out the front and walked all the way to the university, where she intercepted Steven the next morning.And the two of them went on the run.”
I took another breath.
“Steven seems pretty certain Anastasia is his daughter.He said he knew her mother back when—‘back when’ being the time before the girl was born, I assume—and that she has his eyes.And she does, sort of.But I’m sure they’ll have a paternity test done, to make sure.Anyway, I told them what happened last night, and that Yuri and Konstantin are no longer a threat, so they decided to venture back into the world.I told them to talk to Diana first.If you contact her, she can probably tell you where to find them.”
I took another breath.Had I left anything out?
“I think that’s all.Except for who actually shot Griselda, I guess.I don’t think it was Anastasia.She seemed sincere when she said she didn’t.And it couldn’t have been Konstantin and Yuri.They didn’t know about Araminta Tucker’s house until the next night, after they beat the information out of Zachary.So while I’m sure vice and ICE are happy with you for putting them on the trail of Konstantin and Yuri, you still have a murder to solve.Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.If not, I guess I’ll see you around.”
I paused another second.I’m not sure why.It wasn’t like I expected him to answer.And of course he didn’t.
“Bye, Detective,” I said, and disconnected the call.And sat down at the kitchen table to wait for the sheets to make it through the wash cycle so I could throw them in the dryer.
Had I left anything out?
I didn’t think so.Nothing important, anyway.Except maybe the ransom note.Someone had sent it, or put it on Diana’s doormat.And it hadn’t been Steven and Anastasia.As Steven had said, it was his money.And if Anastasia really was his daughter, she had no reason to want to steal his cash.Even if she were mercenary, and I had no reason to think she was, she’d be better off keeping on his good side.And that was aside from the fact that Steven had sworn they were together the other morning.
So it wasn’t Steven and Anastasia.
And it couldn’t have been Konstantin and Yuri.There was no reason to think they even knew who Steven was, let alone where he lived.
Although Zachary might have told them that, too.Assuming they’d asked.I’d have to find out if they had.But even if they knew who Steven was, and where he lived, was a ransom note something that would have crossed their minds?
Somehow I didn’t think so.And the Russian girls wouldn’t have been able to get out of their room and over to Richland, where Diana and Steven lived.
Diana herself?
It would have been easy for her to set it up, anyway.Just unlock the front door and drop the note on the mat, and then call me, frantic.
So Diana had had means and opportunity.But maybe not so much in the way of motive.Like Steven, it was her money.If she wanted it, she could just take it out of the bank.
Would it benefit her somehow for us to think that Steven had been kidnapped instead of running off with his young mistress, which is what we’d been thinking then?
I couldn’t see how.
So who did that leave?If Diana was out, and Steven and Anastasia were out, and Konstantin and Yuri were out, and the Russian girls were out… who was left?
Anybody?
The only other person I could think of was Araminta Tucker.She’d known about Steven and the girl.She’d known who Steven was, and that he was a professor at the university, so she might have figured out where he lived.A quick computer search or even checking the phone directory might get her that information.And she did get around.I didn’t know how, but she’d made it to the ice hockey game the other night, so she had access to some form of transportation.She might have made it to Diana’s house in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The other shoe dropped, and in retrospect, I can only marvel that it took as long as it did.
Araminta Tucker knew all about Steven and Anastasia.She’d rented them her house.Right next to her sister-in-law.The sister-in-law with the million dollar insurance policy.
Anastasia had said that she’d been woken up by a loud noise.The shot that killed Griselda, I assumed.And then someone had been at the back door to her house.Araminta’s house.
Someone who had been on their way in through the back door when Anastasia ran out the front.
