“I'm assuming so.” Olga shrugged.
“Could I search Eva's room? I've done the same with Lord Timofey's quarters; it could lead to the discovery of evidence.”
“It's the last door on the right.” She waved down the hallway.
“I'll stay here with her,” I said as Kon stood.
He nodded and strode down the hall.
“Have you been in there since her passing?” I asked Olga.
“I can't,” she whispered. “I can't look at her things. It hurts too much.”
“That's good for us though.” I patted her hand. “It means that nothing has been disturbed. If there's a clue, the Garin will find it.”
“Thank you, Misha. You're always so good to us.”
“Not good enough.” I lowered my head. “I should have come sooner. I should have checked on you. She was my friend; I owed it to her to check on her mother. I'm so sorry, Olga.”
“Nonsense. You havehimto deal with.”
“Nikolay is not—”
“So bad?” she cut off my lie. “We all know what he does to his courtiers. Toyou. Sometimes even to one of us. This is probably the only beneather community in which it's safer to be a commoner.”
“He doesn't hurt . . . okay, yes. He can be difficult. But I still owed you a visit, and I'm sorry for that. I hope I can make it up to you by finding Eva's killer.”
“Mikhail,” Konstantin called.
“I'll be right there.”
“Can I go with you?” Olga asked.
“Maybe you should let us look it over before we share it with you. It could be something dangerous. Something that . . .”
“Got her killed,” she finished for me.
“Yes.”
“All right. I'll wait here.”
I left Olga sipping her tea and hurried down the hallway to Eva's room. It was a modest setup, with a twin bed, a dresser, and a trunk at the foot of the bed. The nicest thing in the room was the hand mirror on top of the dresser. In fact, it was way too nice for a chambermaid.
“Where did she get this?” I asked as I picked it up, admiring the engravings.
“It was a gift from her lover,” Kon said smugly.
I looked over to where he sat on the neatly-made bed. He had a little book in his hand.
“Is that a diary?”
“Yes, or as we Garin like to call it—a unicorn.
“A unicorn?”
“The kind of hard evidence that is so rare, it's practically mythical—a unicorn.” He tapped the page. “Guess who Eva's lover was?”
“Someone wealthy enough to give her a silver mirror. I'm guessing a lord?”
