“Yes.”
There was a deep vibration under the seat as the diesel engine stirred and then started. A second later the bus began to roll.
“Well, it should be very easy,” said Daniela. “It sounds like your whole family is from Costa Rica.” She put out the bait to see if Katia would bite. She didn’t. “And your mother’s parents, were they born in Costa Rica too?”
“No,” said Katia. “Mi abuela, how do you say? My grandmother, she was born in Cuba. Mi abuelo, my grandfather?”
“That’s correct.”
“He was born in Russia.”
“Really?” Daniela turned toward her and smiled. “That’s interesting. Where did they meet?”
“In Cuba.”
“Very international,” said Daniela. “And romantic.”
“Yes, I suppose.”
“Are they still alive, your mother’s parents?”
“No. Well, actually I’m not sure.”
“I don’t understand,” said Daniela.
“My grandmother is dead. She died many years ago. My grandfather, I’m not sure.”
“What do you mean you’re not sure?”
“It’s a long story,” said Katia.
“We have time. It’s a long bus ride.”
“Well, my grandfather is, how do you say when someone is separated from you for a long time?”
“Estranged.”
“Yes, that’s it. He is estranged from his family for many years now. When I was little I always thought of my grandfather as the black sheep.”
Daniela laughed. “Why is that?”
“Because my mother never talked about him. When I was little I would ask her, and she would always find something else to talk about. Or she would tell me to go do something. I knew he must have done something bad a long time ago.”
“You mean something against the law?” said Daniela.
“No, no, I don’t mean that.” Katia looked at her anxiously. “I mean, this wouldn’t keep me from going to the honor farm right?”
“No, of course not,” said Daniela. “As long as you disclose all the details, that’s all they care about. They’re not going to blame you for what your parents or grandparents did.”
“Okay. I mean, sure, it’s possible he may have broken the law, but I don’t think so. I think it’s something else.”
“What?”
“I think maybe another woman,” said Katia.
“Another woman?” said Daniela.
“Yes, maybe, and maybe more serious than that. My grandfather may have had a child by this woman.”
“You think so?”
“Yes, I know it sounds stupid, except that I know my mother. If all he did was break the law, she would have forgiven him long ago.”
Daniela had to laugh.
Katia smiled. “You laugh, but I asked her once if he had trouble with the law and that’s the reason she wouldn’t talk about him and we never saw him. And you know what she said?”
“No, what did she say?”
“She said that for her father, the law was an angry Russian mother, a mistress who had taken his life.”
“I see. So you figure the jealous mistress was another woman,” said Daniela.
“Of course. What else could it be?”
To Katia this meant a lover. But to Daniela, who seemed to know more about Katia’s grandfather than Katia herself, it was obvious. Katia, who was probably a young child at the time, had gotten the words reversed in the translation. The angry mistress who had stolen her grandfather’s life was not a Russian mother, but Mother Russia. Nitikin had squandered his life on the run, hiding from the Soviets who wanted to kill him and retrieve the nuclear device, and from the western powers that wanted to capture him because of what he knew.
“You’re probably right,” said Daniela. “It must be a woman. Did you ever have a chance to meet him? Your grandfather, I mean?”
“My mother told me once that I did, but I don’t remember. I was too small.”
“And so you don’t know if he’s alive or dead?” said Daniela. “That could be a problem.”
“Why?”
“Well, because the people my lawyer is working with are going to want to know one way or the other. I mean, most people know whether their grandparents are alive or dead.”
There was a long pause as Daniela allowed the anxiety to work its magic on Katia.
“I suppose it’s possible he’s alive,” said Katia. “Let me ask you a question. Just between us.”
“Of course.”
“Let’s say he’s alive and I am wrong. Let’s suppose it’s not another woman but something else that has kept him away from his family all these years.”
“Yes?” said Daniela.
“Let’s say I make a guess at where he might be; will they go after him or would they give the information to some other government so they could go after him?”
“Of course not,” said Daniela. “The information is only for background, to see if you’re telling the truth about your family. It has nothing to do with your grandfather. They probably already know who he is. They would have information on computers.”
“I see.” Katia had carried the theory of another woman through her entire childhood, only to have it shaken by Emerson Pike and his obsession with the photographs from Colombia. Katia had suspected for some time, even before she met Emerson, that the old man in the photographs might be her grandfather. If she was right, and that was the reason Pike was interested in the pictures, it wasn’t because her grandfather had had an affair with another woman. Deep in her soul, though she didn’t want to admit it, Katia suspected that her grandfather was hiding something more serious. It was the reason she’d said nothing to her lawyers. If her mother was still with him, and Katia told them where they were, her mother could be in trouble.
“So you think you know where he is?” said Daniela.
Katia looked at her, wondering if she should say anything more. “It’s only a guess. It’s probably wrong.”
“So tell me your best guess,” said Daniela.
“If you’re sure they won’t go after him.”
“I’ll talk to my lawyer. I’ll make sure they won’t, and unless he’s absolutely certain, I will tell him to forget that part of the information and not give it to anyone else.”
“Okay,” said Katia. “You see, for a long time now, several years, my mother has been traveling from Costa Rica to your country.”
“To the United States?” said Daniela.
“No.” Katia looked at her with a puzzled expression. “No. I mean Colombia.”
“Ah, Colombia,” said Daniela. “Of course.”
“That is where you come from, isn’t it?”
“Yes. It’s just that I’ve been in the States so much the last few years, it starts to feel as if I live here. You know the feeling?”
“Oh, I know. I hate that,” said Katia. “I wish I could go home too. Maybe soon we can both go. Maybe I could visit you in Colombia.”
“That would be fun,” said Daniela. “So your mother travels to Colombia regularly?”
“Sometimes twice a year. She stays there for a long time. She was gone when I left to come to the United States.”
“She was in Colombia at the time?”
“Yes.”
“So what does she do down there?”
“She says she visits family.”
“You have relatives in Colombia?”
“That’s the problem, not that I know of,” said Katia. “I have never met them.”
“I see,” said Daniela.
“My mother tells me that one of her relatives in Colombia is very old and she must go down to provide care.”
“Your grandfather?”
“She has never said this, but who else can it be?”
Yakov Nitikin is in Colombia, thought Daniela. “So when she goes down to Colombia, where does she go?” In for a dime, in for a dollar.
“She flies to Medellin.”
“Ah, a beautiful city,” said Daniela.