It was tempting, Nadia thought. The resources. The power. “Why?” she said.
“Why trust me?” he said.
“Why do you care?”
He stared at her. His face softened. He kept staring. Nadia felt her breath shorten.
“Obviously it can’t be that I’m fond of you. After all, I barely know you.”
“Obviously,” Nadia said.
“This man Valentin. And his friends. They have a less than savory reputation in some circles. They are remnants of old Russia. Of the Soviet Union and the lawless transition that followed. If I were to get some evidence of criminal acts, I could put a stop to them. I could make them pay for prior sins.”
“What sins? What criminal acts?”
“Oh, so now you are curious?”
Nadia shrugged. “You brought it up. I’m just asking.”
“Rumors. Myths. It’s hard to separate them from reality sometimes. One wouldn’t want to libel a fellow countryman, especially a group that together is every bit as powerful as I am. But if a man had evidence…”
He’s Russian, Nadia reminded herself. And he could be lying. The living members of the Zaroff Seven could be friends of his. She remembered her uncle Damian’s final words to her. With foxes we must play the fox.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Nadia said. “But I’ll certainly keep my eyes open during the rest of my stay.”
Simeonovich sighed. “You do that. Now, have some of this caviar. If you won’t trust me, at least let me feed you. Before you go back out there among the wolves.”
CHAPTER 48
THE CALL CAME later that night as she lay awake in bed pretending sheep were counting her.
A man with an endearing voice. The kind that sold flowers to women at the hospital to supplement his income during medical school.
He spoke proper Ukrainian. He apologized. Said it was a big misunderstanding. They’d lifted the wrong man. They had no business with her or with Marko. They’d mistaken them for some other Teslas.
He put Marko on the phone. Her brother sounded wonderful. Healthier and more sober than ever. One of his abductors was a woman, he said. A real looker. Vanessa from Odesa. She had a university degree with dual majors in nursing and massage. She loved motorcycles, green cards, and America. Her life ambition was to marry a strip club operator with a trigger temper. Nadia imagined how happy their mother would be when she heard her son was engaged. And to a proper Ukrainian beauty no less.
Then the endearing man delivered the good news. Nadia was right. There was a connection between Bobby and Valentin. It would illuminate the events the night of the murder and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bobby was innocent. The man didn’t get into the all-too-important specifics but promised an explanation so convincing the judge would release him immediately. With the court’s apology.
The endearing man said he had one last question before hanging up. Had she conquered her ethnic bias and accepted the billionaire’s Russian heritage? Did she realize he was smitten with her? Had she made the proper decision to go for it?
Nadia scolded him. That was three questions, she said.
No, the man said. They were all the same question.
Yes, Nadia said.
Yes, she was going for it?
Yes, they were the same question.
The torrent of good news lulled her to sleep.
She awoke an hour later, in the heart of darkness, to the sound of the real phone ringing, whereupon she received a simple set of instructions consisting of nine words. It was delivered by a gruff and somber man speaking course Russian.
Then he hung up.
CHAPTER 49
LAUREN DEBATED WHETHER to approach Johnny Tanner or Iryna first.
She considered Johnny. Her odds of coaxing the truth about Bobby’s background from his lawyer were zero. The probability she’d get him to slip up about Nadia Tesla’s current location was no better. The man was a defense attorney. Confidentiality defined his livelihood. He woke up suspicious. He distrusted authority and people who asked questions. Attempts to trick him would be a waste of time or worse. They could jeopardize her life. She didn’t know who Victor Bodnar was but her gut told her he and his twin protégés were dangerous men. Johnny Tanner had spoken to him as though he knew him. The risks of approaching him outweighed the benefits.
Lauren imagined paying a visit to Bobby’s girlfriend, Iryna, at the bakery in Brighton Beach where she worked. She’d studied the girl’s Facebook page. A classic beauty. Not too Slavic the way some Russian girls looked, with sunken faces and narrow eyes. She looked like the innocent type who loved to bake cupcakes and watch hockey. Pictures lied, though. And girls lied. Lauren wondered about her real personality, her true motives. She had a genuine hankering to find out, except her gut told her that was a waste of time, too. At the first mention of Bobby or Nadia, Iryna would clam up right away. To earn the girl’s trust, Lauren would have to pose as a person of authority. Like a cop. And she was still rational enough to realize that was more likely to land her in jail than glean any information.
She was also concerned that Victor Bodnar had dropped the girl’s name. It was as though he was encouraging Lauren to go see her, which told Lauren she should do otherwise. It didn’t smell right. She had an eerie sense he was trying to manipulate her.
The answer was neither. She shouldn’t approach the lawyer or the girlfriend. Both visits were losing propositions. There simply had to be a better plan of action. There had to be a more promising source of information.
A mother, Lauren thought. A mother was the best source of information about anyone.
Lauren found the address in the White Pages. She drove 120 miles to a small town in central Connecticut called Rocky Hill. She pulled into an old condominium complex in the late afternoon. Parked in a small lot across the street from a corner unit.
She rang the doorbell. The curtain over the front door window parted. Lauren felt a person’s eyes upon her. The front door cracked open. A chain prevented it from swinging wider.
An elegant woman with short gray hair opened the door. Lauren recognized the family resemblance.
“Mrs. Tesla?” Lauren said.
“Yes?”
“Nadia’s mother?”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Lauren Ross. Nadia’s friend from New York. I’m sure she’s mentioned me to you.”
“How could she mention you to me when she never calls me? You’d think a daughter would call her mother at least once a week.”
“Well, she’s been busy. What with the trial and all.” Lauren lowered her voice. “I know the boy’s story. I know he’s from Ukraine and he got into the country through Alaska. I know about Bobby.”
“You know about Adam?”
Lauren hesitated. “Yes. I know all about Adam.”
Nadia’s mother frowned. Gave Lauren a once-over. By the time she was done she was glaring. She’d blown it, Lauren thought. The hesitation had cost her.
“I don’t know who or what you’re talking about,” Nadia’s mother said. “Good night.” She swung the door shut. A bolt slid into place. A door chain rattled home.
Lauren returned to her car.
Adam, she thought. Bobby Kungenook was the boy’s alias. His real name was Adam. Forty minutes and thirty-two miles later a question occurred to Lauren at a rest stop on the Merritt Parkway.
What were the odds his last name was Tesla?
CHAPTER 50
NADIA CHECKED OUT of the Leopolis Hotel the next morning. She took the #170 express train departing Lviv at 7:00 a.m. It arrived at Kyiv Central Station at 11:55 a.m. That left her with four excruciating hours to kill before meeting with the men who had Marko.