Private Moscow

Chapter 80

I stared across the table. I was grieving for a man who’d worked for me, but I was also mourning the loss of a friendship that had turned out to be nothing more than an illusion. And now I was being framed for murder. My anger rose, making my skin flush with a crackling heat.

“You must go,” Feo said.

“You know I can’t do that,” I responded flatly. “Not until this killer has been caught.”

“I had a feeling you might say that,” Feo replied. “You seem an honorable man. A coward runs. He might live, but he lives as a coward, and he can never run from himself. The honorable man might die, but he passes in glory. Just like Leonid Boykov.” He glanced around. “Listen to me, talking wisdom like I know about life. I need a drink,” he said, getting to his feet.

As he went to a table with bottles and glasses, I saw Anna and Dinara enter. Everyone fell silent, and then a few of the assembled residents rose from their seats and offered Dinara their sympathy as she crossed the room. Her eyes glistened and I could see her fighting back tears. Anna gave her a steadying hand, and I stood as they approached.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

Dinara replied with a faint smile, but she looked punch-drunk. She took the seat Feo had vacated, and he returned with a drink and sat next to her. Anna pulled up the chair to my left.

Feo spoke to the two women in Russian, and their eyes widened and they both looked at me.

“I was there. I can tell people the truth,” Anna offered.

“You’ve been reported missing,” Feo said. “Be very careful.

Missing can become dead.”

“They wouldn’t. I’m a police officer,” Anna remarked.

Feo inclined his head and gave her a withering look. “You know the kind of people who are behind this. Police officer means nothing to them.”

“I’m sorry,” Dinara said. “If I’d been faster...”

“This wasn’t your fault,” I assured her. “You did everything you could. The fact you’re even here is a miracle.”

“That is thanks to Anna,” Dinara replied. “She saved my life.”

“What do you suggest we do then?” Anna asked. “Sit here and drink?”

“For tonight,” Feo replied. “We need to find out who we can trust before we do anything. At the moment, that’s no one outside of this building.” He filled a glass and passed it to her. “So you might as well drink.”

He stood up and raised a brimming shot glass to his fellow residents, “Leonid Boykov, vechnaya pamyat,” he announced loudly.

Dinara’s eyes filled anew and she leaned toward me, her voice straining with emotion: “It means let him be remembered forever.”

Everyone in the room stood, and we all raised our glasses. I joined a chorus of voices who all cried out in unison. “Leonid Boykov, vechnaya pamyat.”

Let him be remembered forever.