The Boy Who Glowed in the Dark

CHAPTER 12

Luo waited outside the Kryzhynka skating rink in the Olympic National Sports Complex in central Kyiv. The sun shone on a brisk Tuesday morning. A wind whipped Luo’s face. It was April in Kyiv, the equivalent of summer in Siberia. Normally such weather didn’t faze him in the least. This morning, however, he couldn’t get warm for some reason. Every time he tried to find a spot in the sun, some students from the Kyiv Sports Institute would gather to chat and cast a shadow on him.

He’d spoken to the detectives investigating the murder of Ksenia Melnik, the woman listed as Adam Tesla’s emergency contact. After contributing a thousand hryvnia to their retirement funds, the detectives confirmed it was a robbery-homicide. Ksenia Melnik’s son had hidden in the closet and placed an emergency call to the police from his cell phone. But the perpetrators escaped before the cops arrived, taking the woman’s cash, sterling silver tea set, and rare book collection.

After speaking with the detectives, Luo tried to meet with the dead woman’s son but he refused to let him into the apartment. Said he didn’t care to meet with any old friends of his mother. Told him to go away or he’d open the door and give him a beating he’d never forget. Luo had a mind to teach the boy some manners, but restrained himself. His sole purpose in life was never far from his mind.

The treasure. Nothing mattered except finding the treasure.

A rowdy group of six young men burst out of the Sports Complex. They carried equipment bags and hockey sticks. Luo recognized Ksenia Melnik’s son, Denys, from his picture on the Western Ukrainian Amateur Hockey League website. He was an eighteen-year-old defenseman for the Hockey Club Express. The season had ended in March. The website said that he lived with his mother in Kyiv.

Not anymore.

Luo walked up to the gang and blocked their path. Hockey was popular in Siberia and Luo had played as a teen. There were even two professional teams now. When he was growing up, the Russian version was a cerebral game with an emphasis on skills and tactics. But the North American style had influenced Russian play, and now there was a violent edge to the game.

As a result, Luo wasn’t surprised to see the young men’s faces tighten when he obstructed their path. Two of them closed their fists. Luo hadn’t even stated his business and yet they’d already revealed themselves. Physically strong, mentally weak.

He handed Denys a business card. “I’m Luo Davidov,” he said. He’d made up the last name yesterday at the printer’s shop. “I’m a scout with Donbas-2.”

Donbas-2 was a professional hockey team from Eastern Ukraine. They were the reigning champions of the Ukrainian Professional Hockey League, and a gateway to the national team, which competed in international events. Every amateur dreamed of playing for Donbas-2.

Denys took the card and stared at it as though it were a notification of a large inheritance.

“May I speak with you in private?” Luo said.

“Sure,” Denys said. He glanced at his friends with a mixture of shock and expectation. This was the moment he’d been waiting for his entire life, he seemed to be saying.

Luo led the way onto the sidewalk and around the corner toward the parking lot behind the stadium. They sat down on two empty soda crates near the rear entrance.

“We’ve been tracking your progress,” Luo said.

“You have?” Denys said.

“Yes. Just last week I was talking to Wayne Gretzky about you.” Gretzky, widely considered to be the best hockey player ever, was of Ukrainian descent.

“The Wayne Gretzky?”

“What? There’s more than one?”

“No, I mean, I…”

Luo pretended to listen as he pulled his boomerang out of his knapsack. It was different from the version he’d used to herd reindeer as a child. The wings were made of steel and honed to a sharp edge.

He slammed the sharp edge across Denys’s left boot, aiming for the line where the toes met the foot.

A thunk was followed by the sound of metal on metal.

Denys screamed.

Luo pulled the boomerang out of his boot. “Steel toe?”

Denys stood up. Fury and fear crossed his face. “What the hell?”

Luo pointed the boomerang. “Sit down or I’ll kill you as you stand.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m the guy you wouldn’t talk to yesterday. I’m the guy you’re going to talk to today.”

Denys pretended to seethe some more to prove he wasn’t intimidated. But he was. He knew better than to run or raise his hand to Luo.

He sat down instead. “Talk about what?”

“Tell me in your own words what happened last night.”

Denys repeated the story he’d told the police.

“I’ve heard all that. Now I need to hear what you didn’t tell the police.”

“I told the police everything.”

Luo lifted an old coffee cup from the ground with his left hand. He sliced it in half with a flick of his wrist.

“I doubt it,” Luo said. “The police can’t be trusted. They just want the case to go away. There was no reason for you to be honest with them. But there are reasons for you to be honest with me. Don’t you think?”

Melnik’s eyes remained on the boomerang. “There were two of them.”

“How did they get in?”

“I don’t know. I was lying in bed listening to music on my headphones. Next thing I knew I heard a scream. I got up and looked out the door and saw two guys with guns. Maybe they conned her into opening the door by saying it was an emergency. Maybe she needed to take out the garbage and they were waiting outside.”

“What did they look like?”

“They looked like businessmen. Except one of the men had a ring on his finger. It was gold with a black jewel in the center. In the form of the letter Z.”

The ring didn’t sound familiar. “Did this ring mean something to you?”

“Yeah. My mother once showed me a book with a picture of seven men. Actually, it was six men and a woman. All wearing the same ring. She said if a man with that ring ever approached me I was to avoid him at all costs.”

“What book?”

“It was a rare book on hunting. It was in the shelves with the others. They took them. The men who killed my mother.”

“Did your mother say how she came to know about these people?”

“No. I just assumed they were powerful men. The type of men who could do whatever they wanted. The kind of men you hear about but don’t talk about. At least not out loud.”

“What did you hear them say to your mother?”

Melnik appeared surprised. “How did you know I heard something?”

Luo had no idea if Melnik had heard anything. In his experience, leading questions were the most productive way to uncover secrets. Many people were too anxious or nervous to realize the questions were a trap.

“You just told me,” Luo said.

Melnik picked up a pebble. “They asked her about one of Dr. Arkady’s patients.”

“What patient?”

“A kid. A couple of years younger than me. His name was Adam Tesla.”

It was the name Luo had longed to hear. “What did they ask?”

“I didn’t hear. I ducked into my closet and called the police.”

“Did you know Adam Tesla?”

“I knew who he was. We weren’t friends or anything like that. I used to see him at Dr. Arkady’s office.”

“Why was he visiting the doctor?”

“He was getting treated for acute radiation syndrome. Him and the girl.”

“Girl?” Luo’s pulse picked up. “What girl?”

“Her name was Eva. I don’t remember her last name. She died. Then Dr. Arkady passed away, too. I never saw Adam Tesla again.”

“What else do you know about this Eva?”

Denys tossed the pebble and shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Did you hear your mother say anything?”

Denys took a deep breath. He pulled his shoulders back. A locket revealed its shape from beneath the fabric of his shirt. It was hanging from a necklace around his neck.

“Japan,” he said.

Luo frowned. “Come again?”

“‘Japan.’ I heard my mother say, ‘You’ll find what you’re looking for in Fukushima, Japan,’ and then they killed her.” Denys stared at Luo with a blank look. “Happiest moment of my life.”