The Boy Who Stole from the Dead

CHAPTER 11

NADIA ARRIVED AT Global Real Estate Partners in Midtown to meet with Valentine’s boss at 10:00 a.m. on Friday. She’d implied she was an aunt looking for closure in Jonathan’s death. She’d promised to be brief and thanked the man profusely for agreeing to meet with her even before he’d said yes. By the time she was done pleading, he couldn’t say no.

“Jonathan wasn’t your usual Brit,” Austin Russell said. “In fact, if it weren’t for the accent, you’d have guessed he was a good old boy himself. They would have loved him down in Texas.”

The morning sun poured through the open blinds in Russell’s modest office. When Nadia squinted, he apologized, hoisted himself to his feet, and closed them.

“What do you mean he wasn’t your usual Brit?” Nadia said.

Russell wheezed from the exertion. When he returned to his seat, his torso spilled onto his armrests. “Not the reserved, stiff upper lip type. Life of the party, that one. Not afraid to show his emotions or let people know what he thought, either. Not necessarily the best personality to have if you want to climb the ladder at Global Real Estate Partners but he will surely be missed.”

“He was the life of the party?”

“That’s an understatement. He had that larger than life attitude. Bigger, better, more. That was his motto. We have a holiday party for the New York office every January. Used to be in December but everyone’s schedule is so loaded… and the rates go down after New Year’s. Well that wasn’t enough for Jonathan Valentine. He said there had to be a true Christmas party. So he hosted his own for the other associates. Paid for the entire kit and caboodle on his own dime.”

Nadia decided to play along with the prevailing sentiment. “He was a kind soul, that Jonathan,” Nadia said.

“Even hired a band. Some hot European club act touring America.” Russell shook his head with admiration. “You know, he wasn’t the smartest analyst here. And I don’t mean that as an insult. He was plenty smart. But we recruit from Columbia and Wharton here. Still, he would have been a heck of a promoter. He would have brought us a lot of business through sheer personality.”

“What was he working on recently? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“He was part of the team working on a project in New Jersey. New outlet mall outside of Atlantic City.”

“Nothing international? In London perhaps?”

“No. We’re strictly Eastern Seaboard. We have offices in twelve foreign countries. London deals with London.”

“So Jonathan didn’t travel much.”

“Atlantic City and back. If you call that travel.”

“Did he have any vacation recently?”

Russell frowned as though it was a strange question for her to ask.

“I’m just trying to understand his last days,” Nadia said. “I don’t know why. It may be my way of dealing with the grief. Would you indulge me? Please?”

Russell stared at Nadia for a moment, then shrugged. “Just the day of his… just his last day.”

“He took that day off?”

“Personal day. And of course, there was his father’s funeral in England. He was gone for almost a week. So tragic, both of them dying within a two-week time frame.”

“Yes, it was,” Nadia said.

Valentine was in London when the call was made. Valentine had made the call to Bobby himself, Nadia thought. And he’d made it on a prepaid phone so it couldn’t be traced to him.

“I’m sorry,” Russell said. “I didn’t catch whether you were his aunt on his mother’s or father’s side.”

In fact, Nadia had never said she was Jonathan Valentine’s aunt. It was actually Bobby who called her “Auntie,” a title she manufactured during their escape from Russia. Whenever she perpetrated a ruse, Nadia liked to stick as close to a truth as possible.

“Yes,” Nadia said. “Thank you for your condolences, and thanks so much for taking the time to meet me. I know how busy you are.”

Russell appeared confused by her answer but when he saw her hand extended the gentleman within him burst into action. He pushed off against the desk and rose to his feet. He smiled sympathetically and shook her hand. As Nadia turned to leave, his eyes narrowed again.

“I don’t think you mentioned your name,” Russell said.

“Thank you, Mr. Russell,” Nadia said. “I’ll be sure to extend your condolences to the rest of the family when I see them in London.”

When she got home, Nadia called the Stern School of Business. She asked to speak with the director of the placement office. She knew that Valentine had earned his MBA at NYU. Global Real Estate Partners’s website said so. Tens of thousands of students had earned their MBAs from NYU in the last few years. There was no chance the placement office would know Valentine was dead.

Nadia identified herself as a forensic security analyst, discussed her background, and said she was looking for an understudy. She told the director that Valentine had applied for a job and she wanted to verify his graduation. The director did so. To confirm they were speaking about the same Jonathan Valentine, she asked to verify his current and previous addresses. Nadia offered Valentine’s most recent address in the Meatpacking District. Johnny had procured it from the police report. The director verified it. Then she asked the director for Valentine’s previous addresses. He gave her the address for the University of Nottingham, and for a secondary school called Felshire. Nadia thanked him, hung up, and jumped on the computer to buy a plane ticket.

Maybe they would have loved Valentine in Texas, but they knew him in London.