concentrating politely. “Why would Olga have this address?”
“She didn’t.”
“Well, why would he think she did?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know.” She rubbed her forehead. “Yes I do.” She was back at the Green Hat. Anna was upstairs in Nick’s office, asleep. The lights were out. Olga was in the doorway of the club room, scolding, coming up the stairs after her. Young woman, I arrange accom modation for the girls.
“He heard her say so. He thought she knew where we were taking Anna. But she didn’t. He tortured her for information she didn’t have.” Esther stood up. “I’ve got to tell the police.”
“Nick’ll love that.” Natalya pulled her back down and forced the schnapps into her hand. She went into the kitchen, returning with the bottle and another glass. “Let’s go through it again, shall we? I ain’t grasped exactly who you think done what.”
Esther went through it again, this time from the beginning and with more clarity.
Natalya nodded carefully. “So this assassin, Cheka or whatever he is—”
“Not Cheka,” Esther said irritably. “Anna was afraid of him before she got grand-duchess ideas.”
“This guy with a grudge and a long memory wants to do Anna in— and after the day I’ve had alone with that cow, I don’t blame him. Anyway, he’s lurking around Dalldorf, sees you and Theo take her to the Hat, follows, gets into the club with the idea of knifing Her Imperial Whatsit, but you shove him downstairs with a broom instead.”
Esther sipped her schnapps; she knew where this was going. She could see her own logic—it was making her hands shake—but this was a matter where logic compounded the apparent absurdity.
Natalya went on, still carefully. “But he happens to have heard Olga doing her I-know-everything-that-goes-on-in-this-place, so he thinks, ‘Okay, Olga’ll give me Anna’s address. Next time I get a couple of days off, I’ll do some more lurking outside the Green Hat, follow Olga home, and beat the shit out of her until she gives it to me.’ Which he does. Is that it?”
Esther said, “I know it sounds far-fetched .. . . ”
“Phhh.” Natalya’s lips formed a perfect cupid’s bow as she sucked breath through them. “I wouldn’t say far-fetched, exactly. The police won’t say it’s far-fetched—they’ll just treat you kindly and take you straight to Dalldorf to be with your pal Clara.”
“I’ve got to tell them.”
“Of course you have, of course you have.”
“Stop that.”
Natalya ceased her soothing. “All I’m saying is you’ve built this whole story out of a diary some loony kept in Dalldorf.”
“You think the timing’s just coincidence,” Esther said.
“It is. ”
“But Anna’s definitely afraid of something.”
“She’s another loony, for God’s sake.”
“Natalya, he tortured Olga. Tortured her. What for? She didn’t have money. Her place wasn’t turned over—he could see she didn’t have money. Nick kept her on starvation wages. So what was he after if it wasn’t to know where Anna was living?”
“Esther, my little rosebud, I don’t like to tell you this, but there’s men who like torturing women. Gives ’em a hard-on. All right, Olga was un lucky, but living in a place deserted at night, she was asking for trouble. Could’ve happened anytime. There’s nothing to say it’s the same man as the one at the Hat, is there? Is there?”
Esther sighed. “No.”
“No.” Natalya nodded. “Go to the police if you like, but your six week murder theory’ll just amuse ’em. I mean, what sort of killer only turns up when he gets around to it? What is he? A traveling salesman with a nasty disposition?”
“No.” She almost smiled. Whatever he was, the killer was feral. The man on the stairs stank of the jungle; she couldn’t see him selling vac uum cleaners door-to-door. She knew she was losing her case. If she couldn’t convince sharp, streetwise Natalya, with how much less belief
Chris Kyle
Lee Harris
Darla Phelps
Michael Cadnum
Jacqueline Wilson
Regina Carlysle
Lee Strobel
Louise Stone
Rachel Florence Roberts
J.J. Murray