Ural Soviet, and scouring suppressed papers and books, one of which was a handwritten account by Yurovsky himself, given to them by the chief executioner’s eldest son, which filled in many gaps and detailed precisely where the bodies had been hidden. But the Soviet political climate had made all those who’d possessed the account fearful of revealing its existence, let alone searching for the bodies. It was not until 1991, after the communist fall, that Audonin and Ryabov followed the clues and exhumed the bones, which were positively identified through DNA analysis. Pashenko was correct. Only nine skeletons came from the ground. And though there had been a thorough search of the grave site, the remains of Nicholas II’s two youngest children were never found.
“They could simply be buried at another spot,” Pashenko noted.
“But what did Lenin mean when he said that the reports on what happened in Yekaterinburg weren’t entirely accurate?”
“Hard to say. Lenin was a complex man. There’s no doubt he alone ordered the entire family shot. Records clearly demonstrate the orders came from Moscow and were personally approved by Lenin. The last thing he wanted was the White Army to liberate the tsar. The Whites weren’t royalists, but the act could have been a rallying point that would have spelled the end of the revolution.”
“What do you think he meant when he wrote,
The information concerning Felix Yussoupov corroborates the apparently false reports from Yekaterinburg?
”
“Now
that
is interesting. I’ve thought about that, along with Alexandra’s account of what Rasputin told her. That is new information, Mr. Lord. I consider myself quite schooled in tsarist history, but I have never read anything connecting Yussoupov and the royal family
after
1918.”
He refilled his vodka glass. “Yussoupov murdered Rasputin. Many say that act hastened the monarchy’s downfall. Both Nicholas and Alexandra hated Yussoupov for what he did.”
“Which adds to the mystery. Why would the royal family have anything to do with him?”
“If I recall, most of the grand dukes and duchesses applauded the decision to kill the
starets.
”
“Quite true. And that was, perhaps, Rasputin’s greatest damage. He divided the Romanov family. It was Nicholas and Alexandra versus everyone else.”
“Rasputin was such an enigma,” Lord said. “A Siberian peasant who could directly influence the Tsar of All Russia. A charlatan with imperial power.”
“Many would debate that he was a charlatan. A large number of his prophecies came true. He said the tsarevich would not die of hemophilia, and he didn’t. He foretold that the Empress Alexandra would see his birthplace in Siberia, and she did—on the way to Tobolsk as a prisoner. He also said that if a member of the royal family killed him, the tsar’s family would not survive two years. Yussoupov married a royal niece, murdered the
starets
in December 1916, and the Romanov family was slaughtered nineteen months later. Not bad for a charlatan.”
Lord was not impressed by holy men with a supposed conduit to God. His father had claimed to be one. Thousands had flocked to revivals to hear him shout the word and heal the sick. Of course, all that was forgotten hours later when one of the choir women arrived at his room. He’d read a lot about Rasputin and how he had seduced women the same way.
He flushed the thoughts of his father away and said, “It’s never been proven that any of Rasputin’s predictions were memorialized while he was alive. Most came later from his daughter, who seemed to believe it was her life’s destiny to vindicate her father’s image. I’ve read her book.”
“That may be true, until today.”
“What do you mean?”
“Alexandra’s note talks about the royal family dying within two years. The sheet was dated in her own hand, October 28, 1916. That was two months
before
Rasputin was murdered. Apparently, he told her something. A prophecy,
“They could simply be buried at another spot,” Pashenko noted.
“But what did Lenin mean when he said that the reports on what happened in Yekaterinburg weren’t entirely accurate?”
“Hard to say. Lenin was a complex man. There’s no doubt he alone ordered the entire family shot. Records clearly demonstrate the orders came from Moscow and were personally approved by Lenin. The last thing he wanted was the White Army to liberate the tsar. The Whites weren’t royalists, but the act could have been a rallying point that would have spelled the end of the revolution.”
“What do you think he meant when he wrote,
The information concerning Felix Yussoupov corroborates the apparently false reports from Yekaterinburg?
”
“Now
that
is interesting. I’ve thought about that, along with Alexandra’s account of what Rasputin told her. That is new information, Mr. Lord. I consider myself quite schooled in tsarist history, but I have never read anything connecting Yussoupov and the royal family
after
1918.”
He refilled his vodka glass. “Yussoupov murdered Rasputin. Many say that act hastened the monarchy’s downfall. Both Nicholas and Alexandra hated Yussoupov for what he did.”
“Which adds to the mystery. Why would the royal family have anything to do with him?”
“If I recall, most of the grand dukes and duchesses applauded the decision to kill the
starets.
”
“Quite true. And that was, perhaps, Rasputin’s greatest damage. He divided the Romanov family. It was Nicholas and Alexandra versus everyone else.”
“Rasputin was such an enigma,” Lord said. “A Siberian peasant who could directly influence the Tsar of All Russia. A charlatan with imperial power.”
“Many would debate that he was a charlatan. A large number of his prophecies came true. He said the tsarevich would not die of hemophilia, and he didn’t. He foretold that the Empress Alexandra would see his birthplace in Siberia, and she did—on the way to Tobolsk as a prisoner. He also said that if a member of the royal family killed him, the tsar’s family would not survive two years. Yussoupov married a royal niece, murdered the
starets
in December 1916, and the Romanov family was slaughtered nineteen months later. Not bad for a charlatan.”
Lord was not impressed by holy men with a supposed conduit to God. His father had claimed to be one. Thousands had flocked to revivals to hear him shout the word and heal the sick. Of course, all that was forgotten hours later when one of the choir women arrived at his room. He’d read a lot about Rasputin and how he had seduced women the same way.
He flushed the thoughts of his father away and said, “It’s never been proven that any of Rasputin’s predictions were memorialized while he was alive. Most came later from his daughter, who seemed to believe it was her life’s destiny to vindicate her father’s image. I’ve read her book.”
“That may be true, until today.”
“What do you mean?”
“Alexandra’s note talks about the royal family dying within two years. The sheet was dated in her own hand, October 28, 1916. That was two months
before
Rasputin was murdered. Apparently, he told her something. A prophecy,
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