'What do you care?'
'I have a stake in this too. When I was dismissed I was penalized half of my pension. Now you're my pension.'
'Okay. People want me to do a martial arts film. East meets West, violence meets meditation and tons of 'wire fu.''
'I remember. You're very good at flying on the wire, but you've killed at least one woman that I know of, probably more. What makes you think you'll be making movies?'
'You said that, not me. Besides, you're no hero yourself. They dismissed you.'
'That's true.'
Arkady turned his back on Sergei to pour two glasses of vodka. In the cabinet's reflection, he saw Sergei steal a look toward the door. Arkady filled a third glass and said, 'Go ahead, ask her in. We don't want to leave Mother out.'
'I came alone.'
'Or I'll shoot you in the foot.'
'Wait!'
There was no greater threat to a dancer.
Madame Borodina glided into the apartment, imperious and tanned, with little difference between her leather pants and jacket and her skin. Arkady thought she would have made a great pharaoh, the kind that demanded pyramids. He remembered two people had left Anya's apartment the night she was attacked. Madame Borodina he wouldn't turn his back on.
'Do you mind?' He spilled the contents of her evening bag onto the kitchen table: house and car keys, lady's compact, tissue, small bills, bank card, Metro pass and a.22-caliber pistol. He was uneasy. The Borodins might be amateurs, but they were not idiots. They followed orders but they weren't cowed.
Madame Borodina said, 'Sergei, keep in mind that everything you say here is undoubtedly being recorded and that former investigator Renko is a desperate man ready to twist anything you say.'
'Cheers,' Arkady said.
They each drained their glass. Arkady felt warm. He didn't necessarily want the Borodins drunk. Loose and boastful would do. A little terror wouldn't hurt.
Madame Borodina said, 'Now that you're not an investigator anymore, you will have to obey the law.'
'Actually, you have it backward,' Arkady said. 'Now I don't.'
'So who is this so-called witness?'
But Arkady slapped his forehead. 'Sergei, I just realized what your film will be about. Not martial arts. Nijinsky! You will dance. You will play Nijinsky.'
'I am Nijinsky.'
Arkady raised his glass. 'I'll drink to that.'
Everyone had to drink to that. Arkady thought the tea party was going well. 'So, if you play Nijinsky, who will play your mother? She was so dedicated. She picked his lovers, male or female, on the basis of whether they could promote his career. A lot of mothers wouldn't do that. Do you have anyone in mind?'
'You're funny,' Sergei said.
'We're getting off the subject,' Madame Borodina said. 'I want to see this so-called witness.'
Arkady said, 'The subject is that Sergei didn't come with the money, he came with a gun. We have to work together.' He refilled the glasses and, without explanation, added a fourth. 'You were saying about Nijinsky's mother…'
Sergei laughed. 'She was a controlling bitch.'
'Sergei, don't play his game.' Madame Borodina was not amused.
'So if you play Nijinsky, who will play the other women in your life? They must be difficult to cast.'
'Very difficult,' Sergei said.
'How many have you tried out?'
'Five.' Sergei and his mother exchanged glances.
'Does she have to be a dancer?'
'Not if she has the right quality.'
'They all fell short? Did they all turn out to be whores? What do you do to whores?'
'I don't understand.'
'Did you expose them?' Arkady asked.
Madame Borodina told Sergei, 'There is no witness. It's a hoax. Renko wants to extort money from innocent people.'
Arkady had left it up to Anya when to make her appearance. Everything stopped as she entered the kitchen. She was paler than usual, which made the shadows under her eyes appear darker than ever, and she had taken care to dress in the cotton nightgown Sergei had seen her in last.
Sergei looked ready to burst from his skin. Arkady wondered if the family of Lazarus hadn't reacted with the same horror when he rose from the dead.
'Don't say anything,' Madame Borodina said.
Sergei said, 'When I left her she was blue!'
That was a start but not complete enough, Arkady thought.
'Shut up, Sergei!' Madame Borodina said.
Arkady said, 'Sergei Borodin, did you try to murder the journalist Anya Rudikova?'
'I did.' He added, 'We can't help it. We're monsters.'
'What do you mean?' This wasn't quite what Arkady had in mind.
'Have you noticed that Moscow is full of monsters?'
'What kind?' Arkady asked.
'All kinds. Don't you see them? They've been summoned.'
'Sergei, please, I've heard all this,' Madame Borodina said.
'Peter the Great had a museum of freaks, children with horns and hooves, the half formed and deformed. He sent out a decree that all such monsters in Russia be brought to him. It was called the 'Monster Decree.' It's happening again, only this time money rules. Monsters are gathering in Moscow. Whores, millionaires, like dung beetles rolling dollar bills. God is dog, Dog is shit, I am God.' He turned to Anya and said, 'If you're back from the dead, you are the greatest monster of all.'
The room was silent.
'I killed them,' Sergei finally said.
'How many?' Arkady pressed.
'Does it matter?'
Madame Borodina dragged Sergei away. 'We're going. These crude theatrics will never stand up in court.'
The Borodins retreated to the landing, but the stairs were blocked by Victor in work coveralls and reeking of tar.
32
Elsewhere horse racing was the sport of kings. In Russia it was the sport of the lower class. Workers used to come from nearby factories to catch the last half of the card. Now the factories were closed and the few who came were pensioners measuring vodka in plastic cups. The totalizator that stood on the infield was an antique. Losing tickets accumulated in drifts, food stalls were closed, urinals overflowed, devotees in the stands were all men and all of gray age. Yet they continued to bet. That, Arkady thought, said something about the human spirit.
If the sun shined on Moscow, it shined doubly on Sasha. He was a hero and a billionaire, an attractive combination. He liked to say, 'He who steals my purse steals trash.' It occurred to Arkady that Sasha had accumulated a lot of trash.
Today the Hippodrome felt Sasha's golden touch. Party tents were set up along the rail. Waitresses shuttled
