“But he didn’t want that,” Hannibal said.
She looked at Hannibal with the wide eyes of surprise. “You’re right. He said an ambulance would bring police into it and that would be trouble. I should call Mama first. So I called home, but there was no answer. It just rang and rang. I was so scared. So I called you, Uncle Yakov. He didn’t want anyone to come to the house, so I told you I’d meet you on the boardwalk. So then I felt a little better, anyway. But when I went to tell Dani what was going on, he was gone. I heard the SUV pull away out front. I think he thought I was in danger as long as he was with me.”
“You poor girl,” Yakov said, gathering her into his arms.
Hannibal didn’t think she was in any danger, but he wanted to be sure. “The duffel full of money?”
“Gone too,” she said. “Maybe they shot him for it.”
As good an explanation as any, Hannibal thought, although if her story made any sense, the shooter didn’t have time to find the right bag. It seemed more likely that Dani took the money with him.
“What a horrible day for you, my child,” Yakov said. Hannibal thought he knew where that conversation was going, and he wanted to forestall it a bit. He pulled out the photo he had shown everyone else.
“This might help us find Dani’s attacker,” Hannibal said. “Who else do you recognize in this picture? That’s your husband in the back there.”
“Yes, standing behind Uncle Boris,” she said. Yakov moved his arm and sat back, his mouth slack. “Yes, Uncle Yakov, that’s Uncle Boris and Aunt Renata.”
“And Danny went by Gartee Roberts at that time,” Hannibal said.
“Gartee? What the hell kind of a name is that? I never heard him called any other name but Dani.”
Hannibal chose not to challenge the obvious lie.
“How did you know the Tolstayas?” Yakov asked.
“Another disappointment,” Viktoriya said, slurping the last of her drink out of its cup. “I was a big North Africa freak in college. Uncle Boris was going to take me on a trip to see Algeria where he has some business connections. Papa was all for it for a while, but then he backed out of it. That was right after I met Dani. He was working for Uncle Boris. He ended up getting the trip to Algeria.”
Yakov took Viktoriya’s hand, painting his face with a gloss of sincerity. “So many losses and disappointments. And now…”
“Listen,” Hannibal said. “Yakov has something he needs to tell you. I’m going to walk down the path a little way and make a call, OK?”
In the doorway to a little clothing store that was now closed, Hannibal called Orson Rissik.
“Jones?” Rissik growled into the phone. “I know this can’t be Hannibal Jones. He would never call me at my home on a Sunday night. He knows better.”
“Sorry to bring business into your house,” Hannibal said. “Please apologize to Mrs. Rissik for pulling you away from your real life.”
“If there was a Mrs. Rissik she’d tell you to piss off. But this is still my personal time and you better have a murderer in custody to be calling me now.”
“That I don’t have, Chief, but I thought you’d want to be first to know the latest on this Petrova case. Or cases, I suppose.”
“Oh.” Hannibal heard a brief pause, and then Rissik said, “Let me get a pen.” When he got back, he was all business. “All right, what have you got for me?”
“Here’s how it lays out,” Hannibal said. “Nikita and Raisa Petrova have a grown daughter named Viktoriya.”
“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.”
“Well, she recently married,” Hannibal said. “They came to Rehoboth Beach to honeymoon, which is where I am now.”
“And I need to know this because…?”
“Because the husband’s been shot. His name is Dani Gana, also known as Gartee Roberts.” Hannibal spelled both names and waited for Rissik to confirm that he had them. “He’s run off, maybe to draw danger away from the girl, but I don’t think he’s likely to get far with a sucking chest wound. I’m watching the girl since she might be next on the hit list, but can you get with Maryland police and put out a missing persons on the husband? You might save a life, and might even make some sense out of the murder of the parents.”
“I’m with you,” Rissik said. “Give me your exact location. And, hey, I’m glad you called me before the Maryland guys.”
In the time it took Hannibal to give Rissik a few more details and end the conversation, Yakov had done his grim duty. Hannibal walked back to the table to find Viktoriya’s face buried in Yakov’s shoulder while her body shook with heavy sobs. No one could be surprised. Three years ago she lost her father under suspicious circumstances. She was hardly married a day before someone shot her husband. Now she had learned that even before that, her mother had been murdered. It was a series of emotional body blows that would bring any sane person to her knees.
Hannibal returned to his seat, swallowed the last of his coffee, and waited for Yakov to look up.
“I understand that this is a very difficult time, but we can’t stay here and she can’t go back to that rented house.”
“Oh God, no,” Viktoriya said. “And I can’t go home now that I know… I know…”
“Of course not,” Yakov said.
“Besides, if anyone is looking for her, they’ll have her mother’s properties covered.”
“Looking for me?”
“If they were after the money, they might think you’ve got it,” Hannibal said. “We don’t want to take any chances.”
“My place?”
“Not if the hunters know all the players,” Hannibal said. “We need to get her to a safe, neutral place. I think Dani had the right basic idea, but I want her closer. So we go back to the District and book her into a small, innocuous motel.”
Hannibal stood and the other two followed suit. The evening was turning cool so they walked briskly to his Volvo. Hannibal opened the back door for Viktoriya. As Yakov slowly lowered himself onto the front passenger’s seat, Hannibal’s cell phone rang. He took the call standing beside the car. It was brief. After he put his phone away, Hannibal opened the back door and waved Yakov out.
“We need to talk,” Hannibal said.
25
Mornings were getting tough for Hannibal, but he figured that was due to the amount of drinking he had been doing in the last week. He admitted to himself that it might also have to do with the twisted case he was working on. He had gotten in pretty late the night before and gone straight to his apartment to get some sleep. Now, tying his tie, he stared into the mirror and remembered the conversation he had with Yakov Sidorov the night before.
“I’m afraid you have another nasty job ahead of you,” Hannibal told Yakov, with one eye on Viktoriya in the car. “The locals have already found Dani. In his rented vehicle. Dead from a second gunshot wound.”
“Oh no,” Yakov said. “She can’t take any more.”
“Not that it matters that much, but they didn’t find the money,” Hannibal said. “If the hunters got it, maybe the danger to her is over.”
Yakov nodded. “True, but is it not just as possible that Dani hid the money someplace before he died?”
“I’m afraid so.”
That had led to a very difficult drive back to Washington, after a quick stop for Hannibal to run in to the rented house and pick up a few of Viktoriya’s necessities. By the time Hannibal got her checked into a low-profile
