He had taken a two-year lease on a shop on West 41st Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, a shop with two floors of living accommodation above it. Both the shop and the living quarters were almost derelict but he had made so much profit on selling the Brighton Beach shop and the stock that he could well afford the cost of repairs and decoration.
The new shop was within walking distance of the New York Public Library and he was going to specialise in classics and scholarly books. Ivan had agreed to move with him and once they were established he intended hiring an assistant to help Ivan. They stayed at a nearby hotel for three weeks until their new place was ready but in the meantime Aarons bought books for his new stock and left details of the shop at the library, where one of the librarians had told him that Trotsky had been a frequent reader when he was in New York. They saw Anna and Sam several times where Sam was playing. It would be an exaggeration to say that Aarons was happy in those few weeks but both Anna and Ivan noticed that he was more relaxed than they had ever seen him before. At least since Chantal’s death.
CHAPTER 28
Serov was amazed at the grumbles of some of his American colleagues complaining about life in Washington DC. He enjoyed his life and became more and more a typical American immigrant, sometimes a little homesick for his roots but on the whole enjoying the optimism and energy of Americans.
His life became even more enjoyable when he found a girl-friend. But it would be more accurate to say that she found him, for Serov kept himself to himself, intent on offending nobody in his new environment. She was a waitress at a local café and she had rather liked the diffident man who came in every day for a coffee and a beef sandwich. She had got into conversation with him one day when she saw him reading a film magazine. They talked about From Here to Eternity which neither of them had seen. She’d eventually worked him round to asking her to go to see the film with him.
When she had got to know him better she was amused by his pessimism, and as they sat with a beer each one evening after a trip to the movies she said, “You know you’ll never be an American if you don’t get more positive.” She laughed. “Even Bing Crosby sings about ‘accentuate the positive.’ ”
“You don’t like how I am?”
She smiled. “I like you a lot, honey, but you always look on the bad side of things.”
“Like what?”
She shrugged. “I can’t explain. I spoke to my dad about you.” She smiled. “He says it’s because you’re a Russian. He says all Russians are gloomy and all Americans are optimists. If things are bad they’ll get better. You understand?”
He smiled. “I’ll try to be like that.” He paused. “Do you really like me a lot?”
She burst out laughing. “There you go again. Yes, I like you a lot.”
“Enough to marry me?”
“We’ve only known one another a few months. Let’s just see how it works out.” She put her hand across the table on his. “You must come and meet my family. You’ll like them.”
“What does your father do?”
“He’s a mailman and Moma works in a laundry.”
“It must be nice having a family.”
“How about next Sunday—come for lunch?”
“Are you sure?”
She laughed. “I’ll send you an engraved invitation.”
Serov had made the long journey down to Brighton Beach and had been shocked when he found that Aarons no longer ran the bookshop, but the new owners gave him Aarons’ address in Manhattan.
At the new shop Aarons was out and Serov sat talking with Ivan waiting for Aarons to come back.
“Are you married, Ivan?”
“No.”
“Girl-friend?”
“Kind of.”
“What’s that mean?”
“She can’t make her mind up. Playing the field. Seeing if anything better turns up.”
“And you?”
“I’ve given her two months. If she ain’t made her mind up by then I’ll call it a day.”
“What’s she looking for?”
“Who knows. A guy with a red convertible and plenty of spending money.” He paused. “How about you. You got a girl?”
“Yeah. How’s Andrei?”
Ivan shrugged, smiling. “Who knows. You never can tell with him.”
“Did he tell you about me?”
Ivan nodded. “Yeah.”
“Was he angry with me?”
“I’ve never seen Andrei angry. Never. It’s not his way.”
“Why have you moved up here?”
“You’ll have to ask Andrei.”
“Do you remember me from Paris?”
“Just vaguely. It’s a long time ago.” He looked towards the door. “Here’s Andrei now.”
They had eaten at a small Italian restaurant just off Times Square and afterwards Andrei had taken Serov back to the apartment. As Serov looked around he said, “Why did you move up here?”
“We needed more space.”
“Isn’t it more dangerous up here?”
Andrei smiled. “Selling books isn’t dangerous, Igor.”
Serov shrugged. “They’ll get you one of these days. The Americans have got a mania about Reds. Why don’t you just stick to the books. Can you live on the books?”
“That’s what I do live on, my friend.”
“Did you tell them you’d seen me?”
For a moment Aarons hesitated, then he shook his head. “No. I didn’t tell them.”
“Why not?”
Aarons shook his head. “What did you do when the Germans took France?”
“I worked in the French Resistance.”
“With the English?”
“The network I worked for was run by an American. He was OSS.”
“What’s that?”
“The Office of Strategic Services. It’s the CIA now.”
“What were you doing after the war?”
“I stayed in France. I was working for Moscow. Spotting and recruiting agents of influence.”
“How did you get over here?”
“I got to London and went to the US embassy.” He smiled. “I was a walk-in. I had a long debriefing. I don’t think they were very impressed.”
“And now?”
“Like I told you, I work in the CIA’s French section evaluating documents.”
“Have you got what you wanted?”
“I just wanted to get away from those bastards in Moscow.”
“Who was your
