Kelsey emerged from her bedroom in a pair of khaki shorts and a coral Polo shirt, Elli had split open a grapefruit and turned on the television.
‘Good morning,’ Kelsey said as she wrapped a towel around her long mane of wet blond hair. ‘Did you sleep well?’
‘As well as I can with this hip of mine. Thank God for ibuprofen.’
Kelsey smiled. ‘Elli, there’s something I want to ask you.’
‘Go right ahead, dear.’
‘Do you still have the ring that Johann gave you?’
‘Oh my, yes. Of course I do. I keep it with me always.’
‘Did Johann have something inscribed on it?’
‘Yes, he did.’
‘May I see it?’
‘Certainly. But why?’
‘Six notebooks were found with Johann’s body. They appear to be his research, but we don’t know for certain, because he wrote them in a very sophisticated code. I was rereading Johann’s last letter to Raphaele Paramo this morning and I noticed something. He wrote that he gave you the key to his mind, and I wondered if perhaps he meant it literally.’
With her right hand, Elli carefully slipped the plain gold band from her ring finger and offered it to Kelsey. The metal showed the signs of a lifetime of wear.
Kelsey held it in the palm of her hand. She then picked up the ring with her fingers and brought it close to her eyes, tilting it to see the curved plane of the interior. She saw the jeweler’s mark and a number indicating that the ring was fourteen-karat gold. She turned the ring slowly counterclockwise, rolling it with the tips of her fingers. Then she saw it. Delicately inscribed, in characters so small that at first she thought it was a decorative design, was the numerical key to Johann Wolff’s cipher.
‘It was our secret,’ Elli said when she knew that Kelsey had found the inscription. ‘Johann was a brilliant man – my father said he was the most gifted student he ever had. Johann knew that his work had value, that someday it would provide a comfortable life for us and our children. He wrote his work in code so he could keep it to himself until he was ready to publish. He was near to a breakthrough when he asked me to marry him, when he gave me the key to his mind and his heart.’
Kelsey looked up from the ring, knowing that she was the first person Elli had ever told this story to.
‘After he disappeared, this was all I had left to remember him by. I’ve owned other rings over the years, but I’ve always loved this ring most of all. Why don’t you try it on?’
‘I couldn’t,’ Kelsey stammered, surprised by the request.
‘Please, for me. I suspect that young man of yours will be giving you one quite soon. I hope it means as much to you as this one has to me.’
Kelsey relented and slipped the gold band around her finger.
‘There, now your hand doesn’t look quite so naked. It looks good. Kelsey, bitter experience has taught me to embrace every moment of life as if it were the last. I can see you and Nolan are very much in love, just as Johann and I were. Grab hold of this time and don’t let it escape you.’
Before Kelsey could find any words to respond, the front door of her condo burst open and four men rushed in. The first two moved straight for the kitchen with pistols drawn and aimed at her and Elli. The other two split off to search the rest of the condo. When they returned seconds later, one of them went to the front door and made a motion with his hand.
‘Good morning, Professor Newton,’ Leskov said as he walked into the condo, his voice hard and flat. ‘It’s a pleasure to see you again.’
‘You know this man?’ Elli asked.
‘Yes,’ Kelsey replied, her eyes locked on the approaching Russian. ‘He’s a thief and a murderer.’
Leskov backhanded Kelsey across the cheek; the towel fell from her head. She fought off the stinging pain and turned back to face him, her eyes burning angrily.
‘Get the hell out of my house!’ Kelsey commanded through clenched teeth.
‘All in good time,’ Leskov replied, sneering.
Leskov pulled a chair away from the table, turned it around, and straddled it, resting his elbows on the back. On the table he saw the copy of Wolff’s final letter.
‘Ah, one we don’t have yet.’ Leskov folded the page and slid it into his shirt pocket. ‘Thank you. I have just one matter to discuss with your guest, then my men and I will leave.’
‘What do you want?’ Elli said defiantly.
Leskov turned his head slowly in her direction, a bit surprised by her lack of fear.
‘Madam, I would like the ring that was given to you by Johann Wolff.’
‘What a coincidence,’ Elli replied without a hint of humor in her voice, ‘Kelsey was asking me about that just as you and your men stormed through her front door. I no longer have the ring.’
Kelsey sat still, hoping her face wouldn’t give away the truth.
‘Where is the ring?’ Leskov demanded.
‘I am not going to tell you that.’
‘Madam, I had hoped that you would be more cooperative. If necessary, I can make this situation very unpleasant for you.’
Elli’s mocking laughter shocked everyone in the room.
‘ You are going to make things unpleasant for me? I was beaten, degraded, raped repeatedly, starved, and left for dead by the Nazis. What do you think you can do to me that hasn’t already been done?’
‘Perhaps you’re right, there may be nothing I can do to you.’ Leskov reached out and grabbed Kelsey’s wrist. ‘But perhaps watching this young lady suffer might change your mind.’
‘If you harm Kelsey in any way, I swear I will kill myself at the first opportunity. I am not afraid of death and I am not afraid of suffering. This is a waste of your time and ours. Go back to wherever you came from and leave us alone.’
Leskov grudgingly admired the woman’s nerve. Their eyes locked, and he saw nothing but steel. She meant every word.
The stare down ended when Leskov’s earpiece crackled to life.
‘Kilkenny has turned into the cul-de-sac,’ the man reported. ‘Black Mercedes truck. He’s seen our vehicle.’
‘Everyone, we’re moving out,’ Leskov announced.
‘Good riddance,’ Elli said.
‘You misunderstand me; you two are going with us. We are not finished with this conversation. Kiril, Misha, bring the women.’
Two of Leskov’s men roughly grabbed Elli and Kelsey, pulling them out of their chairs and marching them out the front door.
45
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Kilkenny sped to the far end of the development where Kelsey’s condo overlooked a wooded ravine. As he approached her unit, he saw a full-sized dark green Ford van with smoked windows backed up in her driveway – the driver was the large black-haired man he’d seen at Sandstrom’s lab and the Grad Library.
‘Damn it!’ he shouted as he braked and turned hard to the left.
The screech of rubber dragging over asphalt echoed loudly off the walls and windows of the surrounding condos. Kilkenny brought the SUV to a stop in the center of the narrow drive, nearly perpendicular to the road. As he rolled out of the driver-side door onto the road, a fusillade erupted from Kelsey’s front door. Bullets tore into the
