Anatoly stared at her, then at me, like he was memorizing our faces, which, as it turns out, he was, and then he threw back his head and laughed and laughed. He told us he didn’t know what we were talking about, and ordered us to leave.
The next day, I was notified that two hundred thousand dollars had been wired into my account with a note that said, “Leave it alone.” I asked Victoria if she’d put the money in my account, but she said she didn’t know anything about it. She said it could be Anatoly wanting us to back off. Why would a mobster do that? I asked her, but she only shook her head. I offered to split the money with her, but she insisted I look at it like a windfall, and use it for my mother. I could tell she didn’t want to pursue this any further, either.
I think now it was Victoria who gave me the money. Why? Because she felt guilty about telling me about the diamond, and she was worried about what Anatoly might do.
I kept the money, Nicholas. Another stupidity. But when I thought of my mom and how she needed it so desperately—I needed to keep it to help her.
Even though I backed off, the next day I saw two thugs following me. I knew then Anatoly hadn’t sent the money, and I knew I was in trouble.
I met a Russian man, Vlad Kochen, in the cafeteria in the Met. He told me he saw men following me, and that he could take care of it. I felt ridiculous going to Bo with this, especially because of the money, and besides, what on earth could I say to him? So I paid Kochen to watch my back. He said to trust him, he would take care of it. Sure enough, the next day the young thugs were gone, but there was another man watching me. He was older, thin, white-haired. And there was something about him that scared me more than the young thugs. I asked Vlad about the man, but he didn’t know who he was.
To be safe, I asked Vlad to get me a pistol.
That’s all, Nicholas. What will happen now? I don’t know, but I’m going to send the money to my mother. I don’t care who sent it to me, Mom needs it.
As for Victoria, she is avoiding me. I think she’s very sorry she ever said anything to me about the three diamonds. Maybe she’s afraid, too.
I have to say life is never what you expect. All my life I wanted some magic, something that was of the unknown, the inexplicable. I laugh thinking about being careful about what you wish for—I miss you, Nicholas. I hope you are well and happy and that you haven’t strangled Penderley, or the other way around.
And the screen went blank.
89
Nicholas had to stop himself from throwing the laptop across the room. Why hadn’t she come to him sooner, called him, anything? She might not be dead.
He said, “I wondered why Lanighan wanted the Koh-i-Noor specifically. I mean, what would he do with it? Now we know. You were pretty close to the mark, Mike. He’s sick, and he wants the stones because he thinks he can put them together and heal himself. We need to call Ben and Zachery. I think it’s pretty clear now what was stolen from Anatoly’s safe yesterday.
“The white-haired man—the Ghost—he stole the third diamond out of the safe after he murdered Anatoly and his sons.”
Mike said, “Sounds right. Ben called while the video was playing. Let’s call him back.” She dialed Ben, who answered immediately.
“Finally, I’ve been waiting for you to get back to me. The NGI facial-recognition database found a match with Interpol crime scene footage from two decades ago, an attempt on Fran?ois Mitterand’s life. We’ve identified a man named William Mulvaney, aka the Ghost, early sixties, six-foot-one, thin frame, white hair. We were right about all of it. He not only killed Elaine and Kochen and attacked you guys, he also killed Anatoly and his sons, but we still don’t know what he stole from the safe.”