We’d both been feeling frustrated and worried about finding the flash drive before Robin got back to town, but the brief change of scenery lightened our spirits.
We exited the park, winding up on 30th Avenue in the Outer Richmond. Alex’s apartment was on 26th, three blocks from the gold-domed Russian Orthodox church that served the many immigrants who had moved to this area in the last twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Derek had wangled the address from Inspector Jaglom, so we drove slowly past the apartment first, then parked a block and a half away.
“I can’t wait to see how you’re going to get us inside this place,” I said as I shut the car door.
“Watch and learn,” he said cryptically, and took my arm.
“Yes, Sherlock.” We walked the first block past rows of uniform, three-story Marina-style flats. The architectural style was named for the Marina District where they were first built and proliferated. On this street, each small building had a garage on the ground level, with one apartment each on the second and third floors. Most tended to feature spacious rooms, hardwood floors, and bay windows.
We crossed the street and approached Alex’s place just as a woman exited through the gated front entrance, then turned to lock it.
I gasped and whipped around, pulling Derek over to the nearest wall. Using him as a shield, I whispered, “Kiss me, please?”
He obliged. A moment later, he murmured, “Not that I’m complaining, you understand, but why am I kissing you?”
I exhaled in relief that I hadn’t been seen. “The woman who just walked out of Alex’s place? It’s Robin’s attacker, Galina.”
Derek craned his neck to watch her. “She’s going the other way. Just got into a car. Looks like a Jetta.”
“What’s she doing out of jail?” I groused, mentally kicking myself for not having followed up with the police on her whereabouts. “I can’t believe it. She almost killed Robin and now she’s walking around as free as a bird.”
“She’s driving away,” he said, and then a few seconds later, “Let’s go.”
I tried to act casual as we strolled to Alex’s entry gate, but my nerves were on red alert. Derek removed some thin tool from his pocket and slipped it into the keyhole. After a moment, he turned the knob and we walked inside.
“That was a little too easy,” I said in a low voice.
“No, I’m just that good,” he said, leading the way up the steps.
I chuckled and a tiny bit of tension left my shoulders. But I couldn’t quite brush off the sense of impending doom. What if Galina returned for some reason? I really didn’t want to deal with her.
When we got to Alex’s door, Derek worked his magic again and whisked the door open within ten seconds. He took one cautious step inside, and I followed.
“Christ almighty,” he swore.
“What?” But he turned and I saw for myself.
“Go.” He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me out the door. I went willingly.
“Call the police,” he added, drawing his gun from his shoulder holster. “We’ve got another body.”
Chapter 15
“You should come with a warning label, Wainwright,” Inspector Lee said, then snorted at her own joke. I wasn’t laughing. Her comment hit a little too close to home.
It wasn’t like I went looking for dead bodies, although I could see how it would appear that way to the police.
According to the passport inside the dead guy’s pocket, his name was Stanislav Ostrovsky, a Ukrainian. Not surprising, since he was found inside the place rented by Alex, another Ukrainian. I’d seen only a flash of Stanislav’s body before Derek pushed me away, but it was enough to make me sick, and not just in a physical sense. No, this one hurt my heart. He looked too young and innocent to be caught up in all this spy-versus-spy nonsense. For a few moments, I speculated that he might be Alex’s younger brother. Otherwise, maybe they were recruiting spies out of high school these days. What did I know? But I concluded sadly that he had to be involved in the same operation that Galina and Alex were caught up in. Why else would he have been found here in a place Alex used as a cover for his intelligence activities?
The Ukrainian connection fed into Lee’s theory that this whole mess was related to the escalating turf war. Once again, Derek and I kept mum, but I wouldn’t be able to be quiet much longer. We were withholding evidence, and all those levels of government jurisdiction didn’t matter to me as long as Robin was still in danger. If the police knew we were looking for a mysterious missing flash drive, they would freak, and I wouldn’t blame them.