Emily had an hour before she needed to be at the police station, so she stopped by the library to pick up some books for Daniel. Svetlana sat at his table, trying to type in some handwritten notes on the laptop Emily had left with her. But she was visibly flustered by Sidney hovering over her. ‘Just let me help,’ he wheedled as Emily approached. ‘I can scan stuff while you type. Then we can finish faster and go for coffee.’
‘Professor Cavanaugh is paying me to do this work. I can’t let you do half of it. Besides, she pays me by the hour, not the job. If I finish artificially fast, I won’t earn enough money to—’
‘To what?’
‘Never mind.’ Emily assumed Svetlana did not want to disclose to Sidney her plan to circumvent her father’s designs on her immediate future. That was probably wise.
‘Good morning,’ she said, making both students jump. ‘Sidney, would you mind leaving us alone? I need to go over some things with Svetlana.’
He smiled his sycophantic smile. ‘Of course, Professor. Anything to oblige.’ He turned to Svetlana. ‘Will I see you at Commons later?’
‘I’m not sure. My father might want to go out somewhere.’
Sidney’s face fell, but he kept the smile pasted on. ‘Au revoir, then.’ He sidled out.
When he was out of sight and earshot, Svetlana gave a massive sigh. ‘Sidney is really starting to get on my nerves. I used to think it was just Daniel he cared about, but now he won’t leave me alone. And my father encourages him. I honestly thought Papa had more sense.’
‘I’m afraid your father may see him as a potential suitor,’ Emily said gently. ‘He is going to be a Jewish lawyer, after all.’
Svetlana made a scoffing sound. ‘Bullshit. He’s no more Jewish than the pope. And he never mentioned wanting to go to law school before, either. He just can’t seem to help trying to ingratiate himself with every person he meets who might be of use to him somehow. It’s sickening.’ She shuddered. ‘And he keeps sympathizing with me about Daniel, but it doesn’t feel genuine. One of these days I’m going to lose it and kick him into next week.’
Emily envisioned that kick: with Svetlana’s ballet training, it would be graceful, but also highly effective. The picture of a pas de deux between them ending with Sidney flailing through the air to land in an ungainly heap on the opposite side of the stage was a little too appealing.
Svetlana ran her hands over her flawless hair and corrected her posture, as Emily remembered being taught to do in ballet class – imagine a string attached to the top of your head, pulling you up. That must be her way of centering herself. ‘Anyway, I’m glad you’re here,’ she said. ‘I wanted to ask – have you made any progress? Do you know who killed Curzon?’
‘I’m afraid not. We’ve pursued a lot of leads, but so far none of them looks too promising.’ Seeing the girl’s crestfallen face, Emily hastened to add, ‘But we still have other suspects who haven’t been ruled out. Don’t give up hope.’
Svetlana’s fragile composure deserted her. She put her fists to her temples. ‘If only there were something I could do! All this waiting and worrying is driving me out of my mind.’
‘I’m not sure what you can do in the investigation. But I’m just on my way to visit Daniel and take him some books. I could at least give him a message from you.’
Svetlana grasped Emily’s arm. ‘My father’s not coming to campus till lunchtime. Take me with you. Please? If I could at least see Daniel …’
‘Of course.’ Emily led Svetlana to her car – or tried to, but it was more like leading a cat to its food bowl. The girl kept rushing ahead of her, then turning back as if to hurry her on.
As they drove, Emily gave her an update on how the investigation was progressing, omitting the fact that she still somewhat suspected Svetlana’s father.
‘So who do you think did it?’ Svetlana asked, as urgently as if Daniel’s fate hung on Emily’s opinion.
‘I really couldn’t say at this point,’ Emily replied. ‘I can’t be sure of any one person having all three of the essential elements – motive, method, and opportunity. But we’ll get there, don’t worry. The truth will out.’
Svetlana sat silent for the rest of the ride, biting her nails and leaning forward as if that would get them there sooner. Emily could not remember a longer few miles of driving.
Colin met them at the front desk of the justice center. He started when he saw Emily’s companion. Emily hastened to explain that Svetlana was hoping to visit Daniel as well.
‘I’m sorry,’ Colin said to Svetlana. ‘He can only have one visitor a day, and I’ve already put down Emily’s name. It’s too late to change it.’ He gestured toward a cubicle furnished with several semi-comfortable chairs. ‘You can wait there. Maybe you’d like to write him a note? I could bring you some paper.’
Svetlana’s pent-up energy suddenly deserted her. She sagged against Emily, then with an effort righted herself. ‘Yes, all right. That would be better than nothing.’
‘And could you get her some sweet tea?’ Emily said to Colin in a low voice. ‘She looks like she needs it.’
Colin nodded and disappeared down the hall. Emily led Svetlana to a chair, determined to make her visit short; the girl seemed about to break. Colin returned with a steaming styrofoam cup and a packet of cheese crackers from a vending machine. Hardly Svetlana’s typical healthful fare, but any calories were better than none at this point.
Colin ushered Emily through the security process as before. It took a few extra minutes for the guards to clear the books she’d brought, but soon she was face-to-face with Daniel across a table.
He looked no worse than before – possibly a bit better, as he’d had time to recover from his seizure. But he was still a long way from healthy.
Emily pushed the books across the table to him, and he brightened considerably. ‘Thank you so much. You wouldn’t believe how bored I’ve been. I managed to get a pad and pen to scribble some thoughts, but I couldn’t do any real work without my books.’ He looked over the stack. ‘You didn’t bring any of the library books, I see. Not sure I’ll ever get out to return them?’
‘It isn’t that. I just didn’t know what things were like in here – whether the books might get stolen or damaged.’
‘I doubt any of these guys would steal scholarly works on Dostoevsky. They wouldn’t even be able to pronounce his name. But I guess you’re right about the potential for damage.’ He sighed. ‘Still, these are a lot better than nothing. Thanks.’
He set the books down and fixed his gaze on her. ‘So, have you found any evidence that doesn’t point to me?’
‘Not evidence, exactly. We’ve broken a couple of alibis, but unfortunately all that proves is that the men in question didn’t want the police to know they’d been in Taylor’s office that night. Which is understandable.’
Daniel’s face fell. ‘I didn’t really expect you’d find anything. What could you find? I must have killed her.’
‘You still haven’t been able to remember anything?’
He shook his head. ‘Not a single thing. It’s a complete blank.’
Emily huffed. ‘If the police were willing to interview everyone on campus, they’d be bound to find someone who saw you somewhere else in that crucial hour. But they won’t commit the resources. A bird in the hand and all that.’
He smiled wryly. ‘A jailbird in the hand. Can you blame them?’
‘If only we could figure out who DR is.’
‘You mean besides me?’
‘Remember I told you those initials were in Curzon’s appointment book for ten-thirty? If it wasn’t you, there must be someone else with those initials. Or some other significance to the letters.’
Daniel frowned, then shrugged. ‘I’ll give it some thought, but my brain’s not working very well these days. Not the healthiest environment, you know?’
‘I know. I could just go through the college directory and see what I find. That would be a lot less time-consuming than trying to talk to everyone on campus.’
‘You know I really appreciate everything you’re trying to do for me, Professor Cavanaugh.’
‘Emily.’
‘Emily. But I don’t get why you’re doing it. What am I to you besides the guy who snagged all the books you wanted?’
Emily gazed at him, asking herself the same question. ‘You’re a person in trouble. And I believe you’re innocent. That’s enough in my book.’ Daniel didn’t need to know about the personal history that gave this case such emotional resonance for her. ‘Don’t despair. There must still be some unexplored avenues, and I will definitely explore them, or badger the police until they do. Meanwhile, try to keep your spirits up.’
He gave her a look of utter cynicism.
‘I know it’s hard. Svetlana came with me today – she wanted to visit you, but they wouldn’t let her on the spur of the moment when they already had me signed up. But she’s out there in the office writing you a letter.’
Daniel brightened a little at that, and they said their goodbyes. As Colin walked her out, she asked, ‘Do you think I could get a look at Curzon’s appointment book?’
‘I guess so. Why?’
‘I’m not sure, I just have a feeling about it. I want to see if I can track down any other DR.’
Colin took her back to the main office and went off to the evidence room, returning in a few minutes with the appointment book in a plastic evidence bag. He handed her a pair of latex gloves to use while handling it. His own hands gloved, he turned the book to the relevant page. ‘Right there.’
Emily stared at the initials. They were written together, as capitals with no periods between. ‘Could it mean “doctor”?’
Colin looked skeptical. ‘Doesn’t seem too likely, does it? A doctor’s appointment at ten-thirty at night?’
‘Not a regular medical appointment, no. But she could have been planning to meet someone who happens to be a doctor, but in some other capacity.’
‘But wouldn’t she have written the R in lowercase? That’s the usual abbreviation for doctor.’
‘True, but Taylor was not a usual person.’ She skimmed through the entries for the week previous to Taylor’s death. ‘See, she always writes out a person’s name – the first or the last name, at least. There’s not a single other entry here that just has two initials.’
Colin leafed through in his turn. ‘Huh. You’re right. That’s kind of funny. But couldn’t it be because it was a secret assignation?’
Emily flipped back to the previous autumn and found an entry for Pacifique. ‘She was sleeping with this guy, I’m pretty sure, and she wrote his name out. I don’t think she’d care about keeping that sort of thing secret. Now, if her mafia guy had the initials DR, that might make sense. But then she probably would have written the initials in Russian. Some Russian letters look like Roman letters, but there’s nothing that looks like D or R.’
‘Yeah, IB for Ivan Bordetsky doesn’t look much like DR either. These letters are pretty clear.’
‘Wait a minute.’ Emily pulled the book close and examined the letters again, then the other entries around them. ‘Aren’t they too clear? Her handwriting isn’t that great – some of the other entries are kind of hard to make out. But the DR – like you said, it’s quite clear.’
‘You know, you’re right. I never thought of that.’
‘I bet it’s a forgery. The murderer wrote those initials as just one more way of implicating Daniel.’
‘Why not go the whole hog and write out “Daniel Razumov”?’
‘Because he didn’t trust himself to capture her handwriting. He didn’t do that great a job on these two letters. If he’d tried the whole name, you’d have been sure to notice the difference before now.’
‘Hot dog. I think we’re on to something.’ Colin snapped the book shut. ‘I’m going to have to run this by the boss and get it over to the handwriting specialist to verify. But I’m sure in my bones you’re right. Wharton will have to let me broaden the investigation now.’
Emily glowed. Progress at last, with real physical evidence that Daniel was being framed. She had to tell Svetlana.
But when Colin and Emily entered the cubicle where she was waiting, Svetlana stood. Straight and resolute as a martyr going to the stake, she handed Colin a sheaf of folded papers. ‘This is for Daniel,’ she said. ‘And I want to make a confession.’