forty-five

When you confront a bloodthirsty killer, it’s important to have a plan.

I know that now.

I left Nate at the table and stalked across the empty Boylston Suites Lobby. There was no direct path. I had to wind my way around koi ponds and over bridges. The Russian also began working his way through the lobby. We met on a little bridge in the middle, far away from everyone. The Russian had a bemused this-should-be-good expression as he approached me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, poking him in the chest. He ignored my poke.

He said, “I want to talk to you. I thought I would have to chase you because you would hide like a rabbit from a wolf. But now I see you are a very stupid rabbit.” His accent was so thick that it was like talking to Boris Badenov. Moose picks up bomb, bomb explodes, moose is dead. Then we shoot squirrel.

“Fuck you, Boris.”

The Russian looked puzzled. “Boris? I am Dmitri. Who is Boris?”

“Your mother. What do you want?”

Dmitri reached into his left pocket and pulled out a black package of cigarettes and a gold lighter. He flipped the package open, took out a cigarette with a gold filter, and lit it, holding the cigarette between his first two fingers. Then he put the cigarettes and lighter in his pocket and took a deep drag.

I said, “There’s no smoking in here.”

Dmitri blew a cloud of smoke into my face. I coughed. He said, “Go home, Mr. Tucker.”

“What?”

“Go home. Go back to your little house and stay there. On Friday I will be gone and you will be safe.”

“I am safe.”

“You think so? Then you are stupid or naive.” Dmitri appraised me as he took another drag on his cigarette. Then he said, “Naive. You are naive. But now I have warned you. So now you are stupid. Soon you will be dead.”

I said, “You could have killed me today, but you chickened out. Got a case of conscience?”

Dmitri laughed and said, “My partner thinks you may be useful.”

“Partner? What partner? Who?”

“You would like to know, eh? Stop interfering, Mr. Tucker.”

“Interfering with what? What are you doing?”

Dmitri took a step closer and said in a quiet voice, “I am making money. I am making more money than I ever made before, and my partner thinks you could help.” Dmitri took another drag on the cigarette and threw it into the koi pond. A fish inhaled it, then spit it out.

I took a step closer to Dmitri, got in his face. I loomed over him. He did not step back. My looming didn’t seem to be a problem for him. I said, “I’m never helping you make a fucking dime.”

He looked into my eyes and nodded slowly. “I know. You are an idiot.”

“And you are a sick fuck.”

I could barely hear the next words as they hissed out of Dmitri’s tobacco-stained lips. He said, “You are right. I am, as you say, a sick fuck. If you are lucky, I will shoot you. If you are not lucky, I will tie you to a tree and skin you like a deer.” He smiled and said, “Why don’t you just go away.”

I whispered, “Because you killed my wife.”

Dmitri glanced over my shoulder, then looked me in the eye. He plucked the front of my black T-shirt, pulled me even closer, and breathed, “Do you know what I liked about your wife, Mr. Tucker?”

Liked about my wife? I shook my head as Dmitri spoke. I could smell the stink of the cigarette as his warm breath puffed against my face.

Dmitri said, “Her tits were real.”

The demons in the back of my mind sprang out of their cages. I pushed Dmitri away and tried to punch his ugly Russian face. I missed. He had moved.

He was holding a switchblade. He snicked it open.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen! There’s no need for this.” Nate interposed himself between Dmitri and me. Nate said, “I’m sure this is all just a misunderstanding.”

Dmitri sneered at me. His lip curled in an ugly crescent. Nate stood between us. Dmitri showed us the knife and said, “Listen to my warning, Mr. Tucker, or I will skin you with your wife’s favorite knife.”

“I’ll kill you, you bastard!” I launched myself at Dmitri again, but Nate was in the way. He was old, but he was in good shape. He grabbed me and stood his ground. Dmitri laughed, folded the knife, and walked out of the hotel.

Nate watched Dmitri leave. He let go and said, “Who—?”

My cell phone rang. It was Jael, and she wanted to see me.

Great.