Dazed, Karena fled into the darkness as police whistles shrieked in the night.
I should have listened to Ilya. The police would know she’d been present at the gathering tonight. Sergei would not escape detection this time, as he had in St. Petersburg. They could both be detained in Peter and Paul prison.
She dashed back to the trees where Sergei had tied the horse—
It was gone. She whirled, scanning the area. Had Sergei escaped and left her?
No, not Sergei. Her brother was reckless at times, but he’d not leave her in danger.
She made a quick search in case the horse had wandered, but she knew Sergei would have tied the reins securely.
She ran back to the road and looked in both directions. Except for the crackling of dry leaves in the little bursts of wind, there was nothing.
Then, farther down the road came the sound of approaching hoofbeats and the rush of carriage wheels. She stepped back in caution. A moment later, a black carriage stormed into view, the driver in a red cap with a short, dark cloak floating behind. The passenger thrust his head out the window, peering along the road. As the carriage came closer, she saw with a burst of relief that it was Dr. Zinnovy. She stepped to the roadside and lifted her hand. He told the driver to stop and swung open the carriage door. “Quickly, inside.”
Karena put her foot on the carriage step prepared to climb to safety when policemen burst from the darkened trees.
“Halt! In the name of the czar!”
Karena turned her head. Her spirits crashed to the dust. Men she recognized from the local gendarmes bolted toward the carriage.
She stood still. The horses snorted, and her heart thumped in her ears.
Leonovich, Policeman Grinevich’s second in command, strode up. His lecherous gaze betrayed his thoughts. “Eh? Well now. So it’s you, Miss Peshkova?”
“Yes, it’s me. Is there any trouble? If you’ll excuse me, sir, I’m in a hurry—”
“Hold on there, miss. I thought I was chasing down that girlfriend of your troublemaking brother.”
“Anna? I haven’t seen her since she was working our fields this morning, just as she always does. I’m most certain she’s home with her brother and his wife, eating supper.”
Dr. Zinnovy leaned out with great bluster. “What is the meaning of this delay, Constable?”
“Uh, good evening, Dr. Zinnovy, sir. I didn’t know it was you. Mind telling me where you’ve come from?”
“Certainly not. From my hotel. What’s all this about? A robbery?”
“There’s been another Bolshie meeting on the college square. Gendarme Grinevich was attacked and beaten. We must question everyone in the vicinity.”
“Surely I am excluded as a revolutionary,” came the warning voice. “Recently I’ve been called to Tsarskoe Selo to take up residence as a physician to the royal Romanov family.”
There came a startled hesitancy. “Just so, sir, just so. I plead your pardon. But this young woman was at the meeting. She was seen by one of our policemen.”
“Surely there’s an error. Miss Peshkova’s been with me, reporting on the medical supervision of the peasants on the Peshkov lands. She left to walk home not more than fifteen minutes ago, but hearing police whistles I rushed here to make sure she was safe. I intend to bring her home to her parents without further delay.”
“She was with you, Dr. Zinnovy?”
“She was indeed. Do get in, Miss Peshkova. Schoolmaster Josef will be expecting you.” He leaned out the door and held his hand toward her.
Karena stepped into the coach, aware the policeman was unable to resist Dr. Zinnovy’s relationship with the Romanovs, at least for the present.
“Good night, gentlemen. I wish you good fortune in your hunt for the disorderly Bolsheviks.”
“Yes—Dr. Zinnovy, sir. A good night to you, sir. And to you, Miss Peshkova.”
“Thank you,” she said, surprised by her own calm.
The coach door closed after she was securely inside, the horses pulled forward, and in a few minutes, she had left the nightmare behind on the dusty road.
Karena looked across the seat at Dr. Zinnovy’s grave expression. She heard a breath pass through his lips as he sank back into the coach seat. He removed his spectacles and wiped them with a handkerchief.
“Unwise, very unwise, Miss Peshkova.”
“I don’t understand why you helped me, Dr. Zinnovy, but if not for you, I would have been arrested. I am in your debt.”
He shook his head. “You owe me nothing.”
She looked at him more astutely. His eyes were blue beneath graying black brows. Twenty years ago, he would have been a very handsome man. He placed his spectacles back on the bridge of his nose.
“You were foolish to go there tonight.”
“Yes,” she admitted, too polite to mention he’d been there as well.
“Mr. Lenski is wanted by the secret police. Any connection with him will place you and your family under the highest suspicion.”
“Yes, I—realize that. However, sir, I am not a Bolshevik.”
“You would have a most difficult time convincing them. Your brother is reckless. It was most foolish of him to mount the box as he did and begin verbally attacking Policeman Grinevich. What if there’d been a spy in the crowd? Your brother could be arrested and sent to a labor camp.”
“Which is his argument, Dr. Zinnovy—men should be respected for freedom of speech.”
“I do not disagree. I mean only to warn you that the Okhrana is aware of him. If you were noticed tonight, despite my bluff with the policeman just now, they will be aware of you also.”
Has Sergei escaped or is he even now under arrest? And what of Lenski?
The doctor straightened his glasses. “I do not mean to sound as if I’m intruding, but will you tell me why you were at the assembly tonight?”
Dr. Zinnovy was a strong, fatherly figure, and she liked him at once. This was her opportunity—if not to ask for his intervention with the Imperial College of Medicine, then at least to show him how much she desired to attend.
“I went to meet Dr. Lenski’s daughter, Ivanna, a student at your medical college. I believe Dr. Lenski is a friendly colleague of yours. My brother knows Ivanna quite well, having met her in St. Petersburg. I’d written Dr. Lenski asking for her help in gaining admittance to the medical program and thought Ivanna might be bringing me a letter tonight from her mother. Ivanna did not show up. For her sake, I’m relieved she did not.”
He appeared thoughtful behind his light blue eyes. “Yes, Dr. Lenski and her daughter Ivanna, of course. I know Dr. Lenski well. She was one of my students.”
Karena smiled. “My mother was as well. In fact, she and Dr. Lenski shared a room at the college. Do you remember my mother, sir? Her name then was Yeva Menkin.”
He frowned, removing his spectacles and staring at them. Again, he polished them. “Menkin, Menkin … Perhaps … Yes, she was an excellent student. So you wish to follow in her steps, do you?”
Karena leaned forward. “It’s been my ambition all my life. I’ve applied for the medical program, but my mother is Jewish, which means the quota allowed each year is very small. I’ve been turned down each time.”
He said after a moment, “Well, Miss Peshkova, your determination is to be commended. I’ll speak to Dr. Lenski when I return to St. Petersburg. Perhaps something can be done.”
Excitement and joy flooded her heart. All traces of weariness and fear fled away.
“Dr. Zinnovy, if I’m accepted into the program, I shall be the happiest woman in Kiev!”
She became confused for a moment at the sad, almost apologetic flicker in his smile.
“Then we must see to your happiness, Miss Peshkova. Rest assured, if your parents agree, I shall do what I can to assist your acceptance.”
Karena could have thrown her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, but she did not. She sat primly, her hands clasped so tightly they tingled.
She laughed. “And I thought tonight was going to be the most harrowing of my life! Amidst darkness, there is light. Who would have believed it?”
Dr. Zinnovy made no comment but smiled with pleasure. Her happiness appeared to affect him deeply. What a kind and generous man! I shall become one of his best students.
“I saw you there on the edge of the crowd,” she said.
“Yes. I was out walking. I stopped for a few minutes to see what was happening. I recognized Petrov on the soapbox. Dr. Lenski would be grieved to have heard him. She’s an ardent supporter of the Romanovs, and she’s disowned her son for turning to the Bolsheviks. I’m certain she didn’t know Ivanna accompanied him to Kiev.”
Despite the tragic situation of the Lenskis, Karena could hardly keep her excitement from brimming over. Only when she remembered Sergei were her emotions dampened. Had he gotten away? If he’d not taken the horse, then who did?
“Anna,” she breathed suddenly.
“Anna?”
She looked at Dr. Zinnovy. “A peasant. She works our land.” Karena hesitated, wondering how much she should reveal. Since he was a doctor, she didn’t feel it necessary to keep Anna’s plight hidden.
“Anna’s just a girl, but she’s in love with Sergei. Sadly, they’ve made a serious mistake. She’s going to have a child. The horse Sergei and I came on is missing. If Anna rode the horse, it could bring on early labor.”
“Yes, if she was frightened, she might not consider the consequences.”
“She came to the meeting tonight. If she was arrested—”
“Yes?”
“I think she would talk, despite her loyalty to Sergei.”
He frowned. “I shall look into the matter. You will want to know your brother escaped with Petrov before the police could encircle them.”
Relieved, she lapsed into silence while the carriage approached the manor.
Dr. Zinnovy was peering out the window. “This peasant girl, Anna. I think it wise that I discover how she’s faring. Is her family’s bungalow nearby?”
“It’s not far at all. Shall I inform Madame Yeva to come and assist you, Doctor?”
He looked toward the manor, his face solemn. “No. I think it best not to disturb her. Anna may not have taken your horse. Even if she did, it doesn’t necessarily mean she will go into early labor. It depends on her health and how she rode.”
“I could go with you and assist,” she offered.
“I gather you have had training?”
She smiled. “From the time I was a small child, I followed my mother in her medical mercies whenever she ministered to family, friends, and peasants in the fields, although I’ve not delivered a child on my own yet.”
“If you could carry the lamp for me, my dear, and calm her down when we arrive, that will be of great help to me.”
“It will be an honor, sir.”
“She may not want her family to know she’s been out tonight. We shall use appropriate discretion. We had best waste no time.”
I’m actually going to assist the great Dr. Dmitri Zinnovy. Mother will be amazed.
He hadn’t wanted Madame Yeva to come with him, although she was by far the more appropriate assistant …
Maybe he simply wants to give me the experience and privilege of going with him.
But why? Then again, why had he helped her at all?