Betrayal by Dunmore Helen

Author:Dunmore, Helen
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing
Published: 2010-03-08T05:00:00+00:00

14

They don’t often embrace in front of Kolya. He doesn’t like it. When he was little he would fight his way in between them. When he was older he would make some little sarcastic comment that was enough to make them self-conscious. It’s natural, Anna supposes. After all, they are two, and Kolya is one. Who would like that thrust in their face?

But tonight, when Andrei sits down heavily in his chair and she goes to him and he buries his face against her stomach, Kolya says nothing. With unwonted tact, he steals away, and even closes his door. A few moments later he begins to practise scales. Bless him, she thinks, he wants us to know he can’t hear what we say.

‘Lie down, my love, you look exhausted.’

‘Lie down with me.’

He holds her tight in the circle of his arms, as if he’s afraid she’ll vanish.

‘Things are bad. You and Kolya must get away.’

He speaks very quietly, but every word burns itself on to her brain. Later, she will be able to read back his words as if they are written inside her.

‘The Volkov boy is dying. They’re already looking for a scapegoat.’

‘Not you!’

‘Volkov named Brodskaya.’

She feels a shameful surge of relief. ‘Brodskaya! But I thought she’d gone off to Yerevan.’

‘Of course they know where she is.’

‘Andrei, the baby’s moving. I wish you could feel him too.’

‘You must keep calm. We mustn’t let any of this affect the baby.’

‘He’s fine. I know he is. Tell me what else he said.’

‘He claims Brodskaya botched the operation.’

‘But that’s rubbish.’

‘The boy’s got nodes in his lungs now. Metastasis, you know.’

She breathes in sharply. She knows enough to understand that the boy will die.

‘What we’ve got to think of now, though, is you and the baby. And Kolya,’ he adds quickly, hoping that Anna hasn’t imagined for a second that he’s forgotten about Kolya.

‘It’s no good thinking of us all leaving now. It’ll just make you look guilty. Besides, they can find you wherever you are.’

He thinks of Brodskaya in Yerevan. ‘Birds of a feather,’ Volkov said. Maybe she’s already been taken in for questioning. ‘But we’ve got to do something,’ he says.

‘The only thing is for us both to go to work as usual. You must look as if you’ve nothing to hide.’

‘But you were the one who said before that we should all go to Irkutsk!’

‘Yes,’ she murmurs, ‘it might have worked then, but it’s too late now. Anyway, who knows? Probably it would just have brought even more trouble. Kolya’s got to go. How can we fix it? Wait. I know. Galya’s living out at her dacha all winter this year. Kolya can go to her.’

‘He’ll never agree to that.’

‘He will if I talk to him. The sooner he leaves the better. I’ll take a day off work and go down with him. I’ll inform the school that he’s ill – you’ll have to tell me what would be a good illness, something that lasts for a few weeks at least.

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