Judas 62 by Judas 62 (retail) (epub)

Author:Judas 62 (retail) (epub)
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Epub3
Publisher: Penzler Publishers

26

They were drinking back at the dacha. Dmitri was dancing with a middle-aged widow who happened to have been passing the house. He seemed reluctant to let her go. As he sang the words to an obscure Russian folk song, the woman laughed and allowed him to turn her around the narrow garden, eventually walking away when Dmitri broke off to find his glass of vodka. Kite was reassured that he was not an informer; sobriety was surely one of the prerequisites of the job. Occasionally Tania poked her head out of the kitchen to enquire if anybody wanted tea. Kite noticed that she kept herself to herself: she seemed happiest indoors preparing yet more food for the evening. It wasn’t possible for him to speak to her except with Aranov operating as a translator; once they were on the road he would be able to use his Russian. Viktor and Vera had informed Yuri that they would not be staying after dark; they had a young baby who was being looked after by Vera’s mother. That surely left only Lev as the cuckoo in the nest.

Kite remembered the first time he had set eyes on him at the Dickens, the charming, easy-going young man in the expensive bomber jacket, already speaking surprisingly good English. He had invited Kite to a party and thereafter always seemed to be on his shoulder, listening in, hanging on. Was he just a young Russian on the make who wanted to spend time with the cool teacher from England? Had he been smitten with Oksana? Or was it something more sinister? Kite realised there was no point in driving himself crazy with theories and notions: even if Lev was just an innocent kid caught up in the exfil, he was going to have to take him out of the picture.

He took Martha to one side in the garden.

‘How many of those sleeping pills did your mum give you?’

‘I dunno. About ten. Twelve. Why?’

‘Did you bring them here or leave them at the hotel?’

‘They’re upstairs in my suitcase. Do you want one? Do you want a siesta before we go?’

‘Not that.’ Kite asked if it would be OK to go through Martha’s luggage.

‘Sure,’ she replied. ‘They’re in my washbag. I’ll come and dig them out.’

They went indoors. A trout was poaching on the stove and there was a smell of gutted fish. Tania was putting the finishing touches to a potato salad, adding the bowl to an already heaving table.

‘Check out the local food,’ said Kite, pointing to a plate of bright pink salami. ‘The one that’s slathered in beetroot is called “herring under a fur coat”.’

He wondered who Tania was cooking for: there was enough to feed thirty people. Perhaps it was just her way of keeping herself busy while she thought about the days to come.

‘Looks wonderful!’ said Martha. Tania stared at them blankly. Spotting the pestle and mortar on the bookshelves, Kite sought a distraction. ‘Do you have chocolate?’

‘What?’ Tanya replied in Russian.

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