Blair continued relaying their findings. 'We have been able to establish that skeletons two, three, six, seven, and nine all bore fatal gunshot wounds to the head. Several of them also have damage to the femur and tibia areas, indicating that they were also shot in the legs.
'What about the hair that was recovered, Martha?' Howard asked. 'Were you able to test any of it?'
'I'm afraid not.' Martha answered regretfully. 'It was very degraded; quite brittle, and broke when handled. I have managed to source some pre-1918 samples of hair from Alexandra and the four girls that had been collected and preserved; however, they were in no fit state to be tested against the hair that was found in the grave.
'A pity.' Howard remarked. 'So, all in all, I would say that this was a very untidy burial site. Of course, this is quite common in cases of with a hastily executed mass burials. The shame is that in addition to the damage done at the time of burial, which we naturally had no control over, significant damage has been done at the retrieval stage. This should have been entirely preventable. It has, of course, made the task of identification of each individual victim far more difficult.'
'Despite that though Howard, do you think you are close to being able to form a view regarding identification?' May asked eagerly, knowing she was butting in, but longing to know how far along they were.
'Oh yes, most definitely.' Howard replied with a warm smile. 'Within a couple of days, I should imagine; I shall let Nikhil know.'
True to his word, they were ready, and a few days later, Nikhil called them all together to a meeting, which had been called with the express purpose of reaching agreement on the respective team's preliminary identification results.
'In our opinion,' Howard began, skeleton one is Anna Demidova, are we agreed?
'Yes.' Nikhil replied.
'Skeleton two is Dr. Botkin'
'Yes.'
'Three is Olga Romanov'
'Agreed.'
'Four is Nicholas Romanov'
'Also agreed.'
Well, thought May, it's all going well so far. She doubted that would continue, however, as she had noticed how tense both Howard and Nikhil were.
'And five is Maria Romanov.'
Here we go thought May.
'No. We disagree.' Nikhil replied quietly.
Howard did not respond. He looked at Nikhil over the top of his glasses and continued reading from his notebook.
'Tatiana Romanov is number six.'
'Again, I disagree.' Nikhil stated.
'Alexandra Romanov is number seven.'
'Agreed.'
'Ivan Kharitonov number eight.'
'Yes.'
'And finally, number nine is Alexey Trupp'
There was no response from Nikhil, and May saw him exchange glances with Petya and Vadim.
'Which means, in our view, that the remains of Anastasia and Alexey Romanov are missing.' Howard concluded before sitting down.
Nikhil sprang to his feet. 'No!' he shouted, so loudly and unexpectedly that May jumped. He struck the table with his closed fist. 'No! You are incorrect. Anastasia is here in this room! It is Maria, who is missing!'
His face was red and splotchy and covered in a fine layer of perspiration, the veins in his neck standing out like ropes. May was suddenly concerned for him; she feared that he could have a stroke or a heart attack. The last thing we need is another body in this room, she thought somewhat hysterically.
'Nikhil, calm down! Here, sit.' Agni said, as he jumped to his feet and taking Nikhil's arm, led him back to his chair. He remained standing beside him while Nikhil sat and with shaking hands, took a large blue handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face. Katya ran to the kitchen and brought him a glass of water, which he gulped down thirstily.
'With the greatest respect Howard,' began Vadim, a hard edge to his voice, 'can you provide us with your reasons as to why you do not think skeleton six is Anastasia?'
'Yes, of course, of course,' Howard replied.
He seemed taken aback at the violence of Nikhil's reaction, and while May imagined that Howard would have been expecting some kind of adverse reaction from Nikhil, she doubted very much that he would have anticipated it to be so violent.
Consulting his notes again, Howard began by saying, 'firstly, the height of the skeleton is wrong for Anastasia, and there is a definite lack of signs of immaturity in the vertebrae and bones. Additionally, the age and development of the clavicles and dental roots are wrong for a girl of her age at the time of death. In my opinion, the age of the skeleton on this table match with an older female, therefore, it is Maria.'
He sat down again, taking off his glasses and polishing them on his shirt sleeve.
Nobody spoke for several moments, the only sounds being those of Nikhil's laboured breathing and Katya's footsteps as she fetched him another glass of water from the kitchen.
'Very well. Thank you for your opinion Howard, we appreciate it. However, we will have to agree to disagree. Our view remains that skeleton six is Anastasia, and it is Maria who is missing. Until such time as that view is proved otherwise, that will be our official position.' Vadim replied, getting to his feet.
As if on cue, Nikhil and the rest of the Russian team, including Agni and Katya, also rose and left the room, quietly closing the door behind them. Agni gave May a quick apologetic glance on his way past.
'You've been very quiet, May, what do you think?' asked Martha, getting up and walking over to the table where skeleton six lay and May joined her there but didn't answer straight away. Although she had now been on this project for a couple of months, there was still a need to continue to be very careful about what she said, remain diplomatic, not take sides, and as James had said so long ago, not step on anyone's toes.
May knew that it was Anastasia on the autopsy table and that it was indeed Maria who was missing, just as Nikhil had said. And she knew this, not only because of the scientific evidence in front of her, she knew it because Olga had told her and shown her through the memories she had shared. It was Maria and Alexey who had been separated from the rest of them and disposed of at a different location in Pigs Meadow. But of course, she couldn't say that; she couldn't tell Howard and the others that; they would have her marched off to the nearest medical expert in an instant, so instead, she compromised, willing to risk her professional integrity if needs be.
'I'm just not sure, Martha. I've had my doubts about number six from day one. With the sisters having been so close in age, Anastasia seventeen and Maria nineteen, the characteristics are just too similar for me to make a call. Without being able to do a full facial reconstruction, I'm sorry, I just can't say for certain whether she is Anastasia or Maria.'
May gently stroked the skull with the tip of her forefinger, poor sweet Anastasia she thought before turning away with a shrug.
'I just hope that further testing, maybe DNA, will help make things clearer further on.'
She was relieved that Martha or Blair didn't question or challenge her any further, and she quickly turned to Howard, asking, 'can I ask you about Olga, skeleton three? 'I have a particular interest in her.'
'Yes, certainly, May.' Howard replied as they walked over to the table on which Olga lay.
Howard bent over the partial remains for a long moment, deep in thought.
'You can see quite clearly that her skull is missing most of its central, lower left and right facial bones, and her lower jaw is also missing; that damage being caused, as is the case with all of the others as a result of blunt force trauma post-mortem to the face, most probably by rifle butts. Their murderers obviously never wanted these people to be identified.'
'No, they did their level best to obliterate them from the face of the earth, didn't they?' May agreed.
Agni had come back into the room while they were talking, and May could feel his warm, comforting presence close behind her. She reached a hand behind her, and he gently took it, sending the familiar tingles through her body.
'So man
y of her remains are missing.' Howard continued, 'her ribs, arms, hands and most of her legs. I can't imagine why so many bones are missing. I haven't seen anything like this before. I would say that she died of a single fatal bullet wound to the skull, which, when fired, entered through her jawbone. The bullet has gone through her skull at an upward angle, through her brain before exiting the top of her forehead.' He glanced at May kindly. 'It would have been quick.'
'Yes, thank God.' May grimaced. Apart from the twenty minutes of total terror, Olga felt before the bullet finally ended it for her.
'My reasons for being quite sure that this is Olga, despite most of the skull, and so many larger bones being missing is because of her teeth.' Howard gently touched her jaw. 'See here? The third molars, or wisdom teeth, have fully developed roots, which indicate that she was of mature growth. Which at age twenty-two, she was. Her teeth are well cared for, but she has several fillings, which suggests she saw a dentist regularly, but that she also had a sweet tooth!'
'Thank you, Howard, for confirming what I had thought from my examination. I do appreciate it.'
Howard smiled, 'I just wish it had been as easy to agree with Nikhil and the others about the identification of skeleton six. Of course, I can quite understand why it is so important for my Russian colleagues to be able to say definitively that the remains of Anastasia have been found.'
'It is because of the claimants,' Agni interjected. 'Ever since 1920, there have been women coming forward, claiming that they are Anastasia. None of them have ever been able to prove their claims conclusively, so the mystery and rumours persist. Some people would like to be able to put them to bed for good.' He looked at Howard. 'Please accept my apologies on behalf of Nikhil, he is not feeling at all well and has gone home for the day, and will hopefully be back tomorrow.'
'Yes, of course, I quite understand.'
Agni gave May's hand a squeeze before letting her go and walking off.
'My team and I will be leaving next week, I just thought you should know.' Howard told May. 'There is nothing more for us to do here, our identification is complete. All that is left now is to seek permission to take samples back to the States to conduct DNA testing.' He looked rueful. 'After today, I don't really fancy my chances.'
'I will be sorry to see you go, Howard, I have really enjoyed working with you, Martha and Blair and have valued your expertise, but I understand your reasons for going.'
'What about you, May? How long will you stay on for? I would imagine that you are in a similar position to us in that there is not much more here for you to do? The mystery of the unknown grave in the forest that brought us all here has, I think, in the most part been solved. Will you return to England soon?'
'I'm not sure, Howard. There are a couple of loose ends I would like to tie up before going back, but indeed, you are right, the main reason for me being here no longer exists.'
She stayed beside Olga for a long time, long after Howard and the others had gone, waiting for Agni to come and get her. She looked down on her but didn't see the incomplete skeleton or the terrified young woman pleading for her life in the blood-soaked basement of the Ipatiev House, or the cold, naked corpse laying on the forest floor. Instead, May knew that she would always remember the beautiful, vibrant, loved, and loving smiling woman that she had been in photographs and the memories she had shared.
Eighteen
Yekaterinburg, Russia
October 1991
May had been keeping in regular contact with James providing him with updates as the investigation progressed, speaking to him on the phone each week if she was able to.
Over the last couple of weeks, however, whenever she had rung his office, he was either busy or in a meeting, so she hadn't been able to speak to him personally. She was sure that she had missed a few calls from him; the messaging services at the hotel or the morgue weren't terribly reliable. As a result, she had not tried to contact him as much lately, and while she tried to tell herself that it was not deliberate avoidance, she felt relief at postponing what she knew was going to be an inevitable and difficult conversation with him.
May had spoken a number of times with Leyla, who had told her that a couple of staff had resigned, and one would be off on maternity leave in a few months, and that although he was in the middle of recruiting replacements, James was worried that they would soon have a serious staff shortage situation on his hands. May knew that would not bode well for her, and that it was highly likely that James would want her to return as soon as possible.
The fact that she had not spoken to him in a while niggled at the back of her mind, however, she reasoned it wasn't her fault, and besides, if he needed to speak with her urgently, he would make an extra effort wouldn't he?
The truth was that she didn't want to go back yet.
It didn't really come as a huge surprise then, when, on her return to the hotel after another day spent sorting through the slowly diminishing pile of unmatched bones that still lay forlornly on an autopsy table at the morgue, she had a message at reception to ring James as soon as she could.
She sat on her bed, turning the note over and over in her hands, dreading making the call, anticipating that it probably wasn't going to go well, but knowing that she had to do it anyway.
She rang, and to her surprise and dismay, James was in his office, and Leyla transferred her through to him straight away.
'James? It's May. I got a message to ring you, how are you? It seems like ages since we've spoken, I have tried to ring you a few times, but for one reason or another, I've always missed you.' She felt as though she was babbling, her greeting sounded rushed and to her ears, guilty.
'I know,' he replied. 'Leyla has passed on all of your messages, we have both been busy these last couple of months, it happens. How is it going?'
She briefed him, adding, 'but there's still so much to do here, James. A search of the forest for the two missing children is underway, and the identification of the nine already discovered will continue for some time yet.' She bit her lip, adding hopefully, 'I think I need to stay here for a while longer.'
There was a pause at his end of the phone, 'How long is a while longer?'
'Oh, at least till the middle of next year, I'd say……' She trailed off, suddenly acknowledging that this was the first time she had articulated how long she really wanted to stay.
'You can't be serious? Another six months? No, I'm sorry, but that's just not feasible May, I can't possibly approve that.'
'Leyla told me that you are short-staffed and are recruiting at the moment…….'
'Yes, I am, but that is just normal turnover and nothing to worry about. That's not the reason why I want you back.'
'But….'
'The truth of it is May is that I really cannot think of any reason why you need to stay on any longer than another month at the very most. Although it hasn't yet been publicly or formally announced, I understand from the reports I have been receiving that the consensus is that the remains excavated from the grave in the forest are those of Nicholas Romanov and four of his family, plus four of his retainers. Our Government has offered to conduct DNA testing on the remains for final confirmation, to which the Russians have agreed. That's it, May, there's nothing left to do.'
'I would really like to stay here until the second grave and remains are found, James.'
'Why do you want to stay there until then?' His tone suddenly changed, and he sounded worried. 'You're not in any kind of trouble there are you? Is something or someone preventing you from coming back? If that is the reason May, you must contact the Consulate straight away.
'No, James! No, it's nothing like that!'
Although she thought ironically, he was a lot closer to the truth than he could have imagined. There were two people here who were preventing her from coming home.
She didn't know what to say; how to explain to him the personal attachment that she had to this case; that she had made a promise to Olga. She knew that he couldn't
possibly be expected to understand.
'I think it's important James, to complete the picture, and to tie up all of the loose ends. It will certainly help with the final identification, you know, prove for sure which of the daughters is missing.'
'That will be done whether or not you are there May, and as I have already said, it could take years for them to find anything else. I've heard that this whole project has been grossly underfunded as it is. I can't see them wanting to spend too much more money on it, particularly on a search of a large forest looking for a grave that may not even be there.'
'But it is there, James! And it's not in a large area at all. The other grave is in Pigs Meadow, too, and it's not far from where the original one was. It shouldn't take long at all for them to find it.'
'How do you know this May?'
'I……I don't know. I'm just going by the information we have gathered since being here.' She certainly couldn't tell him how she knew; otherwise, there would be no job to go back to. Not with him anyway,
'I just really believe that I have done and am continuing to do a good job here, James and that I am making a difference. If the second grave is found while I am here, perhaps I could lead the excavation, and then we could make sure that it was done properly this time and that evidence is not damaged again.'
'You have done a great job since being there. I've had nothing but good reports from the Russians as to the contribution you have made, they speak very highly of you, but it's not our business anymore May. The Russians asked us for assistance, and we have provided them with that. And I doubt very much that they would let you lead a second investigation if anything was found. I mean, why would they? As I said, it's not our business May.'
'There is a possibility that the missing bones might be found James, and if that were the case, it would be beneficial for us if I was here then.' She knew she was clutching at straws now, and as she had anticipated, James dismissed that argument straight away.
The Girl With the Crystal Soul Page 17