Death With Dostoevsky

by Katherine Bolger Hyde

  Svetlana buried her head in her hands. ‘That’s just the trouble. I don’t know. Or only up to a point.’

  ‘Let’s reconstruct his day as far as we can. I saw him myself at around eleven a.m. here at the Paradox. Did you see him after that?’

  She nodded. ‘He met me at the library, but he was looking so ill I made him go back to the dorm. I went with him and made sure he went to bed. Then … well, I wish now I had stayed with him, but I was afraid my father would get the wrong idea about me being in his room, so I left. I didn’t see Daniel again until dinnertime.’

  ‘Curzon wasn’t killed till late evening, so accounting for the afternoon shouldn’t be crucial. How was Daniel at dinnertime?’

  ‘Even worse. He didn’t look as if he’d slept at all – he was gray and shaking. Honestly, I expected him to fall into a seizure at any moment.’

  ‘Did you stay with him?’

  ‘I couldn’t. My father showed up and insisted I go out to dinner with him. I made Daniel promise to go back to bed, but I don’t know if he did.’

  ‘What about later in the evening?’

  ‘I got back to campus around nine o’clock. I went straight to Daniel’s room, but he wasn’t there. I looked in the library and everywhere else I could think of, but I couldn’t find him, and he didn’t answer his phone. Eventually I gave up and went to bed.’

  So Svetlana could not alibi Daniel, either for the time of the murder itself or for the time Sidney claimed to have seen him in Vollum Center. ‘Did you run into Sidney, by any chance?’

  ‘Sidney? No, why?’

  ‘Oh, nothing. It’s not important. What about yesterday morning? Did you see Daniel then?’

  ‘He didn’t show up for breakfast, so I went to his room. He was asleep, sort of. Sort of passed out. I managed to wake him up, but he was completely disoriented. He didn’t remember anything he’d done after seeing me at dinnertime the day before. We figured he must have had a blackout seizure.’

  ‘A blackout seizure? What’s that?’

  ‘I guess it’s kind of like a fugue state. The person can function more or less normally, but they’re sort of … not all there. And they don’t remember anything about it afterward. So neither of us has any idea where he was or what he was doing during the evening, or what time he got back to his room. That’s what makes it so scary – he can’t vindicate himself because he doesn’t remember.’

  ‘Did he say anything about having an appointment with Curzon Monday evening?’

  ‘An appointment? No. He was determined to avoid her as much as possible. He certainly wouldn’t deliberately be alone with her. Not after what happened that morning.’

  ‘Odd. He’s down in her appointment book for ten-thirty. Unless there’s someone else with the initials DR.’

  Svetlana shook her head. ‘No one I can think of.’

  Emily hesitated to ask her next question. ‘The police said … there was blood on some of his clothing. Did you notice that?’

  She nodded. ‘He’d cut his head somewhere along the line, and it bled quite a bit. He was a mess when I found him. I cleaned him up and put his clothes in the laundry.’ An anguished look crossed her face. ‘If I’d known at that point what was going to happen – I could have just washed his clothes and the police would never have been the wiser. Why didn’t I?’

  ‘It probably wouldn’t have mattered. They had other reasons to suspect him, so they would have collected his clothing anyway. And it’s almost impossible to remove every tiny trace of blood.’

  ‘But they’ll find out it’s his blood, won’t they? Not hers?’

  ‘They’ll analyze it, yes. I think they’re doing that now. If none of the blood is hers, that will be a point in his favor, but it won’t clear him completely.’

  ‘Why, what else do they have on him?’

  ‘A strong motive, for one. Probably stronger than anyone else’s – he wanted to protect you as well as himself. Plus they have a witness that puts him at the scene – not exactly, but close enough. And the weapon belongs to him. His statuette of the Bronze Horseman. Naturally it’s covered in his fingerprints.’

  ‘Oh my God … oh my God …’ Svetlana crossed her arms over her belly and rocked herself on the couch. ‘It’s hopeless, isn’t it? We’ll never be able to clear him.’

  Emily rubbed her back. ‘Be of good cheer, my dear. With God nothing is impossible. And I have a few tricks up my sleeve as well.’ If only she could figure out how to play them to win.

  FOURTEEN

  At Emily’s urging, Svetlana went to her dorm to rest. Emily ordered a latte and stayed on for a thinking session. One question that was high on her list was how – in terms of actual physical possibilities, not nightmare fantasies – the Bronze Horseman statuette could have ended up in Curzon’s office. Assuming Daniel had not taken it there himself intending to use it as a weapon.

  Partly to keep the nightmare fantasies at bay, Emily began writing down all the possibilities she could think of.

  1.Daniel took the statue to Curzon’s office at some earlier time, before the night of the murder. Query: Why? Why would he want to give up his talisman, and to Curzon of all people?

  2.Svetlana took the statue to Curzon’s office. Again: Why? The statue didn’t appear to be particularly valuable, but perhaps it was rare and Curzon coveted it to add to her collection of contraband Russian objets d’art. Perhaps either Daniel or Svetlana hoped to use it to bribe Curzon to keep away from Daniel. A stretch, but more believable than the fantasy of the statue coming to life.

  3.Some unknown person stole the statue from Daniel’s shelf at some unknown time and carried it to Curzon’s office with the intent of using it to kill her. But who had even known the statue was in the library? Emily herself, Daniel, Svetlana, Miranda the librarian. Of course, anyone might have wandered by the table at any time, but why would they take the statue? Surely they could have found some more convenient weapon.

  4.Curzon herself had stolen the statue, perhaps in order to use it as leverage against Daniel. Seeing it in her office, Daniel had flown into a rage and … No, no, she was trying to find ways for Daniel not to be guilty. That option wouldn’t fly.

  5.Curzon had stolen the statue (see above), then the killer had opportunistically grabbed it and used it as a weapon. That was the most appealing option, but not necessarily the most likely – and it did nothing to narrow down the killer’s identity.

  How could she possibly discover which of these, if any, was the truth? She could start by figuring out when the statue disappeared from Daniel’s desk. She couldn’t call Daniel at the police station, and she didn’t want to disturb Svetlana’s rest. She racked her own memory, but the books ranged on her side of the library shelf obscured the contents of Daniel’s side; she couldn’t positively remember having seen the horseman since the very first day she’d set up there.

  Maybe Miranda would have noticed something. Emily gulped the rest of her coffee and went back to the library.

  She found Miranda patrolling the stacks near her own and Daniel’s table. Today the librarian was wearing a symphony in brown – a full pleated skirt of camel wool, a cream-colored tailored blouse, a waistcoat of tooled caramel leather, a chocolate corduroy blazer, and a brown tweed newsboy cap, all anchored by a pair of tan cowboy boots. Only a woman with Miranda’s tall, rangy figure and unique sense of style could make such an outfit work. Emily was a tiny bit envious.

  ‘Miranda, I need you to put your photographic memory to work.’ This was not a joke; Miranda actually did have the ability to observe and remember a scene in full Sherlockian detail, though she seldom bothered to make the accompanying deductions. At least not consciously.

  ‘Anything I can do to help. Does this have to do with the murder? I was devastated to hear about that – not so much for Taylor’s sake, though nobody deserves such a death, but for Daniel’s. Is it true he’s been arrested?’

  ‘Not arrested yet, but they are holding him for questioning,
and it looks pretty bad. One big thing against him is that the murder weapon was his Bronze Horseman statue. That’s what I wanted to ask you about.’

  ‘Oh! I see. What exactly did you want to know?’

  ‘Can you remember when you saw it last? Or had you noticed it being missing?’

  Miranda squinted at the ceiling. ‘Let me think … I don’t go by there every day, you understand. But I do remember noticing that Daniel’s books were falling over, which would mean his bookend was gone. I propped them back up again. Now when was that?’ She tapped a finger against her lips, eyes closed.

  Suddenly her eyes flew open. ‘Sunday. It was Sunday. I remember because that’s the day I always do my walkabout, just scanning for anything amiss or out of place. Of course the statue could have been gone before that, but it was definitely gone by Sunday afternoon around three.’ She gave Emily a triumphant smile.

  Emily sighed in relief. ‘Excellent. That makes it much less likely Daniel took it himself intending to use it as a weapon. Because why would he take it more than twenty-four hours ahead of time? It must be quite a heavy thing to carry around.’

  ‘True. The question is who did take it?’

  ‘Can you remember seeing anyone else in here around that time? Or before? Besides Svetlana and me, that is.’

  Miranda went into recall mode again, but this time she ended up shaking her head. ‘No. Sorry. I don’t remember seeing anyone else. This isn’t a busy room this time of year.’

  ‘OK. Well, knowing when it went missing is much better than nothing. Thanks so much, Miranda.’

  ‘I’m happy to help. Will you be visiting Daniel at some point?’

  ‘If he’s arrested, God forbid. They won’t let me before that.’

  ‘Well, if you do, give him my regards and tell him the library staff is rooting for him.’

  ‘Thank you. I’m sure that will mean a lot.’

  Emily betook herself to the front lobby of the library, where there were several large nooks with built-in padded benches to lounge on. The room was deserted except for a couple of students at the main circulation desk on the level a few steps above.

  Emily called Colin’s private number. ‘I have a piece of information for you.’

  ‘Just a sec.’ She heard muffled background noises, then, ‘OK, shoot.’

  ‘Daniel kept that statuette on the shelf at his thesis desk in the library. It was his lucky talisman. He was very protective of it, and it’s heavy, right? So he wouldn’t just carry it around for no reason.’

  ‘I suppose. What of it?’

  ‘I just talked to Miranda Brooks, the librarian. She has a photographic memory, and she’s certain the statue was gone by Sunday afternoon around three. Could have been earlier, but she doesn’t go by that area every day.’

  ‘OK. I still don’t see where you’re going with this.’

  ‘You don’t? It seems perfectly clear to me that someone stole the statuette from Daniel’s desk. Whether they saw it and thought, Hey, that would make a great weapon, or whether they did it deliberately to implicate Daniel, I couldn’t say, but it shows premeditation, right? They would have had to take the statue on Sunday, or earlier, and stash it somewhere until they took it to Curzon’s office on Monday night to kill her.’

  ‘But why couldn’t that person have been Daniel?’

  ‘Why would it have been? He could have moved the statue at any time, so why do it more than twenty-four hours before he was going to need it?’

  ‘I’m still not convinced. All it does for me is prove premeditation. Or strongly indicate it, anyway. Which of course makes Daniel’s situation worse.’

  Emily’s heart sank into her shoes. What had she done? She should have left well enough alone.

  ‘Unless your total-recall friend has some idea who else might have taken the statue.’

  ‘No. Unfortunately she doesn’t. I did have another brainwave, though – Curzon could have taken it herself. If she knew how much it meant to Daniel, she might have thought she could use it as leverage to get him to sleep with her. Then the killer could just have seen the statue in her office and grabbed it to use as a weapon.’

  ‘Doesn’t seem terribly likely. And again, no reason that killer couldn’t have been Daniel. Besides, in that case Curzon’s fingerprints would be on the statue. She wouldn’t bother wearing gloves to steal it if she wasn’t going to conceal her theft or use it as a weapon.’

  ‘It’s cold out, though – she could have left on her outdoor gloves if she went into the library just for that purpose.’

  ‘Boy, you have an answer for everything, don’t you? But this is all total speculation. You’re going to have to come up with something solid if you want to do Daniel any good. Like, for instance, finding someone else who had the opportunity to take the statue, or who even knew it was there.’

  Emily sighed. ‘All right. I’ll talk to Svetlana. She might have some idea.’

  ‘You do that.’

  ‘What’s happening on your end?’

  ‘The good news for Daniel – bad news for us – is that none of your three possibles (not counting the Russian) has a totally solid alibi for the time of the murder. Goldstein says he was in his hotel room alone from about nine-thirty. Front desk remembers him coming in, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have left again. Same with Douglas Curzon, except he came in at nine. They’re both staying in swanky suites at the Benson, funnily enough. Wish I had that kind of money. And McClintock says he was asleep alone in his apartment.’

  ‘So the field is still open.’

  ‘Yep. Can you see any of those guys stealing Daniel’s statue in order to implicate him?’

  ‘Richard doesn’t seem terribly likely,’ she admitted with some reluctance. ‘He may have known Daniel slightly, but he wouldn’t have had anything against him except that Taylor fancied Daniel and not him. Douglas could have been jealous of Daniel, but Taylor had so many boy toys, there wouldn’t be much point in taking revenge on just one. But I could see Goldstein trying to implicate Daniel. He not only wanted Taylor out of the way, he wanted Daniel out of his daughter’s life. He could have killed two birds with one stone. Or statue, as the case may be.’

  ‘Fair point. I’ll look into it.’

  ‘OK. That’s all I ask.’ She was about to end the conversation, then remembered. ‘What about the blood? Have the results come back?’

  ‘Not yet. Should be in by this evening.’

  ‘Call me when you hear?’

  ‘Will do.’

  By this time Emily thought Svetlana might have gotten a sufficient nap, so she called her cell phone. Svetlana answered on the third ring, sounding groggy, and Emily regretted being so precipitate.

  ‘I’m sorry, did I wake you up?’

  ‘No, actually my father woke me up a few minutes ago. Complaining because the police won’t let him leave town, just like you said. What’s up?’

  ‘I’m trying to figure out who might have taken the statue from Daniel’s desk in the library, and when. Miranda Brooks remembers seeing it was gone on Sunday afternoon. Do you remember it being missing before that?’

  ‘Gosh, I don’t know. My father kept me busy all weekend; I wasn’t in the library at all. Before that – I’m sorry, I really don’t remember. I guess I’m not the most observant person. Or at least I observe people rather than things.’

  ‘That’s OK. We have some idea of the when, thanks to Miranda. What about the who? Do you remember anyone coming by the table who might have noticed the statue and come back later to take it?’

  ‘Let’s see … My father came by there a few times looking for me. But he has tunnel vision when he’s angry, which he usually is. I doubt he’d have noticed anything to do with Daniel. And of course Sidney’s always hanging around, but he’s known about the statue being Daniel’s talisman for ages. He teases him about it, like, “One day that’s going to come to life and impale you.” That kind of thing. But Sidney idolizes Daniel. He wouldn’t do anything t
o hurt him.’

  ‘No … There is still my other theory, that Curzon could have taken it herself. Do you have any reason to think she knew about it?’

  ‘Hmm, I don’t know … We did study the Pushkin poem in her class. Daniel may have mentioned something about it. And it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if she stalked him to his thesis desk when I wasn’t there and saw the statue. Taking it to tease him sounds like just the kind of thing she might do.’

  Emily’s heart lifted at the increased probability of this theory, then fell again at the realization that it could hardly be proved – nor did it necessarily vindicate Daniel. She still favored the idea that Saul Goldstein had taken the statue in order to implicate Daniel, but she could hardly voice that thought to Svetlana. The girl would never believe her father capable of murder, no matter how much evidence stacked up against him – and they had no real evidence yet.

  Maybe she could feel him out in some subtle way. As a lawyer he’d be alert to conversational traps, but he had treated Emily dismissively up to now, so he might be less on his guard with her than with the police. ‘Do you expect to see your father today?’

  Svetlana gave a yawn that was half a groan. ‘He’s on his way over here now to take me to lunch.’

  ‘Could you plead exhaustion as an excuse to eat on campus? I’d like to horn in and have a chat with him.’

  ‘Sure. It wouldn’t be a fib, either. I definitely don’t have the energy to go farther than Commons.’

  ‘Good. See you there in a few. Just don’t let him know I’m in on the investigation at all, OK? Because I’m really not supposed to talk about it.’

  ‘Right.’

  Now to figure out how to cross-examine a lawyer without letting him know he was being cross-examined. Piece of cake.

  FIFTEEN

  Svetlana and her father were already seated in the dining hall when Emily entered with her tray. Svetlana waved her over before her father could object.

  In deference to the injunction not to let her father know about Emily’s unofficial role in the investigation, Svetlana asked Emily how her work was going.