The Witness

by Nora Roberts

  It was like a miracle, even for someone who didn’t believe in them.

  “I still don’t know what to do with this, with you. With any of it.”

  “Let’s see how it goes.”

  “I can try. Will you stay tonight?”

  He pressed his lips to the crown of her head. “Thought you’d never ask.”

  She stepped back, steadied herself by looking into his eyes. “I’ll go make a dressing for the bag o’ salad.”

  And saw that quick flash of humor light his face.

  “That’d be great.”

  When she went inside, he walked over, took the cover off her grill. Oh, she had him, all right, he thought, more than was comfortable. But he believed he’d get used to it, just like he believed easing open those locks, a little at a time, would be worth the effort.

  IN CHICAGO, only two blocks from the club where Ilya had met Elizabeth Fitch one summer night, he toured the dingy apartment that housed one of their most profitable computer scam operations. He often oversaw this area himself, so while his presence generated some nerves, work continued smoothly.

  Several operators worked computers, blasting out spam advertising job offers for work at home, Canadian pharmacies, online dating, free downloads. Some would generate fees—handled by phone operators who conned those naive or desperate enough to call in. Others would simply steal credit card information, which could be translated into quick profit or identity theft.

  Here, the overhead was low, the profit rich and regular.

  He’d personally designed a variation on the tried-and-true Nigerian scam that continued to be their top moneymaker.

  It brought him considerable pride.

  He enjoyed the work, and considered it an intellectual exercise. Business was good, increased from the previous year. No amount of warnings posted online, touted on the nightly news exposés, curbed the hunger in human nature for easy money.

  And the only weapons needed to strip the foolish from their wallets were a computer and a phone.

  He accepted violence, inflicted it when necessary, ordered it when it was warranted. But he preferred bloodless crime.

  He considered himself a businessman, and would soon take a wife, make a family of his own. He would teach his sons to be businessmen, and to leave the blood to others. Men like Korotkii would always be useful, but he had higher plans for the sons he’d make.

  He enjoyed hearing the phones ring, and the “operators” read the prepared script, improvising when necessary. “Yes, you can earn money at home! Increase your income, set your own schedule. For a small fee, we’ll provide you with all you need.”

  Of course, they’d provide nothing of use, but the fee would already be deposited. The mark would be out just under forty American dollars. Really, a small price for a lesson learned.

  He spoke briefly with the supervisor, made a note of the day’s take, then strode for the door.

  He enjoyed, too, the communal breath of relief behind him as he stepped out the door.

  He’d been born for power, and wore it as naturally as his favored Versace suits.

  He walked out of the apartment building to his waiting car. He slipped into the back, said nothing to the driver. As the SUV pulled away from the curb, he texted his mistress. He expected her to be ready for him in two hours. Then he texted his fiancée. He’d be late but hoped to be finished with his meeting and other business by midnight.

  The car pulled to the curb again outside the restaurant, closed tonight for a private party.

  His father insisted on this face-to-face meeting every month, though, in Ilya’s opinion, so much could have been accomplished more efficiently through Skype and conference calls.

  Still, Ilya saw some value to the personal connections, and there would be good food, good vodka, and the company of men.

  Inside, he handed off his cashmere topcoat to the pretty, sloe-eyed brunette. When time allowed, he’d like to fuck her while she wore those black-framed glasses.

  His father already sat with several others at the big table set in the main dining room. Sergei’s smile spread wide when he saw his son.

  “Come, sit, sit. You are late.”

  “I had some business.” Ilya bent down, kissed his father’s cheeks, then his uncle’s. “I have the numbers for the Fifty-first Street operation. I wanted to give them to you tonight. You’ll be pleased.”

  “Very good.” Sergei poured Ilya’s vodka himself before lifting his glass. At seventy, he remained robust, a man who enjoyed life’s pleasures and rewards to the fullest.

  “To family,” he toasted. “To friends and good business.”

  They discussed business while they ate, and always at these meetings ate traditional Russian food. Ilya spooned up borscht as he listened to reports from brigadiers and trusted soldiers. Out of respect, he asked questions only when he received his father’s nod. Over braised spring lamb, Ilya reported on the businesses he oversaw personally.

  Problems were discussed—the arrest of a soldier on drug charges, a whore who’d required discipline, the interrogation and dispatch of a suspected informant.

  “Misha will speak,” Sergei announced, “on the business of our people inside the police.”

  Ilya pushed his plate aside. Too much food in the belly and he wouldn’t enjoy his mistress fully. He looked at his cousin as he sipped his wine.

  “Pickto says he hasn’t yet been able to find how the information on some of our business is being fed to the FBI.”

  “Then why do we pay him?” Sergei demanded.

  “Yes, Uncle, I asked just that. He has warned us on some occasions in time for us to take steps to protect our interests, but he can’t identify the contact within the Bureau, or the method of information. He believes the contact is one of three people, but they keep a tight lid on this. He asks for more time, and resources.”

  “More money.”

  “For bribes, he says.”

  Misha, now the father of four, continued to eat with gusto. Ilya knew his cousin didn’t have a mistress to satisfy. “I don’t question his loyalty, but I begin to think he, and the two others we have in place, aren’t high enough on the food chain to meet our needs.”

  “We will look into these three people. Ilya, you and Misha will take this business. Whoever this FBI police is, whoever the informant, we will end it. This costs us money, men, time. And offends.”

  Now Sergei pushed aside his plate. “This brings me to old business. We don’t forget Elizabeth Fitch.”

  “There’s no contact with her mother,” Ilya began. “None with the police that we have ever found. If she continues to live, she lives in fear. She’s no threat.”

  “As long as she lives, she’s a threat. And again, an insult. This Keegan, we pay him, and he’s useful. But he doesn’t find her. The others, they cannot find her. She is one woman.” He banged his fist on the table. “How can we hold our pride if we are defeated by one woman?”

  “We won’t stop looking,” Ilya assured him.

  “No, we will never stop. It’s a matter of honor. Yakov?”

  “Yes, Uncle.” The years sat lightly on Korotkii, as they did on a man who enjoyed his work.

  “Speak to Keegan. Remind him why this is important. And speak to Pickto as well. Money is motivation, yes. So is fear. Make them afraid.”

  “Yes, Uncle.”

  “Good. This is good. Now.” Sergei clapped his hands together. “We will have dessert.”

  16

  IT SEEMED EASY, ALMOST NATURAL. SHE WONDERED IF SHE’D crossed some boundary and now lived in the normal she’d always yearned for. She didn’t know how it could possibly last, so every moment of that easy, natural normal glittered bright and precious as diamonds.

  He was with her almost every evening. Sometimes she cooked, sometimes he brought food. They might sit outside or take a walk to her favorite spot overlooking the hills. He helped her in the garden, taught her to play gin rummy on a rainy night, then feigned disgust wh
en she beat him every game.

  He made her laugh.

  When he touched her in the dark, all the worries, all the doubts, brewing inside her just dropped away. Every time she woke with him in bed beside her, the happy jolt of surprise stayed with her for hours.

  She learned of the townspeople from him, putting pictures together in her mind from the funny stories or offhand comments he made. The clerk who often waited on her at the market stood as undisputed champion of the pie-eating contest held every July Fourth in the park. The manager of the bank was an amateur magician who performed at kids’ parties. Brooks’s oldest, closest friend was expecting his second child.

  Brooks might be called away in the evening, and twice he had to handle a call in the middle of the night. Whenever she found herself alone, the house felt different. Not like it did during the day when her work, her routine, flowed along, but as if something essential was missing.

  When it did, she tried to ignore the nagging sensation that when it all ended, nothing would ever feel completely balanced and whole again. So she focused on the moment, the hour, the day, the night. Then the next.

  She tried to relax and see how it would go.

  Together, they stood studying the flower bed they’d just finished. Most of the plants she’d nurtured along in her greenhouse, and seeing them in place as she’d pictured in her head brought her pleasure.

  Having help, she discovered, didn’t diminish that pleasure at all.

  She liked feeling a little grubby, a little sweaty, a little tired, and knowing the spinach lasagna she’d put together earlier only had to slip into the oven.

  “It looks very attractive.”

  “It looks great,” he corrected.

  “It looks great. But it’ll look better in another few weeks. It was nice having help.”

  He shot her a grin. “Really?”

  “Really. Would you like a beer?”

  “I’m on call, so better not. Could use a Coke.”

  “All right.”

  So simple, she thought, as she went inside. She liked getting him a drink, fixing him a meal. Cooking for someone besides herself, she’d discovered, brought serious satisfaction. Just as she liked him suggesting he bring home a pizza or Chinese or toss some burgers on the grill.

  She’d thought it would feel crowded—the house, her life, her routine—with him in it, but somehow it felt bigger. She’d worried that her work—the business and her personal agendas—would suffer with someone else taking up her time and space, but she’d been very productive the last couple weeks. So many of the little tasks or chores took less time, as he pitched in to help or just did them himself.

  They weren’t living together, she reminded herself, as she poured the Coke over ice. She couldn’t let it go that far. But he had a toiletry kit in the bathroom, a few clothes in the closet.

  She liked looking at them when he wasn’t around. Just looking at his shirt, his razor, a pair of socks.

  They served as tangible evidence he was in her life.

  Or the life she was trying to build.

  She glanced out the window as she heard the dog’s bark, Brooks’s laughter.

  Bert chased the yellow tennis ball as if his world relied on its capture. The play equaled not only fun but good exercise. Still, it was odd to watch the dog respond so easily to the man.

  Ami, she thought.

  Yes, they’d become friends.

  She picked up her glass of ice water, carried it and his Coke outside.

  “Thanks. That dog would chase a ball to Texas if I could throw it that far.”

  “He enjoys the run, and it’s good for him. He likes it when you throw the ball, because you can throw it farther than I can.”

  “He’s giving me a workout. I won’t need any infield practice on Saturday at this rate.”

  When the phone rang, it relieved her. He wouldn’t ask again, he wouldn’t pressure her. But she knew he’d like her to come to the park on Saturday where he played softball.

  She wasn’t ready, and didn’t know if she’d ever be ready, to face all the people who’d come, who’d talk to her or about her.

  She picked up the wet, mangled tennis ball, threw it so Bert could continue his game.

  She heard Brooks say, “I’m on my way.” Then, when he stuck the phone back on his belt, “Crap.”

  “There’s some trouble?”

  “Spoiled rich kid gets high, trashes hotel suite, slugs hotel manager.”

  “Oh. Your friend Russ Conroy?”

  “Yeah. Justin Blake equals spoiled rich kid. He tried to fight with hotel security, and is now being held by same until I get there. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s your job.”

  “And this one’s going to take a while, as it involves a belligerent troublemaking asshole; his annoying, enabling and influential father; and the long-suffering lawyer the kid’s behavior keeps in Gucci loafers and Chivas Regal. I may not make it back tonight.”

  “It’s all right.”

  “Easy for you to say, you’re not missing lasagna.”

  “I’ll keep some for you. It holds well.”

  “Thanks. I’ll call you either way. I’ve got to wash up some before I head in.” He took her hands, leaned in to kiss her. “I’ll miss you.”

  She liked to think he would—a little, anyway. Being missed by someone was another first in her life.

  The dog trotted up as Brooks went inside, then simply stood, panting a little, the ball clamped in his mouth, his eyes on the door.

  “He’ll come back if he can,” Abigail said. “We have to be all right without him, too. It’s important we’re all right on our own.”

  As she threw the ball again, she thought she’d just make a salad for her dinner. Eating the lasagna by herself seemed too lonely.

  THE INN OF THE OZARKS stood on a gentle hill just inside the town limits. The four-story Victorian had been built by a successful bootlegger back in the twenties as a country home. His success had come to a hard stop just days before the end of Prohibition, when a rival had shot him with a Henry rifle while the man took a turn on his veranda with a Cuban and a glass of moonshine.

  The widow had never returned to the house, and for some years thereafter, it fell into disrepair. The oldest son, who liked to play the ponies, sold it the minute it came into his hands.

  Russ’s grandfather rebuilt and redesigned it largely on his own, and opened it as a hotel in the spring of 1948. While not a raging success during Cecil Conroy’s day, it held its own. As the artist community took shape in the seventies and eighties, it graced many canvases, one of which had the good fortune to catch the eye of a wealthy collector in New York.

  Inspired by the painting, the collector, as well as some of his friends and associates, began to make the hotel the base for getaways, business/pleasure interludes and assignations.

  As a result, by the turn of the century, the hotel had earned a face-lift and the addition of a spa and an indoor pool.

  Its fourth floor included the perk of twenty-four-hour butler service, and held the most prestigious suite in the building.

  With Russ beside him, Brooks stood in that suite, with its pale gold walls, its dark-toned, gleaming antiques, its glowing local art.

  Glass sparkled on the polished chestnut floor from the broken prisms of the once grand parlor chandelier. The heavy blown-glass vase that had surely been thrown into the sixty-inch flat-screen TV lay shattered on the handwoven rug that bore stains from the contents of one of three empty bottles of red wine. The remains of a Tiffany lamp shone on the debris of dishes, wasted food,