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“How long?”
“Almost a year before the divorce.”
Kate thought about how to ask the next question without giving offense, decided there was no way, and asked it straight out. “Did he say he was going to leave his wife for you?”
“Oh no,” Wanda said calmly. “He told me from the begi
Frowning, Kate said, “But he did.”
“Yes, he did,” Wanda said, “but it wasn’t his choice.”
“What do you mean?”
“His father-in-law pulled all the strings in that family.”
“The old man, Jasper Ba
Wanda nodded.
“Why would the old man want to split up his daughter and her husband?”
“He never liked Eugene. Eugene was a Native, and Eugene had always wanted to do serious work for PME. They gave him a job, but it was a make-work, glad-handing kind of job. He wanted to go into management. They stonewalled him. It took a while, but he got mad, and he decided if he couldn’t get into the business one way, he would another.”
“Which was?” Kate said.
“He joined the union that represented the PME workers and ran for business representative.”
“Did he win?”
“Oh, yes. The Ba
It was right about then that Jasper would have been finalizing plans to switch from union employees to contract hires.
“You know,” Wanda said pensively, “the older I get and the more I read, the more I think that most things that happen are personal.” She looked at Kate. “I remember reading something that somebody wrote one time that World War Two happened because Hitler’s mother didn’t spank him enough, or at all, and as odd as it sounds, I think there is some kind of truth to that. Lyndon Johnson said he didn’t want to be the first American president to lose a war, so instead of cutting our losses and walking away, it’s ‘One, two, three, what are we fightin’ for…‘ Benjamin Franklin is personally insulted on the floor of the house of Parliament and he goes home to start the American Revolution. It’s all personal,” Wanda repeated, “and this was personal, too. On both sides.”
Thinking out loud, Kate said, “So Eugene couldn’t get in the front door, and he decided to use the union to get in the back door.”
There was a brief silence. “I felt horribly guilty when he moved out,” Wanda said. “I’ve never thought of myself as a home-wrecker. I certainly wasn’t raised to be one. You know that Woody Allen quote- The heart wants what it wants,” something like that? I’ve always hated it. Eugene married Victoria, and they had three children together. He had no business sleeping around on them. I knew it, and I did it anyway.“
“Were you still together when his son died?”
“Yes.”
“You weren’t subpoenaed to testify at the trial.”
“No.”
“Were you deposed?”
“Yes.” Wanda said, and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. On the face of it, I think I was deposed to establish that Eugene had been with me that night.”
“An alibi.” Which would focus attention on Victoria as the prime suspect.
“Yes,” Wanda said. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Someone in the district attorney’s office leaked my statement, and it was all over the news the next day, and of course they had to do a little digging, and they found out that Eugene and I had had a relationship before the divorce. My parents were… very upset.”
Kate, in her extensive search through the library’s microfiche files, had somehow managed to miss this particular Ba
“Yes.”
“All night.”
“Yes.”
So Eugene hadn’t altogether disappeared after the divorce. Well. Perhaps if the Ba
Wanda didn’t flinch. “He said not.”
“So you were it.”
“Yes.”
“You had a brother named Ernie.”
Wanda’s eyes widened a little. “Yes. He died very young.”
“Eugene’s set-net permit was sold to an Ernie Gajewski.”
Wanda nodded. “Yes.”
“Your brother was dead by then.”
“Yes. Eugene needed to keep his set-net site so he could fish, but he couldn’t keep it in his name. So I used Ernie’s Social Security number to help Eugene make it look like he’d sold his permit.”
“Why couldn’t he keep it in his name?”
There was a short pause. “He had his reasons.”
Kate put down her coffee. “There’s something I have to tell you. I’m sorry as hell to have to tell you this, but Eugene Muravieff is dead.”
“I know,” Wanda said. “I had his body picked up from the morgue this morning.”
Kate stared at her. “Did your relationship continue?”
“Yes.”
“For the past thirty years?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you live together?”
Wanda hesitated. “He wanted a place his children felt free to come to. Charlotte and Oliver were very upset about their father and me, particularly Oliver. And Eugene couldn’t stomach the thought of living off my money. He was never going to make a lot of money, not when he couldn’t even own up to his own identity.”
It just wasn’t good enough, Kate thought. Two people were dead and a third in the hospital because Charlotte had hired her to get Charlotte’s mother out of jail. Someone was willing to commit murder to make her go away. Wanda had to know more. She had been too close to the Muravieffs for too long not to.
She opened her mouth and a new and a very unwelcome voice intruded upon their conversation. “Kate Shugak, I thought I recognized you.” She looked up and found Erland Ba
Without knowing how she got there, Kate found herself on her feet. She registered the fact that Mutt was standing, too, her shoulder pressed to Kate’s knee, not growling but hackles raised, and ready to launch on command. Mutt’s character analyses, with the possible exception of Jim Chopin, were nearly infallible, but in this case, they weren’t necessary. Kate knew they had both reacted instinctively to the appearance of a predator.
Erland looked at Wanda. “And you are?”
“Wanda Gajewski,” Wanda said through stiff lips.
“Wanda Gajewski, of course,” Erland said almost fondly. “Judge Berlin’s clerk, aren’t you? And how is rascally old Randy these days? Still keeping the streets safe for the rest of us?”
Wanda began to rise, and Erland took her hand and helped her to her feet. “I’ve got to get back to work,” Wanda told Kate.
It was past five o’clock. “I’ll walk you back,” Kate said.
“No, that’s all right.” Wanda attempted a smile. “Thanks for the coffee. Mr. Ba
Erland Ba
He was still smiling, but Kate could almost hear the big-cat snarl in it. “A business acquaintance,” she said, and moved to a trash container to toss the coffee cups.
He kept pace next to her. “Really? Something to do with the case you were working on for my niece?”
“That would come under the heading of confidential, Erland,” Kate said coolly.
“But why?” Erland said, spreading his hands, the very picture of sweet reason. “My niece is dead, Kate. You no longer have an employer. Therefore you no longer have a case, and there is no longer any need to go around asking questions, particularly of people who would much rather leave the past right where it is.”