AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lev realized he was not the first person to have this bright idea.
He paid the man and they loaded the whisky into the Mack van.
Next day Lev drove back to Buffalo.
{III}
Lev parked the van full of whisky on the street outside the Vyalov house. The winter afternoon was turning to dusk. There were no cars on the driveway. He waited a while, tense, expectant, ready to flee, but he saw no activity.
His nerves stretched taut, he got out of the van, walked up to the front door, and let himself in with his own key.
The place was hushed. From upstairs he could hear Daisy's voice, and the murmured replies of Polina. There was no other sound.
Moving quietly on the thick carpet, he crossed the hall and looked into the drawing room. All the chairs had been pushed to the sides of the room. In the middle was a stand draped in black silk bearing a polished mahogany coffin with gleaming brass handles. In the casket was the corpse of Josef Vyalov. Death had softened the pugnacious lines of the face, and he looked harmless.
Olga sat alon
e beside the body. She wore a black dress. Her back was to the door.
Lev stepped into the room. "Hello, Olga," he said quietly.
She opened her mouth to scream, but he put his hand over her face and stopped her.
"Nothing to worry about," Lev said. "I just want to talk. " Slowly, he eased his grip.
She did not scream.
He relaxed a little. He was over the first hurdle.
"You killed my father!" she said angrily. "What could there be to talk about?"
He took a deep breath. He had to handle this exactly right. Mere charm would not be enough. It would take brains too. "The future," he said. He spoke in a low, intimate tone. "Yours, mine, and little Daisy's. I'm in trouble, I know-but so are you. "
She did not want to listen. "I'm not in any trouble. " She turned away and looked at the body.
Lev pulled up a chair and sat close to her. "The business you've inherited is shot. It's falling apart, almost worthless. "
"My father was very wealthy!" she said indignantly.
"He owned bars, hotels, and a liquor wholesaling business. They're all losing money, and Prohibition has been in force only two weeks. He's already closed five bars. Soon there will be nothing left. " Lev hesitated, then used the strongest argument he had. "You can't just consider yourself. You have to think about how you're going to raise Daisy. "
She looked shaken. "Is the business really going bust?"
"You heard what your father said to me at breakfast the day before yesterday. "
"I don't really remember. "
"Well, don't take my word for anything, please. Check it out. Ask Norman Niall, the accountant. Ask anyone. "
She gave him a hard look and decided to take him seriously. "Why have you come to tell me this?"
"Because I've figured out how to save the business. "
"How?"
"By importing liquor from Canada. "
"It's against the law. "
