Page 93 of The Shadow Friends

“They already asked me that question. No, I don’t know. He hardly said boo to me. He just went to work, came back to sleep, and kept his door shut.” Keely looked at Jo. “Is it true he’s a Russian spy?”

“That’s just a theory. As far as I know, he hasn’t done a thing wrong.”

“’Cause I wouldn’t be surprised. Always holed up in his room, talking on the phone.”

“To his family in Belarus?”

“No, he was talking English.”

“You have any idea who he was talking to?”

Keely shook her head. “No idea. I mean, who did he even know here? It’s not like he had a ton of friends.”

But he did have one, thought Jo.

She climbed into her vehicle and drove to Blackberry Farm.

Chapter 35

“Do they seriously think a twenty-year-old kid from Belarus is the killer?” Declan asked.

“I don’t believe it either,” said Jo. “But I’ve been known to be wrong.”

All five members of the Martini Club were gathered in Maggie’s kitchen, along with the man whom Jo had earlier heard about but was meeting for the first time: Rodrigo Estrada. He’d introduced himself as simply an old friend of Ingrid’s, but the fact he was part of this conversation told her Rodrigo was more than merely a friend. He was one of them, and like them, he was now armed, with a 9mm weapon strapped to his hip. This group might be considered geriatric, but they knew how to handle weapons, and they clearly considered the situation serious enough to keep their guns within reach.

“You’ve met this young man from Belarus,” Ingrid said to Jo. “What were your impressions?”

Jo considered the question. She must seem hopelessly naive to these people, who were accustomed to navigating in a world where the truth was malleable, where a seemingly innocent twenty-year-old boy like Andrei was capable of plunging a stiletto into a woman’s eye. “I really don’t know anymore,” she said.

Ingrid looked at the others. “Well, that’s an honest answer.”

“When I first interviewed him, he seemed completely harmless. And lonely. His housemate seemed to be his only friend, but I think she was more like a mother figure than anything else. He never came up on my radar as a suspect.”

“Either he’s innocent,” said Ben, “or he’s very, very good at playing the part.”

“He’s only twenty.”

“His documents could be fiction. Maybe he’s really twenty-five or thirty. And he’s a good actor.” Ben paused, seeing Jo’s expression. “You’re skeptical.”

“I’m not sure anymore. Not now, since he’s vanished. He doesn’t answer his phone, and no one knows where he is.”

“What about the housemate? The one you said was like a mother to him?”

“The hotel manager gave me Hannah Murray’s address and phone number. I’ve been calling her, but she doesn’t answer her phone.”

The kitchen went silent.

“Now that raises questions,” said Ben. “Is she alive and well?”

“Why wouldn’t she be?” said Jo.

“Andrei needs a place to hide, right? Who would he turn to? She’s the one friend he made in Purity. And she has no idea who Andrei really is.”

“Wait,” said Maggie, frowning. “Her name is Hannah?”

“Yeah,” said Jo. “Why?”

“That’s the name of the hotel housekeeper who let me into Dr. Maslov’s room.”