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Lila narrows her eyes, but I figure there’s no point in hiding that.
He pours himself another drink. “Why didn’t you call me sooner?”
“Lila just showed up out of nowhere,” I say, which is basically true. “I thought she was dead. I haven’t seen her since we were both fourteen. I was just following her lead.”
Zacharov takes a sip from his glass and winces. “Lila, are you going to tell me where you’ve been?”
She shrugs slim shoulders and avoids his gaze.
“You’re protecting someone. Your mother? I always thought she’d taken you away from me. Tell me you got fed up with the old—”
“No!” Lila says.
He’s still lost in the thought. “She practically accused me of having you murdered. She told the FBI that I said you were better off dead than with her. The FBI!”
“I wasn’t with Mom,” Lila says. “Dad, Mom had nothing to do with this.”
He stops and stares at her. “Then what? Did someone do…” He leaves the sentence unfinished and turns toward me. “Did you? Did you hurt my daughter?”
I hesitate.
“He didn’t do anything to me,” Lila says.
Zacharov touches a gloved hand to my shoulder. “Your mother’s appeal is coming up, isn’t it, Cassel?”
“Yes, sir,” I say.
“I’d hate to see anything go wrong with that. If I find out—”
“Leave him alone,” says Lila. “Listen to me, Dad. Just listen for a minute. I’m not ready to talk about what happened. Stop trying to find someone to blame. Stop with the interrogation. I’m home now. Aren’t you glad I’m home?”
“Of course I’m glad,” he says, clearly stricken.
I touch my sore ribs without thinking. I want another aspirin, but I don’t know where the guy put the bottle.
“I’m trusting you for her sake,” he says to me, and then his voice softens. “My daughter and I need to talk. We need to be alone—you understand that, right?”
I nod my head. Lila is looking out at the black water. She doesn’t turn.
Zacharov takes his wallet from inside his jacket and counts out five hundred dollars. “Here,” he says.
“I can’t take that,” I say.
“I’d feel better if you did,” he says.
I stand up and try not to wince while doing it. I shake my head. “I hope you didn’t have your heart set on feeling better.”
He snorts. “One of the boys will see you home.”
“I can go? Really?”
“Don’t kid yourself. I can pick you up like a dime off the sidewalk anytime I want.”
I want to say something to Lila, but her back is still to me. I can’t guess her thoughts.
“I’m having a little party on Wednesday at a place called Koshchey’s. A fund-raiser. You should come,” Zacharov says. “Do you know why I like Koshchey’s?”
I shake my head.
