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CHAPTER NINE
I DESPERATELY NEEDED A CIGARETTE. As I left the Grove, I looked for them in my coat pockets, but they weren’t there.
“Looking for something?”
I turned around. Yuri was standing right behind me. I hadn’t heard him and I was a little startled to find him so close.
“I found them in the nurses’ station.” He grinned, handing me my pack of cigarettes. “Must have fallen out of your pocket.”
“Thanks.” I took them and lit one. I offered him the packet.
Yuri shook his head. “I don’t smoke. Not cigarettes, anyway.” He laughed. “You look like you need a drink. Come on, I’ll buy you a pint.”
I hesitated. My instinct was to refuse—I had never been one for socializing with work colleagues. And I doubted Yuri and I had much in common. But he probably knew Alicia better than anyone else at the Grove—and his insights might prove useful.
“Sure,” I said. “Why not?”
We went to a pub near the station, the Slaughtered Lamb. Dark and dingy, it had seen better days; so had the old men dozing over their half-finished pints. Yuri got us a couple of beers, and we sat at a table at the back.
Yuri took a long swig of beer and wiped his mouth. “Well? Tell me about Alicia.” “Alicia?”
“How did you find her?”
“I’m not sure I did find her.”
Yuri gave me a quizzical look, then smiled. “She doesn’t want to be found? Yeah, it’s true. She’s hiding.”
“You’re close to her. I can see that.”
“I take special care of her. No one knows her like I do, not even Professor Diomedes.”
His voice had a boastful note. It annoyed me for some reason—I wondered how well he really
knew her, or if he was just bragging.
“What do you make of her silence? What do you think it means?”
Yuri shrugged. “I guess it means she’s not ready to talk. She’ll talk when she’s ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“Ready for the truth, my friend.”
“And what is that?”
Yuri cocked his head to one side slightly, studying me. The question that came out of his mouth
surprised me.
“Are you married, Theo?”
I nodded. “I am, yes.”
“Yeah, I thought so. I was married once too. We moved here from Latvia. But she didn’t fit in like