MORNING SERIAL

AGAIN the captain’s expression was one of surprise that I was talking.

Lou, however, looked gentle, she looked sympathetic. “You’ve been here, what, a week? Two?” she said. “In that time did you find out how much those two young girls are worth? I mean how much they are worth in pounds and pence. Evgeny knew. Viktor knew. Christ, they probably know themselves. The people I work for, they have no interest in money. They only care about the status quo. And now they have what they want.” “And Stelly?”

“You don’t want to get in the middle of all the people who wanted these girls,” Lou said. “Power draws out some unlikely players. And these girls are heirs to a f***ing fortune. All they have to do is grow up. Stelly was the one at the house that night. Who knows who was paying him, or what his instructions were. But a creature like him: they don’t tend to have large repertoires.”

She gestured to Dina and Darya and they walked to her without any hesitation.

I felt hollow, but I managed to say, “The man I work for is looking for his son.”

Lou looked down at the lifeless body of Stelly. “If it was him, I have done Illie Prostakov a favour, trust me.”

And then she put a consoling arm around the girls. She spoke to them in Russian, in a tone of such warmth and tenderness both girls began to nod and weep and make gestures of thanks. The three of them embraced.

I looked at the five militia who were still unsure of themselves after the execution of Stelly – they were fidgeting and restless. The captain looked around the rooftop, nodded some kind of approval that everything was settled, and touched the peak of his cap to the five.

All he had for me was a blank glance as he led his men back through the stairwell door.

Lou, with Dina and Darya huddled up to her arms, followed them.

“See you around,” she said as she passed me.

> The Golden Orphans by Gary Raymond is published by Parthian www.parthianbooks.com