Chapter 14
Toly’s dogs greeted them with wagging tails this time and they drove past the open gates into the yard.
He’d like to think the welcome was partly for him, but when Lara jumped from the car and into her waiting grandpa’s arms Dane couldn’t kid himself.
Toly really did have a heart somewhere under all that Russian flab.
As soon as they were inside Dane told Toly they had to conduct some business in the study—and Lara had to be there.
Shana used the computer to set up a Skype call and sat Toly and Lara at the conference table staring at the screen of a Macbook Pro. At least it was the wide-screen version.
“Who are we talking to? How much of the room are they going to see?” Toly asked some good questions. Shana ignored him as she dialed up David Young.
“This was the deal, Toly. You agreed to give us your grandson.” Dane wanted to be very clear what was going on.
“We still don’t have him. My men are scouring the city as we speak, checking out all his known spots. Nothing.”
Dane looked at him. They both knew where Sparty was. Neither of them would say it in front of Lara. Dane had lots of questions for her, but they were waiting for her to tell her story with the feds listening in. He would make sure he controlled the interview.
“I just got off the phone with David,” Shana said.
“They’re all set on their end.” She lowered her voice before she took her seat next to Lara—in case the young woman needed some handholding encouragement—and said, “We need to get out of here to the heliport within a half hour, no more than two minutes after the interview. The feds are already talking about the possibility of catching up with Spartak on Martha’s Vineyard. ”
“Anyone talk to Father Donahue on the status?”
“The governor and Madeline are keeping him in the loop—they haven’t got a hold of him yet to let him know we found Lara.”
Dane nodded and went around the other side of the table for eight to sit next to Toly. He held his granddaughter’s hand. Dane was glad someone held her hand. Shana punched in the numbers on the keyboard and made their Skype connection.
After intense introductions by David to Mark Richards, the ASAC of the FBI’s Boston office, Dane began the interview.
“Lara, when did you start having problems with Spartak—tell us from the beginning.”
She gave Dane a long look with her sad blue eyes and, after a squeeze of her hand from Toly, she spoke.
“When he found out I was pregnant, my own cousin—Spartak—wanted my baby for his farm to sell to strangers. I refused. I wanted my baby. At first I thought he was maybe trying to help me, thinking I didn’t want the baby.
But then he threatened to tell Grandpa about the baby—thinking that would scare me—so naturally I threatened to tell our grandfather about his baby farm. ”
She stopped, looked down, and took a breath. Dane let her pause and met Toly’s eyes. He hoped the old man wouldn’t back out of protecting her for some foolish reason. But Lara looked up and, still dry-eyed, she continued.
“That’s when Spartak threatened to kill the baby’s father. He said that our grandfather wouldn’t care about that. He said that even soft old grandpa would understand it was business—or family honor.” Her voice cracked, but she shook her head when Shana offered her water, then continued.
“Of course I refused to tell him who the baby’s father was. We were at a standoff but I needed help and so I tracked down Father Donahue.”
Toly said, “You could have come to me—”
“I know—”
Dane needed to keep this on track. They couldn’t afford to get mired in family melodrama. He ignored the tug of misery and conscience and prompted Lara.
“What about Father Donahue?” He hoped she wouldn’t mention that he was the father of her baby in front of the FBI. And she didn’t.
But what she revealed was more shocking than that.