Chapter 11 Dimitri
DIMITRI
My eggs are cold, but I eat them anyway while staring at the tablet propped against my coffee cup.
I was up until three in the morning reviewing security footage from every angle that captured any movement near the alley the night Volodin was killed.
The cameras don't cover the alley itself, but they caught snippets of the Kozlovs arriving and leaving.
A car pulling into the employee parking lot.
Two figures walking toward the back of the building.
The same two figures returning twenty minutes later and driving away.
Not enough to identify them. Not enough to build a case. Just enough to confirm what I already knew.
I went to bed exhausted and woke up four hours later with my mind still racing through all the pieces that don't quite fit together. So I came here to this diner down the street from the casino where I can think without interruption.
Lev sits across from me with his own tablet and a plate of pancakes he hasn't touched. "I've been running the partial plate through every database I can access but nothing's coming back clean."
"Keep trying." I take a drink of coffee that's gone lukewarm. "There has to be something."
"The car was probably stolen, anyway." Lev scrolls through whatever he's looking at on his screen. "The Kozlovs aren't stupid enough to use their own vehicles for a hit."
"They're stupid enough to do it on our property." I set my coffee down and continue, "Which means they're either desperate or they're trying to send a message."
My phone buzzes on the table and I glance at the screen. Unknown number, but the area code tells me it's local. I answer it and hear a familiar voice on the other end.
"Gravitch… It's Rashid." I grow instantly curious as my friend on the police force begins speaking. "I hear you have a problem."
My eyes narrow on Lev and he sits back, watching me with concern etched on his features.
"We might have one… What have you heard?
" I've already asked the security guards to remove anything incriminating from our series of recordings and forward what's safe to the police.
Rashid should have this information already after the body was reported and found.
"The woman?" he says more quietly. "I guess there's been more trouble with her."
"Woman?" I ask, now getting a tightening sensation in my chest because even before he explains anything, I know he's talking about Tatiana.
There's some noise in the background, some men talking, and then their voices fade and he comes back.
"Yeah, some woman was in here reporting a murder last week.
I guess she got assaulted two nights ago.
She's in the hospital with a concussion.
" I stop for a moment, pausing to think.
Tatiana has been at work every day, which means she's not in the hospital at all.
So who is this other mysterious woman? And what does she know?
"Assaulted?" I ask him, and my wheels are turning. Lev leans forward over his tablet, but he's not focused on it. Now he's invested in my call too.
"Yeah, home invasion, robbery. She'll be fine, but I thought if this is one of yours…"
"Thanks, Rashid. I'll look into it." My thumb swipes across the screen to end the call while I start stewing.
It doesn't make sense that a different woman other than Tatiana was the one to report the murder when she is the one in my penthouse shaking like a leaf in the wind daily.
That assault and robbery, though, maybe it's not related.
Regardless, we now know how the authorities found out.
"Problem?" Lev sets his tablet aside.
I lean back in the booth and process what this means.
"Someone witnessed the murder and went to the police…
So it wasn't just someone reporting a body.
" I know what this means as well as anyone else and it's what I've feared all along.
Whoever reported the murder is at risk, and whoever that woman is in the hospital is somehow connected.
And after watching those security videos putting Tatiana out back smoking only hours before the cops showed up, the math is easy to calculate.
"Fuck." Lev runs his hand through his hair. "Did they say who filed the report?"
"No, Rashid just said someone claimed they saw it happen." I stop short of telling Lev, but Yuri knows my suspicions. I gotta stop puttering around the massive elephant in the room and just confront Tatiana about this. She'll refuse my protection—I'm sure of it—but that won't stop me from trying.
"Could be a random person walking by." Lev doesn't sound convinced. "Wrong place, wrong time."
"I'm fairly certain it's someone who works for us.
" Rubbing my hand across my face to help alleviate some of the tension, I grumble, "It was Tatiana.
" There's no doubt in my mind at this point, and I've been stupid enough to let her go home every night.
Whoever is in the hospital might be her sister or cousin or something, and the mess I got her into by hiding Volodin has just exploded in my face.
Lev's eyebrows go up. "The private waitress from your penthouse?"
"Can you lay off?" I growl, but he holds his hands up, palms outward.
"Christ, Dimitri, back off. I was asking a question." He pauses and leans forward, talking more quietly. "If the Kozlovs find out there was a witness…" Lev doesn't finish the sentence, and it feels like a dagger slicing through my heart.
"They'll kill her." I stand up and pull out my wallet. "I need to get back to the casino and figure out what the fuck I'm gonna say to her. It's obvious she knows she's in over her head, but now someone else is involved too. A woman in the hospital."
"What do you want me to do?" Lev starts gathering his things as he talks, but there's just nothing he can do for now except dig a little.
"Keep working on that plate." I drop cash on the table for both our meals. "And see if you can find any information about who filed that police report. I need confirmation it was her so she can't keep lying to me."
I know the instant we prove it was her, Yuri will insist on speaking to her. If she saw the killers, she can help us plan retaliation. She may have seen some identifying mark or heard something that could help us defend ourselves better when shit hits the fan.
By the time I get back to the casino, I've made up my mind.
I have to have a chat with Tatiana and this time, I won't let her look me in the eye and lie to me again.
I know she saw Kozlov's men kill Volodin and I know she's terrified.
What I don't know is who the other woman was or how they're connected, but I'll get that out of her too.