Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“We’re all family here… No secrets.”
Two men. Carbon copies. Man in basement—unidentified. Wanderer. Dolph said Dmitriy was in and out of town all the time. Never stayed put for long. Nikolai told me Dmitriy was immature. Unmarried. No children. Irresponsible. Went to college but dropped out in his third year. No job on a consistent basis. Who could disappear and no one notice? A drifter with no boss to answer to, a dead mother he doesn’t have to call, and no family besides his estranged father and brothers!
“Oh my God!”
She snatched her cellphone from her desk.
“Captain White. Listen. You know the John Doe in the hospital? Nikolai’s victim?
“Yes, he’s in a coma and—”
“Yes! I know no one has come forward and reported him missing yet, and you didn’t see his fingerprints in the database, but please listen to me! You need to do this, and you need to have this done immediately!”
“What’s that?”
“We have Nikolai’s DNA on file. He offered it willingly before he was ever arrested. Remember he allowed me to drive him there so it could be done?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“Please take that sample from Nikolai, and have it tested against the man’s that was in his basement. If it’s who I think it is, his name is Dmitriy Raven. I think it’s Nikolai’s brother!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Nikolai outstretched his leg and yawned, then brought his knees up to his chest as he lounged on his side. The jail cot on the top bunk was far too small, the pillow would fit maybe a small child, but somehow, he managed to gain some semblance of comfort by folding himself just so along the thin fabric and lumpy mattress.
The irritating buzz of someone’s radio on a low setting a few cells down moved around the small steel enclosure, bouncing off the walls. He was in the cell with another guy, a man half his height, with a hoarse cough, bald and built like a cannon. His name was Edward. He didn’t speak much—a relief to Nikolai. The guy spent hours flipping through a book about spontaneous combustion with earbuds on.
Nikolai took a deep breath and willed himself back to sleep. Just as he drifted into that sweet spot, a bit of commotion started in his cell. He blinked a few times, then sat up.
“Nikolai Raven. You have a visitor,” announced the guard. “Come on.”
Nikolai rubbed his eye, then remembered he did give his approval for someone to come see him. He glanced at the time from the battery-operated clock mounted on the wall. He’s a little early. He climbed off the bunk, then slipped his sock-covered feet into the rubber sandals provided.
In handcuffs and ankle shackles, he was marched down the hall, into the visitor’s area. The space smelled faintly of body odor, old onions and rotten potatoes, and there was a bit of stale sweat in the mix, too. ‘Kiss from a Rose,’ by Seal, was playing.
He walked across the room and saw his visitor. He looked into eyes he’d seen far too many times. Dragging the chair about a foot from the table, he plopped down into it.
The person before him shrank in his seat. Wrinkled fingers wrapped nervously around a bone-colored cane. Long legs with knobby knees were covered in striped pants far too large for his father’s frame.
“Your eyes are red.” Nikolai slumped back in his seat and crossed his arms.
Dad sniffed and looked around him. Finally, they locked gazes.
“Nikolai,” he said with quiet emphasis. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Nikolai shrugged. “Well, I am.” He tightened his arms across his chest.
“Things have gotten… bad. I wish you were not in the middle of this.”
“What did you expect me to do? You saw the news.”
“But you could have just remained quiet.”
“No. That would’ve been wrong. You can’t do that to people. This has gone on long enough.” His father dropped his head and crossed his hands over his lap.
“What’s going to happen to, ‘Raven Novelties?’ Will you have to close your store?”
Nikolai shrugged. “I dunno yet. In the short-term, I’ve got Charlie, you remember Charlie Emerson, the guy who covers for me when I can’t be at my shop on occasion, comin’ in.” Dad nodded. “He opens the place and locks it down now that the cops have cleared it. Thankfully he is one of the few people in this town that doesn’t see me as some demon.”
Charlie had been a blacksmithing apprentice of Nikolai’s many years prior, and they’d developed a friendship over that time. “Speaking of future plans, I made a few calls on your behalf.”
“A few calls?”
“Yeah. Thursday, a man by the name of Wilson Montgomery is coming to assess you and help you out. He is a nurse. He will be by a couple of times a week to just make sure you’re okay. Take your blood pressure. Things like that. I met him a while back, before you dismissed the idea. I’ve got another person by the name of Deborah Alice coming to clean up your house. Do the dishes. Sweep ’nd such. Please don’t make more messes for her than necessary. Like, flush your toilet, why don’t ya? Don’t leave piss in it all day…”