Page 45 of Special Agent Anastacia

While they were tending to her wound, Nash called Maria to let her know he was in the building. “I’ll see you as soon as possible, Mom. I’m right here in the hospital. What room did they move Lew to?”

Carly overheard him talking and asked, “Is your mom here too?”

“My stepdad. They moved him out of the ICU into a ward. He’s one of Vlad’s victims. Thankfully, he’s going to pull through.”

Carly looked down for a few seconds and then glanced around at the many people nearby. “You should go and see him, Nash. I feel safe here with the nurses and doctors.”

“Are you sure? I can wait.”

“I know. Look, dude, you’re all but dancing in place. Go. I’ll wait for you, and then will you take me to see Beth?”

Nash winked; his smile special for her only. “Can do, honey. Thanks. I won’t be long.”

Moments later, Nash stood at Lew’s bedside with his arm around his mother’s waist. “Hey, Maria-ma. I’ve missed you.”

“Me too, ya big lug.” She hugged him so tight, he held his breath and stayed close, sensing her need.

Stepping back, she still gripped his hand as if she couldn’t let him go. Then she pointed at the man on the bed with his eyes closed. “He’s doing so much better today. The doc says he’ll be out of here in a week or so.”

“He’sright here in case you thought you could talk shit about me and get away with it.” Lew’s eyes opened, and he grinned up at the two smiling down at him. “I’m fine. Just need a few more days for the old bones to kick in and stop whining every time I make a move.”

Nash laughed and settled next to the man on the bed. Maria saw the look Lew aimed her way and the signal brought on her next question. “Can I get you a coffee, Nash? Maybe a donut to go with it?” Before Lew could speak, she stuck her finger up and added, “No. It’s juice for you my love.”

Pretending to be mollified, Lew spoke in a little boy’s voice. “Can I have a donut too?”

Laughing, Maria answered, “I’ll think about it. Back in a short while.” She left the room and closed the door behind her, knowing full well that Lew wanted this time alone with Nash.

Lew pulled himself up, accepting Nash’s help. “Want me to raise the bed?”

“Yeah. Thanks. I’m glad you came. I need to tell you something, and I didn’t want to say anything in front of your mom. She’s already freaking out about this whole nightmare with the Smirnova boys.”

“So you know about it?”

“Pretty much. Dave came around yesterday, asking me questions, and said I was to let him know if I recalled anything more about old Mike and his family. I told him about the sale of the property to Sadie and George and even about them finding Mike dead, but that kinda covered the gist of what I remembered. Then last night it came to me. One night, I met up with Mike at the bar after his wife, Mila, had left him. Always thought that crazy female didn’t deserve such a pretty name. Lots of us back then thought the same. She was a cantankerous, mean-hearted bitch who never let up on the poor man.”

Instantly, the thought popped into Nash’s head – like mother, like son – but he didn’t say it out loud. Instead, he asked, “So what was it you remembered?”

“Well, like I said, we were at the bar on a Saturday night and back in those days Nan had just taken over the place, and it was booming. The noise got to be so bad, I moved to a table in the back. When Mike came along, he asked if he could sit with me. We got to talking, and he admitted that Mila had left him, taking the boys with her back to Russia.”

“How old were the boys then?”

“Young teenagers. The little fuckers were a handful even then. Truthfully, I figured it was good news myself, but he appeared downhearted and admitted it was mostly his fault. Said she’d gone to the old well to get water and had a breakdown right then and there. Threw the bucket at him and said it was her last time working like a mule. That was the day she took the boys and up and left him for good.”

“And…” Nash sensed there was more to the story.

“Poor Mike worked like a dog to get water piped into the house and began filling in the old well. I guess he thought he’d get her to come back that way. But she never did. Funny thing, the day he had the heart attack, we saw the signs where he’d finallycemented in the hole. Doc figured his heart attack could have been from the strain of such hard work – you know, too much for the old ticker to handle.”

Nash didn’t move. His brain began untangling what Lew just mentioned and suddenly he saw the light. “Dave mentioned what Hattie said. You know – what Beth told her about the letter the boys found in their mother’s belongings, didn’t he? The letter Mike had sent to Mila that she never opened.”

“Uh huh. The same letter where he wrote that he’d hid his stash in the very place that drove her away. It could be that old well, right? What if he stuffed the remains there before he filled it in and cemented it over. They never found any sign of the money around the house, and there’s been a lot of renovating done since Mike sold it.”

“Therefore, you’re thinking it wasn’t hidden in the house.”

“Right. Look, we all knew that Mikle had taken out $60,000 in cash the day before he died. The police looked for it everywhere, even came to me with questions about the sale. I couldn’t tell them anything, because I had no idea what he did with it. That’s what I tried to tell Mike’s boys when they showed up asking about the money and the old place.”

“They brought up the money to you?”

“Yeah. Well the bastard who shot me did. The others were gone by then. I’ll never forget the look on his face, Nash. His ugly grin said he liked pointing his gun at me… I mean loved it. First time I truly saw empty eyes. Christ almighty, I knew then I was gonna die. Imagine my delight when I woke up on earth and not behind the pearly gates.”

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