Page 87 of Radar

White slid the paper her way.

Elyssa looked down at a copy of her plane ticket to Singapore. “Yes.” She felt red rise, Eddie-style, from her neck to her hairline.

Xander was watching her like a hawk, primed to leap into action. She liked it and, at the same time, found it a bit overwhelming.

“Why were you going?” White asked.

“There’s a family reunion, and Uncle Orest wanted me to meet them. And as a surprise, he said that he’d been building a prototype that I was developing. It’s an interior vertical farm. And I guess the family has an island with a volcanic chimney.”She licked her lips. “So, what is this about Uncle Orest? Apparently, you all think he’s a bad guy.”

“Have you always known him?” White maintained control of the information flow.

“No, there was an article in the paper about an award I won. And a woman came to see me. She said that she had read that article and wondered if she might ask me a few questions. I thought it was about my designs, but it was about my great-grandfather.”

“This article?” White pulled out another piece of paper and laid it in front of her.

Elyssa looked down just long enough to identify it, then nodded.

“Do you remember the name of the person who contacted you?” White asked.

“Yes, it was a woman named Danika Zoric. And she had an older man with her named Radovan Krokov, yes, I think that’s right. Danika said that she had family in Kalin, a city outside of Bratislava, Slovakia. And that they had family members who had fled the Nazis during World War II. Once the mother and son reached Pennsylvania, the family had lost touch. She said she thinks she knows my great-uncle, and his name was Orest Kalinsky.” She’d been hoodwinked. As Elyssa told her story, she saw how easily she had been manipulated.

“That was supposed to be your great-grandfather’s brother? The one mentioned in the paper?” White asked.

“Yes. My great-grandpa’s younger brother, Orest, had been a baby in diapers at the time my great-grandpa and his mother escaped.”

“Your family told you the great-uncle’s name?” White asked with a tip of her head.

“No, everyone called him ‘Great-grandpa’s brother’ and not by a proper name.”

“And you didn’t ask your family when Miss Zoric approached you?”

“My only family who might know was my dad or grandpa, and they’re dead. So, no.” Elyssa felt so naïve. She fell into someone’s design like a stone in the stream.But what the heck? I mean, come on now.

“And you were convinced that Orest was, in fact, your great-grandfather’s brother?” White was walking this through like a lawyer, pulling a confession from the person on the stand.

I’m not culpable of anything, Elyssa reminded herself. “They had a scrapbook of things from the family. They showed me what vital papers were left. Not many. This was pre-computer, of course, and the Nazis burned the records hall. But they had pictures and their story … shit.” She should just voice her conclusions and get them on the table. “You’re about to tell me that he’s not my great-uncle at all, aren’t you?”

White caught Elyssa’s gaze. “I am.”

“But why would he lie?” Elyssa was staring at the wall, her face blank as she processed the news.

“We think that he wanted you to do research for him,” White said gently. “And they thought that, given your philanthropic bent and your love for family, they could entwine you in both ways. That family simply enjoys manipulating people. It makes them feel superior and powerful.” White tilted her head. “Also, Orest likes pretty things. He might have wanted to have a loving great-niece who smiled at him and doted on him.”

“I did that. It’s true.” Elyssa swallowed, then sought out Xander’s gaze and whispered, “I research food production applications. I don’t know how I could have broken the law.”

“You didn’t. Elyssa, listen to me,” Xander said, “you did nothing wrong. We just want you to know the truth, and we need you to help us.”

“Because Unc—because Orest did something bad, didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

Elyssa licked dry lips. “Give me a category of wrong. Is he a serial killer?”

“Terrorist,” Finley said.

“Terrorist? That’s so crazy!” Elyssa gasped. “Terrorist? I was working on the problem of world food shortages. Orest believed—told me that he believed—that everyone should have access to delicious, nutritious food.”

“It’s an honorable goal, Elyssa,” Xander said. And Elyssa got the distinct impression that he was trying to ease the first of many blows she was about to take. “Elyssa, we have some upsetting things to tell you. But if it gets too much, we can take a break. You have Radar. We have medical support just outside the door,” he reminded her.

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