Russell Andrews - Hades

Again, it was as if Victoria read his mind. Justin remembered that she'd always had that knack. In some ways, even when she was just a kid, she knew him better than Alicia did. She teased him with references that Alicia didn't understand. She always seemed to know what he was thinking about, particularly when he was thinking about things he wasn't supposed to be thinking about. He smiled at the memory, picturing her as a fourteen-year-old girl, kind of a tomboy, wanting to hang out with him and her older sister because they could do cooler things: drink and go to dirty movies.

"I look like her, don't I?"

Justin nodded. The word "yes" came out like a quick, sad sigh.

"I see it every day. I see her every time I look in the mirror."

Justin closed his eyes for a moment. It made it easier to talk with his eyes closed. "You and I, we used to be good friends, didn't we?" And when she was the one who nodded this time, he said, "It's weird. I don't let myself miss too many things. It's too dangerous. But I miss you."

"Well, I miss my sister," she said. There was an iciness to her voice, a meanness that he would never have thought her capable of. Her words were like a slap to his face, and he sat up straighter and tried not to let the hurt show.

"Is there anything you want to tell me about Ronald?" he asked.

"What should I tell you?"

"Vicky-"

"I'm Victoria now. People call me Victoria."

"Okay," Justin said. "Victoria. Do you want me to find out what happened to Ronald? Or do you just want me and it to go away?"

It was Victoria's turn now to close her eyes. When she opened them, she said, "I'm pregnant."

Startled, Justin said, "I didn't know. No one told me."

"No one knows. Six weeks. That's all. We were waiting before we said anything, to make sure everything was all right."

"It's hard to know what to say. Congratulations doesn't seem to be the right thing, but I'm happy for you."

"If it's a girl, Ron and I agreed we'd name her Alicia."

"I'm glad. It's a nice thing to do."

He could see her lower jaw trembling. Whatever it was she wanted to say was extremely difficult.

"I don't want to know what happened to Ronald. I don't care what he did or who did it or why. All I care about is that he got himself killed." Her whole body was trembling now, beginning to shake violently as if a fever were running through her. "That's all that matters to me. First my sister, now my husband. How can such a thing happen?"

"Vicky…" He moved to go toward her, but she held up her hand, stopping him in his tracks.

She steeled herself. The trembling didn't stop completely but it lessened considerably. It looked as if she might burst from the effort of keeping herself still. "But I'm going to have a child," Victoria now said. "A child who is never going to know his father. And I have to be able to tell him-or her-something about Ron. So I don't want to know the truth… but I need to know the truth."

"Then let me help you."

There was another silence. And finally Victoria nodded.

"Tell me about Ron," Justin said quietly.

"What kind of things do you need to know?" She was calm now. She sounded the way some people sounded after a good cry: both drained and relieved, weak but resolved.

"Remember, I knew him slightly when he was a kid. I didn't know him as a grown-up. I don't really know anything about him. But let's start with work. What did he do?"

"Mostly he was a financial analyst. He did work for your father sometimes."

"What kind of work?"

"He did a lot of things-research, analyzing various kinds of companies and products. For potential investors. To see what their upside was."

"Or their downside."

"Yes. Of course."

"So if he gave a bad report to an investor, someone could have been unhappy."

She frowned and shook her head. "I suppose. But not really. For one thing, companies don't really know who's checking them out. And it would be hard to pin it on one person if, say, a fund manager decided not to invest in a specific company. A lot of people have input into those decisions."

"Was there a specific area he specialized in?"

"No. Whatever interested him or his clients. He didn't always do research for other people. Lately he'd been investing OPM as well, for his firm." She stopped when she saw the faint smile on his face. "Something funny?"

He wiped the grin away. "No, of course not. It's just that I haven't heard that phrase in a long time. Other people's money. And I guess I'm not totally used to you as a thirty-year-old. So it's odd to me to hear you talk like that. I'm sorry, I'm a little bit stuck in the past up here."

There was no humor in her voice, no easing up on him, when she said, "Well, I'd prefer to stay in the present, if you don't mind." And when he nodded his assent, she continued as if there'd been no interruption. "There were things he was better at, areas he was more knowledgeable about. He was very good at his job; there was nothing he couldn't dig into."

"How about recently? Anything different or interesting going on with his business?"

She shrugged. "He'd spent more time traveling lately."

"How lately?"

"Over the past year, the last six months or so in particular."

"Where was he going?"

"Wherever he had to. California… Europe. He spent some time in South Africa over the past month or so for clients." He saw her eyes water briefly, but she pulled herself together immediately. "I kept telling him he'd better come back with a diamond."

"Would you say he was an honest person?"

He knew as soon as he said it that he should have phrased it better. The water was definitely gone from her eyes now, replaced again by anger. "Are you trying to make him responsible for what happened to him? Is that how you handle things, drag people down into the gutter?"

"No," Justin said. "And I apologize for being so blunt. I know things are raw. But if I'm going to find out what happened, I have to know as much as I can. About Ronald, about his work, about the people he surrounded himself with. And I have to ask questions. I'm not looking for any particular answer-I just need to ask the questions, if for no other reason than just so I can eliminate something. I'm starting with a blank canvas and somehow I've got to come up with a finished picture."

She nodded curtly. Didn't acknowledge his lengthy explanation, just said, "He was honest with me. He was honest about us. That's the only way I knew him, so I'd have to say yes, he was an honest person."

"Did he deal with a lot of powerful people?"

"He dealt with rich people. If money makes them powerful, then, yes, he did." She inhaled deeply. "I know what you're trying to do. See if he crossed a line with someone, see if he did anything foolish or careless. He didn't. Ronald was the least foolish or careless person who ever lived. He didn't drive fast; he always wore a seat belt; he kept an umbrella in the car at all times. He was safe. It's why I married him, because I knew nothing bad could happen around him. And now-now…" The tears began to stream down her cheeks. "Goddammit. I wasn't going to cry."

"There's nothing wrong with crying," he told her.

Her anger and her stiffness and her sorrow now erupted in sudden rage. "Don't tell me how to grieve!" she spat. "Don't tell me about crying and sadness. My sister's dead! My husband's dead! Don't tell me it's okay to cry. Does crying bring them back? Does crying make the rest of my life safe and happy… Does it keep people like you away from me?"

"No," he said quietly. "It doesn't do that." He waited until her tears were done and her breathing was back to normal. "Do you want me to stop?" Justin asked.

She shook her head. "No. I want you to ask what you have to ask."

"Do you have a list of his clients?"