Dangerous Relations (9 page)

Morgan called, “Okay, that's good, Joseph. Clear the ring. Intermission. Clowns? Where're my joeys? Let's see some walk-arounds!”

“You have only one bike?” George asked Eduardo.

“One is all I can afford,” Eduardo replied.

“A customized bike like that costs an arm and a leg,” Richard put in.

“I don't think whoever stole it wanted the bike itself,” Nancy said. “I think the person intended to run Natalia down. He or she probably abandoned it and made a fast getaway. Do you ride, Richard?” she asked, wondering how he knew so much about what Eduardo's bike would cost.

“I used to, a little. But I messed up my knee pretty badly about ten years ago. The doctor who put it back together warned me it wouldn't take any more abuse,” Richard replied.

Nancy gazed at him a long moment. But then she dismissed the idea of his involvement. He had no reason to want to kill Natalia—he didn't even know her. Nancy couldn't go around suspecting every person who'd ever ridden a motorcycle.

“I hope it turns up,” Eduardo was saying. “It isn't just the money, it's our act. What's the thrill of one guy in the sphere? Two of us in there, looping around just missing each other by inches, now
that's
entertainment! That's what the audience wants to see. If that bike doesn't show up, Marshall Keiser may cancel our act.”

Bess patted Eduardo's shoulder. “I'll bet Nancy's right. Someone will find it and return it to you.”

Eduardo changed the subject. “You're coming to the bash tonight, aren't you?” he asked Bess.

“Wouldn't miss it,” Bess said, smiling.

“Great!” Eduardo flashed a grin. Turning to Richard, he added, “Feel free to drop by.”

As Richard accepted, Nancy glanced at her watch. “We'd better go back to the motel. By the time we've gotten ready, it'll be time to come back for the party.”

But what she really wanted to do with the time
was call some sound shops and see if anyone remembered that Keiser had been there that morning.

They bid Richard and Eduardo goodbye and left the tent. Bess looked puzzled as they started for the gate. “It's not even four o'clock, Nan. The party isn't until seven.”

Nancy explained her plans. Besides, she was finding it hard to think clearly in the midst of all the commotion, and she did need to think. She was no closer to learning who'd tried to run down Natalia than she'd been moments after it happened.

• • •

The moment she returned to the motel, Nancy headed for the phone. She called every single sound shop in the Sarasota yellow pages, but no one remembered Keiser. Discouraged, she took a shower. She had just stepped out and pulled on her robe when Phillip Green called. As she listened, Nancy towel-dried her hair.

“The report on that license number just came in,” he told her. “The limo changed hands a number of times. But nineteen years ago, it was licensed to Victor Bykov of Manhattan.”

Nancy grabbed a pen and took the address.

“It's been a long time. Bykov probably has moved,” Green warned. “And even if you do track him down, what can you learn from him?”

Nancy explained about the two clippings with
Bykov's picture. There was something in the way the chauffeur and the dancer were laughing together that made her hopeful they'd been friends. He might know whom she'd been seeing. Perhaps he had even driven them places.

After she finished talking to the lieutenant, Nancy dialed Manhattan information and asked for the phone number of Victor Bykov and gave the address. The operator said there was no listing for a Victor Bykov at all—at any address. Nancy bit her lip. A dead end.

Glancing at her watch, she saw it was time to get dressed for the party.

Bess was standing at the closet, trying to decide what to wear. “How about this coral-colored dress?” she asked.

“It's a great color on you,” Nancy said.

As the girls were dressing, the phone rang again. Nancy reached for it and was excited to hear Stephanie Cole's voice on the other end of the line.

“According to the file, Vera Neverenko entered the country eighteen years ago,” Stephanie said. “It says here she was traveling with the Russian Circus. Several years later she applied for and received American citizenship.”

“Then she
is
legal. Natalia said she was,” Nancy said. “But what's she so afraid of? Is there more?”

“The file lists two people who entered the
country with her. Piotr Neverenko, her husband, and an infant by the name of—let's see, I wrote it here somewhere . . . Natalia Bykov.”

“Bykov?” Nancy caught her breath. “Did you say Bykov? But that means—” She lowered the phone in astonishment.

It meant that Natalia's father was Irina's chauffeur!

N
ANCY THANKED
Stephanie for her help and hung up. When she told her friends what she'd just learned, Bess shrieked, “You did it, Nan! You found Natalia's father!”

“Not yet. But I do know who I'm looking for,” Nancy said. “It was in the picture all along. That shared laugh. The way they were looking at each other.”

“How did Irina and her chauffeur get separated?” Bess asked.

“Irina had to return home with her ballet company,” George pointed out.

“She could have defected as Vera did,” Nancy said, thinking out loud. “Though it wouldn't have been easy. Vera, by the way, is a naturalized citizen. And I think I know now what she's been trying to hide.”

Bess looked puzzled. “I don't.”

“Natalia's name was listed as Bykov. Vera didn't adopt her. That's why she doesn't have any papers. That's why she changed both their names to Petronov.”

Bess's blue eyes were round. “You mean, Vera kidnapped her?”

“No. But I don't think she got her from an orphanage. Maybe Irina and Vera were friends, and Irina asked Vera before she died to care for Natalia.” Still mulling it over, Nancy put on a white miniskirt. “She may have chosen Vera and Piotr because she knew they were coming to this country. Maybe she wanted them to bring Natalia to Victor Bykov.”

“Then why is Natalia still with Vera?” Bess asked.

“Good question.” Nancy pulled on a black, loose-weave sweater and crossed to the window that overlooked the ocean. Gulls soared over water that pitched and tossed like her thoughts.

“Maybe Bykov didn't want Natalia,” she said finally. “Or, for that matter, he could have been dead, or married, or lost—any number of reasons. But the way Vera's resisting this search, I'm wondering if she didn't just decide to keep the baby. She could have been hiding all these years from Bykov.”

“Wow, that's some story!” Bess gasped.

“So far, that's all it is,” Nancy pointed out. “We have to learn the truth.”

“But not tonight. Tonight we party.” George slipped a sheer white blouse over a sleeveless emerald green top and tied the shirttails at the waist of her white spandex leggings.

Nancy smiled as she slipped into black flats, then fastened a gold chain around her neck. “Ready when you are!”

• • •

Hayden and Natalia were greeting guests as Nancy and her friends entered the arena. The rosebud in Natalia's hair matched her pale yellow dress. She looked as graceful as Hayden was handsome in his dark suit. Nancy squeezed their hands and offered her best wishes.

“You two look so good together,” Bess said sincerely.

Nancy noticed that the arena floor had been cleared for dancing. One low trapeze bar, left hanging, was decorated with bright pink flowers and purple ribbons.

“Have you set a date yet?” Bess was asking.

“End of the season, I guess. Nat has her heart set on a formal wedding,” Hayden said.

“I want Mother in the front row and all of our friends in the pews. What I'd like most of all is to have my father walk me down the aisle,” Natalia said softly.

“I'm working on it.” Nancy smiled.

Natalia turned to welcome another guest. Bess was tapping her toe to the music drifting from the bandstand set up at one side of the room.
Five men in gold-braided uniforms were playing a medley of love songs.

Richard Smith, looking tan and attractive in white trousers and a pale pink shirt, came up to offer his congratulations. Nancy nodded to him, then turned as Bess nudged her. “Are you going to tell Natalia about learning her father's name?” Bess asked.

“Not tonight,” Nancy replied in a low voice. “It raises as many questions as it answers. And besides, Natalia will have to know soon enough that Vera's been lying to her all these years.”

“I hadn't thought of that,” Bess admitted. She looked disappointed, but a moment later, she nudged Nancy again and whispered, “Look who's here!”

It was Katrina, dressed in a red, snug-fitting satin mini, clinging to Tim's arm. Nancy could see that the clown was proud to be Katrina's date.

“She has some nerve, showing up here after what she did,” George muttered.

Just then the gold-toothed acrobat Nancy had met in the tent that day swung into a dance step with a woman a head taller than he. Her dangling earrings tinkled as she danced. The band picked up the tempo. Soon other couples joined in.

“Nancy! You look lovely tonight.”

Nancy pivoted to meet Richard Smith's approving gaze.

“Why, thank you! You look pretty nice yourself,” she said, smiling.

Richard returned her smile. “Have you managed to collect any more shells for your housekeeper?”

“No,” Nancy said. “I'd love to, but I've been too busy.”

“Well, how about taking a couple of hours off tomorrow? I check the paper every day for the tides, so I know there's a low tide in the midafternoon and one about four-something in the morning. I've got a meeting in the afternoon, though. Would you like to go before dawn?”

“And collect shells in my sleep?” Nancy said, laughing.

George poked Nancy gently. “Careful,” she murmured. “If Ned were here, he'd be getting jealous around now.”

“There are Eduardo and Joseph!” Bess's eyes lit up as the Pomatto brothers headed their way.

“Good news!” cried Eduardo. “The police found my motorcycle abandoned in a downtown park.”

“It was propped up against a tree. There wasn't a scratch on it,” Joseph said.

“That's great!” Bess exclaimed. “See? Sometimes even terrible things turn out okay.”

“Do the police have any idea who left it there?” Nancy asked.

“Nope,” Eduardo said. “Which means whoever the jerk was, he's going to get away with it.”

The music stopped. Nancy looked to see Hayden escorting Natalia to the table that had been set up for refreshments. Packrat stood by the punch bowl, about to make a toast.

A smile on his face, the clown waited as Bonnie Luttrelli and her mother, Hilary, passed glasses to all the guests. Then Packrat lifted his glass. “Marshall isn't here to do the honors, so I've stepped in. Hayden, Natalia, may you fly through life together, never missing a trick.”

“And may you have lots of little flyers,” Dillard hollered from the dance floor.

The guests applauded as Hayden and Natalia drank to the toast. Then the guests moved toward the food. Nancy and Richard got in line.

“I hear you're making progress tracking down Natalia's father,” Richard remarked as the line inched forward.

How did he know? wondered Nancy. She hid her surprise and asked, “What makes you think so?”

“I overheard Bess talking to you a few minutes ago. She said something about your having learned Natalia's father's name.” Smiling, he added, “Congratulations to a very clever young lady.”

“I've had a few breaks,” Nancy said, then changed the subject as she filled her plate with fresh fruit, a vegetable salad, and baked clams.

George and Joseph joined Nancy and Richard at their table. Bess and Eduardo soon came
along, with Bonnie Luttrelli and a shy, freckled sword-swallower trailing after them.

There was a table at the head of the room for Natalia and Hayden. Vera sat with them, leaving one empty space. Nancy wondered if the empty chair had been meant for Marshall Keiser. Where was he, anyway?

When everyone had finished eating, the lights over the arena dimmed, and the band struck up a romantic slow dance. Nancy saw Hayden rise from the table and take Natalia's hand. The tender smile they exchanged made Nancy think longingly of Ned. For two people in love, they certainly spent a lot of time apart.

A moment later, as other couples joined them, Richard asked Nancy to dance. His musk-scented cologne tickled her nose as she followed his steps.

“You dance very well,” Richard said, and smiled. “Come to think of it, you seem to do everything well.”

Nancy laughed lightly. “You don't know me.”