Rasputin's Revenge (28 page)

Borstoi: Yes.

Beria: And then Giraud sought you out in your printing shop?

Borstoi: Yes.

Beria: And why did he seek you out then? Isn’t it true that it was because he knew you had just attempted to assassinate the Czar?

Borstoi: I don’t know.

Beria: You don’t know? Try to remember. Didn’t he tell you as much?

Borstoi: If you say it.

Beria: I do say it, but it’s for you to swear to it.

Borstoi: Then yes.

Beria: Yes, what?

Borstoi: Yes, I swear to it.

Beria: And wasn’t the purpose of his initial meeting with you in your shop to enlist your aid in further subversive, revolutionary acts?

Borstoi: That’s what he said.

Beria: That is all for this vermin. Take him out and rid the earth of him.

(Witness The Grand Duchess Anastasia)

Beria: Your Excellency, you know the accused?

Anastasia: Why, yes. He was at one of my parties. I thought he was quite a charming …

Beria: And how did he come to be invited to your party?

A: Oh, there’s no mystery there. His friend Auguste Lupa asked me to invite him.

Beria: And why was that?

A: I would assume to tell him about his real role here in St. Petersburg. Beria: His real role?

A: Yes. To work with Lupa on the murders. Didn’t you all know that? I thought it was common knowledge.

Beria: He wasn’t sent by the French government?

A: Oh, he might have been, but it was all arranged through Lupa. You see, I asked my husband …

Beria: Please only answer the questions I ask. Is that clear?

A: My good man, there’s no need to be rude.

Beria: I apologize, but we are trying to make a specific point here—whether Giraud was in fact an diplomat of the French government, or whether he was an agent for Lupa.

A: Well, if you mean why was he here, then of course it was because Lupa had sent for him. But …

Beria: So he was working as a spy?

A: I think that’s a very harsh …

Beria: But wasn’t he, in fact, working in conspiracy with August Lupa, under false pretenses, as a spy?

A: Well, I …

Beria: Yes or no, madam?

A: Yes, but …

Beria: That’s all. Thank you.

(Witness Elena Ripley)

Beria: Miss Ripley, what is your occupation?

Ripley: I am a drama tutor to the Grand Duchesses Olga, Maria, Tatiana, and Anastasia, and governess to Tatiana.

Beria: And when did you first meet the accused?

Ripley: I met him in the Winter Palace when he first came to tutor the czarevitch Alexis.

Beria: Isn’t it in fact true that you met him at the home of Anna Vyroubova?

Ripley: No, that’s not true.

Beria: Are you sure, Miss Ripley? It is my understanding that you were both present at a party given there on the night Commissar Minsky was killed?

Ripley: We may have both been there. We did not meet.

Beria: But he was there?

Ripley: I saw him, yes.

Beria: And who did he spend the most time with?

Ripley: I don’t know. As I said, I didn’t know him at the time, and I didn’t follow his movements.

Beria: Isn’t it true he spent almost the entire evening with Minsky?

Ripley: I said I don’t know. Is Minsky, too, suspected of conspiracy and subversion?

Beria: Miss Ripley. I ask the questions, and I don’t like your tone. Monsieur Giraud is one of the most dangerous …

Ripley: Nonsense! He is the kindest of men, and …

Beria: Miss Ripley! I am warning you! (Pause.) Now. All right, we’ll leave that night. When did you and Monsieur Giraud become better acquainted?

Ripley: After he’d started tutoring Alyosha—Alexis Nicolaevitch.

Beria: And how did he come by that job?

Ripley: I don’t know. I think the Czarina appointed him to it.

Beria: Didn’t that strike you as strange?

Ripley: I didn’t think about it. He is a native French speaker, as was his predecessor Pierre Gaillard. It seemed reasonable that Alexandra Fodorovna would choose him.

Beria: But was it reasonable that he would accept? (Pause.) Miss Ripley, was that reasonable? (Pause.) Miss Ripley, the Crown commands you to answer!

Ripley: He had a reason.

Beria: Louder, please. We can’t hear you. You said he had a reason. Don’t nod, answer me!

Ripley: Yes.

Beria: And what was it? Did he tell you? Damn it, I …

Zostov: There will be no profanity in my courtroom, prosecutor.

Beria: I apologize, your Excellency. But this witness is recalcitrant, and I lost my patience.

Zostov: Well, find it again and proceed.

Beria: Miss Ripley, again I ask you. Did Monsieur Giraud tell you why he accepted the post of tutor to the Heir Apparent.

Ripley: Yes.

Beria: And why was that?

Ripley: He said it would help him manipulate the Czar. But he didn’t mean …

Beria: He said he was going to use the Heir Apparent to try and manipulate the Czar?

Ripley: Yes, but I’m sure …

Beria: Thank you.

Ripley: But it’s not …

Beria: Thank you, Miss Ripley. Please confine yourself to answering questions that I ask. Now, what is your relationship with the accused?

Ripley: We are friends. But that last point …

Beria: Close friends? Miss Ripley, please!

Ripley: (Pause) Yes, I would say we are close friends.

Beria: And is your friendship such that you exchange confidences with one another?

Ripley: Yes.

Beria: And did Monsieur Giraud mention his, uh, relationship with Auguste Lupa?

Ripley: Yes, of course.

Beria: And how did he characterize it?

Ripley: What do you mean?

Beria: I mean, what purpose did it serve? Was it mere friendship? Did it have political overtones? Was there a conspiratorial or secret element to it?

Ripley: Jules told me that he and Lupa were working to solve the Palace murders. That he was Lupa’s undercover assistant.

Beria: Undercover? In other words, secret.

Ripley: I suppose so, yes.

Beria: Secret from whom? Everyone?

Ripley: Yes. You see, Lupa thought …

Beria: Even the Czarina? The person to whom Lupa reported?

Ripley: I think so, but that was because …

Beria: Please! Just answer my questions.

Ripley: But you see, you’re twisting things up. There was no reason to tell Alexandra about Jules’ involvement …

Beria: Miss Ripley, I warn you. I’ll have you gagged and make you write your answers if I hear any more of this. Do I make myself clear? Do you understand?

Ripley: Yes.

Beria: Now, in the course of his discussions with you, did the accused ever mention a Karel Borstoi?

Ripley: Yes.

Beria: In what context?

Ripley: Well, the first time was about his attempt to poison the Czar.

Beria: Do you mean to tell this court that Giraud knew about an attempt on the Czar’s life and did not report it to the authorities?

Ripley: Well, Lupa was an authority, and Lupa already knew. They both knew about it.

Beria: So both Lupa and Giraud knew of the assassination attempt, and even knew the identity of the assailant, and did nothing to apprehend him? In fact, did they not conspire to meet with him again over the course of the next days?

Ripley: You’re making it sound so bad.

Beria: Miss Ripley, we are talking about high treason, subversion, harboring a fugitive, and accessory to regicide, to say nothing of the accused’s evasions and manipulations. If it sounds, as you put it, bad, it’s because it is bad.

Ripley: But Jules was using Borstoi to catch the murderers.

Beria: I’m glad you brought that up. It brings us to another point. Did Giraud tell you that he and Lupa had solved the murders?

Ripley: Yes. He said Borstoi and Ivan Kapov had done them.

Beria: And when did he tell you this?

Ripley: The day before his arrest.

Beria: One full day before his arrest? Did Lupa have this information?

Ripley: Jules said he did.

Beria: And yet neither of these men, whose defense for their conspiracy has been that they were working on some secret mission for the Czarina—though she didn’t know about Giraud’s involvement—both of these men knew the guilty parties for a full day before their arrest, and did nothing to convey that information to the Empress?

Ripley: Well, that’s technically true, but …

Beria: And didn’t Giraud actually have an audience with the Czarina after he knew the identity of the killer?

Ripley: Yes, when he returned the egg, but he …

Beria: And, Miss Ripley, did he mention that small detail—that the murderer had been identified—to the Empress?

Ripley: No, but …

Beria: Thank you, that’s all.

Ripley: No, you’re making it seem …

Beria: That’s all, I said!

Zostov: Step down, Miss Ripley. You’re excused.

(Witness Anna Vyroubova)

Beria: Miss Vyroubova, you are here to depose for Czarina Alexandra Fodorovna, are you not?

V: Yes.

Beria: And you have a prepared statement?

V: Yes.

Beria: Would you please read it?

V: (Reading) I met Monsieur Giraud in my chambers with my husband, Czar Nicholas II. On the earlier advice of my religious advisor, I had been expecting someone to come and help tutor my Alexis in French. Accordingly, I asked Monsieur Giraud if he would fill that role.

All seemed to go well, but I became suspicious of him when my young Alexis began spouting political ideas to his father. Someone must have put these ideas into his head, and a friend suggested to me that it must have been Monsieur Giraud—he was the only new influence in my son’s life.

At about this time, Alyosha also began declining to attend the regular meetings with our starets, Father Gregory Rasputin. This was, and remains, a matter of grave concern to me. Rasputin has always been a favorite of Alyosha’s. But now my son has told me that he finds the monk’s simple spirituality repugnant to him. He seems drawn to republican, even communist ideals, and my Friend and I attribute this to Monsieur Giraud’s influence.

I next interviewed the staff, and from one servant, a loyal man named Derevenko who is entrusted with guarding Alexis from physical mishap, I learned that Monsieur Giraud had forced my son to grovel before him. This is intolerable!

Finally, under the most stringent of restrictions, I permitted one of my greatest treasures, a gift of my dear husband, the Fabergé egg entitled
Dawn
, to be lent to Monsieur Giraud’s coconspirator, Auguste Lupa. After Monsieur Giraud delivered the egg to me that evening, I consulted with my spiritual
adviser and became convinced that the two men were acting in concert to subvert my husband’s will, which is the highest form of treason.

The following day, a beloved cousin and our valued chef were both killed. When Inspector Dubniev and General Sukhomlinov informed me of these tragedies, and stated their belief that Lupa and Giraud were involved in them, I resolved to act, and ordered their arrests.

Trusting in God and all the saints to protect us, I depose and swear that the foregoing is true. Dated this eighth day of November in the year of our Lord 1916.

Beria: Is that the entire statement, Miss Vyroubova?

V: Yes, it is.

Beria: Do you, as your own witness, have anything to add?

V: (Pause.) No.

Beria: Thank you. The Court humbly conveys its thanks and compliments to our most gracious Czarina. You may step down.

(Witness Auguste Lupa)

Beria: State your full name.

Lupa: Auguste Lupa.

Beria: Let the record show that the first words from the mouth of this witness were lies. Do you recognize this document, sir?

Lupa: I do. It is my passport.

Beria: And under what name was this passport issued?

Lupa: Can you not read it yourself?

Beria: Indeed I can. It is made out to John Hamish Adler Holmes. Is that your name?

Lupa: The name I use is irrelevant, as is your entire line of questioning. For this proceeding, my name is Auguste Lupa. Your Excellency, may I address the Court?

Beria: You may not! This is …

Zostov: Prosecutor, I believe the witness asked me the question.

Beria: Yes, but, your Excellency, it is not allowed.

Zostov: I will determine what is allowed in my courtroom. Monsieur Lupa, why should I consider this request?

Lupa: Because, your Excellency, I hold a commission from the Czarina, a specific commission, and I am ready to fulfill its conditions at this time.

Zostov: And what prevented you before?

Lupa: My arrest.

Zostov: Were you not questioned after your arrest?

Lupa: Most assuredly. But the guards and interrogators here in the prison are not interested in the truth. They are only interested in answers. So I answered them.

Zostov: I, too, am interested in answers.

Lupa: I would hope, Excellency, that you are also interested in the truth. I am not trying to save my own life or that of my innocent companion, Monsieur Giraud, but to honor my commitment to Czarina Alexandra. I am still an officer of her court, and I still hold her commission. All of my actions, indeed all of Monsieur Giraud’s, are explainable and reasonable only if viewed in the light of the facts I possess. If there is not to be a travesty of justice here in your court, I must be allowed to make my case.

Beria: Your Excellency, this is absurd. This man is on trial himself for the most heinous of crimes. He has perjured himself to this court, our interrogators, and to the Czarina herself. Any testimony he gives must be regarded as purely self-serving.

Zostov: Nevertheless, prosecutor, what he says might be heard. I am interested to see justice done, not just to have questions answered. I assure you that whatever he says will remain very suspect. Proceed, Monsieur Lupa.

Lupa: Thank you, Excellency. First, an explanation of my commission. Alexandra Fodorovna asked me to come to Russia from my home in Montenegro to try and get to the bottom of a series of murders that she felt was weakening the Czar’s will to continue prosecuting the war. Contrary to popular belief, she is not at all pro-German. More than anything else, she desires the War to end, but only if it ends with a victorious Russia.