Chapter 54

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Their departure had been meticulously scheduled.

They were to travel to Calgary Airport together, after which they would separate to catch their respective flights. Cherriot’s party planned to fly to Toronto and book a connecting flight to Boston, while Yuri had chosen a flight to Vancouver departing at roughly the same hour.

Benji had made his displeasure with the arrangement glaringly obvious. Yuri, feeling equally uncomfortable, had initially intended to travel separately, but Cherriot had been insistent. He had claimed they were responsible for Yuri’s safety until he boarded his return flight and had firmly demanded they remain together.

The troubled expression Yuri had witnessed that morning lingered in his mind, and he watched Cherriot with a wary eye throughout their final preparations. Yet, Cherriot seemed to be behaving as usual, indulging his own whimsical nature with just enough restraint to keep things civil.

Cherriot was the only one with any significant packing to do, and once he finished, they were ready to depart. Yuri’s own belongings were meager, amounting to little more than a single paper shopping bag containing the few articles of clothing he had already worn. In one hand, he carried the book Cherriot had gifted him and his mother’s collection of short stories, while his coat was draped over his other arm.

Inside the paper bag lay Cherriot’s white shirt, which Yuri had never managed to return. He could not bring himself to hand it back stained with blood, so he intended to have it professionally cleaned and repaired before returning it later. It occurred to him, with a touch of irony, that he had stained the clothes he borrowed on their first day, as well.

The realization that Yuri—who wore nothing but black—and Cherriot—who favored white—had always been an incompatible combination made Yuri feel strangely lighter. He could be satisfied with contacting Cherriot occasionally, very occasionally, just to ensure he was doing well. That was, after all, how Yuri had always lived. There would be no problem, provided Cherriot could survive this situation safely.

“Two people won’t be enough.”

Yuri spoke to Dolly, who was humming softly as she navigated the road. After more than half an hour of silence spent watching the scenery blur past the window, his sudden remark caused her to turn toward him. Her sunglasses concealed her blue eyes, but the shifting muscles of her face betrayed enough of her expression.

“Are you underestimating me?”

“I’m saying there are too many of them.”

Yuri slowly turned his gaze forward. The sky had been overcast the previous day, but today the sun blazed, streaming directly through the untinted windshield. The brightness forced him to frown as he continued, “The owner of this vehicle wasn’t merely a biker or a common gang member. He was a mercenary—a former soldier. The attackers we encountered before gave me the same impression. Either they hired mercenaries through at least two separate organizations, or they chose one large contractor.”

The car Dolly was driving was the one Yuri had confiscated from the mercenaries the previous night. He had planned to abandon it in the airport parking lot rather than risk leaving it near the cottage and becoming a target for tracking. Dolly had volunteered to help by driving it. Yuri had refused, arguing it was unnecessary, but Dolly had proven just as stubborn, simply taking the keys from him.

Cherriot had been unable to ride with them. He had clearly wanted to, but Benji had opposed it so fiercely that they were forced to split into pairs. Dolly had left first, with Benji following in another car.

“Once we’re back in the United States, there will be plenty of people to protect that spoiled rich boy,” Dolly said. “Only the two of us came because we couldn’t risk exposing the cottage’s location. We aren’t planning to protect Cherriot with nothing but an old grandmother and a detective, so stop worrying.”

Yuri listened with his arms folded, then asked about something that had troubled him before he saw Cherriot the previous night. “You arrived three days early. The timing was almost too perfect.”

Yuri had become more direct with her in the span of a single day. Dolly burst into a booming laugh. Whenever she laughed like that, it was difficult to tell whether she was genuinely amused or simply astonished.

“You think I led those men here?”

“If not you, it may have been Cherriot’s cousin.”

“Oh, for God’s sake. I don’t know what sort of world you grew up in, but…” Tapping the steering wheel with her fingers, Dolly shrugged. “Still, suspicion never hurts. If members of a family are trying to murder one another, there’s no reason a cousin should be exempt.”

Yuri fell silent in agreement. His blatant acceptance deepened Dolly’s smile.

“After Cherriot contacted us, Madison was so anxious she couldn’t function. We simply rearranged our schedules. We were going to come yesterday or today anyway, but our Moody Maddy sprang to her feet and threw Benji and me out, saying we had to leave immediately.”

Moody Maddy appeared to be a nickname for Madison. Perhaps Cherriot’s habit of casually inventing pet names for people had originated from Dolly.

“One of the other conditions of Cherriot’s trust is that he must turn thirty. If he reaches that age without causing any serious trouble, he inherits immediately. Madison and I always expected something might happen this year or next, so we’ve been preparing ourselves.”

Yuri asked about something he had never understood. “Ordinarily, when a husband dies, doesn’t his wife inherit his property? Why are they targeting only Cherriot?”

“Madison signed a prenuptial agreement. She received nothing except the apartment where she currently lives. Not that Maddy ever wanted any of it.” Dolly’s face turned fierce as she muttered a brief curse. “Goddamn Goodnight fossils.”

Unlike when Dolly had insulted Samuel, Yuri felt no discomfort hearing her curse Cherriot’s relatives. From what Cherriot had told him, his wealthy parents appeared to have interfered heavily in their son’s life.

“I understand. But… why would someone seeking Cherriot’s trust act only now?”

Yuri had not necessarily expected an answer, but Dolly gave him one anyway.

“They all assumed Cherry would fail the conditions. He always looks so irresponsible that they probably thought they wouldn’t have to wait long.” The corner of Dolly’s mouth rose. “A surprising number of people don’t realize how stubborn that boy can be.” Then her smile sharpened. “And perhaps they’re running out of money.”

“…I thought everyone in the Goodnight family was wealthy.”

“They were born wealthy. But life can become hell very quickly depending on how a person uses what they’re given. Spending grows. Vanity grows with it. Money is a vicious creature. It knows exactly what kind of person is handling it.”

Dolly fluttered her index and middle fingers like wings. “If its owner treats it lightly, money treats the owner lightly in return. It doesn’t grow; it simply flies away somewhere else.” She gave a small shrug. “Like love.”

She possessed a personality unlike anyone Yuri had known. She seemed blunt in speech, yet unexpectedly attentive to the person listening. Her words were coarse, but her gestures and expressions were delicate. Yuri could clearly see pieces of Cherriot in Dolly, and he imagined that the other qualities he loved in Cherriot must have been inherited from his father and mother.

“I don’t know very much about Cherriot, but…”

Yuri sensed that this was the proper moment to withdraw cleanly. Their conversation that morning had made it clear that Cherriot felt burdened by him, and now Yuri knew that Dolly and the others had spent years preparing their own plans. There was only one final thing he could offer.

“I’m relieved there will be someone to lock the doors for him. He forgets every time. I worried what he would do once he was alone.”

Perhaps the remark was presumptuous, but Yuri genuinely felt relieved that an adult had appeared who would secure the doors in his place. The sun continued stabbing at his eyes. Yuri lifted one hand above his forehead to create shade. It was smaller than the visor Cherriot had made for him with his hand, and somehow, not nearly as cool.

“He packed the beer into his suitcase.”

“What?”

Yuri had been about to close his eyes for a while, since the drive to the airport would take roughly two hours, when Dolly abruptly changed the subject. “The beer you bought. He packed every can. Benji told him to leave it or throw it away, and Cherry glared at him as though he’d committed a crime. Then he wedged the cans into every available gap in an already stuffed suitcase.”

Yuri had assumed Cherriot would leave the beer behind or throw it away. Hearing that he had taken it made Yuri’s jaw tighten briefly. He pressed his lips together and remained silent. Dolly studied his profile and sighed.

“He clearly likes you.”

Yuri wanted to ask what she meant, but he did not want to let her words shake him without reason. It felt like dropping a stone into water already brimming at the edge. His desire was so close to overflowing that the smallest word or action could set it swaying.

“He likes you enough that he doesn’t want you involved in anything dangerous. That much is certain.”

Yuri could not understand why the woman who had drawn such a clear boundary before him the previous night was suddenly speaking this way. Mild irritation lowered his voice. “By that logic, neither you nor Benji should be protecting him.”

“What can we do? We’re older. Besides, we’ve served as Madison’s security all these years, so technically this is his mother’s request,” Dolly continued despite Yuri’s displeasure. “And it feels different when a romantic partner is hurt than when family is hurt.”

“I—” Yuri cut her off. “I have no right to be such a person. Cherriot would never think of me that way.”

“Nothing is easy when you’re young. The human heart is like a cliff. One wrong step, and two people miss each other entirely.”

Rather than agreeing with Benji that Yuri was precisely the sort of man who had no right, Dolly offered something that sounded half-proverb, half-advice.

The conversation ended there.

Unable to understand what Dolly was thinking, Yuri closed his eyes. Sunlight stabbed through his eyelids, making him frown. Something suddenly landed on his thigh. Startled, he looked down. A familiar pair of sunglasses rested there: Cherriot’s Ray-Bans.

They were the same glasses Cherriot had worn throughout their walks around town. The same ones he had stubbornly pressed into Yuri’s hands, claiming he hated other people touching them and insisting Yuri carry them. Once again, they had returned to Yuri.

“I told him the sun would hurt your eyes,” Dolly said.

Yuri had left them on the table before departing that morning. He had worried Cherriot might not notice them, but apparently Cherriot had found them and given them to Dolly. Yuri frowned at the sunglasses sitting neatly on his thigh, uncertain what to do. He had decided that remaining casual acquaintances—friends who met only occasionally—was the correct choice.

“Stop frowning and ruining that handsome face. Put them on.”

After hearing such things, Yuri no longer knew what decision to make. Black hair fell across his lowered forehead; his sorrowful blue eyes remained fixed on the sunglasses. He slowly traced the worn edge of the frame with his fingers. The rounded curve was vivid beneath the tip of his left thumb, as though reminding him that he could still feel things on his left side. As though telling him it was not too late.

“Benji will always believe you’re dangerous. Cherriot doesn’t want you to come because he’s afraid you’ll be hurt. But I changed my mind this morning.” Dolly spoke in the voice of an adult to Yuri, who still only held the glasses. “So if you change yours, come here.”

A crumpled piece of paper landed beside the sunglasses. Yuri slowly unfolded the note. An address had been written inside:

37 Berrie St. Boston, MA.

At the word Boston, Yuri raised his head and looked at Dolly. She was already watching him. Lifting her sunglasses slightly, she met his gaze for several seconds through blue eyes faded with age, then turned back toward the road.

The conversation was over.

She switched on the radio and raised the volume, listening to music from the only station they could receive. The host cycled through several different songs. When another began playing, Yuri felt that he had heard it somewhere before. He listened to the lively melody and the sweet voice beneath it. Only when the chorus arrived did he remember.

It was the song Cherriot had sung beside him.

The blazing sun.

The cool wind.

The glittering lake and their wet kiss.

Clear, beautiful laughter and the hand reaching for him.

Every moment Yuri had spent with Cherriot… had been summer.

Walking through the alleys of Saratov, Yuri had believed he would never witness the summer people spoke of in the world beyond.

Without realizing it, he had already lived through one.

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