Page 88 of Gone Before Goodbye

“I think you can probably guess now.”

Maggie nods. “Oleg Ragoravich killed Marc.”

“Yes.”

“He found out that Marc had turned on him. He set it up to have him killed and made it look like he was a casualty of war.”

“Yes.”

“And Trace, what, he got away?”

“And that’s why he’s in hiding, yes.”

Maggie thinks about it, tries to stay detached, unemotional. “That actually seems almost as likely as Theory One, don’t you think?”

Charles doesn’t respond.

“I mean, Marc risks going up against this powerful, rich, evil man—and then he ends up dead.”

“I don’t think that’s what happened.”

“Because then it would be in part your fault,” Maggie says. “My husband comes to you for help, and he ends up dead.”

“That’s not it.”

“What then?”

“Because if Oleg Ragoravich wanted them dead, he wouldn’t havehad to jump through so many hoops. Did Oleg plan the slaughter at the refugee camp? Thirty-three people were murdered in that rampage. Seems like a lot of unnecessary collateral damage. And of course, he didn’t want to just silence Marc. There was Trace too. Trace, if you believe this theory, got away. Do you think Oleg Ragoravich would be that sloppy?”

All good points. But of course, Maggie already knew that.

“So,” Maggie says, “let’s get to it, shall we? What’s Theory Three?”

“It’s ridiculous.”

“But?”

Lockwood looks at her. “Did they spare you the details?”

“About?”

“About how Marc was killed.”

She feels her chest tighten. “I know about the”—Maggie is never sure of the right word to use here—“savagery.”

“To some people that seems odd.”

“A lot of victims got hacked to death.”

“I know.”

“And yes, maybe he was hard to identify. But a DNA test was done.”

Charles Lockwood tilts his head. “By whom?”

Maggie is not sure who did it.

“Did the local authorities do it?” Charles asks. “I mean, there’s no American embassy in that area. The closest was in Tunisia. So who ran the DNA test?”