Page 54 of The Unseen (Echoes from the Past #5)
Valentina jumped off the bed and tiptoed outside.
She had to ensure the body would never be found, and there was only one way to do that.
She had to make sure no one ever set foot in Dmitri’s private bathroom.
The only people who’d ever gone into Dmitri’s bedroom were Mrs. Stern and Rachel, but they were long gone.
The new housekeeper had yet to familiarize herself with the house, so if she never learned of the bathroom, she’d never think to ask about it.
There was another, larger bath just down the corridor from Valentina’s room, and the housekeeper would simply assume that Dmitri had used that bathroom.
The only real problem would be the smell, and Valentina had a notion of how to deal with that.
Alexei had been mad for military history and often shared what he’d learned with her, going on and on in his excitement and failing to notice her eyes glaze over with terminal boredom.
She’d hated hearing about famous battles and military strategy but tried to feign interest for Alexei’s sake.
After all, he’d often listened to her prattle on about the ballet.
Valentina thought it magical, while Alexei simply couldn’t comprehend the point of telling a story without the use of words.
Spending several hours sitting still while men in tights performed unnatural jumps and women in tutus flapped their arms and grimaced to convey emotion had been the stuff of nightmares for poor Alexei.
He’d said that even the opera was better, since someone usually died at the end, if after a very long aria, and there were better costumes.
Valentina must have absorbed something of what Alexei talked about because she recalled that lye was often used in mass graves to accelerate decomposition and prevent the spread of infection.
There was lye in the kitchen. Mrs. Stern had used it to make soap, dissolve grease, and even in certain recipes, but only in miniscule quantities.
Valentina wasn’t sure how much lye was required, but she’d use all of it.
She fetched the tub of lye from the kitchen, along with an oilcloth and a ball of string, and took them upstairs to Dmitri’s bedroom.
It took all her resolve to unlock the door and face what she’d done, but it was too late to be squeamish or suffer pangs of remorse.
She set the tub of lye on the floor and, hands on hips, stared at Dmitri’s remains.
Mrs. Stern had mixed the lye with water, but it would probably be more effective in concentrated form.
Valentina pulled the plug and allowed the water to drain out of the tub.
She then folded Dmitri’s legs, grateful that they weren’t yet stiff with rigor mortis, and pushed them into the tub.
She opened the container of lye and liberally spread the contents over the body, making sure to douse every part.
She then used the oilcloth to cover the tub completely and wound a length of string around, securing it down firmly, so that no odors would escape.
If any liquids oozed out of the body during decomposition, they’d simply drain away.
Valentina smiled grimly as she finished her work.
It served Dmitri right not to have a proper funeral, and to be left to rot like an animal carcass with no signs of respect or prayers for his soul.
He’d been a horrible man, a ruthless predator, and he deserved no sympathy from her.
She collected Dmitri’s clothes and the nearly empty decanter, along with the lye tub and the string, and left the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Now all she had to do was move the massive wardrobe in front of the door to the bathroom, and no one would ever suspect there’d been a room there.
She set down the decanter and tossed the clothes on the bed, then tried to move the wardrobe. It wouldn’t budge. It was way too heavy for one person to move. She tried again and again, but couldn’t move it.
Frantically, Valentina began to take everything out of the wardrobe.
There were suits, shirts, coats, and hats.
The items weren’t heavy in themselves, but taking them all out made a difference.
After nearly an hour of inching the wardrobe along, she finally managed to push it in front of the door.
The floor got a little scuffed, but if she shifted the rug, no one would notice.
She quickly replaced all the clothes in the wardrobe, except for a few season-appropriate items, which she tossed into a valise Dmitri used when travelling.
She added his wallet, which she emptied, and his passport to the contents and took the valise to her room.
In the morning, she would weigh the valise with a few stones and dump it in the river.
It would never be found, but even if it was, it’d be proof that Dmitri had been set upon by hooligans, who’d disposed of the evidence after taking what they wanted.
By the time Elena and Tanya came down to breakfast just before nine a.m., Valentina was already in the kitchen, boiling eggs and making tea.
She should have been exhausted, but the terror she’d experienced had kept her wide awake long enough to see to every detail of her plan.
She went about her day, keeping up a pretense of normalcy for as long as she could.
Just before dinner, she claimed a terrible headache and retreated to her room, where she collapsed onto the bed without undressing and fell into a dreamless sleep.