Page 60 of The Unseen (Echoes from the Past #5)

FORTY-EIGHT

London, England

The police searched the house for clues to Dmitri’s whereabouts.

They turned his study upside down but found nothing but ledgers, correspondence, and a diary, the pages of which made no mention of assignations at the Falmouth Arms Hotel.

Valentina sat in the parlor, shaking with fright, as the police searched the upstairs.

They spent an hour in Dmitri’s bedroom but found nothing out of the ordinary.

The stench of decomposition had been obliterated by the lye and contained by the tightly wrapped oilcloth.

“Mrs. Ostrov, I am very sorry, but there is nothing more we can do. Unless some clue to your husband’s whereabouts presents itself, there’s no place else to look.

His trail has gone cold.” Detective Cooper’s brow was creased with tension, his eyes full of regret as he spoke the words Valentina had been praying to hear.

He had been very thorough and left no stone unturned, but she’d been cleverer than the police. She’d committed the perfect crime.

“What do I do now, Detective?” Valentina asked, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

“You try to get on with your life as best you can. If, after seven years, there’s no evidence that your husband is alive, he will be legally declared deceased. Until then, I’m afraid you’re in limbo.”

“Do you think he’s gone abroad?” Valentina asked. “He’s taken his passport.”

The detective shook his head. “We’ve found no evidence to suggest that he left the country. Might he have returned to Russia under a different name?”

“I suppose,” Valentina replied. “But I can’t see why he wouldn’t have told me. We were newly married, Detective. We were happy.” She sighed dramatically.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Ostrov, but I have absolutely nothing to go on, and I don’t like to speculate.

I hope, for your sake, that he’ll turn up alive, but in some of these cold cases, the wives pray we find the body, so they can at least be spared the uncertainty and get on with their lives.

Do ring us if you discover anything. Anything at all.

No matter how insignificant it may seem. ”

“I will. And thank you, Detective.”

“I wish I could have done more.”

“So do I.”

Valentina walked Detective Cooper to the door and watched him walk down the path toward the gate. It was only when he got into his motorcar and drove away that she exhaled the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.