Page 199 of Boardroom Sins

“Rae, I’m sorry.”

Pause. Sniffle. Swallow.

“All I ask is that, when you see it… please don’t hate me, okay? Please don’t. I love you. It’s just?—”

Her voice cuts off suddenly. I look down. My phone is dead.

What has she done?

RAE

NYTIMES APP — BREAKING!

Billionaire Lukas Lazarev wanted in connection with wife's death; remains found after 18 years. By Jillian Pierce.

Slide to read more →

I jump to my feet and start running.

I don’t actually know what I’m looking for until I see it. Thankfully, the bodega on the corner has a bright neon sign that saysOPEN NOW.

It also has signs that sayCOLD BEERandTHC PRODUCTS AVAILABLE, which is good to know, just in case. I could really use some mind-altering substances at the moment.

I shove through the door hard enough to make the little bell above the door scream. The bored-looking guy behind the counter glances up from his phone in alarm. “Help you, miss?”

“Newspaper.”

“Eh?”

I’m out of breath. I try again. “I need a… a newspaper. Do you have the New York Times?”

He jerks his chin toward the rack by the door. “Yeah. Over there.”

I lunge for the stack and nearly knock over a display of Takis in my haste. With shivering hands, I fumble up the issue on top of the pile. The top half of the front page is about Iranian enriched ore negotiations. If that’s what Jillian is warning me about, I mean, thanks for the heads up, but not really that relevant.

But when I flip it over to the bottom half…

… everything goes wrong.

LAZAREV PATRIARCH WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH WIFE’S DEATH; REMAINS FOUND AFTER 18 YEARS

And beneath it, in smaller print:Exclusive investigation by Jillian Pierce.

I sink to a seat, criss-cross-applesauce right there onto the dirty floor, and start to read.

NEW YORK — Human remains discovered last month at a construction site in Astoria, Queens have been positively identified as those of Elena Lazareva, wife of billionaire industrialist Lukas Lazarev, whose 2007 death from “a brief illness” is now the subject of a homicide investigation.

The identification, confirmed Tuesday by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, has prompted the NYPD to reopen the eighteen-year-old case as a homicide investigation. Sources close to the investigation say Mr. Lazarev, 60, is now the primary suspect.

Elena Lazareva, née Sergeeva, was reported dead in March 2007 at age 42, with her husband attributing her death to “a brief illness.” A private funeral was held, though family members in Russia later told investigators they were never informed of the service or given details about her burial. No autopsy was performed at the time, and her death certificate—signed by a physician who has since lost his medical license—listed the cause as cardiac arrest.

The remains were unearthed during excavation for a new residential development on Northern Boulevard. Workers discovered skeletal fragments wrapped in deteriorated plastic sheeting approximately six feet below ground level. Several items were also recovered from the burial site, though police have declined to provide further details.

According to the medical examiner’s preliminary report, obtained exclusively by The Times, toxicology analysis of the remains detected traces of barbiturates in tissue samples. The findings have led investigators to classify the death as suspected poisoning, though the degraded condition of the remains has complicated efforts to determine the precise substance and dosage involved.

“The condition of the remains indicates this was not an accidental death,” said Dr. Tadeo Chapman, a forensic pathologist consulted by The Times. “The burial method suggests concealment with premeditation.”