Page 167 of A Matter of Time

“Yeah, well—” He exhaled sharply. “—turns out one of those guys is a little more connected than we thought.”

“I’m not following you.”

“You know the last day you spent at my place…you remember that morning when you called me and I was already working?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, well, that morning I was actually at your old apartment. Turns out the manager rented it out right after you left to a young guy that looked a lot like you.”

“Like me how?”

“Young, blond… I noticed it right off.”

I forced a smile. “You’re freaking me out a little. Just say whatever you⁠—”

“Jory, somebody cut up the guy that looked like you at your old place, and they made it clear that they thought it was you.”

“How?”

“They wrote something on the wall.”

“On the wall?” I trembled, swallowing hard. “With what?”

“Just—it was there, okay?” he said, his voice strained. “It wasn’t made to look like an accident. It was a message to us that they had gotten to you and meant as a warning to anyone else who might think about testifying.”

I nodded. “But it wasn’t me.”

“No.”

“And everybody saw me in court.”

“Right.”

“Brian turned state’s evidence, didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Okay, so what does this⁠—”

“It turns out it was never about Brian.”

“You lost me.”

“There was another guy there the night Brian shot Saul Grant.”

“There were a lot of guys.”

“Yeah, but one in particular was important. Brian’s protégé, Roman Ivanovich Michaelev.”

“Protégé?”

“Yeah. Roman was supposed to be learning Brian’s business.”

“Why?”

“Roman’s father is actually Brian’s boss.”

“And so?”