excerpt
shape of the letters of the Soviet leader, then caught sight of Vera and Paul on a park bench engrossed in one another.
“So, changed your mind yet?” David asked of Paul.
David laughed, but Paul regarded the question seriously. “Not me. Have you?” he said to Vera.
“No, not at all. This is the best thing in my life.” Jennifer felt a brief sadness for a time when she met Michael…. They had known this feeling, too.
Paul turned to Jennifer. “I’ve got something for you,” he said, and he handed her the passport.
“How will you do without it?” She must know or she wasn’t going to take it.
Vera answered. “We have a plan—a good plan. He won’t need it again.”
“I’d feel better if I knew the plan.” She made it a statement, not a question. There was only one chance to find this out.
“It’s better if you don’t know.” Vera was also firm.
The two women locked eyes. “Maybe you’re right,” Jennifer considered. “But Paul, you’ve got to lie low at least until we leave the country. Don’t try anything right away, please.”
“We leave—that is, you leave Moscow on the 22nd, right? Maybe we should have a signal to say that everything’s okay. You could send Vera’s father a telegram from Paris or Montreal. I’ll write the address.”
Jennifer thought of the signal she had worked out with Volodya. “Jazz with Ella” she said. “Okay, it’s a signal that we all know, including Volodya.”
“Got it,” Paul replied. “There is something else you need to do for me, Jennifer. Here are all my cheques. I want you to take them back to Vancouver and use them to get at my inheritance in the bank.” He pulled out his pen again to sign them. “If you have any problems, you should go to my estate solicitor—I’ll write his name here—and tell him everything. He’ll keep it confidential and he can get access to the funds. Then you’ll have to figure out some way to get the money to me…”
“In US dollars, please,” Vera spoke up. “The best way is to send the money as cash with somebody who’s travelling here. The mail is not reliable. Money is stolen.”
“Okay, I think I’ve got all that.”
Paul extended his hand to Jennifer. “I wish you all the best, my good friend.” Then he reached over and hugged her tightly.
Mayanaam
vequinox
Manolis 