“This is the chief investigator, ma’am. Chief Investigator Ruzsky. He was assigned to investigate Ella’s murder. Since then, there have been three more victims.”

“But you have still not recovered her… possessions?”

Ruzsky stared at the Empress. He wondered if she was on some kind of sedative. “No, Your Majesty.”

“Then why have you come here?”

There was silence.

“You instructed me to summon him, ma’am,” Shulgin said. The strain in his voice was barely hidden now.

“He has not got to the bottom of it.”

“No, ma’am. He has not.”

They heard a soft patter of feet. Ruzsky caught his breath. For a moment, he thought he’d seen a ghost. A girl with a shaven head, dressed completely in white, hovered in the doorway.

Anastasia. It was the Grand Duchess Anastasia.

Ruzsky could not take his eyes off her. She looked pale and unwell. There were deep shadows under her eyes. It had been two weeks ago that he’d seen her playing in front of the Alexander Palace with her brother and sisters, her long, dark hair framing a face of exceptional beauty.

“Mama?”

Anastasia came to her mother and whispered something in her ear.

The Empress hugged her, and Ruzsky noticed the way in which her mother’s fingers dug into her back as she held her.

The Tsarina released her daughter reluctantly. Anastasia smiled shyly at Ruzsky and Shulgin and then withdrew, glancing once more over her shoulder as she reached the doorway.

The Empress stood and followed.

“Measles?” Ruzsky whispered, pointing at his hair.

Shulgin nodded.

Ruzsky waited. The minutes ticked by, but Shulgin did not meet his eye. “Why am I here?” he asked.

“Because the Empress summoned you.”

“But why-”

“No reason is required, Chief Investigator.”

“May I be assured that you will speak to me when this audience is at an end?”

Shulgin sighed. “Your father’s death will be discussed at the Imperial Council tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I am empowered to offer my most profound condolences.”

They heard the Empress’s footsteps. As she reentered the room, she appeared to be in some pain.

She sat awkwardly, and looked at him. “You have not found the girl’s possessions?”

“I was not aware, Your Majesty, that we were looking-”

“So, you have not found them?”

Shulgin’s eyes flashed a warning.

“No, Your Majesty,” Ruzsky said.

“You have found nothing, then?”

They endured another lengthy silence.

“Have you spoken to Mr. Vasilyev?”

“On a number of occasions, Your Majesty.”

“You are working together on the case?”

“Together… yes.”

Shulgin leaned forward. “The chief investigator’s father was the assistant minister of finance, ma’am, if you recall…”

“Yes,” she said.

Ruzsky waited for condolences to be offered, but the Empress continued to look straight through him.

“Very reliable family,” Shulgin added.

“Is that reliable in the general sense, or the specific?” she asked. “As reliable as most of our reliable families?” The Empress glared at Shulgin before turning her attention back to Ruzsky. She seemed more alert now. “Your father met with an accident?”

Ruzsky hesitated. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry for it.”

“That’s kind of you, Your Majesty.”

“Does this mean you will give up on the case?”

“Of course not.”

Her expression became opaque once more. “But you have not yet recovered any of the girl’s possessions,” she said again.

“No, Your Majesty. We were not aware any were missing.”

“Has he spoken to that filthy newspaper?” she snapped at Shulgin.

“No, ma’am. Vasilyev has taken care of that.”

“But they will not be publishing what the American took to them? We have a guarantee of that?”

“Yes.”

They heard another cry. It was fainter now, but Ruzsky could see the son’s pain mirrored in the mother. “Yes,” she said, distracted. “Well…”

For a moment, Ruzsky saw the despair in Shulgin’s eyes, before the colonel lowered his head and stared at the floor. The Empress stood. “I wish to be informed immediately when you have recovered the girl’s possessions. I wish this matter to be given the most urgent priority. I don’t want to have to go through this again.”

Anastasia and one of her elder sisters had returned to the doorway. They stared silently, round-eyed, at the two men who had been occupying their mother’s attention. As the Empress reached them, she bent and placed her arms around their shoulders, ushering them gently from the room.

Ruzsky watched Shulgin staring into the empty doorway.

The court official forced himself back to the present, sighed deeply, and stood. He muttered something under his breath, before leading Ruzsky back down the corridor. All the doors were shut, but Ruzsky could still hear the young boy’s whimpering.

In the hallway, Ruzsky accepted his coat.

“I’m sorry,” Shulgin said.

“The American took the material Ella stole to a newspaper?”

Shulgin glanced around him to be sure they were alone. “The Bourse Gazette.” He hesitated. “I’m sorry I brought you here, but she insisted.”

“I had the impression that you and my father were old friends.”

Shulgin stared at him with hollow eyes. “Your father knew too much, Sandro. And so do I.”

“As the minister responsible for the State Bank, he had to sign papers authorizing any movement of the gold reserves from the central vault?”

“If he told you that, then he should not have.”

“He was reluctant to sign the papers?”

“I simply cannot discuss this.” Shulgin sighed. “He had his reservations.”

“Vasilyev persuaded you all that this was necessary?”

“Mr. Vasilyev is in possession of much intimidating and unpleasant information.” A muscle in Shulgin’s cheek had begun to twitch. “I needed little persuading of the seriousness of our predicament.” Shulgin looked over his shoulder again, aware that he had raised his voice.

“So my father signed the papers?”

Shulgin avoided Ruzsky’s eye, but he did not deny it.

“But he wanted to countermand his order? That’s why he called the meeting with Vasilyev?”

“He did not telephone me before the meeting.”

“You must know that Vasilyev’s intention was-and is-robbery. He had assembled the group, of which Ella was a part, for precisely that purpose.”

“The group you refer to has dedicated itself to creating great difficulties for the government and its servants, and in that, I may say, it has been very successful, thanks largely to the activities of that silly, misguided girl.”

“Vasilyev knew all of these people in Yalta. Borodin may appear to be their leader, but Vasilyev-”

“He has infiltrated the group most successfully, for which we should all be grateful.”

“He controls them.”

“He is able to provide substantial reports on their activities, which the Emperor, in particular, appreciates.”

“They’re Vasilyev’s creatures. I have seen the evidence with my own eyes.”

“Well, then, present it. I am not at liberty to mistrust a government colleague upon whose advice so much now rests.”

“He has convinced you that today or tomorrow will bring revolutionary activity on such a scale that the regime’s wealth must be put beyond the reach of the mob?”

“That is a matter upon which I cannot and must not comment.” There was a stubborn determination to Shulgin now.

“My father didn’t trust him,” Ruzsky said.

“That’s not a matter for me.”

“And neither do you.”

“I have no choice,” Shulgin hissed, his face moving closer to Ruzsky’s, his eyes blazing. “The publication of the material stolen from the Empress’s private quarters would have the most damaging possible consequences.”

“What was stolen?”

“I cannot say. And do not press me. As the Empress has indicated, the details are not a matter for the city police department.”