The Doves of Ohanavank by Vahan Zanoyan Page A

debts have to be paid.”
    “What does that have to do with me? I have no debts to anyone.”
    “Don’t be so naïve, Lara, please. This guy, his name is Yuri, beat me, threatened me, and forced me to fly to Yerevan with him.”
    “I thought both Viktor and that animal Sergei were dead,” says Lara, trying to give herself time to think.
    “They are. I thought it had ended with them too. For many months I was keeping all the money, imagine that! Then this guy Nicolai shows up and forces me to pay him. He says he’s the new boss. Then Yuri shows up and says the family knows who killed Sergei and Viktor and wants everything back.”
    The blood drains from Lara’s face. They know who killed Ayvazian? That is impossible. They would have been all over Saralandj if they really had known anything. She does her best to recover before Anastasia notices her panic.
    “Why did they bring you to Yerevan?” Lara asks calmly.
    “To talk to you. To see how much you know.”
    “How much I know about what?”
    “About the killings, and about who brought you back home and how.”
    “Why should I know anything about the killings?”
    “Because they say you returned about the same time as the killings happened.”
    “So? How could I know anything?”
    “They’re just checking, that’s all. I am not supposed to tell you any of this. I am supposed to befriend you again. Try to make you talk. I am taking a huge risk by telling you the truth. Remember Lara, I was a good friend to you in Moscow; the fact that you hated being there does not change that.”
    That part is true. Lara remembers the day when Viktor, after being told by Dr. Melikov that she was pregnant, ordered him to perform an abortion. She did not even know that she was pregnant. It was Anastasia who was there when they released her from the hospital. She took her to herapartment and tended to her for the next three days. She fed her, washed her, and talked to her constantly. She tried to put things in perspective for her.
    “So what am I supposed to do now?” she asks.
    “Let’s pretend that we’re friends, talking about old times. Just for a few days. Then I tell them whatever you want me to tell them, things you confess to me in confidence and in friendship. That’s the only way they think they’ll get the truth from you. That’s the only reason why they have not come after you directly yet.”
    “Yet?”
    “Lara, anything is possible. A lot depends on what I tell them. So let’s think about this carefully.”
    “What’s it with your phone?” asks Lara, changing the subject.
    “My phone?”
    “You’re sitting on it.”
    “Oh, sorry.” Anastasia leans even closer to Lara and whispers in her ear. “I’ve heard that they can listen in on my conversations through the phone. That’s why I turned it off, but sometimes apparently even then they can listen. So I sat on it. That’s why I have the window open. The noise from the street should drown our whispers.”
    “Okay,” whispers Lara, “we’ll play this game. As long as you understand that I have no intention of going back to that life. I think I’ll be happy if I do not see another man for the rest of my life.”
    “Lara,
aziz
jan, of course. I’m very happy for you, please understand that. I used to tell you that you’d be better off accepting it because you really had no other choice back then. But now it seems that you do. I’m glad, really. But this is all I know. I just want to go back to my clients in Moscow.”
    “Did they say they want me to work for them again?”
    “Where to, lady?” asks the driver. They have passed the Monument and are driving up the road toward the suburbs.
    “Go a few more blocks then turn back,” says Anastasia. “Can you then wait for us at the Monument for a little?”
    The driver grunts his consent and keeps driving.
    “They did not say that to me,” responds Anastasia. “Honestly. My mission is to find out what you know about the Ayvazian