There’s a pause. “Um… no, I’m sorry. I don’t remember youbeing with anyone.”
“You were alone this morning,” he says. “And you reserved aroom for one. A single room.”
The modern gray walls of the Zhukova Incorporated lobbyspin around me. I’m feeling faint. Like the world is rippingitself out from under my feet.
Officer Sweeney sighs and turns to Nikolai. “Do you know ifshe has any other family we could call?”
“My sister,” I rasp deliriously. “My sister was with me. I—Shewas with me.”
“Sorry,” the clerk says awkwardly. “But if there’s anythingelse I can help you with—”
I hang up and turn my ire on Nikolai. “You.”
He meets my gaze, his steel gray eyes piercing andimmovable. I know what happened here: he paid off the clerk.
“Miss,” Officer Sweeney war
