“This is why I love America,” she continued. “Baby girl will learn fast.”
My guilt was assuaged for the moment. What would I be doing at home anyway? Sleeping? Laurie kicked off her blanket. Ha! Not likely. I yawned as I pulled the blanket up over her again.
“Where’s the restroom?”
Svetlana pointed to the back. I removed Laurie from her car seat and picked up her diaper bag. Everything now, even using the restroom, was an ordeal.
As I entered the restroom, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to change Laurie. There was no diaper stand, only a small Victorian sink and a retro toilet. I wouldn’t even be able to use the toilet myself, since I couldn’t very well put Laurie on the floor.
I returned to the table and grabbed the Godforsaken car seat bucket. I packed Laurie into it and made my way back to the restroom.
I changed Laurie’s diaper in the bucket seat. Then Laurie watched from her little bucket cocoon as I relieved myself in the Victorian toilet.
Would life be any easier if I returned to the corporate world?
Laurie, as if reading my thoughts, let out a little cry in protest.
I held my finger out to her, which she grasped tightly. “Easier maybe, but not nearly as much fun, peanut.”
Svetlana ordered us green tea, cucumber sandwiches, and raspberry cookies. The cucumber sandwiches arrived looking a little lackluster. Svetlana gobbled one up. I joined her.
How could I lose any weight if I ate even the unappetizing stuff?
The teacups were tiny, like having a shot of tea. I had to refill my cup after one sip.
“You were married to Brad?” I asked.
Svetlana nodded, washing down another sandwich with tea. “Three years. We had a lot of trouble. He met Michelle and . . .” She made a gesture with her hands, placing her index fingers together then pulling them apart to demonstrate a split.
Brad had left Svetlana for Michelle? How’s that for motive?
“How did you two meet?”
“In school. I study baking. Brad cooking.”
The restaurant, of course.
“We drink tea after class.” She gestured around. “This was our favorite place. Our old school is around the corner.”
“Do you know what happened to Brad?” I asked.
Her eyes searched mine, giving me the feeling she was trying to gauge what I knew. “Police find him in the bay, right?”
I nodded.
“How do you know Brad?” she asked.
“I didn’t know him. Michelle was an old friend from high school.”
Svetlana looked deflated. “Oh. Michelle,” she said, then crammed a cookie into her mouth.
Oops, wrong subject to bring up.
“Why did you want to meet with me?” I asked, trying to get her mind off the woman who had stolen her husband.
Svetlana snapped to attention. “Did Gloria’s investigator ask about me?”
“No. Why would he? We don’t even know each other.”
“Gloria doesn’t like me. I wonder if she hire inspector to deport me back to Russia.”
“I imagine she hired him to help the police find out what happened to Brad.”
Svetlana’s lips twitched. “Gloria doesn’t like me,” she repeated. “I open new business six months ago. I can’t go back to Russia now. I have new beginning here.”
I nodded. “When was the last time you saw Brad?”
“My birthday. June ninth. Why?”
“You kept in touch?”
She studied Laurie. “We had a baby, Brad and me. We stay in touch.”
A child had lost her father. With the hormones in my system, I couldn’t control the emotions that flooded me. I grabbed at a napkin and dabbed my eyes, trying to fan myself at the same time.
“Was he going through anything unusual the last time you saw him?”
She frowned. “Unusual?”
“Anything strange. You know, anything out of the ordinary going on in his life?”
She shrugged, keeping her eyes on the floor. “He told me he wanted to leave Michelle. He was in love with someone else.”
Nice pattern. Jerk.
“Yes. Michelle told me he was having an affair, that he left her on June fifteenth. The night the police think he was murdered.”
Svetlana nodded. Her composure had shifted; her shoulders drooped a little and she seemed withdrawn.
Could Brad and Svetlana have rekindled their love affair?
“Do you know who Brad was in love with?” I asked.
She covered her eyes for moment. “No. Someone from restaurant, I think. Brad always there. Had to be someone from there.”
I took a stab in the dark. “Do you know George Connolly?”
Svetlana’s face was blank. “Your husband?”
“No. My husband’s brother. I think he works at El Paraiso.”