The Silent Widow

‘Who didn’t like him?’ Williams asked, taking a loud slurp of coffee.

‘I’m sorry?’

‘You just said most people liked him,’ Williams clarified. ‘Most implies “not all”. Who didn’t like Doug Roberts?’

Kevin Voss looked pained. ‘He changed,’ he said, staring down at his oatmeal. ‘He met a woman. Supposedly she was Russian. Everything was different after that.’

‘Supposedly?’ Williams asked.

‘She had a Russian name,’ said Kevin. ‘I forget it now. And she used to live in Moscow. But she seemed really American, you know, to talk to? Her English was perfect. Anyway, it was like Dr Roberts was under her spell or something. No one could understand it. She wasn’t even that attractive. I always thought she looked kind of haunted, you know? Like, she might have been a looker when she was younger, but now she had the weight of the world on her shoulders? She was super tall,’ he added idly. ‘But apart from that, there was nothing special about her. Especially not compared to his wife.’

Williams nodded his agreement. The few grainy pictures he’d seen of Lenka Gordievski showed a lanky brunette, probably a bit younger than Nikki but nowhere near as striking, physically. She wore expensive clothes, but nothing overtly revealing or sexy, and was hardly the leggy, blonde ‘Russian mistress’ of popular imagination.

Despite his best efforts, Williams had failed to unearth any more information about her life or history since his interview with her landlord in LA. He could find nothing on her family, her employment history, her education. Haddon Defoe claimed she worked for a drug charity in New York, but no one Williams had spoken to in that community seemed to have heard of her. The woman was a ghost.

‘You did meet her then?’ he asked Kevin.

The nurse nodded. ‘A few times. She came to the hospital quite a lot. They’d have lunch together right here.’ He waved an arm around the still empty cafeteria. ‘That was the weird part. They never made a secret of it. I think that was what bugged Dr Defoe the most. He and Doc Roberts were fighting a lot before the accident, and I’m pretty sure it was about her. Lenka, that was her name,’ he added, pleased with himself for dredging it up.

‘How did Doug Roberts and Lenka meet?’ Williams asked.

Kevin thought for a moment. ‘In New York, I think? I’m not sure. Some charity thing. Dr Roberts had a rehab clinic …’

‘I know,’ Williams cut him off. ‘Do you know what she did for a living?’

‘No.’ Kevin looked worried, sensing that his ‘hundreds of dollars’ might be slipping away. ‘But I know she was rich. Maybe that was one of the attractions, I don’t know. But she always wore this watch, one of those platinum ones with diamonds round the face. Chopard!’ he said, happy again to have come up with a name, although it was clear from Williams’ expression it meant nothing to him. ‘Those things are like fifteen, twenty thousand dollars a pop,’ Kevin explained. ‘And she carried a Hermès pocketbook, and one time she came in wearing an incredible sable jacket, I think it was like a Fendi or something? I remember that because Dr Roberts had a fight with her about it. I actually remember that really well, because he said something strange.’

‘What was that?’ asked Williams.

‘He said, “Either you want to escape or you don’t. Never wear that around me again!” He was really mad.’

‘How did she react?’ Williams asked, curious.

‘She cried,’ said Kevin, matter-of-factly. ‘And then he backed down, like he always did. He could never resist a damsel in distress.’

‘He had other girlfriends?’ Williams suggested.

Kevin shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. No. Before Lenka came along he was totally into his wife. But you know, she was a doctor too, super capable. I don’t think she needed him the way the Russian girl did. You know?’

Williams nodded, writing something in his notebook.

‘I also heard she was friends with some bad people,’ said Kevin, lowering his voice to a whisper. ‘Powerful people.’

‘What people?’ Williams frowned.

‘Don’t know,’ said Kevin. ‘And I don’t know if Doug Roberts was mixed up in that either. I’m not saying he was. But supposedly her friends had influence at City Hall. Awarding contracts, stuff like that. I heard some of the other surgeons talking about it.’

Williams looked skeptical.

‘OK, Kevin,’ he said, getting to his feet. Reaching into his wallet he put two hundred-dollar bills down on the table. ‘Thank you for your time.’

‘Two hundred? That’s it?’ The nurse failed to hide his disappointment or his desperation as he grabbed the cash and stuffed it into the pocket of his scrubs.

Williams shrugged. ‘You haven’t given me much, son. The name of her watchmaker and some vague rumors about City Hall?’

‘They’re not vague rumors!’ Kevin protested, standing up himself. ‘I have a contact there, someone who can tell you more. A lot more.’

Williams hesitated. ‘Who?’