“Yeah.”
He does as I instructed him. “The view changes depending on the angle it’s seen from.”
“Put it up on the big screen and follow the land line close enough that we can see any landmarks or such.”
When I look up, with hope building in my chest, I realise that Vanya’s moved. She’s now standing in front of Lucy’s photo. Her face is twisted in thought and maybe confusion. Like there’s a familiarity she can’t place.
“Do you recognise her?” My Russian isn’t as good as it used to be. However, it’s good enough to communicate without Freddie’s understanding.
Vanya nods, eyes wide with surprise.
“Where from?”
“I don’t know,” she tells me, focusing back on the photo. “Tomasz had lots of girls in many places.”
“But that girl, have you seen her before?”
Vanya turns to face me. Pulling at the long sleeves of her blouse, she shrugs. Frustration builds in my chest along with a sudden uneasiness.
The kind that hangs over me like impending doom. My heart stutters in such a way that my breath pushes out of me.
What the fuck?
Taking a deep breath, I try to ignore the tightness in my chest. I check my phone as I gesture for her to sit in front of the screen. When Vanya takes the seat I pulled out earlier, I give Freddie the go-ahead to take her down the coast slowly.
“You said you travelled by boat, didn’t you?” I proceed in English so that he can understand what’s going on.
“Yes,” she responds without taking her eyes from the screen.
There’s a moment where something flickers in her face, but then nothing comes of it.
“Were you always blindfolded or drugged?”
“No.”
“So, if you saw a landmark, you might be able to point it out on the screen?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I already told you, a lot of things are blurry.”
Sitting beside her, I hand her a bottle of water from the middle of the table. “But if you saw it, you might recognise it?”
“Yes. Maybe…”
“I’m only asking that you try. There’s no pressure.”
The weight in my chest doesn’t let up. Tension builds like a vice hold around my heart and lungs. I think her recognition of Lucy Stanton has turned the heat up on today. There’s no other reason for this feeling.
When Freddie reaches the end of the coastline, he automatically starts going back, slower, stopping at all the oddities that a person might notice. Border checkpoints. Lighthouses. Marinas.
There’s nothing for a moment, until we reach a castle-like ruin on a stretch of unspoiled coastline.
“Stop,” she says calmly in Russian.
“Go back to the ruin,” I tell Freddie.
“I remember the tower…” Her words are hushed by the shrill ring of my phone.
I could’ve sworn I put it on silent earlier. I wouldn’t normally answer, but it’s Penny. With the tightness in my chest, I can’t ignore it knowing that she’s got Grace.