It was time to panic. I ran. I heard more yelling but I kept running until I came to the back stairs. I almost went down the stairs and then decided it would be smarter to go up. I pushed myself to go faster and faster until I reached the top floor, gasping for breath as I came out of the stairwell. I listened. There was no sound coming from below, so I moved out into the hallway.
I’d never been on that floor before, but Celeste had said it contained some small single rooms for rent. The hallway was dark and narrow, and there was a strong smell of cabbage and onions. I heard a few voices behind the doors but saw no one.
I went back to the stairwell and waited, hardly daring to breathe, hoping no one would come up the stairs.
I don’t know how long I stood there, but when no sounds had come for a long time, I decided I’d go back down one flight and see if I could tell what was happening. I crept down the stairs as quietly as I could and saw that that floor was empty too. I kept going until I came to the second floor. Still no one, but as I looked down the hall I saw that the door to 28 was open and a single shoe lay in the hall. There were no voices.
I made myself walk toward the apartment even though I knew there would be no one inside. It was too quiet. I’d heard that after a police raid, they took everyone to the prison at the Peter and Paul Fortress until they could determine if you were guilty or innocent, though once they had you there, you were almost always guilty.
As I got closer, the only sound I heard was the bubbling of a samovar. I put my hand on the door frame to steady myself and then looked inside. There was no one there. The room was in chaos. Some of the furniture had been tipped over and the drawers to a chest had been taken out and flung on the floor.
My stomach turned over when I saw splatters of blood on the carpet. If Miles and Peet hadn’t left early, it might have been their blood. I had to find where they’d gone.
I went downstairs to find Hugo asleep on his bed, snoring loudly. There was a half-filled bottle of vodka on the floor next to him. I understood then, even though I didn’t want to believe it. It was the only explanation. Hugo had tipped off the police. Someone like him would not have been able to get hold of a bottle of vodka himself. The czar had outlawed alcohol at the beginning of the war, though of course wealthy people still had access to it. Hugo wasn’t wealthy. Someone had given him the bottle. He’d told the police about the people in number 28 and they’d given him the bottle as payment.
The full force of what had happened hit me. The men who had been arrested would be interrogated, and they’d be tortured until they revealed everything they knew. It would be a miracle if no one described Miles and Peet well enough that they’d be identified. Miles and Hap didn’t have a week to get ready to leave. They needed to go as soon as we could get them out of the city.
I ran out of the building and down the street, nearly crying with relief when I found a droshky for hire a few blocks away. All the way home I was making and discarding plans, trying to think of the best way for them to leave the city. When the droshky pulled up in front of our door, I got out and paid the driver and then turned around to go inside, but stopped when I saw someone coming toward me. Even if he hadn’t had the cane, I would have known it was Dmitri.
As he reached me, an automobile came down the street, the headlights so bright I couldn’t really see the vehicle behind them. I assumed it would go past us, but it stopped right in front of the door, and a man got out. It was the baron.
Chapter Twelve
I SHRANK BACK as if I could disappear.
“Don’t you want to see him?” Dmitri asked in a low voice.
“No, I never want to see him.” Whatever reason the baron had for visiting us, it couldn’t be good.
The man walked toward us slowly, as if he were out for a stroll. “Good evening, Count Lieven,” the baron said to Dmitri when he got close enough, ignoring me. “I’ve been concerned that I haven’t heard from you. Please accept my condolences.”
“Thank you.” Dmitri’s voice was cool.
“You’re a count?” I asked him. My brain was so befuddled by everything that I couldn’t think. I felt like I should have known he was a count.
“As of yesterday. My great-uncle in Paris died,” Dmitri said.
I remembered then Papa talking about the great-uncle and how after the man’s own grandson had died, Dmitri became his heir. I hadn’t thought about it at the time, but I realized that meant Dmitri would inherit not only property and money, but the title as well.
“It’s very late, Baron,” Dmitri said. “If you are here to see the general, I’d suggest you shouldn’t disturb him. He hasn’t been feeling well.”
I didn’t know what he meant by that. Had Papa had another spell that I didn’t know about?
“No, I didn’t come to see the general,” the baron replied. “I came to see if Miss Mason was home. I rather thought she might be out or just arriving back here. Getting back from a meeting, perhaps?”
“No,” I managed to choke out. I hated that the baron made me so nervous. I tried to think of a place to say I’d been. “I was at the Tamm Theater,” I said and then realized I shouldn’t have picked that place. If he checked, he’d find out there had been no performance.
The baron gave that same self-satisfied smile I’d seen before. “Oh, and then did you stop in apartment twenty-eight in the building next to the Tamm Theater? I heard a report of a young woman with red hair who got away when the police raided a nest of radicals just a short while ago.”
“She wasn’t there,” Dmitri said. “She was with me. We didn’t stay for the whole performance at the Tamm.” He put his arm around me. I was so startled, I almost pulled away from him.
The baron noticed my reaction. He looked back and forth between us. I realized my hair had completely fallen down at some point. I could only imagine what the baron was thinking. Dmitri pulled me closer, and I tried to relax as if I was used to it, leaning into him a little.
“Where did you go when you left there?” the baron asked.
“It’s none of your business,” I snapped.
“It’s all right, Lottie,” Dmitri said smoothly. “No reason he can’t know. We were at the Crooked Mirror with some of my university friends.”
I tried not to show my surprise. The Crooked Mirror was a midnight cabaret in a cellar under a gaming club. I’d never been, though Raisa and I and some of our other friends had always wanted to go. No parent would have approved, and we hadn’t been able to convince anyone’s older brothers or cousins to take us.
The baron tipped his head as he examined my face. I was glad the glow from the streetlights was so weak.
“So if I visit the club to ask questions, they’ll confirm you were there with Miss Mason?” the baron said to Dmitri.
“Yes, though they won’t know her name.” Dmitri sounded bored with the whole conversation. “This was her first time there, and I didn’t bother to introduce her to the staff. It was as crowded as usual. Now, is there anything else? I’m sure the general’s daughter would like to go inside.”
I don’t know if Dmitri’s new title had anything to do with the baron’s reaction, but I was relieved when he didn’t press us any more about our activities.