Marigolds, Chapter 24

24

We released the raccoon where we told Mrs. Pickering we would. It scuttled off still humming without a hint of disorientation.

Michael dropped me at home. Holding Ivana’s note in front of me, I called Miljenko Boban.

“Yes, Mr. Boban. She asked me to call you to share with you what happened to her.” I read him most of the note. I told him much of the story.
“Jesus Christ…are you a friend of hers, Mr. O’Keefe?” Boban’s accent, speech patterns, and use of the definitive article were indicative of someone who had spent much more time in the US than Ivana Grdesic had.

“Well, as I said I am a private investigator…”

“Perhaps. But she trusted you it seems?”

I wasn’t sure that I concurred with that. She didn’t trust me enough to tell me who or what she was. She didn’t trust me enough to tell me she had planned to shoot Niko and then herself. She didn’t trust me enough to tell me why she’d even consider doing those things. She trusted me with money that she would never need, I suppose. But no, I didn’t agree with Miljenko Boban’s assessment.

“With some things, yes.” I said.

“Perhaps you and I should meet Mr. O’Keefe.”

“Perhaps, but Ivana never told me who you were, Mr. Boban…I mean in this context.”

“Suffice it to say I was integral in her arrival, make that timely arrival to the US.”

“Had you anything to do with my finding her?”

“No, Mr. O’Keefe, I did not. You see, I knew where she was. I put her there, both Mislava and Ivana. Do you know if Mislava is dead then too, Mr. O’Keefe?”

“I’m sorry, yes.”

“I feared as much. Some things are for the best in some ways, do you know what I mean Mr. O’Keefe?” His voice had lost some structure.

I did not. Miljenko Boban and I agreed to meet.