The Petrova house was on the edge of Ashford Hollow , there was no window boxes here or hanging baskets,Just a row of identical terraced houses with small front gardens that had given up trying, patchy grass, wheel bins, a child's bicycle rusting against a fence. The kind of street that wasn't poor exactly but had stopped caring about appearances.
James parked outside and sat for a moment with the engine off, reflecting on the right questions to ask .
Sara was looking at her notebook, She had been quiet the whole drive .
"You alright?" James asked,
"Fine." She clicked her pen, "Just thinking about what to ask."
"Let me lead," James said. "You watch"
Sara nodded.
Watching was something she was very good at.
James knocked
Silence then slow footsteps of someone who already knew why the knock had come and was taking their time deciding whether to answer it.
The door was finally opened by a woman in her late fifties,short, dark hair pulled back tight the way Nadia's had been in the photographs, they had the same facial structure, deep watchful eyes, except where Nadia's eyes had been careful this woman's were flat.
"Mrs Petrova?" James said
"Yes"?
"I'm Detective James, this is my colleague Sara. We're very sorry for your loss, may we come in?"
She looked at them both,then stepped back from the door. The living room was too clean
every surface wiped, the cushion straight. A vase of white flowers was on the windowsill so fresh they must have been brought that morning .
A man sat in the armchair by the fireplace,Mr Petrova, he was older than his wife by at least ten years, big hands and rough, his face was creased with permanent disapproval not because of the current situation but because it was simply the face he had, he didn't stand when they came in. He nodded once and faced the opposite direction.
Mrs Petrova sat on the edge of the second armchair with her hands folded in her lap like a woman bracing for impact.
James and Sara sat on the sofa.
Nobody offered tea.
"We want to say again how sorry we are," James said.,"We'll try to keep this as brief as possible we just need to understand Nadia's life a little better, who she spent time with, if there has been any change recently."
Mrs Petrova and Mr Petrova exchanged a weird look that contained an entire conversation.
"Nadia had problems," Mrs Petrova said after a deep contemplation.
"What kind of problems?"
(another look between them)
"She was using....." Mr Petrova hesitated drugs for about two years, she stopped because she went to therapy, we know about the therapist already your people called us about that." He waved a hand slightly. "She told us she was better."
"Did you believe her?" Sara asked quietly.
Mrs Petrova looked at her hands.
"We wanted to," she said.
"Which is not the same thing," Mr Petrova said.
The room sat with that for a moment.
Outside a car moved slowly down the street. Upstairs something creaked — just the house, just the ordinary sounds of a building existing around people who had temporarily forgotten how to.
"Were you in regular contact with Nadia?" James asked.
"Sunday dinners," Mrs Petrova said. "Every week. She had not come for three weeks before—" She stopped. Pressed her lips together. "She said she was busy. We didn't push."
"We should have pushed," Mr Petrova said quietly. He said it to the fireplace. The first thing he had said that sounded like grief rather than statement. His big hands tightened on the arms of the chair. Just once. Then relaxed.
James gave it a moment.
"Did Nadia have a partner?" he said. "Someone she was close to?"
The look again. Longer this time.
"There was a boy," Mrs Petrova said carefully.
"What was his name?"
"Ryan." She said it with a particular weight. Not contemptuous exactly. Just loaded. "She never told us his last name. We asked more than once. She always changed the subject."
"How old?" Sara said.
"Too young," Mr Petrova said. "Twenty maybe. Twenty-one. She was twenty-three." He shook his head slowly. "He was not a serious person. You could see it immediately. Always money but no job that we knew of."
He paused.
"You understand what I mean," he said.
"You think he was involved in her drug use?" James said.
"I think he was the beginning of it," Mr Petrova said flatly.
"Viktor," Mrs Petrova said quietly.
"It's what I think," he said. Not apologizing.
James kept his face neutral.
"Can you describe Ryan?" Sara asked. Pen ready.
"Tall," Mrs Petrova said. "Thin. Dark hair — long, past his ears. He had a tattoo on his neck." She touched her own neck just below the ear. "A wing. Or a bird. Something with wings."
"Did he come here often?"
"Once," Mrs Petrova said. "Eight months ago. Nadia brought him for Sunday dinner." A pause. "He didn't come again."
"What happened?" Sara asked.
Mrs Petrova looked at her husband.
"Viktor made it clear he wasn't welcome," she said carefully.
"I told him to his face that my daughter deserved better," Mr Petrova said without emotion. "He smiled when I said it. Like I had said something amusing." His jaw tightened slightly. "That kind of boy."
"Have you heard from Ryan since Nadia died?" James asked.
"No," Mrs Petrova said.
"Did Nadia mention him recently? In the last few weeks?"
"No but she stopped talking about him about three months ago she stopped saying his name." Mrs Petrova frowned slightly, "I thought they had broken up I hoped they had I didn't ask because" She paused "Because I was afraid she would tell me they hadn't.
James wrote something in his notebook.
Sara was watching Mrs Petrova carefully not intrusively, just with that quiet focused attention that made people feel seen without feeling examined.
"Mrs Petrova did Nadia ever say anything about feeling unsafe? Watched? Worried about anyone in her life?"
Mrs Petrova was quiet.
Her hands tightened slightly in her lap.
"She said something once," she said slowly. "On the phone. Maybe two months ago. after she finished her therapy I asked her how she felt now that the sessions were done, she said it was strange ,it felt like the sessions never really ended like someone is still watching."
The room went very quiet.
James kept his face completely still.
He had a meeting tomorrow morning at ten o'clock. He had scheduled it as routine a professional consultation, background on Nadia's psychological state before her discharge it was a standard procedure and
he was still going to call it standard procedure.
But he was going to walk into that office tomorrow carrying those words in the back of his mind.
"like someone is still watching ....?"
"Those were her exact words?" he said carefully.
"Yes," Mrs Petrova said "I thought she meant the therapy had stayed with her. Made her more aware of herself." She looked at James. "Did she mean something else?".
"We don't know yet," James said.
He stood. Sara stood beside him.
"You've been very helpful," James said. "We'll be in touch as things develop please don't hesitate to call if you think of anything else anything at all no matter how small."
Mrs Petrova walked them to the door.
Mr Petrova didn't move from his chair.
At the door Mrs Petrova stopped them.
"The therapist," she said. "Dr Voss,are you going to speak to her?"
"Tomorrow morning," James said.
Mrs Petrova nodded slowly.
"Nadia liked her," she said"she talked about her in the beginning she finally felt like someone was really listening." She paused" but then she stopped talking about her just like she stopped talking about Ryan." She looked at James with those flat careful eyes. "I don't know what that means. I just thought you should know."
"Thank you Mrs Petrova," James said.
She closed the door.
They walked to the car in silence.
Got in.
Sara spoke first.
"She stopped talking about both of them at the same time," she said "Ryan and the therapist same period."
"I noticed," James said.
"Could be nothing."
"Could be"
Sara clicked her pen.
"Ryan," she said "Early twenties, thin, dark hair past the ears, wing tattoo on the neck, no last name ,no address."
"Start with the tattoo," James said "Ashford Hollow isn't big enough to hide something like that there will be someone that knows him."
"And tomorrow?" Sara said "Elena Voss"
"Tomorrow is routine," James said.
Sara looked at him and said nothing.