into dangerous waters. He decided to go with his adopted parents. "Yes. They're well. My father works at a hardware store and my mother works at an animal shelter."
"Solid jobs. Did they teach you how to play chess?"
"No. I learned with other kids back in my teens."
They played for another ten minutes, with Bragin stepping up his game until he said, "Checkmate."
"You were too good for me," he said, happy to have the game end.
"You needed more than a spectacular opening move."
"I guess so."
"Thank you for playing, Jax. Perhaps I'll see if I can find a photo of Andrei Markov and show it to you. Or you could look him up online. You're his spitting image."
"I'll check it out. Good luck tonight." He got up and saw Maya watching him from one of the tall cocktail tables placed around the room. A quick scan of the room did not bring Sylvia back into view, so he walked over to her.
"Looks like you lost," she said.
"I did."
"I was surprised you were playing."
"He roped me into it."
"Which also surprised me. He was shaken when I delivered my news, but he certainly recovered quickly."
"He said he was trying not to think about a friend who he'd just heard had died."
"What else did he say?"
"Nothing about Julia."
Maya gave him a speculative look. "Really? Because you seemed uncomfortable with the conversation."
"He thinks he knows me from somewhere. It was weird. He kept saying it, but I've never met him."
"That is odd." She paused. "Are we supposed to be talking? And don't you have to go to work?"
The last thing he wanted to do was work. When he'd arrived at the club, he'd learned that David had called in sick, which meant he would have no chance of confirming whether or not he was in for a poker game Tuesday night. Every other one of his targets was involved in the chess tournament, and the last thing he felt like doing was serving drinks. He'd rather spend time with Maya. He wanted to know how her conversation had gone, and they couldn't talk about that here.
"I think I'm going to come down with a stomach bug," he said. "Want to meet me in the parking lot in about fifteen minutes?"
Her expression brightened. "I really do. I want to talk to you."
"I feel the same way." Although, he wanted to do a hell of a lot more than just talk to her.
"I'm in self-parking."
"I'll find you. I can follow you home."
"Okay."
He walked out of the room and down the hall, jogging up the stairs, but when he got to the bar, he slowed his steps. The assistant bar manager, a woman named Kelly Hobbs, was working tonight. He walked over to her, his hand on his gut.
"I hate to do this to you," he said.
She frowned, reading his gaze. "No. You're not sick."
"I had some bad sushi at lunch. I can't make it through my shift. I'm sorry."
"Well, all right. You certainly can't work with a stomach bug," she said with resignation.
"I'll make it up to you."
"It's fine. Most everyone is downstairs. We'll manage. Take it easy."
He nodded and left the club, happy not to run into Sylvia on his way out. He made his way into the employee lot, got into his car and drove up the hill to self-parking. He pulled up behind Maya's vehicle and then waved her on.
As he followed her back to her house, his mind returned to his conversation with Daniel Bragin. He'd spent the past week trying to protect his cover, and he'd never expected that the one break might come from an old man who had met his father at a chess tournament thirty-something years ago. Bragin was right; he never did forget a face.
But Bragin's behavior after learning that his friend Julia had died was odd. Had he really just been trying not to think about it? Or perhaps he didn't care? Maybe he was the one who had killed Julia.
That thought rattled around in his head all the way across town. When he got to Maya's house, he parked on the street while she pulled into the driveway. Everything looked quiet. Hopefully, it would stay that way. It was almost six and the sun was just beginning to slip over the horizon. He got out of his car and met Maya on the porch. She unlocked the door, and then he told her to wait while he did a quick check. The house looked exactly the same