Page 57 of Diamond Don

“I know where.”

We watch the footage for a few moments longer. Vladmir and I disappear from the frame. Patrick McGuire can be seen the entire time. The Irish bastard is clever like that.

Once the surveillance video ends, Kat turns to me. “I’m sorry.” I nod in response.

After a moment, she says, “And you think Patrick McGuire is behind the murder.”

“I know he is.”

“Sorry, I hate to ask—but how did Maxim die?”

“I believe he was strangled to death. A ligature strangulation. They used a garrote, I’d guess. ”

Kat nods for a second, a solemn look on her face. Suddenly, she frowns. “What do you mean, you believe?”

I sigh. I had a feeling she’d catch that.

“Maxim’s body…it’s missing.”

21

NIK

Kat’s eyes widen. “He’s missing? But you saw it. Him, I mean.”

“I did. Vlad took me straight to him. I saw his body on the museum’s floor. A dozen or so of my men did, too.”

“Then how come it’s missing? How’s that possible?”

I grind my teeth. Good fucking question.

“That’s what I’d like to know as well. We delivered his body to the funeral home. I was debating if I should have an autopsy done when they alerted me it was gone.”

“Well, where could it be?”

“If I knew that, it wouldn’t be fucking missing, Kat.”

She blinks at me in silence. After a moment, I feel bad for biting her head off. It’s not her fault Maxim’s missing. I hope.

With a sigh, I add, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take it out on you. It’s just…it’s been a challenging week. I’m sure that bastard McGuire has something to do with the disappearance of Maxim’s remains.”

“Why would he take the body?”

“To hide the evidence of his crime? Because he wants to add insult to injury? Or violate Maxim’s remains? To fuck with me? Take your pick.”

Kat is silent for a moment, seemingly processing all the information I just dumped on her.

“What makes you believe Maxim was strangled with a garrote?” she asks.

“He had ligature marks around his neck and a blueish discoloration on his skin.”

“I see. But you were still considering an autopsy.”

“Yes. I wanted to be sure that’s how he died. People in my line of business can be a little underhanded about this sort of stuff. Even though I was pretty sure I knew how he was murdered, I was still considering whether it was a good idea to get indisputable confirmation. We sent his body to the funeral home that night, and I asked them to give me until the morning before doing anything. I’d have made my decision by then. But a couple of hours later, he was gone.”

“Why did you hesitate with the autopsy? When you put it like that, it just seems like a no-brainer.”

“I—Like I said, all signs indicated his cause of death was pretty self-evident. I didn’t want to have him violated or delay putting him to rest if I didn’t absolutely have to.”

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