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Anne reached in her handbag and drew out a narrow bottle of very high-end vodka she must have swiped from one of Terry’s cars "I found reinforcements," she said "Just in case"

"No no," the Russian de, you hate beer"

He paused "I do hate beer" He let loose a stream of Russian that sounded very complimentary as he opened the bottle and went to the bar to help hilasses Murphy had no idea how to speak Russian He wondered if Anne did

"Beautiful wo finally said as he poured for them all "You are a treasure, Anne O’Dea Irishman, I would steal her fro raised his glass and offered some toast Murphy assumed was the equivalent of sláinte in Russian Then he and Anne followed Oleg’s lead and sipped the vodka, which was decent, though Murphy had never been a fan of the liquor

"So yes," the Russian continued "Zara was a good choice to run my ports in the south Luana was often with her there They were happy--as much as Luana was ever happy It was peaceful… nore them Zara makes me too nored many of the rumors because it was easier Zara was effective And I did not have to deal with her if she was in the south"

"What happened two years ago?" Murphy asked

"I discovered Zara had stolen the re said "There were pallets Livia had hidden The Roed "Maybe the others were, because they are dead I am not I watched Livia carefully After I discovered what this… poison did to huht What do we have to gain fro the humans? Would the mortals kill all their cattle? Salt their own fields? It was then I realized that Livia was as insane as my mate had been I left her in Rome when Vecchio arrived Then I instructedElixir and secure it in one of my warehouses in Moscow"

"Why the hell didn’t you destroy it?" Murphy asked

"Do you kno to destroy Elixir?" Oleg asked "Please tellit into the ath about it to safely destroy it, so I secured it--I thought--and figured that I would destroy it when I discovered how" He shrugged "I didn’t think anyone would steal it because ould be enough of an idiot to want to take a poison?"

Anne said, "You forgot that Zara likes totapped his teo, lapochka You would keep s like this Yes, Zara likes to… twist people Manipulate the, like Luana did"

Murphy asked, "Was she involved with the initial theft?"

"Not directly She was a lover to one of my lieutenants in Moscow He is the one she convinced to help steal the Elixir He is dead now Unfortunately, Zara still had the Elixir By the time I discover my man’s betrayal, Zara had already become the Greek’s lover I cannot openly oppose Laskaris, or he will cut off my access to the Bosphorus Zara will not return to St Petersburg to face punishment from me, of course So I cut her off I close all her accounts and tell her she is no longer under is and must leave my home in Sevastopol"