The one of him with Lenin, with You will know a man . . . on the back.

One of him and Evgeni, with . . . by the company . . .

And finally, one of a group that included many men in Russian uniform. She didn’t recognize most of their faces, but she spotted Evgeni in the mix, smiling at the soldier next to him. This one finished out the message with . . . he keeps.

She started with the first one, the one of him bowing over Lenin’s hand, that Hall hadn’t let her get a good look at back when he received it. With the aid of her loupe, she looked at the outline all around Zivon, fully expecting to see a telltale white line or a too-dark one. To find his head had been put on another’s body, perhaps. Or even some evidence that the image was old.

But his hair was cut in the same style. His eyeglasses the pair he was still wearing. And it was without question his lithe runner’s form. One thing, however, was out of place. The ruby ring was missing from his hand. She straightened. “Admiral?”

He was still spreading papers out and had what appeared to be a newspaper clipping in hand. “Yes?”

“Did Zivon ever mention when the czar gave him his ring?”

“Shortly before he abdicated in the spring of 1917, I believe. Why?”

“He isn’t wearing it in this photo—but he never takes it off. Even if he had done so before meeting Lenin, there would be a dent on his finger. But there’s none. This photo must be from before he received it.”

“It can’t be. Lenin was in exile in Switzerland until after the Revolution began.”

“Then . . .” It was clearly Zivon in the photo, and he was seamless with his background. She moved the loupe. And laughed. “Lenin was put in after the fact. Look.” Once Hall had moved to her side, she held a larger magnifying glass in place for him and used the tip of a pencil to point to the faint white line around Lenin’s figure. “Were I to guess, I would say this is a photograph of Zivon meeting the czar, not Lenin.” That would explain the adoration on his face.

Hall breathed a laugh. “Well done, Lily. What of the others? I showed him this second one—he verified it himself. Said it was from the album that he lost in the train accident.”

She reached for the third. “If his enemies found it, that explains how they created these.” She used first a magnifying glass and then the loupe to study the group picture but shook her head. “This one seems to be genuine too. What does that mean? Who are these people?”

Hall’s face looked grim. “Bolsheviks.”

“Even—his brother?”