Milos considered Ivo the more perceptive of the two. And he did not bleach his hair, which was another plus. “We must find this man.”

“No problem,” Dositej said. Milos turned and saw the image of the car frozen on the screen. Dositej was pointing to the bumper. “There’s his license plate.”

Milos felt a grin spreading across his face as he stared at the numbers. Whoever you are, he thought, I will find you. And I will make you wish you had never been born.

13

Luc cradled the bottle of 1959 Château Lafite-Rothchild in his arms like a baby. He smiled at the thought. He and Laurell had had no children—thank God… she probably would have turned them into monsters just like her—but his wines were a consolation. Better, in fact. Each year, instead of costing you more, a good wine increased in value as well as flavor.

This Lafite, for instance. One of the finest ever produced, and never abandoned by its true parents. Every couple of decades or so Château Lafite sent over a team of experts from France to recork and top off its older vintages. This particular bottle had been recorked by the cMteau in the mideighties; they’d even affixed a label as proof.

And a wine, unlike a wife or a child, will never break your heart.

When Laurell had sued him for divorce, she’d added injury to insult by demanding half of his wine cellar. The slut knew nothing about wine—she drank white zinfandel and wouldn’t have been able to distinguish jug wine from premier cru. She wanted his only because she knew it was valuable and that splitting it up would break his heart.

She’d wanted to hurt him. She’d already forgiven him for two affairs, but the third had sent her over the edge. He’d tried to tell her that none of them meant anything to him, and that was true; he’d sworn that he loved her and only her, but that of course wasn’t.

When was the last time he’d loved? Curious question. He made love, but that was different. He preferred brief, intense affairs, where both parties went their own ways afterward with no strings.

The ultimate had been that afternoon with Nadia. Such intensity, such abandon. He felt himself growing hard at the memory. Nadia hadn’t wanted strings then and maybe wouldn’t now. He’d love an encore, and he’d go for it if he were sure it wouldn’t interfere with her work. He’d have to wait and see. Stabilizing that molecule was the top priority.

Another priority was packing this wine, the wine Laurell had coveted. She’d thought she’d crush him, but he’d anticipated her. As their marriage had deteriorated toward the breaking point, he’d methodically smuggled out his best bottles and substituted junk. Laurell wound up with a nice selection of vin ordinaire. She’d howled when she got the appraisal, but when asked which specific wines were missing, she hadn’t a clue.

Luc gently nestled the Lafite into the excelsior-lined rack within the wooden packing crate, then took a sip of another wine and let it roll around on his tongue. He’d opened a 1982 Haut-Brion, a fabulous Graves, to help him through the ongoing chore of packing up his wine collection. All 600 bottles had to be removed from their temperature-controlled lockers and packed and ready to go within the next week or two.