12th Ticket Anastasia Talks

Tom Mallam to Jimmy Mallam

Hey Bro.

The following pages contain interviews, news stories, journal entries, minutes of business meetings, private letters, at least one death bed confession, and conversations between various residents in the Welch town of Mills, UK. Convo between Pike Phipps and Coy Lushington are especially curious. These papers were sent to my office by, Toni Gates, widow of Lenard Gates. Evidently Gates received this scrapbook of sorts from his mother, Anastasia Gilina Boltov. St. Boltov’s Mansion.

Toni left the following message.

Dear Jim, Lenard passed away last year. (2021 Big C.) He had the utmost respect for you and loved the work you both did together. We followed your career over the years and read your books. He told me to send these documents to you because, as he put it, once you unravel the mysteries you will arrive at the Threshold. Open the door and step through.

Best Regards, Toni

August 6, 1966 Yuri slipped away. Alex Boltov quickly sold the mansion and surrounding property to a record producer from California, Charles ‘Rock’ Leafsen. Leafsen did extensive renovations most significantly in the basement where he built a state of the art recording studio. In the attic he built a three bed, two bath luxery flat where he stayed when he was in town but, more importantly, where visiting musicians might entertain groupies. Photos appeared in fan magazines showing off lavish furnishings: persian carpets, modern European sofa’s, chairs and king sized beds covered in various animal skins. But the room that got most attention from newspapers was the dark space behind a red door. Windowless and painted black, it was fitted out as a medieval torture chamber. A painting of the Marquis de Sade presided over the the decadence.

The public was stunned and outraged and Leafsen, to his delight, was branded a dangerous sadomasochist. He didn’t do himself any favors when he outted Mills in the national press as a haven for witches and a town that routinely burned or hung those suspected of practicing witchcraft. He even talked about burnings. A couple of musicians, Roy and Seek, weighed in, telling interviewers that after being busted in London and Manchester for holding they were delighted to live in a town that didn’t have a police force. To prove just how delighted they were they openly smoked hashish at an outdoor cafe' while being quizzed by reporters. Not the kind of behavior or information people in Mills wanted spread around in the national news.

Eventually Yuri’s name found its way into newspapers when Leafsen claimed that St. Bolts was haunted by the previous owner. He repeated gossip and false stories that had been old news in Mills for decades. Cowboys and Indians had apparently rescued a teenage witch and sent her off to France. His three Russian maids, teenagers themselves, had each given birth to illegitimate children. His wife had made love to Rasputin and mourned his death. His five legitimate kids were wild and illiterate, almost feral. Leafsen knew this to be false after dealing with a very literate and shrewd, Alex Boltov who asked for and received top dollar for the property. Not one of Yuri’s surviving children wanted anything to do with the news stories and infamy surrounding their late father or the family home. They had scattered to the ends of the earth, Europe, The Middle East, America. The only person left who knew the truth about St. Bolts lived in a cottage on Windmill Lane, a pleasant little area that overlooked the bay. Anastasia Galina Boltov’s door was open to anyone who wanted to talk.

Interview: Anastasia Galina Boltov

Publication: Duration Magazine

Conducted by Toni Gillette

August 21, 1966

A. I’m Anastasia Galina Saint Boltov, Second wife of Yuri Boltov. I Was born in 1906 or was it seven? It’s possible 1908 was the proper date. I’m not sure. When I left Russia I didn’t bring a gift certificate...”

DM. (Laughing) You mean a birth certificate?

A. Yes, I suppose. What ever it was I didn’t have it. And neither did my two sisters, may they rest in peace. We were loaded onto the back of a cart and taken away. All we had was the clothes on our backs.

DM. Did you have any idea where you were going? Did your parents tell you what to expect?

A. We were expected to mind our business and stay quiet.

DM. Speak only when you’re spoken to; outdated parental psychology?

A. I slept most of the time. Once I woke up and heard Yuri arguing with someone. It was dead of night. I know money changed hands in that encounter. Yuri was saying take this it's all I have.

DM. Did you see who he was arguing with?

A. It was the middle of the night. Later I could hear his wife screaming at him. ‘I can’t be poor, Yuri, I can’t be poor.’ She came from money just like he did. Money was hidden all over that old cart. Plus all her jewels. You should have heard her scream when he gave away her mother’s pearl necklace.

DM. Why do you think Yuri Boltov took you and your sisters in?

A. He paid for us. He needed cleaning staff. (Smiles) He wanted concubines.

DM. You were only, 9, ten or 11 years old.

A. We were very good at cleaning. Our mother taught us.

DM. I’m talking about….

A. The concubines?

DM. Yes. You were so young.

A. How old should I have been?

DM. Old enough to take a decision on your own, and one agreeable to both parties involved.

A. We didn’t have the luxury of growing old or the privilege of waiting until we were wed. We were under his roof.

DM. You didn’t object to being…

A. Being raped? Or should we call it ravaged like they do in romance novels. No one was listening to our objections as I recall.

DM. No? Not his wife or daughters?

A. This man got us out of a country in the midst of a revolution. He he kept us alive; paid our passage to Great Britain.

DM. That didn’t give him the right to just take whatever he wanted.

A. What would you like me to tell you; that we screamed and cried and begged him not to touch us? Will that satisfy your readers?

Interview ends here.

Hand written note attached to copy of Duration.

Sorry Len if I knew Miss Gillett was going to become your wife some day I wouldn’t have been so hard on her. Told a few lies. Mum.

Interview: Anastasia Galina Boltov

Publication: Dominant Woman

Conducted by Zoe Baldridge

Sept 6, 1966.

DW. What did you and your sisters know about Yuri when you first met him?

Anastasia: Yuri and Alexandra? They were pretending to be peasants in order to hide their money. When people saw five dirty children in the wagon they naturally assumed he was a peasant too.

DW. Was Mrs. Boltov a strong influence on you?

A. I took no interest in Alexandra. At least at first.

DW. Was she a good mother?”

A. We left our good mother back in Russia. I saw no evidence of such behavior in Alexandra. She took little or no interest in me or my sisters.

DW. Your journey reminds me of similar travels American pioneer women made in the 1800’s.

A. Like cowboy movies?

DW. Well, exactly.

A. I know why you ask this question. I suppose we did. Yuri loved Cowboys and Indians on the telly.

DW. Did he?

A. I will tell you a story. He hired several cowgirls to perform a rescue.

DW. (Laughs) Where does one find Cowgirls around here?

A. They came out the telly.

DW. Out of the television? How curious. Who did they rescue?

A. A witch.

DW. A witch?

A. You don’t have to repeat the same words I say.

DW. Alright.

A. You don’t believe me do you?

DW. It does sound far fetched.

A. This story is supposed to become more unbelievable every time it is repeated. That’s the magic of it.

DM. Really? Magic?

A. Once they rescued her from hanging, the witch, Yuri got her work at the Aiguille et Fil.

DW. Aiguille et Fil?

A. Needle and Thread in Paris. Yuri ordered us new dresses when we were travelling through France. By then our clothes were in tatters.

DW. So Yuri was good to you?

A. He liked to play games. He kept us occupied. ‘What does that cloud look like?’ He would ask and we all took turns telling him what different clouds looked like. When Alexandra tried to play along suddenly it rained. That’s the kind of person she was.

DW. Did you get along with his children?

A. Alex and I were almost the same age. He was 1912 I believe. Alexandra gave him a slap once for talking to us. We were the dirty, filthy and unwashed while She and Yuri were just pretending.

DW. So playing with the Boltov children was forbidden?

A. Yes. But we all played anyway, sometimes. It’s what children do.

DW. How was life once you got to Mills and You were all living in the main house?

A. Alexandra informed us we were maids, responsible for cleaning everything. We were billeted in the attic; large and dusty room. Our first assignment was to make our own quarters inhabitable. I felt like Cinderella. We were the three step sisters.

DW. The three of you were responsible for cleaning the entire house?

A. Of course. I remember being very disappointed because we wanted to go to school. We were told no school would have us because we didn’t speak English.

DW. Your English is very good.

A. Well I’ve been in this country nearly fifty years. Yuri started us learning then we taught ourselves. The three of us had to learn.

DW. How did you learn exactly?

A. Games. The basket game. Yuri brought a basket full of produce to our room and told us to repeat after him. Celery, he says, celery we repeat. Then beets, radishes, corn, apples, peaches, on and on. Every day for two weeks he comes with a basket and we have to repeat what he takes from the basket. When we have memorized all the items perfectly he says one of us will be chosen to go shopping with the cook, so we can translate.

DW. What an effective way to teach.

A. I was chosen first.

DW. So Yuri Boltov was teaching you, at a young age, to be a strong independent woman.

A. I was 12 years old; hardly strong or independent.

DW. Effective teaching though.

A. The day of the outing he brings a box marked Aiguille et Fil? We all became very excited. When I opened it I found a navy blue dress with a white lace collar, pearl buttons and added accessories: black stockings, white gloves, straw hat and black boots. Boots like a boy wears. I looked very smart indeed, like a proper lady. But with boots I looked very much the authority as well. He gave me a pencil and a shopping list. I was to mark each item off the list as it was purchased. Also I was instructed not carry any produce. That was the job of the driver and the cook.

DW. It seems he gave you authority.

A. (Laughing) I was in the deep end as they say. I even thought I was in charge for a minute. The driver opened my door, I looked like royalty getting out the back of a Rolls Royce. But in actuality I was just the helper, marking things off a list. When I tried to put some items in the cook’s basket my choices were quickly vetoed.

DW. A dominant Woman. How did you get along with the cook and the driver on these outings?

A. I complimented his choices or asked what he was planning for supper. He tended to talk to me a little more like an adult. We spoke to each other in Russian, that helped. The driver spoke English and French so if a shop keep rattled off something that went over my head the driver stepped in. Yuri told me years later the idea was to make it look like I was in charge. Of course I was always holding my pencil and list checking this item or that item. After a while shop owners started addressing me directly. ‘What will milady be having this morning?’ I whispered to the cook and then repeated what he told me.

DW. Were your sisters given the opportunity to go shopping?

A. Yes with disastrous results. Oxana kept putting sweets in the cook’s basket and Katrina threw a fit when the driver took the list from her and marked off items she had forgotten.

DW. Were they punished for their misbehavior?

A. Oh no, go on. The help didn’t tell tales on each other. Both the cook and the driver told Yuri they would only take me.

DW. Overall how were you and your sisters treated by the family.

A. We all ate meals together and everyone ate the same thing. Yuri didn’t want the cook preparing two sets of meals and then all the cleaning up on top of it. At Christmas we received the same gifts his children received. We came down Christmas morning to big presents all neatly wrapped. Yuri and Alexandra prepared breakfast themselves for the entire house hold. That was a tradition the gossip mongers will never mention. Another tradition was hide and seek. His children and the three of us would hide ourselves someplace and he’d walk around like a big old bear roaring. Where are you? When he discovered our hiding places he’d pick us up and carry us into the living room where we were deposited on the floor. After we’d all been rounded up he’d read us a story.

DW. He sounds like an absolutely charming fellow.

A. He was. The three of us loved him. Often we discussed the possibility of being adopted but knew it was impossible.

DW. Why?

A. Alexandra. After Yuri made us feel a part of the family she would say, don’t get any ideas, you three will always remain strangers under this roof.

DW. Must have been devastating.

A. Yes. But part of a larger plan. They always had a plan.

DW. A plan?

A. Alex and Yuri knew they weren’t going to hang on to a full time staff. A factory moved in promising better wages. With a factory came a hotel, with a hotel came a saloon and cafe’s. It was even possible to buy a little house. The factory and Yuri’s banker preyed upon poor workers offering mortgages with interest rates that kept these people tied to an assembly line for life. Yuri knew the cook, the driver and his butler would be moving on. So he offered my father money for the three of us. Eventually we would be trained to take the place of the cook, the butler and his driver.

DW. What made him think he could keep the three of you if he couldn’t keep the other staff?

A. Because he raised us. Alexandra let us know that St. Bolt’s, as it later became known, was our last chance, our refuge in a country where nobody wanted us. It was just the right amount of love and discouragement.

DW. Did Alexandra feel threatened by the three of you?

A. Why would she feel threatened?

DW. Frightened you might leave but at the same time competing with you for Yuri’s affections.

A. Rubbish. Alexandra had no competitors. She looked like a silent screen star. Yuri only had eyes for his wife.

DW. But the three of you developed a reputation around the village.

A. In our early teens we were running the household. We would walk around the shops in our matching Aiguille et Fil. Oxana’s was red, mine was blue and Katrina had a yellow dress.

DW. I’m talking about the nickname, Lot’s daughters.

A. Is that what you came here for?

DW. I came because I’m interested in three girls who grew up here. I had a feeling there was a larger story.

A. You remind me of my son, he tells me there is always a larger story within a small story.

DW. I’m looking for the larger story.

A. The larger story or the more scandalous story?

DW. Just the truth.

A. I’ve told you the truth.

DW. For years there have been stories that Yuri kept you and your sisters for his own carnal pleasure.

A. I told you how he treated us.

DW. Did you have his child?

A. I had a child, not his child.

DW. Yuri’s name is on the birth certificate. It’s a matter of public record.

A. I know whose name is on the birth certificate.

DW. Could we talk about that for a moment?

A. I haven’t said anything because I have an agreement with my son’s father not to mention his name.

DW. Can you tell us the circumstances surrounding the birth without mentioning names?

A. May I ask why it is so important?

DW. Because rumors have been spread by unsavory characters about the history of St. Bolts and the people who once lived there.

A. You mean the recording impresario?

DW. Yes, and others. There is a trend among certain musical artists to release negative publicity feeling it pays higher dividends than being squeaky clean. Those hysterical screaming girls we see at concerts seem to like bad boys.

A. Silly girls have always preferred pirates to saints.

DW. So who was the pirate in your life?

A. The son of a green grocer we often did business with. I think I can reveal that bit of information without breaking my promise.

DW. Were you two in love?

A. I was he wasn’t.

DW. What did this young man say when he found out you were pregnant?

A. The poor thing panicked; said he was too young to father a child.

DW. How old was he?

A. I was seventeen, he was eighteen.

DW. When did Yuri step in and decide your child would have his name?

A. When I was given the certificate his signature was already on the document. Underneath his name he had written, ‘Adopted father.’ I don’t know if that was even legal but it was his way of saying he would support the child, give the child a home but was not the father. Of course once word got out that he had signed the certificate nobody believed he wasn’t the father.

DW. What was Alexandra’s reaction?

A. She knew about it and supported the decision. I got scolded for involving myself in sexual relations with a young man I wasn’t married to. But she took me in her arms and hugged me and said that everything would be alright.

DW. Did you find that comforting.

A. Yes. Very much.

DW. Was that the start of a relationship with her?

A. No. The woman, in a moment of weakness, offered some affection. It wasn’t part of her nature to do so. She actually used the opportunity to extort money from the boys father.

DW. How so?

A. The driver took us into town and stopped in front of his market. We were all wearing our matching outfits. Katrina was carrying Lenard and Alexandra made me carry a big black hand bag. She told the boy’s father they would be taking the Boltov family business elsewhere because if he and his boy couldn’t be honest about fathering a child how could they be trusted in other business matters? The shop was full of nosey women who stopped looking at melons and started listening to Alexandra. What is our business worth to you? She asked. You’ve been our best customer, the boy’s father said. Then tell me who is the father of this baby, you or your son. She had the attention of every gossip hound within a hundred yards. The father’s looking around, sees all eyes on him and tells the boy it’s time to own up. Georgie claims he might be the father but he isn’t sure because the carnival was in town. She may have shagged a carnival clown. The women in the shop laugh. Alexandra slaps Georgie across the face, sends him flying. We are insulted she screams. Poor Georgie, I felt so sorry for him. He’s holding his face, asking his dad how can he allow, Mrs. Boltov to treat him this way. The father takes Alexandra’s side and tells Georgie to own up. Stop pissing around, he says. Georgie gets to his feet and finally admits to probably being the father. Alexandra says, and I’ll never forget this as long as I live, they did the baby- father test we know it’s you, Georgie. There was a gasp from all the women in the shop. Georgie wants to know what the baby-father test is. Alexandra takes little Lenard from Katrina and holds him up so everyone in the shop can get a good look. Who does this child look like? Alexandra shouts. Then as they got a real look at Lenard and Georgie, some for the first time, there's another gasp, and they start exclaiming, 'that’s you Georgie, yes he looks just like his father, you can tell whose child that is.' Georgie, she says, you can not fool a woman we know when the melon is ripe. Oxana steps up and shouts, the melon is ripe but we want chocolate. The ladies thought that was cute. Alexandra tells Georgie’s father if you want to keep Boltov business you give my daughter 5 shillings a week to support of her son. Anastasia open your purse. I step forward, open the black bag and watch the father drop change in. When you see my girls you put money in bag. Come ladies. And we made a sweeping grand exit. The driver held the door open, as I was getting in he muttered, well played, my dear.

DW. Did you feel vindicated?

A. Just embarrassed, rejected, shamed. To make matters worse I still loved Georgie.

DW. Did Georgie and his dad keep up their end of the deal?

A. Carrying that black bag was like dragging around a scarlet letter. It was humiliating. Alexandra knew what she was doing, she knew it was going to hurt. But when they saw it they always had the money ready.

DW. Did Georgie ever have a relationship with his son?

A. Never. I asked him once if he would like to spend time with Lenard and he said no. His father was equally adamant about never seeing the boy. Their involvement stopped when the change went in the purse. It was a bitter rejection.

DW. Where’s Lenard now?

A. He’s a news reporter in America. Nebraska. I’m tired. Can we continue our chat later?

DW. Of course. I have many questions.

A. I’m sure you do. I will say this, for the record, Yuri and Alexandra were eccentric but they weren’t mean. They weren’t monsters the papers made them out to be.

Interview ends.

Interview: Anastasia Galina Boltov Part 2

Publication: Dominant Woman

Conducted by Zoe Baldridge

Sept 10, 1966.

Four days after we ended our first interview I received word from Anastasia that she was ready to start talking again. She claimed to have news I might find interesting and to prepare myself. I took, ‘news I might find interesting,’ with a grain of salt. My editors had no interest in printing cowboy stories. My hotel and restaurant bills were mounting not to mention the flight back to LA. I was under significant pressure to turn in words that would firmly entrench Dominant Woman in the pop culture landscape. 'The magazine strong women read.’

When hotshot record producer, Charles ‘Rock’ Leafsen purchased a ‘haunted’ mansion in Wales where he was going to produce hit records the tabloids lapped it up. Every word. Musicians called their managers demanding they book studio time. Jetsetters, those famous for being famous, wanted to rent the luxury flat on the top floor. One well known socialite offered $2000.00 to spend 2 days in the torture chamber.

The story that brought me to Mills was entitled Lot’s Daughters. About three young girls, kidnapped in Russia and brought, against their will, to Mills where they were locked in an attic. To survive they were forced to do horrible things (Acts better left to the imagination.) and then finally put to death. Burned at the stake. I did a bit of research and found Mrs. Boltov still living in Mills. I wrote her a letter asking if she was one of the three Russian sisters tabloid’s were writing about? Ten days later I received an answer. She was indeed one of the girls mentioned, the only one still alive. I pitched a story to my editors proposing an interview with Anastasia Boltov. Give her an opportunity to set the record straight. I wanted Dominant Woman to be the only magazine to get the story right. Two days later I was on a flight to London.

ZB.

DW. I’m going to read you some headlines or quotes about St. Boltov’s. Words publishers are using to sell papers and magazines. I need you to tell me if these are true of false.

A. Alright. And what if they are partly true?

DW. Answer partly true.

A. Okay, I’m ready.

DW. Wales Mansion 5 million.

A. I don’t know what the sale price was. But it was sold so I’ll say, partly true.

DW. Impresario Buys haunted House.

A. Was never haunted. But the man did buy it. Partly true.

DW. St. Boltov Buried in his own Garden

A. True and false. The only occupants in that small fenced of area are Alexandra and her two daughters. Their headstones are hidden by vegetation, grass and vines.

Were you present at the funerals of Alexandra and her daughters?

a. On three separate occasions, yes.

DW. St. Boltov Drowns Cook in Chicken Soup

A. (Laughs) Partly true.

DW. Really?

A. It was cabbage soup. Oxana was training to take the cooks place. She found the young man who was hired to chop fire wood standing over the pot sniffing at the soup like he was taking medication. She asks him if he would like a taste. Well yes he certainly would. Oxana grabs him by the neck and pushes him into the soup, holds his head under for a few seconds.

DW. It was your sister not Yuri?

A. Yes. Oxana chased him out of the kitchen choking and crying. He had a cabbage leaf stuck to the side of his face.

DW. Did Yuri see this?

A. Yuri was in the dining room arguing with the priest. They were friends but had some great, loud discussions about religion and philosophy.

DW. How was the problem solved?

A. Alexandra made us serve it to the guests.

DW. How did Alexandra find out?

A. She often left the party to check on us. Especially when Yuri and the priest started up. She had no interest in their boisterous back and forth.

DW. The cook wasn’t in charge of the kitchen that night?

A. He had gotten everything ready that morning. We just had to keep it warm and serve it.

DW. The three of you were expected to serve all their guests?

A. We’d done it before.

DW. What was Alexandra’s reasoning for serving the soup?

A. She didn’t like the guests. She disliked the priest, thought he was a braggart. Phipps and Lushington were there for the wine. Alexandra really had nothing to add to the discussion so she came down to see how we were progressing.

DW. Was there any reaction from the guests?

A. The priest spit up all over his self. But he was half drunk by the time the soup was served. Phipps and Lush were also drunk but ate every drop.

DW. And no one was the wiser?

A. No. But I’m sure Alexandra told Yuri later.

DW. This is how rumors start. Three children expected to do the work adults should be doing.

A. When some of these articles are written they seem to forget how old everyone is. I’ve been doing some adding and subtracting, Miss. Baldridge. Yuri and Alexandra were both born in 1875. They grew up together. When the revolution started in 1917…

DW. That would have made them 42 years old.

A. Yes well into middle age. I was born in 1908 which would make me age 9. My sisters, Oxana and Katrina were 07 and 06.

DW. Ten and eleven years old. Who was the oldest?

A. Oxana. Their two children, Alex and Mary were 1910 and 1912 making them five and Seven.

DW. So they were carrying 5 children ages 5, 7, 9, 10, and 11 years old. And they were both 42 in 1917.

A. My life starts in 1917. Our purpose was to take care of them as they grew old. When we took up residency we were all a year older. So 9,10 and 11 becomes 10, eleven and 12. The dinner we’re discussing took place in 1925. And the reason I know is because I started out following the cook to the shops when I was 12 or 13. By the time I was seventeen, and expecting a child, I had a whole set of books with dates, prices, guestlists, names of tradesmen; all the household numbers.

DW. So the day of the infamous cabbage soup debacle you three were 17, eighteen and 19 years.

A. Correct. Adults in anyone’s eyes.

DW. Thanks for helping me get the dates rights.

A. My pleasure.

DW. Okay next question, I mean headline. Teen Ghosts Haunt Attic?

A. The teen ghosts, if there were any, would have been too busy working. I’m still here. Ox and Kat died in London during the Black Saturday, 1941. These writer’s used us to spice up their own rancid soup. In 1950 when Yuri saved that girl from hanging they made us out to be teenagers. I was forty-two, hardly a spring chicken. Yuri and his two chums, Phipps and Lushington were 73 and 74. But this is what was written:

“Yuri Boltov left his sleeping wife, five screaming children, a cursing kitchen staff and three worn out maids and set off for town. He strolled easily in the cool morning air past green fields divided by stone walls and tended to by tenant farmers.”

There was no sleeping wife, she was dead and planted in the garden by 1948. Five screaming children? Gone, grown up or dead. The so-called cursing kitchen staff, also long gone. And three worn out maids? Isn’t he loveable rogue. He strolled easily? When he did walk, maybe across a room, he needed a cane otherwise he was driven where ever he needed to go.

DW. Yuri B Fathered 3

A. Very clever. He fathered five of his own with Alexandra. Two while still in Russia and 3 in Wales.

DW. Why do you think they waited so long to have children?

A. That’s their business. I never asked.

DW. Not even after you married him?

A. No. After he finally became mine I didn’t want to talk about other women especially the love of his life. He would be off to see her soon enough. I just wanted a bit of time with him.

DW. When did you start to have feelings for Yuri?

A. When I saw his name on Lenard’s birth certificate. He gave me his name long before we wed. That’s when I first started to notice feelings but I kept such thoughts hidden, even from myself. I loved Georgie long after Lenard was born and was hoping he would come around. He never did.

DW. Do you remember when you first let your feelings for Yuri come out?

A. After it was just the two of us living in the mansion. We were sitting in the living room, we’d just had tea and Yuri tells me I’m a beautiful woman. Nobody had ever said that to me before. He explains many men in his position with a young woman in the house would have designs on her. But, he says, he’ll soon have to give an accounting of his life and he wants to be able to report, to my father, that his girls were well treated and protected. He’s worried about my little peasant father. I think in that moment I remembered every kindness ever bestowed. I broke down and cried, just balled my eyes out. I’d lost everything, mother, father, Oxana, Katrina. I hadn’t seen my parents in what, 50 years? His children were still around and never darkened his doorstep. We were both alone. I told him I could be very happy living here with him forever. I loved him. He thanked me for being the last man standing. A week later he proposed.

DW. After that I'm kind of embarrassed to repeat this headline. 3 Tortured in Attic Prison.

A. After everything I’ve just told you is such a question necessary?

DW. My editors wanted me to ask it. Sorry. I should have ended the interview after that last answer.

A. Instead of an attic prison he bought me this little bungalow. It’s in my name.

DW. Did you both live here?

A. We did. He passed away here, under my roof.

DW. So living in a miserable upper room, making dinner on a hot plate…

A. Sounds like Dickens doesn’t it? No it was more like tea and cucumber sandwiches in the afternoon, a little whiskey before bed and roast beef and Yorkshire pudding on Sunday.

DW. That sounds way better.

A. We were content. We didn’t have the passion he and Alexandra had, nor the energy. Perhaps if I’d met a man my own age burning TV dinners on a hot plate in a little flat may have been acceptable, but not with Yuri. I think I grew old with him. The empty mansion with its unused rooms was like a suit we could no longer fit into. We were much happier here.

DW. What did his children say about the two of you married and living here.

A. They were happy their father was being looked after. And surprisingly, didn’t mind that Yuri had given me the place. It was hugs and kisses all around by the time they left.

DW. It’s a love story for the ages.

A. We seem to have gotten off track. What’s the next question?

DW. Musicians claim to hear children’s voices.

A. (Laughs) I would say false. But they’re down in that damp basement all day playing loud music and smoking weed; hard to say what creeps into a young man’s head.

DW. Three Teen Witches Cast Spells from Attic Prison

A. Sounds like a good motion picture. Might make a pleasant evening at the cinema. False.

DW. Cook Haunts Kitchen.

A. False. Oxana inherited his temper and his spice rack. She was very proud of the skills he'd taught her but when he left she took over with all charm and grace of a third world, banana republic, dictator.

DW. Cook Vanishes.

A. True. He took off without notice. All his things were gone. He left Oxana a grocery list and some recipes. We think he had a girlfriend.

DW. Did you ever hear from him again?

A. No. He was just ill tempered enough that nobody was really interested in looking for him. Me and Oxana got on with him because we had to.

DW. The Boltov children were like 'feral cats.' That’s a quote from a school teacher.

A. Probably false. I didn’t know any of their school teachers. They could be a bit wild at times but no more than any other child in Mills. They always behaved around their parents.

DW. Would you say they were bright?

A. They got good marks in their studies if that’s what you mean.

DW. Why do you think the three surviving Boltov children left Mills so quickly after they finished school?

A. There was nothing here for them. They wanted opportunities that cities like London or New York offered.

DW. You mentioned they could be a bit wild but no more than any other child in Mills. Could you describe any incidents where wild behavior was on display?

A. Alex come home with his shirt torn and bloodied after a school yard fight a few times. I have no idea the reasons.

DW. Did someone accuse his girlfriend of practicing witchcraft?

A. Where did you hear that?

DW. Talking to people around town.

A. You went straight to the braintrust, I see.

DW. That was before we started talking, I had just arrived.

A. The gulf between us grew as the children made friends outside the home. We delt with shopkeepers, tradesmen, keeping appointments, having repairs done. They worried about their friends, exams, sports, social activities. And gossip which, I suppose, crosses all generations. Eventually teenage arrogance reared its ugly head.

DW. How so?

A. I was carrying Lenard up stairs and Alex threw a pair of shoes at me and told me to polish them. I told Yuri of his disrespect and that the shoes had almost hit Lenard. Yuri got very angry. Alex was made to apologize.

DW. Sounds like the usual teenage drama.

A. I agree. But you see he was acting like a child and I was an adult, doing adult things; he doing kid things. We was only four years difference but a world apart.

DW. Okay this is the question a lot of reporters are asking and it stems from interviews Leafsen gave to papers on both side of the pond.

A. Bloody Leafsen. Alright.

DW. Do people practice witchcraft in Mills.

A. Yes.

DW. Are they put to death for practicing?

A. Yes, if they’re caught.

DW. Are most caught?

A. I don’t know. There are some life long practitioners and others who dabble here and there. The dabblers are not PTD.

DW. PTD?

A. Put To Death

DW. How deep into Black Magic does one have to be to qualify for death?

A. Very much so. Witnesses have to see someone practice it. It can’t just be rumors. Or a confession needs to be made. Katie Blaine made a confession before they attempted to hang her.

DW. The girl Yuri rescued?

A. Yes. She actually came to see him before he died. She thanked him; had no idea how instrumental he was in getting her to France. Katie was the one who suggested he put Saint in front of his name.

DW. Do you think she ever made the connection between her escape and his involvement.

A. She knew he was involved but he never took credit for helping her get to France or getting her a job. I imagine if she ever saw the number of dress orders that came to St. Bolts from Aiguille et Fil she might have made a connection. I'm glad she got out when she did and that she's happy.

DW. Are you happy right now, Anastasia?

A. (Smiles.) I’m content. My days of being a stranger are over.