The Diaries of Ayesha

I awoke nestled next to Susan, a vast improvement over the last time we slept together, when I woke up and found she and Miriam had gone.

I slipped out of bed and pulled my shorts on and padded my way into the living room and then pushed her wheelchair into the room and parked it where I thought she could get into it. Then I found her kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards until I located the elixir vital to human life in the morning, or at least mine: Coffee. The nectar of the God, Juan Valdez.

Fifteen minutes later I had a cheese omelet ready for Susan and bacon and toast for me, then carried it to her on a tray.

I kissed her gently and she stirred then looked up at me with a sleepy smile.

"Good Morning Sir Michael.", she said with a small yawn.

"Good morning Mi'lady Susan, I bring you succulent vituals for thy morning pleasure.", I said helping her to sit up, then placing the tray on the bed.

"Oh my, breakfast in bed. I'm honored.", she said happily.

"Well don't expect it all the time.", I said. "Have to pay for the bed somehow."

"If I order you to, you will.", she said smugly.

"Ask Minx about that. She might loan me to you, but I don't think she'd give me away. Sell me maybe.", I said with a wink.

Susan stopped with a bite of egg halfway to her mouth.

"She could sell you?", she asked in surprise.

"Damned if I know. I don't think I can be, but I've never asked. I like to think I wouldn't exactly be a bargain.", I replied seriously.

"I'd say not. How long were you married by the way?"

"My wife would have said six and a half pretty good years. Living with me is not a picnic. I can be stubborn, annoying, and sloppy. And those are my minor flaws."

She shook her head in disagreement.

"And you can be loving and gentle and gallant and romantic. And that's why Minx keeps you around, and why your wife married you. She knew what she was getting."

"Perhaps.", was all I said.

I called Mistress Minx and asked if Susan could borrow Miriam to take care of her until she could find a replacement for Mr. Hahn, and she graciously agreed.

"Miriam would love to do that. She's really taken quite a liking to Susan. Don't forget to call the Hammet Agency and talk to Miss Danger today.", Minx reminded me.

"No Ma'am, I hadn't forgotten. Incidentally, who's paying her?", I asked.

"I suppose I am. If you can develop any solid information about Kali's activities at Rudenko Imports, I think the Mother of Many will reimburse me. If not, you'll be working for food stamps for the rest of your life.", she sighed.

"Eeech."

"Exactly. I'll send Miriam over after I have my breakfast."

I contacted the Hammet Detective Agency and asked for Gerl Danger.

When she answered I reminded her who I was and asked if she was interested in working on the case.

"Are you serious?", she asked.

"You know, nobody thinks I'm serious about this. Yes, I'm serious.", I said exasperated.

"Why? I know that Rudenko's in jail.", she replied.

"Let's just say I know a little more than the papers are printing. My company still has an interest in the case and Miss Dawes insists that I work with a partner this time."

"So why me?"

"Let's just say what Miss Dawes wants, she gets. Are you in?"

"I'll meet you at Hamburger Mary's in an hour. And you're buying.", she replied.

"Somehow I expected that.", I sighed.

Hamburger Mary's is one of the best places for burgers in the City as well as having an eclectic clientele.

I pushed my way past a couple of spike haired, pierced lipped teenagers and joined Gerl at the table she had selected.

She was already three quarters of the way through a chili size when I sat down and she waved for a waitress to come over and take my order.

"Just coffee for me.", I said.

"I figured this was the best place to meet you.", she said around a mouthful of burger.

"How so?", I said, sipping the coffee.

"Because Rudenko's place is only a few blocks from here. And I figured you wanted to get a quick start. So we eat and then we pay Rudenko's a visit.", she explained.

"Are you always this one step ahead of everybody?"

She laughed.

"Usually. Pisses a lot of people off when I am, but I figured in your case you wouldn't mind."

"You're right. There's another person who will be working with us by the way. She's a lawyer.", I advised.

"OK , not a problem."

"She's also in a wheelchair.", I added.

She stopped eating and whistled.

"Time out. We're taking a handicapped lawyer with us?", she said curiously.

"Not today, but I need your talents and I need hers. I'm just the pointman on this job.", I explained.

"It's your money. Standard rates apply, just like in a taxi cab.", she said taking another bite.

"Don't I know it. If I can't prove anything, Miss Dawes has threatened to take it out of my pay if I don't come up with answers.", I agreed.

"She sounds like she can be a real bitch to work for.", Gerl said looking out the window.

"At times. She's very demanding but to be where she is at her age, it takes that drive. Me, I generally putt."

"Putz?", she said with a smile.

"Putt you twit!", I said finishing the coffee.

I paid the check and we walked over to Rudenko's office to see what we could see and planned the approach.

Rudenko's receptionist was more than a little startled to see me walk in the door, which pleased me no end.

"Mr. Rudenko isn't here.", she said, looking towards the closed office door.

"I'm sure he isn't, considering he's in jail right now. But I'm still working on the Zilenski and Podgorni matter. This is my assistant, Ms. Danger.", I said introducing Gerl.

"I'm not sure I can be of any assistance to you.", she said hesitantly.

"Oh I don't know about that.", Gerl said. "If we could just look at the business records for the last five years."

The receptionist's attitude changed at that point to a far more defensive posture.

"The company records are not open for the general public.", she said, her Russian accent diminishing as she became more angry.

"Honey, I'm not the general public. I am trying to determine if there are grounds to pull the insurance from this company. If you cooperate, we can probably take care of any discrepancies. If you don't want to do this the easy way, fine.", I snarled.

Gerl touched me on the arm and I stepped back slightly.

"Look, Ms. Oppengak", she said reading the nameplate on the desk, " my partner is a bit edgy about this whole situation. He could have been shot instead of your boss. Now his boss is on his back about the whole affair. I know you have your limits, but if we could just talk to whoever has taken over in Mr. Rudenko's absence, I'm sure we can wrap things up and leave you alone.", she said in a more moderate tone than I used.

The receptionist just looked at her for a moment before pressing the intercom button.

"There are two people here from TransUnion Insurance.", she said clearly.

"Send Mr. Forbin in.", was the quiet reply in a voice that sounded vaguely familiar.

"Ah, my reputation precedes me.", I said and walked into the office.

I closed the door behind me and faced an old friend.

"Isis, how nice to see you again. It's been what, a year or two at least?", I said sitting down.

Isis Khambata, member of Kali, and a woman who had once buried Minx and I under a truckload of fruit, sat behind Ivan Rudenko's desk, a pen in her hand.

"Mr. Forbin. I'd like to say it's nice to see you, but it isn't. What do you want?", she said coldly.

"After all we've been through together, how can you say that? After all Minx didn't bill you for the car repairs.", I said sweetly.

"If you have business here, tell me. Otherwise, get out."

I leaned forward and gazed at her levely.

"Isis, did you or anybody involved with Kali shoot Rudenko?"

She looked at me like I'd crawled from under a rock.

"Why? His men were the ones who broke Susan Bellamy's back, not Rudenko.", she said.

"Why didn't Lydia do something about it if you knew that?", I asked.

"Why should she? It didn't affect us directly. What Rudenko did was his business, not ours.", she rebuked.

"Nice having a selective set of morals.", I retorted.

"Was that all you wanted?", she said putting the pen down.

"Just one more question. Does your receptionist know about Kali?"

Isis considered the question carefully before answering.

"I honestly don't know how much she knows about Rudenko's business affairs. And I'd still like to know what you want here."

I thought about it for moment before replying.

"Because I as much as I dislike Ivan Rudenko, I still want to know who shot him. And killed the two men in the clock tower at Ghirardelli Square."

She blanched at the last few words.

"Two dead men in the tower?", she asked.

"Yes, the police found two dead men in the tower, shot at close range.", I replied." It seems that they might have been Marcus Bellamy's bodyguards."

That got a reaction.

She stood up so suddenly that her chair slammed against the wall with a bang. Almost before I could react myself, the door was kicked open and Gerl stood there with her gun aimed at Isis.

"Freeze!" , she shouted.

Isis did, as I looked at Gerl who stood ready for action.

"What took you so long?", I said casually.

Gerl didn't bother with a reply, just looked at Isis.

"Problem, boss?", she asked.

"Oh no, not at all. It seems that murder bothers her is all.", I said watching Isis squirm at gun point.

"I promise you, we had nothing to do with the murder of those two men.", Isis stammered.

"Do you believe her?", I asked Gerl.

"I think so. Look at her hands.", he said nodding towards Isis.

She was right. Isis's hands were shaking like a belly dancers navel.

I stood up.

"Isis, do yourself a favor. Find out who did, before the police show up. Because they won't be understanding at all. You know my name, look up the number.", I said and walked out, with Gerl holstering her weapon, following right behind me.

"Do you always come on that strong?", Gerl asked as we walked back towards Hamburger Mary's.

"The young lady that you sent quivering into a corner is an old friend of Miss Dawes and I. We nailed her on a bank fraud case a couple of years ago. ", I said glibly.

"And the murder bit?"

"I told you I knew a little more about the Rudenko shooting than most people. It seems that the shooter killed two other people. There were two guys who were in the tower to start with, both shot at close range. And a rifle was found that didn't match the ballistics of the one that shot Rudenko."

Gerl stopped walking and looked at me.

"Are you telling me that somebody shot the people that were planning on shooting someone?" , she asked.

"You got it."

"That's fuckin weird.", she said.

"Hang around for awhile and you'll find out that weird r' us.", I said opening the door to Hamburger Mary's

I sat down next to her at the counter as she ordered a beer and took a long pull at it when it arrived.

"You didn't say anything about murder when you hired me.", she finally said.

"I'm sorry.", I said. "I've never worked with a professional detective before."

She looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"I thought you were an investigator for Transglobal Insurance?", she said.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Actually, I do research for Dawes, Jones, Mosley and Grubbs. Miss Dawes had me assigned to the case because we were planning on hiring the lawyer's daughter. The background check turned up a few odd things and, well here I am.", I admitted.

"Does this lawyer that you're working with know anything about working in the field as an investigator?", she asked.

"Probably more than I do. I've learned a lot, but I've never taken a formal class."

She finished the beer and ordered a second one.

"Who's paying?", the waitress asked.

"I'm buying, he's paying.", she said as he looked at me for conformation.

I put a twenty on the counter.

"When she's finished that much, cut her off.", I said, "And get me a cup of coffee please."

She poured me a cup of coffee, picked up the twenty and walked away.

"I don't work with amateurs and kids as a rule." Gerl said, putting the bottle down.

"I may not have a fancy license but I don't consider myself an amateur by any stretch of the imagination.", I retorted, standing up.

"Wait a minute. Let's talk.", she said and waved me back down

I sat back down next to her again, still piqued by her attitude.

"Look ," she started, "I've worked with my share of partners who were too dumb to come in out of the rain. But you're expecting me to protect you and a woman in a wheelchair."

"You've got a problem with that? I'm the client and I'm paying the bills. You can assign my associate to do the phone work and the research. But I will be in the field with you. My leads and my way. Got it? ", I snapped in my best New York accent.

"Fuck you.", she replied finishing the beer.

"Not my style.", I replied.

She grinned at me and stuck a hand out.

"Let's meet your partner. This is going to be fun.", she said as we shook hands.

Susan and Gerl had no trouble getting used to each other as Susan was accustomed to dealing with police officers and in fact I was ignored while they started talking in copspeak.

I finally decided that enough was enough and raised a hand.

"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt this tea party ladies, but time's a wasting. We need to check out my theory about who the dead guys are.", I said.

"And how do you intend to do that?", Susan asked.

Gerl and I just looked at each other and smiled.

"I don't think I want to hear this.", Susan said.

"I haven't said anything yet.", I protested.

"How do you look in black?", Gerl asked her.

"Fine, why?", Susan said with a wary glance.

"Well, your husband has been missing and presumed dead for some time. There's some chance that one of the unidentified men in the morgue may be your missing spouse.", I said.

"You are really sick, you know that?", Susan replied with a wry smile.

"You knew that before you married me.", I replied automatically.

Susan and Gerl both looked at me oddly

"Married?", they chorused.

"Sorry, reflex. My wife used to say that.", I explained with a slight blush.

"Miriam!", Susan called." Get my black dress out of the closet. It seems I'm going to a funeral."

Miriam appeared from the bedroom with a curious look on her face.

"Who's funeral?", she asked looking at the three of us.

"If he's wrong, his.", Susan replied pointing a thumb at me.

Two hours later the deputy medical examiner was escorting Susan and Gerl and I into the storage area. I was dressed in a dark gray suit and Gerl was in a dark pants suit. Susan was in her wheelchair, dressed in black and occasionally dabbing at her eyes with a hankie.

"I've been trying to find my husband for months now and so has his brother," Susan said nodding towards me," ever since he disappeared.", she said in a choked voice "I've searched every morgue from Seattle to San Diego so far, and nothing."

"Ma'am, what makes you think he may be here?", the examiner asked, opening the door to the holding room.

"This was his favorite city.", Susan explained through the tears.

I wasn't sure what was making her weep, I just hoped she could keep doing it.

Going through the John Does in the morgue was akin to playing "Let's Make A Deal" at the Addams Family's house.

The examiner opened each drawer in turn and each time I didn't know who the body was, I heard the word "ZONK!" in my head.

He finally reached the last two freezers, each door bearing a red tag and stopped.

"I can't open these two , ma'am. The police are investigating the case right now.", he explained.

Bingo.

"Do you know what they look like? If I described my brother, would you be able to identify him?", I asked.

"I can show you the pictures we took.", he said and walked out of the room, leaving us alone with the corpscicles.

"You can stop weeping now, he's gone.", I said to Susan.

"Easy for you to say.", she said, opening her hankie and showing me the large slice of onion concealed in it.

"Honey, you are good.", Gerl said admiringly as the attendant walked back in with a set of Polaroids.

"Mr. Forbin, is your brother either of these two men?", he asked handing me the photos.

I looked at them.

Zonked again. Twice.

Whoever these two guys were, they were not Mr. Howard and Mr. Johnson. The two men were dark complected, one had a mustache and the other a bushy black beard.

"No, neither of these men are my brother.", I said with an apologetic look at Susan.

She kept playing her part, but I could tell that when we got outside, I was going to be roasted alive over a slow flame.

We thanked the examiner and he promised to watch for Susan's mythical husband as I somewhat shamefacedly led my little group of tourist ghouls out to the street.

"Well that was an adventure.", Susan said throwing the onion slice into the gutter.

"OK, I was wrong.", I admitted, hanging my head.

"Hey, science is the destruction of a beautiful theory by an ugly fact.", Gerl quoted.

"Thomas Hobbs." I said in surprise.

"Who's Thomas Hobbs? I read it in Bloom County.", she replied.

Before I could reply to that comment we were joined by Mr. Howard and Mr. Johnson in the undead flesh.

"Miss Bellamy, Mr. Forbin and ... friend.", Mr. Johnson said politely.

Gerl shifted automatically into defense mode and moved ahead of me, slightly blocking both of the men.

"Can I help you.", she said with the same level of inflection.

"Mr. Bellamy would like to see Mr. Forbin and his daughter.", Mr. Howard explained.

"Fine, I'll go with you.", Gerl said.

"Be my guest.", he said with an inviting wave of his hand towards a nearby car.

I walked back to where Miriam was parked waiting for us and gave her instructions to follow us, and then joined the others at the car.

It was a reasonably short drive to Mr. Bellamy's office and he was even cordial to me, although I think the sight of a six foot woman in black gave him pause.

Actually if I didn't know better, it would give me a pause as well.

Marcus Bellamy went out of his way to be polite, in fact almost too polite to suit me, but I didn't want to spoil his mood.

"Susan, I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you. You deserved the truth and I hid it.", he said leaning across the desk.

She just shrugged in her wheelchair and let him continue without commenting.

"As to you Mr. Forbin, I understand your feelings and I do appreciate your efforts to find the people who hurt Susan. Through your efforts, the two men responsible will be punished."

I started looking at the floor to see if the bullshit was hip deep yet, and waited myself for him to continue.

Gerl was less subtle than I was and snickered slightly.

He continued on with his mea culpa's and after a few minutes of meandering, I finally stopped him.

"Mr. Bellamy, I appreciate your change in attitude, and hate to ruin your good mood, but I'd like you to get to the point please.", I interrupted politely.

He sat back in his chair and smiled.

"I just wanted you to know that I understand why you've taken the attitude you have and now that you know that I'm not involved, I'm sure you can leave this matter in the hands of the police.", he said with a reassuring tone in his voice.

"But why would I want to? I love a mystery! Especially a locked room one.", I said cheerfully.

His expression changed from congeniality to annoyance.

"Don't you think it's a bit dangerous to be doing this?", he asked sharply.

"So is crossing Market Street at rush hour.", I replied. "Marcus, trust me, Gerl is not with us for just her looks and as to your daughter's welfare, I've already made arrangements for a new caretaker for her. So just sit back and relax.", I assured him.

He frowned at me and turned to Susan.

"Honey, would you please try and talk some sense into him.", he pleaded.

She smiled.

"Why? I'm having a pretty good time too. I've gotten into the morgue on false pretenses, been shot at or at least towards, performed at a very disreputable club, and have actually had someone make love to me for the first time in years.", she responded.

Marcus Bellamys face turned almost purple with suppressed anger and he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of Maalox.

"Mr. Bellamy, I think you should take a stress pill and think things over.", I said in a soft voice.

That did it.

"Get out!", he almost shouted, taking a swig from the bottle and grimacing at the taste.

"We're going. But we'll be back.", I said, pushing Susan towards the door.

"See you later Dad.", she said gaily waving over her shoulder.

Miriam picked up all up and drove us back to Susan's house, where we split up and went our own ways.

I promised Gerl I would keep her informed about what I found and then drove back to the Bank to bring Minx up to date on the results so far.

Minx sat and sipped her late afternoon tea as I briefed her on the investigation so far, including my abortive theory of the identity of the gunmen.

"So you were wrong. Now, find another lead. Go back into the Russian community and poke around. Talk to the priest, what was his name again?", she advised.

"Father Alexi. ", I replied in a slightly depressed tone.

"Yes. Talk to people Michael, it is something you're good at."

I sighed and reached for my own cup of tea.

"I just feel like I'm wasting my time and your money on this."

"This isn't a TV show where you have an hour to solve the mystery. This is the real world. You might not even find the answers.", Minx comforted. "If I didn't think you had a chance to solve this, I wouldn't have told you to go ahead."

I reflected on her words and considered that random shootings without pattern were the bane of law enforcement everywhere.

"I guess you're right.", I mused. "Life is not so simple as walking across a field."

"So finish your tea, go home and start again in the morning. I'll arrange a leave of absence with the HR department for you. Take a week off to follow this up. If you don't have it solved by then, give up.", she ordered.

I gulped the last of the tea and headed for the door to her office.

"Michael.", she called after me.

"Yes Miss Dawes?", I said pausing at the door.

"Be careful. Don't poke around without letting Ms. Danger know where you are."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Would I do anything dangerous?", I asked, and ducked as she threw a rubber eraser at me which bounced off the door next to my head.

I left before the next item hit the target.

It was late next morning before I returned to the church to seek out Father Alexi.

He was talking with a group of older women as I entered the chapel and nodded in my direction as he continued speaking.

As they filed out, he approached me and greeted me warmly.

"You have come back to visit me Mr. Forbin.", he said.

"I've come to confess my sins to you Father, and ask for your forgiveness.", I said.

"My forgiveness?", he said in surprise. "What for?"

I indicated a confessional nearby.

"We need to speak in private.", I said and walked to the booth.

I sat down and drew the curtain and a moment later the window of the booth slid open.

"Forgive me Father for I have sinned.", I said.

I may not be Catholic, but I know the drill.

I told Father Alexi everything, from how I got involved in the Podgorni matter to the fact I was looking for whoever shot Rudenko. I carefully left out the facts about the dead bodies in the clock tower though.

"So Father, I have committed the sin of omission, and the sin of lying.", I concluded.

There was a long silence from the other side of the booth and then a sigh.

"I can not give you penance for your sins, nor can I absolve you of them.", he said. "Your intentions were good, but the road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

"Yes Father.", I said my head down in submission.

"You asked me if I knew Zilenski. He too had his secrets as do you. Perhaps you should seek out his wife and ask her.", he continued. "You will make an offering to the poor when you leave here as a token of your repentance."

"Yes Father, thank you.", I said and opened the curtain.

I slipped a pair of twenties into the poor box and left the church to find a phone.

Zilenski had a wife. That wasn't in the booking papers or any of the other documents I'd seen so far. Susan hadn't mentioned a wife either.

This was getting more and more interesting all the time.

A quick call to Susan was indicated.

Miriam answered the phone when I called and told me that Susan was having breakfast.

"That's fine. I just need to talk to her for a minute.", I said.

She put the phone down and a minute later Susan answered.

"Good morning lover.", she said happily.

"Well skin me alive and call me luggage. You're in a good mood this morning.", I commented.

"A beautiful woman in my house and a handsome man on the phone. Why not?"

I shook my head in amusement.

"Well, I've got work for you today. Did you know that Zilenski had a wife?", I asked.

"No!", she said in surprise. "He never said anything to me at all about being married."

"Well according to Father Alexi, Zilenski's married. He suggested I talk to his wife about the shooting."

"So where is she?"

"That's where you come in. I need you and Gerl to start digging through the records at City Hall. I'll start checking the INS records and see where that leads.", I explained.

"OK. Meet you for lunch at the deli on Polk about one?", she asked.

"Got a better place.", I said thinking for a moment. "Meet me at a place named Katia's. It's on Sixth St. "

"Sounds good. I'll see you there about one. I love you.", she trilled.

"Love you too sweet cheeks. Bye!", I replied and hung up.

I placed a call to Minx to ask her to start an INS inquiry about the reputed Mrs. Zilenski.

"I don't know if he was married before or after coming to the City, so I need the INS files checked.", I said.

"I understand. I'll call the Rancho and have someone start the search. Not bad for a morning's work Michael.", Minx replied.

"Thank you Mistress. By the way, could you check with San Quintin and see if you can get a list of Zilenski's visitors if any?"

"Are you thinking that she might have visited him?"

"Stranger things have happened Mistress. You and I meeting for one.", I replied.

"It still doesn't measure up to the spontaneous combustion of the mayor of Warsaw in the 12th Century.", she said and hung up.

Or the rain of fish in Burgundy either.