Criminal Carma

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The voices were coming closer. One of them was Baba Raba’s. The other was female. I started to retreat once more to the bathroom and then stopped. After an hour of meditation, the guru or his companion might need to use the facilities. The voices were right outside the door. Looking around wildly, I dove for the far side of the bed and wriggled under, same as sneak thieves and illicit lovers have been doing down through the dusty centuries since people first elevated their sleeping pallets to get away from crawling vermin. I felt a little silly hiding under the bed but, really, where are you going to go? The space beneath was clean and uncluttered. The bedspread hung down like a curtain to within a couple of inches of the floor.

I made it just in time. The orange fringe was still swinging when Baba came into the room. The floor shook as his big farm-boy feet plodded over and stood beside the bed, close enough to reach out and tickle. Facing him was a second pair of feet, much smaller and neater with red-painted toenails.

“I am sorry to take you away from the others,” Baba said, “but I wanted to see how you are doing.” His bedroom voice was less bombastic than his professional-guru voice. He sounded genuinely concerned. I wondered if his words were a prelude to hanky-panky and looked up to see how much clearance there was between me and the bottom of the bed. Not much. There was a box spring, but I didn’t have confidence in it. If Baba started bouncing his washtub ass on the bed, the whole thing might collapse on me.

“That’s all right,” I heard Evelyn Evermore’s cultivated voice say. “I want to talk to you, too.” Happily, she didn’t sound amorous. She sounded dismayed. Despite her fine meditative posture, she had not connected with her inner ananda.

“You don’t seem well, my generous friend,” Baba said. “You are upset by what happened in the desert.”

“I’m upset about a number of things, Baba,” Evermore said, the distress in her voice sharpening into anger. “I still want to know why you sent that disgusting man with me to Indian Wells. His manners were atrocious and he treated me like a prisoner.”

“As I told you before you left, I sent him because I sensed you were in danger. Which turned out to be all too true. It is fortunate he was with you. Or the necklace would have been stolen.”

“You are very interested in that necklace, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. It is essential for the work we are doing.”

“So you say. But I am having doubts, Baba. That Jimmy character is a cretin. He put his hands on me. It was a horrible experience and it makes me question your judgment and intentions. Where in the world did you even meet someone like that?”

“The Hebrew teacher Jesus told the Pharisees that he did not come to save respectable people, but sinners,” Baba said. “The Pharisees were rich and self-righteous and wanted to know why he spent time with barkeeps and prostitutes. He told them that people who are well do not need a doctor; only sick people need a doctor. Jimmy is a troubled young man and I am trying to help him. It is good for him to make himself useful in our work.”

“So, you’re Jesus now?” Evelyn said sarcastically. “No, I am not Jesus. I am just one feeble and faltering man trying to do a little good in an unhappy world. And I can’t do it alone. I need help. We all need help. Including you. I am sorry if Jimmy offended you. I will warn him about his behavior and make sure that he does not bother you again. He will apologize to you when he returns.”

Evelyn’s feet shifted restlessly and I heard her sigh. When she spoke, her voice wasn’t as harsh: “I don’t need an apology from him, and I don’t mean to be judgmental. Jimmy Z is a real jerk, but we have all been jerks in our lives, and worse, I suppose. At least I have. Just keep him away from me.” Her voice grew softer still. “Have you heard anything since the last time we talked?”

“Yes.” Baba said, power and authority flowing back into his tone, crowding out the apologetic note. “She is still in Los Angeles and she wants to come home.”

“How do you know? Have you found her?” Evermore’s voice trembled. Baba had struck straight to her heart.

“The same way I knew about her father’s sins,” the guru said, getting sonorous. “The same way I knew about her love of riding and about all the things that happened to her when she was with you that I have told you about. I am in contact with those who have knowledge of her whereabouts, and I am seeking her in deep meditation. I am close to her now. We will find her soon.”

“I want to believe you, Baba,” the rich lady said. “And I want to help you in your work. I told you last week that you could have the necklace after Diamonds in the Desert, and I will follow through on that. I just hope you are not stringing me along. It has been six months since you said you would find her. I will do anything you want, but you have to find her soon. I can’t stand this much longer.”

Baba’s big feet shuffled toward her and I could imagine his thick hairy arms stretching out to enfold her in a simian embrace. But she backed away, unwilling to be comforted against his beer keg of a belly.

“No. Keep your distance.”

“What?” Baba said, sounding surprised and offended.

“We’ve been over this.”

“I am only trying to comfort you, Evelyn,” Baba said. “This is the time for faith. We will find her soon. I promise you that. Where is the necklace now?”

“The Indian Wells police have it, but my attorney is driving out on Monday afternoon to pick it up,” Evermore said.

“Does he know that you are going to donate it to the center?”

“No. He is suspicious of you and I didn’t want to argue with him, so I told him I need the necklace for a charity event I am attending later this week.”

“Can we rely on him, Evelyn? It is essential that I have the diamonds in my possession by Tuesday afternoon.”

“Of course I can rely on him. He has been my attorney for twenty years. He will take the necklace to the bank on Tuesday morning and put it in my safety deposit box. We can meet there in the afternoon.”

“You are going to give it to me then?” For the first time in my brief acquaintance with him, I heard a quaver in Baba’s big voice. I had a pretty good idea why.

“Yes. I will make out a receipt for you to sign and the necklace will be yours. I’ll be glad to be rid of it.”

“Do you think it is safe for the lawyer to transport it when thieves are after it?” Baba asked.

“He is taking an armed guard with him to the desert, and he has a safe at his office where he can keep it overnight. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Yes. And to find out you how you are.”

“Well, now you know. I am very unhappy.” Talking about banks and attorneys, Evermore had recovered her moneyed poise. “You have a great deal of spiritual talent, Baba. I am in awe of you sometimes. Maybe you are exactly what you claim to be, exactly what I took you for when we met last summer. You helped me then. You gave me hope. But my patience is wearing out. I am wearing out. You said if I gave you the necklace you would be able to find Christina and bring her back to me. I am holding you to that. Find her soon, Baba. Please.”

Her bare feet turned quickly and flitted from the room. Baba stood silently until the sound of her steps faded. When she was gone, he took a deep breath, audibly sucking half the air in the room into his tremendous torso, then chanted the cosmic syllable om one time, drawing the resonant mantra out for a minute or more, filling the atmosphere with a vibration that raised goose bumps on my arms.

Drawing another breath, he began to chant om again, but halfway through, the chant morphed into a growl and then a terrifying roar. The roar ended with a crash followed by a series of temblors as Baba stomped out of the room. Sharp particles hit my face at the moment of the crash. After Baba slammed the door and pounded down the hallway, I slithered out from under the bed and saw that he had smashed the Buddha on the floor. The jaggedly decapitated head was still intact, but there was a crack running from the bridge of the Aryan nose to the top of the skull. It looked like the merest tap would split it in two.