Madness Treads Lightly

CHAPTER 31

“Idiot! Jerk!” These were the mildest of the expressions the chubby little man, who was as bald as a billiard ball, directed at his underling, who was standing in the center of the room, eyes down.

The bald man was lying in just his underpants on a trestle bed made up with a white sheet. A strong, shapely beauty in a flirty, light silk robe was gently and powerfully kneading his hairy haunches.

“Well, you know, I thought for sure it was cocaine or something,” the rather hefty man jabbered, standing barefoot on the massage room’s thick carpet.

“You thought!” The bald shrimp sat up abruptly. “Did I tell you to think? Answer me! What were you told?”

“Drive them around a little”—he drew his head into his shoulders as he spoke, making himself smaller—“and plant a bug.”

“Correct,” the bald man nodded. “Drive. And what did you do? Why did you go shake down their rooms?”

“Well… I wanted to do my best… Listen, Curly, maybe, uh, well, I can put the hokum back?”

“Christ!” The bald man rolled his eyes. “Cocaine! It’s talcum powder. Talcum powder. It’s written right there on the tin.”

“Not our letters. How am I supposed to read that? I saw white powder and decided, you know, I should check it out, for sure.”

“Listen, are you really such an idiot? Or are you just acting like one?” Curly sighed.

The big man didn’t know what to say. He honestly didn’t understand what he’d done wrong. The things in the hotel rooms of the old American and his interpreter were just begging to taken. The bags were wide open, and he put everything back neatly. If he’d gone into the rooms to plant bugs, then why not give their things a quick look at the same time? It’s not like he made off with the white powder. He brought it to Curly. How was he supposed to know it was crap for keeping your armpits dry?

“Okay.” Curly gave up. “Go take the day off.”

Curly lay back down with a sigh, and the silent and beautiful masseuse went back to work.

“There, Nina, you see what I have to work with?” Curly complained. “You can’t teach guys like that anything. It’s this new generation, damn them. They’re getting stupider and stupider these days. Stupider and more degenerate. Money decides everything. There is no honor among thieves. Not like before.”

Nina scooped a little cream from an open jar, spread it on her palms, and started kneading Curly’s shoulders. Shoulders tattooed with a general’s epaulets.

“And I don’t have anyone to consult with,” Curly went on. “There’s no one, not a soul I can trust. All the money I spend on stooges, and I barely use them. But just try to stop feeding them, the deadbeats. Oh, Nina,” he sighed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about this professor. And the girl, the interpreter. She’s not what she appears to be. She visited those two old ladies, had supper with them, and drank tea and chatted with them for three hours. That’s where we should have planted the bug. But who knew? This is a real puzzle, Nina. I’d better not mess this up. What do you think? What should I do?”

Nina was pummeling his back. Her soft, round face expressed nothing but peaceful concentration. Her full lips were slightly parted. Curly turned his head and met her kind, devoted look. The young woman’s eyes were a heavenly blue and amazingly bright and pure.

Just then, his cell phone, lying next to the bed, rang. Curly felt around on the floor and grabbed the phone.

“They removed the bug,” the man on the other end of the phone reported briefly.

“Who?” Curly exhaled.

“Either four-eyes or the girl.”

“Where are they?”

“They went to Zagorinskaya, to see Old Believers, they said. Maybe it’s bullshit? At first they were talking, and then they removed the bug. Maybe they’re bluffing?”

“Double-check. Did you fit four-eyes up with a ride?”

“Not so far.”

“All right, keep watching them. But don’t get caught. Is someone posted near the old ladies?”

“I’ve got two men there.”

“Add a third. And also, tell Cooper to pick out the best working girl he can find, and make sure she speaks English. The best, understand?”

“Major Ievlev says hello,” Sasha had quickly whispered that morning when they’d left the hotel and were outside in the fresh air. “We can’t discuss anything in the car. We’ll talk afterward. Don’t worry about the tails.”

“Are there many?” Lena asked in the same whisper.

“We’ll count en route.”

“Maybe we should change routes?” Lena suggested.

“Under no circumstance.”

“Why?”

“Because this way it will be easier to count the tails. And anyway, there’s no point spoiling your friend’s plans.”

It had been six hours since this quick conversation. In that time, she and Sasha hadn’t had a chance to speak again. But they’d counted the tails. Actually, there was just one tandem tail, two young guys in a gray Niva.

They ate dinner in the small cooperative café on the edge of the village. They didn’t have anything vegetarian for Michael besides cabbage salad and roast potatoes. The flattened grilled chicken Lena ordered was a tough old bird. Their tail, the two young men, took off their coats and sat at the next table, which did nothing to improve her appetite. Sasha ate his huge serving of dumplings with pleasure, though, and wiped his plate clean with a crust of bread.

Michael dozed on the way back. Something’s wrong here, Lena thought. Why all this attention? I just went to see Vasily Slepak’s mother. But they searched our rooms and planted an eavesdropping device. They could have mistaken the talcum powder for drugs. I need to tell Sasha to check Michael’s room. They may have planted something there, too. Why did they rummage around in our things anyway? And these guys in the Niva are nowhere near as discreet. They’re watching us openly.

“There may not have been anything in the car,” Sasha said when they arrived at last. “Can you hold out another half hour?”

“In what sense?” Lena said, surprised.

“In the sense that I wouldn’t refuse a cup of your brilliant coffee.”

“Do you think we can talk openly in my room now? What if there’s another bug there?”

“No.” Sasha smiled. “Now there definitely isn’t. While we were out today, I had every centimeter of your room searched by professionals.”

“When did you have time to tell them?”

“This isn’t my first job.” Sasha chuckled.

Behind the hotel counter sat a different administrator. She gave them their keys and said a polite hello.

“We never went to see the director!” Michael remembered.

“But we’re leaving tomorrow anyway,” Lena remarked.

“I understand. You’d rather avoid confrontation.”

Michael grumbled a little longer, wished them all a good night, and went to his room.

“Listen, do you have anything to eat?” Sasha asked when they were alone. “I always get hungry at night.”

“I think you get hungry in the daytime, too,” Lena commented. “I hate to disappoint you, but all I have is tea, coffee, and sugar.”

“Well, then treat me to some coffee. Here’s what I want to tell you. Close down your private detective agency, Lena. It could end badly.”

Lena unlaced her boots, slipped her feet into her slippers, and got comfortable in the armchair.

“What agency, Sasha?” she asked.

“Quit pretending. You don’t have to play these games with me. I have no intention of signing on as your Dr. Watson.”

“Sasha, I’m not pretending. Where did you get the idea I was playing at Sherlock Holmes?”

“Then why did you pay that visit to Malaya Proletarskaya?”

“Why do people pay visits in general? I was just visiting two helpless old women.”

“And how do you know them, these little old ladies? How did you meet them?”

“What is this, an interrogation? Where’s your warrant? And what’s your rank anyway, soldier?”

“First Lieutenant Volkovets, Federal Security Service,” Sasha introduced himself and took his identity card out of his pocket.

“Very nice to meet you.” Lena chuckled and gave it a careful study.

“I have no intention of interrogating you.” Sasha quickly put his card back in his pocket. “But I’m giving you a serious warning. Wind up your investigation.”

“Maybe I should apologize to Michael and go back to Moscow? And you can assign him another interpreter.”

“The right thing would be to send you both home,” Sasha said pensively.

“On what basis?”

“On the basis that neither I, nor my department, nor anyone else can guarantee your safety here. We don’t have the means here to supply you with an armed guard.”

“And if I tell you that those women on Malaya Proletarskaya are just the mother and aunt of my old acquaintance Vasily Slepak? Would that reassure you or not?”

Sasha’s glasses slid down to the tip of his nose. She actually felt sorry for him.

“Fine, then. Once upon a time, long, long ago, Vasya Slepak went to prison for a youthful transgression. Something bad happened to him there. He was sodomized. I met him when a group from my magazine performed at the prison. So I got one of his poems published. I wanted to give a little lift to this humiliated man. And I sent the magazine to his mama. Then Vasya and I corresponded for a while. And now that I was in Tyumen, I decided to visit Vasya’s mama. Does that sound like a private investigation?”

It wasn’t that Lena didn’t trust this Security Service officer. She was just tired of retelling the same story, which accumulated more complicated and confusing details every day. She didn’t want to see ridicule and a lack of understanding in a stranger’s eyes yet again. She was sick and tired of trying to prove she wasn’t crazy.

“Well, did you satisfy your curiosity? Did you find out how your old acquaintance is doing?” Sasha asked after a long pause.

“No. He hasn’t been to see his old women for a long time. I should warn you that I’ll be paying visits in Tobolsk, too. Since you’re planning to go there with us.”

“So who exactly do you plan to visit in Tobolsk?”

Lena grinned. “That is my problem. This hasn’t the slightest thing to do with the room searches, the missing talcum powder, or our two young tails in the Niva.”

Lena picked up the mug and headed for the bathroom to fill it with water for coffee. When she came back a minute later, Sasha was standing by the door.

“It’s late,” he said. “And I have a busy day tomorrow. During the day, I’ll be driving you all over town. And in the evening we’ll be going to Tobolsk. By the way, it would be simpler if we drove my car there instead of taking the train.”

“All right.” Lena nodded. “I’ll talk it over with Michael. Good night.”

Michael was very enthusiastic about going to Tobolsk in Sasha’s car. The train took all night, whereas by highway it took three or four hours.

“But in the train we could at least get some sleep,” Lena pointed out.

They’d been on their feet since morning. They’d been to the local history museum and the central library stacks, and they’d met with an ethnology professor from the local teachers college. Their tail followed them the whole time. Inwardly, Lena rejoiced that they couldn’t possibly have enjoyed a single moment of that long, boring day.

“There, you see?” Lena grinned when they left town late that night. “I spent the whole day as an innocent interpreter. Nothing more. And you assured me this wasn’t your first go-round.”

“What are you talking about?” Sasha’s eyebrows went up in perplexity.

“I’m talking about the fact that our tails haven’t left us for a minute. Your people probably haven’t figured out anything about them.”

“How can we without your help? You’re our chief investigator.” He shook his head. “By the way, Ievlev’s arriving tonight. And heading straight to Tobolsk. And then I’m handing you over to him. Let him deal with you.”

“Listen, why are you so upset? All I did was visit the mother of a former criminal. It’s really not such a big deal. By now he’s probably an honest, law-abiding citizen, anyway.”

Sasha didn’t respond. He was staring into the gloom of the snow-drifted highway. They were winding alongside the railroad. Dense, limitless taiga stretched out on all sides.