Back to – To where you are waited for
Diamond-cold blue eyes watched strictly and reliably from a hologram-photo. Even a sun ray couldn’t shine like they did.
The sun was so bright today. It was shining, making cheerful each part of the City. And the City was smiling, lazy, lounge. It was late spring, when the torrent of the beauty flew into Firokami from towns around.
Mergen Hevea sat in his beige armchair and turned off the holophoto, started staring to an opened window. He was a high blonde-haired person, handsome enough. Mergen looked like a medieval warrior, a sunny Viking. His light-green eyes always seemed to be smiling. Distinct lips had a hidden kiss inside themselves. Now, the grand detective should have made some calls, but he didn’t want to do that. The City called to jump into it, to throw yourself into the viscous air, which was made from the liquid sun. Mergen was listening to music. His playlist consisted the classic rock and classics. Wild passages were changed by royal style. Man was swinging in his chair, in the same rhythm with the music.
Suddenly into the room was thrown a man. Mergen smiled and got his hand up like “hi”. The man covered the door by himself, looked at Mergen and smiled too.
He passed to the table of the friend and sat on the edge of it.
“A nice?” asked Mergen.
“A nice,” sighed the man. It was how they named whodunnits – the nices.
It was another grand detective – Hahn Parady. He was alike Mergen, he had a different haircut, more gentle features, dark-green eyes with a blue shade, a little but markedly shorted than Mergen, but they were still so alike, people thought they were brothers.
The friends had been here, in this department, not since long ago. Their Boss – Shahn Lineal just had got this assignment, and when he was transferred to this department, as a chef, he took in the persons, whom he trusted. Now, in this department, Shahn was the emperor. No one could give any orders to him. His people, his team, consisted of the uncontrolled people, officers and detectives, which were really bad in discipline. A couple months ago they had started to work here, but they already have excellent results, seven resolved cases for a few months. It was Graybrown sector of Firokami City, and it had very heavy situation of disorder. It was one of the most criminal sectors of the City, and Government hoped, Shahn could fix it. The guys took one of the whodunnits from the long list of cases. They used the counting-out for choosing a case.
Mergen threw few files on the table. Moved it forward.
“No, we have a new reclamation.” Hahn dropped a piece of paper on the table.
“But we still have to choose another case from eternity.” The blond guy nodded to the pile of the files.
“Yes, we are.” Hahn spread files out like a fan.
“One, two, Freddy will take you…” began Mergen the counting-out from one old film, about hundreds years old.
“This one!” Took a file Hahn, opened it jauntily.
“So what we have here?” Mergen leaned back in the chair.
“People, loneliness, offences…” Hahn shook his head and shrugged disdainfully.
“Oh, that’s so new!” said Mergen sarcastically. “Well, let’s say it was just a try to get some satisfaction and finish with it.”
“Yep, let’s do that.”
Into the room entered a lathy aristocratic man. His cold eyes were shining as diamonds, those eyes, from the holophoto.
“What is up?” He asked. His voice was as whisper of leaves.
“Shahn,” Mergen spinned on his chair. “We wanted to say to you, one more nice is closed.”
Shahn nodded shortly.
“Have you begun the new reclamation?” He asked, couldn’t resist to touch Mergen’s hair.
Mergen threw back his head, to look at Shahn.
“Yes, it was the case of the offence, because of the loneliness. Not a big deal.” Mergen said casually.
“Oh, yeah.” Suiting to his tone said Shahn. “Awesome. Who was offended? I should know whom I must give a lollipop. Work guys, or a lollipop will be yours.”
Shahn tenderly smiled.
“Ok. We can’t bereave the offended person their sweets.” Stared into the paper Mergen.
“Absolutely. We can’t.” Hahn agreed and joined his friend, reading the document too.
“Awesome. You are so kind persons, kids. Do you know that?” Shahn nodded and sat on a sofa, here, in the room.
“Boss?” Up his eyes Hahn.
“Just go on,” Shahn twitched the edge of his lips and stared to the window.
“So, what we have?” asked Mergen again.
“A little girl, Tala Min, disappeared a few months ago. Five. Five months ago. Was going from the school, visited a little shop, bought a lollipop and didn’t back home.”
“Ok. She is in a slavery now, of course.”
“Who would do that? She has parents. Just give to the parents enough money to buy a child. In our city it’s easy to find an unwealthy child, why to get any problems with the Powers ?”
“Maybe it was a targeting order?”
“Have we photo?”
“Yeah… oh yeah…” Hahn put out the picture from the dossier. The men stared up to it.
“Ohm… ahm…” said Mergen.
“O-keey,” said his friend.
The girl from the picture was a usual girl. She wasn’t sexy, she wasn’t pretty. She made think about her only as about a child. She couldn’t be a cause of any sexual thoughts. No one could want to kidnap her.
“Maybe she was killed by some mutant?” Made a guess Hahn.
“No. She just disappeared. She is unpretty… what? She is!” Mergen spread his hands, answering to the friend’s reproaching sight. “She is alive, perhaps. We should check out, maybe she run away herself.”
“Aha…” said Hahn grumpy.
“By the way, what have you brought?” Nodded Mergen. He stretched on the table, for seeing better.
Hahn held papers in his hands, to Mergen’s comfort. The blond was pulling out his hand and taking a page for reading.
“It’s a pretty nice family, but we should watch video from cams. Maybe she was abused. Do we have it?”
“Yes.” Hahn showed the device with the records to Mergen.
“Give it here.” Grabbed it the blond, put it into the portable gadget. “What else?”
“Mum is a service level, dad is… an energy provider in their region.”
“Aha. An ordinary boring life. Who is it?” he detected the child on the video.
“Aye, the younger brother, Ressy.”
“Ressy. Great. Talk with him. If it’s something wrong in this family – he knows it.”
“But he is able to untalk about it.”
“I have a photo of Shahn, for such case. Children love him.” – giggled Mergen.
“Go now?”
“No, let’s eat, and finish watching it.”
“Oh, yes. Food. And cinema.”
“Yes, maybe we will see some sex.” Mergen voluptuously was sprawling on the table. He connected with cafe. “Hallo. What’s up? It’s the Powers. We want to eat. Remy, is it you? No. Mmm…” – groaned Mergen. He looked at the friend, Hahn was pulling for gadget, but Mergen thankfully smiled and continued. “Ok. Sally? Two Lattes… and cappuccino, and a big pizza, classic. To seventh department of the Powers. For Hevea. Yep. Good day, girl.”
The men were researching the file, while waiting for their order. They drew some algorithms, ways, how they plan to start their investigation.
xxx
“Ditt!” Korin jumped off from a tree into a pile of dry old last year leaves. Ditt, laughing, threw some leaves on the younger brother. Korin laughed too.
“This place is so beautiful.” Korin looked up to the sky.
“Yeah,” Ditt placed nearby Korin. “How is your school?”
“Ok,” said the kid shortly.
“Doesn’t someone bother you?”
“Why do you ask it every day? No. You would know it. We go in the same school.” Korin smiled, it was very pleasant, Ditt took care of him.
“Yeah, just asked. You’d say me, in such case, right? If a teacher, or…”
“Of course,” nodded Korin, a gadget in his pocket started to vibrate. “Oh, it’s time to go to my dance class, see you in the evening!”
The brothers stood up from the ground.
“Take care!” smiled Ditt, set Korin’s jacket and scarf right.
“Maybe, if you haven’t many things to study, you could go with me, till dance-school?”
Ditt thought, then nodded, shoved hands in pockets of his gray hoody.
“Guess, I can even see you on your class.”
“Great!” he put down, “I will be embarrassed, although,”
Ditt laughed and hugged the brother’s shoulders.
“You will be ok.”
The brothers talking entered into the cozy hall. A dance teacher, slave Din met his class inside.
His master – Laberic Gent, a restaurateur, was here too, as often, to watch how was working his beloved toy. Children knew him well, and he always was kind to children. In the hall smelled with lemons, for a good mood.
“May my brother be here on the class?” asked Korin.
“Your brother?” Din seemed was surprised. He gave to Ditt a fleeting glance, then looked at Laberic. The man smiled, answering to his glance.
“Of course, Korin, go in, hurry up,” smiled Din.
The brothers went to the locker room, where already were other children.
Din approached Laberic, crossed his arms gracefully.
“Poor family,”
“What’s wrong, beloved?”
“He asked me, if he brother may stay and watch the lesson.”
“So?” shrugged Laberic.
“His brother missed, a few months ago. I don’t know, should I say about boy’s words to his parents?”
“Oh, if they are adequate, otherwise, maybe Korin just plays like that, I mean, imagines.”
“How can I know? They look as normal ones, but you never know.”
Din kissed Laberic and went to the dancehall, to the children.
xxx
“Boss, come to us,” called the man Hahn.
An errand-boy brought the ordered food. Shahn approached, started to learn their schemes, sipping from that glass, which they were giving him to sip, sometimes it was cappuccino, another time a mug of one of the friends. The men were offering him their pieces of pizza to bite, with solicitude, holding them with their hands. The boss was thinking.
“While you go to interview the family, say Feige to find alike cases.”
“Done, Shahn,” smiled Mergen. “I asked him check the last year, and before last spring, in case it’s a season thing.”
“Awesome. A good way you invented, go, kids.” nodded Shahn.
The men left their food and rest of the coffee on the table and went out.
“He could give us more positive motivation, than “go, kids”, don’t you think?” – asked Hahn the friend.
“Yeah, for example “go right now, kids”, ha?” – chuckled Mergen.
“At least!” – very seriously said Hahn, but his sunny eyes were laughing.