Summary: Mark Sloan helps a young widow.

Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

Russian Blues

Chapter 4- Princesses and Pink Grass

The next morning Steve, Amanda, Alex, Jesse, Mark, and Jack gathered in the doctor's lounge at Community General.

"I've got a list of people and places to visit," Steve began. "First I want to go out and see Tovah's parents. They have a house up in the mountains. I also want to check out the studio where Gleb Deningkov worked. And I want to go to the Russian Symphony Mr. Kaminsky conducts."

"Well, why don't you let me go down to the symphony and have a look?" Amanda suggested.

"Yeah, I'll help. It'll be like old times," Jack volunteered. Mark noticed that Jesse looked a little annoyed that Amanda was going to investigate with Jack as apposed to himself.

"I'll take Jess down to the Bennett Studio and poke around a little," Mark offered.

"And that leaves me to go with you, Steve," Alex said. The group all agreed to meet at Barbeque Bob's at twelve-thirty, and they set off to their different destinations.

……

As Amanda walked into the tall gray building with Jack Stewart, she smiled over at him. It had been quite awhile since they had done this.

Inside their attention was immediately drawn to a fountain in the corner, spraying water up above their heads. When they turned around they saw a woman sitting behind a large oak desk, talking into a headset. When she saw the potential customers, she ended the phone conversation and smiled sweetly up at Jack.

"Can I help you?"

"Is Mr. Kaminsky in?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kaminsky was called away on a musical emergency. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Well, I'm Dr. Jack Stewart, and I just wanted to ask him a few questions. Do you have a list of the places where he will be playing?" Jack stalled.

"Sure, I'll get you a schedule. By the way, I'm Claudia Anderson," she offered, beaming at Jack.

"And this is Dr. Amanda Bentley," Jack said, putting his arm around her shoulders. Claudia smiled irately and left the room.

"I'm going in," Amanda whispered. She went into Mr. Kaminsky's office and began looking around.

"What are you looking for?" Jack asked from the doorway.

"I'll know when I see it. Now go keep watch," Amanda commanded. Jack turned and wandered back over by the fountain, looking at the koi that swam at the bottom.

"Here you go," Claudia said, handing Jack the schedule. She glanced around the room. "Where's your friend?"

"Oh, Dr. Bentley was paged. A medical emergency. Thank you for this," Jack said holding up the paper. "You know, it's a little warm in here," he continued, raising his voice. "Maybe you should OPEN A WINDOw."

"That's a good idea," Claudia said, once again smiling. "It is a little hot in here."

"I have to go," Jack said quickly. He left the building and walked around the side. Amanda opened the window, and Jack held out his arms. She hopped to the ground, and stood for a moment, glad to be out of the office.

"You were right, Jack," she said.

"About what?"

"This is just like old times," Amanda grinned. They continued on to her car, ready to go stake out a table at Barbeque Bob's.

……

Steve and Alex were having a very hard time finding the Kaminsky's house. They were up in the mountains, but all they had seen was a little town, consisting of a diner and a gas station. They pulled into the parking lot at the diner and climbed out of the car.

"Maybe someone in here knows where the house is…" Steve said. He and Alex continued inside and Alex immediately recognized the man behind the counter. Jim McKofney had come into the E.R. a few weeks earlier with a badly sprained ankle.

"Dr. Martin! What brings you up to my little café?" he asked loudly.

"Actually, we're lost. We're trying to find 1041 Sugarcamp Road," Alex explained.

"It's only about five minutes from here, Doc, but why are you looking for the Kaminsky's?"

"Their son-in-law was murdered yesterday. It's standard procedure," Steve answered.

"If you stick around a few minutes, the missus will be here. She comes in every Thursday at 12:05 for lunch."

"Thanks. We'll take two coffees while we wait." Jim got them their coffees, and as he was setting them on the table, Lili Kaminsky came in. He held his watch up so that Steve could see that it read exactly five after twelve.

"My regulars are like clockwork," Jim explained with a grin. "Hey, Mrs. K!" Steve and Alex watched the woman take off her coat and give Jim a warm smile.

"Hello, Jimmy. I'll have my usual."

"It'll be right with you. Meanwhile, these gentleman wanted to speak with you," Jim said. Steve stood up.

"I'm Lieutenant Steve Sloan from the L.A.P.D., and this is Dr. Alex Martin of Community General Hospital," Steve began, extending his hand. Alex got to his feet and repeated the gesture.

"You can call me Lili." After they were seated, Steve continued.

"Do you know a Mr. Gleb Deningkov?"

"He is my son-in-law," Lili confirmed.

"I'm afraid that he was murdered yesterday morning," Steve said. Lili Kaminsky's hand flew up to her mouth.

"Tovah!" she breathed.

"Tovah is safe," Alex said. "She's staying with a friend. I'm her doctor. She was at an appointment with me when she got the news yesterday."

"My daughter is in Los Angeles?" Lili asked anxiously.

"You didn't know?" Steve queried. Mrs. Kaminsky shifted her gaze down into her coffee mug.

"A year ago we were having problems with our family. They climaxed when Tovah had a miscarriage, and she left with Gleb a few weeks later. I haven't seen either of them since," she explained.

"Alex, would you please go and pay the check," Steve asked, thrusting a twenty at him. When he was well across the room, Steve turned back to Mrs. Kaminsky. "Lili, your daughter is going to be alright. She's staying with me and my father until this is all over. Until then, I don't want her to see anyone involved. I promise that the minute the killer is in custody, you'll be with your daughter."

……

Mark and Jesse were standing at the reception desk of Bennett Studios. The woman behind the counter was wearing a nametag that read "Donna Parks."

"Hello, I'm Mark Sloan, and this is my nephew, Jesse Sloan. He's looking for a job in animating," Mark said, flashing a grin.

"Uncle Mark," Jesse said in a loud whisper, "I think I can handle this." The receptionist smiled.

"Do you have a resume?"

"Yep, here you go," Jesse said, with a grin of his own. He handed Donna the application that Mark had created for him earlier. She scanned the paper, eyes showing that she was impressed.

"Please take a seat over there and we will call you momentarily," she offered, pointing Jesse and Mark to a row of stiff blue chairs. They made themselves comfortable, Mark pulling a magazine off of the end table.

"Mark, explain to me again how this is helping us," Jesse asked quietly.

"Just pay attention to what's happening. I'm going to nose around." Mark handed Jesse the magazine and walked back over to the reception desk.

"Excuse me, Miss Parks. I don't mean to bother you, but where is the restroom?" he asked.

"You go all the way down this hall and hang a right," Donna began. "The third door on the left will lead you to another hallway. Follow the stairs, and on your right you will see a bathroom sign. You can't miss it."

"Thank you," Mark said. "I think."

As Jesse watched Mark wander away, he tapped his fingers on the chair's armrests. He picked up the magazine from his lap and flipped through the pages. He heard a man shouting loudly, and keeping his head down, Jesse glanced up. Under Jesse's careful, yet discreet scrutiny, the man stormed out of a back office.

"Donna! Find Deningkov! This movie is set to be released in three months. We don't have time for this!"

"Mr. Bennett-" Donna began, standing up. Jesse came over and interrupted.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bennett," he began.

"What the hell do you want?" Bennett.

"Sir, Gleb Deningkov is dead," Donna blurted.

"What? What happened?"

"The police officer I spoke to couldn't tell me very much," she responded. Mr. Bennett seemed to have an instant change of heart.

"Please get me his wife on the phone," he said, speaking quietly for the first time in his life.

"I think I can help here," Jesse offered.

"Who are you?" Mr. Bennett asked, attitude returning.

"I'm Jesse Sloan."

"And why, Mr. Sloan, do you think that you can help me?"

"Well, since Mrs. Deningkov is staying under police protection, I can get my cousin, Steve, to let you talk to her," Jesse said.

"What can your little cousin do?"

"Steve Sloan is the police lieutenant in charge of the case. Here, let me get him on the phone for you," Jesse offered. At Mr. Bennett's nod, Donna placed the phone up on the counter and Jesse punched in Steve's number. Mr. Bennett put the receiver to his ear.

"Sloan here."

"I'm told that you can connect me to Mrs. Gleb Deningkov."

"Who am I speaking to?"

"Samuel J. Bennett, the founder of Bennett Computer Animation Studios."

"Who gave you my number?"

"Your cousin."

"Robbie?"

"No, Jesse."

"I'll kill him."

"Lt. Sloan, can I speak to Mrs. Deningkov or not?"

"And exactly what do you have to say to her?"

"I want to offer her my condolences and tell her about our company life insurance policy."

"Send a card and a brochure with my cousin," Steve said sarcastically.

The connection clicked off. Mr. Bennett placed the receiver down, and glared at Jesse.

Meanwhile, Mark Sloan was wandering the halls, hopelessly lost. He had stopped paying attention to where he was walking, and Mark bumped straight into a woman, and she dropped a stack of paper that she was carrying.

"I'm sorry," Mark said. "New feet."

"Oh, no, it was my fault," she said, her pretty red curls framing her face. "Hey, you're that doctor from the TV, the guy who solves those murders.

"Guilty as charged. Mark Sloan."

"I'm Cara Fairchild," the woman said, shaking his hand. "Is it true that Gleb Deningkov is dead?"

"I'm afraid so," Mark confirmed.

""Is that why you're here?" Cara asked, green eyes widening.

"Actually, yes. Do you know where his workstation is?"

"Yeah, come with me." Cara and Mark gathered the rest of the papers that she had dropped, and then led Mark into a large room. She went over to a desk in the corner. A big desk was holding a computer and several sculptures of a princess, who had Tovah's fiery eyes and curly dark hair. Two bulletin boards were on the walls, one covered in snapshots of Tovah, and the other holding 3-D printouts of the princess. "This is it," Cara announced. "We are working on a movie version of the book 'The Two Princesses of Bamarre.' Princess Adelina was assigned to Gleb."

"He was very good," Mark said, studying the charts.

"Yeah, the best," Cara agreed. Mark seated himself at Gleb's desk, and checked the e-mails in his inbox. He read a couple that were insignificant to him, but when he moved on to the fourth one, his eyebrows lifted.

"Do you recognize the address '?" Mark asked Cara.

"That's mine," she said shamelessly.

"Miss Fairchild, this man was obviously very much in love with his wife," Mark said, motioning to the pictures. "Why were you sending him love letters?"

"I had to tell him how I felt. I couldn't help it if he didn't reciprocate the feelings."

"Did you receive a restraining order?" Mark queried.

"Yesterday morning," Cara said. "It's on my desk."

"Where were you yesterday around nine-thirty?"

"Driving to work," Cara said defensively.

"Really?" Mark asked. Cara held up her wrists.

"If you don't believe me, arrest me."

Mark left the office and went back to the lobby where he had left Jesse. He had to wait for him to finish growing pink grass on a computer in the interview room.

"So, how did your interview go?" Mark asked when they were in the car.

"Very well, I think," Jesse said seriously. "Oh, and Mr. Bennett gave me some disks for Tovah. He said they were free-lance projects that Gleb was working on, and she might like to finish them."

"She just might," Mark said. "Well, we're out of here just in time to get to Bob's."