Chapter 14
Carmelita graciously allowed Kitty to take her Peugeot for the drive downtown to Interpol Headquarters. Once she had parked Carmelita's car in the public parking structure, and taken her parking stub, Kitty, Svetlana and Maria made their way the two blocks over to Paris' Interpol Headquarters' building.
"Here we are, pals," Kitty proclaimed, then held the door open to the two beautiful girls to enter. A very timid Svetlana stepped inside first, followed by Maria, then Kitty herself.
Svetlana blinked a bit owlishly as her big brown eyes adapted to the lesser light inside. She inhaled sharply when she felt someone pinch her rounded derriere rather roughly. She whirled around, her eyes narrowed, her fist clenched. Before she could utter a word of protest, she head a very meaty-sounding smack, followed by a high-pitched squeal of someone in great amounts of pain.
"Gaines, you little bastard," Kitty growled belligerently, her fingers clamped cruelly on the ear of one struggling zebra fellow, whose eye were watering now. "If I catch you doing that again, you're going to be eating with your left hand for quite awhile, pal." Kitty twisted the zebra's ear vindictively, causing him to gasp and moan. "Now," Kitty demanded, twisting Lieutanant Gaines around to face Svetlana, "you apologize to the lady, or I'm going to get really nasty."
"Um, er, ah…sorry, Miss," Gaines squawked, his teeth clenched in pain.
Svetlana eyed the vain zebra coldly a moment. She then turned to Kitty, and said, "Please, let him go, Kitty."
"Um, eh…sport, I don't think that'd be---" Kitty began, but the look on Svetlana's face brought her up short.
"Apology accepted, Lieutenant," Svetlana replied sweetly, then held her hand out to the very surprised zebra Interpol Lieutenant.
"Great! Hey, thanks," Gaines exclaimed, then mistook her generosity for a potential interest in his center of the universe…himself! "Say, baby…I get off of work at---urk!" He had clasped hands with the petite doll of a tigress, and then found his entire arm suddenly exploded with the most horrific of pain imaginable! "Aiee!"
Svetlana's expression hadn't changed one iota…but, Kitty noticed that the muscles in her forearm stood out as she seemed to shake the foolish Lieutenant's hand. "You were saying, Lieutenant, da?" Svetlana asked in a cold, yet caring voice.
"Stop! Oh, make it stop! You're killing me!" Gaines howled, twisting and dipping in an attempt to alleviate the burning, blinding pain pulsing up and down his arm. "I'll do whatever you ask…just stop! Please, God…stop it!"
"Will you behave like a gentleman, then?" Svetlana proposed, a small pretty smile on her lovely face. "Treat the women of this office with the respect they deserve?"
"Yes! Anything! Just make it stop!" Gaines wailed like a girl. Tears ran freely down his cheeks, and his voice came in gasps. His striped tail beat furiously back and forth in his pain and agitation.
"Kitty? You have heard his pledge, da?" Svetlana asked in a normal voice, although her forearm's muscles sprang out even tauter.
Gaines screamed through his clenched teeth, high and softly as his shoulder now began to throb in agony. "Aiee! I'm dying!" he moaned.
"I heard him, Svetlana," Kitty replied, tears in her eyes from doing her utmost to hold back the belly laughs she felt growing inside her. "He'll behave…won't you, buddy?" Kitty looked over sweetly into Gaines' tear-filled brown eyes.
"Anything! Oh, my arm!" he wailed piteously. "I'm dying!"
Svetlana smiled at him. Then moved her face to just before Gaines' own. "Da, I agree," she said. "But, know this: should Kitty tell me that you have gone back to your normal abysmal behavior…I shall return here. And, Lieutenant Gaines…I shall not be merciful, then."
Gaines said nothing, merely nodded his head again and again, whimpering and writhing.
Svetlana released her hold on his hand, and stepped back. "Dobre dven, Lieutenant," she offered, nodding her pretty head to the zebra that now hopped about the office, hissing and howling in pain. "Shall we go, Kitty?" she asked sweetly.
Kitty laughed, and put an affectionate arm around the little tigress' shoulders. "Kid, you're all right," she managed around a laugh, as she watched in glee as Gaines still stood against the wall massaging her aching arm. "What did you do to him anyway?"
Svetlana shrugged. "I have found that being a masseuse---and knowing the body's pressure points and pain centers---has its advantages, friend Kitty," she replied mysteriously.
"Well, tell you what, Svetlana," Kitty informed her friend. "You've just made yourself one popular girl here at Interpol HQ."
"I have?" Svetlana asked, confused. "Why?"
"Gaines has been doing crap like that to the women in the office for ages," Kitty explained.
"Why do they allow it?" Svetlana replied, indignant.
"Gaines' uncle is the Paris Inspector General," Kitty pointed out. "So…none of us can get away with anything too blatant, you see." Kitty then grinned over at Svetlana, and kissed her cheek. "You, on the other hand…well, Gaines can't touch you, my impressive friend! Ha, that is sooo cool! Carmelita's gonna love this!" Kitty laughed.
Conversation had stopped in the office after what Kitty had began calling 'the Gaines Experiment'. Most of the women had quick thankful smiles for Svetlana, which left the poor tigress blushing at all the attention. For some reason, however, Kitty noticed that all the strutting peacocks of the office---who would of ordinarily been swarming all around the beautiful tigress---oddly seemed to keep their distance from the deceptively sweet-looking little tigress. "Eh, don't mind them. Come along now," Kitty urged, hurriedly dragging them along to the Chief's office. "I'm telling you…some of the constables here are worse than vultures," Kitty explained, then added, "heck, some of 'em even are vultures!" Kitty smiled, indicating a female vulture with a jerk of her thumb, one who was quietly whispering to her friends.
"Chief, it's me, Petro," Kitty declared after rapping twice on the Chief's door.
"Come in," Kitty heard the gruff voice of her Chief beckon, and she twisted the handle and opened the door, ushering Svetlana and Maria inside. "Heya, Chief," Kitty offered with a grin as she entered.
"Petro," Chief Rob said, flicking his eyes up to hers, then nodding politely before he sighed in resignation. "Hmm, you must be Ms. Petro's Russian acquaintances then, eh?"
"Da, we are Kitty's friends," Maria said while Svetlana mutely nodded.
"Well, good morning then," the Chief declared, reaching out his big hand to shake. "Now, first off, my name is John Robertson. Although, here I am better known by my staff as simply Chief Rob. So…that will do for the moment."
"It is pleasure to meet you, Chief. I am Maria Folovera," Maria told him, shaking the Chief's hand.
"I am Svetlana Umanova, Chief Rob," Svetlana added, shaking his hand after Maria had.
"Right then, on to business, I suspect," the chief explained. "I am sure Lt. Petro here has told you why you are here, correct? What our deal was?"
"Da, she has," Maria replied, nodding her head. "In return for clearing our names, we will provide assistance---da?---in solving some of the cases you believe Comrade Pol---Pol---" Maria gulped, then spat out the hated name. "Polarsky!" Maria waited a moment, then added, "Prasteetye, da? But, it is still most difficult to say his name...even now. Now that he is dead, I mean."
Chief Rob nodded. "No doubt. No doubt, I understand," the Chief replied, nodding. "It was a banner day for the world once the trap door fell out from under that wretched character. A banner day indeed."
"True, Chief, I agree. But, nyet, I think you don't. Understand, I mean," Svetlana explained, disagreeing. "It is no easy thing to keep images of that foul man out our nightmares."
The chief just grumbled under his breath. "Um, now…if you'd both follow me then," he said, getting to his feet then moving around his desk, beckoning for them all to follow him.
Kitty and the girls followed the chief until they had entered a small four meter by three meter room. A worn mirror adorned the wall opposite the door, and there was a small metal table in the center of the room, which smelled of stale sweat and cigarette smoke. The walls were a dingy aqua color, and a small aging ceiling fan wobbled slowly above them, stirring the heavy seeming air slightly.
"Er, I hope you'll excuse the room, ladies," Chief Rob hastened to tell thim as they took seats around the table. "Normally, we only use this room for suspect interrogations," the chief explained. "Now, originally, I had planned on using the bigger, newly painted office on the top floor…" he then stopped and looked pointedly over at Kitty, who blushed, "…but, someone---who shall remain nameless---decided to do a little amateur electrical repair to that room's light fixture…instead of logging a work order to have it fixed…by professionals."
"Hey, how was I supposed to know that I'd shut down the power for the entire floor, Chief?" Kitty demanded, grinning a bit sheepishly.
Svetlana and Maria giggled. "Some things never change, eh tovarisch?" Maria asked.
"Nope, I guess not, pal," Kitty replied.
The Chief gave Kitty a glare, then cleared his throat to regain everyone's attention. "Okay, here's the deal. We have five open cases here in Paris that we think---think, mind you!---might be tied to Polarsky's organization. I´ll open each case, one at a time, give you a brief description of the crime and any victims, where it occurred, all the particulars, all right? If any of the cases---even remotely---sound familiar to either of you two ladies, just let us know. I mean, we'll go through them all, but I really don't want to bother you with cases that you've no knowledge of."
Svetlana looked to Maria, who nodded. Svetlana then nodded herself, and replied to the gruff canine Chief, "Very well. Proceed," she said.
"Right," Chief Rob said. "First crime: Murder. First victim…is her," he told them, opening a manila folder, then slid a picture of a rather attractive female snowy owl before them.
"Da, I know her…this one! She is called Tanya Zobryeva," Svetlana exclaimed. "This girl, Tanya, she foolishly believed Polarsky's lies, allowing herself to believe that treacherous bastard might actually marry her. Ha! He had no intention of having her as anything more than some temporary plaything. He kept her around until a newer, younger, more pretty woman caught his eye. Tanya's mistake was to confront him on this…in front of others. He---Polarsky, I mean---did not brook women who spoke their minds. I am sad, da…but by no means surprised that poor Tanya ended up this way. Raikon Polarsky was not one for subtlety. No, it was cross him and…whit!" Svetlana drew one slender hand edge-wise across her own throat. "This, unfortunately, was old news in Polarsky's syndicate."
Chief Rob blinked, then tugged at his thick mustache. "Huh. So, once he was done with them, that was it, huh? Hmm. Did this dirtbag, Polarsky, often change lovers then?" he asked, but it came out more like a growl.
Svetlana nodded her head solemnly. "It has been ten years since I had been shanghaied into Polarsky's group, da?" she explained, then swallowed hard before continuing. "Since that time, I have seen Polarsky go through more than twenty separate girls…some friends, some lovers, even a few fiancées." Svetlana stopped, then hugged herself as if she were freezing. "Eh. Of those twenty poor girls, I know only of some of their fates. Some died…like poor Tanya. Others wasted away from illness. The lucky ones became too old or unattractive in his eyes…" Svetlana winded down, and her lower lip thrust out, she lowered her head and fell silent.
Maria looked with sad eyes to her friend. She then turned to the Chief, continuing the tale. "Svetlana tells you the truth, da. Those fates befell the girls, others had different results. Some, though very few, had the nerve to argue with him outright. They all seemed to conveniently disappear very quickly…never to be seen again. Eh, other girls had the misfortune to get themselves pregnant. The list goes on and on," Maria explained, her expression sad and angry.
"So, not all of them ended up like Ms. Zobryeva then?" Chief Rob asked, his teeth grinding slightly.
"Nyet, most of them are still living…somewhere," Maria replied. "It was mostly those fools like Ludmilla who ended that way. They suffered from the belief that he actually respected them. Ha! What fools! They foolishly thought he did love them…they believed that the lustful looks he gave we other women meant nothing. That he only had eyes for them. More fools were they…"
Svetlana sat silently, but the Chief could not ignore the trails of tears on the poor little tigress' face. She wiped angrily at her tears, then looked over to the Chief. "Please understand…not all of the women were stupid. No, far from it…for to be stupid was to be dead, when one worked for him. Those that were smart, they understood just how lucky they were…that, that they did not have to walk in our shoes," Svetlana related haltingly.
"In your shoes?" Chief Rob asked, gently…but with an underlying anger. This young woman before him was just a little older than his own daughter. The thought that there were men like Polarsky preying on hapless young woman---much like his own precious Becky---filled him with a simmering anger. "Why do you say that, my dear? Did he---?"
Svetlana held up a hand to stop him. "Nyet! I do not wish to remember," she whispered, her voice trembling. "But, as I was saying…the smart ones, they understood it was a blessing. A blessing that their punishment never consisted of what awaited my Maria and myself. To---to---to be forced to dress in skin-tight, revealing outfits…only to have to---to---to give that bastard massages. Massages? Ha! It was only an excuse for him to have us touch him, so he could stare lustfully at us. To---to---touch---" Svetlana could not continue, her breath coming in soft heaves now, her small fists clenched tightly enough for her knuckles to whiten.
"Shh, Svetlana…it's all right," Kitty soothed, laying a gentle hand on Svetlana's shoulder, then drew her into a quick, comforting hug. Kitty looked over to her Chief, who nodded in understanding.
"Um, er…why don't we all take a little break now, okay?" he declared in a gruff, yet kind voice. After he cleared his throat, he smiled at the two somber Russians. "Ladies? Could I get you anything? Some tea or coffee, perhaps?"
"Da, thank you," Maria answered for herself and Svetlana. "Hot tea would be most welcome, Chief. Some sugar too, please?"
Svetlana nodded, her big brown eyes still troubled. "Spasiba, thank you," Svetlana added a moment later, her voice sounding like that of a little girl just now.
The Chief got to his feet, pausing to adjust the knot of his tie. "Petro…you watch these two while I'm away," Chief Rob instructed, then looked Kitty's way. "Hot chocolate for you, right?"
"Yes, thanks, Chief," Kitty answered thankfully, still holding a trembling Svetlana in her arms. "Don't worry, I've got thing under control here." Kitty said a sad smile on her face as she rocked Svetlana in her arms. "I'm not going anywhere, Chief."
"Right," The Chief grunted, then left, his gruff expression unreadable at that moment. He nodded, and then moved out of the room, leaving the three young women to themselves.