Dario snatched his rumpled jeans off the bedroom floor. His boxers still tucked inside, the way they had crumpled off his hips under Irena’s gliding hands. He hopped into the pants, shoved his arms through the sleeves of his sweatshirt and yanked the fleece over his head. Damnation, how could he miss her leaving? Sleep had found him at dawn, and while it wasn’t the first time he’d stayed up all night, the slightest sound should’ve woken him from his slumber.
Maybe having Irena in his bed had relaxed him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept that heavy.
Judging by Ante’s hanging mouth, his brother was stunned at his admission that he’d spent the night with Irena.
“No time to lose. We have to find her.” Dario pulled on the same socks from last night. Irena’s naked body spread on the top of his black bed cover surfaced in his mind. The way she licked her lips while he kicked off his socks and climbed on top of him sent a shiver of pleasure through him, but urgency pressed him on. If he was to have her in his bed again, he better get his ass in gear.
“Are you sure it was her?” Ante cleared his throat. “I mean, it could’ve been Ana. You know how she has some weird fascination to look like Irena.”
“It wasn’t Ana.” He barely spared half a glance at
Ante while doing up his pants zipper and button, then flew down the stairs. “I think I know what Irena and Ana look like to tell the difference. And Irena’s brunette now.”
“Whoa.” Ante trailed behind him. “No way would Irena do that. Her hair made her stand out in the crowd.”
Dario paused on the bottom step and gaped at his brother. “That’s it. You just unraveled a part of this mystery. Irena’s golden-blonde hair was always easy to spot. Now as a brunette, her hair is ordinary.” But why?
Ante shook his head. “She loved standing out. I can’t see it.”
“She didn’t say much, but from what I gathered, she’s on the run. From her husband, I assume…” At Ante’s questioning stare, he continued. “I must find her.”
Ante spread his arms wide as if to encompass the city. “Where would we start to look? And why’d she run out on you?”
Dario took a step back and bit back a truck-load of swear words. “I bet she’s at her parents’ place.”
“No,” Ante gasped, his jaw dropped. “You wouldn’t go there. Her mother despised you. She won’t be of any help. The woman always thought of us vermin.” He scrunched his nose. “As if she was better than the rest of the world just because she was a teacher.”
Dario half listened to his brother’s rants while searching every place he kept his car keys and coming up empty. Mrs. Novak had a superiority complex, but she lived in a time when teachers were to be feared and respected. “Help me find my keys, I misplaced them.”
Ante tossed the car keys at the Dario from the kitchen table where they laid. “Irena sneaking out explains the unlocked door. About going to see her parents, you may want to reconsider.”
“I’m not afraid of her mother. Not anymore. Go press the elevator button.” He stepped out of his apartment and locked the door, stopping his hand mid- turn of the key. What if Irena returned after he was gone? Not likely, he checked that the door was fully locked. If she should come back by some miracle, he’d have the porter let her in with his spare key.
Ante might’ve bought his bluff, but cold snakes stirred in his stomach at the thought of facing the stern woman. Irena’s mother had pulled on her teacher’s connections to get his report cards and shoved them under Irena’s nose as a proof that he’d never amount to anything with his barely passing grades and absenteeism. Little did the educator know he’d spent most mornings tending to his ill father and worked wherever he could find work to pay the bills. His mother had provided food from the little patch she called a garden, but the meat was a rare treat on their table. Thankfully, fish from the abundant sea made up for the absence of Sundays’ roasts.
He followed Ante into the elevator. Just last night he was here with Irena, kissing her senseless while she drove him wild with desire. Now he was sharing the ride down with his brother. Not how he imagined his date would progress.
The bell chimed at the ground floor and the door silently slid open. Dario shot out of the elevator, racing for the main entrance.
“You didn’t park in the underground parking garage?” His brother’s voice laced with astonishment drifted from behind.
“I took a visitor’s spot.” Outside, the overcast sky hung low with gray clouds promised imminent rain. Ante’s hurried footsteps thumped on the stone walkway leading to the parking.
“My, you left your baby out here.” Sarcasm dripped from Ante’s voice as he placed a hand on Dario’s shoulder. “I understand you, bro. Driving all the way down to the underground garage takes too long and Irena is worth having your car vandalized or stolen.”
Dario approached the driver’s side of his two- seater BMW and glared at Ante. “Okay, I get your mockery. Yes, I’m overprotective of my car, or as you call it my baby.” He pointed at him. “You of all people should understand. Growing up we had nothing and appreciate every little thing we got.”
“I hear you, bro.” Ante slid into the passenger’s seat.
Dario slid the key into the ignition. At the first click, the panel light came to life. “Got your cell with you?”
“Of course.” Ante buckled his seatbelt.
A knock on the driver’s side window made Dario jump. Stan’s fat, round face filled the frame. “Hey, neighbor.”
Chatting with his nosey neighbor was the last thing on Dario’s list right now, but he lowered the glass between them. “Hi, Stan. I’m in a hurry.”
Stan stepped away, hands in front, fingers spread. “No worries just wanted to tell you your visitor stormed out of here some two or three hours ago. Almost didn’t recognize her, she wore a black coat, but it was her, all right.”
Dario’s heart lurched and he could almost kiss Stan, his nosiness could save him time. “Did you see which way she went?”
“She had her phone pressed to her ear and didn’t hear me when I wished her good day. I’m sure she was getting a cab, but she dropped this.” Stan pulled a business card of the Lulu Taxi Company.
Dario let out a long sigh and took the card in his hand. “Thank you, Stan.”
“Hey, don’t mention it. That’s what neighbors are for. Got to go, my little one is on the swing by himself.” He touched his meaty finger to the brim of his baseball cap and took off for the playground.
Dario passed the card to Ante. “Your buddy is a dispatcher for Lulu Cab, can you get him to check drivers’ logs and find out if they picked up a passenger at this address today and where they dropped her off?”
“Piece of cake.” Ante slid his cell out of the shirt pocket. The light of the screen lit up his face while he scrolled through his contacts, then pressed the phone to his ear. “I hope my buddy’s not asleep.” He lowered his chin when the person on the other side of the line answered. “Hey, bud…sorry for waking you up. Yes, I know you pulled the double shift, but I need a favor from you, big time. What’s that? Um- hum…okay…listen, man…stop talking for a moment.”
Dario eased out of his parking spot, praying Ante got a lead on Irena. He pulled onto the street. The digital numbers on the panel clock displayed 3:25. Afternoon rush hour traffic would start in less than an hour. He stepped on the gas pedal.
Three blocks from Irena’s parents’ apartment building, Ante was still on the phone, tapping his fingers on his knee while his buddy was on the landline phone with the day dispatch to check the records. A parked police vehicle flashed its blue lights and blocked the road.
Dario brought the car to a stop, blowing hot air of frustration through his nose. “Now what?”
“The cop is re-directing traffic to the side street. Something big must’ve happened.” Ante rolled the window down and stuck his head out. “I don’t see any wrecked cars on the road. Maybe they took them away. Hey, isn’t that Rob? Rob, my man, come here.”
Dario extended his neck, peering over the steering wheel at the guy in uniform. Their high school friend waved to them and moseyed toward their car.
“Maybe he’ll tell us what’s going on.” Ante returned his attention to the phone as the voice replaced the tune coming from the device.
“I doubt he is at liberty to do that.” Dario rolled his side window when Rob approached.
Rob nodded to him and leaned his arm on the roof of the car. “Sorry, Dario, hate to send you down that narrow street, but that’s the only detour.”
He flashed Rob a tight smile. “Thanks for the heads up. You wouldn’t be able to tell us what’s up, would you?”
Rob leaned closer, poking his head through the open window, and lowered his voice. “You didn’t hear this from me, but it’s gonna hit the news fast anyways. A woman blew her brains out in the parking lot, left a note. Hitting a pedestrian a year ago apparently put her in financial ruins. Oh, remember that girl you dated in
high school… well her mother was the one hit.”
“Such unfortunate tragedy. I’m sorry the woman ended her life like that.” Dario clicked his tongue, shaking his head. The connection to Mrs. Novak’s accident stirred bad premonition inside him. “Thank you for the information.”
A sudden urgency pressed on Dario’s shoulders. He gunned the engine and took the detour. Ante hung to the handle above the window, pocketed the phone and shouted over the noise of the speeding car. “The cabby dropped her downtown. No specific address. However, you are in luck, the man was clocking out for the day and the dispatcher asked him. He saw her going into the Hotel Bastion. No need to go to her parents’.”
A block away from Irena’s old apartment building, Dario parallel parked his BMW between a delivery truck and a motorcycle. Parking on the street wasn’t the safest, but there were no other options in this older part of the city. He drummed his fingers on the dashboard, gathering the courage to face Irena’s mother.
He turned to the newsstand. Clear plastic covering over the stacked magazines to protect them from imminent rain, swayed and crinkled in the wind. After fourteen years, the small metallic structure still stood here, a new sign displayed at the top and a person clad in jean jacket hovered behind the closed sliding window minded the business. Fond memories flooded him. An image of his young self in a worn out T-shirt and jeans floated in front of his eyes.
Ante stirred in the passenger seat. “I don’t get you, bro. Irena’s not here. Why do you have to go through this?”
He snatched the keys out of the ignition.
“Something tells me the woman in the parking lot did not commit a suicide, nor was Irena’s mother hit by accident a year ago. The driver who had run her over failed at her job.”
“Look,” Ante said, grabbing his shoulder. “Just because you think some foul play is going on, perhaps you should leave the investigation to the police.”
Dario brushed his brother’s hand away. Irena’s husband wouldn’t have any trouble lacing a few pockets for things to work his way. “Think about it, man. Irena’s parents forced her to marry for money. She said the fact her parents will be taken care of for the rest of their lives gave her strength to go through the ordeal. What do you think she meant?”
Ante shrugged. The corners of his mouth dipped. “Sounds like her parents sold her into this marriage.”