Dorothea Pt. 02

"I see." Michael had to look away. Darnia was looking down with a large smirk across her face.

Lady Fecundia had more to say and in a very passionate voice described her vision, "you see, our new society is moving away from the nuclear family and monogamous relationships. For a start we are decoupling romantic love and sex. For example, we are radically making sex a commodity. Sex will always be paid for."

"What! How does that work."

"First of all, it helps control unintentional procreation. But it will revolutionize the life of women as they are in the modern world called on to be all things to all people. It is overwhelming them. To counteract this women's traditional life will be broken up into careers, breeding, nurturing, sex and so on. They may have other professional careers. They may move from one to another or carry them out concurrently as their choice."

"Marriage will interfere with that, I'm sure."

"Ah no. There will no longer be marriage. There will be attachments. Each person will become formally attached to one or more people depending on their needs unencumbered by gender or monogamy."

"But isn't that polygamy or bigamy at best."

"They will not be legally married, they will cohabit. Actually, some Freeon sheriffs are helping with an alternative formal procedure for formal attachment."

"Freeon! "Michael scoffed," That won't end well."

"Oh, I think it will. You'll see. We no longer need sex to procreate, to have children we no longer need sex. We now have different genders, and we recognize intersex whereas in the past we only recognized two genders male and female. Old style marriage does not align with this. We need a new way of formalizing attachment that allows for all possibilities.

Then there are our avatars. One person could have several avatars forming different attachments."

"That would be exhausting." Darnia chimed in.

"It's not a new idea, did you know in Hindu mythology Vishnu had different avatars one of which was Buddha.

We are currently working on androids and gynoids but these are old style gender based. Soon we will have new types of gender artificially created. All these will need to be included. One could, for example, have an attachment to an android. Cybersex with androids would be paid just like human sex."

"Why is that. Couldn't that type of sex be free?"

"This approach will help moderate the sex."

"Did you meet Dorothea and talk to her about this?" Michael was curious to what Dorothea's interest actually was.

"Oh yes, we had a long conversation. She was fascinated with what we are doing."

"Did she mention the Himba?"

"No what is that?"

"A tribe from Namibia that practice strange cultural relationships."

"Really. No Dorothea never mentioned them. There are a lot of different cultural relationships therefore It would not be that strange, and that's what makes ours not so out of the ordinary if you include our contemporary circumstances.

Dorothea was mostly concerned the options that we have included for a monogamous marriage. She said that was still her personal preference. She believed that there would not be universal acceptance of our ideas unless we incorporate other religions and cultures....say like your Himba. I must say I was impressed by her arguments. She was going to return to discuss in detail how this might happen?"

Darnia nudged Michael. "Well that at least puts the Himba to rest."

Fecundia launched into another topic,"Machetti is also helping our vision by providing the necessary scientific evidence to support our vision. As you saw he has begun with a simple experiment, and he has a range of experiments which will scientifically support how we structure our human relationships in reality and the metaverse. Of course, what we are doing may not always align with his conclusions, but we can look at root causes and adjust what we do accordingly."

Michael turned to Darnia. "I Wonder whether Dorothea heard about the Himbas from Copperhead. This leaves the Himbas for dead on the wackiness scale."

Darnia was not so prepared to write these ideas off," I don't think they are wacky; I think you should think about it. These days gender, sex and lifestyles are just becoming so complex maybe we need this new way of thinking."

Michael thought for a second. "Ok I accept that, but no way is that for me. My preference is for a good old-fashioned family."

After they left Darnia wouldn't stop talking about Copperhead and his grand new world. In the end Michael told her to stop and Darnia taunted him. "I think your jealous." She exclaimed in a sing song voice. Michael glowered and elected to stay silent.

******

On Sunday morning the police called them and verified the DNA was a match. The police e-mailed them a document he could take to the lawyer who was gracious enough to come in on Sunday to pass over the package in the knowledge that the police would be interested in it. Darnia and Michael drove the hour and a half journey back into the city to pick up the flash drive.

Michael opened up the flash drive on his laptop in the Lawyers office. It was full of spreadsheets and other documents. It also enabled access to further stored and secured information in the cloud and the means to link to other relevant data that would be otherwise encrypted in the dark web. The whole thing was too much for Michael to process. They looked around for something to explain the package. There was no obvious document in the flash drive but on reinspecting the package a note dropped out. At the top of the note was a statement saying to deliver this to someone you can trust in the police force. Darnia suggested their friend the Liaison Officer, as the information was clearly multi-national, and he was probably the person least likely to be compromised.

The rest of the note read was a good-bye letter to Michael.

Dearest, Dearest Michael,

if you are reading this you know I am dead. I only hope that I have achieved my objective before my demise. My deep regret was that I could not tell you anything about what I was doing. It was all too dangerous. My intention was to achieve my objective with my life intact and we could settle down and establish our dream family without the Sword of Damocles hanging over our lives together.

My ex-husband, Jordan Buchanan abused me terribly but the worst thing he did was seduce and recruit my sister Estelle into Malcom Fairchild and Associates. It was a firm I had original started with but left when I could not tolerate sexual harassment from Fairchild himself. As well as other financial business Fairchild are specialists in overseas recruitment and assistance to prospective immigrants. The director and sole owner of that company is Malcom Fairchild himself. They employed Estelle unbeknown to me as a junior executive, she thought she had a dream job. In reality they employed her to be a company whore. They used her to help seal a relationship with a group called Los Vengadores in one night of debauchery. She hanged herself the following morning at my parent's house. She did not even leave a note explaining why she did it and it broke my parent's marriage.

At the time I had no idea that Malcom Fairchild or my husband had been involvement in her death until my ex-husband boasted in a rage that she was a whore and had given herself to Los Vengadores. She was my twin, and I knew she would never do that. That was the catalyst of my leaving Jordan. I had already moved to Chapmans in New Zealand. I did know they had a contract from a government commission investigating some firms involved with possible illegal activity associated with immigrants and I managed to convince my boss to join the team. That began my investigations.

Being afraid of my husband I transferred to Sydney. My investigation was in two parts, one was for my employer the other was to find the truth and destroy Malcom Fairchild. I did not know at the time the extent of their activity. I discovered eventually that an individual within Chapman's may have been compromised. Becoming aware of the seriousness and especially with their activity with Americans from the Confederate Resurrection I approached the FBI. My investigation is now complete, and it is now time for the final coupe de grace. The drive is the portal to the evidence gathered and I set this up in case anything happens to me.

I regret not telling you but knowing the depth of evil I was dealing with I could not risk exposing you or having you compromise my prime aim of destroying Malcom Fairchild.

Goodbye my love.

I will love you to eternity

Dorothea.

The emotional effect on Michael at the time was devastating. At last, there was some meaning to explain what had been happening. Initially Michael was numb, but Darnia recognized that he was bottling it. She suggested they talk it over with some physical activity.

Darnia contacted Colin, the liaison officer and they handed over the drive. Michael became hesitant at the last moment, not wholly convinced that Colin could be trusted. But it was all they could do and in the end the decision was the right one.

They returned to their cabin in silence and opted to go for a long run. Darnia realized that there would be a boiling cauldron of emotions within Michael that would need outlet. Darnia determined to stay close to him the whole time. Before running she hugged and held him for a long time trying to get him to emotionally open up.

While running Michael began to plan what they were to do. Darnia listened to his running monologue in silence. The police investigation would now be taking Dorothea's disappearance seriously. There remained unanswered questions. Where were the rest of the remains of Dorothea and the two FB officers? The disappearance of the FBI officers would probably never be made public. Where was Fairchild? Michael determined to take up Dorothea's cause.

Fairchild had to pay for this. Would justice be enough? He has proven to be a cruel with a vicious malevolence that had no moral and ethical boundaries. He has a hand in the rumoured planned coup attempt and his association with an international murderous cartel point to the fact that he has blood on his hands well beyond Dorothea and Estelle. Michael thought that Copperhead did not fully comprehend what he is up against.

The location of Dorothea's phone came to mind. It was highly likely that was where Dorothea was murdered. Her remains could be somewhere there. They would bring it up on the laptop when they got back to the unit.

And what about Jordan. They knew where he worked. He was the one contact they had not spoken to. They would have to approach him with caution.

Back at the unit they brought up the location indicated in the phone on an aerial map. It looked like a large horticultural operation with extensive glasshouses and what looked like a very large processing shed. There was a complex that looked like accommodation of some kind and in the rear a large house. The location marker was firmly on that house.

Darnia, "I wonder if the police actually know about this house. There is a road alongside but there is a plantation between it and the house, you would never see the house. The drive is long and what looks like security on the gate."

Michael, "Colin said Fairchild had gone to ground. If the police don't know about this, it would be ideal. It has to be the cover of the operation. I have a feeling; he is the one that murdered or had her murdered. Maybe she was trying to take him out and they got to her first."

"We can probably get some intel from the locals. What about her ex. in this? After all he works for the company. We know from Van that their meeting did not go down well. Maybe he murdered her, and Fairchild had nothing to do with it."

"I think we should go and see him." There was an aspect to this which was Michael's morbid and jealous curiosity. It was a one chance to find out information about Dorothea's former life that he would otherwise never get. He had never met Jordan and did not even know what he looked like.

Darnia was not happy about the idea but guessed where he was at. "Do you think it wise; he is hardly going to jump up and say he did it. It could put our lives in danger if he thought we were some kind of threat."

"I wasn't thinking of getting a confession it was more about understanding Dorothea's motivation. This is our one chance; I suspect he is going to be in jail shortly for something. We would just say we are husband and wife; we were her friends, and we were looking for her on behalf of her husband who cannot afford a PI. After all, it is not public knowledge she is dead yet. I don't know anyone that were friends to both of them when they were married. There wasn't anybody at our wedding. Her New Zealand friends that came were from her Uni days in Dunedin. The only other person is her mother, and she is not entirely compos mentis. No this is the only way of getting any glimmer of that time."

And that was the plan.

They rang him the following morning. His first reaction was he didn't know where she was, didn't care, goodbye, but before he rang off, they got over they just wanted information about her previous haunts back in New Zealand which might give clues to where she has gone. There was a long silence while he thought about it and finally agreed to see them.

The appointment was immediately following lunch. Michael and Darnia had a quick lunch nearby and finalized their approach. Michael noted that he would be more interested in what information they could give him therefore in the circumstances he would be a fool to not agree. He would also know that if he cut them off, he would cast the suspicion on himself as knowing she was dead.

******

As they stood in the reception Jordan Buchanan, Dorothea's ex-husband emerged from a large and very impressive office. He was tall, dark and brutally handsome sporting a pin striped tailormade suit, clean shaven with his thick black hair swept back and pomaded. He was courteous and very civil, inscrutable in his manner. The picture of a very successful businessman. He shook hands with both showing little emotion but a polite smile. He ushered them into his office and made a point of pulling the chair for Darnia to be seated. He retired to his side of the desk and sat with his hands clasped. His dark eyes peered out from below manicured eyebrows.

"So, you are looking for Dorothea because she is missing?"

"Er yes," replied Darnia," She disappeared while her husband was visiting Tasmania."

"What are you to her?"

"We are her friends. Her husband could not afford a PI and we offered to help."

"Why didn't you just pay for a PI."

"Oh, we are kiwis. We were planning on visiting anyway and it seemed a good idea."

"Are you two married?"

"Yes, of course."

"You are not wearing rings."

"We don't believe in them." Darnia was quick and impressive. Her reactions impressed Michael but after all she had been a detective and understood the scene.

"How did you know how to reach me."

"We saw her mother. Dorothea must have told her where you were working."

"How is her mother?"

"Ok, I suppose considering the stroke."

"Oh, she has had a stroke, that does not sound good."

'So, he didn't obviously know much about what Dorothea had been up to,' thought Michael.

"What do you want to know?"

"Would you have any ideas about her background, who her friends were over here and what would cause her to disappear."

"Oh, she was always a whore that woman. She'd be cheating with someone you can bet. She would have run off."

"Is that what caused your marriage to break up?"

"Absolutely. Of course, it was amicable. I couldn't handle the shit, we just separated, and she did whatever she wanted for two years and bingo we were divorced. Tell me. I heard she was working as a prostitute in Sydney. What do you know about that?"

'Ha!" thought Michael," he is fishing."

Darnia replied with indignation." Definitely not. We have known her for some time she would never do anything like that."

"Not even a corporate whore?"

Michael spoke up this time. "Listen. Chapmans is a client of mine. If there was even a hint of that, I would know."

"Well, I wouldn't put anything past one or two people I know at Chapmans."

That reply was telling, thought Michael and his riposte was, "Perhaps, but not the people I deal with."

"I got a call from the cops in Aussie by the way."

'Really, what did they say?"

"Just that she was missing. They thought she was on some dangerous mission in New Zealand. I put them straight. I said she would have taken up with some bloke. I said being a whore is pretty dangerous. I said she would most likely have gone to Sydney with some guy. She was there after left New Zealand. She would have had some guy there for sure. I told them she just a blond bimbo. The most difficult thing for her would be deciding what to wear when she went out whoring."

Both Michael and Darnia were visibly angry at his provocation but held their composure. It was Darnia that spoke next. Her questioned changed everything. "Do you know why her sister, Estelle, committed suicide?"

Jordan's eyes flashed and he stared at her. The room went quiet as he stared, then lips curled he spoke slowly and deliberately," Just who are you really? Why would you want to know about her?" His tone was malevolent. Both Michael and Darnia were taken aback, stunned into silence. "Listen to me, you fucks, whoever you are, I would strongly advise you go back to your comfortable little lives in Australia. Meddling here, you are playing with fire. I would move before you disappear, just like your so-called friend and her two stooges she was whoring with."

Neither replied, nor did they show fear, meeting him glare to glare. Both backed out slowly and without a goodbye made their way to the lift and their way out.

Back in the car there was a collective sigh of relief. "We better move I think," said Michael starting the car. "Wow, you realize in his anger he implied he had a role in not just Dorothea's death but the two agents."

Michael was breathing heavily as he drove. "Darnia I have to tell you, I have never felt like killing somebody so much as I did in there. "

Darnia nodded. Me too," then turning to Michael, "Did you see what was on the photograph on his desk?"

"How did you see that. It was facing him."

"I saw it before I sat down."

"What was in it?"

"It looked like Dorothea and Estelle each side of fucknuckle in Steampunk garb. He had a sort of flying helmet on, I assume Dorothea was the one in garb similar to what she wore at the club, Estelle however appeared to be in an old fashioned white embroidered nightie with a pair of enormous white wings."

"Wait." Says Michael as he pulled over. "I have a photo of the pair on my phone. Younger of course. I loaded an old picture of Dorothea's. "Michael flicked through his pics and found it, then held it up to Darnia.

"Yes, its them alright. Those two must have made quite a hot desirable team when they were out and about together."

"I never met Estelle, but yes, I often wondered about that, but Dorothea seldom spoke about her. She would get really emotional if I ever mentioned her. And the steampunk costumes! I never knew she was previously into all that. It explains where she got it from. I think, another piece of the jigsaw is put in place with this."

"They were wearing very elaborate costumes. It didn't look like fancy dress. Do you think there is a previous link with Copperhead?"

"I doubt that from what Suzie told me. That bit developed at the club. It gives meaning to Dorothea's pegging of Buchanan though and why he was so interested to find out if it was her that did it to him. The origins of the steampunk thing with Buchanan and her is mystery and I guess it will remain that way. It may have been quite an innocent interest of theirs. I guess since Estelle was involved with it became painful for her. Curious though that it became an instrument of her revenge."