To Hell... and Back

* * *

When I told him I needed to dig some stuff up, I meant on him. I was going to spend the next two days watching his movements. I knew I'd find something. I just didn't know what it was going to be. I stuck around the restaurant. Instead of going back to my car I went in the back alley, between rolling waste bins, in the seedy backside of the restaurant. The first thing I spotted was an Audi RS7 sedan. The plate matched the one I knew was registered to a shell company that he owned. It was parked nose out in the spot closest to the restaurant and the guy I kneed in the balls was standing guard in front of it.

I was far enough away that he didn't see me. He seemed more preoccupied with his phone, which made it easier to get closer. I squatted behind a bush and waited. My phone said 5:00 and I knew his office hours were over. I waited until I saw his driver go inside the restaurant to retrieve his boss. I sprinted back to my car that was parked near the end of the alley. I made it to my car before I saw the headlights of his car turn on. I was able to follow his car at a respectable distance. It didn't seem like he was overly vigilant, no doubt because he had an understanding with the police department.

I didn't think he would notice me. His security was a bit sloppy. His security guy left the car unattended for a couple minutes when he went inside the restaurant. Even though Evgeny was a buttoned down guy, it seemed like his air of invincibility had dulled his edge, and letting me get this close to him was clearly a mistake. He was underestimating me, just like his cousin did.

I followed him and watched his car stop at a local florist. I parked a block ahead and waited. I saw in my right rear mirror that he came out of the florist's shop carrying a bouquet of flowers, no doubt for his wife. I thought it would be a short night with him going home to spend time with his family.

I followed him for a mile, when he interrupted his journey home and took a detour into an area with old row houses. I stopped behind him this time and wondered what he would be doing stopping at such an odd place, far off the beaten path. He got out of his car and the driver parked around the corner. A porch light turned on, he waved to the person on the other side of the peephole, and then the door opened. Thankfully I was watching with my telephoto lens so I got a few choice snapshots of the face of the person answering the door.

I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. He was a young man, I'd say about twenty-five, clean cut like Evgeny, and looked German or Nordic. He was wearing a tee shirt with the sleeves cut off and a pair of gym shorts. He looked like he had just finished working out. The man held the screen door open for Evgeny, but before he cleared the door they kissed briefly and then the door shut quickly behind them.

Evgeny really did live his life with impunity in Columbus. He seemed unconcerned about flaunting his behavior because there was little likelihood of him being watched or getting arrested as long as he ran a civilized loan sharking operation. It was a stroke of good fortune for me that he didn't change any of his routine because I was there.

He was there for about an hour, and I didn't have to guess hard at what they were doing. He resumed his trip home and his car pulled into the driveway of a sprawling brick ranch house with white rail fencing to keep in the horses they kept on property. The security gate opened and the car drove into it. I waited for fifteen minutes just to make sure Evgeny was in for the night. I saw his driver leave by himself with the car a few minutes later, and then nothing. During that time I went back to the pictures I took. You could clearly see both men's faces as they kissed.

I rented a "budget" motel room that was located between Veehan's house and the halfway house where Lehka was living. With Evgeny tucked away for the night, I went back to my room to change. Something nicer. I was going to try to see Lehka even though she hadn't called me. I just couldn't stay away. I needed to know where I stood with her, especially in light of Alex appearing in her life.

I took a long hot shower and shaved carefully. I went to my closet to pick out what I wanted to wear. I chose a dress Lehka had bought for me for my last birthday. I took it out of my overnight bag to press, and before I could iron it I had a sinking feeling that I'd lost her. I glanced over to my dresser. There was a full bottle of vodka perched there on top of it. I should have resisted, but didn't. I drank while I ironed, the alcohol rounding out all the rough edges of the day and temporarily quelling my anxiety.

* * *

Lehka's halfway house was about two miles from my motel. I opened the driver's side door and pushed aside an empty coffee cup that had rolled onto the middle of the seat. I smoothed a miniscule wrinkle in my dress and started the car. The neighborhood transitioned quickly from a marginal neighborhood to an outright bad one. Half the street lights had been shot out and the block surrounding her three story residence consisted of abandoned houses and empty lots. I felt sorely out of place in my dress.

I was told that Lehka moved there about three weeks ago, along with this woman who had supposedly saved her. I figured I'd hang out nearby and get the lay of the land first. I didn't bring my telephoto lens, but I did have my phone, and used the 5x magnification to watch the comings and goings of people through the front door of the house.

The house itself was a nice representation of the 1920's. All wood construction, painted white. Carved woodwork gracing the wraparound porch and two steps down to the sidewalk. All the houses were probably this nice fifty years ago. This one was the only one left on the block.

The house probably held ten to fifteen residents with three or four bedrooms per floor. When I set up shop I saw two teens smoking a joint on the porch and a guy with no shirt walking up the stairs with a skateboard slung over his shoulder. After about fifteen minutes I saw an attractive young woman, Caucasian, probably in her 20's. She was laughing as she left the house, holding the screen door open for someone else. To my surprise, the woman was Lehka, and she looked better than she ever had after being rescued. There was a smile on her face, and she held hands with the woman. They said something excitedly to each other and then briefly kissed. I felt a big pit in my stomach and a sudden urge to vomit.

I started breathing harder as I watched them walk down stairs and turn right so they passed in front of me. They were walking, talking and laughing as though they didn't have a care in the world. It hit me hard seeing Lehka with another woman. I felt a jealous rage bubbling up inside me. Instead of confronting them I turned tail and mindlessly wandered back to my car and opened another pint of vodka, guzzling directly from the bottle. I lost track of how much more vodka I consumed before I stumbled back to the halfway house to await their return.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) I brought the bottle with me, which allowed me to pass the time easier. It was now getting dark outside and starting to get cold. I hadn't brought more than a light wrap, and was shivering with the onset of night in my flimsy dress. Finally, Lehka and the woman came back together, as happy as they were when they left. I left my hiding place from across the street to stop them.

"Lehka... wait... it's me," I called out, standing under one of the few remaining working streetlights in the neighborhood. Lehka and her companion stopped their conversation and turned around.

"Max?" Lehka said, shielding her eyes from the bright light from above.

"It's me," I answered, approaching them.

"What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" I asked. Her companion was undoubtedly Alex, as she was young and beautiful. Her wavy blonde hair went down to the middle of her back. Her lively eyes locked in on me. The jealousy I tried to dull with alcohol was rearing its ugly head again.

"Me first. Tell me what you're doing here."

"I wanted to see you."

"I didn't want to see you... at least not yet."

"Your friend?"

Lehka tugged on the woman's arm. "This is Alex."

"Are you dating?"

"Don't be stupid."

"I have eyes."

"Fuck you Max." Then she leaned forward and sniffed. "Have you been drinking?"

"Maybe," I admitted. "Have you been shooting up?"

I regretted saying it the moment the words tumbled out of my drunken lips. Jealousy and alcohol proved to be a fatal combination.

Lehka's eyes burned with a fire I hadn't seen before. Alex moved a step back and looked horrified.

"I think you need to go now."

"Lehka, I..."

"Max... go... now."

I turned around and left, not looking back.

I didn't think I'd ever see Lehka again.

* * *

There was a wine and spirits store about a block from my motel. The black metal grating covering the window and the door of the store told me it wasn't the nicest area in town. A homeless woman was sitting outside the store's entrance, enjoying the butt end of someone else's cigarette. The weathered lines on her face spoke of a hard life on the street.

"Spare a fiver ma'am?" she asked me, extending her hand covered by a grimy fingerless glove.

I looked at her and saw myself in five years.

"I'll get you on the way out," I told her.

The inside was no different than my favorite liquor store near the Royal Palms. A tall display shelf behind the cash register held all the hard liquor. The clerk, an older man, likely of Indian descent, came out from the back when the bell on the door announced my arrival.

"May I help you?" he asked, in mildly accented English.

I scanned the shelf behind him and the price tags under the bottles. I pointed to the cheap pints of vodka on the middle shelf. "I'll take three of those."

"Heavy night?" he asked as he bagged the three bottles.

"They all are," I answered.

"You're right there," he said as I tapped my credit card on the reader.

"Thanks."

"You have a nice night Miss."

I think he meant it.

I stepped outside the store and sat down next to the homeless woman. I pulled one of the bottles out and gave it to her.

She smiled, and I noticed she had a few teeth missing. She unscrewed the cap, as I did on one of mine, and we tapped bottles.

"Here's to forgetting," she said, then taking a healthy swallow from the bottle. I did the same.

I didn't want to pry but she volunteered her source of pain. "Teenage daughter got killed by a drunk driver." She cackled. "Now I'm a drunk myself."

I took another sip and wiped my mouth off with the back of my hand. "At least you have an excuse."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I just like drinking. And anytime I have an excuse to, I drink... like now."

"What happened?"

"I just fucked things up permanently with the love of my life."

"Shit happens."

"It does to me... all the time."

I noticed she was wearing a faded University of Cincinnati sweatshirt. "Bearcats fan?"

She laughed again. I'm sure once upon a time she had a nice smile. "Found it in a dumpster."

"Fair weather fan no doubt."

"Story of my life," she said. "My husband left me shortly after our daughter died. Life went completely to shit after that."

"Got a name?" I asked.

"Not really. I just go by Dot."

"Not your real name?"

"I lost my real name when I went out on the streets. Folks in the encampment down the road starting calling me Dot, so that's my name now."

I stood up and took another healthy drink out of the bottle. I was glad I left my car at the motel. There was no way I would have passed a breathalyzer test.

"See you around Dot."

She looked up at me. I could see the pain in her eyes. "You take care."

I walked back to the motel, only a bit wobbly, and got back into my room. I flipped on the TV. There was some lame local sports show on about Buckeyes football. I opened my partially finished bottle and learned about the team's woes on the defensive line. Starting into the second bottle, the screen became a blur and the sound garbled. The sting of Lehka's sharp and final rebuke still echoed in my head as the second bottle slipped out of my fingers and I fell into a restless and dreamless sleep.

* * *

The alarm on my phone went off at 6 a.m. I turned it off, tempted to go back asleep, but duty called. I still had to play out the rest of the hand with Evgeny. Veehan was counting on me. I dragged myself out of bed, disgusted with myself, and went to the bathroom and downed two Advil with the dregs of the second bottle of vodka. I fixed my face the best I could and trudged out to the motel's parking lot. Next on my agenda was Evgeny's house.

I parked a respectable distance away from their gate, but could still see the comings and goings. Around 7 a.m. I saw Evgeny's Audi leave the house. I let it go. Mrs. Melnyk was my target today. Thankfully I had a second cup of coffee in the car with me, and drank it leisurely while I waited. About an hour later a large SUV departed the house with her driving. There wasn't any protection for her as far as I could tell. I followed the vehicle to a nearby private school, where she got in line to drop off her kids. After she dropped them off she got out of the car to chat with a couple other of the moms. They all got in their cars and I followed them to a local coffee shop. They chose an outside table and gabbed for at least an hour before they finished. I got some good pictures with my camera.

Next stop was Paige's office. She was wrangling some paperwork when I wandered into her office.

"Back for more?" she asked.

"Got some choice shots."

She perked up. "What have you got?"

I first went to the pictures of Evgeny and his mysterious male lover. Paige used her fingers to expand the photo on my screen.

"Looks like Stefan Krause."

She went back to her computer and started tapping on her keyboard. A picture came up. It was the same guy.

"Who is he?" I asked.

"He's part of a prostitution ring. Gets into some really kinky shit."

She called up a website. There were graphic photos on the homepage showing men being tied up and punished by both males and females. The faces of course were obscured, but it was clear there was some sort of dungeon set up. I took note of the website address.

I next showed her a picture of Evgeny's wife with her friends.

"Ruslana Melnyk."

"She's pretty," I observed.

"We don't know a lot about her. They apparently were married in the Ukraine and came to this county about ten years ago. They lived in Detroit first, and then came to Columbus five years ago. They've got two young children."

"I saw her drop them off at school this morning."

"Is she on social media?"

"Uh huh." Paige went to a social media website and pulled up her profile. "She lists her husband as an insurance salesman. He keeps an office and a secretary but is never there. I think as far as she knows he's legit. She's socially active, and no one at the school is apparently aware of his criminal activities."

Perfect. I had what I needed. I asked her to print out the photos I had and went on my way.

* * *

From Ruslana's social media posts I was able to identify the three other women she was having coffee with. All three had children in the same class as Ruslana's daughter Nina, the younger of the two siblings. That much was evident from the pictures of Nina's seventh birthday party that were posted on a social media website.

I pulled together everything I had and made my way back to the Jade Palace. By that time it was late afternoon and the restaurant was empty, that dead time between lunch and dinner. The hostess wasn't at her station so I walked to the back. As expected a man stepped out from one of the booths to stop me. It was the same man who got a swift knee to the groin the last time we met. He stayed at arm's length from me this time, putting his hand inside his jacket to show me he was packing.

"You have business with Evgeny?" he asked.

"I do." I waved a legal size brown envelope in front of him. "Personal delivery."

He stepped aside and let me pass. He pulled back the curtain of the same booth Evgeny was sitting in the previous day. Being a creature of habit (like me), he was sipping his end of the day Manhattan. He had an extra one sitting in front of him. He pushed it towards me.

"I've been expecting you."

"You have?"

"You've been busy. I know you've been following my wife."

Shit. I thought for sure no one was following me.

"How did you know?"

"I know everything about you. About Lehka. Her addiction. Your drinking. According to my sources you were put on six month's unpaid administrative leave after you killed my cousin. Your life is shit, and about to get worse. No one fucks with my family."

I left my drink untouched. I opened the envelope and slid an enlargement of a picture I took of him under his nose. It was a picture of him and Stefan Krause.

"Stefan Krause. Two priors for solicitation. He's into some very unsavory stuff."

I pulled out a screenshot from his website. A photo depicting a man wearing a leather hood getting whipped while tied to a bench.

"I guess you swing both ways Evgeny?"

He crumpled the pictures I gave him.

"No problem I can print more. I presume Mrs. Melnyk doesn't know about your visits to his dungeon?"

I gave him one last photo. The one of Ruslana and her girlfriends.

"And I presume Ruslana and her friends don't know you make your living as a loan shark. That news might not go over so well with the principal of their exclusive school, not to mention the parents."

"You're dead Max."

"You can't kill me. I died when your cousin forced Lehka into her heroin addiction."

I leaned over the table and touched the gun he kept inside his jacket.

"Go ahead, shoot me. You'll be doing me a favor. You'll be in jail for the rest of your life for killing a cop. As you said, my life isn't worth shit. Please do it."

He calmed down after I convinced him I had absolutely nothing to lose.

"So it looks like we are at a standoff. What do you propose Max?"

"Veehan borrowed $40,000 from you. How about he pays you $50,000 tomorrow and I pay you the $5,000 I promised you. You clear the books. You still make $10,000 interest on the loan, which is much better than what a bank would have gotten.

"You've got it all figured out, don't you Max?"

"I've got this one figured out. It's a no brainer for a smart businessman like you."

"And if you release any of this information, the remaining $100,000 in interest is reinstated?"

"Agreed."

I picked up the Manhattan and took a sip. It seemed better than yesterday, maybe because I had Evgeny's balls in a vise.

* * *

"You settled my debt for $50,000. But how?" Veehan asked on the phone.

"Do you have the $50,000 Veehan?"

"Of course. Of course. I've been taking out of the bank a few thousand at a time. It's in a duffel bag in our house."

"Good. Give it to me tomorrow morning. I'll stop by the house."

"How did you do it Max?"

"I'm very persuasive when I need to be."

"We owe you so much..."

"You don't owe me anything."

"And do me a favor. Please don't mention any of this to Lehka. She has enough to worry about."

* * *

I grabbed dinner at a fast food restaurant, then back to the liquor store. Dot was in her usual spot, clutching a tattered blanket to keep out the cold. I went inside to get my two pints and then went outside to see her.

Her watery eyes, and the pain evident behind them, broke my heart. I still had a soft spot for Brianna, and seeing Dot reminded me of Brianna's agony while living. I knelt down next to her with a hundred dollar bill in my hand.