Chapter 31
A week later, Dave was waiting outside the same Starbucks to meet the specialist who had been chosen from the list. A man in his forties, same height and build as himself, but blond and pale-skinned, drove into a parking space across the street. The medical parking permit on the windshield gave Dave the clue he needed, and as the man crossed the road, he found his hand taken up and shaken, as his name was spoken. "Doctor Greenberg?"
“Yes, I am. I guess you are Mr. Gahan, right?” he gave him a little smile and shook his hand.
“I’m so glad that you could take some time and come.”
“I help where I can” he looked at him with friendly blue eyes. The guy seemed appealing to Dave. “So can we discuss the details?”
“Yes of course, do you want a coffee?”
“Yes, that’d be good” he glanced at his watch “Time for my caffeine dose” he smiled again “Yeah, it’s funny that even such a specialist has habits… But well… that’s life…” he murmured and Dave needed to smile a bit.
When they were already sitting by a little table near a corner, more serious topics were discussed by them. The doctor wanted to know every detail about Natasha and her behaviour. Dave even mentioned the things he heard from Christian. The suspicion came into his mind that maybe Nat wasn’t even a junkie… that she lied in this question… But if she lied in this then maybe the abortion was a lie too! But then why did she do this? What could be the hidden cause?
Dr. Greenberg pushed his chair back and crossed his legs, and a small smile crept over his face.
"This talk has been most interesting especially because ... yesterday evening ... I went to the bar that you mentioned in your original telephone message, and asked around for Natasha."
Dave sat up straight in his chair, and grabbed the table in a wild panic "You have seen her already?"
"Yes, Mr. Gahan ... and I can truthfully say that the woman in question has none of the telltale signs of a drug user. She is too meticulous about her appearance, and too conscientious about her work."
"Well then couldn’t this come from fear of something else? Something bigger and darker than a drug habit?”
"Now you are talking, Mr. Gahan. I have been told by her colleagues that she is always anxious to have as many clients as possible, that she has a list of regular clients who pay her really well, that the barman watches out for her, because despite his advice, she often gets into dangerous situations, just because these clients pay more ... "
"Oh god ..." Dave ran his hands through his hair "What did THAT mean?" he looked searchingly into the doctor's eyes.
"Oh please Mr. Gahan, let's not create frightening imaginary situations here, or I will be treating you too!" the doctor shook his head and went on to explain: "Natasha seems to have several groups of men who visit together, rather like what your friend Christian described. It's a half hour booking for her and so she gets more money, and a percentage of the drinks ordered. That's all I was implying here, but of course, such groups can sometimes turn against the girl and make things very unpleasant..."
Here Dave interrupted the doctor "There were times when she had marks on her body ... bite marks, I would have said, although she would never admit to this ... she would cook up some story of people shoving her around on the subway... facial marks too - but how could she get them at the lapdancing bar and go on to take care of other clients? It baffles me completely!!"
"This makes me think that she has other places of work - other less .... how should I say .... places where she isn't as protected as she is at this bar ... maybe she works alone here, so whatever happens to her, injuries - marks ...." and here Dave 's mouth fell open at the awful truth that was being unraveled for him ... "doesn't seem to matter - and might even be part of what is expected of her..."
"Jesus Christ - you mean some kind of sick sadist? Getting his kicks from seeing her leave his arms with HIS marks on her skin?" Dave felt a mixture of nausea and fury.
“We can’t be sure what she’s doing when she’s not in the bar or at the dancing school. But it seems that she needs money for something. As it seems not for drugs, she just said this to cover up the real cause.”
“Oh Natty, what’s this all about?” he whispered to himself in shock.
“As I saw during my visit in the bar she seemed to be frightened when she thought no one was watching her. And just before I left I saw her go to the dressing rooms and a tall man followed her.”
“A man? Was he from the staff?”
“I don’t know. It is possible. First he spoke to her by the bar. He whispered something into her ear and her whole body strained but nodded. She didn’t seem happy to go back to the dressing room, but after all she obeyed and this man followed her nearly immediately.”
“What…what’s this man like?” Dave asked and a dark thought started to form in his head.
“I couldn’t see properly, because it was dark in the club, but he was tall, muscular… short brown hair, icy eyes… sharp contours… You know him?”
“I’m not sure…” Dave uttered and closed his eyes. He had an idea… "OK Doctor - maybe there would be a way to trace her movements - what do you think? Or do you think it would be better to confront Nat directly?" Dave seemed desperate to put the next part of the plan, whatever it was to be.
"Wait a moment, Mr. Gahan - all this needs to be thought through carefully. I was going to suggest that I went to the bar and asked to see Natasha myself ... then I would be able to decide more conclusively about the possibility of drug use. Notice if you will how I say possibility now, because that is all it is for me. I am beginning to entertain the idea that there is something bigger at stake."
Dave's eyes widened "Perhaps linked to her Russian origins? I wonder if this is what her friend was hinting at ..." and Dave's thoughts went back in time to the conversation with Tanya.... How determined she had been not to reveal Nat's secret ... how scared and sad she had looked...
By the time Dave had told this supplement of information to the doctor, he was smiling ... "I think now that you are right about having this young lady's movements followed, and the sooner we can identify the importance of that threatening man in the bar, the better it will be for Natasha." The doctor stood to leave, his work for today had come to an end. "I will contact you when I have identified Natasha's other…er…places of work ... and also once I have been to visit the bar, and played the role of an unsuspecting lapdance customer .... the thought of this leaves me rather perplexed ... it's really not my idea of a good night out, you know…" and the doctor shook Dave’s hand before heading for the door ...
---
A few days later when the doctor informed him about the news he was sitting in Christian’s car across Nat’s street. He lent it to him, because Dave knew Nat’d recognize his car. The doctor mentioned that he saw that other man in the bar again and gave a hint that it seems, Nat goes out somewhere late in the night, but he lost her in the subway. Dave thanked for his help and felt a little relief that she wasn’t using, but on the other hand he was worried about this bigger picture.
He was sitting in the car for hours now. He was about to go home when he spotted a tall figure in the crowd heading to the entrance of her apartment and Dave’s blood froze…
“Yuri, you bastard!” he whispered through gritted teeth “I knew it!” He needed all of his patience to stay in the car and not to go after that bastard. He counted the minutes on his watch and felt his brain working hard. Some things clicked into its places, but there were blurry spots. Why was Yuri here? Was he the source of Nat’s strange behaviour, or she went back to him? Dave didn’t like either options, but he needed to think before acting…
As the time passed, Dave began to drum on the dashboard ... he watched the passers by, slipped lower into the seat, and tried not to envisage Yuri's face with two black eyes ... but this image came again and again before his eyes - as if it were a premonition.
A whole hour dragged by, before two figures emerged from the building's entrance ... unmistakably Nat and Yuri, but taking different directions ... Yuri had almost let the door go in Nat's face, as he came out onto the sidewalk. Yuri was smiling, Nat was trying to hide her face. Dave couldn't stand this inertia any more, but chose not to confront either person that day ... he would try to work out for himself what was going on first, and then find a way to confirm his suspicions by getting back in touch with Tanya, maybe.
He waited until both Yuri and Nat were out of sight then left the car to go into the building.
Using his key to Nat's door, he let himself in. His first impression was that he had gone to the wrong place ... nothing looked the same.... every surface was strewn with papers, ashtrays, food containers, glasses, half-drunk bottles. The windows were dirty so not much light was getting in, although it was a brilliantly sunny afternoon.
Dave sat down on the familiar sofa, and for a second, memories of his first moments in Nat's comfy little home flooded back into his mind, and his heart too.... but they were soon chased away by what he saw as he looked around ... He was curious to see what the pile of boxes was on the kitchen floor so got up from the sofa and walked over to it. All food boxes ... all take-out food. The kitchen was particularly shocking to him - he shook his head as he looked at the unhealthy food that Nat had been eating, obviously standing over the sink to eat, as there was no cutlery visible.... torn up pizza boxes, Chinese food cartons ... totally unlike the Nat he had known .... this person was constantly running - the other proof of this came from the bedroom - a pile of discarded clothes on the floor from a need to change rapidly - to do different jobs? As he searched through the pile he found everyday clothes alternating with raunchy black fake leather and lacy stuff ... a short red split skirt.... a see-through red lace blouse .... and the underwear didn't look like Nat's style either... It must have been what she wore for her lapdancing nights.... if that was all she did, he began to think...
Dave took a pile of papers from the work surface in the kitchen and returned to slump onto the sofa.... as he leafed through the papers, all in Russian, he could see they were in two different handwritings... and that one of them was Nat's. He took one sheet, full of crossed out lines and corrections, and wondered what on earth was the problem for Nat to be writing like this. His eyes strayed down to the waste paper basket.... he took two crumpled sheets of similarly filled paper from there, smoothed them out, and decided to take them to show to someone who could translate for him. Tanya maybe, as she seemed so worried about her friend, and Dave felt he could trust her.
The other papers were returned to the worksurface, and then Dave thought about leaving. He glanced into the grubby bathroom, which had sparkled on his previous visits then as he sighed, he felt drawn to go back to the bedroom. Why he did this, he had no idea, but what he saw chilled him to the bone ... on the pillows were some handcuffs, one end attached to the bedhead .... the bedsheets, a shade of mid-blue, were stained with dark red and yellowish white .... he backed up to the wall, realising what this meant - Yuri and Nat must have been here in that last hour, and he had hurt her enough to draw blood ... he felt a retching feeling in his stomach and had to dash for the bathroom...
He literally fled from the little flat, closing his fist hard around the sheets of papers. He felt sick from the smells, the images and the things he figured out. He knew now well, that Nat wasn’t using, she was terrorized by Yuri. He couldn’t imagine that she loved what he was doing to her. A sharp picture popped up in Dave’s head: now he remembered how Nat was hiding her face with her blonde tufts and she was rubbing her wrist! Maybe because the handcuffs on her bedpost hurt her fragile skin…
Dave took a deep breath from the cold air and hurried to his car, hoping that the stolen papers’ll give him more answers. His first thing to do was to visit Tanya, hoping that she was at home. If he needs, he’ll wait for her even for hours, but he wanted to see what this whole thing was about. He was so close! He felt it!
---
As Dave pressed Tanya's doorbell, he felt full of positivity - he was going to get his fragile little Nat out of the hell she had got herself into ... he heard a noise behind the door, and moved back a step to be visible through the spyglass set into the door. He waited but heard no further noise... perhaps his arrival was disturbing Tanya in the middle of something...
"Tanya - I'm sorry if it's not a good time - can you tell me when I can talk to you please?" Dave asked through the closed door, leaning towards the spyglass as if it was a microphone "It's about Nat - I need your help - I think I've ...." suddenly the door opened to reveal Tanya, glaring at him and gesturing to him to shut up .... She then beckoned impatiently to him to come in, and as soon as the door was closed, she flew at him ... "ARE YOU TOTALLY CRAZY?" then she lowered her voice for the rest “Don't ever - ever mention Natasha's name here again - or both she and I could be killed .... please..." and as she spoke, her anger melted into fright and tears...
“What the hell are you talking about??!!” Dave looked at her shocked again.
“I don’t know too much, but… when Nat….” here she tried to calm down “…so when she gave me that something I must give to you when it’s time… she was terrified and mentioned that she can’t come here to me often, because….”
“Because?” Dave asked anxious.
“Because I can get in danger too…” she whispered at the end.
“Are you serious?!” he started to pace in the room “This situation starts to be too crazy for me!”
“I’m sorry, Dave…” Tanya bent her head down.
“No… it’s not your fault. I believe you and I see it bothers you too… so maybe I can give answers for both of us…” he said and lifted his hand, containing the creased papers.
“What are those?” she looked surprised.
“Some letters I found, but I need your help, because it’s in Russian and I can’t read it and can’t trust anyone if the situation is really this serious…” he gave her the papers and Tanya opened them.
Tanya sat down and showed Dave where he could sit and poured them some wine, while she looked over the papers...
"They seem to be calculations ... dates and amounts of money ... it's not Nat's writing, I'm sure.... it looks like a debt being paid off, as the amount is getting less as the time goes on - see? Here are the months of the year and here are the amounts and the....." The blood left Tanya's face as her finger traced across the page to the last column "…this column is called activities... oh my god..."
Dave reached out to hold Tanya's arms, which were trembling now "Tanya - tell me - come on - what does it mean? A debt? Whose debt?"
"Oh Dave, it looks like Nat owed someone a lot of money, and the only way she could pay them back was to..." here she looked up imploring Dave to understand all by himself without her having to translate the activities on the paper.
"You have to tell me, Tanya, please, however bad it is, I know she was lapdancing... is that written anywhere?"
"Yes" Tanya replied, grateful for Dave's contribution - somehow it made it easier for her to carry on ..."And there are other ways that she earned money ... it seems that she had to....be ....with Yuri....and a woman too... oh my poor friend ... oh no ...." and Tanya found herself unable to go on, dissolving into tears in Dave's arms.
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