Day 1, 20:00
Jordan Stern sat at the desk in his hotel room bathed in the soft glow of his laptop's screen. For the past hour he'd poured over Mary Ritchie's diary. It was a biography written for none but the writter. He felt like a voyeur looking in her window, catching glimpses of her naked soul.
She slowly took on a three dimentionality as her desires mixed with her annoyances. Parts were cryptic, and Jordan supposed that if Mary were to read them, they would inspire a memory of an event. To him, they were indecipherable.
He noted a change in the months before she died. She began using metaphore more, and the entries became more cryptic. Jordan began to struggle with the meaning of the entries, forgoing any attempt to understand the details. He noted the repeated use of a phrase, "the center of life," and references to a place the "Surya's Grove.' It appeared in several entries, and piqued Jordan's interest. He picked up the phone and dialed Zenya's room. The phone rang several times, but Zenya was not in.
Jordan pressed the switch to disconnect and then dialed Vanessa's room.
[Hello,] Vanessa answered.
"Agent Lee, this is Agent Stern. Is Agent Gorky there?"
[No, she isn't. If I see her should I give her a message?]
"No. I just wanted to ask her about a reference in Mary Ritchie's diary to the 'Surya's Grove'."
[We drove past it this evening.]
"What?" Jordan asked surprised.
[Yeah, it's a night club in town. Agent Reaper and I drove past it earlier.]
"Really? Well Agent Lee, it looks like you and I are going out dancing tonight. I'll meet you in the lobby in 10 minutes."
There was a short pause and then Vaness replied, [Ok, I'll see you there.]
Jordan hung up and shut the laptop down. Then he picked up his gun, two photos of Mary Ritchie and shrugged on his jacket.
Twenty minutes later the agents pulled into the parking lot of Surya's Grove. The entrance to the club was ablaze with light. The entrance to the club featured the sun rising behind a four armed woman flanked by palm trees.
I wonder if they have palm trees in India, Jordan wondered. He reached the door first and held it for Vanessa.
The first thing she noticed was that they stuck out in this crowd. There was no other male in the room wearing a jacket, it you didn't count leather with metal studs, and the music was much too loud.
Jordan stepped next to her, and yelled over the music, "Let's try the direct approach."
"And that would be?" she asked just as loud.
"Lets find the bar and have a talk with the bar tender."
Vanessa nodded, and Jordan led the way into the undulating crowd. Dancers bumped into them as they made their way across the floor toward a large neon palm tree on the far wall. Most of the dancers didn't notice them. Vanessa supposed that they were either took absorbed in the music, or they had absorbed too much of various illegal substances.
One dancer shouted a question asking Jordan if he were a cop. When Jordan answered yes, the questioner dissapeared into the crowd.
Finall they reached the bar and Jordan signaled to the bar tender. The young man walked over, serving several patrons on the way. >Jordan cut right to the heart of the matter, "I'm Agent Stern of the FBI, and this is Agent Lee," he said with ID in hand, "We're wondering if you've ever seen this woman in here," Jordan laid the picture of Mary on the bar.
The bartender looked for a moment and said, "No, but I've only worked here for a week. You might try asking Joe."
"And where is this Joe?" Vanessa asked.
"In back having dinner. He's been tending bar here for a couple of years. Just go through that door."
"Thanks," Jordan said picking up the picture and leading the way toward the indicated door.
NRPG:
Sau Woon: Over to you. If you want to have Vanessa discuss anything
with Jordan in the car, feel free.
All: This should not be too easy. Zenya and Leo should not find anything significant at Rebecca's house yet, I think. We should get some idea of what the motive is before cracking the case. I'm thinking fertility ritual of some kind. Any thoughts?
Respectfully submitted,
Alton Reich
SA-4 Jordan Stern, Team Leader ZULU
--
Alton & Elizabeth Reich [email protected] "Ani l'dodi, v'dodi li - I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine" --The Song of Songs