Chapter 2 Rebeka

12:49 AM

Early the next morning, Edward Walenty Mazur stormed the flat door carrying two bags of clothes.

‘She’s finally here!’ he said, taking the doll from the box and sitting her on the couch, ‘I brought her some clothes, don’t look! She’s very modest.’

Robert and Lena cast their eyes away, but some things didn’t escape their attention, including the fact that the doll had a stripe of pubic hair on her mon pubis and very distinguished nipples.

Edward dressed her in a dress, gently took away the hair from her face and sat next to her on the couch.

‘Can you two please leave us alone for some time. We want to have a conversation.’

Robert and Lena raised their eyebrows and went to the kitchen. Half an hour later, Edward came from the room with the doll in his arms to properly introduce her.

‘Her name is Rebeka. She’s really happy to meet you.’

Robert and Lena very slowly shook Rebeka’s fake hand and introduced themselves as if they were taking part in a theater play.

‘I have a favor to ask. Can I keep her here in my room? I don’t want to drag her with me along the city. It’s not the best environment for her. I have a flat but it is empty. I don’t want her to feel lonely.’

‘Are you going to sleep with her at our place?’, Lena asked slightly disgusted.

‘Oh, no. She’s not that kind of girl. She saves herself for her wedding night. She’s very delicate.’

Lena looked at Rebeka’s big breasts, recalling the fact that half an hour ago she saw her perfectly sculpted vagina. Robert didn’t really have any objections, and if he had some, he couldn’t express them as he was trying to hide his laughter behind a cup of tea he had been holding all this time, sipping whenever there was a laughter attack overwhelming him.

Edward left Rebeka in her room and went to his routine city escapades.

‘Money!’, Robert gasped, ‘I wonder what I would buy if I won a lottery ticket. I’ve never done anything crazy. I just don’t have the guts to do it.’

‘I can’t believe it!’ Lena was in a slightly less amused mood, ‘I can’t believe that we are going to live with a ten thousand dollars worth sex doll, which is still a virgin!’

‘Does it make you feel a little bit less valuable?’, Robert laughed for which he was punched in his back, and as a result, had his tea spilled on his shirt.

That day, they were visited by their first genuine client who was interested in the detective services provided by The Philologist. A handsome man in his forties entered the flat and was invited by Robert to his room. There was a shared sense of respect between the two men, both similar in age and admirable in their appearance. Both of them were immediately sure that they were serious about their undertakings, Robert as the provider of the services, the man as the one willing to pay for them.

‘I’m Adam Fabjan,’ he introduced himself, ‘I’m here on a business trip for a couple of days. Routine financial audits. I live in Paris and I work for French corporations which have their branches throughout Poland. I’m here on average once a month. Sometimes more often than that. I was preparing my report when I came across the page, I was actually looking for a translator, but I read something else, I stumbled on these detective services, and wanted to give it a go.’

‘Please, sit. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?’

‘Tea, please.’

Robert was his own secretary and he made cups of tea for the guest and himself. If he asked Lena to prepare a cup of tea, he would have to clean the whole flat himself. She was still in her feminist mood and advocated equal divisions of chores.

‘What can I help you with? Are you looking for someone? Was there a financial fraud in one of your companies?’

‘No, no. I’m here privately. Businesses are as usual. If we break any serious regulations, they are going to impose punishments. I don’t need a detective for that. I’m looking for a woman,’ the man confessed and from his wallet started taking pictures of a woman, both with him on a holiday beach and alone nearby Warsaw’s Palace of Science and Culture, the Eiffel Tower or Montmartre. It was a slim, very pretty woman with black curly hair and beautiful black eyes.

‘We were married for some time,’ Adam Fabjan explained, ‘But we weren’t married for love. It was a deal. After a couple of years, we legally separated. I met someone, I wanted to start a family. She got married after a year or two. But we always stayed in touch. We met every couple of months for a cup of coffee and conversation. We cared about each other. And for the last couple of months, there’s nothing. No contact. No sign. Her mother told me that she went away but she didn’t want to say anything about where she might be.’

‘Is there police involved?’

‘I think not. But I know that her husband is also looking for her. I’m not really sure, but when we were talking about him, she acted in a strange way. As if they had relationship problems. I didn’t want to ask about details, she didn’t really want to confess...’

‘You are also her ex-husband. How can I be sure that you aren’t the second husband who wants to find her and get a revenge of some sort?’, Robert started getting suspicious.

‘Well, you have a point. You don’t need to tell me where she is. I just want you to find her and make sure that she is safe. I have this responsibility for her. I have to do something about this silence. You didn’t know her. Alicia was an extraordinary woman. Everybody instantly fell in love with her. She was charming, beautiful, funny. We both decided to go to France as students. I was studying business and she was studying French, we met, ran away to France, obsessed with this culture and these people. We were married for a couple of years, nothing romantic, we just lived together and made our way in the business world. Friends with benefits, you may call it. Two Poles taking their first steps on the French soil. Then, we decided to go our own ways. But you couldn’t forget her just like that. She left a mark on you. Even as a friend.’

‘You mentioned that you live in Paris. Am I going to look for her here or in Paris?’

‘To be honest, I don’t know. Her mother lives in Warsaw. For over the past fifteen years, we both stayed in Paris. She was working for one of the fashion magazines as a copywriter, then as an editor. She liked her job, she herself was very stylish and fashionable. The last time I heard about her was five, six months ago. When I wanted to get in touch, I found out she’s nowhere to be found. I own a flat in Paris, the one we shared with Alicia at the beginning of our journey. We sometimes use it for bed and breakfast, but most of the time it stays empty. I moved with my family to the suburbs. I’m traveling a lot so there’s no point in staying in the capital city, it’s not the safest if you have little kids. You can come and stay there if you want to take this case. But she can be everywhere, she can be all over the world.’

‘Fine,’ Robert said after some consideration, ‘But it is my additional job, I work as a policeman and I have my standard duties. I’ll try to find the time. Are you telling me everything?’

‘I need hours to tell you everything. But I can tell you everything you need to know, I have pictures, her addresses, some memories. They may be useful. Do you speak French?’

‘No, should I?’

‘Not necessarily, I can translate for you all things of importance. But would you be able to freely move around the city?’

‘I’ve been in France. This summer I visited Disneyland with my daughters.’

‘Oh, great. So maybe that won’t be a problem at all. I’ll leave you my business card. Call me whenever you have something to ask about.’

Robert was tired that day and instantly fell into the arms of Anton, who even though younger, proved to be a successful consoling pillow. He could speak Polish and did it with this funny little accent, which Robert for sure had, maybe slightly different version of it, when he spoke Russian. It was heartwarming to listen to a man trying to make his way in a strange city of Warsaw and Robert tried to be supportive, even though his own life was a mess. He had experience as a policeman, but if it hadn’t been for aunt Teresa, he would be as homeless as Anton in his rented garage room he had occupied for some time.

‘Have you thought about moving in?’, there’s one more room, which no one is taking at the moment ‘You pay for the rent there and here I could just pay for you.’

‘Thanks, dear, but you have a lot of people coming in and getting out, and I need to separate life from work. This garage gives me space to think. I still stay here way longer than I should.’

Robert wasn’t that sure if Anton was staying for too long. Usually, Robert started missing him once he disappeared behind the door. Usually, he was so starved after not seeing him for a couple of days, that he instantly glued himself to him when he finally came round. For years, Robert had just dreamed about being with a man, but once he had an opportunity to actually be with one, he was happy with every touch that was given to him, by every hug, every kiss and every sexual act that turned his fantasies into actual deeds.

That night six individuals occupied Robert’s room to watch the film which was broadcast on TV. On one side of the couch, there was Robert and Anton laughing to each other whenever there was something funny, on the other side there was Edward gently holding the hand of Rebeka dressed in a brand new dress. In the middle of it all, Lena sat with a bag of crisps and a beer, single like a lonely windmill in the field, and only Kit-Kat was kind enough to keep her company and jumped on her lap to be petted and to eat what she was willing to give him.