Chapter 9 – Bride & Seek
In the elevator Verne commanded:
“Game face only.” I was bemused.
Which game is that?
Bride and Seek – ancient party game –
Does not end well, as I recall.
We decanted at the penthouse floor.
Battle of Rich Men, I thought,
Who forecast how my
Weekend would devolve?
But this man’s apartment seemed really his –
As opposed to Verne’s
Antiseptic rented rooms –
Each gaudy piece was carefully curated,
Trucked in from God knows where;
Art deco friezes,
Naked ebony statues
Bows & arrows
Brass and torchieres.
And that’s just the hall!
Leather paneled, copper nailed door
Broached before we even rang the bell and
A handsome, shorter, older man
stood before us in silk robe and slippers.
Mirabel with this guy?
I froze my face –
What’s the use of beauty
If this is all it gets you –
Verne’s at least good-looking.
“Why, Verne,” he said in a voice even I
Recognized as jovially false:
“What brings you at this hour?
Please come in.” Bizarre foreign accent
I couldn’t place.
He took my hand, mauled it like many
An unbalanced teacher at my School
for Introducing Adolescents to Adult Subject matter
Looooong Before They’re Ready.
I am practiced at mind-closing
Even as they woo me.
“You can only be Mirabel’s lost sister.”
“That’s just it,” I said, “It’s Mirabel who’s lost, not me.”
“I’m Ravi Krutupian,” said the man, refusing to let go.
I felt my first flicker of
Actual fear – I was alone in the world
With two strange men who wore
Compulsive need like designer logos.
I don’t blame Mirabel for
Disappearing rather than marry among this ilk but
Where does that leave me?
Krutupian’s inner rooms weren’t reassuring.
Dark, hand-carved, probably fake
Tree branches projecting from the walls
Displayed a riot of glittering objects.
“Welcome to my enchanted forest,”
Says the man in sleeper gear.
“Please leave your shoes by the door.”
He slid the bolt as
We came through.
“I know it’s late,” Verne began,
Ravi said, “I never watch the time. Drink?
Pot of coffee?”
A steel black kitchen offers coffee from
A wall recess, so why not?
Spiked mine with hot milk and brown lump sugar.
“Where did Mirabel SAY she was going?
Shouldn’t you be on your honeymoon?”
Was that a tinge of glee I heard?
I’m sure Verne heard it too.
He might go off on any moment –
I didn’t think he was coping well
“Game face” was not in evidence.
We sat in an upholstered leather booth
Dragged from some café.
“She didn’t say,” said Verne.
“She was late for dinner,”
I told this strange new man.
“I just arrived at six o’clock.”
“Sisters can be difficult,” said Ravi.
“Or so I’ve heard.
Your relationship was good?”
Wow! Mirabel wasn’t great at giving folks
The basic facts about her family.
Was he implying
Mirabel left because of ME?
Two Marshott girls can’t breathe at once?
I decided not to go there.
“She seemed fine when we tried on clothes together,”
I allowed. I began to feel hopped up on coffee.
Better quit before the shaking hands. I
Banged my mug upon his shiny table.
Verne seemed content to let me
Handle this.
“I heard you knew her well.”
Let him think she’d squealed –
I smiled in a way that forecloses
Further questions and
He blinked at me indulgently.
“I haven’t heard a word
Since her going away party.”
Ripple of surprise from Verne.
“Going-away party” unknown to groom?
Ravi kept smiling.
He had a lot of teeth.
Too many, I’d say. Must be
A rich man thing.
“Maybe she needs a honeymoon alone,”
He offered –
“I heartily recommend
Falling in love with yourself first of all.”
We did not believe him for a minute –
He was needling Verne.
This bad conversation
Kept getting worse.
“She certainly had the means –
I gave a generous parting gift
Then found she helped herself to more.”
His face hardened, steely-eyed.
“I didn’t know until she tried to fence my stones.”
“Mirabel stole from you?” Verne spluttered.
“Who knows what was going through her mind,”
Ravi spread his hands –
“She may have been confused about my gift.
No harm done.
Jacobson returned my stones.”
What did all this mean? Don’t concern yourself with
Mirabel, she’s just a petty thief?
Disappeared from exposure, vanished
From the shame?
I felt surge of prosecutorial passion:
Was it possible to get to the bottom of this?
Never had “game face” seemed so
Dangerous and unappealing.
“She worked for you?”
I tried to clarify.
“She was my scout. She brought me –
Things I might want to buy.”
Verne’s boil burst.
“She never needed cash to flee!”
He sounded ready for a fight
But in defense of his money and his charm and
Not my sister.
Ravi skirted the issue
With old-world politesse.
“Women always keep some expenses private.”
My mother calls it “mad money”.
A hundred-dollar bill tucked inside
Your bra. Verne would never best this man
Except in hotness and
Eligibility. Although someone
Needed to tell him he was plenty
I’m not the one to explain to him.
Instead I pursued my investigation.
“Did she call you?”
Ravi pulled out his phone.
Flicked through content. “I don’t see it.”
“She took a car to the wilds of Brooklyn,”
Verne asserted, coming back up
A feisty Bobo doll.
“Know anything about that?”
He was too combative – this
Wouldn’t get us anywhere.
“What address?”
Ravi seemed interested.
Luckily Verne recalled it.
“Gravesend.” Ravi agreed impassive.
“I’ve got no information.”
Verne stood up. This felt bad.
“Sure she isn’t hiding here? Using some old key?”
Ravi rose too.
Short but still impressive.
“She never had a key. She couldn’t enter
Without my knowing. I’d rather
My house guests weren’t disturbed.”
Verne veered away. Fisticuffs avoided.
Ravi walked us – still miming helpfulness
Towards the door.
“I suggest missing persons.
Get police involved.”
He seemed to know this would insult Verne further
It did but Verne could shake it off,
Punch-drunk as he was.
“What good are they?”
Ravi pushed his luck.
“Troll the basics – hospitals and morgues.”
Verne’s face melted like a gargoyle.
Turning to me Ravi backtracked –
“Bridal nerves? Their engagement was
So sudden.”
“We’ve been together forever!”
Verne barked. I took his arm.
“Sorry we’ve inconvenienced you.”
Somehow that door got opened.
“No problem. Let me know if she turns up.”
I shoehorned Verne outside.
“You’ll tell us if she calls?”
“If that’s what Mirabel wants.”
I got the door shut before Verne
Attacked him.
“I hate that guy! He’s so disgusting!
How I wish we hadn’t come!”
I thought he might weep.
The elevator opened without being
Summoned. This whole place
Intent on ridding itself of us.
But Verne resisted. “I bet she’s in there.”
He looked back longingly.
“I bet she’s not.” I muscled him
Into the elevator.
“How do you know?”
He looked to consult my
Magic powers.
“He accused Mirabel of stealing!”
Verne blew that off.
“Mirabel’s light-fingered.
He steals from the world, she steals from him.”
He didn’t seem to realize
This philosophy could apply to him.
Why marry someone you can’t trust?
One more thing I still don’t get
About Adult World.
I reassured politely.
“She’s burned that bridge. I could tell.”
Verne taxed me how I knew –
Sneering, “Woman’s intuition?”
Since he couldn’t trust Mirabel
How could he trust me?
Needing me made him hate me.
I would have to manage him
Like a parent. Luckily
He relaxed into the car without fuss.
I said, thoughtlessly – “I’m psychic.”
I say that to my parents because
They’re so clueless about
Others’ vital signs –
If you have to explain the obvious!
His whole face changed. He became
Pathetically excited.
“Of course!” he said.
“The sister thing! It creates
A Psychic link. I have no siblings. So
Tell me what you feel?
Where’d she go?”
The driver also needed to know:
Where to?
We put him on pause while
I equivocate.
“I haven’t seen her in so long,
Our connection’s fogged.”
The only thing I knew for sure was
Mirabel hated Ravi as much as I did.
“I need to get to know her again.”
“Tell me where to go,” said Verne.
Then he spoke the magic words.
“I’ll do anything.”
Alysse Aallyn 
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