It was a bitterly cold London day.
Pierre Kirkorov had been released by the police, but his ongoing disappearance
was suspicious. Sanjay was only looking to find out what more the Internet could
tell him about the man, but there was little new information. An actual investigator
would surely have found much more but there was little point now in going that
far.
The focus of his investigation was
in working out how Pierre and Neil had met. That information was, surprisingly,
within reach…if Neil Paddock was the same man who had founded the tech company
which had been about start work as Paperfelt’s technical partner. The man in
the photos he found looked nearly identical – this man, however, wore a serious
expression and equally serious suits, with a trimmed moustache. Personality was
expressed only in an ever-present bowler hat. The man also had a different name
– Dan Turrock and according to various profiles and write-ups had a very
different history to Neil.
Dan Turrock had drawn attention
for seeking business connections with Russia. He had met with Pierre Kirkorov
as a Russian-born businessman seeking to invest in the West.
From the direction of the
apartment door came an incessant but irregular knocking. Sanjay turned with a
jolt. As he moved towards the door, the knocked slowed before it stopped
entirely. There was nobody there when Sanjay opened the door, only the
snowflakes drifting to the ground.
Braving the cold, Sanjay looked
around. There! In the distance, slumped against the timber railing was the dark
figure of a man with a black woollen coat which seemed to envelop him.
Upon closer inspection, Sanjay
shivered. He thought he recognised his man. Even in this fallen form, there was
something in his bearing and his build that was familiar. Or maybe it was just
the smell. Sanjay moved the body to get a closer hood and banged his head on
the rail when his hand reached a gooey, wet patch (touching him was a damned
bad idea).
The man was bleeding from a deep
wound. The man was Pierre Kirkorov.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Japan Times strikes again with today's event. This time the event was much easier to work in, involving a report of the bitter cold in Tokyo which led to a record number of ambulance calls.
For some time now, I've been building Pierre Kirkorov as a 'bad guy,' and as a possible red herring. Because of the change to Neil's role, this has also made Pierre's role less certain, which I had planned to arrange in any case.
There is still more in the story to come but this is in the final stretch of it now.
The Japan Times story is specifically from
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