Эльвира Барякина - White Ghosts

“Is it true that you and Labuda pulled that scam with the Czechoslovak Consulate?”

“I had no choice. We didn’t have any money left, and I couldn’t think of anything better.”

“So you started selling guns?”

“What?”

Klim told her the story of Jiří’s arrest, and Nina was stunned.

“I had no idea this was going on,” she said. “We were only selling champagne and cognac, and I told Jiří to stop all operations until I had the baby.”

“Well, then, he obviously didn’t listen to you,” sighed Klim. “Now Wyer wants me to write that the father of your baby is Jiří, not Mr. Bernard.”

“Why didn’t you tell him about the night you and I spent together in Lincheng? It is almost exactly nine months since then.”

“Nina, stop it!”

“I know I’ve wronged you badly. But you surely aren’t planning to take revenge upon me like that. After all, you did play your part in getting me pregnant.”

“But did I?”

“You slipped out of the railroad car and never even left me a note. I was waiting so long for you!”

Klim had become so accustomed to being the injured party that Nina’s words baffled him.

“I was late,” he said with indignation. “You were the one who came to Lincheng for the fun of it; I went there because I had a job to do.”

“What’s taking you so long?” the sergeant shouted from the corridor. “My shift is almost over.”

Klim rose to his feet. “I have to go.” He picked up his coat and headed for the door.

“Wait!” Nina called him. “I… well… Thanks for coming over.”

Apart from the encounter in Lincheng, this was the first time in a year and a half Nina had made it clear that she appreciated her husband.

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” Klim said and left the room.

He walked quickly through the monotone city, trying to make sense of what had happened. His confusion gave way to hope. What if Katya really was his daughter? Klim was completely unprepared for this eventuality and had no idea what he should do about it.

He had always wanted children, but when he thought about them, he imagined that he would be well-established with a house of his own and a loving and unquestionably loyal wife. And now what? On the one hand, Klim could not remember with any certainty whether he and Nina had been careful that night, but on the other hand, only a very naïve person could take Nina completely at her word. She had proven many times that honesty wasn’t her strong suit.

Yet despite all this, Klim was overwhelmed by a totally inappropriate, inexplicable joy. Nina had come back into his life. And if she had given birth to Daniel Bernard’s baby, then so be it. Many people bring up children who aren’t theirs, and the world hadn’t stopped spinning on its axis as a result.

If only he could keep Nina out of jail! Klim lifted his eyes to the magnificent winter sky. Countless stars peeped over the roofs of the city like an audience at the Coliseum, waiting with bated breath for the outcome of the battle unfolding before their eyes.

1

Nina shuffled around the house in a delirious trance. Her body wouldn’t obey her, and she had had to turn her life on its head in order to adapt to her house arrest and ensure that she and Katya had the basic provisions they needed.

Terrified, her servants had scattered to the four winds; her financial assets had been seized, and the police could barge into her bedroom at any time. The telephone had been confiscated, and Nina felt completely cut off from the world. She didn’t even know what she had been accused of and what was going to happen to her.

How could Jiří have used my car and house to trade arms behind my back? she wondered. He had the courage and decisiveness of a mouse, and ever since Nina had known him, the most daring thing he had ever done was to tease and irritate her.

It must have been Don Fernando who had put him up to it, Nina decided. Oh, I’ll take him down a peg or two when I get out!

Klim came to visit her again, and Nina could sense immediately that he didn’t even want to look at Katya. He didn’t hold the baby, didn’t ask how she was doing, and every time Nina started talking about their little girl he tried to change the subject. Katya was not a blessing for him but a problem and his attitude hurt Nina deeply.

“Why are you bothering to help me?” she asked him. “If you think I’m lying to you about Katya, what do you hope to gain from having anything to do with us?”

“Nothing,” Klim snapped. “Well… to some extent, it was my fault you’re under arrest in the first place. We’re separated now, of course, but you’re still not a stranger to me. And you’ve just had a baby… So, now you understand and that’s that.”

But Nina couldn’t understand a thing.

Tony Aulman was the next visitor.

“I have two pieces of news,” he said, “one good and one bad. Which one do you want to hear first?”

“The good one,” Nina said hopefully.

Tony brought in a smiling Chinese woman with a wrinkled face.

“She’s a nanny,” he said. “She’ll help you out with the baby.”

Nina didn’t even want to hear about entrusting her Katya to a stranger, but Tony was adamant. “If you’re exhausted and not getting enough sleep, you’ll end up spouting all sorts of nonsense to the investigators and find yourself in prison.”

Nina forced herself to hand over her little girl to the nanny.

“You can still feel the cold air on this woman’s clothes,” Nina moaned after the nanny had left the room with the baby. “What do you think is so funny?” she snapped at Tony. “Katya will catch a cold in no time.”

Tony didn’t try to argue or persuade her otherwise.

“I remember when Tamara gave birth, she got anxious over every little thing too,” he said, smiling.

“What’s the bad news then?” Nina asked.

Tony frowned. “Last night, Jiří died in his cell.”

“What?”

“I was told he died of a brain hemorrhage.”

Tony took Nina’s shaking hand and looked into her eyes. “You’ll probably think that what I’m about to say is the height of cynicism. But I think this is your only way out. You need to lay all the blame on Jiří’s shoulders. You must say that he never told you about his shady liquor and arms dealings and that you had no idea that his Czechoslovak Consulate was a fake. Don Fernando is out of the city now and the chauffeur didn’t have a clue what was going on, so the police have nothing to work on.”

“I see,” said Nina in a trembling voice.

Tony patted her on the shoulder. “Tamara and I will take care of Jiří’s funeral.”

“Thank you,” Nina sobbed. “It’s my fault: I forced him to become a consul.”

“Jiří knew what he was letting himself into, so you can’t take all the blame on yourself. Tamara asked you to call her as soon as you’re allowed to use the telephone. She sends you her best regards.”

2 RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES ^{Klim Rogov’s Notebook}

I didn’t write the article about the Czechoslovak Consul’s arrest, and Wyer called me demanding an explanation. Without further ado, I told him that Katya was my daughter and I wasn’t prepared to assign paternity to the late Mr. Labuda.

I thought this turn of events would please Captain Wyer, but I’ve evidently misjudged him. He yelled at me so loudly that I had to hold the receiver a good foot away from my ear. He brought up my unfortunate nationality, my corrupted country, and my own vices.

“How much did she pay you to come up with this balderdash?” he asked.

The captain was so infuriated that I had ignored his orders that he failed to realize that my “balderdash” would now make his and Edna’s life much easier. I didn’t argue with him though and eventually hung up.

Soon after, Edna called me and proposed going for a walk along the Bund.

“My father has just informed me that you have recognized Nina Kupina’s child as your own,” she said, perplexed. “I’m grateful to you for this noble gesture, but you shouldn’t have taken my husband’s sin upon yourself. I’m afraid this won’t stop all the gossipers. They’ll just say that you’re paying me back for my help. Do you at least know who this Nina is?”

I had no choice but to admit to her that the woman that had caused her so much pain was my wife.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Edna gasped, and her face darkened. “Now I see what’s going on. When you found out how rich my husband is, you deliberately put your hussy of a wife onto him. You cooked up this scheme to blackmail Daniel and make him pay you off to clear his reputation.”

There was no point trying to appeal to her logic; Edna wasn’t able to see things reasonably. She needed to find a scapegoat for her misfortunes, and, of course, she was too blind to see through her lecherous husband.

“My father warned me that you Russians are unscrupulous swindlers,” she shouted. “But you won’t get a penny from us. Daniel was right to leave the city.”

On her return to the editorial office, Edna packed up her things and told Mr. Green she was quitting forthwith.

“Happy now?” she spat at me on her way out. “I did everything I could to provide you with employment and security, and now you’ve driven me out of the job I love. I could make a scandal and show everyone your true colors, but I’m so disgusted I can’t even bring myself to be in the same room with you.”

What was I supposed to say? That Edna was deceiving herself to cover up for her husband? That she was looking for an excuse to leave her job and crawl into a hole in order to avoid seeing or hearing anyone? Or should I have disavowed Nina and told Edna that we are estranged and that my wife and I have nothing to do with each other?

Unfair accusations make me angry, and I didn’t feel like running after my accuser to justify my actions. I wrote a letter to Edna, but she didn’t answer, and I’m not sure if she even read my explanation or just threw it away.

Perhaps, in other circumstances, I might have found a way to make peace with her, but I can’t deal with this right now. I can do little to help Nina with her court case and my sense of powerlessness in the face of the blunt and clumsy legal machine is overwhelming me.

I wanted to talk to Felix about the investigation but I couldn’t find him. Neither Johnny nor the other boys at the police station know where he is. They seem to think that he’s gone on vacation. But how could he have left without saying anything to anyone?

Nina is incredibly lucky to have Tony Aulman on her side. He is a brilliant lawyer and has found an ingenious loophole in the law. It turns out that the International Settlement police don’t have the right to initiate a case against Nina at all due to the fact that she has not committed any crime on its territory.

Tony believes that if he put some pressure on the judge who signed the arrest warrant, Nina will eventually be released. The irony of all this is that I, who have always condemned bribery and backroom deals, am now ready to worship the ground that Aulman and his connections walk on.

After a lot of trouble, I finally gained permission for Katya to be baptized, and brought Father Seraphim to Nina’s house. In Shanghai, there are dozens of Russian priests without parishes, and they make some extra income by administering the sacraments as and when they are required.

Most of the time Father Seraphim has to work as a whipping boy at the Big World entertainment center. The audience at boxing matches gets great pleasure seeing their plucky Chinese fighters vanquishing such a huge “white ghost.”

During the ceremony he was terribly ashamed of his beaten-up face, but I told him that neither Nina nor I condemned him for it. After all, he needs to make a living as much as the rest of us. However, Nina was not very happy about Katya being baptized by a gladiator priest with a black eye.

I had hoped that our shared concerns would bring Nina and me closer, but everything I do seems to upset her, and even if she doesn’t say it to my face, I can sense it.

When I come to see her, I try to be as circumspect, businesslike, and serious as I can, feeling like a sapper trying to defuse an unexploded bomb. No matter how carefully I tread, an explosion could occur at any moment for the most trivial reasons.

When Nina learned that I was sharing an apartment with Ada, she hit the roof.