Dave Zeltserman - Bad Karma

Before Shannon could respond the intercom went dead. He stood waiting another fifteen minutes, then the two stooge cult members he had dealt with two days earlier came out of the house. They were both wearing the same style white robes and sandals as before. The one resembling Curly had his head bandaged, the smaller angrier-looking one showed dark purple bruises on the side of his head. They marched silently towards him and unlocked the gate. Neither of them spoke a word, instead stood glaring at him in unison. Shannon realized they intended to trail him through the compound, and while he didn’t like the idea of that he didn’t see what choice he had in the matter. He walked through the open gate and headed towards the front entrance with the two cult members falling in close behind him.

“By the way, I loved you in ‘Three Little Pigskins’,” Shannon said over his shoulder to the bigger one. “But then again, I’m a huge Stooges fan.”

The Curly look-alike didn’t respond. A glance over his shoulder saw that the man’s face had darkened, his eyes small and piggish, his mouth having contracted into a small angry oval. Shannon stepped through the front door and into the marble foyer. The two cult members walked close behind him. He could smell the sourness from one of their breaths.

“How about you two giving me some space?” Shannon asked politely.

Neither of them responded, but they both backed up enough so that he could no longer smell their breath or feel it on the back of his neck. He made his way down the hallway of Hindu gods and when he got to the marble sculpture of Vishna, the Curly look-alike barked at him to take a left. At the end of this new hallway was a door that looked like it had been embossed in gold leaf.

“In there!” Curly demanded.

Shannon raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, but braced himself in case the door handle was missing on the other side, then opened the door wide enough to look in. Inside, Anil Paveeth sat cross-legged on a gold satin pillow, his eyes closed, his thumbs and forefingers touching as his hands rested lightly on his knees. Paveeth, as in his picture, wore a long flowing golden robe and had his head shaved. The room was large, with what looked like twenty-four foot high ceilings, and was filled with flowers and caged parrots. Floor to ceiling paintings of Paveeth were mounted on each wall. Shannon counted eight parrots, each in separate cages. None of them made a peep as he walked into the room, but they all looked at him curiously.

Paveeth opened his eyes and stared at Shannon. The man was as lean as a knife blade and had the same dark penetrating eyes that he did in his pictures. Shannon had to give the guy credit; he projected a good stage presence and could pull off looking far more imposing than he had any right to.

“Sit down next to me and speak,” Paveeth commanded.

“The one true source,” Shannon said. “You don’t know how many false and semi-true sources I’ve stumbled upon before finding you.”

Paveeth’s dark eyes flashed. “Did you come here to mock me or to speak with me? And if you wish to speak with me then be seated! I will not talk to you standing the way you are!”

Shannon took one of the white satin pillows lying on the floor and sat on it cross-legged. Paveeth smiled as he watched him. “Your posture is quite good,” he said. “A private detective who does yoga?”

“And a chemical engineer who becomes God. It takes all kinds, huh?”

“I never proclaimed to be a god, but the gods have breathed on me, giving me a special light to lead my followers with. That much is true. As far as my past, that is immaterial. There are many paths to righteousness.”

“Yeah, sure. Look, you have a Melissa Cousins here. Her mother is worried about her and wants to talk to her.”

“That is up to Kamal. My followers are free to make their own choices and do as they please. If Kamal wishes to talk with this woman then she will do so.”

“Kamal is Melissa Cousins?”

“That is the name she has adopted. Yes.” Paveeth breathed in deeply through his nose, a look of serenity forming over his razor-sharp features as he let it out. “It is the word in my native language for lotus flower. Like all of my followers there is much beauty and delicacy in her.”

Shannon swallowed back what he wanted to say, instead asked, “If I bring her mother here will you let her talk to Kamal?”

“That is totally up to her.”

Shannon gave him a hard look. Paveeth smiled pleasantly back at him. “Before I leave here I want to talk to her,” Shannon said.

“That would satisfy you?”

“Yeah, I’d say so.”

“If that is what is needed.” He sighed as he smiled sadly at Shannon. “Let me see if I can persuade her.”

Paveeth uncrossed his legs and rose effortlessly to his feet. It was almost as if an invisible rope had pulled him up. He stopped to feed a piece of apple to a white cockatoo adorned with yellow head feathers, then picked up a phone sitting on a small decorative table near the cage and asked that Kamal be brought to him. He went back to the cockatoo and took it out of its cage. The bird perched submissively on his arm while he stroked its head feathers. Kissing the bird lightly on its beak, he put it back into the cage.

There was a knock on the door. It opened and Melissa Cousins walked in. She was barefoot, dressed in a white robe and was even thinner in person than she was in her photo. She was so slight in presence, but still stunningly beautiful with large green eyes and long blond hair that fell halfway down her back. When she first walked into the room and her eyes settled on Shannon, a look of apprehension tugged on her features but as she spotted Paveeth she relaxed into a contented smile. She moved quickly to him, nestling her head against his shoulder. In return he stroked her blond hair in the same manner in which he had stroked the parrot’s head feathers. Turning her to face him, he kissed her forehead.

“Kamal, my flower, this man does not believe you are here under your own desires. Please enlighten him,” he said.

She nodded and reluctantly left his side.

Paveeth waved a hand at Shannon, his fingers long and manicured. “You may talk to her privately, since trust does not seem to be one of your virtues.”

The door opened and the two stooges from before entered. They both nodded reverentially towards Paveeth, then stood like stone statues until Melissa walked past them, waiting until Shannon followed her out of the room before falling in lockstep behind him. Melissa led them further down the hallway, through a large solarium where thirty or so young and very attractive women in white robes sat and meditated. None of them bothered to look at Shannon as he walked past them. The same incense from the yoga studio burned around them creating a dense fog of smoke which stung Shannon’s eyes. He almost missed Melissa entering a room off to the side. The two stooges accompanying him stared daggers at him until he joined her.

Melissa sat down on the floor in a lotus position, just as Paveeth had earlier. Apprehension again tugged at her mouth as she stared at Shannon, her large green eyes jumping with fear as they followed him. Shannon took one of the pillows and joined her sitting on the floor.

“Melissa-”

“That is not my name,” she interrupted, her voice weak and barely above a whisper.

“I’m sorry, Kamal. My name is Bill Shannon. Your mother has asked me to help you. She’s here now in Boulder and wants to know that you’re okay. If I bring her here will you see her?”

“No.”

“Just for five minutes? It will be right here at True Light. You won’t have to leave-”

“I said no!”

“Is there a reason why you won’t see her?”