called Titania's Purse."
"Russian?"
"Ukrainian. By birth at least. I am a citizen now." The pride in her voice was touching.
"'I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, quite over canopied with luscious woodbine'" I said softly.
""With sweet musk roses and with eglantine'" she finished. "You know the play?"
"A Midsummer Night's Dream. I wondered if it inspired the name of the shop as well."
She nodded and grew serious, as if she'd made a decision. "I need your help, Mr. Guzman. I must find my sister."
"Is she missing? Perhaps the police would be better."
"No. They will not help. I haven't seen her in almost twenty years, not since we came to this country. We are orphans, adopted from the Ukraine through an American charity, but by different families. The Plague struck just after we separated and I haven't heard from Irina since."
"Was the family in the Plague zone?"
She nodded. "They were from Woodland Park, a suburb of Denver."
"Forgive me for being blunt, Ms. Pedenko, but are you sure your sister is still alive?"
"I think so." Her eyes clouded with tears. "I don't know. The adoption records were sealed. I don't even know the name of the family who adopted her, only the date and the location. The authorities say they are very sorry, but the records are sealed and cannot be opened without court order. I have tried to get the order but have no 'standing' they say. Not even as sister."
I thought for a minute. Adoption records were under the jurisdiction of the DSW, but DPS could access them in a criminal case. Franklin might be able to help there. At least to get me into the Denver system. I could then find out the names of families adopting children on the date Titania knew. I could cross reference that with the survivor lists from Woodland Park and get an idea if the sister had survived. Tracking her down might be harder but I knew someone who could help with that, too.
"All right," I said. "I'll see what I can do. Did Rosie tell you how this arrangement works?"
"I have money. I can pay."
"I'm not interested in your money. It's traceable and I work outside the system. If I succeed, you will owe me a favor, a courtesy, that I may collect at the time and place of my choosing. It will be task or an object that is within your ability to provide and once complete will cancel your debt. Failure to perform this service when asked will result in serious consequences. Is that understood?"
"What sort of consequences?"
"I have considerable resources at my disposal, Ms. Pedenko. 'The bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; the words expressly are "a pound of flesh"."
Her eyes widened and she swallowed hard. She nodded. "I understand."
"Can I always reach you at this number?" Again, she nodded. I had her give me the date of the adoption and any other information she could remember. It wasn't much.
"I'll be in touch." I reached out and broke the connection.
I checked the clock. It was just after one in the afternoon. Plenty of time. I called Franklin. He picked up on his mobile link, voice only.
"What do you want, Tito?"
"Hi Jack. I need a favor."
"I'm not going to like this, am I?"
"I need a login code for the Department of Social Welfare, adoptions division. DPS has those in case they need to track next of kin, right?"
"Those are for criminal cases, Tito." He sounded weary, not angry. I took it as a good sign. "You need a case number for access."
"But if we had a legitimate case number we could get in." I opened a window to my credit account and looked up the case number for Clancy's arrest. It was part of the documentation DPS used to authorize my pay.
"Yes," he said cautiously.
"I really need one of those login codes, Jack."
"Why?"
I thought fast. "I think Cassie has family in Denver. She said some things that made me think she has a sister who was adopted when their parents died."
"Why is that girl so important to you?"
"She didn't deserve what Clancy did to her every day. She's sweet and good natured, never hurt anyone. And she kept Clancy from smashing my skull while you were sleeping in your car."
He sighed and I knew I had him. "Okay. I'll send you the code under a different name. This better not get back to me, understand?"
"Sure Jack. Thanks."
A few seconds later, my mailbox dinged and I had the code. I logged on to the DSW site and searched adoptions near Denver for the date Titania had given me. I got thirty hits. I narrowed it down to four year old girls, which left only three. And only one of those was from Woodland Park. A family named Stevens had adopted a little girl named Irina.
I was about to log off when a thought struck me. I tried to shut it out, but couldn't shake it. I entered an new date, two and a half years ago, eight months after my eighteenth birthday. Adoptions near Denver--forty two. Newborns--twenty eight. Mother's name--I stopped, a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach. If I did this, I would be betraying a promise I'd made to someone I'd once loved. Still loved if the tightness in my chest meant anything.
I entered the name--Marie Williams. The document flashed on the screen. Baby girl, born just before midnight. Healthy. Adopted out the following day. Family--Moore, residents of. . .Evanston, Illinois. My head spun and my heart pounded. She was only a few miles away. My daughter.
I'd promised Marie that I'd never try to see her or find the child. We knew there was no way they'd let her keep it. A Spud raising a Normie child would open too many uncomfortable questions. Besides, at seventeen and legally disabled, she had no say in what happened to the child. Her family had handled the whole thing. Quietly, respectably, but above all secretly.
I'd kept that promise for two and a half years. Now it stuck in my throat like a stale crust of bread. Marie, I know what I swore to you back then. I remember telling you to forget me. I never thought I'd have this chance. Forgive me.
I logged off of the DSW site after noting the last known address of the Moore family. I checked the survivor roles from the Plague zones. They're still open, a kind of public memorial to the chaos of that time. There's a name finder and an update function as people are located, or die of other causes. A few minutes search turned up the Stevens family, all three of them, alive and well in Grand Junction. Irina was married now; changed her name the Forbin, but still lived near her adopted parents.
It occurred to me that I'd never asked Titania why she needed to find her sister. Those had been her words: I need to find my sister. I decided to keep this information to myself for now until I could ask Titania why.
I made a note of the names and last known addresses. A quick check of phone listings confirmed that Irina Forbin still lived in Grand Junction and had a listed netlink and vidphone number. I saved the file and logged off.
I sat there in the front room for a long time, watching the street until the sun went down. I'd just broken a solemn promise. I could live with that. Regret it, sure. But the regret would be private. If I took the next step, there would be no going back. Even if Marie never knew, our daughter would.
The room grew dark and I turned on some lights. It was still early enough in the evening to call Titania. She answered almost immediately.
"You never told me why you needed to find your sister." I said without preamble.
"She is my sister. Why would I not want to find her?"
"Why now? It's been twenty years."
"I don't see that it's your business why. I hired you to find her."
My temper flared. "You don't hire me, Ms. Pedenko. We agree on a contract, an exchange of mutual value. Before I fulfill this contract, I need to know that your sister wants to be found. And I need to know your reasons for finding her after all this time. Otherwise we can cancel the arrangement now and you will owe me nothing."
"No, wait. I will tell you." She paused as if considering her words. "Irina was two when our parents died
. I was four, the big sister. We were two years in the orphanage in Kiev. When we came to this country, we had no family, no roots. The people who adopted me were kind and gave me a home and an education. But they let me keep my name and my language. There were Ukrainian people in our neighborhood, Irving Park. Do you know it?" I nodded through my avatar. "But my adopted father died ten years ago. My mother, just last year, so now I am twice an orphan."
"And Irina is your only family now."
She nodded. "But it is not just for me that I look for Irina. I have a daughter, Diana. She is almost three. I want her to know that she has connections in this world. Right now this is not important to a child. But when she is older, she will need a family. I want Irina to know her niece. Do you have family, Mr. Guzman? Do you know how it feels to be without them?"
She hit home with that. I knew the need to feel connected to someone, even if they were ten thousand miles away. I had lost Dad and Javier for many years. Found them, only to lose them again. But at least now I knew they were alive and safe. And that they cared about me.
"All right, Ms. Pedenko. Give me a day or so. I should have something for you." I broke the connection before she could say anything more. I knew I would keep the contract. How could I not? Titania, and especially Diana, needed to know about Irina. If the three of them met and decided they didn't want to stay in touch, that was their decision. But both Irina and Titania deserved a chance to make that decision for themselves, didn't they?
But what about me? Didn't I deserve the same? My daughter was out there, not far away. She had no idea I existed. I remembered the years after Dad disappeared and the feelings of worthlessness that colored everything I did or said. I wouldn't have her thinking that her parents simply abandoned her.
The rationalizations all seemed reasonable, sitting there alone in the dark. I would go to Evanston and find her, become a part of her life. I'd make sure she knew where she came from and that I cared about her. I shut out the small voice in the back of my mind that tried to tell me I was being selfish. That this was a bad idea. That I'd made a promise. I went to bed resolving to speak to Irina the next day. Then I'd go to Evanston and find my daughter.
The morning was bright clear and cold. I took it as a good sign. Grand Junction was an hour behind Chicago so I waited until almost ten before calling the number I'd found for Irina Forbin. She answered after a few seconds. She had her sister's high cheekbones and deep blue eyes. Her face was full and ruddy, as if she spent a lot of time outdoors. Her hair was as dark as her sister's was light.
"Irina Forbin?" I asked.
"Speaking." She peered at my avatar.
"You were adopted at the age of four by Charles and Shirley Stevens. You have a sister named Titania."
There was a long pause. "Who is this."
"My name isn't important. Your sister asked me to find you. What I need to know before I tell her anything is whether you want to be found."
She gasped. "Titania? You know where Titania is?"
"Yes. She wants to find you. I won't violate your privacy without your permission. If you want to make contact with her, I'll tell her how to find you. Otherwise, I'll cancel my agreement with her and you won't hear from me again."
"Tatania? My big sister? But why? Where has she been and why now?"
"She was adopted by another family. Her adoptive parents have died and she wants to reconnect with her family--with you. She has a daughter. She wants you to meet your niece. DO you want to see them?"
"Yes. Yes, I do." She paused. A suspicious tone entered her voice. "Who are you? What do you get out of this?"
"Nothing from you. Your sister will contact you." I logged off. Long explanations only confused things. Irina wanted to be found; that's all I needed to know.
My next move was to contact Tatania. She must have had my number in her ID list because she answered, "Do you have some information, Mr. Guzman?"
"And good