@krxsny liked for a Gleb Starter | Gleb & Liesel
The case was closed. The Ivanov family had been deemed harmless to the new regime. For three long months, Gleb had been assigned to investigate the Ivanov family. Rumors circled that the family’s Catholicism made them loyal to Rome and not Russia. Though the Bolsheviks currently preached religious freedom, change crackled in the air like electricity. Zealots in the government were discontent with allowing others to practice religion at all. Whether Jew or Christian, religion was against Marxist theory. Revolution demanded the upending of all religious institutions. While Gleb agreed that it was right to defund the Russian Orthodox church, and even to strip them of their pivotal role in Russian identity, he didn’t see religion itself as dangerous. It gave people hope and hope fed revolution. Moreover, Gleb did not understand religion. His father, a staunch atheist, had convinced Gleb’s mother to abandon Orthodoxy before Gleb was born. He had been raised to believe there was no god. If the Bolshevik leaders were truly atheist, what thread did an invisible man in the sky pose?
People did crazy things in the name of their gods. Gleb had studied enough history to know this. Still, the particular family he’d been assigned to investigate was not particularly dangerous. The mother was a German immigrant, who had forsaken her homeland for Russia. The father, a Russian native, seemed to have converted as a compromise to get his wife to move with him to St. Petersburg. And the daughter -
The daughter was Gleb’s secretary.
He suspected that was why he’d been assigned her case. Of anyone at the office, Gleb was the only officer she spoke with at length. They enjoyed each other’s company. How easy it was to lull a woman into a false sense of security once you’d befriended her! How painful it was to lull a woman into a false sense of security at all. a month into the investigation, he almost cracked. He remembered the day clearly. Together they took tea in his office, while he asked her about her family. He listened quietly as Liesel poured her heart to him. Gleb was not usually moved by personal testimonies. How many times had prostitutes tried to get him to turn a blind eye to them hawking their wares on his streets by telling him how difficult their lives had been? Life was difficult for everyone. No criminal was an exception. Gleb was not an exception. Liesel was not, either. But she was also no criminal. Devoted to the new government and filled with Marxist ideals, she was as much a threat to the government as Gleb himself was. Not at all. She had been telling him a story about a family trip in her youth when the bell, signifying the end of lunch rang. Liesel hopped up, ready to rush back to work. Gleb caught her by the arm - gentle, but firm. He stayed her progress. He wanted to tell her that she was being watched, that her family was being watched. In that moment, he had no words. He had no breath. She looked at him with her almond-shaped eyes. He’d never touched her before. Theirs was a professional friendship. It was inappropriate at best for an officer to touch his secretary - not that that stopped them from doing it. But Gleb? Gleb never had. Perhaps that was why her face reddened. Anger. Frustration. He wouldn’t be surprised. Her lips parted. No words came forth. Gleb released her and looked away.
“You can finish your story another lunch hour,” he said. “I’d like to hear more.”
She’d click-clacked back to her desk and Gleb watched her leave sadly. He’d filled out cursory reports for the remainder of his assignment and today would present his case to Gorlinksy. He’d carefully typed his report on his typewriter, choosing his words carefully. He and Leisel would be called in for a “meeting”, which was really a hearing, in three hours. As Gleb walked into the office, he walked with brisk steps. His eyes combed through the halls and rooms for Leisel At last, he saw her, dark hair in a slick bun, standing tall, carrying two cups of coffee, walking to his office. Gleb would not embarrass her by calling out. He approached her swiftly and once in a reasonable distance from her said her name.
“I need to see you in my office,” he said. “Immediately. Anything else you need to do can wait.”
He would tell her. No doubt he had broken her trust, but he’d rather her enter the tribunal with some knowledge than none at all. He had no doubts that his report would be sufficient to keep her and her family safe, even if it wasn’t enough to keep her as his secretary.
