Bruce Leiter - Divided Together 2104

Divided Together 2104

The sequel to

Divided Together 2084 and

Divided Together 2094

comprising the mystery

thriller Farhan Trilogy

Bruce Leiter

Trilogy Christian Publishers

TUSTIN, CA

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

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Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright 2021 by Bruce Leiter

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Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-63769-708-5

E-ISBN: 978-1-63769-709-2

Contents

chapter 1

A New Beginning

When Farhan opened the Indy restaurants front door on frigid Tuesday, January 8, 2104, a voice came from a booth near the front, Hi, are you Farhan? Im Sai Das, your new partner.

The short man in a police uniform rose and extended his right hand to give Farhan a firm handshake. Farhan settled into the booth opposite the dark-complexioned, curly-haired man.

Looking his fifty-nine years with a graying, receding hairline but still without many wrinkles, Farhan said as he leaned forward, Its nice to meet you, Sai. Tell me a little about yourself.

Eager to talk about his past, Sai said, My Hindu great-grandparents came from India back in 2012 after many terrorist bombings in Mumbai. The citys area had about twenty million people with very large slums. As a result, my ancestors thought that they would make a fresh start in America. They saw a city named India-napolis on the map and thought that this would be a natural place for them to live. They also had a couple cousins living here. How about you, Farhan? Tell me a little about yourself.

Liking his part-time partner because of his ready smile, Farhan grinned and said, Interesting! From India to India-napolis! Well, my Muslim ancestors migrated from Turkey in the mid-2000s to the Great Peninsula Nation down south because of terrorist bombings in Istanbul. I guess our great-whatever grandparents came to our continent because they wanted their families to be safe. We certainly have that in common.

Sai grinned his toothiest grin, Yeah, why did you become a criminology professor and consultant to police departments?

When I was a student at Purdue, I became a Christian. To seek Gods justice was a natural decision that God guided me into. I look back and find it amazing that I have now been a police consultant to three police departments for a decade each, two of them in Muslim countries and now one back in America. How about you?

The blonde waitress interrupted their personal sharing for their lunch orders. Sai ordered a salad, while Farhan ordered a Reuben sandwich on rye bread.

Sai said, When I attended Indiana University in Bloomington, I had a few majors that I was interested in, but my roommate was a criminology major. Part of the reason for my decision is that Ive always been interested in solving puzzles and in unwrapping challenging enigmas. As a result of that and other reasons, I settled on criminology.

Are you still a Hindu? I noticed that you ordered a salad with no meat.

You are a good investigator, Farhan! Yes, my wife and I attend the Higher Consciousness Society meetings, Sai said with a big smile as he leaned back against the booths back support.

I find it interesting that you and I are both Indiana Hoosiers, while Im also a Boilermaker. Putting his right index finger and thumb very close to each other and giving Sai his biggest smile yet, Farhan said, Theres an extremely tiny rivalry between the two schools, but thats okay with me, Sai!

With me too, Farhan.

Since youre just joining our police investigative group only a year-and-a-half out of college, Sai, is it okay if I give you a little history?

Sure.

Good. About a decade ago, my partner was the present Indy police commissioner, Sally Lowell, who was Sally Scribner then.

Really?! She was your partner? You must have some pull in the department now.

Not really. However, she became a very good friend with our family during the huge criminal investigations of bank robberies, mass murders, and bombings at the time.

Yeah, I remember those horrible crimes, the news reports of which are the other part of the reason I went into criminology. But its true that a stressful crisis can bring people closer together.

Their lunches arrived.

Anyway, a few of my partners during my thirty-year consultant career proved to be dirty detectives we had to clean up.

Wow, the police commissioner wasnt one of them, was she? At the shake of Farhans head, which wore another smile, he continued, Youve sure had your ups-and-downs as a police consultant.

Yeah, I guess I havebut now, because of the many traumatic events in Indy and our familys Indiana adventures a decade ago, God has guided our son, Matt, to follow his old mans footsteps to enter law enforcement as a criminologist with a year-and-a-half to go in his college career at Purdue.

Sai, I just had a thought. Are you a football, soccer, or basketball fan?

Yeah, basketball and soccer are my sports. Of course, I root for the Hoosiers and the Indy professional teams.

Well, my thought was to invite you over some time to watch Indiana and Purdue play.

Thats a great idea, Farhan. You dont bet on the games, do you?

No, I dont believe in risking Gods money in gambling.

Good.

By the way, our police group hasnt had many major crimes to investigate during the last two or three years. Do you have any questions?

No, Ill continue doing my usual police work until some important event shows up. Ive enjoyed our time together. Lets do this again sometime! By the way, Farhan, do you know any good financial advisors?

No, I really dont. Maybe some other detectives and police would know someone whos dependable. I wonder whether we could meet once a month to chat and to talk police work. What do you think?

With Sais nod, Farhan said, Also, keep your eyes and ears open for major crimes so that I can rejoin the group, okay? Sais next nod accompanied their exits from the restaurant after they paid their bills.

* * *

Feeling a little nostalgic about the routine rough-and-tumble episodes of his entrances a decade ago, Farhan opened the front door of his home and yelled, Hi, Im home! Puff-ball waddled into the entrance wagging its short tail. A happy Hi! came from the kitchen.

Farhan petted his dog and entered the kitchen, where he kissed and hugged his wife, Shirley.

Then, he slipped into the living room, where his teenage daughter, Mary, was buried in a book as usual. He kissed her forehead when she looked up briefly with a glimmer of recognition. She re-entered the fantasy world that her books author had created for her.

* * *

How was everyones day? I could ask Puff-ball, but Id rather ask you two. Mary, what did you learn today in high school?