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The Ivan Aufulich Papers
20. Feodor Sehdahn
The body of Feodor Sehdahn, a small-time car thief, was discovered Thursday in a marsh off the Moskva River. In a sign that it was no petty killing, the cause of death was a bullet; murderers in Sehdahn's impoverished milieu usually use rebar. In a sign that it was political, his ears were found stuffed into his mouth; a trademark of -- no, it's not safe to say of whom. But it *used* to be a trademark of Grisha Skidz, who was himself terminated by -- never mind. However, the fact that it was only Sehdahn's ears signifies that he was not, himself, a major figure in the conflict in which, like the rest of his life, he was a loser. From such minutiæ are deduced the coinage of the world of Kremlin-watchers: information.
Sehdahn is presumed to be the one who actually broke into, and drove away, the cab of Stepan Itvilya, which figured in some of the machinations of V. R. Nahtamyuzd. Sehdahn leaked to some of his drooghi (buddies) that he had become uneasy with the support of those who had put him up to the job, and decided to betray them to Nahtamyuzd. He could not have known that they themselves, and unbeknownst to themselves, had been put up to the job, through some of Nahtamyuzd's shadowy connections, in order to expose them for Nahtamyuzd's retribution. Of course they knew of Sehdahn's betrayal. But they undoubtedly were not responsible for his demise; they were too soon, and too late, occupied with their own survival. Nahtamyuzd was, of course, touched -- a little -- by Sehdahn's visit; but he did not attain his lair of power by letting sentiment get in the way of business. Once Sehdahn's employers were disposed of ("sent to serve on a collective" -- as fertilizer) it was time to tie up loose ends. Sehdahn may have derived some small comfort from the fact that his ears were cut off only *after* the bullet.
©1997 Grant Schampel