Authors: Michael Genelin
I
n the morning, Jana telephoned Budapest and contacted Andras to update him on her investigation. After she finished, she asked if he had any information on other Hungarian criminals involved with the Slovaks, and whether they were still alive and out of prison. Unfortunately, Andras did not give her an answer she wanted to hear.
A body had been found in a small city in northwest Hungary. The victim had been dismembered, body parts neatly stacked up on the floor, the head in the kitchen stove. Whoever had dismembered the body had baked the head. The man’s genitals had been stuck in his mouth like an apple propped between a roasted pig’s lips.
“One of the Hungarians?”
“No question. We’re trying to find the others. I don’t think we’ll find them alive.”
“Any idea who might have done it?”
“Who knows? Except that whoever did him in apparently didn’t like the man. Who cuts a man’s balls off and sticks them in his mouth?”
“A person you don’t want to meet on a dark night.”
“The two cases, yours and mine, are probably connected.”
“My conclusion also, Andras.”
Andras had a man on his staff who spoke Slovak, so Jana promised to send him her files on the double murders in Bratislava.
“These seem to be killers operating on an international level,” suggested Andras.
“There’s some action in Ukraine as well,” Jana told him. “A regional alert is in order.”
“I’ll put both our names on it as contacts when I get your file.”
“Agreed. Was the victim shot? Stabbed?”
“Preliminary results indicate he was probably dead before they cut him up. No struggle. There was some bleed-out, but not much blood spatter, so the heart had already stopped. No slugs or cartridges found; no apparent bullet wounds. No blunt force. Strangulation ruled out. The coroner is examining the organs. He thinks the man may have been given some type of drug which was the cause of death. Although why they’d choose to give him a drug beforehand, when they were so willing to cut him up, is beyond me.”
“Easier for them.”
“I suppose.”
“The question is, why did they cut him up in the first place?” She thought of their use of the plural for the murderers. Both she and Andras had come to the same conclusion.
“These are obviously not just psychopaths who love to kill, or love to dismember people.” She thought a minute. “You said the body parts were neatly piled up, so whoever did the killing was not interrupted, and proceeded to do exactly what was intended.”
“And the sexual organs in the mouth of the baked head?” Andras wanted to know.
“They wanted to show disdain for the man, to mock him, perhaps to show that they’d shut him up in the nastiest way they could. Revenge, maybe? More likely, I think, as an example to others who might be tempted to do whatever the victim did that made them angry enough to do this. The man’s murder was deliberately brutal, absolutely ruthless, and the people who did it want everyone else to know it.”
“You think a relative or ex-girlfriend or wife was involved?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Perhaps you might want to come to Hungary and help us solve this,” Andras suggested, only half-joking.
They both laughed.
“That is your body, Andras. You’re very competent. I have my own problems here. Besides, I think I have to go to Ukraine first.”
“Budapest is lovely. Come here. Ukraine is a pit. Why go there?”
“Information. Any information I get, I’ll share with you.”
“That’s why it’s always such a pleasure doing business with you, Jana.”
“One more thing: was the place ransacked?”
“Yes. Drawers pulled out, things on the floor, broken furniture. But other stuff not touched. Other places that I might have searched were left secure. So, not an all-out search. If they were looking, I don’t think they looked very hard.”
“They probably knew that whatever they were searching for was not there. My guess is that they’ll pop up somewhere else. They made a mistake on this one.”
“I don’t see it. Tell me.”
“They made the error of indicating that there is another person who they’re looking for, the person who has whatever it is they want. So, we know they’re still hunting.”
“While we hunt them.” Andras sighed. “Round and round it goes.”
“Proceed with caution, Andras.”
“I am, by nature, a cautious man.”
“That’s how we survive.”
She wished him luck, then hung up, punching in the number for Alexi, the Ukrainian police officer she had talked to about the Guzaks. Alexi immediately asked her where the promised bottle of Borovicka was.
“I thought I might bring it myself,” she responded.
“You’re coming to Ukraine?”
“I’ll even throw in a bottle of Slivovitza. Homemade. Of course, you may not be man enough to drink it.”
A howl came over the phone line. Then, when Alexi calmed down, he said, “When are you coming to Ukraine, Slovak?”
“When you find a fugitive for me?”
There was a sigh from the other end.
“You’re trying to get me to do more work for you.”
“These are expensive refreshments I’ve promised to bring you.”
“No more work without payment, Slovak.”
“You’re trying to hold me up.”
“Liquor first,” he insisted.
“You’re forcing me to go up your chain of command to complain about the lack of cooperation I’m getting.”
“Good. I have relatives up there, so nothing will happen to me.” He laughed uproariously at how funny that was. “Listen, Slovak, you don’t want them to assign someone else to do whatever it is you want. They’re not very competent. So you need to stick with me.”
“All I want you to do is to see if a man is living at an address. If he is, then I’ll fly to Kiev with the two bottles in my luggage.”
“If I arrest him, it will cost you another bottle.”
“I don’t want you to arrest him until I’m there.”
“Okay, then, here’s the agreement: you give me the information, I find out if this
blini
you want to question is there, then you bring me the presents, we have a glass or two, then we go out together and you talk to him.”
“Close enough.”
“Okay, Slovak. I agree.” Another enormous belly laugh sounded. “I like you, Slovak.”
Jana gave him the information she had obtained from Andreea and her friends about Veza, the pimp who had managed the Theatre Exotique. Alexi promised to call her as soon as he had answers for her.
Jana had to be ready if he called, so she walked down the corridor to Trokan’s office. He glanced up at her as she came in.
“The two murders, the mother and son. Any progress?”
“I came in to talk to you about that.”
One of his eyebrows shot up. She generally shied away from everyone when she was on a difficult case.
“You need a special favor from me?”
“Authorization to go to Kiev.”
“I thought you were going to Switzerland to see your grandchild.”
“I am. But I need to go to Kiev on this case. I could go to Switzerland to see my granddaughter; then, instead of coming back here, I would fly directly to Kiev from Geneva.”
“No one who lives in Bratislava and can go to Vienna or Prague, which are just around the corner, would want to go to Kiev except on very pressing business that absolutely requires attention. Hence, knowing you, I am inclined to approve your request. Go!”
Trokan’s quick approval surprised her.
“You’re not your usual self.” He usually stubbornly resisted requests like this. “Why are you simply agreeing? There must be questions. There always are.”
“You told me that the trip is needed for the case you’re working on, right? What else do I need to help me make the decision?”
“A detailed explanation about what I expect to find.”
“Write up the request. Put everything in you think I should know, and I’ll sign it.”
“That was easy.” She thought about his quick acquiescence. “Too easy.” When it came to spending money for plane tickets or hotels, there was always a problem with the government. “You usually repeat how you have to watch expenses.”
“As I get older, I get softer.”
There was no question in Jana’s mind that something else was motivating him. He wanted her out of town.
“It’s something else. What?”
Trokan didn’t deny what she had suggested, simply staring at her. The stare told her what she needed to know: he wanted to tell her, but he could not. And, knowing him, he was trying to communicate what he could not directly tell her.
Jana had to make her own assumptions. The only thing she could think of was the warning he had gotten about her from the corruption people. Jana decided to probe a little.
“Your friends from the corruption section have given you information. They’re planning an operation and you want me out of town because of it?”
“Draw whatever conclusions you wish.” He stared at her, trying to find something in her face. He nodded in satisfaction. “Good! There’s no fear in your expression. That means you think you have nothing to make you fearful. It justifies my faith in you.” He paused, finding the words he wanted to use. “As an old friend, I want you to listen to what I say and be guided by it without any questions.”
Jana nodded.
“It’s important for you to be out of Bratislava, particularly at the beginning of next week. Just go. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“One more thing: that trinket that you showed me. Take it away with you.” He looked at her knowingly. “The reason, if you are ever asked, is that I give you this advice to make sure that it is not stolen, or otherwise misplaced, while you are in the field to complete your investigation.”
Trokan was building in an excuse for himself, and for her, if the issue was ever raised.
“Thank you, Colonel.”
She saluted him, even though she rarely saluted him any more. He had just done her another favor to add to the long list of those in the past.
Jana did an about-face and went to her office. As soon as she walked in the door, her phone rang. Alexi was calling. An informant had confirmed that Veza was at the address Jana had given him. Jana told him that she would be flying to Kiev on Monday and would meet him at the main police station.
She put the phone down on its cradle. The Kiev call was a life-saver. Trokan had told her, indirectly, that her house was going to be searched in the upcoming days by the anti-corruption people. He wanted her, and the diamond, away at that time. It would save a lot of awkward questions and, possibly, help Jana keep her job.
It also meant that in all probability they were going to search Sofia’s place as well. Unfortunately, there was no way that Jana could, or would, warn Sofia. Jana was still very much a part of the police department, and there was an ongoing investigation. Jana had to let them do their jobs.
It would all work out, she told herself.
She hoped so, for both their sakes.
Jana had one more errand to run before she got ready for her flight to Switzerland.
I
n the morning, Jana stopped by to see Peter before she left for Geneva.
She parked, then walked from the lot to the front of the building that housed the appellate courts, the national court administration, and the attorney general and his staff. She angled up the steps, her path intersecting that of a pair of judges who Jana knew, and greeted them with a nod. She was hurrying, hoping to catch Peter before he got to his office. She stopped to wait for him just inside the front door. She was early enough to watch the attorney general himself arrive in his BMW sedan. Eventually, she decided that Peter must be an even earlier bird than she had supposed. After checking her ID, the guards allowed her to use their interoffice telephone to call Peter’s office.
He insisted on coming to meet her, and within a few minutes she saw him bolting down the stairs. He approached her with a huge smile on his face, kissed her on both cheeks, then accompanied her to a wall bench, sitting as close to her as decorum allowed.
“You will notice that I conduct myself as a proper procurator while we are in a public building. Besides, how would it look if a police commander was embraced and passionately kissed? Which is what I want to do, with the whole judiciary and the attorney general himself as witnesses.”
The attorney general was talking to a court of appeals judge near the metal detectors. After finishing his conversation, he beckoned to Peter.
“No peace for the weary,” Peter grumbled. “I’ll only be a minute. Wait for me.” He strode over to his boss. The two of them immediately fell into what appeared to be a lively conversation. The attorney general was apparently ordering a reluctant Peter to do something. It was clear that he was giving Peter an ultimatum. Peter made a gesture of compliance, and the attorney general, seemingly still miffed, walked toward his office. Peter watched him go, a resigned expression on his face; then he returned to Jana and sat next to her.
“Problems?” she asked.
“Some. A case I’m involved with. He wants me to do certain things and not do others. So I agreed, but I’m going to do what I have to do anyway.” He looked grim. “If it backfires, I will have rain, squalls, typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes in my professional life.”
“Charging directly into the storm,” she teased. “That’s my Peter.”
He looked at her closely, a crooked smile on his face.
“I liked what you just said.” He moved closer. “‘
My
Peter,’ you said. Did you mean that?”
She turned so they were face to face, almost touching noses, and looked directly into his eyes.
“Yes, I meant it.”
“
My
Peter,” he repeated. “Since I have no objection to your owning me, you now have all the responsibilities of ownership. I hope it means that you love your new possession, and will take care of it so that it’s happy.”
“People are watching us.”
“You’re avoiding the answer.” He put his hand on her arm. “I’m keeping you prisoner until you reply.”
“I love all my possessions.”
His face dropped. “You mean there is nothing special about this one possession?”
She pretended to be thinking deeply. “I think this one may be unique,” she eventually agreed.
“Not as much from you as I wanted. But, for today, it will have to do.”
They moved farther apart. The two door guards had been watching them. One of them grinned, giving them a thumbs-up of approval. Peter returned the gesture.
“I told you they were watching us,” Jana hissed, looking away in embarrassment.
“I see them every day. Today, they’re both wishing they were me.”
“They’ll know we’re lovers.”
“The truth will out,” he joked, a little embarrassed himself.
Jana returned to business, straightening up, moving even farther away from Peter so no one could question that she was there on business.
“I told you about my granddaughter. My son-in-law’s parents and I have been talking back and forth. It’s been tense. They’ve suggested that I visit her in Geneva. I can argue all I want; they won’t agree to let her come to Bratislava. So I’ve agreed to go to Switzerland for the weekend to see her. If it goes well, they’ll agree to another trip in a month or so, then another. I hope, when I’ve earned their trust, they’ll let her visit me for a week, maybe two, in Bratislava.”
“I’m sorry you can’t bring her here now. I wanted to meet your granddaughter.”
“It can’t be helped.”
“You plan to go this weekend?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll miss you.”
Jana smiled. “That’s good.”
“You’re hard-hearted.”
“Never.”
Peter shifted uneasily. “When I talked to the attorney general, he said a few words about you.”
Jana came to full alert. “What did he say?”
“He ordered me to stay away from you until the case I’m working on is completed and has made its way through the courts.”
“Why would he do that?” She felt herself getting angry. “He doesn’t like his attorneys seeing police officers, is that it? That’s idiotic. He can’t mean it.”
“Jana, it’s because of the matter I’m working on. He’s formed a special investigation unit. I’m in charge of the first case. We’re targeting some people. That’s all I can say. So, no more questions, please. I’ve already told you I’m not going to obey him. It simply means we have to be careful when and where we meet until this is over.”
Jana calmed down. “Why would he single me out?”
“Jana, please. No questions!” He got up from the bench, taking her hand as she stood. “Call me from Geneva. And kiss your granddaughter for me.”
He gave her a last smile as he headed for the stairs. Jana watched him go, then walked out of the building and went toward her car, almost turning back when she realized she had been so taken up with talking to him about seeing her granddaughter that she’d neglected to tell him she was going to Kiev when she finished her Geneva visit. She promised herself that she’d call him when she got to Geneva.
When she got into her car, something else came to mind. Colonel Trokan had told her that there was a special anti-corruption group that might be investigating her friend Sofia. They’d informed Trokan that they had seen Jana with Sofia. Peter had been ordered to stay away from Jana. Was that the case Peter was working on? Because of her meeting with Sofia, was Peter also investigating her?
Thinking about it would not help. Jana was powerless. Besides, Peter was still going to see her. Since she couldn’t interfere, it was best for her to forget it. She didn’t want to carry any anxiety over into her meeting with her granddaughter. She was determined that the meeting in Switzerland was going to be a happy event.
In two hours, Jana was on her way to Geneva. The two bottles she had promised to take to Alexi in Kiev were in her luggage.
The diamond was wrapped in a small piece of velvet and safely tucked in her brassiere.