by Graham Brack
‘I need to tidy up a few puzzling snippets of information, sir.’
‘That sounds ominous,’ Sammler smiled. ‘Do I need my lawyer here?’
‘Only if you have something to hide, sir.’
‘Then fire away, Lieutenant.’
‘I should begin by saying that everything I have with me is a copy, sir. I’m not allowed to bring the originals out of the evidence store.’
‘Of course.’
‘You see, sir, when we received a photograph of Dr Banda with Miss Gruberová, our scientific team told us that the envelope had been printed by someone who had not attempted to put the haček in our address. That led us to wonder if the sender was not a Czech.’
‘There must be a lot of non-Czechs in Prague, Lieutenant. One sees them everywhere.’
‘Indeed you do, sir. Not so many tourists in February, of course. Then we were able to narrow down the time of Miss Gruberová’s death. Dr Banda told us that he had left her some time before that. He had an alibi provided by his wife.’
‘Surely times of death are only approximate, Lieutenant. And don’t wives often give their husbands alibis, wittingly or unwittingly?’
‘No doubt, sir. But we were a little confused as to why Miss Gruberová let her murderer into her flat. If Dr Banda killed her, then he made love to her, waited an hour or so, then killed her, dumped her body and went home. His cellphone gives him a better alibi, because he used it at 22:48 that evening, and it was within fifty metres of his house when he did so. We can track that by some technical jiggery-pokery I don’t begin to understand, sir.’
‘I do, Lieutenant. You can tell which particular mast he was nearest to when he made the call. By triangulation you can work it very precisely. So that lets Dr Banda out. But what has that to do with me?’
‘Well, no matter how friendly a young woman is, I doubt she’d answer her door at midnight. I was surprised that there were so few signs of a struggle. Just a few bits of leather under her nails where she had clawed at a pair of black gloves. It seems logical to suppose those were the murderer’s gloves, don’t you think, sir?’
‘I suppose so. She’d wash her hands before bed, no doubt, so the leather must have got under her nails after that.’
‘No doubt, sir. I’m glad you agree. To return to the question of why she let her murderer in, the answer, of course, is that she didn’t. He didn’t need her to, because he already had a key. Most landlords keep a spare key, don’t they, sir?’
‘Do they?’
‘Miss Gruberová didn’t pay any rent, so far as we could see. Dr Banda’s bank accounts don’t show any sign of any rent being paid. It looks as if the kindly landlord was letting the young lady live there rent-free. So I wondered who these paragons were, and we discovered that the flat is registered in the name of Gold Lion Property Investments.’
‘And you will have discovered, I’m sure, that I am one of the directors of Gold Lion Property Investments.’
‘Just so, sir. It’s very good of you to help a young lady like this.’
‘The young lady was incidental, Lieutenant. I was helping Dr Banda. He was very grateful. It does no harm to have a sympathetic hearing from a politician or two. And I may have a key, but I rather doubt it. I own quite a lot of property, and the keys are kept by a management agency who do all the spadework for me. Perhaps they could tell you who had it. I’m sure they keep records; I’d be very upset if they didn’t. I’ll give you their name.’
‘Thank you, sir. Then Miss Gruberová’s body was taken to the rear of the train station at Holešovice and dumped there. A beige German car was seen in the area at around the time the body was left.’
‘Seen “around the time”, Lieutenant? That’s a bit vague, isn’t it? And no doubt a German car led you to think there must be a German driver, so here you are. I’m sure there are quite a few German cars in Prague. And mine is registered here.’
‘We didn’t have a registration number with the sighting, sir. We don’t know where the car was registered. Just that it was a German make. Let’s move on a little. The body was left in the early hours of Wednesday, 8th February. This is a DVD taken from your country house’s security system, sir. It shows you arriving there at 03:48 on that morning. Here’s a still of you leaving your car. I note you’re wearing black gloves, sir.’
‘So I am. I own a lot of pairs of gloves, Lieutenant, but you’re welcome to search the house for them.’
‘I doubt we’ll find them, sir. I’m sure whoever the murderer was, he’ll have burned the gloves long ago.’
‘And I wonder how you obtained this DVD, Lieutenant. Would it be admissible in court, do you think?’
‘Your security company volunteered it, sir. May I compliment you on the clarity of the pictures, sir? It’s a very good system.’
‘German, of course. I own the company. If you ever want one, I could get you a special price.’
‘Very kind, sir. I doubt the police would allow me to accept, unfortunately. And I don’t have anything worth stealing.’
‘Personal safety is important, Lieutenant. Allow me to point out that if Miss Gruberová had owned a security system you’d have had video of whoever it was entering her flat.’
‘Yes, but allow me to point out that the murderer doesn’t seem to have worried about that — as if he knew there wasn’t one there, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Your words, not mine. Maybe he just wasn’t of a suspicious nature.’
‘Maybe. Oh, I almost forgot. Your city flat has a very good security system too, doesn’t it? It recorded your car leaving the car park that night at 22.16. That’s a little late to be going out, isn’t it, sir?’
‘Is it? I don’t sleep very well. And it was a night like any other. I can’t remember why I went out on that particular night at that particular time, before you ask.’
‘Then we have the curious matter of Dr Banda’s withdrawal from your bank. I’m obliged to my assistant for this part. You see, Navrátil doesn’t know much about banks, so he asked our fraud expert to describe what happens once someone fills in a withdrawal slip. That slip, by the way, can’t be found.’
‘It happens. There are thousands of them. We lose the odd one here and there.’
‘You see, Dr Banda’s bank statement shows that he withdrew two hundred and forty-nine thousand, two hundred and fifty crowns. Exactly the same amount was found in Miss Gruberová’s vagina. Leaving aside the question of why the murderer didn’t steal it, unless he had plenty of money of his own, the coincidence is striking, isn’t it? It clearly pointed at Dr Banda. Except that Dr Banda is adamant that he only withdrew forty-nine thousand, two hundred and fifty crowns, precisely the amount he had promised Miss Gruberová to buy her a car. Now, our expert says that if this was a mistake by the teller, it would have been discovered at the end-of-day reconciliation, whatever that is.’
‘It’s when we add up all the money that went in or out and check that it tallies with the amounts in hand at the end of the shift.’
‘Thank you. I’m learning a lot today. So Klinger deduces that the alteration took place after the withdrawal slip went through to the back office. And to alter that someone would need some pretty serious authorisation rights on your computer system. I’m not clear why the alteration was made, unless it was to make it absolutely certain that we would link the withdrawal with the vaginal deposit. After all, Banda might have used a bit of it to get himself a bar of chocolate.’
‘Naturally, the bank will be very keen to get to the bottom of this unauthorised withdrawal. I can guarantee our full co-operation with any inquiry.’
‘I’ll pass that on to Mr Klinger, sir. And Dr Banda will be keen to see his money returned.’
‘If he can show that he only withdrew the smaller sum, that will follow as a matter of course.’
‘I’ve spoken to the teller involved, sir. She supports his claim.’
‘That’s very helpful.’
‘Then we come to the second p
hotograph we received, which you may recall. It was taken at your country home.’
‘How could I forget that?’
‘It can’t be easy, sir. A very limited number of people could have access to your security system to produce that photograph, wouldn’t you say, sir?’
‘Apparently not. You got one easily enough from the company. How do we know who else was able to do so?’
‘Then there’s the question of who knew there would be a picture there worth collecting. Mr Soucha told me he met Mario at a party. What he didn’t tell me, but I have subsequently discovered, was that you were there too.’
‘Was I? I don’t particularly like parties, Lieutenant, but I have to go to a lot. It wouldn’t surprise me if most of Prague had been at a party with me at some time.’
‘But the thing that really puzzles me, sir, is why this photograph was sent to me? Homosexuality isn’t illegal. And if the aim was to discredit Mr Soucha, surely the press would be more interested than the police. Then I thought it was a particularly crafty idea, because if I showed the picture to Soucha, as I was certain to do, he would know that this would hang over him all his days, so it would give a blackmailer real power. But the problem with that argument is that it works much better if he just sends the photograph to Soucha directly, because he avoids even the slight chance that I might put it in the bin. Not to mention that it’s an unusual blackmailer who doesn’t give the victim any way of getting in touch with him. Without a line of communication, how can there be blackmail?’
‘It’s a fascinating conundrum, Lieutenant. When you find the answer, perhaps you’ll put me out of this suspense.’
‘I think I’ve got the answer, sir. But bear with me a moment. I just want to have a little chat about the third envelope. This one contained some documents showing that Leoš Holec had been creaming off large sums into a foreign bank account. I’m sure you know Mr Holec, sir.’
‘Certainly I do, and I must say I’m very surprised. He’s a respected adviser to the government.’
‘Yes, it does seem strange. What seems even stranger is that he keeps very detailed notes of his transactions, not being a practised criminal. It never occurred to him to hide the evidence. Thus he was able to tell us that these sums were payments from an Austrian investment trust called Salzburger Prudent Investment Trust. The curious thing is that the Austrian authorities say that this trust was closed some years ago. Its official address was at the head office of your bank, sir. Somehow it has continued to make payments when it no longer has any known bank accounts. How can that happen?’
‘It’s hard to see. Every transaction must have a counter-balancing transaction.’
‘Yes. Of course, our Mr Klinger wondered if there is an alias account somewhere containing these balancing transactions that will never be claimed because actually nobody really owns it. It might be discovered one day on an audit, but that’s a remote chance really. The samples are so small compared with the number of accounts you have. You could take samples for a generation and never hit on this one. And if you did, what would it prove? An oddity, certainly, but not definite illegality. I suppose it would have to be a fairly senior official in the bank who was able to keep issuing payments against an account that didn’t really exist.’
‘Someone like me, you mean.’
‘I couldn’t possibly say, sir. I’m completely untutored in the ways of banks.’
Sammler rocked back in his chair and gave a slight, tolerant smile.
‘All right, let us suppose that I am some sort of criminal mastermind who kills a young woman and frames a friend for it. I admit none of this, it goes without saying, but let’s play at pretending.’
Slonský smiled encouragingly.
‘Yes, sir, that would be good.’
‘The question you haven’t answered is — why?
‘You’re absolutely right, sir. I haven’t explained why. I was hoping you might do that, sir.’
‘And how could I know why someone would do this?’
‘I thought we were playing at pretending, sir. Make something up. You see, I can only see one plausible reason for it. But it sounded so bizarre that I needed someone to confirm that it could be correct. That’s why I interviewed your father yesterday, sir.’
The effect of this statement on Sammler was very gratifying, thought Slonský. He looked shocked and concerned, however fleetingly, before recovering his composure.
‘You will have heard that my father and I are estranged, Lieutenant. I’m not sure that he is an unbiased source where my shortcomings are under discussion.’
‘No, sir. But he didn’t argue about the underlying basis of what I think happened. You see, I think the key to understanding this chain of events is the picture of Soucha. Why would anyone send me that? The Vice Squad, possibly. The press, certainly. What can I do that the press can’t do more efficiently to humiliate Soucha just as Banda was humiliated? The only possible answer is that I can put someone in court. If someone’s plan was to get these three men into court, then there must be some illegality that I’m not spotting about Soucha and Mario. And the only idea that came to me is that Mario is younger than he looks. If our correspondent knew that Mario was under age, and could produce Mario after the story hit the press, that would really cause Soucha some problems, wouldn’t it? First he is exposed as a gay man, then it turns out that Mario is under age, so the police’s hand would be pretty well forced, wouldn’t it? We’d have to prosecute or the tabloids would never give us a moment’s rest. Then there’s just too much evidence against Banda for us not to charge him too. It doesn’t really matter whether we can make it stick or not, because the stench will follow even if a charge doesn’t. And there’s poor Holec. Maybe what he did wasn’t illegal, or not intentionally so, but it certainly looks bad, and our fraud colleagues can’t ignore the sums involved. That’s the link between them.’
‘How inventive!’ said Sammler. ‘I’m finding this very entertaining. Do go on with this nonsense.’
‘A government minister, a senior opposition politician, a civil servant, all in the dock. They’re all as bad as each other. The whole system is rotten to the core. It all has to happen in a short time or the public might not jump to that conclusion. But if all three were on trial at the same time, that would really damage the system, wouldn’t it? And that brings us to the little difficulty I had earlier. I knew who did it, but I couldn’t work out why. And the why is now clear to me. Our murderer did it all to discredit the whole Czech political system. It took years of planning, slowly building up trust so that it could be betrayed, accumulating the cash for a very expensive series of pay-offs, giving free apartments to curry favour, but it would all be worthwhile if he could finally be proved right. If he could show that his former colleagues had been justified, if he could complete their work to deliver what he wanted, the millions of crowns would have been well spent. If people lost faith in their democratic institutions, then the ideological war that appeared lost for so long could be fired up again. The only question left is: who would do such a thing? An hour with your father, and I knew the answer to that. Am I right, sir?’
‘I’m not a litigious man, Lieutenant, but you will realise that if you repeated this outside this room I would be entirely justified in suing you for defamation.’
‘Yes, sir. Although, of course, it is a defence that I can show my claims to be substantially true and in the public interest.’
‘Can you? Can you really, Lieutenant?’
Sammler’s voice was louder, more forceful, slightly higher pitched as stress began to pull at his vocal cords.
‘You’ve heard the evidence, sir.’
‘Ah, yes, so I have. It boils down to a piece of video showing I went out late, but you don’t know where. Another piece of video proving I went to my other house, and it was the early hours before I got there, but you don’t know where I was between these times. You have no forensic results. You have a bank statement proving that a customer took money
out of his account in my bank — so what? That’s what it’s there for. The withdrawal slip is missing, which could be suspicious, but since you don’t have it, that’s going to be fairly hard to establish, don’t you think? You know that I rented the flat to Dr Banda’s mistress and you don’t know how she paid for it. It was a favour, Lieutenant. It makes me a good guy. I lent my home to another man who betrayed that trust by using my house for some tawdry coupling with an unknown person. And even if I pointed the finger at Holec, aren’t I the sheriff in the white hat hunting down evil in its many forms?’
‘I’m sure we’d all be very grateful for your public-spirited action, sir, if that was your motive. But I think your motive was very different. It’s an elaborate plot requiring resources that hardly anyone else in Prague could bring to bear. To pull it off you’d have to be rich, well-connected and totally committed to the cause. And you’re all those things.’
‘I had a youthful flirtation with some excitable fringe groups. A lot of people did, but they didn’t all become ideologically committed communists.’
Slonský nodded his agreement.
‘That’s what makes you special, sir. You did. You started as one, and unlike so many after the Wall came down, you remained one.’
‘And your evidence for this is…?’
‘Twenty years of working with people just like that. You get to know the type. Of course, a lot of our homegrown communists have either seen the light or gone to jail. There are still a few around, but they’re losing hope, don’t you think?’
Sammler’s answer came back just a little too quickly.
‘There are more about than you would think, Lieutenant. There’s nothing to be ashamed of in wanting to bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth. If that’s a crime, I’ll gladly plead guilty.’
‘Of course not, sir. I’d sign up for that myself, especially since a lot of people have more than me. But the Czech Republic has tried communism and decided it doesn’t like it.’
