‘Go on,’ Ben challenged her. ‘Tell me that everything’s different. Tell me that everything’s changed. Tell me I’m history.’
Sarah looked him up and down, as coolly as she could manage. ‘I’ll tell you one thing, Ben. You’ve put on a hell of a lot of weight.’
Ben’s eyes widened. Then he went for her. He slapped her across the face, twice. She lifted her arms to protect herself, so he punched her on the shoulders and hit her on the ribs.
‘You shit!’ he bellowed at her. ‘You stuck-up, hypocritical, pretentious shit!’
‘Ben!’ she screamed at him. ‘Ben, for God’s sake, stop it!’
He was about to hit her again when a harsh voice shouted out, ‘Stop! Don’t you touch her!’
Ben turned around, his eyes unfocused. He hardly saw the stubby, white-haired man who took four quick steps across the room and punched him directly in the jaw. Something cracked inside his face, and he fell back against the sofa. Then another punch hit him on the bridge of his nose, and he felt blood spurting onto his chest like a warm, wet poultice. He found himself lying on his back on the floor, deafened, half blinded, looking up with his one good eye at Sarah’s bare foot, protruding over the arm of the sofa.
He heard a voice say, ‘Are you all right?’ and the voice wasn’t talking to him.
Sarah, bruised and shaking, climbed off the couch. ‘He went crazy,’ she said, rubbing her arm. ‘He came here to talk about business, and then he went crazy.’
‘You want me to arrest him?’ asked Rej. He was trying to sound matter-of-fact but he was panting, and rubbing his knuckles over and over.
Sarah looked down at Ben, lying on the floor, his white-haired chest sprayed with nostril-blood, his penis all curled up. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said. Her voice was wobbling like a cup on an ill-fitting saucer. ‘I don’t think he’ll try it again.’
‘It’s lucky for you I came around to see you,’ said Rej. ‘And it’s even luckier that you didn’t close your front door properly.’
‘I thought I –’ Sarah began; but then she remembered how quickly Rej had picked the lock at Zofia’s apartment, and said nothing.
‘It’s all right. I heard shouting,’ Rej reassured her. ‘That’s all. We have the legal right to break in if we suspect domestic violence of any kind.’
For some reason, Sarah reached up and took hold of his hand. It reminded her of holding her father’s hand when she was little. It had always made her feel so secure. So long as they were hand-in-hand, she was safe, and well protected. She had loved cuddles with her father when she was small, but there was never anything quite like walking along the street together, holding hands, as if they were prepared to show everybody that they loved each other, and that they wanted to protect each other, and that they were safe.
Ben awkwardly climbed to his feet, and struggled into his clothes. They both watched him, giving him no privacy. He glared at them from time to time, but said nothing.
‘Use the bathroom,’ Sarah told him. ‘And don’t leave blood on the towels.’
Ben limped off without a word, and closed the bathroom door. Sarah sat down and gently patted the side of her face. She was beginning to feel her lip swelling out, and the bruises on her cheeks began to puff up. She had a meeting with International Travel Bureaux tomorrow morning, and she knew that she was going to look great. A bulging mouth, a half-closed eye, and cheeks like Marlon Brando.
Rej sat next to her. ‘Let’s take a look,’ he said. ‘You’re not too bad. Once your boyfriend’s gone, you can put a cold facecloth on that.’
‘Believe me, he’s not my boyfriend.’
‘He used to be, once?’
‘That was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Now he’s my boss, and an all-round pain in the ass.’
‘He still likes you, then?’
‘I don’t think “like” is the word for it. He wants to have me, that’s all. He lost me, because I walked out on him, and that’s rankled ever since. “No woman walks out on me.” You know the deal.’
‘Of course. My woman walked out on me.’
Sarah reached across and picked up one of the glasses of champagne. She took a long drink, and then put it down again. ‘Ugh, that was far too fizzy. I should have had a brandy.’
‘You want to know the best brandy in the world? Lancut, from the Tatra Mountains. That’s beautiful. You must try it some day. In fact, I don’t know why you don’t try some today; with me.’
Sarah sensed that there was something wrong. She grasped Rej’s hand and said, ‘What’s wrong? Has something happened?’
Tears began to roll down Rej’s rough-cast cheeks. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. ‘I came back to tell you that Komisarz Jarczyk has arrested one of our local gangsters on a charge of murdering all fourteen of the Executioner’s victims.’
‘He’s caught him? He’s really caught him?’
‘I don’t know... the evidence doesn’t seem to be very strong. Jarczyk has an informant who saw one of this gangster’s stooges abducting Dlubak from the Saxon Gardens... armed with a gun, as far as we know. The next thing we knew, Dlubak’s dead body was found in a sewer underneath Powstancow Warszawy Square.’ He sniffed, and waited until he had managed to recover himself. Then he said, ‘Minus his head, just like all the others.’
He stood up, and shrugged, as if he were too choked up to speak at all. ‘Dr Wojniakowski assures me that Dlubak was killed in almost exactly the same way as the other victims, but there are two important differences. One – he was sexually tortured. His penis was pierced all the way through by a very sharp hook. None of the Executioner’s victims was ever tortured before, and none of them was interfered with, sexually.’
‘Go on,’ said Sarah. She glanced towards the bathroom door but there was still no sign of Ben.
‘Well, second, Dlubak’s head was cut off with a different knife from all of the rest. That doesn’t mean conclusively that he wasn’t killed by the same person. The Executioner could have dropped his knife when he was killing those Germans of yours, and found himself another one.’
‘What else?’
‘That’s all... except the man they’ve arrested didn’t have any known motive for murdering any of those fourteen people except for Dlubak.’
‘So he may have killed Dlubak, but there’s less chance that he killed any of the others?’
‘That’s the way it looks to me.’
Rej was silent for a time, his hand pressed over his mouth. Sarah watched his eyes filling with tears, and then said, ‘What’s wrong? What’s happened?’
Rej swallowed. ‘They arrested this man... he’s a well-known racketeer, Roman Zboinski. A very hard case, we’ve been watching him for years. During the arrest, one of his men shot at my partner, Jerzy Matejko. Jerzy has a young wife, a new baby.’
He paused, and then he said, in a light, despairing voice, ‘Killed him. The bastards killed him.’
Sarah put her arm around him. Through his jacket she could feel him shuddering.
‘It’s crazy,’ said Rej. ‘I don’t even know if Zboinski is the right man. Supposing Matejko died for nothing at all... just for some stupid mistake?’
‘You don’t know that,’ Sarah soothed him. ‘Surely Jarczyk wouldn’t have tried to arrest this Zboinski for no good reason?’
‘I don’t know... I haven’t had the chance to talk to him yet. I’m not sure that I will. Now that Matejko’s dead, they’re shutting me out of this case completely.’
Ben reappeared from the bathroom. His face was puffy and bruised, and he looked as if he were still concussed. He ignored Rej, but walked right up to Sarah and stood over her, still sniffing blood up his nose. ‘I’m not going to forget this in a long time,’ he told her. ‘In fact, I’m not going to forget this as long as I live.’
‘So what does that mean? You’re going to call New York and tell them I can’t hack it? You do that, and I’ll call New York and tell them that you’ve sexually assaulted
me and that you’ve gone way over the edge.’
Ben said, ‘I won’t have to call New York. Once they’ve worked out the figures, you’ll be catmeat.’
Rej stood up. ‘I think it’s time you left now, sir. That’s unless you want to face charges.’
‘I’m going, all right? I have an exorcism to arrange.’
‘You won’t need to do that now. Apparently the Warsaw police have caught the Executioner; and that he’s safely locked up behind bars.’
‘You’ve caught him?’ asked Ben, incredulously.
Rej shrugged. ‘Lots of hard work, plus a lucky tip-off. You know how these things go.’
Ben hesitated for a moment, his lower lip curled down in contempt, as if he really wanted to say something sarcastic, but couldn’t think of it.
‘You people,’ he said at last. ‘You goddamned self-righteous people, you make me sick.’
With that, he turned around and left the apartment, but not before making a short detour to the kitchen, picking up the champagne bottle, and taking it with him.
After he had gone, Rej took out a pack of cigarettes, but then he put it away again. Sarah said, ‘It’s okay. You can smoke if you like.’
‘No... you’re right. I should give it up.’ He paused, and then he said, ‘I hope I haven’t interfered... I saw him hitting you and I had to do something.’
Sarah shook her head. ‘I’m glad you did. I used to love him. I used to think that the sun rose in his eyes. But I was younger then. I didn’t know the difference between love and dependence. I didn’t know what bastards men could be.’
‘Well, we’re not all bastards,’ said Rej. ‘But when it comes to women... we’re none of us very clever.’
Sarah went to the bathroom and switched on the light over the mirror. Ben had bled copiously into one of her hand-towels and just dropped it on the floor. She ran the cold water, soaked a facecloth, and pressed it against her cheek.
‘Does it hurt?’ asked Rej, reflected in the mirror.
‘I expect I’ll live. They don’t call me the Ayatollah for nothing.’
‘I should have arrested him.’
‘No... I don’t want to make waves, not until we’ve finished building this hotel. Believe me, komisarz, I’ll get him back for this one day, when he’s least expecting it.’
Rej said, ‘Why don’t you call me Stefan?’
She looked up at him, first with her left eye closed, and then her right. The vision in her left eye was still a little blurry. ‘All right, Stefan, if that’s what you want.’ She squeezed out the faceloth. ‘I guess you’re off this case for good now, what with this Zboinski guy being arrested.’
‘Officially, yes.’
‘Do you really think this is the end of it? After all, I’m paying Clayton over two grand a week, and if you guys really have found the Executioner... I could save myself a whole lot of money.’
‘It’s hard to be sure,’ said Rej. ‘Nobody saw Dlubak being taken to Zboinski’s apartment, nobody witnessed him being killed, and nobody saw his body being dumped. Of course, we still have a mountain of forensic evidence to look at. We’ve been searching Zboinski’s apartment since seven o’clock this morning. Maybe they’ll come up with something which might connect him with one of the other murders, or maybe all of them, if we’re lucky. But somehow I don’t think so. Zboinski likes to think of himself as a businessman. He wouldn’t kill anybody at random, just for the sake of killing them.’
‘That’s your theory, anyhow,’ said Sarah.
‘It’s more than a theory, Ms Leonard. I know more about this case than anybody.’
‘So in your opinion they haven’t arrested the right man? And why don’t you call me Sarah?’
Rej nodded. ‘All right, Sarah. It’s not Zboinski. I’m ninety per cent sure of it.’
‘So even if I could persuade them to go back to work, Brzezicki and his men could still be at risk?’
‘We’re all at risk.’
‘Ben thinks we ought to have an exorcism.’
‘An exorcism? With a priest?’
‘I don’t know how serious he is. He sounds serious; but then there were times when he sounded like he loved me. Most likely it’s all for show... a way to convince Brzezicki that he’s driven out the devil for good.’
‘Well, who knows,’ said Rej. ‘Maybe an exorcism might work. There’s much more to this case than we know. Look at that seance we did with Madame Krystyna. Did you ever see anything like that before?’
Sarah shook her head.
‘No, me neither,’ said Rej. He was silent and reflective for a moment, as if he were trying to make up his mind about something. Then he said, ‘Listen... I’m going back to police headquarters to find out what’s going on. Matejko was supposed to be organizing a search of the sewers, I want to know what’s happened to that. I also want to know if the lab has come up with any more information on how Dlubak died. If there’s any chance that Zboinski killed all of those people, I’ll be the first in line, buying Jarczyk a drink. But if there isn’t... well, we’re just as much in jeopardy as we were before.’
‘I have some free time,’ said Sarah. ‘Is there anything I can do?’
‘Well... you could push Vistula Kredytowy to give you more information on Zboinski’s money-laundering affairs. You’re the client, you could be quite tough about this. Threaten to go to the Ministry of Finance if they don’t cooperate. Do it today, if you can. Jarczyk’s bound to start poking around at Vistula Kredytowy within the next twelve hours, and I’d like to get my hands on that information before he does.’
‘Do you really think this whole Executioner business is about money-laundering? Nothing else?’
‘No, Sarah, I don’t. But there’s something else you could do for me. As far as I know, we haven’t yet interviewed Hanna Peszka. She was Jan Kaminski’s girlfriend. She was too shocked to talk to us before, and it looks as if Jarczyk has forgotten all about her. Maybe you could go out to Mokotow and talk to her. She lives on the Ursynow development: I’ve got the address here.’
He took out a cheap ballpen and scribbled Hanna Peszka’s address in his diary, ripping out the page and handing it over. ‘Ms Leonard – Sarah – you and I both have vested interests in finding the real Executioner. I don’t think he’s a devil, and I don’t think he’s a gangster. But he’s something in between, and I want to find him. If I don’t – well, I might as well put in my resignation, and spend the rest of my life growing tomatoes. I don’t have anything else in my life.’
‘What about your daughter?’
‘Katarzyna? When do I ever get to see her? I’m always too busy.’
‘Make yourself some time. You’re off the case now, aren’t you? Listen... arrange to see her. Do it as soon as you can. It’ll make you feel better.’
Rej looked doubtful. ‘I don’t know... I never know what to do with her. She’s fourteen now, all she’s interested in is ponies.’
‘Take her horseback riding, then, I’ll come with you.’
Rej stared at her as if he had never seen her before in his life. ‘You? Why would you want to do that?’
‘Because... I don’t know. Because you saved me from Ben. Because I love horseback riding and I haven’t ridden in a coon’s age. Because your friend got killed. Because we’re two human beings and we’re not dead yet.’
Rej couldn’t stop himself from smiling. ‘That sounds like more than enough reasons to me. Listen... there’s a cottage we go to, in a little village near the Kampinos Forest. You could come with us one weekend.’
As soon as Rej had left she called Piotr Gogiel and asked to visit Vistula Kredytowy. Piotr seemed flustered and upset.
‘What’s the matter?’ Sarah asked him. ‘I just want to go through this month’s accounts with you, that’s all.’
‘I won’t be here. I have to leave the office in ten minutes.’
‘Then send the accounts to me here. You have my e-mail number, don’t you? Then we can talk about them on M
onday. Or tomorrow, if you have the time.’
‘Well, ah... the mainframe’s offline, just for the moment.’
‘Mr Gogiel, I’m coming over to the bank now and I want those accounts up on screen and ready to scroll.’
Piotr Gogiel audibly swallowed. ‘You’ll have to talk to Mr Studnicki.’
‘In that case, I’ll talk to Mr Studnicki, and if there’s anything funny going on, I’ll do more than talk to Mr Studnicki, I’ll have him for a late lunch and eat you, Mr Gogiel, for dessert.’
Sarah put down the phone, and sat for a long time, thinking. Something was seriously wrong here. She had the feeling that, behind the curtains of Vistula Kredytowy’s secrecy, scenery was being rapidly shifted, and that when lights came up again, everything would have been transformed, so that it looked bright and innocent.
But she could sense deception, and trickery, and ill-intent; and for the first time in her business career she felt out of her depth, and frightened.
12
Marek and Olga and three of their friends came bursting out of the Green Cat Billiard Club on Piekna Street, laughing and slapping at each other. They had been playing billiards for most of the afternoon, and Marek had won eleven zlotys. He was supposed to have gone for a job interview at a hi-fi store on Grzybowska, but in the end he hadn’t bothered. The pay was crap, and the pasty-faced assistant manager had treated him as if he was something he had stepped in. Not only that, the store had playing old Wojciech Mlynarski records, which had been enough to make Marek feel like tying a plastic bag over his head and ending it all.
‘You coming to Zbylut’s tonight?’ asked one of Marek’s friends. ‘His parents have gone to Cracow.’
‘Pa-a-arty!’ screamed Olga, and danced a little wiggling dance right there on the sidewalk.
‘I don’t know,’ said Marek. ‘I’m supposed to be meeting up with Clayton Marsh.’
‘Oh, excuse me,’ his friend retorted. ‘Kurt’s on a case with the great American detective. You can see it now, can’t you? Marsh and Maslowski, crime-busters!’
‘They’ve caught the Executioner, anyway,’ put in Olga.
The Chosen Child Page 21
