The Bloody Meadow

Chapter Twenty-Two

Korolev’s mind felt assaulted by suggestions, identities, locations, timings, possibilities and a hundred other scraps and facts – and this great swirl of information was twisting and turning and colliding and fragmenting as it rattled round the inside of his skull so that he couldn’t even begin to put it into any semblance of order. Instead he found himself concentrating, with a certain amount of self-pity, on the small ache in his forehead that all this thinking was making appreciably worse. What this case needed was someone with a bit more brain power and that was the truth.

‘They’re both missing?’ he managed to ask, speaking quietly in case they could be overheard. ‘Both of them?’

‘I’m not sure missing is the correct word to use, Chief. But they can’t be found, that’s true enough.’

Korolev looked at Slivka quickly to see if she was making fun of him.

‘But Gradov is a Militiaman – a sergeant no less.’ Korolev could hear the plaintive note in his voice, and so he allowed himself a brief pause to pull himself together before proceeding in a more appropriate growling whisper. ‘He’s in charge of the damned station, the dog – he can’t just go wandering off whenever he wants to.’

Slivka began to look uncomfortable so Korolev, with some difficulty, stopped himself once again, and then continued in what he hoped was a more measured tone.

‘He left no message? Perhaps he was feeling unwell – a visit to the doctor?’

‘Sharapov says the last he saw of him, he said he was going up to the house, got into the car and hasn’t been seen since. Larisa has a good view over the courtyard from that office of hers and says she’s certain he never arrived.’

‘I see. And Les Pins?’

‘Apparently went for a walk after lunch and hasn’t been seen since either.’

‘A coincidence?’

‘There’s more.’

‘Tell me.’

‘I told Sharapov about the morphine in Lenskaya’s stomach. When he was looking for Les Pins, he went up to his bedroom and took a quick look through his belongings. He found a packet of morphine tablets.’

‘Morphine tablets?’

‘Do you think-’ Slivka began.

‘He had a bandaged shoulder – it’s possible there was still some pain. But yes, perhaps that’s where the morphine in her stomach came from.’

‘But if he had a shoulder injury, how could his print have ended up on the bracket?’

‘He would have had help, that much is certain,’ Korolev said and then a thought occurred to him. ‘Did we ever ask where the uniforms were at the time of her murder?’

Slivka’s face was enough of an answer.

‘Why would we have?’ Korolev said. ‘It’s not your fault, Slivka. It’s mine if it’s anyone’s.’

‘Gradov,’ Slivka said bitterly.

‘It could well be.’

‘We have to put out an alert. Another one.’

Korolev considered the suggestion and what it would mean – more roadblocks, more reasons, more explanations. It didn’t take him long to shake his head. This investigation was meant to be a quiet one, and he’d already had the entire region alerted twice. If he did it again, and for a foreigner, that really would make a stink.

‘Not for Les Pins,’ Korolev said, thinking aloud. ‘No, I’ll need to get instructions from Moscow to do anything about him. But seeing as Sergeant Gradov is in the habit of losing guns and prisoners, I think we can ask your boss to put a quiet word out on him, don’t you?’

‘I’ll ask.’

‘Do that,’ Korolev said. ‘How long will it take us to get to Moldovanka and this bar?’

‘We’re driving?’

‘I think it would be a good idea to have a car – in case we have to move quickly.’

‘It might be. But I have to tell you, there’s a good chance it won’t all be there when we’ve finished.’

‘I trust your family to look after it.’

Slivka laughed at that. ‘More fool you then, Chief. I’d only trust them to make off with anything saleable. Particularly if they know it’s a Militia car – it would be a point of honour with them.’

‘How long to walk?’

‘Twenty minutes.’

Korolev looked at his watch – it was five o’clock. According to Slivka’s mother, they were to meet Kolya and his men inside the Moldovanka bar at seven. In the meantime it was essential he called Rodinov for instructions about this damned Frenchman, and tell him exactly what was going on.

Another thought occurred to him. ‘What about Antonova and Belinsky?’ Did you double-check whether they were in the room when the body was discovered?’

‘Antonova is accounted for. She went back to the village with two other women after the night shoot. Likewise Belinsky, who was still packing up camera equipment when the girl was found.’

‘I see,’ Korolev said, his head hurting even more now. He wished the investigation would slow down for a few hours, to allow him to bring some sense to it, but the meeting with Kolya was close at hand and between now and then every minute would be precious. The more he thought about the Moldovanka meeting, the more he was convinced that if things came to a tussle with armed terrorists it would be good to have a fast car close to hand. On top of which, he didn’t like the idea of doing this without his back being covered.

‘Is there someone we could trust to keep a car nearby, someone quiet? What about Firtov? Or the Greek?’

‘I could ask them.’

‘Do it, Nadezhda Andreyevna, and find me somewhere private to call Moscow. There are matters we need direction on, and from the highest level.’

It was strange the silence that came when Korolev asked the operator, a police operator no less, to give him a line to Moscow, the Lubianka, Colonel Rodinov. It lasted a few long seconds and when the operator finally spoke it sounded more like a thirsty man’s croak than speech, but it was refreshing how quickly you could sometimes be connected when the recipient had such an impressive address.

‘Rodinov,’ came the voice down the line, the colonel pronouncing his name as though he were chewing a piece of raw meat. And Korolev told him everything.

‘Les Pins, Lomatkin, Danyluk, this rat Topolski in Moscow, the girl’s father and this damned Militaman. It’s a conspiracy, Korolev – the Devil alone knows where it might end. We’ve got to intercept those guns, do you hear me? I’ll call our people in Odessa – they’ll have that place surrounded in ten minutes’ time and then we’ll have the lot of them, and we’ll see what holes the rats crawled out of, and what holes we can find to put them in when we’ve finished with them.’

‘Colonel, as I understand it, Moldovanka is a tight neighbourhood, inward looking, the kind of place where strangers are viewed with suspicion. And if I know Kolya and his cohorts, they’ll be on the lookout – if not for Chekists, then for the terrorists. If you send the wrong type of people in the wrong numbers, well – it might be counter-productive. We don’t know where the guns are yet, after all.’

There was a pause at the other end of the line, and Korolev shook his head in self-admonition. What kind of idiot was he? Offering advice to a Chekist colonel on how to do his job? He ought to be locked up in a place where he couldn’t harm himself or others. How he’d managed to survive this long in a hard world was a mystery to him.

‘Now’s not the time for explanations, Korolev.’ The colonel seemed calmer now and his voice was an interesting mixture of curiosity and menace. ‘But you’ll be telling me before tomorrow is out, face to face, why the Thieves think you’re a man to be trusted. And I can’t wait to hear your explanation.’

If I survive that long, thought Korolev, I might even give you one.

‘Of course, Comrade Colonel,’ he said, deciding that if the colonel was happy enough to wait for twenty-four hours then there was no point in jumping the gun.

‘You may be right,’ Rodinov continued. ‘All the same we’ll quietly monitor any movements out of the city. It’s crucial those guns don’t get away. If you fail, we’ll try a different approach.’

Korolev didn’t want to think about that and, anyway, there was another sensitive subject he needed to raise.

‘Comrade Colonel. About Major Mushkin.’

‘Go on.’

And so Korolev did, reminding Rodinov that the major had interceded for the missing Sergeant Gradov when his gun had gone missing.

‘Mushkin’s father was a Petlyurist, of course,’ Rodinov said when Korolev had finished.

‘I wasn’t aware of that.’

‘Oh yes, Mushkin’s mother shot him herself – a famous story and an example to all Bolsheviks.’ There was a lengthy pause. Eventually the colonel came to a decision.

‘Mushkin will be informed and be part of the operation, but he won’t be heading it and he won’t be given all the information until the last moment. Leave that to me. As for what you say about the Moldovanka – I’ll talk to our people and see what can be done, quietly as I’ve said. And, if necessary, we’ll be ready to shut the city down tight as a clam. Is this girl Slivka trustworthy?’

‘I’d stake my life on her.’

‘And how much does she know?’

‘Only as much as I considered necessary. I’ve been careful with information, as you said,’ Korolev said, which wasn’t entirely a lie.

‘Keep it that way. And these men you’re asking to drive the car?’

‘Solid fellows.’

‘Good. Call if you have any news – there will be someone here to take a message, no matter what the time. Tell Slivka and these solid fellows of yours the same. Just in case. Leave a trail, Korolev, and we’ll follow it.’

In case you don’t make it back, Korolev thought to himself.

The door to the office Slivka shared with two other detectives was locked when Korolev arrived and he rapped quietly on it with his knuckles.

Slivka opened up and ushered him in, looking past him into the corridor to make sure there was no one around. ‘I got us some artillery,’ she said as she locked the door behind him and, sure enough, on her desk were two solid, snub-barrelled machine guns, about two and a half feet in length.

‘PPD 34s,’ Slivka said proudly. ‘Don’t ask me where I got them.’

Korolev put a hand on the closer of the guns and ran his fingers along the dull grey metal.

‘Where did you get them?’

‘Ah, Chief, I told you not to ask,’ Slivka said with a grin. ‘Well – the border guard use our armoury and I’ve borrowed them. We have to get them back by first thing in the morning.’

‘You borrowed sub-machine guns?’ Korolev said, not bothering to hide his amazement. ‘From the border guard?’

‘Well, I thought that if we needed guns then we might as well have good guns.’

‘But what if we lose them?’ Korolev asked, picking one up and beginning to warm to the evil weight in his hands.

‘There’s only one way we’re losing them, Chief, and if that happens – well, they can’t shoot us twice, can they?’

‘No,’ Korolev agreed, clicking out the magazine – easily done – and slipping it back into place. ‘No, you’re right there, Slivka. You’re sure no one will notice?’

‘Someone owed me a favour, now I owe him one. He turned a blind eye, and he’ll turn another tomorrow.’

Korolev found his finger on the trigger guard. The guns were small enough to go underneath an overcoat on a long strap and they could chop a man in half in less time than it took to say hello. If it came to shooting, they’d be glad to have them.

‘Eight hundred bullets per minute,’ Slivka whispered, as if inviting him to bed, ‘and I’ve four magazines for each of them.’

‘That’s a lot of bullets.’

‘A great deal of bullets,’ Slivka agreed, her teeth white in the low light.

‘And I even managed to get you a spare clip for your Walther, Chief. And there’s a Nagant for you, if you want it.’

Korolev shrugged his shoulders.

‘Better to be safe than sorry. What about Firtov and the Greek?’

‘It’s agreed. Firtov will drive the car and stay close if he can. I’ve worked out some meeting spots with him in case he loses us. Don’t worry, Chief, I know Moldovanka like the back of my hand and so does Firtov. He’ll keep close to us and he’ll have the Greek to follow on foot if it comes to walking.’

Korolev couldn’t help but think that Sergeant Slivka was a little too excited at the prospect of the evening ahead. But that was youth, he decided, and it was probably no bad thing.