The Confession

67

Vera was in a mood when she arrived. She didn’t tell me what it was, but the mood was evident by her silence, and the way, in bed, she held my big hand up to her face and turned it to see it from every angle. She brought the palm up close to her eyes, as if to read my future, and kissed the hair on the back of it. She smiled, then quickly sank her teeth into my middle finger. The pain shot through me, and I instinctively slapped her, harder than I would have wanted. When she got up on her elbow there was a bright red spot on her cheek. But she was still smiling.

At the station, Leonek was busy struggling through Kliment’s interview of Boris Olonov, in Russian. “Why didn’t he translate it?” Leonek muttered to himself. “He could have translated it.”

“Get Kaminski to do it,” I muttered.

Leonek looked up at me, unsure if I was joking. In case I wasn’t, he said, “Kaminski’s got the flu. That’s what Brano says.”

Brano didn’t seem to notice his name being said.

Leonek tried a smile. “Maybe we can get Kaminski for sabotage.”

Through his open door, I saw Moska eating a sandwich at his desk. “Come in, Ferenc. Haven’t seen you much lately. A bite?”

I shook my head.

He set the sandwich down and cocked his head. “I heard about the Woznica woman.”

“What about her?”

“That she was found dead in her home village.”

“Who told you?”

“Brano,” he said as he lifted the sandwich again. “She was officially one of ours, so Moscow sent a report. Brano didn’t think you’d tell me. Was he right about that?”

“I don’t know. I would’ve gotten around to it.”

“Are you going to follow up on it?”

“Any reason I shouldn’t?”

“Of course not, Ferenc. It’s your job. I’ll see if I can get some clearance for you to work on international cases. It’ll take a week or two, so wait before arresting him. He won’t go anywhere.”

“Okay.”

“And I’m closing down the other investigation. I told Brano this morning. I know you didn’t touch Stefan. He knows it, too.”

“Thanks,” I said, then looked at him. “Really.”

He took a bite, pulling his lips back to expose the two holes where teeth had once been, then dropped the sandwich again. “Is there anything you need to talk about? You seem a little weird these days.”

“You know about Magda and me.”

“That’s been going on a long time.”

“It’s worse.”

His sympathetic smile made me wonder if he, also, knew about Leonek. But he said, “Ferenc, everyone’s marriage is rough. Don’t think you’re alone in this.”

“I didn’t say I was.”

“I never told you about Angela and me, did I?”

“I knew you had some problems.”

“I don’t gab about it, but it wasn’t pretty. It got bad enough that I started sleeping with some young girl from the administrative typing pool. Exceptional girl. She’s married now, with two kids. Very happy.”

“Good for her.”

“The point is, Angela and I finally sat down and talked. There were a lot of things she had never said to me, and a lot of things I hadn’t said to her. Nothing easy about it, marriage. You’ve got to make some sacrifices. How long have you been married?”

“Seventeen years.”

“Not long at all. We’ll talk again when you get to twenty-five years, and I’ll have some more advice for you.”

I grinned. “I can’t wait.”