The Quiet Mother

12

Keeping an eye on the window, Konrád got out of his car and calculated where the gleam came from, fifth floor, end flat, the middle building, from Valborg’s point of view. He’d checked the building’s floor plans, how the flat numbers were arranged according to stairwells, and thought he could find this flat on his first try. The doorbells were marked with the flat numbers, with the names of the residents on a board next to them. Konrád pressed the bell to a flat on the top floor, and when no one answered he tried the one next door. The owner was quick to answer the door phone and Konrád said that he’d locked himself out. It was enough. The door was opened for him and he entered the stairwell.

He waited a moment before walking past the lift and then slowly up the stairs, until he was standing in front of the flat that the gleam came from. He knocked politely on the door. A man of around twenty, dressed in sweatpants, with a baseball cap turned backwards on his head, opened the door and gawped dumbfounded at him.

‘Emanúel?’ Konrád said hesitantly.

‘Dad!’ the young man shouted into the flat, before scratching his crotch and disappearing into a bedroom.

After a moment a man came out of the living room and, with a bit of a questioning look, over to Konrád. He was about fifty, and was wearing a grey fleece jacket. His temples were greying and he seemed respectable enough, like an office worker relaxing after the hustle and bustle of the day. He remarked that no solicitation was allowed in the building, and that promotions or proselytising were banned, too.

‘Yes, I’m not selling anything. Quite the contrary. I’m looking for some good binoculars,’ said Konrád, forgetting that he meant to be careful. ‘They would preferably need to be able to see into the building opposite.’

The man stared silently at Konrád.

‘Does your son have such binoculars?’ Konrád asked. ‘Could I have a word with him, by any chance?’

The man looked towards the room that his son had disappeared into. His shoulders slumped and he looked sheepishly at Konrád.

‘Are you with the police?’ he asked. ‘I heard they were asking around in these buildings.’

‘They’re looking for witnesses,’ said Konrád, without answering the question.

‘I’m no pervert,’ the man whispered, to make sure that the words couldn’t be heard in the hallway.

‘Be that as it may,’ Konrád said, ‘may I come in?’

‘Can I talk to you outside?’ the man said, glancing again at the door to the bedroom. ‘If you wouldn’t mind.’

Konrád agreed and took the lift down and waited in the vestibule for Emanúel, who appeared shortly afterwards. Konrád suggested that they go sit in his car, and the man agreed. Konrád grabbed the expired sandwich and threw it in the back seat, started the car and turned up the heater.

‘All I saw was that he attacked her,’ said Emanúel. ‘I didn’t know she’d died until I went online later that evening. You can’t imagine how shocked I was. I’ve actually been on my way to the police ever since. It’s just hard to...’

‘Admit that you spy on people?’

‘I’m not spying on people,’ Emanúel said firmly. ‘It was a complete coincidence that I was trying out a new spotting scope when I saw it happen. Complete coincidence.’

‘A new spotting scope?’

‘Yes.’

‘It must be powerful, with a big lens that gleams. Like a telescope.’

‘Yes, it is, actually. Not so big. Very manageable.’

‘And you were just trying it out?’

‘Yes.’

Konrád had questioned numerous witnesses and knew when they came prepared with excuses for behaviour they weren’t particularly proud of. Knew when they’d practised their spiel, had gone over it a thousand times in their heads until they themselves believed what they said.

‘Do you live alone with your son?’

‘My wife left me. Moved out. She’d cheated on me for two years without... and left the boy with me. I can’t connect with him at all. He never comes out of that cave of his except to ask for money. I used his phone to report the attack.’

Suddenly Emanúel remembered that he hadn’t received an answer to his question.

‘Are you with the police?’

‘I was with the police,’ said Konrád. ‘The woman you saw being attacked was a friend of mine. You didn’t want to contact the police because you were trying out your new scope? If you had, it would have sped up the investigation, and then we wouldn’t be sitting out here like idiots.’

‘No — I was on my way to doing so,’ said Emanúel. He’d clearly prepared himself for that question, too. ‘I even tried to get in touch, but was put on hold.’

Konrád had a very limited interest in the man’s excuses, and instead asked him what he’d seen through his lens when he pointed it at Valborg’s flat. Emanúel described as best he could what he’d witnessed. He didn’t hold back on any details, but turned out to give an effective, descriptive account.

‘Did it seem to you as if the attacker was looking for something in particular?’ Konrád asked.

‘He was in her flat for only a short time,’ said Emanúel. ‘I was just about to report it when he ran out again. He was in a big hurry and I didn’t see him too well; it was so shadowy in there. I wouldn’t be able to recognise him. I never saw his face.’

‘Young? Old?’

‘I don’t know. Not necessarily young. He moved pretty stiffly. Skinny.’

‘Maybe you were looking at something else at the same time?’

‘No.’

‘And did he attack the woman immediately?’

‘As soon as she opened the door. I was terribly worried about her, and more than a little shocked when I heard that she’d died. I had only a vague view of the attack, actually just through the window of the stairwell. I couldn’t see into her hall.’

‘Did you see any other residents of that building?’ Konrád asked.

‘No,’ said Emanúel. ‘Except for the woman on the floor below.’

‘The one who was on the phone?’

‘The phone?’

‘Yes.’

‘I didn’t see that,’ said Emanúel. ‘She wasn’t on the phone when I saw her. She wasn’t feeling well, or that’s the impression I got.’

‘Her sister was in the hospital, injured.’

‘Oh, I see. But she wasn’t on the phone.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Absolutely. There was a man with her.’

‘A man? What man?!’

‘I don’t know, of course,’ said Emanúel sheepishly. ‘He was dressed in black, and then he left the flat. I didn’t get a proper look at him.’

‘Do you think they knew what was going on on the floor above?’

‘I have no idea,’ said Emanúel. ‘The man left shortly before it all happened.’

‘Did you see him leave the building?’

For a moment, Emanúel was tongue-tied.

‘No... I didn’t. I guess I was looking... looking at something else.’

‘Do you think it was the same man who attacked the woman, Valborg?’

‘No, that... I just don’t know.’

‘You need to talk to someone I know on the police force,’ said Konrád, taking out his mobile phone and calling Marta. He looked at his dashboard clock. ‘She’ll be happy to hear from you,’ he added, knowing that it was a waste of a good joke.