He nodded.
“I bribed the chambermaid. She stood outside to make sure I didn’t take anything.”
“Where did you get the paper you used, and the envelope?”
“By overnight delivery. International.”
“From where?”
“London. But there was no return address. Believe me, I was as interested to find out as you are.”
“What did you mean when you said in the email that someone else had taken an interest?”
“Another man. I saw him twice while following you. At first he seemed interested only in you. Now I think he is after me as well, and I do not like it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Someone was in my apartment, going through my things, opening my mail. It’s why I printed those emails, so I could erase them from my laptop. This was not supposed to turn out this way.”
“Who is this man? A real Russian?”
“No.”
“A German, then? An older fellow with a slouch hat and a cane?”
“No, no. He is American, I am sure of it.”
“Sure of it how?”
“His clothes. The way he moves. Even his hair. No one in Europe wears hair like that except for motorcycle thugs.”
Jan then proceeded to perfectly describe the haircut commonly known as a mullet. That, plus the rest of the description, perfectly fit Ron Curtin, Breece Preston’s muscle.
My stomach went a little fluttery, and Litzi squeezed my arm. I tried to keep my voice even as I spoke.
“When did you last see him?”
“This afternoon, when I left you in the park.”
“Did he follow you, or stay at the park, watching me?”
“He stayed.”
Oh, perfect. At least we’d climbed into a cab afterward. Maybe we’d actually lost him.
“So what is your message? What are my instructions?”
“The Cave. I am supposed to take you there. I was told you would know what I meant by that.”
“I do.”
“The Cave?” Litzi whispered.
“I’ll explain.”
“Then let’s go,” Jan said, turning toward the door. He seemed eager to get this over with, and who could blame him? But I wasn’t ready to let him off so easily.
“You’ll go first,” I said. “We’ll watch from up here to see if you’re followed.”
Jan emphatically shook his head.
“No! That isn’t how I was paid to do it!” He clearly realized now-if he hadn’t already-that he was in over his head. It was a feeling I could sympathize with. “In fact, there is no need for me to even go.” He frantically pulled a set of car keys from his trousers and thrust it toward me. “Here. I will give you these now and tell you where it is parked. The other instructions will be waiting for you.”
His eyes implored me.
“Jan?” I said it as calmly as possible.
“Yes?”
“Would you like your second set of house keys back, along with the lease agreement and the printed emails?”
“Yes.” Quietly, meekly.
“And I’m sure you wouldn’t be pleased if I emailed K-Fresh to tell him you were uncooperative and easily fooled, would you?”
He lowered his head, defeated.
“No.”
“Then you go first, Jan. We’ll watch from up here to make sure you’re okay. If anyone follows you, we’ll phone the police. All right?”
He nodded.
“Because we’re the ones he’s really after. Do you understand?”
Another nod.
“So get started. Then you can be paid, and that big ugly fellow with the American haircut will stop following you.”
Jan left without a further word. Litzi and I moved to the front window and waited for him to appear downstairs. Darkness was falling, and the wind bent back the trees. I looked over toward where the Cave was, knowing that by now it would have eased into its own deep night.
24
“Tell me what the Cave is,” Litzi said.
“See that dark area to the left of the park, over where the street dips below ground level and disappears, like it’s going to tunnel right beneath the river?”
“Yes.”
“There’s an old storage area there, sort of like a cavern. It’s usually locked up at night, but I presume Jan has a key. Karel and I used to play there. We’d jimmy the gate and run wild. It was always dark and damp, nothing much to see except empty beer kegs and a few parked cars, but we thought it was great and we called it the Cave. Winos always took dumps beneath the overhang just outside, so Jan better watch his step.”
Once Karel and I had taken a flashlight. The flitting beam and the shadows it created had made the Cave even eerier. The most remarkable sight was the dripping far wall, a mossy embankment of stones that held back the river. In the deep silence you could hear the throb of the passing current.
“There he is.”
Jan reached the sidewalk and glanced both ways. He looked vulnerable down there, an easy target, and for a moment I felt bad about sending him ahead of us.
“Who’s that?” Litzi said, pointing to the right.
A figure had just emerged from the shadows and then stopped. In the light of the streetlamp I saw a flash of metal, which made me flinch until I realized it was a leash.
“Somebody walking a dog,” I said. “A woman.”
Not that women walking dogs weren’t necessarily connected to this scheme, as I already knew firsthand. But this one soon took herself out of the picture.
Jan reached the end of the park, shoulders hunched against the wind. He turned the corner and headed down the sloping cobbles toward the mouth of the Cave. No one else was in sight. More fat raindrops began to fall.
“Let’s go,” I said. “Wait any longer and we’ll get soaked.”
We caught up to him without incident. He was trying to scrape something off the sole of his shoe, and the opening stank to high heaven. Piles of human shit were coiled outside the gate, just like in the old days. The rickety chain-link cover of my youth had been replaced by a sturdy aluminum grid, but otherwise little had changed. From what I could see in the gloom there were still only kegs and cars inside, although now the models were Mercedes and BMWs.
Jan shoved open the gate.
“Here,” he said, tossing me the car keys. “I’m not supposed to go in. The car is yours for one day only. Return it here.”
The key fob had a Mercedes logo. When I pressed a button, a horn beeped and a set of yellow parking lights flashed from deep inside.
Jan turned to go, presumably content to leave the gate open for the rest of the night.
